To a casual reader, it can seem like “sin” and “being unclean” are the same thing. They’re used in somewhat similar ways, and they sometimes even require similar remedies to get back into a covenantal relationship with God (such as sacrifices).
But they’re not the same thing. That needs to be clear. Being unclean is not the same as being in sin.
Perhaps confusing the situation even more is God’s statement in Leviticus 15:31. As He’s summarizing the rules concerning discharges, He says that Israel needs to be aware and separated from their uncleanness so that they won’t die in that uncleanness by defiling God’s Tabernacle.
This presents an interesting dilemma. If being unclean isn’t a sin, then how could someone be destroyed for being unclean? The punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime. If someone wanders into a tabernacle after touching a dead body, for example, how is God just in killing him?
At first, it does seem like a gross imbalance. But think back to Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10. The problem wasn’t necessarily that they offered strange fire—it was that they willfully chose a different fire than what God directed. They substituted their own decision and casually dismissed God’s commandment.
But let me be clear: They offered the wrong fire. That was a sin. But the intent behind it was the bigger issue, in my opinion at least.
Apply that same concept to the judgment in Leviticus 15:31. Why would anyone stroll into worship when they’re ritually unclean? It’s because they didn’t care about God’s holiness. “So what if I touched a pig,” they might argue. “I don’t think God really cares about that.”
They might not think that God cares about it, but at the end of the day, they’ve substituted their own will for God’s. And that’s where the error is.
The Apostle Paul argues the same point from a different angle. Even though eating meat sacrificed to idols isn’t a sin, to do so when you know it violates someone’s innocent conscious is a sin (1 Corinthians 8-10). Why? Because you’ve disregarded their soul for your own convenience.
Is it a headache to remain unclean because of hygiene issues? Absolutely. But is it wrong to ignore God’s will to make your life? Also yes. That makes it a big deal.
And if it’s important to God, it should be important to us. Case closed.
