“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done…” (Lev. 4:1-3).
We are so enamored with the freedom of our wills that the idea of unintentional sin seems contradictory. We think sin by definition must be intentional because we are prone to define sin, if we define it all, in terms of action. But this passage makes it clear that a large swath of sins originate in our nature, rather than in our conscious volition. If my foot were rotated ninety degrees, then by nature I would have to distort my body just to attempt to walk straight. In this case, it is my nature that dictates my path, even if my will deeply desires another way. And so it is with unintentional sin. To take a musical example, if the neck of a guitar is twisted enough, it doesn’t matter how carefully you finger the chords or pluck the notes. Inevitably, many, if not most of the notes will sound off. Unintentional sin is like that. We try to make music and end up making noise. And often in both ignorance and delusion, we attempt to tune ourselves to the pitch of our expectations. And when we do, we continue to make noise, and call it music. But the law is the true measure, the standard pitch of God’s holiness sounding forth, and when we are measured against that pitch, we all rattle with dissonance.
But the Lord in his grace knew this and made provision in his law for unintentional error. He, more than anyone, understands the bent of the human heart, We are twisted, such that even when we act out of our best motives, we often fall short. The same was true for the people of Israel, from the anointed priest (4:3), to the congregation (4:13), to the leaders (4:22), to the common people (4:27). Everyone is bent toward unintentional sin. Not even the appointed priest, the spiritual professional whose job it was to understand and apply the law, could avoid transgressing the law by mistake. And so the Lord provided covering for these kinds of mistakes. And he still does. To take up the metaphor of the guitar, in the Old Covenant, God was content to bend the notes into place to sound pleasing notes. But in the New Covenant his grace goes further still. With the provision of his Son as the full and final sacrifice, God untwists what sin has distorted, so that by the power of Spirit, not only are we retuned, but we are able to sing forth in beautiful song. It is in Christ that we are being retuned to the pitch of his perfection, so we might play in harmony with him to the glory of the Father.