Introduction

While all Old Testament types and shadows are significant, the Sin Offering is one of the most important institutions in the Bible. Leviticus 4 describes the reasoning and process for the Sin Offering in detail, explaining how it is a means to atone for sins committed unintentionally in the covenant community of God. This offering shows that it is not only sins committed intentionally that are damnable but sins committed unintentionally are just as condemnable. In this way, one point is clear: sin is a lot more prevalent and serious than humanity likes to admit. This short paper intends to show that Leviticus 4 demonstrates that humanity desperately needs a Savior from their sin, while Hebrews 9 and 10 show that Christ is the answer to that need. 

The Sin Offering in Leviticus 4

The passage on the Sin Offering comes in the middle book of the Pentateuch: Leviticus. After the construction and details regarding the dwelling place of Yahweh were described in Exodus, the covenant people of God needed to be told how they ought to dwell with Him. In Leviticus, Moses, by direct revelation from Yahweh, answers those questions. To this end, the Burnt, Grain, and Peace offerings are described just before the Sin Offering in Leviticus 4. Afterward, the final offering referred to as the Guilt Offering is defined, making the Sin Offering the fourth sacrifice described in the ceremonial law of the covenant people. 

While the Burnt Offering was sacrificed to make a general atonement of sin, the Sin Offering itself is made for specific, unintentional sins committed by those in the covenant community of Yahweh.  In this way, it is clear that atonement had to be made not only for intentional sins but also for ones committed inadvertently, which is what the Sin Offering was for. As mentioned above, this shows in detail just how serious and prevalent sin is. One does not only have to make atonement for the sin he willingly commits but also for those he commits without knowing. Further showing how wide-reaching even unintentional sins are, when speaking again to this offering, Numbers 15:26 mentions that a “stranger who sojourns among” Israel will also be forgiven as “the whole population was involved in the mistake” (Num. 15:26 ESV).  Thus, because of the fallen nature of humanity, the Sin Offering was done continually; each time one realized they had sinned. This offering is primarily meant to purify the offeror(s) so that the presence of Yahweh could dwell with His people again.

As described by Harrison, “The stress is on something that is done on behalf of man to remove the barrier set up by sin.”¹ God is holy and thus rightly demands holiness for His dwelling place. The Sin Offering, therefore, is done to purify the people and place, “making it holy to the Lord… and enabling God to dwell once again amongst His people.”² As Eveson explains, the true wording of the Hebrew could almost be rendered the opposite of “Sin Offering.” Instead, it could be rendered “the removal of sin” or “decontamination” which has led many to call it a Purification Law or Purification Offering.³ Regardless, this offering exists to restore one to a state of ceremonial purity when they had inadvertently entered into a state of impurity in order that Yahweh might dwell among them again. 

As Eveson continues to explain, the offering is accommodated to four groups based on the “status of those who were required to bring it.”⁴ Leviticus 4:3 speaks to the “anointed priests” which could refer either to the high priest or the priesthood in general. However, most commentators believe the Text speaks to the high priest specifically. Next, verse 13 addresses when the congregation of Israel as a whole sins without knowing. Verse 22 speaks to the sin of a ruler who is in a leadership position but is not the religious head.⁵ Finally, verse 27 addresses when anyone else in the covenant community unintentionally sins individually.

In all cases, the sacrifice is required when the party or parties “do any one of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt,” (Lev. 4:13). Then, they take their offering to the “front of the tent of meeting” (Lev. 4:14) where the Burnt Offerings are sacrificed because that place is “most holy,” (Lev. 6:25). Then, the offeror(s) lay their hands on the offering and slaughter the sacrifice. If the offeror is the high priest or a leader, their offering of a bull is carried outside the camp. Additionally, the priest will remove all the fat from the offering and burn it to Yahweh as a “pleasing aroma to the LORD,” (Lev. 4:31). Some of the guidelines for this offering are also reiterated in Leviticus 6:24-29 wherein it says that in certain cases the “priest who offers it for sin shall eat” the offering in the “court of the tent of meeting” (Lev. 6:26) unless “any blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place,” (Lev. 6:30).

It is also helpful to note that the Sin Offering appears in the discussion on the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. On the Day of Atonement, Aaron was to offer a Sin and Burnt Offering in order to prepare himself and the place for Yahweh’s presence (Lev. 16:3). He was also to “take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering” on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 6:5). This offering is also discussed in Numbers 15:22-26, outlining details for unintentional sins for the whole congregation and for the individual.

Jesus: The Fulfillment of the Sin Offering

The New Testament is clear that in Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, He has fulfilled all of the Old Covenant ceremonial sacrifices. For the Sin Offering, however, this is most clearly seen in Hebrews 9 and 10. What is striking about Hebrews 9 is that Jesus “entered once for all into the holy places…by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption,” (Heb. 9:12). Jesus’ sacrifice occurred once and never again. 

This is in direct contrast to the Sin Offering which “had only animals to offer in sacrifice, and it was necessary to repeat them again and again. But Christ offered only one sacrifice, not an animal but himself, and he did it once for all.”⁶ This is only possible by the blood of Christ. While Aaron and priests entered the Tabernacle through animal sacrifice, Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary through His own blood.⁷ In this way, Jesus fulfills this offering in such a complete way that it contains “continuing, unbroken efficacy, which obtained not merely a temporary and outward cleansing, but eternal redemption.”⁸ A continual offering for sacrifice is no longer required for those who are in Christ!

Hebrews 10 goes further to explain the nature of these Old Testament sacrifices and their relation to Christ. In reality, they were all “a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities,” (Heb. 10:1). The author of Hebrews continues to say that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins,” (Heb. 10:4). Thus the blood of the sacrifices in the Sin Offering were not the thing effectively taking away the sins of the covenant people, but were pointing to the One who would. As Stedman says, “A shadow indicates a reality, but has no substance in itself.”⁹ 

Bruce goes on to explain that “those earlier sacrifices were but token sacrifices; the sacrifice of Christ was a real self-offering, accomplished on the moral and spiritual plane.”¹⁰ As discussed above, the Sin Offering was to provide purification for the offeror. Now if the blood of animals, which was only a token, sanctifies “for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ” purify those who are in Him (Heb. 9:13-14)? This means that Christians can rejoice in the eternal atonement Christ purchased for them. There is no longer any need for the one in Christ to make continual sacrifices for their sin; the blood of Christ has eternally purified them.

Conclusion

This fulfillment means that when those in Christ fail and they realize the prevalence and weight of their unintentional sins, they can cling to Christ who has purchased redemption for them. They can look back upon the shadow of the Sin Offering to reflect on the seriousness of the sins they commit every day. However, because of Christ, Christians can now come to Yahweh, confess their sins, and God will be “faithful and just to forgive” them of their sins and cleanse them from “all unrighteousness,” (1 John 1:9). Praise God for the revealing of His shadows in the Old Testament and the immense grace of fulfilling them in His Son in the New.

Footnotes

1.  R. K. Harrison, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1980), 61. ↩︎
2.  Harrison, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary, 61. ↩︎
3.  Philip H. Eveson, The Beauty of Holiness: Leviticus Simply Explained, 2015 Edition., Welwyn Commentary Series (Leyland, UK: EP Books, 2015), 58. ↩︎
4.  Eveson, The Beauty of Holiness, 62. ↩︎
5.  Eveson, The Beauty of Holiness, 63. ↩︎
6.  Ray C. Stedman, Hebrews, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010), 98. ↩︎
7.  F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), 200. ↩︎
8.  Stedman, Hebrews, 98. ↩︎
9.  Stedman, Hebrews, 103. ↩︎
10.  Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 205. ↩︎