Endnote 16 – Did Jesus Oppose the Purity Laws?

Forgiveness in any case was not “dispensed” at the Temple. Diaspora Jews, and even Jews living in Judea and Galilee who could not make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, were not thereby cut off from repentance for sin and, thus, forgiveness. On the connection between disease and sin, and healing and forgiveness, see Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), pp. 66–67. On the misunderstandings occasioned by the common translation “sin offering” for the purification offerings of Leviticus 5, see Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief 63 B.C.E.-66 C.E., pp. 108ff., and his discussion of sacrifices, pp. 103–118. Some impurities required atonement sacrifices, but these were specific cases; most did not.