Lev 6:1-7 | KingComments | STEP | Every sin against one’s neighbor is in the first place a sin against God. It is “unfaithfulness” against Him (cf. ). God has commanded how I should deal with my neighbor. If I wrong my neighbor, lie to him, or steal anything from him, or commit any form of injustice against him, I sin against God. I am unfaithful to the relationship in which I confess to stand before Him. It is presented here in such a way that I wrong God when I wrong my brother or sister. My act against my neighbor is seen as an act against God. Therefore, a guilt offering must be brought to the LORD. Again the LORD says to Moses that he must determine the value of this guilt offering ( ; see ). The new thing here is that it is not enough for me to condemn myself in God’s light when my sin is wronging someone. Judging sin in God’s light is certainly necessary. On top of that, I also have to make up for what I have failed in. Sin against one’s neighbor can consist of a broken trust. My neighbor can entrust me with something or give me something in custody, because he thinks it is safe with me. It may be a secret or a particular good. If I pass on that secret or resell that particular good, I sin against him. The next sin which the LORD mentions is robbery – that a man has stolen something. Robbing is the stealthy or violent appropriation of something belonging to another. A person’s good name can also be robbed. Robbing is also using the words of another person and pretending that they are your own words and that you get the honor that is due to the other person. Another sin is to force his fellow man to extort something by force. We can put such pressure on someone that he gives us things that belong to him, but that we want to have. It may be that we force a brother or sister to give a good testimony about us, when in reality we live for ourselves. It is also sin if someone has found a lost object and denies it. We can know spiritually what our brother has lost and have found it in that sense. When my brother has lost his peace and I see it, but I do nothing about it, I do not help him to find his peace again and deny in that way that I have found what he has lost, I am guilty. Swearing a false oath in any matter is also sin. It is against better judgment to confirm the lie at the expense of the truth. This puts the other one in a bad light, although there is nothing to blame him. This is a bad thing. He is doing the other person extremely wrong. In the case of a sin against one’s neighbor, the injustice must be made good. This is done primarily by confession to God and also to the person whose trust I have violated or whose name I have slandered or who I have in any way wronged. I must return what I resold and compensate for any harm caused. With that, what has been wrong has been made good. That’s only putting away the wrong thing. There is still twenty percent to be added. I have to give back more than the harm I caused. For example, I will not only stop slandering, but will also honor the other by talking about him well. I not only compensate the harm, but give one fifth more back. My attitude toward him will be different from before my sin. There will be more respect for the other than before and a desire to give good things to him instead of harming him.

‏ Leviticus 6:1-7

Disadvantages of a neighbor

Every sin against one’s neighbor is in the first place a sin against God. It is “unfaithfulness” against Him (cf. Jam 4:4). God has commanded how I should deal with my neighbor. If I wrong my neighbor, lie to him, or steal anything from him, or commit any form of injustice against him, I sin against God. I am unfaithful to the relationship in which I confess to stand before Him.

It is presented here in such a way that I wrong God when I wrong my brother or sister. My act against my neighbor is seen as an act against God. Therefore, a guilt offering must be brought to the LORD. Again the LORD says to Moses that he must determine the value of this guilt offering (Lev 6:6; see Lev 5:15).

The new thing here is that it is not enough for me to condemn myself in God’s light when my sin is wronging someone. Judging sin in God’s light is certainly necessary. On top of that, I also have to make up for what I have failed in.

Sin against one’s neighbor can consist of a broken trust. My neighbor can entrust me with something or give me something in custody, because he thinks it is safe with me. It may be a secret or a particular good. If I pass on that secret or resell that particular good, I sin against him.

The next sin which the LORD mentions is robbery – that a man has stolen something. Robbing is the stealthy or violent appropriation of something belonging to another. A person’s good name can also be robbed. Robbing is also using the words of another person and pretending that they are your own words and that you get the honor that is due to the other person.

Another sin is to force his fellow man to extort something by force. We can put such pressure on someone that he gives us things that belong to him, but that we want to have. It may be that we force a brother or sister to give a good testimony about us, when in reality we live for ourselves.

It is also sin if someone has found a lost object and denies it. We can know spiritually what our brother has lost and have found it in that sense. When my brother has lost his peace and I see it, but I do nothing about it, I do not help him to find his peace again and deny in that way that I have found what he has lost, I am guilty.

Swearing a false oath in any matter is also sin. It is against better judgment to confirm the lie at the expense of the truth. This puts the other one in a bad light, although there is nothing to blame him. This is a bad thing. He is doing the other person extremely wrong.

In the case of a sin against one’s neighbor, the injustice must be made good. This is done primarily by confession to God and also to the person whose trust I have violated or whose name I have slandered or who I have in any way wronged. I must return what I resold and compensate for any harm caused. With that, what has been wrong has been made good. That’s only putting away the wrong thing. There is still twenty percent to be added.

I have to give back more than the harm I caused. For example, I will not only stop slandering, but will also honor the other by talking about him well. I not only compensate the harm, but give one fifth more back. My attitude toward him will be different from before my sin. There will be more respect for the other than before and a desire to give good things to him instead of harming him.