Ignorance (52) (agnoia from the a = not + noéō = to perceive, understand) means literally "not knowing" and so to not have information about— want of knowledge, ignorance. But ignorance is not "bliss" for it leads to mistaken conduct. Agnoia - 4x in 4v- Acts 3:17; 17:30; Eph 4:18; 1 Pet 1:14. NAS = all translated as ignorance. Literally this phrase is "in the ignorance", which defines the spiritual ignorance that characterized every believer prior to their new birth. Their spiritual ignorance provided the "atmosphere" or milieu in which their unregenerate lusts operated quite effectively. In Ro 1:18-32 (notes ) Paul described the dynamics and disasters that occurred when men suppressed the truth about God in unrighteousness (reflecting a willful ignorance). The end result was moral corruption. Peter's reference to his reader's past ignorance as not intended to minimize their dark past. Remembering one's past the penalty and power of which we have been set free from should serve as a stimulus to encourage a radical break with such practices. Peter uses agnoia in addressing the Jews at Pentecost proclaiming that brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also." (Acts 3:17) These people obviously knew what they were doing in betraying and rejecting Jesus, but they did not understand the significance of what they were doing. Paul addressing the Athenians about their idolatry declared that having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent." (Acts 17:30-note) In Romans Paul explains that even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Ro 1:21-note) Before Jesus Christ came, God did not view people as being as guilty as He does now that Christ has come. As discussed in Romans 1 all men were guilty of failing to respond to former revelation, but now they are more guilty in view of the greater revelation that Jesus Christ brought at His incarnation. Paul writes that before the Ephesians were born into God's family through grace by faith, they were "darkened (their minds were blinded, perfect tense speaks of the blinding by sin completed in past time having present results) in their understanding, excluded (estranged) from the life of God, because of the ignorance (agnoia = not a term merely of intellect. It denotes an ignorance of divine things, a want of knowledge that is inexcusable and involves moral blindness) that is (deep-seated) in them, because of the hardness of their heart (the insensitiveness of their moral nature)." (Ep 4:18-note) Commenting on ignorance Barclay writes that The pagan world was always haunted by the unknowability of God; at best men could but grope after his mystery. “It is hard,” said Plato, “to investigate and to find the framer and the father of the express him in terms which all could understand... Aristotle spoke of God as the supreme cause, by all men dreamed of and by no man known. The ancient world did not doubt that there was a God of gods but it believed that such gods as there were were quite unknowable and totally uninterested in men and the universe.” (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos) A life of "ignorance" is characterized by futility (1Pe 1:18 - note, Ps 78:33, Eccl 2:1ff, Jer 16:19, Ephesians 4:17 - note). It is a life that eternally speaking is not going anywhere (except the lake of fire). In both Greece and Rome homosexual practices were so common that they had come to be looked on as natural. The ancient ("sophisticated") world was driven and mastered by "lusts", with the aim being to find newer and wilder ways of gratifying the cravings of the old flesh nature inherited from Adam. One historian describes the excesses of the Emperor Vitellius who set his banquet table with 2000 fish and 7000 birds. Jerome tells us that in Rome there was one woman who was married to her 23rd husband, she herself being his 21st wife. Catullus writes to Lesbia pleading for the delights of love. He pleads with her to seize the moment with its fleeting joys. Suns can rise and set again; but once our brief light is dead, there is nothing left but one long night from which we never shall awake. As someone has said if a man was to die like a dog, why should he not live like a dog? Life was a futile business with a few brief years in the light of the sun and then an eternal nothingness (or so they ignorantly deceived themselves into believing but which will tragically be soundly, eternally rebutted in Re 20:15 - see note!). Ancients (and moderns) felt that there was nothing for which to live and nothing for which to die. Life must always be futile when there is nothing (hopeful) on the other side of death. Let us rejoice that the Father has caused us to be born again to a "living hope" (1Pe 1:3-note). We are surely the most blessed of people. Recall to your mind frequently the brevity of your earthly life and the unfathomable length of eternity as a child of God. This is good "soul" food and will motivate us to live as unto the Lord. A boy who had just listened to a long sermon walked out of church with a big frown on his face. His father had pulled his ear during the service to keep him from fidgeting. "What's the matter, Johnny?" asked one of the deacons. "You look so sad." The frustrated young fellow responded quickly, "I am. It's hard to be happy and holy at the same time." HAPPY AND HOLY - This boy was probably expressing the feelings of many young Christians, and perhaps many adults as well. They have the idea that if they are to be good, they can't possibly be happy. The nineteenth-century South African minister Andrew Murray corrected that misconception. He said, "Holiness is essential to true happiness; happiness is essential to true holiness. If you would have joy, the fullness of joy, an abiding joy which nothing can take away, be holy as God is holy. Holiness is blessedness. . . . If we would live lives of joy, assuring God and man and ourselves that our Lord is everything, is more than all to us, oh, let us be holy! . . . If you would be a holy Christian, you must be a happy Christian. Jesus was anointed by God with 'the oil of gladness,' that He might give us the 'oil of joy.' In all our efforts after holiness, the wheels will move heavily if there be not the oil of joy." The joy of Christ should ring through our souls in our most holy moments. We're on the road to spiritual maturity when we've learned that happiness and holiness are not enemies, but friends. —D. C. Egner The holiest man is the happiest man.