It is true to say that every Christian has the potential of sinning in each of the three ways specified in this passage of Leviticus – he can sin in his actions of public worship, he can sin in general by breaking the Lord’s commandments, and he can sin against his brother in one way or another. Each of these sins necessitates fresh forgiveness from God before fellowship with him can be restored.
The reality of this situation means that we should engage in regular self-examination of how we have behaved. For example, when we get home from church on Sunday morning, we should spend some time reviewing our participation in the service. Did we sing from our hearts when God’s praise was sung? Did we add our amen to the petitions that were offered in the prayers? Did we listen with awe and delight to the Word of God as it was read? Did we pay attention to the exposition of God’s Word as it was explained? These features of our services of worship are the New Testament equivalents of the holy things of the Lord found in the tabernacle. All of us are guilty at some time or another of sinning in this way, but we are often not aware of it until we engage in self-examination. We have sinned without realising it, perhaps.
It may also be appropriate in such circumstance to make a private act of compensation to the Lord. Just as the Israelite worshipper would add a fifth of the value of his animal sacrifice, so such an act of compensation would be an expression of repentance for a Christian, in a private personal manner, to give something extra to God. The extra is not an attempt to win God’s favour; instead it is a realisation that the Christian had denied God what he was due and in the process also denied himself of spiritual blessings. He may determine to spend extra time praising God or praying to him or reading his Word or listening to a recording of the message to which he originally paid little attention. Of course, such activities are personal and cannot be demanded – nevertheless they can be appropriate personal responses. We cannot ignore the fact that the Israelite worshipper was expected to make compensation when he had not treated the worship of God with proper respect.
Jesus refers to the practice of the trespass offering when speaking to his disciples in Matthew 5:23-24: ‘So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.’ The Saviour informs his disciples that it is unacceptable and impossible to offer worship to God if another disciple has a legitimate grievance against us. He depicts a person who has come to the Temple for worship, selected and paid for his animal, and made his way to the priest in order to offer his sacrifice. Perhaps the person is aware of some personal sins and is ready to confess them. As he stands in the queue waiting his turn, he realises that he has not put right a wrong he did against another disciple. Jesus says that worship from that person will not be accepted until he sorts out the problem he has caused. And the appropriate sacrifice then to offer would be a trespass offering with its gift.
The trespass offering also raised the issue of restitution when a disciple, or indeed a person in general, has lost out financially through an action or word of another Christian. Zacchaeus was commended by Jesus for making restitution when he said: ‘Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost’ (Luke 19:8-10). What was the significance of Zacchaeus’ actions? They showed that his repentance was genuine.
Therefore, the trespass offering is a reminder of the importance of Christian relationships. It tells us that a sin against a fellow disciple is also a sin against Christ himself. When an Israelite defrauded his fellow he was also defrauding God; Leviticus 6:2 calls such activities a breach of faith with the Lord himself. Jesus says, in a parable describing the Day of Judgment, that what was done or not done to one of his people was also done or not done to him (Matt. 25:40, 45). Healthy relationships are essential for acceptable worship.
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