Should We Ask for Forgiveness for Unknown Sins?

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Grace in Focus

Episode Title: Should We Ask for Forgiveness for Unknown Sins?
Hosts: Bob Wilkin & Colin Jackson
Date: May 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

This concise, 13-minute episode of Grace in Focus explores the thought-provoking question: Should Christians ask for forgiveness for unknown sins? Hosts Bob Wilkin and Colin Jackson field a listener's question about whether all sin is willful (and thus known) or if unknown sins exist, and how this impacts both confession and assurance of salvation. The discussion ranges through scriptural interpretation, theological implications, and pastoral insight, maintaining a warm, conversational tone.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Listener Question: Are All Sins Willful and Known?

• [01:14]
  Bert asks: "What is your justification for unknown sins? I was taught many decades ago that sins are willful acts of disobedience."
  • Colin Jackson restates: If all sins are willful, there shouldn't be unknown sins.

2. The Legal Perspective on Intent and Sin

• [01:44]
  Bob Wilkin (drawing from legal background): In tort law, intent is about whether someone intended the act, not whether they knew it was wrong. Applies to sin: sometimes the question is simply, did you violate God's law, regardless of awareness.
  • Bob: "Did you intend to hit the person with your fist? Was it reasonably likely that you would hit the person with your fist?" ([02:24])

3. Are Most Sins Actually Unconscious?

• [02:47]
  Colin Jackson: Many actions are "conditioned responses" from upbringing and environment—often not fully conscious or willful.
  • Colin: "Much of what we do is a response to the way we grew up... It's more like this is a conditioned response... in order to change, it needs to become willful." ([02:47])

4. Biblical Foundation: 1 John 1:9 and the Unseen Iceberg

• [03:18]
  Colin explains 1 John 1:9: Confession covers known sins, but God cleanses "all unrighteousness," implying most sin is beneath self-awareness—the "iceberg" analogy.
  • Colin: "The sins we confess are just the tip of the iceberg. The 1%, the 99% of the iceberg is below the waterline." ([04:44])
  • If God revealed all our sins to us, "I think we'd have nervous breakdowns." ([05:08])

5. Progress in Self-awareness and Sanctification

• [05:09]
  Colin shares personal growth: Over 53+ years as a believer, he’s become more aware of wrong attitudes and actions, with God's patient work continuing.
  • Quote: "Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet. That's me." ([05:39])
  • Maturity involves gradually recognizing and confessing more nuanced or formerly unseen sins.

6. The "Sinner’s Prayer" and Salvation

• [06:40–09:18]
  Discussion turns to the popular "sinner’s prayer" that often includes asking forgiveness for unknown sins.
  • Colin: It's not biblical—there's no scriptural formula or requirement to list or acknowledge every sin to be saved.
  • Colin: "What you find out is not once did Jesus say, he who believes in me has the forgiveness of sins... What he said over and over and over again is, he who believes in me has everlasting life." ([08:05])
  • Bob: "Isn't it kind of putting the cart before the horse, where we're trying to establish fellowship with God before we even believe in him?" ([09:18])

7. Assurance and Initial Fellowship

• [09:25–10:11]
  At conversion, believers start "with a blank slate"—in fellowship with God already. New believers aren't required to catalogue and confess a lifetime’s worth of sin.
  • Colin: "We don't say to the brand new believer... Now, if you want to be in fellowship with God, you need to confess your sins... No, we don't do that because you start the Christian life with a blank slate." ([10:11])

8. Confession and Living as a Believer

• [10:11–12:36]
  Ongoing Christian life involves confessing sins as we become aware of them ("what we’re aware of"), but we can’t confess what we don’t know.
  • Praying for forgiveness for "unknown sins" is unnecessary and can become "a little redundant and maybe a little OCD," says Bob ([11:10]).
  • Colin: "Confession is not so much pulling off the road and getting down on the side of the road on my knees... No, it's just an acknowledgement that what I've done is sin." ([11:21])
  • The mature Christian's growth is more about ongoing acknowledgment and walking in the light.

9. Distinction Between Repentance and Confession

• [12:00]
  Colin notes: For mature believers (audience of 1 John), ongoing confession, not repentance, is the key for retaining fellowship.
  • If one goes "to the far country" (Luke 15), then repentance becomes the issue.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "The sins we confess are just the tip of the iceberg... The 99%... is below the waterline."
  — Colin Jackson, [04:44]
• "If the Lord dumped on us everything... I think we'd have nervous breakdowns."
  — Colin Jackson, [05:08]
• "Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet."
  — Colin Jackson, [05:39]
• "What you find out is not once did Jesus say, he who believes in me has the forgiveness of sins... What he said over and over and over again is, he who believes in me has everlasting life."
  — Colin Jackson, [08:05]
• "Isn't it kind of putting the cart before the horse, where we're trying to establish fellowship with God before we even believe in him?"
  — Bob Wilkin, [09:18]
• "We confess what we're aware of, but we can't confess what we don't know."
  — Colin Jackson, [10:56]
• "Confession is not so much pulling off the road... It's just an acknowledgement that what I've done is sin."
  — Colin Jackson, [11:21]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:14] – Listener question posed: Are all sins willful?
• [01:44] – Legal analogy on intent and sin
• [02:47–04:44] – Conditioned sin, self-awareness, and the iceberg analogy
• [05:39] – Personal experience of gradual sanctification
• [06:40–09:18] – Critique of the "sinner’s prayer"
• [10:11] – New believers and the issue of confession
• [11:10–12:36] – Confession of unknown sins and practical application

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Conclusion: Practical Theology of Sin and Confession

• Not all sin is known; in fact, the majority is unknown.
• Scriptural confession centers on acknowledging what we become aware of—God's cleansing addresses all sin, not just the confessed.
• Assurance of salvation is not based on perfect confession, but on belief in Christ for everlasting life.
• The "sinner's prayer" is not biblically required for salvation.
• Ongoing spiritual growth involves increasing sensitivity to sin, but God’s grace covers even what is unseen.

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In sum: The podcast affirms freedom and confidence in God’s grace, encouraging believers to walk in the light through honest confession without fear or obsession over unknown failures. As the hosts say, "Let's keep grace in focus." ([12:56])

Transcript

[Bob Wilkin]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Is there such a thing as unknown sin? If so, should we and is it possible to confess an unknown sin? If confessing sin is saying the same thing as God says, what can a person say about something that is unknown? It's worthy of discussion and we'll do that here in the next few minutes on Grace in Focus. We are a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.com Please go to this website to find our magazine. It's a free magazine and it comes out six times per year. It is also called Grace in Focus, still a physical magazine with pages, great color, great articles, full length magazine and we want you to have it. It's free, all except for postage if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States. Otherwise it is absolutely free. Get signed up [e-mail] and now with today's discussion, here are Bob Wilken and Colin Jackson.

[Colin Jackson]

Colin, we're going to be getting a question here from Bert. Is that right? Could you read the question?

[Bob Wilkin]

Yes. His question is what is your justification for unknown sins? I was taught many decades ago that sins are willful acts of disobedience. And I think this maybe brings up several questions we could address.

[Colin Jackson]

Yeah, it sounds like he's saying there can't be unknown sins because if all sins are willful, therefore you know what you're doing.

[Bob Wilkin]

Can I share my legal mind on this?

[Colin Jackson]

Yes. Colin has a law degree and passed the Texas Bar.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah.

[Colin Jackson]

So, yeah, tell us about that.

[Bob Wilkin]

Okay, so first, let me preface. I'm not your lawyer and I'm not giving legal advice, but in tort law, which is basically whenever a person is injured, either their person or their property, you, you can bring a lawsuit against someone. And often the test for intent did the person intend to do this is not did they know that what they were doing was wrong? More that they intended to do the act. And it depends on, on the tort. And sometimes the, the test for intent is different, but usually it's did you intend to hit the person with your fist? Was it reasonably likely that you would hit the person with your fist?

[Colin Jackson]

Right.

[Bob Wilkin]

Not that you meant to injure him, but did you intend to use the, to hit the person?

[Colin Jackson]

Right.

[Bob Wilkin]

And I think it kind of applies to sins in a sense that while God does look at the intents of the heart, it's also, did you do something that violated his law in a sense?

[Colin Jackson]

Right. I get the point. The fact that we might say all sin is in Some sense willful.

[Bob Wilkin]

Right.

[Colin Jackson]

But on the other hand, it seems to me that much of what we do is a response to the way we grew up and the mindset we developed growing up. If you grew up in a home that was dysfunctional and abusive, that's kind of the style of family that you get used to and comfortable with. And you're likely to repeat that unless God changes you significantly.

[Bob Wilkin]

Sure, yeah.

[Colin Jackson]

It doesn't mean that it's willful that you're willfully choosing to do these things. It's more like this is a conditioned response that you have, and in order to change, it needs to become willful. It needs to get to the point where you're thinking before you're doing. If you think of 1 John 1:9, John says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That verse wouldn't make much sense unless the all unrighteousness is more than the sins we confess. I confess the sins I'm aware of, and then he forgives me of those sins and then cleanses me not just of those sins, but of all sins. In the Old Testament, they had something called the sin of the high hand. You know, like someone shaking their fist against God and going, I'm going to go my own way. And the sin of the high hand, there was no sacrifice for that. You needed God's mercy in order to avoid calamity. For example, David committed the sin of the high hand when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered Uriah. Both of those were things that there was no sacrifice for. He had to just fall on God's mercy. There is such a thing as willful sin and intentional sin. But I would argue, based on 1 John 1:9, that the sins we confess are just the tip of the iceberg. The 1%, the 99% of the iceberg is below the waterline. Let's say at some point in our Christian life, the Lord dumped on us everything. All the sinful attitudes we have, all the sinful actions we have and everything all at once. I think we'd have nervous breakdowns.

[Bob Wilkin]

Well, I would.

[Colin Jackson]

Yeah, Well, I would, too. It's like I've been a believer now for, what, about 53, almost 54 years. And during that time, I have gotten more and more and more in touch with wrong attitudes and wrong actions. And I've seen God change me bit by bit over time, but I still like that. You ever see those buttons and they say Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet. That's me. It's like, okay, yes, I've made some progress in half a century, but if the Lord tarries and I live another 25 years, I hope and expect to make a lot more progress because there's still a lot of stuff that I'm not aware of. As you become aware of these things, you confess them and acknowledge them.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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[Colin Jackson]

So I wouldn't agree with the idea that all sin is known sin. In fact, I would say most sin is unknown sin.

[Bob Wilkin]

Sure. Could we also talk about. You often hear the term the sinner's prayer.

[Colin Jackson]

Yeah.

[Bob Wilkin]

Where you ask for forgiveness of known sins and unknown sins and this is a prerequisite to be born again.

[Colin Jackson]

Yeah. So the sinner's prayer, first of all is, you know, you can't turn to some verse in the Bible that gives it to us because there is no such prayer.

[Bob Wilkin]

There isn't.

[Colin Jackson]

It's a made up prayer. And secondly, you know, they talk about forgiveness, Right. In this prayer and that we're seeking forgiveness by acknowledging that we're sinners and acknowledging typically they don't ask the unbeliever to name all of his or her sins. They just ask them to acknowledge they're a sinner. Right.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah. Or look at a PDF they have of all the major sins that they think are important or, you know.

[Colin Jackson]

Yeah, right.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah.

[Colin Jackson]

So what I would say is the major problem with that is if you look at the Gospel of John, for example, which is the only evangelistic book, what you find out is not once did Jesus say, he who believes in me has the forgiveness of sins. He certainly never said, he who confesses his sins has the forgiveness of sins. What he said over and over and over again is, he who believes in me has everlasting life. He who believes in me will never hunger, will never thirst, will never die, will never perish, will never be cast out. So he made the promise for the believer, not the confessor, not the one who confesses his sins. And the promise wasn't forgiveness of sins. The promise was everlasting life. He didn't mention the forgiveness of sins until he rose from the dead, at least in John's gospel. In the Synoptics, you do have him talking about forgiveness on some occasions, but never even in the synoptics does he connect forgiveness with being born again. And in John, it's John 20 when he says to the disciples, after he rose from the dead, whatever sins you retain will be retained and whatever sins you forgive will be forgiven. Well, this is church discipline he's talking about. He's not talking about the new birth. So the problem with a sinner's prayer is it does not emphasize the fact that when we believe in Jesus, we have everlasting life. But it gives the faulty notion that when we pray this prayer, we have eternal life.

[Bob Wilkin]

And isn't it kind of putting the cart before the horse where we're trying to establish fellowship with God before we even believe in him?

[Colin Jackson]

That's a good point. You have to have life with God before fellowship with God is an issue. Now it is interesting. According to Acts 10:43, Peter said all the prophets bear witness that whoever believes in him receives the forgiveness of sins. That's referring to the fact that when we start the Christian life, we start in fellowship with God. That's why the unbeliever doesn't need to confess his sins to get in fellowship with God. We don't say to the brand new believer, let's say someone who comes to faith in Christ may go. Now, if you want to be in fellowship with God, you need to confess your sins. And that starts with all the ones you've committed in the last 20 years.

[Bob Wilkin]

Right.

[Colin Jackson]

I'd like you to go into this soundproof booth and we'll give you one week to come up with as many as you can. No, we don't do that because you start the Christian life with a blank slate. You're in fellowship with God. And now the key is to grow in the faith and to move from being what Paul calls a babe in Christ, a carnal believer, to being what he calls the spiritual believer, the pneumatikoi, the spiritually minded believer. And we do that by regular instruction in the word of God. So in terms of Bert's question about known sin. No, not all sin is known. In fact, I would say the majority of it is unknown. And, and we confess what we're aware of, but we can't confess what we don't know. Now, I do know some people who will pray. And Lord forgive us for the unknown sin. Right? You might even get it in the sinner's prayer.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah, but isn't that a little redundant and maybe a little ocd? Can't we just say, lord, forgive us our sins and that covers what we've confessed before him and then he'll cover the rest?

[Colin Jackson]

I think you're absolutely right. And the Lord knows our heart. That's the key. Confession is not so much pulling off the road and getting down on the side of the road on my knees by the car and praying. And no, it's just an acknowledgement that what I've done is sin. Now, yes, that can be prayer, but it can be just a sky prayer. It's like, yeah, Lord, that was wrong and I want to please you. I don't want to be walking in the darkness. I want to walk in the light. One of the other things to keep in mind is if you read First John, which is written to mature believers, First John 2, 12, 14, who are walking in the light and who are in fellowship with God. If you're dealing with mature believers, you find out that First John never mentions repentance because the condition for staying in fellowship with God is ongoing acknowledgment of my sins. But if you look at Luke 15 with the prodigal son, if we go to the far country now, the condition is repentance. Now I need to turn back to God. I need to turn away from my sinful ways. So the issue for the believer in fellowship is just acknowledge the sins you're aware of. And like you say, if we pray the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We don't have to somehow figure out whatever one of those are. We're just acknowledging. Yes, great question, Bert. Thank you all for listening. And in the meantime, let's keep grace and focus. Amen.

[Narrator/Announcer]

We invite you to check out our Monday, Wednesday and Friday five minute YouTube videos at YouTube Grace Evangelical Society. You will love the content and learn a lot. Maybe you've got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org Please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible. That would be a great big help on our next episode. Should we pray? Lord have mercy on me. Please join us again. And in the meantime, let's keep grace in focus.

[Bob Wilkin]

The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.