Leviticus 5:14-6:7

What’s Happening?

The final offering described at the start of Leviticus is often called the “guilt offering,” but a better translation is the reparation or repayment offering. This offering shows that sin doesn’t just pollute God’s holy dwelling—it also causes economic loss that must be repaid or replaced.

We’ve already seen how the purification offering “de-sins” the tabernacle, cleansing it from the death-saturation that comes when someone mishandles God’s holy system. But cleansing is not enough. When sin pollutes holy objects or spaces, something has been lost. A vessel or utensil, for example, has become unusable. The blood of the sacrifice cleanses the place where the stain occurred, but the polluted item must be replaced.

This is where the repayment offering comes in. The worshiper brings an animal whose value is equal to the item damage. The animal is then sold, and its value is measured “by the shekel of the sanctuary” (Leviticus 5:15). The money goes to remake what was broken, restoring God’s dwelling so that life and holiness can flourish again.

The same principle applies when the wrong is not against God’s sanctuary but against a neighbor. If someone lies, cheats, or steals, the economic damage is real and measurable. God requires repayment in full, converted into the same sanctuary standard, plus an additional one-fifth (20%) of the value (Leviticus 6:5). This additional cost covers the inconvenience and labor needed to repair what was broken. God’s justice is not about bare minimums. It restores and even over-restores what was broken.

So, the repayment offering works on two levels: it restores God’s holy dwelling, and it makes restitution to the neighbor. It shows that sin is not just a private problem. It is a relational fracture that costs others—and God requires his people to make it right.

Where is the Gospel?

The repayment offering points us forward to Jesus, who brings God’s repair to its fullness.

First, Jesus restores God’s dwelling with us. His life poured out is more than cleansing—it is recreating. He doesn’t just patch over what sin ruined, he remakes us as new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). In Jesus, the polluted vessels of our lives are not discarded but restored, remade into holy vessels for God’s presence (2 Timothy 2:21). And as the cost of the item being restored was reflected in the worth of the sacrifice, Jesus’ sacrifice shows us how valuable we are to God.

Second, Jesus restores our relationships with others. He makes us into the kind of people who, like Zacchaeus, pay back what we have taken, even beyond what is required (Luke 19:8). And where we cannot restore, Jesus can and will. He not only adds “one-fifth” but makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). His justice doesn’t merely balance the scales—it floods the world with resurrection life.

The repayment offering in Leviticus hinted at this truth: sin is costly, but God provides a way for restoration that goes beyond what was lost. In Jesus, that restoration reaches its fullness—repairing heaven and earth, reconciling us to God, and healing the damage of our sin against others.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would give you eyes to see the God who does not leave damage unaddressed, but who restores beyond what was lost. And may you see Jesus as the true repayment offering, whose life not only remakes us but reconciles all things, until everything broken is made new.