“If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.”
Leviticus 5:1
Our verse today covers the sin of omission where the witness of sin keeps quiet about it when called on to testify. We can see an example of this in the story of Achan in Joshua 7. He took some of the plunder that God had forbidden anyone to take and he and his family kept quiet about it hoping God wouldn’t notice. God exposed Achan’s sin to Joshua and had Achan and his entire family stoned to death as a result.
This is the letter of the law. On one hand, we like laws, they provide order and allow us to have justice and we can segregate and separate from the lawbreakers. On the other hand, we don’t like the law because we find that we ourselves are lawbreakers too. We didn’t even mean to…
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
Romans 7:10-11
Praise the Lord for we are saved! There is no condemnation for those in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1) We can now approach the Law from a place of gratitude and security rather than fear. The price for your biggest sin yet to come has already been paid and you have been elected in spite of the sum of all your sins. Now we get to testify to the world of his great mercy, instead of being guilty of omitting truth.
Jonathan Duncan