Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
Today’s passage tells us that we can be guilty of sin, even if we are unaware of committing the sin when it happens, and in another place that we can be guilty of sin, even if we did not intend to commit the sin. “I didn’t know” is not an excuse for doing wrong. A little further on this passage requires that if anyone dishonestly gains at the expense of another, they must make restitution to their victim. As I read this, I see it is not enough to repent of our sins, we must also seek to make right the injury we have caused to others.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
Under the U.S. legal system, while certain legal entities may require specific individuals to testify regarding what they know about an incident, no one is required to step forward and offer testimony about an incident. That is, under U.S. law, you cannot be prosecuted for failing to volunteer that you know something of interest to authorities. However, the first verse of this passage tells us that it is a sin to fail to provide such testimony. If the innocent suffer, or the guilty escape punishment, due to our failure to volunteer relevant information, God will hold us accountable. I think this applies more in situations outside of the judicial system where people are spreading inaccurate information about others, especially when those being spoken about are being maligned.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
The first point I want to focus on out of this passage is the fact that one can sin unintentionally and unknowingly. In fact this passage is about holding people accountable for sins they unintentionally, and/or unknowingly, committed. There are really two points here. We are still guilty of committing sin, even if we did not realize that our action was a sin. We are also still guilty of committing sin, even if we were unaware of committing the action which was a sin. This applies to both things we have done against God and things which we have done against our fellow man. When we discover that we have done that wrong regarding God or our fellow man, we should seek to make amends for our action.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
I am not sure where I am going to go with today’s blog. I want to start with this: it is a sin to not come forward with what you know about a crime, whether your knowledge points to who committed the crime, or whether it indicates that a particular suspect is not guilty. While this passage only addresses crimes which the authorities know about and are seeking those with knowledge about what happened, I am convinced it also applies to crimes of which the authorities are not yet aware.
Next I want to spend a little time looking at the idea of unintentional sin. This passage makes it clear that sin is still sin even if you did not intend to do it. So, while your intentions matter, what matters more is what you actually do, and its results. Even if you did not intend to do harm, when you have done harm you must seek to make it right. This is a complex issue. Doing wrong is still wrong even if you did not know it was wrong when you did it. However, the passage also makes clear that intentionally doing wrong is much worse than unintentionally doing wrong. Further, the passage tells us that the one who decides that they had sinned is the person who unintentionally committed the sin. This highlights the fact that any system of laws only works when the overwhelming majority of those to whom the laws apply intend to do what is right. No set of laws will work in a society where the only arbiter of right or wrong is whether or not you get caught.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
In the New Testament, Paul writes that if you think it is sinful to some specific thing, than you commit a sin when you do that particular thing. This has led some people to the conclusion that if you do not think a particular act is a sin, for you that act is not a sin. Today’s passage makes very clear that you can sin without realizing that you are doing so. A careful reading of what Paul writes on the subject reveals that there are things which are not sinful to do in and of themselves. However, they may be sinful to do if we think of them as sinful. Or, if we them in front of someone who thinks of them as sinful, who then does them because they saw us do them. That latter sin does not require that we know the person thinks that the action is a sin.
As an example of how this works. I have some friends who often tell self-deprecating jokes about themselves in order to make people laugh, and often intentionally set themselves up as the straight man for a joke told by others. If someone took advantage of one of these set ups in order to make them look bad, it would fail because the butt of the joke, and those around them, knew the whole thing was just to get a laugh. However, the person who tried to make them look bad would still be guilty of trying to bring harm to them by besmirching their reputation. On the other hand, if someone set themselves up to be the butt of a joke, I took advantage of that opportunity, and that person felt denigrated by what I said, I would be guilty of hurting their feelings, even if I only meant to make them laugh. or, to put it another way. If I intend to do harm, I am guilty of doing wrong even if I fail to do harm, but I am also wrong if I do harm, but did not intend to do so.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
The passage begins by describing a few of the actions which might require one to offer a sin offering. First, it is a sin to refuse to testify about something which one has seen, or knows about. Another sin listed here is the making of a foolish vow. Both of these are sins which require a sin offering. Remaining silent when we see injustice being done is not an option for those who serve the Lord. Of course, the second sin I mentioned warns us to temper that action because behaving foolishly is a sin as well. We must make sure that the injustice we “see” is what we think it is.
The passage makes clear that often times we sin without realizing it. Perhaps we called someone out for injustice based on partial information. If we learn more information which shows that the person had not committed an injustice, an “Oops, my bad” is insufficient. We must admit that we were wrong, that we had sinned when we condemned them. We no longer bring sacrifices to the altar to present to God, but we may need to consider offering restitution to those we besmirched by our rush to judgment. Have we failed to speak up when we knew who had committed a wrong because we “didn’t want to get involved”? Have we committed ourselves to a foolish course of action?
Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
Today’s passage contains a list of sins for which one must make atonement. Among these sins are two of which I want to take special note. First, the passage says that it is sinful to refuse to testify when called to do so about something which you have seen or know about. If we know something regarding a case which is before the courts, or which should be before the courts, we are obligated to testify regarding that case. While the passage only states that we are obligated to testify if we are “called” to do so, I believe that this obligation goes beyond that. I do not want to make this a black-and-white obligation for us to be tattle-tales, but it does mean that we cannot let wrongdoing we are aware of go by just because the authorities do not know to call us to testify. The second sin worth noting is the making of a foolish vow, whether the vow is for good or bad purpose. So, making a foolish commitment is a sin. All of the different ways in which such a commitment might be foolish applies here, whether what we have committed to do is foolish, or if we encourage someone to do something foolish because of what we will do if they do so.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.
Today’s passage continues the discussion about the types of offerings which the people of Israel were to offer and why. I am not very interested by the details regarding the offerings and the specifics of how they were to be made (despite the fact that I have heard and/or read several good messages about the lessons we can gain from those details). Nevertheless there are some things in this passage which are noteworthy. The first is right at the beginning. When authorities are investigating something we are obligated to tell them what we know about the situation. If we have information which will clear an individual, or information which will convict them, God instructs us to make that information known. God will hold us accountable if the innocent are punished, or the guilty go free because we did not speak up. I want to mention that this instruction is not limited to criminal cases but applies to any case where the authorities are seeking information (although I do not believe that it applies when the authorities are looking for information in order to commit an injustice).
The other noteworthy item in this passage is that we can sin without being aware that we are doing so. The repeated references to unintentionally committing sin, or unknowingly committing sin tells us that just because we meant well does not mean that we will not be held accountable for our bad behavior. When we do wrong there are negative consequences even if we did not know we were doing wrong and even if we did not mean to do wrong.
This is another passage that I would probably skim over, or not even read, if I was not committed to writing this blog (I apologize from now if this refrain becomes repetitive over the next few weeks). However, the first thing which struck me was that it is a sin to refuse to testify about something which you have knowledge of. We have an obligation to testify about things we have seen, or know about. We should testify if we know something that will exonerate the person on trial and if we know something which will incriminate that person.
The passage then goes on to describe how to make good when we have defiled or stolen property, or defrauded someone out of value. In these circumstances God’s commands is to make restitution of the value we destroyed for someone else, plus 20%. Then His command was to make an offering to God. While we no longer practice the sacrificial system laid out in the Old Testament, there is still something to be learned from these guidelines. When we steal from or defraud others, we have sinned both against them and against God. It is not enough to restore what we took from them, we must give them more than we took. Then we must make right once more our relationship with God. Fortunately for us, God has since this was written offered the sacrifice necessary to restore our relationship, but we must still acknowledge that we damaged that relationship.
