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Introduction
Outside the Biblical world,
sacrifice is mostly understood as “the practice or an act of killing an animal
or person or surrendering a possession as an offering to a deity.”[1] In the Old
Testament, the word (קרב qarab, v. sacrifice) literally means “bringing near”.[2]
In Greek, the noun “θυσία” (n. sacrifice)
means “an act of offering”, or “that which is offered as a sacrifice”.[3] Combining
both concepts together, we have "bringing sacrifice near", which we start to develop a
picture that an offeror brings an offering (an animal, a gift) to God as a token of
seeking fellowship with God or seeking atonement from God.
This paper introduces sacrificial
system described in Leviticus in general with a focus on sin sacrifice to better
understand what Paul said in Romans 12:1, “Therefore,
I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living
and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of
worship.” [4]
Categories of Sacrifices and Offerings
The sacrificial
system is best described and defined in Leviticus 1-7. We can see at least five
sacrifices and offerings were introduced – the burnt offering, grain offering,
peace offering, sin offering, and guilt offering. Hamilton argued that the
first three sacrifices, the burnt offering, grain offering, and peace offering,
are “non-expiatory, voluntary” offerings. Unlike the last two offerings (sin
and guilt offerings), the first three offerings are used to express one’s
devotion to God. They are celebration in nature because the offerors are
allowed to consume some of the sacrifice and enjoy fellowship with God (eat
with God). The result on God is a pleasing odor, the sacrifice is pleasing to
God. Hamilton concluded that “the primary purpose of sacrifice (in the burnt, grain, and peace offerings)
is not atonement. Rather, it is a means of expressing the reality and dynamics
of one’s relationship with God via a gift as a part of entering God’s
presence.”[5]
Sin and guilt offerings, on the
other hand, are “expiatory, mandatory” offerings. Their explicit purpose is
designed to ask God for forgiveness of sin. Sin and guilt offerings as a
category are different from the first three non-expiatory offerings in the occasion
(when), and the participation of the offerors and the priests (who), the use of
the blood of animals (how), and the results (what).
The Occasion
Differed from other offerings, sin
offering is designed when “a person sins unintentionally in any of the things
which the Lord has commanded not
to be done and commits any of them.”[6]
How do we define “unintentionally”? Hess in his Expositor’s Bible Commentary
quoted Harris as “sins that are not deliberate (Harris, 547–48).”[7] Numbers
15:24 also gives its definition – “sins that are committed without the
community being aware of it” (lit., “apart from the eyes of the congregation”).
We can see another example in Joshua 20:3, where the killer commits the deed
“accidentally” (lit., “without knowing, planning”). In summary, we can
understand the sin sacrifice as covering the inadvertent violation of God’s
prohibitive laws. However, inadvertent
sins are not the only occasion that triggered the need for sin offerings. The
other two occasions are uncleanness (12:6) and sins of omission (5:1-4).
The Participation
Clendenen argued that the sin
offering was designed to “purify the sanctuary from sin that was committed
unintentionally, and thereby allow God to continue dwelling with His people.”[8] Because the emphasis is on
God’s continually presence with His people, the level of offense and the method
of propitiation depends on who committed the sin. God is holy, if the anointed
priest sins, he lost his prestige as the mediator to approach the Holy one, and
thus, he brings guilt on the people. A young bull without defect is required
for purifying his offense. Similarly, a young bull is used when the whole
congregation sins unintentionally and “does what is forbidden in any of the
commands of the Lord his God,”[9] In both occasions, the bull was presented before the Tent of
Meeting. When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden, then a
male goat is used. If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does
what is forbidden, then a female goat without defect is used. When a lamb is
used for a member of the community, then a female lamb is used. As Hess pointed
out, “As the status diminishes, so does the value of the animal sacrificed.”[10]
The next step is
probably the most graphic step in the whole process – not only did the offeror
need to bring the sacrificial animal to the Lord (at the entrance to the Tent
of Meeting), he will lay his hand on the head of the animal and slaughter it
before the Lord. Thinking of a picture that a lamb, perfect without defect,
being led to the altar, is standing quietly outside of the Tent of Meeting
without making any fuss, looking at the eyes of the offeror, waiting on what is
about to happen next. It is a picture of innocence and obedience all the way to
the las moment when the throat was slid, blood was splashed until the last
drop. To the offeror, if his heart is right, this picture can be a shocking
moment to him that he realizes that a perfectly fine animal just died in his
own hand to be a substitute in his place for his trespassing. “Laying hands on
the animal signifies that the animal is a substitute, which is recognized in
Lev 16:21.”[11]
Manipulation of the Blood
Unlike the burnt
offering which the priest sprinkled the blood against the side of the altar, the
sin offering presented a different set of instructions to handle the blood of
animals. If the anointed priest or the whole congregation gave the sin
offerings, the blood was sprinkled seven times on the veil of the Tent of
Meeting. If the rulers or one of the common people offered a sin offering, the
blood was put on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering. Like the
diminishing value of the animal, the way the blood was handled depended on the
status of the offerors. Only the anointed priest and the whole congregation’s
sin offering required the blood to be taken inside the Tent of Meeting and sprinkled
in front of the veil inside the holy place.
Sprinkling in
front of the veil in sin offering is unique among all five sacrifices in
Leviticus 1-8 and this uniqueness gives a clue to its purpose and significance
of the sin offering. Wenham argued that “the most important feature of this
rite is the sprinkling of the blood on the veil or on the altar.”[12] He made a comparison between the burnt offering and the sin
offering and concluded that while both offerings had the same component of the
atonement for the sins, but “purification is the main element in the sin
offering” and thus, he suggested to name the sin sacrifice the “purification
sacrifice”.
The Difference
What is the difference between the sin offering and the burnt offering? Basically, they served different purposes, but they all started with the dealing of sin. Wenham made an argument that “sin disrupts the relationship between God and man, and between man and man. It poses a threat to the covenant relationship by provoking divine anger.”[13] The problem was that when man sinned it polluted the dwelling place of God – the sanctuary, especially when the priests or the whole congregation sinned. God is holy, so if the sanctuary is not holy, then God is not there, which is a huge problem for the Jewish congregation and the nation of Israel. If God is not present among them, then they will not be protected, they become exploitable by the adversaries, or they will not be blessed by God which could result in famine. In either case, they are facing death if God is not present.
Therefore, the sin offering (or “purification offering”) is designed to cleanse the uncleanness caused by sins, so that God can be present among them again. Since the sanctuary is where God resides, if the priest or the whole congregation sins, then the sanctuary is polluted which means God is not going to stay there. The sin offering “purifies the tabernacle/temple, so that God may be present with the worshiper.”[14] For this very reason, if multiple sacrifices were offered at the same time, the sin offering was always presented before the burnt offering. We could see this pattern in Leviticus 9, where the sin offering was presented first (vv1-11), and then the burnt offering (vv12-14).
The Significance
Is there a theological
significance in the blood and the order of sacrifices? yes, there is, and we can even say that the blood holds the key to
the understanding of the Gospel and, similarly, the order of sacrifices holds the
knowledge for a holy living. First, blood is always involved in the
purification process. We can trace the evidence all the way back to Genesis 3
when God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve, not just as a provision to
keep them warm, but “as a provision to remedy the curse—a life for a life.”[15] Animals
sacrificed their lives for our sins so that the defilement of sin can be
removed, and God’s presence can be secured. The Hebrews author made it clear
that, “ According to the Law, one may
almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness.”[16] The slaying of the animal, Sailhamer also agrees, is “foreshadowed
by God’s work in ages past – his work of restoring to humanity the blessing of
his presence and fellowship.”[17]
Ultimately, Christ Jesus died in
our place for our sin, His blood cleansed our defilement odor which separated
God from us. The Gospel story becomes very logical and very theological under
the light of the sacrificial system. In the Old Testament, “sin offering
purifies the tabernacle or temple, so that God may be present with the
worshipper.”[18]
In the New Testament, Jesus’ blood purifies our bodily pollution and
defilement, so that God may be present in us, since “Do you
not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God, and that you are not your own? For you
have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”[19] When Paul uses the analogy of a temple of the Holy Spirit to
explain Jesus’ blood work, it becomes a clear picture that Jesus’ blood
cleanses our sinful body, just like animal’s blood cleanses the holy temple in
the sin offering.
Applications
While the sin offering purifies the
tabernacle or temple, the burnt offering brings the reconciliation between God
and man. Jesus’ death and His blood achieves both functions “in a complete and
absolute way that need never be repeated.”[20]
No one says better than the author of the book of Hebrews, “For
if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who
have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God?”[21] Indeed, Jesus’ blood is the perfect atonement for everyone who wants
to “put his hand on His head” and accepts His substitution for our death
penalty – His life for our lives.
As Christians in today’s church, not
only have we obtained the eternal security through Jesus’ blood through our
faith in Christ, we are eventually “royal priests.”[22]
If we sin or the whole congregation in a church sins, we may risk God’s absence
from our church and from our lives. Sin taints our relationship with God and
pollutes our fellowship with God. If we sin, no matter how much “good” work or “awesome”
services we offer to God, they won’t become a “soothing aroma” to God, because
sin stinks and breaks. Wenham agrees it, “There is the continued threat in the
NT that sin can drive the Spirit from the believer just as under the law God
could be driven from the tabernacle.”
How do we resume our fellowship
with God in today’s Christian lives if we sin? According to Leviticus 5:5-6
(NIV), “when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any
of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned. As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the
Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the
priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.” As Wenham
suggested, “so too in the NT, confession of sin is a prerequisite of
cleansing.”[23]
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”[24]
Summary
With all the understandings we
have so far, we are ready to look at what Paul said in Romans 12:1, where he
urged believers to “present” our bodies a living and holy sacrifice. The verb
“present” in Greek is “παραστῆσαι”
which also means “to offer” or “to bring”. Like the animals offered as a
sacrifice, we are bringing near our own body to be offered to God. However, to
be qualified as a sacrifice, our “body” has to be set aside and without defect,
so even if we are willing to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, we may have
to follow a proper procedure as God instructed. Will God just accept whatever
we are to offer? Probably not, just look at what Nadab and Abihu did in
Leviticus 10.
To be a living sacrifice, we may
want to make sure we are “cleansed” – to be purified. As Moses said to Aaron,
“Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering,
that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people; then make the
offering for the people, that you may make atonement for them, just as the Lord has commanded.”[25] As we learned from this passage, we need to make a sin offering
(confess our sins) and then a burnt offering (surrender our right to our body
and live a total dedicated life to God).
Bibliography
Arndt, W. (2000). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Hamilton, V. P. (2015). Handbook on the
Pentateuch, second edition . Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic.
Hess, R. S. (2008). “Leviticus,” in The Expositor’s
Bible Commentary: Genesis–Leviticus (Revised Edition). Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan.
Ross, A. P. (1985). “Genesis,” in The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Sailhamer, J. H. (1992). The Pentateuch As
Narrative. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
Scott, E. R. (2003). “Sacrifice and Offering,” ed.
Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Holman
Bible Publishers.
Stevenson, C. S. (2004). Concise Oxford English
Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wenham, G. J. (1979). The Book of Leviticus.
Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
[1]
Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, eds., Concise Oxford English Dictionary
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
[2]
Hamilton, Victor P., Handbook on the
Pentateuch, second edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015),
235.
[3]
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 462.
[4]
New
American Standard Bible: 1995 Update
(La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 12:1.
[5]
Hamilton, Victor P., Handbook on the
Pentateuch, second edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015),
236.
[6]
New
American Standard Bible: 1995 Update
(La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Le 4:2.
[7] Richard S. Hess, “Leviticus,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary:
Genesis–Leviticus (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III and David E.
Garland, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 611.
[8] E. Ray Clendenen with Langston Scott, “Sacrifice and
Offering,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers,
2003), 1430.
[9]
Leviticus 4:13
[10] Richard S. Hess, “Leviticus,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary:
Genesis–Leviticus (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III and David E.
Garland, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 613.
[11] Hamilton, Victor P., Handbook on the Pentateuch, second edition (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015), 241.
[12]
Wenham, Gordon J., The Book of Leviticus
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 88.
[13]
Wenham, Gordon J., The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 89.
[14] Wenham, Gordon J., The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1979), 101
[15] Allen P. Ross, “Genesis,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures,
ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985),
33.
[16]
Hebrews 9:22
[17]
Sailhamer, J. H. The Pentateuch As
Narrative. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1992), 110
[18]
Wenham, Gordon J., The Book of Leviticus
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 101
[19]
1 Corinthians 6:19
[20]
Wenham, Gordon J., The Book of Leviticus
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 102
[21]
Hebrews 9:13-14
[22]
1 Peter 2:9
[23]
Wenham, Gordon J., The Book of Leviticus
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 103
[24]
1 John 1:9
[25]
Leviticus 9:7
