The Consciousness of Sin

Genesis 3:9-11 NIV “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

This post is about a subject that I partially understand but I don’t fully understand. The above scripture came into my mind when I was reading Hebrews 10:1-2 NIV which reads: “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.“

Prior to the fall of Adam and Eve, they were not even aware of sin, it never entered their minds, they were like innocent children who can run around the house in their birthday suit without any consideration of what they are doing. And the reason for that is simple, they hadn’t crossed over to taking on the responsibility of deciding for themselves what was right and what was wrong. They were completely under God’s governing. There’s a freedom there, a release from the awareness or consciousness of sin there that we do not enjoy today.

I know that the Hebrews 10:1-2 verses speaks of a covering over versus an actual forgiveness that Christians have today. God’s word tells us that God has promised to forgive anyone, no matter what the sin (excluding the unforgivable sin) , when the sinner turns to Jesus Christ in faith (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Repentance (the confession that we are sinful and the desire to see God change our hearts) is part of that faith (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Acts 3:19).

God’s forgiveness, when we accept and understand it, is wonderfully liberating. First John 1:20-21 tells us that we should not sin, but if anyone does sin, Jesus Christ is our advocate and will speak to the Father for us in our defense. Jesus applies His own righteousness to us by His death on the cross. Now, in Christ, we cannot be condemned (Romans 8:1).

Unfortunately, the reality of our freedom from sin does not always bring freedom from guilty feelings. After sins are forgiven, the memory of them remains. And Satan, the “accuser of our brothers,” does not miss an opportunity to remind us of our faults and failures (Revelation 12:10).

As Christians, we remember that God has promised to forgive our sins and take away our guilt by way of the blood of Christ, and we need to trust that promise (1 John 1:9; Psalm 85:2; 86:5; Romans 8:1) and remind ourselves of that reality, that our past and even our current daily sins, which we have confessed and asked forgiveness for, are indeed forgiven.

But the awareness of sin, the consciousness of sin and the associated guilt that is linked with that sin, as it pertains to those sins that have been forgiven, is something that I for one could do without.

www.gotquestions.org has the following to say about this very subject: ” Isaiah 65:17 says, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Some interpret Isaiah 65:17 as saying that we will have no memory of our earthly lives in heaven. However, one verse earlier in Isaiah 65:16, the Bible says, “For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.” It is likely only our “past troubles” will be forgotten, not all of our memories. Our memories will eventually be cleansed, redeemed, healed, and restored, not erased. There is no reason why we could not possess many memories from our earthly lives. The memories that will be cleansed are the ones that involve sin, pain, and sadness. Revelation 21:4 declares, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

“The Bible speaks of “a new heaven and a new earth” as our eternal, permanent home. Both passages quoted above (Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21:1) refer to the eternal state, not the current heaven. The promise of wiping away every tear does not come until after the tribulation, after the final judgment, and after the re-creation of the universe.”

I suspect that the awareness or consciousness of sin, in particular, all those sins that we have been forgiven for, will be gone from our memory, and in essence, we once again will be like Adam and Eve prior to the fall. To me, this makes sense in keeping with many other restorations of the pre Adam and Eve fall.

Consider the following:

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!