Leviticus 5:1
“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;
Truth: We are responsible to speak up about sin
In the above passage we have an admonition to the nation of Israel about keeping the nation pure. In this entire section the solution was for the guilty party to come to an understanding about their sin and to confess it, offering some sort of sacrifice on the alter, thus making their confessing and purification. Sacrificial atonement was the only avenue for freedom from guilt. To assure that the community is kept pure, the above verses are written out for us. If anyone observes or hears (come to know the matter) he or she has an obligation under the law to speak out about that sin. IF they do not speak out than they will bear the same iniquity of the one who sinned. The only way the community would be kept free from sin was for everyone to take part in the identification of the sin and the subsequent purification around it. Paul spoke of similar thoughts in his letter to the churches in Galatia:
Galatians 6:1-10
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.
Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
To keep the "household of faith" on the track of faithfulness we have a responsibility to speak up and bear witness about sin in our midst. Notice that Paul did not just write about this concept, he actually practiced it when he confronted Peter about his own hypocrisy.
Galatians 2:11-12
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
Paul understood the thought process of keeping the body pure. In the letter to the church at Corinth he writes to them about a young man who was opening living in a sexual relationship with his step-mom. The church, rather than correct it, were boasting about it. Paul calls them out:
1 Corinthians 5:6-7
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
The truth is if we want the community to be pure we have an obligation to call out impurity.
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