In the other posts, we have looked at numerous texts the clearly state
that God is one and that only the Father is God. We have looked at clear statements that:
Jesus is a man, but God is not a man
Jesus is the Son of Man, but God is not a son of man
Jesus was tempted, but God cannot be tempted
Jesus received life in himself from God
Jesus received authority from God
Jesus said God was his God
Jesus said the Father was greater than him
God made Jesus both Christ and Lord
It was God’s power, working through Jesus, which created
all things
Jesus is not omniscient, but God is omniscient
Jesus died, but God cannot die
I don’t feel
that arguments from silence are generally that good. However, there is one that is worth
considering because it some very strong evidence supporting it.
The foundation
of Judaism is “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”.
I cannot stress enough how important the concept of the oneness of God
is to Judaism. It is the very heart and
foundation of Judaism.
One thing we don’t find
in the New Testament is any records of the early church having any major
controversies from declaring that God is three and that the man Jesus is God in
the flesh. Now, it would be foolish to
say that this debate had to have taken place and, therefore didn’t because we
have records of it and, therefore the apostles never pushed this idea. That would be a very weak argument from
silence.
Acts chapter 15
gives a very insightful account into the development of doctrine in the early
church.
Most of the
earliest followers of the Jesus movement came from the Jewish community and it
was a sect within Judaism. When a
gentile accepted Jesus they were expected to get circumcised and follow all of
the laws of Moses and become Jewish.
Paul, however,
began to preach that Gentile converts did not have to become Jewish in order to
be part of the believing community. He
said that they only needed to accept Jesus to be considered believers.
The debate over
this nearly tore the church apart. Paul
went to Jerusalem to lay the matter before the church leaders. James (Jesus’s brother and leader of the
church) decided that Gentiles did not need to get circumcised and become
Jews. He said they would be accepted if
they only abided by a few regulations.
As an
interesting side note, I should point out that James was not saying that the
laws of Moses had been done away with.
He had merely found a loophole in Judaism. The regulations that he said were sufficient
for the Gentile believers is an early form of the Noahide Laws. These are the laws that Judaism considers as
binding on all humans, whereas the laws of Moses are only binding on the Jews.
The most significant
part of this incident for out discussion is that it provides direct evidence
that the Jerusalem church was made up of dedicated Jews. They did not want to make any major changes
to Judaism and challenged anything that they felt threatened their Jewish faith
and way of life. If there was such
uproar over accepting uncircumcised members into their congregation, why don’t
we see a similar uproar over preaching that there are three who are God and,
worse yet, we should worship a human being as God?
Acts 5:17-42
contains another interesting incident that makes no sense if the apostles were
preaching that the man Jesus is one of three beings who are God. In this story, the Jewish leaders arrested
the apostles and wanted to kill them for preaching that Jesus is the Christ
(Messiah).
But one Pharisee
named Gamaliel argued that they shouldn’t be too hasty to kill
the apostles. They should wait and
see. Previous messianic movements had
been briefly successful, then withered and died. Gamaliel said they should wait and see what
would happen because, if the Jesus movement was from God, then it would
succeed.
This
is very significant because it indicates that the Jewish leaders didn’t see the
apostles’ teachings as being opposed to Judaism itself. They conceded the possibility that it could
have been from God.
The
thing to take away from this is, would they have decided to wait and see what
would happen if the apostles had broken any of the major laws of Judaism? Why wouldn’t anyone at the council have
brought up the Trinity, if the apostles had really been preaching it? How could the Jewish leaders have conceded
the possibility that the apostles were led by God if the apostles were
preaching that we should worship a human being as God and that there were three
persons who were God?
When you watch presentations supporting the Trinity, you
will see a clear pattern emerge. They
will quote one or two passages of Scripture, then present a long, philosophical
argument about how important the Trinity is and why God must be a Trinity. However, they don’t present any clear
scripture for most of their key points.
They sound very good and wonderful, but they are based solely on human
reasoning.
Here is one example.
Trinitarians will usually fall back on the argument that Jesus had to be
God, because a created being’s life is not valuable enough to be punished for
our sins. This sounds reasonable to many
people, until you realize that the presenter simply asserted this, and did not
quote it from Scripture. The reason he
did not quote it from Scripture is because there is not one verse in Scripture
that clearly states this principle.
What is the Bible’s explanation?
Romans 5: 12-15
Διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ δι᾿ ἑνὸς
ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ
θάνατος, καὶ οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν, ἐφ᾿ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον· -
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned:
ἄχρι γὰρ νόμου ἁμαρτία
ἦν ἐν κόσμῳ, ἁμαρτία δὲ οὐκ ἐλλογεῖται μὴ ὄντος νόμου·
13 (For until the law sin was in
the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
ἀλλ᾿ ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ ᾿Αδὰμ μέχρι Μωϋσέως καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς μὴ ἁμαρτήσαντας
ἐπὶ τῷ ὁμοιώματι τῆς παραβάσεως ᾿Αδάμ, ὅς ἐστι τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of
Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
᾿Αλλ᾿ οὐχ ὡς τὸ παράπτωμα, οὕτω καὶ τὸ χάρισμα. εἰ γὰρ τῷ
τοῦ ἑνὸς παραπτώματι οἱ πολλοὶ ἀπέθανον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον
ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἡ δωρεὰ ἐν χάριτι τῇ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐπερίσσευσε.
15 But not as the offence, so also
is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the
grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus
Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Hebrews 7:24-25
ὁ δὲ διὰ τὸ μένειν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἀπαράβατον
ἔχει τὴν ἱερωσύνην·
24 But this man, because he
continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
ὅθεν καὶ σῴζειν εἰς τὸ
παντελὲς δύναται τοὺς προσερχομένους δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τῷ Θεῷ, πάντοτε ζῶν
εἰς τὸ ἐντυγχάνειν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν.
25 Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them.
As you can see, the Bible’s reasoning is fundamentally
different. The Trinitarian argument that
only an uncreated being could die for our sins assumes that the Penal
Substitution atonement theory is correct.
This is the belief that God forgives our sins by punishing Jesus in our
place. It is a form of the Satisfaction
atonement theory.
There are a number of historians who argue that the
Satisfaction atonement theory was first fully expressed by Anselm in the 11th
century, a thousand years after Christ.
One of the earliest atonement theories is the Moral
Influence theory. In the Moral Influence
theory, the emphasis is on Jesus’s life and teachings. Jesus is seen as living a perfect life of
obedience to God, from birth through a martyr’s death, in order to bring us
closer to God. This view of the
atonement is not tied to the doctrine of the Trinity and is generally seen as
conflicting with the Penal Substitution theory.
It is worth noting that the Moral Influence theory, in addition to being
one of the oldest theories, shares a lot of common traits with the Islamic view
of Jesus. A very good book on this theory is Moral
Transformation: The Original Christian Paradigm of Salvation by A. J.
Wallace.
Another
atonement theory that predates Anselm’s Satisfaction atonement theory is the
Christus Victor theory of atonement. In
this theory, Jesus is not punished for our sins. Instead, Jesus defeats Satan and death, through
his death and resurrection, and frees us from their power and influence. Gustaf Aulén’s book Christus Victor
is the classic work on this theory. It
also shows that the Satisfaction atonement theory did not become dominant until
Anselm in the 11th century.
The point of
that little sidebar was to point out that not only is the Penal Substitution
theory of atonement not the only theory of atonement, but there is good reason
to believe that it is not what the New Testament writers had in mind. One cannot simply assert that Jesus had to be
God in order to be punished in our place.
One would have to first prove the Penal substitution theory of atonement
to be true. I do not personally
subscribe to that theory of atonement.
Many Christians do not subscribe to that theory of atonement. Mainstream Muslims and Jews find the idea of
a God punishing an innocent person for our sins completely unjust.
The books I
mentioned above go into far more depth arguing against the Penal Substitution
theory than I can possibly cover here.
This is a very brief summary of my reasons for not believing in the Penal
Substitution atonement theory.
There are two
main sources that Protestants go to for evidence of that theory. The first is Paul’s writings. Peter warns us that Paul’s writings are very
difficult to properly understand and that many Christians misinterpret what
Paul wrote and create false doctrines.
Peter says that the way to correctly interpret Paul is to first
understand what Jesus taught.
2 Peter 3:15-18
καὶ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν μακροθυμίαν σωτηρίαν ἡγεῖσθε, καθὼς καὶ ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς Παῦλος κατὰ τὴν αὐτῷ
δοθεῖσαν σοφίαν ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν,
15 And
count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul
also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
ὡς καὶ ἐν πάσαις ἐπιστολαῖς λαλῶν ἐν αὐταῖς περὶ
τούτων, ἐν αἷς ἐστι δυσνόητά τινα, ἃ οἱ ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἀστήρικτοι στρεβλοῦσιν ὡς καὶ τὰς
λοιπὰς γραφὰς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτῶν ἀπώλειαν.
16 as
he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are
some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and
unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
῾Υμεῖς οὖν, ἀγαπητοί, προγινώσκοντες
φυλάσσεσθε, ἵνα μὴ τῇ τῶν ἀθέσμων πλάνῃ συναπαχθέντες ἐκπέσητε τοῦ ἰδίου στηριγμοῦ,
17 You
therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried
away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
αὐξάνετε δὲ ἐν χάριτι καὶ γνώσει τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν
καὶ σωτῆρος ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ. αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος· ἀμήν.
18 But
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be
the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Search through Jesus’s teachings and see what he teaches
about salvation. Jesus consistently
teaches that salvation comes to those who obey God, do well to others and
follow Jesus. You would be hard pressed
to find even one instance where Jesus said we will be saved by believing that
God punished him for our sins.
The second place that many Protestants go to for evidence
of the Penal Substitution theory of atonement is the sacrificial system in the
Old Testament. They say that anyone who
sinned had to bring a sacrifice to the Sanctuary, confess their sin over the
animal, and kill it.
I used to wonder why Jews didn’t accept this as proof
that Jesus died for our sins. Then I
studied and found out. Jews will tell
you that this kind of sacrifice was only for mistakes or unintentionally
breaking the Mosaic Law. Deliberate,
intentional sins could not be forgiven this way. They
say that Christians are reading their preconceived ideas into the Scripture and
ignoring the context. They say that
Christians aren’t using proper exegesis (drawing the interpretation out of the
text). They say that a person who sinned
deliberately couldn’t be forgiven by bringing a sacrifice. They say that the deliberate sinner was
forgiven by God by sincere repentance.
They say that the repentant deliberate sinner would bring a sacrifice as
a gift to God after repenting and asking God for forgiveness. But they never placed their hands on the
sacrifice and confessed their deliberate sins over the sacrifice, transferring
their guilt to the sacrifice. And the
Jews say there were other forms of Atonement that didn’t involve sacrifice.
Here are the
verses they use to show this.
Leviticus 4:2-5
ASV
דבר אל־בני ישׂראל לאמר נפשׁ
כי־תחטא בשׁגגה מכל מצות יהוה אשׁר לא תעשׂינה ועשׂה מאחת מהנה
2 Speak unto the children of Israel,
saying, If any one shall sin unwittingly, in any of the things
which Jehovah hath commanded not to be done, and shall do any one of them:
אם הכהן המשׁיח יחטא לאשׁמת העם והקריב על חטאתו אשׁר חטא פר
בן־בקר תמים ליהוה לחטאת
3 if the anointed priest shall sin
so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he
hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto Jehovah for a sin-offering.
והביא את־הפר אל־פתח אהל מועד לפני יהוה וסמך את־ידו על־ראשׁ
הפר ושׁחט את־הפר לפני יהוה
4 And he shall bring the bullock
unto the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah; and he shall lay his hand
upon the head of the bullock, and kill the bullock before Jehovah.
ולקח הכהן המשׁיח מדם הפר והביא אתו אל־אהל מועד
5 And the anointed priest shall take
of the blood of the bullock, and bring it to the tent of meeting:
Leviticus 4:13-16
ASV
ואם כל־עדת ישׂראל ישׁגו ונעלם
דבר מעיני הקהל ועשׂו אחת מכל־מצות יהוה אשׁר לא־תעשׂינה ואשׁמו
13 And if the whole congregation of
Israel err, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly,
and they have done any of the things which Jehovah hath commanded not to be
done, and are guilty;
ונודעה החטאת אשׁר חטאו עליה והקריבו הקהל פר בן־בקר לחטאת והביאו
אתו לפני אהל מועד
14 when the sin wherein they
have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bullock for
a sin-offering, and bring it before the tent of meeting.
וסמכו זקני העדה את־ידיהם על־ראשׁ הפר לפני יהוה ושׁחט את־הפר
לפני יהוה
15 And the elders of the
congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before Jehovah;
and the bullock shall be killed before Jehovah.
והביא הכהן המשׁיח מדם הפר אל־אהל מועד
16 And the anointed priest shall
bring of the blood of the bullock to the tent of meeting:
Leviticus 4:22-25
ASV
אשׁר נשׂיא יחטא ועשׂה אחת
מכל־מצות יהוה אלהיו אשׁר לא־תעשׂינה בשׁגגה ואשׁם
22 When a ruler sinneth, and doeth unwittingly
any one of all the things which Jehovah his God hath commanded not to be done,
and is guilty;
או־הודע אליו חטאתו אשׁר חטא בה והביא את־קרבנו שׂעיר עזים זכר
תמים
23 if his sin, wherein he hath
sinned, be made known to him, he shall bring for his oblation a goat, a
male without blemish.
וסמך ידו על־ראשׁ השׂעיר ושׁחט אתו במקום אשׁר־ישׁחט את־העלה
לפני יהוה חטאת הוא
24 And he shall lay his hand upon
the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the
burnt-offering before Jehovah: it is a sin-offering.
ולקח הכהן מדם החטאת באצבעו ונתן על־קרנת מזבח העלה ואת־דמו
ישׁפך אל־יסוד מזבח העלה
25 And the priest shall take of the
blood of the sin-offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the
altar of burnt-offering; and the blood thereof shall he pour out at the base of
the altar of burnt-offering.
Leviticus 4:27-33
ASV
ואם־נפשׁ אחת תחטא בשׁגגה
מעם הארץ בעשׂתה אחת ממצות יהוה אשׁר לא־תעשׂינה ואשׁם
27 And if any one of the common
people sin unwittingly, in doing any of the things which Jehovah
hath commanded not to be done, and be guilty;
או הודע אליו חטאתו אשׁר חטא והביא קרבנו שׂעירת עזים תמימה
נקבה על־חטאתו אשׁר חטא
28 if his sin, which he hath
sinned, be made known to him, then he shall bring for his
oblation a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.
וסמך את־ידו על ראשׁ החטאת ושׁחט את־החטאת במקום העלה
29 And he shall lay his hand upon
the head of the sin-offering, and kill the sin-offering in the place of
burnt-offering.
ולקח הכהן מדמה באצבעו ונתן על־קרנת מזבח העלה ואת־כל־דמה ישׁפך
אל־יסוד המזבח
30 And the priest shall take of the
blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of
burnt-offering; and all the blood thereof shall he pour out at the base of the
altar.
ואת־כל־חלבה יסיר כאשׁר הוסר חלב מעל זבח השׁלמים והקטיר הכהן
המזבחה לריח ניחח ליהוה וכפר עליו הכהן ונסלח לו
31 And all the fat thereof shall he
take away, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace-offerings;
and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor unto Jehovah; and
the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
ואם־כבשׂ יביא קרבנו לחטאת נקבה תמימה יביאנה
32 And if he bring a lamb as his
oblation for a sin-offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.
וסמך את־ידו על ראשׁ החטאת ושׁחט אתה לחטאת במקום אשׁר ישׁחט
את־העלה
33 And he shall lay his hand upon
the head of the sin-offering, and kill it for a sin-offering in the place where
they kill the burnt-offering.
Leviticus 5:1-18
ASV
ונפשׁ כי־תחטא ושׁמעה קול אלה והוא עד או ראה או ידע אם־לוא
יגיד ונשׂא עונו
1 And
if any one sin, in that he heareth the voice of adjuration, he being a witness,
whether he hath seen or known, if he do not utter it, then he
shall bear his iniquity.
1 If anyone sins in that
he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he
has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his
iniquity; ESV
או נפשׁ אשׁר תגע בכל־דבר טמא או בנבלת חיה טמאה או בנבלת בהמה טמאה או בנבלת
שׁרץ טמא ונעלם ממנו והוא טמא ואשׁם
2 Or if any one touch any unclean
thing, whether it be the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean
cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and it be hidden from
him, and he be unclean, then he shall be guilty.
או כי יגע בטמאת אדם לכל טמאתו אשׁר יטמא בה ונעלם ממנו והוא
ידע ואשׁם
3 Or if he touch the uncleanness of
man, whatsoever his uncleanness be wherewith he is unclean, and it be hid from
him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty.
או נפשׁ כי תשׁבע לבטא בשׂפתים להרע או להיטיב לכל אשׁר יבטא
האדם בשׁבעה ונעלם ממנו והוא־ידע ואשׁם לאחת מאלה
4 Or if any one swear rashly
with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall
utter rashly with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it,
then he shall be guilty in one of these things.
והיה כי־יאשׁם לאחת מאלה והתודה אשׁר חטא עליה
5 And it shall be, when he shall be
guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that wherein
he hath sinned:
והביא את־אשׁמו ליהוה על חטאתו אשׁר חטא נקבה מן־הצאן כשׂבה
או־שׂעירת עזים לחטאת וכפר עליו הכהן מחטאתו
6 and he shall bring his
trespass-offering unto Jehovah for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from
the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make
atonement for him as concerning his sin.
ואם־לא תגיע ידו די שׂה והביא את־אשׁמו אשׁר חטא שׁתי תרים או־שׁני
בני־יונה ליהוה אחד לחטאת ואחד לעלה
7 And if his means suffice not for a
lamb, then he shall bring his trespass-offering for that wherein he hath
sinned, two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, unto Jehovah; one for a
sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering.
והביא אתם אל־הכהן והקריב את־אשׁר לחטאת ראשׁונה ומלק את־ראשׁו
ממול ערפו ולא יבדיל
8 And he shall bring them unto the
priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin-offering first, and wring off
its head from its neck, but shall not divide it asunder:
והזה מדם החטאת על־קיר המזבח והנשׁאר בדם ימצה אל־יסוד המזבח
חטאת הוא
9 and he shall sprinkle of the blood
of the sin-offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall
be drained out at the base of the altar: it is a sin-offering.
ואת־השׁני יעשׂה עלה כמשׁפט וכפר עליו הכהן מחטאתו אשׁר־חטא
ונסלח לו
10 And he shall offer the second for
a burnt-offering, according to the ordinance; and the priest shall make
atonement for him as concerning his sin which he hath sinned, and he shall be
forgiven.
ואם־לא תשׂיג ידו לשׁתי תרים או לשׁני בני־יונה והביא את־קרבנו
אשׁר חטא עשׂירת האפה סלת לחטאת לא־ישׂים עליה שׁמן ולא־יתן עליה לבנה כי חטאת הוא
11 But if his means suffice not for
two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, then he shall bring his oblation for
that wherein he hath sinned, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a
sin-offering: he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any
frankincense thereon; for it is a sin-offering.
והביאה אל־הכהן וקמץ הכהן ממנה מלוא קמצו את־אזכרתה והקטיר המזבחה
על אשׁי יהוה חטאת הוא
12 And he shall bring it to the
priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as the memorial thereof,
and burn it on the altar, upon the offerings of Jehovah made by fire: it is a
sin-offering.
וכפר עליו הכהן על־חטאתו אשׁר־חטא מאחת מאלה ונסלח לו והיתה
לכהן כמנחה
13 And the priest shall make
atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in any of these things,
and he shall be forgiven: and the remnant shall be the priest's, as the
meal-offering.
וידבר יהוה אל־משׁה לאמר
14 And Jehovah spake unto Moses,
saying,
נפשׁ כי־תמעל מעל וחטאה בשׁגגה מקדשׁי יהוה והביא את־אשׁמו ליהוה
איל תמים מן־הצאן בערכך כסף־שׁקלים בשׁקל־הקדשׁ לאשׁם
15 If any one commit a trespass, and
sin unwittingly, in the holy things of Jehovah; then he shall
bring his trespass-offering unto Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the
flock, according to thy estimation in silver by shekels, after the shekel of
the sanctuary, for a trespass-offering:
ואת אשׁר חטא מן־הקדשׁ ישׁלם ואת־חמישׁתו יוסף עליו ונתן אתו
לכהן והכהן יכפר עליו באיל האשׁם ונסלח לו
16 and he shall make restitution for
that which he hath done amiss in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part
thereto, and give it unto the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for
him with the ram of the trespass-offering, and he shall be forgiven.
ואם־נפשׁ כי תחטא ועשׂתה אחת מכל־מצות יהוה אשׁר לא תעשׂינה
ולא־ידע ואשׁם ונשׂא עונו
17 And if any one sin, and do any of
the things which Jehovah hath commanded not to be done; though he knew it
not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.
והביא איל תמים מן־הצאן בערכך לאשׁם אל־הכהן וכפר עליו הכהן
על שׁגגתו אשׁר־שׁגג והוא לא־ידע ונסלח לו
18 And he shall bring a ram without
blemish out of the flock, according to thy estimation, for a trespass-offering,
unto the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning the
thing wherein he erred unwittingly and knew it not, and he shall be forgiven.
Number 15:22-30
וכי תשׁגו ולא תעשׂו את כל־המצות האלה אשׁר־דבר יהוה אל־משׁה
22 And if ye have erred, and not
observed all these commandments, which the Lord hath spoken unto Moses,
את כל־אשׁר צוה יהוה אליכם ביד־משׁה מן־היום אשׁר צוה יהוה והלאה
לדרתיכם
23 Even all that the Lord hath commanded you by
the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord
commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;
והיה אם מעיני העדה נעשׂתה לשׁגגה ועשׂו כל־העדה פר בן־בקר אחד
לעלה לריח ניחח ליהוה ומנחתו ונסכו כמשׁפט ושׂעיר־עזים אחד לחטת
24 Then it shall be, if ought be committed by
ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the
congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet
savour unto the Lord, with
his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid
of the goats for a sin offering.
וכפר הכהן על־כל־עדת בני ישׂראל ונסלח להם כי־שׁגגה הוא והם
הביאו את־קרבנם אשׁה ליהוה וחטאתם לפני יהוה על־שׁגגתם
25 And the priest shall make an atonement
for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven
them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a
sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord, and
their sin offering before the Lord, for
their ignorance:
ונסלח לכל־עדת בני ישׂראל ולגר הגר בתוכם כי לכל־העם בשׁגגה
26 And it shall be forgiven all the
congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among
them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.
ואם־נפשׁ אחת תחטא בשׁגגה והקריבה עז בת־שׁנתה לחטאת
27 And if any soul sin through ignorance,
then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.
וכפר הכהן על־הנפשׁ השׁגגת בחטאה בשׁגגה לפני יהוה לכפר עליו
ונסלח לו
28 And the priest shall make an atonement
for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance
before the Lord, to
make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.
האזרח בבני ישׂראל ולגר הגר בתוכם תורה אחת יהיה לכם לעשׂה בשׁגגה
29 Ye shall have one law for him that
sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children
of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.
והנפשׁ אשׁר־תעשׂה ביד רמה מן־האזרח ומן־הגר את־יהוה הוא מגדף
ונכרתה הנפשׁ ההוא מקרב עמה
30 But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously,
whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall
be cut off from among his people.
Penal
Substitution theory claims that there is no atonement without sacrifice. Here are examples of atonement without sacrifice.
Numbers 16:47
ויקח אהרן כאשׁר דבר משׁה
וירץ אל־תוך הקהל והנה החל הנגף בעם ויתן את־הקטרת ויכפר על־העם
47 And
Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and,
behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made
an atonement for the people.
Numbers
31:50
ונקרב את־קרבן יהוה אישׁ אשׁר מצא כלי־זהב אצעדה וצמיד טבעת
עגיל וכומז לכפר על־נפשׁתינו לפני יהוה
50 We
have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord, what every man hath
gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets,
to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord.
Isaiah
6:6-7
ויעף אלי אחד מן־השׂרפים ובידו רצפה במלקחים לקח מעל המזבח
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the
altar:
ויגע על־פי ויאמר הנה נגע זה על־שׂפתיך וסר עונך וחטאתך תכפר
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said,
Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
purged.
James 5:19-20
᾿Αδελφοί, ἐάν
τις ἐν ὑμῖν πλανηθῇ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἐπιστρέψῃ τις αὐτόν,
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the
truth, and one convert him;
γινωσκέτω ὅτι ὁ ἐπιστρέψας ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐκ πλάνης
ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ σώσει ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτου καὶ καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν.
20 Let him know, that he which converteth
the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall
hide a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8
πρὸ πάντων δὲ τὴν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἀγάπην ἐκτενῆ
ἔχοντες, ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν·
8 And above all things have fervent charity
among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
