The Uncertain Sinner
Now if a person sins and does any of the things [a]which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, he is still guilty and shall bear his punishment. Leviticus 5:17 NASB
Is still – Choose your Bible carefully! Depending on the translation you read, you might be guilty of things you didn’t even know about. Consider the implications of the NASB above and the other translations below:
ESV If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity.
NIV If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible.
NRSV If any of you sin without knowing it, doing any of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, you have incurred guilt, and are subject to punishment.
JPS And when a person, without knowing it, sins in regard to any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done, and then realizes his guilt, he shall be subject to punishment.
The ESV and the JPS translations claim that you are not guilty until you realize you have committed a sin. In this case, ignorance is an excuse. But the NASB, NIV, and NRSV suggest that even if you didn’t know you were sinning at the time, you are nevertheless guilty. Could this imply that you have committed sins unknowingly and will be held accountable? Ah, yes, ignorance is no excuse under the Law. Go to the altar. Confess all your sins. But, obviously, you can’t confess sins you don’t know. You get off your knees, feeling God’s grace. And when you die, suddenly the register shows that there are a host of sins you committed in ignorance. You’re not forgiven because you never confessed these acts. Too bad. Too late. Go straight to Hell.
All of this turns on an ambiguity in the Hebrew text. The verse echoes a similar, but positive, statement in Leviticus 5:3 (translated “and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty”). In 5:3, the man ultimately comes to know that he previously committed sin. But the text really reads “of his having been guilty.” In other words, his guilt accrued when he committed the act even though at the time he was unaware of it. But later, when he ultimately realizes his guilt, there is a pathway for redemption. As Baruch Levine notes, “ . . . according to cultic law guilt is not a function of awareness.”[1] The NASB, NIV, and NRSV follow this line of thought. You’re guilty whether you know it or not.
But 5:17 seems to suggest something different. The JPS and ESV translations suggest that guilt accrues when awareness occurs. This is based on a rabbinic tradition that “understands the laws of 5:17-19 to mean that the offender did not know for certain, but only suspected, that he may have committed an offense. In effect, he had no positive, ultimate knowledge of the offense, and this is the sense of the clause . . . ‘he did not know’—for certain.”[2] He is aware that he is potentially guilty. So, he makes an offering, a sacrifice, just to be sure that those acts which might have been sins are also covered. It isn’t that he becomes conscious of the actual sinful act. Rather, he suspects there might be a problem, so he acts on the basis of his incomplete knowledge. Now he has an option. Rather than go to his grave with the possibility that he has committed offenses unknowingly and has not repented of them, this blanket offering accounts for his uncertain acts. Heaven’s door is open. What a relief!
We might be glad that the rabbis came up with this option, but it doesn’t quite remove the tension. We’re still left with the situation where a man believes he has done everything according to the commandments and perceives no necessity of sacrificing for potentially lethal sins. According to the text, he is still guilty—and will be punished accordingly. While our legal system follows this train of thought (ignorance is no excuse), it also makes exceptions. Leviticus seems not to do this, and that raises an interesting question: Will God punish those who believe they have done everything needed to follow Him but didn’t know they missed something? Let’s ask it another way: Will God punish all those who followed what the Church taught even if they didn’t know it was wrong?
Topical Index: uncertain, unknowing, sin, guilt, Leviticus 5:3, Leviticus 5:17
[1] Baruch Levine, The JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus, p. 27.
[2] Baruch Levine, The JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus, p. 32.
Skip, the point you made regarding the ambiguity in the Hebrew text, and the problem that creates for an English translation is reasonable and well-taken. But the tack you took with the the summary paragraph, frankly, puzzles me. Are you focusing on “what the Church taught” to get us to think more critically about just what it is that the Church has taught (and teaches)? If so, (with all due respect) the rhetoric doesn’t serve that intention well. From my view it seems to imply that perhaps we need to abandon altogether the Church’s doctrine (and theology?).
The fact is, it’s not about what particular expression of sin we may have been (cognitively) aware of or not that ultimately determines our status of guilt or justification before God. Rather, it’s whether we know the One who will serve that just and righteous verdict and judgement; moreover, it’s whether we are known by Him. That determination is made on the basis of whether our heart is joined together with God, the Father, by the work of his unique Son, as discerned by the Spirit. And thus it is that our hearts are found either to be joined together with God, “our Father,” or found to be together with “your father, the devil.”