When We Are Guilty

Verse 17 refers to someone who sins “without knowing it.” Verses 15 and 17 also mention unintentional sin. Chapter 4 also addresses unintentional sin. How can sin be unintentional? It’s easy! We break civil laws or traffic laws all the time because we didn’t know about that law or we weren’t paying attention. We didn’t intend to break the law; we just made a mistake. When we read Leviticus we see how meticulous and numerous were the laws God gave to His people. It was easy to make a mistake by forgetting or not knowing about a particular law.

For example, verse 15 mentions “sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lord’s holy things.” The “holy things” were all the things set apart for use in the sanctuary—shovels, utensils, and pans used in offering sacrifices and preparing incense. Those things were holy in that they were reserved only for use in the sanctuary. But what if a priest unintentionally took home a sanctuary spoon and maybe even used it at home and didn’t realize until later that it was a sanctuary spoon? It’s not hard for me to imagine unintentionally taking something home that belongs to the church. When I preach I wear a microphone on my face. Several times I have been walking out the door of the church after worship and someone has said, “Allan, that microphone is still on your face.” I forgot to take it off. I usually try to be funny and tell them, “I do that all the time; I’ve got a whole collection of these at home.” But what Leviticus describes is on a completely different level. God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, and He gave His people Israel specific commands having to do with how to treat the holy things. Therefore, treating those holy things in any other way than He commanded was sin, no matter what the reason. Why? Because God gave commands about that, and we’re guilty when we disobey a command of God.

We Are Guilty When We Cheat Other People

Verses 2-5 of chapter 6 describe various kinds of sins. I am using the word “cheating” to summarize them, but specifically God mentioned things like stealing, lying, oppression, and taking something valuable to hold for someone and then acting like it belongs to me, not him. That’s cheating, lying, and stealing. Maybe you borrow a set of steak knives from someone and you don’t return them. After a while it’s been so long that it would be embarrassing to return, so you convince yourself that he doesn’t even miss the knives anymore. Many people have been sinned against in just this way. A neighbor borrowed a tool and never returned it. A friend borrowed a book (usually a great book!) and didn’t return it. That’s cheating another person of his possessions, and it makes us guilty of sin.

Verses 3 and 5 also mention “swearing falsely,” and that compounds guilt. Not only did someone cheat or steal, but then he lied about it. He took an oath, maybe in public or in court, affirming that property was his. He claimed that he didn’t borrow it from his neighbor or find it—it was his! He swore that. Vows were often made in the name of God, and if that was the case the guilty person was including God in his sin. That made his sin a sacrilege; it’s blasphemous to attach God’s name to sin.

God Provides for the Cancellation of Our Guilt

The verses we are considering in this section address various ways by which we become guilty before God. This passage of Scripture also describes forgiveness of sin. Praise God, He does provide forgiveness! What did He tell His people Israel to do to obtain His forgiveness?

God Requires Realization of Sin

Leviticus 6:4 mentions realization of sin—“acknowledged his guilt.” Once we sin in ignorance, how do we realize that we have sinned? Sometimes God uses His Word to show us our sin, sometimes a brother or sister in Christ can help us see our sin, or sometimes we see our sin when we prayerfully ask God’s Holy Spirit to show us our sin and He does.

The first step toward receiving God’s forgiveness is our realization that we have sinned. In a culture where relativism reigns, acknowledging moral guilt often requires a reversal of worldview. Western culture generally rejects absolute truth, including truth about morality. I once heard of a pastor who began his church membership classes in a unique way. He placed a jar full of jellybeans at the front of the class, and he asked the people in the class to guess how many beans were in the jar. As they called out their guesses, he wrote the numbers on a board in front of the class. Next, he asked the students to tell him their favorite songs. He recorded their answers next to the list of jellybean guesses. When the two lists were complete, he revealed the actual number of jellybeans, and they looked at the list of guesses to see who was closest to being right. Then the pastor turned to the list of favorite songs and asked, “Which one of these is closest to being right?” On cue the class would argue that there is no right answer, because a person’s favorite song is purely a matter of taste. The pastor then asked this crucial question: “When you decide what your beliefs about God will be, is that more like determining the correct number of beans, or more like choosing your favorite song?” Always, he said, the answer was the same from old and young—choosing one’s faith is more like choosing a favorite song.

Based on that answer, it’s not difficult to understand their idea about faith in God. It’s a matter of taste or opinion. You may enjoy certain ideas about God that do not appeal to me. That’s fine; it’s your choice. A lot of religious ideas are available, and it’s up to each individual to select the ones that are preferable to him or her. Your religious ideas are correct if they are correct for you. My ideas are right if they are right for me, even though they may directly contradict your ideas. That is the way relativism works. When applied to morality, or right and wrong behavior, concepts like “good” and “bad” are defined individually or socially, not universally and authoritatively. Even many followers of Jesus adopt that kind of thinking, though it is contrary to the nature of biblical faith. The Bible describes a God who has revealed specific, propositional truth about who He is, who we are, and what He requires of us. That truth is not relative, it is absolute; it is not a matter of human opinion, it is a matter of divine revelation; and it is not malleable, it is unalterable. And it is precise—as precise as the number of jellybeans in a jar. Therefore, faith in Him is not a matter of personal taste. It is a matter of truth and fact.

As for our realization of sin, we are not guilty of sin when we feel guilty or when our friends or society tell us we are guilty; we are guilty when God says we are guilty. The very idea of God presupposes His ultimate, universal authority. As God, only He has the capacity to know all transcendent truth, and only He has the authority to issue decrees without contradiction. God has issued such decrees in His law. According to the New Testament, one purpose of the Old Testament law is to prove we are sinners and point out where we have sinned. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.” In the sixteenth century Martin Luther compared the law to a hammer and a tyrant. The law beats us down, oppresses us, and enslaves us.

[I]f you are bruised with this hammer, do not use this bruising perversely, so that you load yourself with more laws, but listen to Christ who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). When the law oppresses you so that everything seems utterly desperate and thus drives you to Christ for help, then the law is performing its true function. This is the best and most perfect use of the law. . . .

The law’s true function, then, is to show us our sins, to make us guilty, to humble us, to kill us, to bring us down to hell, and finally to take away all help and all comfort; yet this is wholly in order that we may be justified, exalted, brought to life, carried up into heaven, and obtain everything good. Therefore, the law does not just kill, but it kills in order that we may live. (Luther, Galatians, 169, 186)

The law shows us our sin, and that humiliates us and confronts us with our need for confession. The law does not save us or restore us to God; it does the work of breaking us down to despair by showing us that we cannot obey God’s law completely. That work creates a desire for God’s saving work of forgiving our sin and giving us salvation from sin in Jesus. God’s Word helps us to realize our sin.

God Requires Restitution for Sin

The guilt or restitution offering had to do with sins that involved taking something tangible. In addition to an offering, God required His people to return the tangible thing or its equivalent to the rightful owner (5:16; 6:4-5). To have fellowship with God, thieves had to give back what they had stolen, plus another fifth. Returning what was stolen was important; it demonstrated sorrow for sin and repentance. It ensured that God’s people would not offer the restitution offering as a meaningless ritual. To offer the restitution offering, they had to turn from their sin sincerely, and they demonstrated their sincerity by reversing what they had done and giving back more than they had stolen.

Second Corinthians 7 describes two kinds of grief over sin—godly grief and worldly grief. Worldly grief over sin is emotion without change. The sinner feels sorry or sad about doing wrong (or about getting caught doing wrong!), but does not change his behavior. That’s not repentance. Godly grief is emotion that results in changed behavior. Godly grief includes repentance, which is turning away from sin and living differently (2 Cor 7:9-10). God’s requirement in the restitution offering ensured that the worshipers’ grief over their sin was godly grief, not worldly grief. They would alter their behavior, not just feel badly. They would change their lives, not just observe a religious ceremony to absolve themselves of guilty feelings.

John the Baptist preached the same message of repentance. Matthew 3:8 says that John the Baptist preached, “Produce fruit consistent with repentance.” Repentance bears fruit, the fruit of changed behavior. Repentance is turning from sin; it’s a change in mind that results in a change in living. If we don’t change the way we’re living, we haven’t repented. John the Baptist was saying essentially, “Don’t come here pretending to repent and expect me to baptize you. If you have repented, we’ll see it in the changes in your life, in the fruit.” In the restitution offering, people had to “produce fruit consistent with repentance.” God required them to demonstrate that they were serious about turning from their sin, and they demonstrated it by giving back what they took, plus twenty percent. God requires restitution for sin.

God Requires Receiving His Atonement for Sin

In the description of the restitution offering, three times these words appear: “The priest will make atonement on his behalf . . . and he will be forgiven” (5:16,18; 6:7). All three times that statement is made, it occurs after the repentance of the worshiper and the sacrifice of a ram. The death of a sacrificial animal was necessary before the words “atonement” and “forgiven” could be spoken. Hebrews 9:22 states God’s prerequisite for forgiveness: “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” From the beginning God ordained that sin leads to death—physical death and spiritual death. In the sacrificial system God ordained another principle, a principle of His grace. He said that instead of sin leading to the death of the sinner, He would allow sin to result in the death of an animal that would serve as a sacrifice, a substitute for the sinner to be killed in his place. When a sinner repented and accepted God’s remedy of sacrifice, he would be forgiven.

That was God’s plan in the old covenant period, but He knew that period was temporary. The old covenant sacrificial system was pedagogical. God used the sacrifices to teach the world the means by which sinful people are reconciled to holy God. The old covenant sacrificial system was also preparatory. God used the sacrifices to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, who is the final sacrifice for sin through whom all people can be reconciled to God. The prophet Isaiah wrote of that coming Messiah, and he used the very word used in Leviticus 5 and 6 to refer to the restitution offering. Isaiah wrote,

The Lord was pleased to crush Him severely. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished. (Isa 53:10)

When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He became our restitution offering. God offered the restitution offering for us when He was in Christ on the cross, laying down His life for ours (2 Cor 5:19). To receive salvation and eternal life, we put our faith in Jesus as our sacrifice and our Savior. When we do, in Him we are forgiven. All of our past sin, everything we have done that was against God’s commands, everything we should have done but did not do, every wicked thought, every careless word—forgiven. No matter what we have done, we will not suffer eternal death separated from God because Jesus died in our place and we put our faith in Him. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Reflect and Discuss