Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.

I have a Youtube video of me reading the Scripture passage and my comments. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

I always notice right away when I read today’s passage (I notice it right away because it is right there at the beginning) that God tells the Israelites that it is a sin to fail to provide testimony to what you know when there is a public investigation of a matter (assuming that you are aware that the investigation is taking place).  In the past I have glossed over another part of the same set of commands, where God tells us that making a rash oath to do something is a sin.  It does not matter if the oath is to do something evil or to do something good.  God tells us that we commit a sin when we make a rash oath no matter what we promise to do.  In fact, it is just as much of a sin to make a rash oath to do something good as it is to make such an oath to do something evil.  So, we should never commit ourselves to do something with reckless haste.

I fond another thing from this passage interesting.  When it talks about the priests actually offering the grain offerings and the burnt offerings, and that portions of them are intended to be food for the priests, it says that whatever touches the priest’s portion becomes holy.  I think that this is where Paul gets the idea behind what he writes in 1 Corinthians 7 that a believer who has an unbelieving spouse should not divorce them if the unbeliever is willing to continue to live with the believer.  Paul says that the unbelieving spouse will be made holy by the believer.  I think that this passage we are reading today, combined with what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians, gives us insight into the way in which we as believers, who are made holy by our faith in Christ, can make holy the people around us and the places where we live and work.  We can transform them into holy people and holy places.  First, let me touch on how this influences the people around us.  As we live our lives according to the dictates of God, we will see those around us changing their behavior for the better in response to the Holy Spirit’s presence within us.  This does not happen because we are better people than others.  It happens because the Holy Spirit lives within us and is present wherever we go.  And because the Holy Spirit is within us, He makes every place we are holy, transforming it into something which more clearly expresses the holiness of God.

*while there is an element of truth in my title, it is not fully true.  My explanation above is a bit more nuanced than my title.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.

Today’s passage begins by holding us responsible to tell those in authority what we know about things which they are investigating.  Actually, it looks as if we are obligated to help those who are seeking to get to the bottom of anything (although that gets more complicated).  From there it goes on to talk about those who committed sins without realizing it, and those who were unaware that they were committing a sin.  As the final part of this, it mentions those who do wrong without intending to do so.  All of this touches on things which lead us down a path to bad things:

• • “I don’t want to get involved.”
  • “It’s not my concern.”
  • “I didn’t know it was wrong.”
  • “I didn’t know.”
  • “I didn’t mean to do that.”
  • “I meant it to help them.”

  The point of this passage is that we are still responsible for our actions, and for the results of our actions, even if those results were not our intentions, even if we meant well.

  I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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.