Leviticus — Chapter 5

Concerning the guilt-offering, Lapide notes that Calvinus erroneously concluded from Leviticus 1:4 and 4 that the ancient sacrifices justified sacramentally, as baptism does now, making Jews and Christians equal in the manner of justification. Lapide refutes this from Psalm 50:18, Galatians 4:9, and Hebrews 10:4, and from the Council of Florence and Trent (sess. 7, can. 2): the old sacrifices profited in three ways — for remission of temporal punishment, for legal cleansing, and by conferring a kind of legal justice that was the figure of true internal renewal.

The confession required before the guilt-offering — \"when he shall be guilty of one of these things, he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing\" (Lev. 5:5) — is the Old Testament foundation of auricular confession. Lapide follows the common teaching of the Fathers and scholastic theologians (Suarez, Bellarmine): even under the Old Law, vocal confession of sin was required for the guilt-offering sacrifice to be efficacious. This prefigures the sacrament of Penance instituted by Christ (John 20:22-23).

The guilt-offering (asham) for sacrilege — taking holy things without authorization (Lev. 5:15-16) — requires not merely the sacrifice but also restitution of the value with a fifth part added. Lapide: restitution is inseparable from moral repentance. Without restitution of what is owed to God or neighbour, forgiveness of sin is incomplete. This is the Mosaic foundation of the Church's doctrine that a confessor cannot absolve a penitent who refuses to make restitution.