Commentary on Leviticus 1.5

Verses 1–13. "If a soul sins, and hears the voice of one swearing, and is a witness of what he either saw himself or knows of, if he does not declare it, he shall bear his iniquity. A soul that touches anything unclean, whether what was killed by a beast or died of itself, or any other creeping thing, and forgets its uncleanness, is guilty and transgresses. And if he touches anything of the uncleanness of a man, according to every impurity by which one is usually defiled, and having forgotten comes to know it afterwards, he shall be liable to the transgression. A soul that swears and utters with its lips that it would do either evil or good, and confirms the same by oath and word, and having forgotten afterwards understands its transgression, let it repent for the sin and offer a ewe lamb from the flocks, or a she-goat; and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin. But if he cannot offer a beast of the flock, let him offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the Lord, one for sin and the other for a burnt offering, and he shall give them to the priest. He, offering the first for sin, shall twist its head back to the wings, so that it clings to the neck and is not broken off completely, and he shall sprinkle of its blood on the side of the altar; and whatever is left he shall make to drip down at its foundations, because it is for sin; and the other he shall burn as a burnt offering, as is usually done; and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. But if his hand cannot offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he shall offer for sin fine flour, the tenth part of an ephah; he shall not put oil on it nor lay any frankincense on it, because it is for sin; and he shall give it to the priest, who, taking a handful full from the whole, shall burn it on the altar as a memorial of him who offered it, praying for him and making atonement; but the remaining part he shall have himself as a gift."

Does the lawgiver repeat the same things? For in what went before he had said, "If one of the people of the land sins through ignorance, so as to do any of the things that are forbidden by the law of the Lord, and transgresses," giving a command generally about every sin and ordering what should be offered; and now he seems to ordain about the same things in other words. And why did he set out above some things for sin and not all? For he ought either to have set out everything one by one, or nothing at all, since a general showing of sin would have been enough for him. But the words of the lawgiver are not as some who read carelessly think. For when he said, "If one of the people of the land sins through ignorance, so as to do any of the things that are forbidden by the law of the Lord, and transgresses," he pointed to the visible Israel, which, knowing the commandments of God, ought not to have transgressed anything of the law, and, having transgressed, ought to fulfil what belongs to repentance. But here, saying "If a soul sins," he did not add "of the people of the land," and most rightly. For he speaks of the sins from which, as James says, even those from the gentiles must abstain, that is, from things sacrificed to idols, and things strangled, and blood, and sexual immorality; for among these you will find what follows enumerated.

Then, above, the sin of each one who transgresses by himself, and what someone has done by himself, is marked out. But here he points to the one who has shared in the sins of others; for this is what the touching of what is unclean, and of carcasses, and of what is caught by beasts, hints at. He sets out not in riddles but openly what some despise: namely, when another falls into error, not to rebuke the error but to give consent. Now, then, he shows that in this case too we need an offering, namely that which pertains to the absolution of repentance.

"If a soul sins, and hears the voice of one swearing, and is a witness of what he either saw himself or knows of": that is, if someone commits a theft or a fraud and gives an oath about them, and someone who saw the theft or the fraud he committed, or otherwise knows that he swears falsely, does not reveal it, "he shall bear the iniquity." And rightly: for one who was free to rebuke the sin and covered it up has without doubt become its helper; and one who has helped has drawn the sin upon himself.

And not only … but also "if anyone touches any unclean thing, or a carcass, or what was caught by beasts," wishing to show not the unclean things of the body but unclean actions, and not those uncleannesses which the nation of the Jews supposes. What the actions are whose sharing is to be avoided as unclean, the Saviour taught the apostles, saying: "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not know that whatever goes into the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the drain? But the things that come out of the mouth come out of the heart, and these defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, false witness, thefts, blasphemies. These are what defile a man." That is why the lawgiver understood unclean things, as defiling those by whom they are touched, that is, those who share in them, to be carcasses. Like them in defiling is the man who is dead through sin; of such the Lord said: "Let the dead bury their dead." And one is caught by beasts who, by the working of the devil in him, has been drawn to some evil action, as Judas was drawn to betray the Lord, of whom John the evangelist says: "And supper being over, the devil having put it into his heart that Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, should betray him."

But since in the translation of the Seventy he did not say simply "caught by a beast" but added "unclean," [one may ask]: is not one who is caught by a beast in every case also unclean? And we say: by no means. For not everyone who is caught by a beast is in every case also killed by it. For perhaps even after he is caught he is set free, like Peter: he fell into the devil's snare of rash denial, but, coming to his senses, he escaped, and says with David: "My soul was rescued like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." This man, then, is not unclean. But certain differences of carcasses, according to the Seventy, are set out: of these he said that some are beasts of the flock and some abominations. A dead beast of the flock is a man who sins through folly and leads the life of cattle against the law; to such David says, "Do not be like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding"; and of such Jeremiah too says, "They became stallions; each of them neighed after his neighbour's wife." And the abominations are the unclean among the animals, such as dogs and swine and whatever things of that kind are named, which were also worshipped by unbelievers; or "any creeping thing," that is, what crawls on its belly, which Symmachus and Aquila nonetheless rendered "creeping things," and the Seventy "abominations." By this, then, he most plainly signifies the sect of idolatry, or those who live in some other evil, that is, in idols and in robberies or in other lusts.

If anyone shares in all these by touch "and forgets it," or as the Seventy say, "it escapes him" (since forgetfulness of soul and darkness of mind, or an evil action, is a defilement), in the touching of these, that is, either in that someone … those who do these things, or in that …, he is defiled in every way. This sense comes in the same way also in the present translation, if one attends to it.

"But also if he touches anything of the uncleanness of a man, according to every impurity by which one is usually defiled," of all his uncleanness, whichever he is defiled by touching. According to the letter he means those who suffer a flow of seed, and menstruous women, and certain others, of whom the lawgiver himself speaks with more exactness a little later, where we have reserved the explanation of these; setting down now only this by way of reminder, that not every uncleanness of a man defiles the one who touches it. For this reason he said, "according to every impurity by which one is usually defiled," and according to the Seventy, "from all his uncleanness, which he is defiled by touching." Who these are we shall say when the lawgiver has spoken of them.

"A soul that swears and utters with its lips," that is, openly promising, which the Seventy render "distinguishing with the lips," "that it would do either evil or good": in which there is sin when one who promised to do good lies, or one who threatened evil tells the truth. This Herod too experienced, who, because he had sworn to Herodias, beheaded John the Baptist. "And having forgotten, afterwards understands its transgression." When each one perceives and comes to know all these things that have been said, let him confess the sin which he committed, and offer a ewe lamb from the flocks or a she-goat. For here he speaks of one who is of the people, that is, of the common people, among whom it is possible to find someone simple; [for him] he rightly kept the offering of a ewe lamb from the flocks, as suited to a simple man, as we said above, in this sacrifice, or repentance, of which we are now speaking, adding the conclusion: "And the priest shall pray for him and for his sin." He uses his customary words, recalling to our memory what he commanded above to be done in the prayer for sins, which we need not say again, since it has been said once.

Let us only add this: that if a ruler commits any of these sins, he should offer a he-goat from the goats, an offering and a repentance worthy of himself. For by commanding the multitude … to offer a sacrifice also in these things of which he now speaks, it is plain that he wanted similar things of the ruler too. Or, to put it another way, the one who excelled in knowledge ought neither to sin himself nor to share in another's sins. For he is found leading on, or provoking, those under him who imitate him not to virtue but to iniquity. That is why he left that case undiscussed, as one that ought not even to happen.

But this too must be noted, that "transgression" sometimes means a special iniquity which is committed against God alone, such as that against holy things or that committed in an oath; but sometimes it means every sin. And for this reason, everywhere, whether the knowledge of the sin is put before or after, it is in every way called a transgression, to show that every sin, after it is known, is a transgression against God himself; and so it is called "transgression," that is, πλημμέλεια. For not without cause does the lawgiver use this word often.

For just as the lawgiver, marking out the different ways of life of men at the beginning of the book through the burnt offerings and the sacrifices of salvation, did not set them forth in vain, but desiring to open many ways and doors, so now too he ordained not one kind but many of offerings for sin, in order to set forth several ways of repentance; because not all men can fulfil all ways, nor does every way of repentance suit every sin. For when repentance demands sackcloth, and fasting, and tears, and continual prayer, and vigils, and other such things, how, for example, will one who is weak in body from old age or otherwise be able to do such a repentance? Is he, then, shut out from repentance because of weakness or such an age? By no means; for he has another way to obtain the forgiveness of sins. And who this is, what follows shows; for he says: "But if he cannot offer a beast of the flock." The Seventy translated this, "But if his hand is not able for a sheep," meaning by "sheep" to be understood the sheep or the she-goat, as though the kind of goats and sheep were common, as we said. Here this is rendered more plainly: in order to include all these, he put "beast of the flock." Hence other interpreters too in this place rendered, instead of "sheep," some "pasturing beasts" and others "from the flock," wishing to signify by this the goats as well.

If, then, this man cannot offer a beast of the flock, "he shall offer for his sin which he has sinned two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the Lord." For this reason it is very necessary for us to remember that we said above that the contemplative life, the life spent in meditation, pure and simple, is signified by the young pigeons and the turtledoves. So one who cannot give himself to continual affliction and hardship, so as to

eat his bread with ashes and mingle his drink with weeping, and do other such things as a penitent, being prevented, for example, by weakness or by some other necessity, can repent in another way: for instance, by offering himself to the contemplation of God and to the searching of his law, consecrating his whole mind to the heavenly way of life and holding himself back most fully from earthly things. For by this both the forgiveness of sins and justification are obtained for him. Hence of these one is offered for sin, that is, for the cleansing of sin, and the other is sacrificed as a burnt offering, as for one who crucifies his way of life, or his life, and hands it over most fully to God.

"And he shall give them to the priest," to Christ, certainly; for then each is acceptable, since they are offered through his mediation. "He, offering the first for sin": he offers the first for sin, because no one can become a burnt offering unless he has first been made free from sin. But what is the manner of this freedom? "The priest shall twist its head back to the wings, so that it clings to the neck and is not broken off completely." By the neck, which the Seventy rendered "vertebra," the whole body is understood, because the firmness of the neck is the health and support of the whole body. Since, then, in divine Scripture the head is usually taken for the mind, because the mind holds the leading place in man (hence David too said to God, "You crushed the heads of the dragons under the waters," that is, the mind, when, as the water of baptism gives forgiveness, the mind of the devil is crushed), by what the Seventy say, "And the priest shall nip off its head," and the present translation, "He shall twist its head back to the wings," he wants us not to serve the body nor to suffer with it, but to break it off or twist it back, so that the law of sin, which dwells in the members of the body by the habit of sinning, may not fight against the law of the mind on equal terms nor lead the man captive, as Paul says. But because we must not wholly oppose the body, nor think it a creature of the devil, as some suppose, but subject it to the mind, he therefore did not command the head to be separated from the neck; for both are creatures of one and the same [Creator].

But let us see what follows. "And he shall sprinkle of its blood on the side of the altar; and whatever is left he shall make to drip down at its foundations, because it is for sin." The side of the altar is understood as the body of Christ, of which Christ himself said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up." And its foundation, or, as the Seventy translated, its base; for the base is the Gospel. So he commands this sacrifice for sins too to be offered according to the intention of the sacrifice of Christ and of the gospel teaching; that is why he added "because it is for sin." For nothing can so snatch us from sins as the imitation of Christ and obedience to the gospel preaching. If anyone is obedient to it, "he shall burn the other as a burnt offering, as is usually done," that is, as a burnt offering ought to be made; which the Seventy render fully in this sense, "and he shall do as he ought." For one who has renounced father and mother and brothers and all worldly things must become a burnt offering, if he wants to be an acceptable burnt offering perceived by the mind. If you do these things, you who cannot repent in the said ways, that is, by vigils and sackcloth and other such afflictions, the priest perceived by the mind "shall pray for him and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him." Very admirable, then, is God, the maker of this law, who in his clemency grants pardon to the weakness of the human race and has found a way by which the weak can attain no lesser things.

But since it is not always easy to … when we have abused repentance itself and in a way abolished its force (which happens if someone, sinning and pretending to repent, returns again to the same thing; as Peter too says in rebuke: "The thing of the true proverb has happened to them: The dog returned to his own vomit, and the washed sow to wallowing in the mire." And Paul: "Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one meal sold his birthright. For you know that afterwards, wishing to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears."), since, then, the entrance to repentance is not easily granted to such people, see, the lawgiver now hints at it; for he says: "But if his hand cannot offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons." Because he cannot do this at all, nor can he offer a kid or a sheep. And why can he not, or, as the Seventy say, why does he not find it? Because he has misused the riches of repentance and has not spent them as he ought. What then shall he do, so that despair may not become the cause of his perdition? "He shall offer for his sin fine flour, the tenth part of an ephah; he shall not put oil on it nor lay any frankincense on it, because it is for sin." This kind of repentance, then, which he mentioned, is granted to him. But he must be anxious and afraid lest perhaps his repentance, so often insulted, may not be received. That is why he does not pour oil on it, as one who doubts whether he is worthy of mercy and compassion; nor does he put any frankincense on it, as one who does not know whether his prayer is of good odour, since he has so often transgressed. Hence the prophet Joel said to the people of the Jews: "Turn to the Lord your God, for he is kind and merciful, patient and abundant in mercy, and relenting over evil. Who knows whether he will turn and pardon, and leave a blessing behind him? A sacrifice and a drink offering to the Lord our God." And how can there be doubt about one who is merciful and patient and of great compassion, whether he will turn and relent, and whether he will accept a sacrifice or a drink offering for sins, except that he is speaking to a wicked people that loves sins? Since they had often repented and never persevered in pure repentance, he wants neither to bring them to despair nor again to let them presume too much as penitents; and so he used doubtful words. And for this reason confidence ought not to be easily given them, lest, being given it, they become more careless towards other sins again, as though the former ones had been remitted; for the lawgiver is hinting at certain people who are weak and inconstant in the virtues.

"And he shall give it to the priest," to him, that is, as the merciful Christ; for he it is who even now is understood by the figure of the priest. "Who, taking a handful full from the whole, shall burn it on the altar as a memorial of him who offered it." The kind of offering is acceptable: an ephah of fine flour. And an ephah is a measure of three measures, that is, it offers three, and it is itself the sacrifice that is offered. For since the ephah is a measure of three measures, it clearly hints at the Trinity, which is one measure because there is one Deity in it, but has three measures, that is, three perfect persons and as many subsistences; so that it is plain that we do not sin in calling the Lord's flesh a part of it, because of the inseparable union with it of the incarnate Word. And why is it a part of the Trinity? Because its glory and power are indivisible, so that Paul said of Christ: "In him dwells all the fullness of the divinity bodily." And John too: "Whoever denies the Son," he says, "does not have the Father either; whoever confesses Jesus has the Father also." So the ephah here is God incarnate, the Word, as having in himself the fullness of the Trinity; and its tenth is the flesh: first, to show the loftiness of his divinity in relation to his humanity, for which reason it is also called a part; and then because God the Word became incarnate with a whole man, and as one who would fulfil the law. For the tenth signifies both, because the number ten is perfect; and the commandments of the law are ten. Hence also the tenth: the law assigned the tenth part as the special portion to the priest, namely to Christ, as one who has the first fruits of our lump.

Whoever, then, has violated repentance by often transgressing, and wishes to repent again, let him repent in the hope of Christ, who, when asked by Peter, "If my brother sins against me, how often shall I forgive him, up to seven times?" said: "I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." This word, then, offers the hope of repentance to those for whom it seems impossible. For this reason, taking from the offering, he fills his handful as a memorial of him who offered it, and burns it on the altar; that is, mindful of his word which he spoke to the apostles for the salvation of those who came to him, "They shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand," he saves the one who comes to him, who has often transgressed, unto repentance; offering for him the handful as a memorial, that is, the word by which he promised that those who have once come under his hand shall not perish. Of this handful, then, he himself brought in the woman, who bore the figure of the church, saying: "Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost." For the ground of hope in repentance had been lost by many who used repentance badly, but in the said manner it was found. This memorial, then, he offers on the altar of his body, which took up every sin, even that which seemed impossible to be saved. That is why he added, "because it is for sin," showing that to take up the sins of all belongs to Christ alone.

So those who by often sinning have transgressed repentance, but at last have been able [to repent], have from their frequent transgressing no hope of repentance; yet Christ even so prays …, as what follows makes plain, "praying for him and making atonement," or, as the Seventy rendered, "And the priest shall pray for him and for his sin which he has sinned, and it shall be forgiven him," so that from this you may understand that it signifies a multitude of sins committed. For this reason, even for one of these, as one who sins in the same way and often repents of the same thing and nonetheless repeats the sin in which he transgressed, the priest rightly forgives and intercedes for his repentance. "For he is a merciful and faithful priest towards God, who makes intercession for the sins of the people."

But let us also know what the end of this ordinance is. There follows: "But the remaining part he shall have himself as a gift," which they rendered, "And what remains shall be the priest's, like the sacrifice of fine flour." And yet this sacrifice is of fine flour, for he commanded a tenth of an ephah of fine flour to be offered. But because he knew that fine flour is theology, whereas this offering is not so much of theology as of repentance, he shows by the comparison that this is something other than that. Hence there he assigned what remained to Aaron and his sons; and we said that his sons are those who can understand lofty and divine things. They are fed on the remains of the knowledge whose whole sum Christ holds in heaven, with whom, as the Apostle says, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. But now what remains belongs not to Aaron and his sons but to the priest, namely Christ, as the sacrifice of fine flour is "as a gift." So, since we said that fine flour is theology, the present sacrifice is divided into these two: into the forgiveness of sins for the one who repents, and into theology for Christ. For it belongs to God alone to pardon even those things whose forgiveness seems impossible. And rightly

in him this sacrifice is found in many ways to belong to theology.

And do not wonder that we have said that in certain persons, or sins, the entrance to repentance is difficult; for Paul says: "For if we sin wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a victim for sin," putting for impossible what we have called difficult. For the same says in what follows: "For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and have fallen away, to be renewed again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and hold him up to mockery," signifying you who have often repented and transgressed, and [have done] injury to Christ who granted it; which what follows makes plain: "For the earth," he says, "that drinks the rain that often comes upon it, and brings forth herbs useful to those by whom it is tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near to a curse, and its end is to be burned." He did not say … that the repentance of one who transgresses is near to a curse and rejected, and its end is to be burned, unless he comes to his senses. But not wishing to bring his hearers to despair (for there were without doubt some among them who were negligent and used repentance wantonly, and for this reason he wrote these things not to others but to them), since, then, there were some such, he added: "But we are confident of better things concerning you, brothers, and things nearer to salvation, though we speak thus," wishing at once to frighten those who used repentance wantonly and again to promise good hope, if they would depart from wantonness. For this reason the lawgiver added neither oil nor frankincense to the offering itself, striking fear into those who offer; and yet he said that the priest receives it.

Verses 14–16. "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: If a soul, transgressing the ceremonies through error, sins in the things that are sanctified to the Lord, he shall offer for his transgression a ram without blemish from the flocks, which can be bought for two shekels, by the weight of the sanctuary; and he shall restore the damage which he caused, and put a fifth part over, handing it to the priest, who shall pray for him, offering the ram, and it shall be forgiven him."

It is good to abstain from every sin, but above all from that which is committed against holy things, because God is insulted by it. How great and how terrible this is, the present offering which the lawgiver has set out shows. For you see that, although he commanded so many sacrifices to be celebrated, nowhere from the beginning of this book, in which the Lord speaks to Moses, did he make mention of the sacrifice of a ram except in this place only, wishing to show the necessity and usefulness of this sacrifice. You see also that he commanded not a he-goat, nor a she-goat, nor a sheep, nor a pair of pigeons, but a ram to be offered, teaching by the offering what kind of sin this is. For the ram is taken as a figure of the Saviour. You know this from the way in which God held Abraham back from sacrificing his only son: since Isaac had to live because of the succession promised from him, and the figure of the Saviour's sacrifice had to be fulfilled, when Isaac had been taken for the sacrifice, the patriarch saw a ram caught in the thorns by its horns, or, as the Seventy have it, held fast in the tree Sabek. And the tree Sabek is the cross, the wood of forgiveness, on which the ram, held by its horns, bore the figure of the hands of Christ fastened on the cross.

He commanded not only that it be without blemish, but also of what price it should be: that it can be bought for two shekels, or according to the Seventy, for fifty shekels of silver, by the shekel of the sanctuary. For no one can acquire the Lord's sacrifice for himself except through the Holy Spirit. For if "no one can say 'Lord Jesus Christ' except in the Holy Spirit," much more can no one attain his sacrifice without the working of the Spirit. Hence it was not said without reason, "of fifty": for this number shows the coming of the Holy Spirit, since he came to the apostles on the day of Pentecost, that is, the fiftieth. And "by the weight of the sanctuary," or according to the Seventy, "by the holy shekel," so that by saying "holy" he might show the power and working of the Holy Spirit. And why the shekel? Because the shekel is twenty obols, and this number twenty is not liable to sins. Hence those who came out of Egypt, when they were twenty years old, did not undergo the punishment of the people's sin; for the spiritual man is clean of all sin.

He commanded not only that a ram be offered but also that a fifth be added. If anyone has unlawfully misused a holy vessel, or food, or such an ointment, this he called a sin committed against holy things; this man, then, shall restore the thing itself, and besides give a fifth, that is, its fifth part, to the priest. This signifies that, since we have five senses, if we sin through one sense, for example if we occupy the eye with adultery at a holy time and place, or the tongue with slander, or the ears with evil speech, or the smell with perceiving harlots' perfumes, or the hand with a profane and unjust touch, we should first abstain altogether from that sin and offer repentance for it through the ram, that is, ask Christ that he himself become our rescue from the sin committed against him; and then offer to the priest, namely Christ, the fifth, that is, the one of the said senses through which the sin was committed, so that we may no longer occupy that sense with wicked action but consecrate it to God. For so he will intercede for our sin. How the ram of sin is offered by the priest is written in another part of the book, where he declared the sacrifice for sin to be equal to the sacrifice that is made for transgression.

But this must now be added, that the lawgiver is accustomed to use, or set down, "transgression" in two ways, and to call "transgression" now a sin that has come to knowledge and is no longer unknown to the sinner, and now one committed against God himself, as in an oath, or also against holy things. Not without cause does he call this transgression, but so that you may know that the sin which is committed in knowledge, and that in an oath, and that against holy things, likewise reach to God.

Verses 17–19. "If a soul sins through ignorance, and does one of the things that are forbidden by the law of the Lord, and, guilty of sin, understands its iniquity, it shall offer to the priest a ram without blemish from the flocks, according to the measure and estimate of the sin; and he shall pray for him because he did it unknowing, and it shall be forgiven him, because he transgressed against the Lord through error."

The present place holds a question worthy of no small consideration, because for sins for which he previously commanded a she-goat or a sheep to be offered (for he says, "But if one of the people of the land sins through ignorance, so as to do any of the things that are forbidden by the law of the Lord, and transgresses, and comes to know his sin, he shall offer a she-goat without blemish"), now, as though he had forgotten what he had commanded, he says: "If a soul sins through ignorance, and does one of the things that are forbidden by the law of the Lord, and, guilty of sin, understands its iniquity, it shall offer to the priest a ram without blemish from the flocks." And there seems to be a great difference between this sacrifice and the one he commanded a little before. But he has neither forgotten the earlier things nor commanded what contradicts them. For since we said that by the name "soul" the gentile is signified, and this one could perhaps transgress the commandments of the law in ignorance (for which reason he rightly said "through ignorance"), the ram perceived by the mind, namely Christ, washes away his sin in the sacrifice offered for him. And this too is shown, and plainly demonstrated in these things: that in every sin, even when we have repented for its forgiveness, we are not able by ourselves to obtain pardon without the sacrifice of Christ. So if someone is placed outside the faith of Christ, a Jew perhaps or a pagan, even if he shows by his way of life and conduct that he repents of his sins, he will not merit forgiveness, because he cannot offer the ram, that is, the sacrifice of Christ. For this reason, wishing in a way to ordain generally about all, he did not say "If a soul of the people," but "If a soul simply sins and does one of the things that are forbidden by the law of the Lord." So what has been said is rightly taken both of the unlearned and of the one who has knowledge, and of every sin.

And because he commands a ram to be offered for transgression, it is most plain that the lawgiver here set down "transgression" for sin that is understood. That is why, having said "through ignorance," he added: "and, guilty of sin, understands its iniquity." And one who has understood his sin keeps it in himself and is soiled by it, or burdened, until prayer is made for him through the said sacrifice. And the understanding of sin must come about, in those who have knowledge but are darkened by love of lusts, when they come to their senses in their thoughts; and in those who lack knowledge, through suitable teaching. When this understanding comes about by either of these, it moves the man to this, that he needs sacrifice and repentance. For one who understands his pollution and does not cleanse himself by repentance is plainly abominable and filthy. For this reason the Lord said of the Jews: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin."

This is proved more plainly from what follows. For what does he say? "He shall pray for him because he did it unknowing, and it shall be forgiven him, because he transgressed against the Lord through error," which the Seventy give as, "And it shall be forgiven him; for he transgressed a transgression before the Lord." And how is the same man unknowing, before him who is a just judge and does nothing against justice? For he does not judge us by the action alone, as when we turn aside to sin either for lust or for avarice or for glory; this we suffer through ignorance of that true pleasure, and of the highest gain, and of that glory which is not false. And love of falsehood produces this ignorance. From it, one who is blinded in mind is also blinded and darkened in knowledge, which, when blinded, is found to differ in nothing from ignorance. Hence David too said: "They did not know nor understand; they walk in darkness." But when they come to their senses, and the darkened mind is restored, then we perceive the sin, and it must be reckoned to us as a transgression until we are cleansed by repentance; and a transgression that is against the Lord, for according to the Seventy he doubles the word "transgression," saying: "For he transgressed a transgression before the Lord." And for what reason is this? Because we said that transgression is the understanding, or knowledge, of sin, and every man has the knowledge of sin by natural right, but this man, as we said, has darkened it by love of lusts; while another is naturally slower and needs another's teaching. So, either to one who comes to his senses or to one who learns from another, transgression, that is, the knowledge of sin, the committing of transgression before the Lord, is reckoned double through knowledge. For then God makes his knowledge liable, and he demands a sacrifice for the sin committed in ignorance, and repentance,