Five points about sin

There are some interesting things in this passage concerning the sin offerings, and some interesting lessons we can learn about sin as well.

Depending on who committed the sin, different offerings were to be made.  For the priest, a bull.  For a leader, a male goat.  For the ordinary layperson, a female goat or sheep, doves or pigeons, or for the very poor, an offering of flour.

The idea here is that the greater the position and the greater the knowledge, the greater the accountability for your sin.

The priest, as a representative of God had the highest accountability.  The leader, as one governing the people, had slightly lesser accountability.  And the ordinary layperson had the least.

Jesus put it this way,

The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.  (Luke 12:47-48)

A second point is that it didn’t matter if a person noticed their sin or not.  They were still guilty.  And as soon as they found out about their sin, they were to make it right.

The same can be said of us.  We cannot just ignore sin in our lives.  We can’t just say, “Well, I didn’t know any better at the time, so it’s not so important.”

Nor can we say, “Well, it happened so long ago.  Surely I don’t need to repent of that!”

Sin is sin, whether you noticed it or not, whether it happened a long time ago or not.  We’re still guilty.  And we need to make it right.

Another point is that sin is not just doing what’s wrong.  It’s also not doing what’s right.  God said,

If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible. (Leviticus 5:1)

In this case, if a person knew something about a court case, and refused to give testimony that had bearing on the case, they were guilty of sin.  They knew they should have said something, but didn’t .

James puts it this way,

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.  (James 4:17)

A fourth point is that it doesn’t matter if you intended to sin or not, if you sinned, you’re guilty.

In Leviticus 5:2-5, talks about people carelessly or thoughtlessly committing sin.  They didn’t mean to sin, it just “kind of happened.”

But intentions or not, God said they were still guilty.

Finally, there are sins where you must make restitution.

In other words, there are times when saying, “I’m sorry” is not enough.

In Leviticus 6, for example, it talks about making restitution to people you have robbed or deceived.

In those cases, it wasn’t enough to make a sacrifice.  It wasn’t enough to say “I’m sorry.”

They had to make restitution.

And in the same way, if we’ve really hurt someone, we need to make restitution too.

The good news for us is that we no longer have to make sacrifices.  Jesus was the final sacrifice for our sins.

But just as the Israelites were required to confess their sins and repent, so are we.

In 1 John 1:9, it says,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Lord I thank you for paying for my sin.  Lord, help me always keep a clean heart before you.  Please reveal my sin to me, and help keep my heart pure.

Keep me from willful sins and unwillful ones. And where I need to make restitution, let me be humble and do so. 

Thank you for your grace and forgiveness.  In Jesus’ name, amen.