At a men’s Bible study a couple years ago someone noted that in the Old Testament, under the Law of Moses, there was no forgiveness for intentional sins. While I understood why the man said this, it also still was a bit startling. Think about it. There were sins that could not be forgiven. I confess: I have committed intentional sins. It is not that hard. And like I said, I know why the man said this. When you read the instructions for offerings in Lev. 1-7 there are frequent references to “unintentional” sins (that’s the NKJV word). There is atonement for sins committed unwittingly or in ignorance. But is it true that there is no sacrifice for sins committee knowingly?
The easy answer is to look at today’s passage in Leviticus 6. Take v2 for example: If a person sins and commits a trespass against the LORD by lying to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about a pledge, or about a robbery, or if he has extorted from his neighbor and so on through v5. Clearly, lying to your neighbor about the box the UPS man delivered to your house for safekeeping because the neighbor wasn’t home is a very intentional sin. The remedy for this is in v6-7: And he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD, a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, as a trespass offering, to the priest. So the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven for any one of these things that he may have done in which he trespasses. So the answer is “yes.” Atonement can be made for intentional sin.
But this leads to another question. In Leviticus, there are rules given for “sin offerings” (ch. 4-5) and then for “trespass offerings” (ch. 5-6). The question is: what is the difference between a sin offering and a trespass offering? You may be surprised to know that this question has been batted around for centuries by the Jewish rabbis. And in Christian commentaries there are differences of opinion. One common idea is that the sin offering was for sins of the heart while the trespass offering was for behavioral sins. I saw that more than once. But I don’t think it fits the Scripture. In Lev. 4:2, speaking of the sin offering, we read, Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them… This is for sins committed, not just in the heart. The LORD goes on to say that if this is done “unintentionally” (in ignorance) the sinner must bring a sin offering. You could argue that an “unintentional” sin is less of a heart issue because the person did not mean to do what he did.
We need to continue this in the next post. But let us note with rejoicing that the God of the Bible forgives iniquity and transgression and sin (Ex. 34:7). This is part of His manifold name, given to Moses on the mountain! The good news in Christ is sufficient, even for those who are still “inventing” evil things (Rom. 1:30).
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