When God forgives our sin, it does not mean that there will be no consequences. However, if He so desires, He may, by His mercy, remove all the consequences of our sin. From the salvation standpoint, when a believer is saved, he is spared the penalty of sin, i.e. hell and damnation, because of the justice and righteousness of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Leviticus 5:14-16, if a soul, out of ignorance, commits a trespass related to the holy things of the LORD (eg: worship, feasts days, various Levitical laws, sin of omission, etc.), restitution (or reparation) must be made: “…he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver…” (Lev 5:15). The ram is the sin offering for the purpose of atonement, but the payment of the shekels of this trespass offering is for the making of amends. The payment of shekels cannot be misunderstood as the payment for one’s sins. This is the Catholic’s false doctrine of making penance or paying for the forgiveness of sin. The payment of the shekels is not for the atonement of one’s sin, but for reparation, i.e. for the making of amends. The priest will decide on the amount of shekels depending on the seriousness of the sin. If the priest does not fear God, he can easily become corrupt and make wrong estimates based on his respect for the person.

“And he…shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priests” (Lev 5:16). This means that 20% of the original estimation is to be added and given to the priests. We must be very careful not to think that this 20% top-up, or when we do some good works (eg: Christian service, tithe and offerings etc), we are somehow contributing to our atonement. This is the wrong teaching of the Catholic church. In the 16^th century, this was one of the issues that led to the 16^th century Reformation. Indulgences (tickets for sins) were purchased even for sins that one has yet to commit. As today’s believers, all these offerings point us to Jesus. The work of atonement is by Christ, and Christ alone. The forgiven sinner must bear fruits of repentance, and one of the fruits of repentance is the making of restitution.

Leviticus 5:17-19 is a summary that included the sin of doing what are forbidden by the commandments of the LORD. And the sinner will be held responsible for his own iniquity. Here we have the principle of the conscience, where God shows you your guilt through your conscience. Then you must make right as instructed in verse 18 by recognising that you are the one who has sinned. Then go to the Lord and repent of your sins, and receive God’s forgiveness. But even in the forgiveness of sin, there is the making of restitution and reparation. After that, your desire must be to want to do what is right for the name of Christ.