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The words of the Psalmist, David, provide some important insight as to how and when God deals with sin in the life of his beloved children. Let us begin our study of presumptuous sins by looking at Psalms 19:12-13 from the King James Version:
“Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”
Adam Clark ably explains the meaning of the phrase, "Cleanse thou me from secret faults":
"From those which I have committed, and have forgotten; from those for which I have not repented; from those which have been committed in my heart, but have not been brought to act in my life; from those which I have committed without knowing that they were sins, sins of ignorance; and from those which I have committed in private, for which I should blush and be confounded were they to be made public."
While verse 12 seems to be self-explanatory, verse 13 requires a bit more effort to ascertain the true meaning. The most obvious problem that could hinder a correct exegesis of this text is the fact that the KJV inserted the word "the" before "great transgression," making it appear that one specific offense is in mind. Note the reading from the various translations below:
ASV - Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
BEB - Keep your servant back from sins of pride; let them not have rule over me: then will I be upright and free from great sin.
LEB (Lexham English Bible) - Also, keep back your servant from arrogant [sins]; let them not rule over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Some have assumed that since the KJV says "the great transgression" that "presumptuous sins" are the same as "willful sins" (opposite of unintentional sins or secret sins) and conclude that while "secret sins" are not mortal, "willful sins" are. But upon closer examination of our text it becomes apparent that such was not at all what was intended by the writer, i.e., “great transgression” is not the same as “willful sin.”
In verse 12, we see God’s servant, David, speaking of various “errors.” He then enumerates them: 1) Secret or hidden faults or sins; 2) Presumptuous sins, which evidently describe a somewhat broad range of sins that may not exactly fit the category of either “sins of ignorance” or “willful sins” (Heb. 10:25). This is evident from the fact that David said if he was able to avoid these type sins he would be innocent of “great transgression.” It seems probable that what David was asking for was for God to keep him cleansed from the type sins as Adam Clark noted, as quoted above, and to help him avoid being overtaken by presumptuous sins; the result being that he stands continuously justified in God's grace.
Explaining the phrase, "I shall be innocent from great transgression"; Gil writes:
"Which some understand of pride, others of apostasy; perhaps the sin against the Holy Ghost may be intended; though the words may be rendered, "from much transgression" (k); and the sense is, that he should be cleared and acquitted of a multitude of transgressions he had been guilty of; or be preserved from much sin, which otherwise he should have fallen into.”
The above is certainly in line with both Webster and Strong's definition of presumptuous:
Webster's New World College Dictionary:
"Too bold or forward; taking too much for granted; showing overconfidence, arrogance, or effrontery."
Strong: arrogant: - presumptuous, proud.
Consider Adam Clark's notes on the last two phrases of the text:
"Let them not have dominion over me” - Let me never be brought into a habit of sinning. He who sins presumptuously will soon be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
"Then shall I be upright” - Let me be preserved from all the evil that the craft and malice of the devil or man work against me, then shall I continue to walk uprightly, and shall be innocent from the great transgression - from habitual sinning, from apostasy, from my easily-besetting sin. He who would be innocent from the great transgression, must take care that he indulge not himself in any."
Presumptuous sin is sin that is committed out of arrogant self-confidence. James gives an example of presumptuous sin, and it is one that might not even be thought to be sin, since it is so widely practiced and so readily accepted as normal talk. It is when one says things similar to the following:
“Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow… For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil” (James 4:13-16).
Is not even the most pious individual often guilty of presumption, as James defines above? Such sin might not be deliberate at all, but merely due to ignorance, carelessness, weakness, etc. and be completely unintentional. Thus, the idea that when one commits a presumptuous sin it is the same as "willful sin" mentioned in Hebrews 10:26, indicating rebellion and spiritual death, is not taught by the Psalmist who was inspired of God in his writings.
A study of presumptuous sins would not be complete if we did not give further attention to Hebrews 10:26, a passage that is often used to indicate that if one commits a sin that in the category of “willful sin” God is sort of obligated to somehow automatically (without judgment based upon the heart and life of the individual) remove his grace.
The following popular commentators ably explain the text:
Gil:
“For if we sin willfully”.... Which is not to be understood of a single act of sin, but rather of a course of sinning; nor of sins of infirmity through temptation, or even of grosser acts of sin, but of voluntary ones; and not of all voluntary ones, or in which the will is engaged and concerned, but of such which are done on set purpose, resolutely and obstinately; and not of immoral practices, but of corrupt principles, and acting according to them; it intends a total apostasy from the truth, against light and evidence, joined with obstinacy.”
Barnes:
“For if we sin willfully”- If we deliberately, for fear of persecution or from any other motive, renounce the profession of the Gospel and the Author of that Gospel, after having received the knowledge of the truth so as to be convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah, and that he had sprinkled our hearts from an evil conscience; for such there remaineth no sacrifice for sins; for as the Jewish sacrifices are abolished, as appears by the declaration of God himself in the fortieth Psalm, and Jesus being now the only sacrifice which God will accept, those who reject him have none other; therefore their case must be utterly without remedy. This is the meaning of the apostle, and the case is that of a deliberate apostate - one who has utterly rejected Jesus Christ and his atonement, and renounced the whole Gospel system. It has nothing to do with backsliders in our common use of that term. A man may be overtaken in a fault, or he may deliberately go into sin, and yet neither renounce the Gospel, nor deny the Lord that bought him. His case is dreary and dangerous, but it is not hopeless; no case is hopeless but that of the deliberate apostate, who rejects the whole Gospel system, after having been saved by grace, or convinced of the truth of the Gospel. To him there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; for there was but the One, Jesus, and this he has utterly rejected.”
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