Leviticus 1 · a question people ask
Was the burnt offering for sin, or a gift to God?
Leviticus 1 says both that the burnt offering is "accepted for him to make atonement for him" (1:4) and that it is "a pleasant aroma to the LORD" (1:9). The word sin doesn't appear in the chapter. Christians weigh the two sides differently.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Mainly for sin
Job "offered burnt offerings" for his children, saying, "It may be that my sons have sinned" (Job 1:5). On the Day of Atonement the high priest is to "offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people" (Leviticus 16:24). On this reading, with 1:4, the burnt offering is first a way of making atonement for sin.
Job 1:5 · Leviticus 16:24 · Leviticus 1:4
Mainly a whole gift
A burnt offering could be brought for "any of their vows or any of their free will offerings" (Leviticus 22:18). Noah "offered burnt offerings on the altar" after the flood (Genesis 8:20), and in this chapter the priest is to "burn all of it on the altar" (1:9). On this reading, the burnt offering is first a gift of the whole to God, and the atonement of 1:4 comes with it.
Leviticus 22:18 · Genesis 8:20 · Leviticus 1:9
The verses
“He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”
“but he shall wash its innards and its legs with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.”