Jesus Atonement for Unintentional Sins Alone?
Did Jesus die for all sins or only for unintentional sins ?
In the book of Leviticus Chapter 1-5 God, spoke to Moses the type of sins and type of sin offerings to atone (purge) for the sins for individuals or the entire nation of Israel.
Leviticus chapter 1-3 address three voluntary offerings and doesn’t deal with sin:
- The Burnt Offering [Lev 1]
- The Cereal Offering [Lev 2]
- The Well-Being Offering [Lev 3]
Leviticus chapter 4-5 address mandatory offerings that deals with unintentional sins and willful repented sins:
- The Purification Offering [Lev 4]
- The Reparation Offering [Lev 5]
Leviticus Chapter 4: The Purification offering is an offering that purges the defilement that was cased by sinning against the Lord commandments unintentionally:
- If the anointed Priest sins unintentionally, he will bring guilt on himself and his people and has to bring young bull and kill it for his sin [Lev 4:1-2]
- If the Nation of Israel sins unintentionally, bring a bull and all the elders lay hands on it and the bull shall be killed and let the priest make atonement for the people. [Lev 4:13-21]
- If the Chieftain (tribe leader) sin unintentionally, and then he acknowledges it he shall bring a male goat for his sin and kill it for his atonement.[Lev 4:22-26]
- If the Commoner (laity) sins unintentionally and then he acknowledges it he shall bring female goat for his sins and kill it for his atonement. [Lev 4:27-31]
- When person does wrong by with-holding a witness testimony upon hearing an imprecation [Lev 5:1]
- when person does wrong by touching impure animal [Lev 5:2]
- when person does wrong by touching impure humans or becoming impure [Lev 5:3]
- Making an oath but not fulfilling it [Lev 5:4]
The second offering is The Reparation offering Lev 5:14-26. This offering also deals with willful sins but followed by remorse and repentance.
- When person commit sacrilege by committing unintentional sins against the Lord Sancta [Lev 5:14-15]
- When a person violate any of the Lord commandment without knowing it and feels guilt [Lev 5:17]
These two above cases when a person sins unintentionally and then he realize his sin then he goes and offer reparation offering for the damage he has done to the Lord sancta.
There is more cases where a person commit a blatant willful sin and God allow purgation for his sin from the Sancta, such in:
- If someone sins and acts perversely against Lord by dealing falsely with his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him, by stealing or by extorting him [Lev 5:21]
- If someone dealing falsely in regard to a lost object he has found, or by swearing to a lie — if a person commits any of these sins, then, if he sinned and is guilty, he is to restore whatever it was he stole or obtained by extortion, or whatever was deposited with him, or the lost object which he found 24 or anything about which he has sworn falsely. He is to restore it in full plus an additional one-fifth; he must return it to the person who owns it, on the day when he presents his reparation offering. 25 He is to bring as his reparation offering to Lord a ram without defect from the flock, or its equivalent according to your appraisal, to the priest; it is a reparation offering. 26 Thus the priest will make atonement (purgation) for him before Lord, and he will be forgiven in regard to whatever it was he did that made him guilty [Lev 5:23-26]
God did allow indeed forgiveness and atonement (purgation) for willful sins such as in these four cases:
- The sin of individual who withhold evidence under an imprecation [Lev 5:1]
- The sin of individual who forgets to purify himself within the prescribed time [Lev 5:2-3]
- The sin of individual who forgets to fulfill his oath [Lev 5:4]
- The sins of the community carried off by the scapegoat [Lev 16:21]
God doesn’t tolerate brazen (willful) sins where the sinner is not repenting nor feel remorse for what he has done or doing such in the example of the man who was picking up sticks on the sabbath and he was stoned for his brazen sin. [Num 15:32-36]
Day of Purgation
The annual observance, known as Yom Kippur or The Day of Purgation, is discussed in Leviticus 16. When individuals sin through actions or become impure due to defilement, these transgressions directly taint the tabernacle. The daily offerings by the priests and laypeople are insufficient, as sins and impurities can occur unnoticed. However, due to Jehovah’s grace, a single day was designated to cleanse and purge the entire previous year’s impurities, reconciling the nation and ensuring Jehovah’s presence remains among them. This day served to uphold the Covenant between God and his people, addressing defilement.
Now here’s the question, all of this, is animal, flour offerings, but does human death atone for sins?
Well, let’s look at this, in Numbers 35:16-32 -CF Joshua 20:1-6 IF you kill someone accidentally or by ignorance you can flee to one of the citied of refuge and live there, no animal sacrifice shall make atonement for this type sin until the death of a High priest who was anointed with Holy Oil which will make atonement for this ignorant sin and he, the murder, shall come back to his city.
The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying,
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,
3 that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
4 And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
5 Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand.
6 And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ” Joshua 20:1-6
The death of high priest is foreshadow to the death of the coming sinless high priest the Lord Jesus Christ who makes atonement once and for all.
The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 will die for sins, iniquities and transgressions of the people:
1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness;And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin,He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:1-13
The coming Servant will die for our transgressions, our iniquities and for the transgressors.
The New Testament identify that the Lord Jesus as the suffering Servant of Isaiah:
1. Matthew 8:14-17 – Cf. Isaiah 53:4
“When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”
Matthew 8:14-17
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
Isaiah 53:4
2. Luke 22:37 – Cf. Isaiah 53:12
“It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
Luke 22:37
“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Isaiah 53:12
3. Acts 8:29-35 – Cf. Isaiah 53:7-8
“The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: ‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.’ The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.”
Acts 8:29-35
-CF
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he open not his mouth.He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Isaiah 53:7-8
4. 1 Peter 2:21-25 – Cf. Isaiah 53:4-6, 9
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:21-25
-CF
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:4-6“And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.”
Isaiah 53:9
Both N.T. and O.T. agree that the suffering Servant which is Jesus dies for all types of sins and iniquities and make intercession for the transgressors:
.“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45
.”And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Matthew 26:26-29
.”Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Bottom line, yes our Lord Jesus died for ALL sins past present and future:
“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14
In Christ,
Mustafa