Lev. 7:37-38
These are the instructions for the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the offering for consecration, and the slaughtering of the peace offerings, which YHWH commanded Moses at mount Sinai on the day that He commanded the children of Israel to present their offerings to YHWH, in the desert of Sinai.
Five of the six different types of offerings listed in this passage are discussed in the first five chapters of the book of Leviticus. They are discussed further in the next two chapters.
The offering for consecration is discussed in Leviticus 7:30-36. It is also described in Exodus 29 and is implemented in Leviticus 8, which coincides with the events of Exodus 40. This period lasted seven days.
It should be noted that although burnt offerings and peace offerings are discussed in detail in the first seven chapters of Leviticus, they were not invented at this time. They were both present in the ratification of the Sinai Covenant ten months earlier. Exo. 24:5
And [Moses] he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and slaughtered peace offerings of bulls to YHWH.
Moreover, Noah, Abraham, and Jacob all knew about burnt offerings and offered them to YHWH. Gen. 8:20; 22:13; 46:1.
It should also be noted that the burnt offering, the meal offering, the offering for consecration, and the peace offerings all served different purposes than the sin offering and the guilt offering.
The burnt offering, like the meal offering, was offered as gifts. After exiting the ark, Noah built an altar and offered one of every clean animal to YHWH. Following our expulsion from the Garden, Cain and Abel each brought their gifts to YHWH. Gen. 4:3-4; Heb. 11:4. The burnt offering also came to provide clothing for the sons of Aaron. Lev. 7:8.
The meal offering, while originally serving the purpose of offering a gift, also came to provide food for Aaron and his sons. Lev. 2:10; 7:10. From this, two offerings were offered daily on the Altar—once in the morning and once in the evening.
The offering for consecration, as previously mentioned, is first introduced in Exodus 29. It was specifically used to consecrate Aaron and his sons for the priesthood.
Peace offerings, like burnt offerings, were used in several ways. They were used to form covenants. Gen. 31:54; Exo. 20:5. They were also a way of giving thanks to YHWH. Lev. 7:12, 13, 15. They were also used for vows and spontaneous generosity. Lev. 7:16; 22:21.
As the names indicate, the sin and guilt offerings were usually used to atone for sin. The sin offering is first introduced in Exodus 29. It is later expounded upon in Leviticus four.
A clear contrast is made between the type of sin that can be atoned for with the sin offering and guilt offering and the kind of sin that cannot.
Inadvertent sins, or sins of ignorance, are mistakes a person commits because they are human. Lev. 4:2, 22, 27; 5:15, 18; Num. 15:24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29; Heb. 9:7. YHWH does not expect anybody to be without error. This promise is repeated all through Scripture: if we repent, He will forgive.
The other type is defiant sin. Num. 15:30-31; Heb. 10:26-29. This type of sin is committed by someone who hates YHWH and His Word. For this type of sin, no atonement can be made.
Rom. 6:23
Shaul never intended this sentence to be a stand-alone thought. The apostle said this as a conclusion of what he had just said in the previous twenty-two verses.
He was explaining how we must follow in the Messiah’s footsteps and die to our sinful nature. While we were all born with a condition of serving our desires, we must now crucify our natural inclination to serve ourselves.
Romans 6:14 is another sentence Shaul said in this context. Even though he immediately explained what he meant in the following two sentences, he knew some would take it in isolation and twist his words.
Romans 6:16 summarizes the point he made in this chapter and specifically explains his words in Romans 6:23.
“Don’t you know that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Without putting to death our sinful nature, we cannot expect to live for YHWH.
Moreover, if we continue to sin, we will die in them, as the wages of sin are death. Rom. 6:16, 21, 23.
But what does it mean to continue to sin?
In his letter to the Romans, Shaul twice explained that YHWH instructions define sin.
Rom. 3:20b “By the Torah is the knowledge of sin.”
Rom. 7:7b “I had not known sin, but by the Torah: for I had not known lust, except the
Torah had said, ‘You shalt not covet.’” (Exo. 20:17; Deu. 5:21)
If desiring something that belongs to someone else is a sin because YHWH forbids it in His instructions, then these instructions define sin.
It follows, then, that putting to death our sinful nature means to cease disobeying YHWH’s instructions. If we fail to do this, the apostle tells us, we walk on a path that eventually leads to the death of the eternal kind.
But what about the second part of Romans 6:23?
Contrasted with eternal death (taking place after the first death), is eternal life (resurrection after the first death). This life is a gift from YHWH, through Yeshua, His Messiah, the One whom we obey (our Master—Rom. 6:23; Luk. 6:46).
And as he explained in Romans 2:6-7 and Galatians 6:7-9, this gift of eternal life is given to those who do what is pleasing to YHWH.
See also Mat. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; Cf. Job. 34:11; Psa. 62:12; Pro. 24:12; Isa. 3:10-11; 40:10; 62:11; Jer. 17:10; 32:19; Eze. 18:30; Act. 10:34-35; 2 Co. 5:10; Col. 3:24-25; Rev. 2:23; 11:18, etc.