Sin and Impurity

Milgrom says that the “purification offering” deals with impurity and not with sin. Kiuchi says that it deals also with sin, suggesting that the “problem of terminology arises from the fact that the cultic law distinguishes between physical uncleanness and . . . (sin), whereas . . . (sin) itself can be an intense form of uncleanness.” Jonathan Klawans’ book on sin and impurity helps to resolve this dilemma; Klawans argues that the language of impurity is applied to sins in the Torah – idolatry and sexual immorality in particular defile the land and cause the land to wretch and vomit its inhabitants. Klawans thus justifies Kiuchi’s claim that the purification offering dealt with both “sanctuary” and “land” defilements. Beyond that, the question is, how is this all transposed when we move to the new covenant? How is it conjugated? It appears that the NT knows only moral impurity, which now is seen as defiling the sanctuary and the land (both fulfilled in the church). 1 Cor 6 gives a clue: Paul describes sexual sin (which would have defiled the land in the OT) as a defilement of the temple of God. But does this formulation – moral and ceremonial collapsed into a single moral category – really cover all the cases in the NT?