Unintentional, intentional, and high-handed sins

[tonychanyt]

1. Unintentional Sins
Psalm 119:

66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray [H7683], but now I keep your word.

Strong's Hebrew: 7683. שָׁגַג (shagag) — 4 Occurrences

Brown-Driver-Briggs:

verb go astray, commit sin or error

The noun form of H7683 appeared in Lev 4:

13 “If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally

ESV footnote: or makes a mistake

and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt, 14when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting.

The assembly committed a mistake due to ignorance or otherwise unintentional or involuntary.

Strong's Hebrew: 7684. שְׁגָגָה (shegagah) — 19 Occurrences

Brown-Driver-Briggs:

noun feminine sin of error, inadvertence

Ecclesiastes 10:

5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error [H7684] that arises from a ruler.

2. Intentional Sins
Ps 19:

12 Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults

i.e., unintentional sins.

13 Keep Your servant also from willful [H2086] sins may they not rule over me.

They may not become high-handed sins.

Romans 7:

19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

We commit some kind of habitual or addictive sin, but we regret it.

3. High-Handed Sins
Numbers 15:

30 But the person who does anything with a high hand [H3027], whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that personal shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.

New International Version:

But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD and must be cut off from the people of Israel.

High-handed sins were the most serious. Defiant sinners would be cut off.

Unintentional sins were committed without the person's full knowledge or awareness. They might occur due to ignorance, carelessness, or accident. Intentional sins were committed knowingly and willfully, but often out of weakness or temptation rather than outright rebellion against God. High-handed sins were committed with full knowledge and deliberate defiance against God's authority.

In the OT, sin offerings were for unintentional sins only. Intentional sins required a guilt offering and compensation. A high-handed sinner might never be forgiven unless he repented and turned back to God.

In the NT, Jesus's sacrifice was once and for all, covering all types of sins. Believers rely on God's grace and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit rather than focusing on categorizing sins. Jesus frees us from the burden of sin and empowers us to live in righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).