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Luke 23:34 (DRA) (emphasis added)
34 And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But they, dividing his garments, cast lots.
Addressing the Father, Jesus acknowledges God’s ability to forgive their sin (of crucifying him), and presumably, it’s safe to assume the Father will forgive whatever Jesus asks. The focus of this question, however, is on the latter part: “for they know not what they do.”
It’s clear they were beyond the age of accountability. Given this, how are we to understand Jesus’ interceding for their forgiveness for ‘not knowing’ what they were doing—their seeming inculpability?
Is it that they did not know they were in fact sinning; that they did not know Jesus was innocent and were following orders from someone else; or for some other reason that Jesus says “they know not what they do”?
