The Malignant Mildew: Sin in the Fabric of Our Lives Text: Leviticus 13:47-59
Introduction: God of the Mundane
We come now to a portion of Leviticus that causes many modern Christians to quietly close their Bibles and go looking for a more palatable Psalm. We have laws about skin diseases, and now we have laws about moldy clothes. It is very easy for our sophisticated sensibilities to dismiss this as part of an ancient, primitive purity code that has nothing whatever to say to us, apart from perhaps a general lesson on the wisdom of using Clorox. But to do this is to profoundly misunderstand the God we worship and the book He has written.
The God of the Bible is not a God who is interested only in your "spiritual life," that tiny, sealed-off compartment you visit for an hour on Sunday. He is the God of everything. He is the God of skin and bone, of stone and timber, and as we see here, of wool and linen. The Creator of the warp and the woof is intensely interested in the integrity of the warp and the woof. These laws are here to teach us a fundamental, bedrock truth of the Christian worldview: sin is not an abstract concept. It is a corruption. It is a rot. It is a malignant mildew that seeks to infest every fiber of creation, including the very clothes on our backs.
This is not primarily a lesson in ancient public health, although God's laws are always wise and beneficial. The reason for these procedures was not biological contagion in our modern sense, but rather ceremonial uncleanness. This "leprosy" in a garment was a physical picture of a spiritual reality. It was a divinely appointed object lesson for a hard-headed people. God was teaching them to see the world as He sees it, to recognize corruption, to deal with it ruthlessly, and to long for a true and final cleansing. And if we have ears to hear, He is teaching us the very same thing. For sin still seeks to thread its way into the fabric of our homes, our habits, our relationships, and our souls. The question is, do we have a priest to go to? Do we know how to identify the stain? And do we have the courage to do what God commands when the diagnosis is made?
The Text
When a garment has a mark of leprosy in it, whether it is a wool garment or a linen garment, whether in warp or woof, of linen or of wool, whether in leather or in any article made of leather, if the mark is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the leather or in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather, it is a leprous mark and shall be shown to the priest. Then the priest shall look at the mark and shall isolate the article with the mark for seven days. He shall then look at the mark on the seventh day; if the mark has spread in the garment, whether in the warp or in the woof or in the leather, whatever the purpose for which the leather is used, the mark is a leprous malignancy; it is unclean. So he shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or any article of leather in which the mark occurs, for it is a leprous malignancy; it shall be burned in the fire. But if the priest shall look, and indeed the mark has not spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather, then the priest shall command them to wash the thing in which the mark occurs, and he shall isolate it for seven more days. After the article with the mark has been washed, the priest shall again look, and if the mark has not changed its appearance, even though the mark has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire, whether an eating away has produced bareness on the top or on the front of it. Then if the priest looks, and if the mark has faded after it has been washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment or out of the leather, whether from the warp or from the woof; and if it appears again in the garment, whether in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather, it is an outbreak; you shall burn the article with the mark in the fire. Now the garment, whether the warp or the woof or any article of leather from which the mark has departed when you washed it, shall then be washed a second time and will be clean. This is the law for the mark of leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, whether in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.
(Leviticus 13:47-59 LSB)
The Diagnosis of Corruption (vv. 47-52)
We begin with the initial identification and the most severe diagnosis.
"if the mark is greenish or reddish in the garment... it is a leprous mark and shall be shown to the priest... if the mark has spread... the mark is a leprous malignancy; it is unclean. So he shall burn the garment..." (Leviticus 13:49, 51-52)
Notice first that the problem is not dirt. This is not about a grass stain from the kids playing outside. The mark is described as "greenish or reddish," an unnatural-looking corruption that appears from within the fabric itself. This is a picture of sin. Sin is not just an external action; it is an internal corruption of our nature that works its way out. It is a festering disease of the heart that eventually discolors our words, our deeds, and our relationships.
What is the first step? The garment must be shown to the priest. The layman makes the initial observation, but the authoritative diagnosis belongs to the priest. This is crucial. We are not competent to be the final judges of our own spiritual condition. We are masters of self-deception, experts at convincing ourselves that a leprous malignancy is just a bit of harmless discoloration. We need the objective standard of God's Word, ministered by the officers of Christ's Church, to properly diagnose the state of our souls. The priest's job is to look intently and apply the law of God.
The key diagnostic question is this: has it spread? The priest isolates the garment for seven days, a period of testing, and then re-examines it. If the corruption is growing, if it is active and consuming the fabric, then the verdict is absolute. It is a "leprous malignancy." The Hebrew here is sharp; it is a fretting, gnawing leprosy. It is unclean. And the sentence is fire. There is no middle ground, no attempt to salvage a part of it. The entire garment must be burned.
This is a picture of unrepentant, high-handed sin. It is the sin that is not just present, but is actively spreading its dominion. It is the secret habit that becomes a public scandal. It is the bitter root that springs up and defiles many (Heb. 12:15). God's command here is a radical amputation. You do not negotiate with a malignancy. You destroy it. This is exactly what Jesus taught: "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away... And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away" (Matt. 5:29-30). This is the biblical doctrine of mortification. You kill sin, or it will be killing you. And you burn the garment, because you are to hate even the garment stained by the flesh (Jude 1:23).
The Stubborn Stain (vv. 53-55)
But there is another, more subtle scenario.
"But if the priest shall look, and indeed the mark has not spread... then the priest shall command them to wash the thing... After the article with the mark has been washed, the priest shall again look, and if the mark has not changed its appearance, even though the mark has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire..." (Leviticus 13:53-55 LSB)
Here we have a corruption that is contained. It is not actively spreading. The first response is a hopeful one: wash it. This is a picture of initial repentance, of confession, of seeking cleansing. The garment is washed and then isolated for another seven days. But then comes the second inspection, and the verdict is grim. The mark has not spread, but neither has it changed its appearance. The stain is set. The character of the corruption remains, even after the washing.
This is a terrifying picture of superficial repentance. It is the picture of a man who is sorry he got caught, but not sorry he sinned. He stops the "spreading" of his sin; he contains the outward behavior. He washes the garment with resolutions and promises. But the heart, the "appearance of the mark," is unchanged. The underlying love for the sin remains. It is the man who stops his adultery to save his marriage but still nurses lust in his heart. It is the employee who stops embezzling for fear of prison but remains greedy and covetous. The corruption is latent, not eradicated.
And God's verdict on this condition is the same as for the spreading malignancy: "it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire." Why? Because God is not interested in behavioral modification. He is interested in heart transformation. He is not interested in sins that are merely managed; He demands sins that are mortified. A dormant sin is still a deadly sin. A caged lion is still a lion. This law teaches us that true cleansing, the kind that God accepts, must deal with the nature of the stain itself, not just its boundaries.
Hopeful Cleansing and Constant Vigilance (vv. 56-59)
Finally, the text provides a third, hopeful outcome.
"Then if the priest looks, and if the mark has faded after it has been washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment... and if it appears again... it is an outbreak; you shall burn the article... Now the garment... from which the mark has departed when you washed it, shall then be washed a second time and will be clean." (Leviticus 13:56-58 LSB)
Here, the washing is effective. The mark has "faded." The repentance was genuine, and it has begun to change the character of the corruption. What happens next is instructive. The priest does not pronounce the garment clean yet. He takes a knife and cuts out the faded spot. He tears it from the warp or the woof. This shows us that even forgiven sin can leave a scar, a weakness, a place that must be carefully and intentionally removed from our lives.
This is sanctification. It is not enough to be washed; we must also cooperate with the Spirit in the tearing out of sinful patterns and habits. This is a targeted, specific, and sometimes painful process. But it results in a garment that can be saved.
After the infected piece is removed, the garment is washed a second time, and only then is it pronounced clean. This is a beautiful picture of our justification and sanctification. We are washed in the blood of Christ (justification), and then we undergo the ongoing washing of the water of the Word (sanctification, Eph. 5:26), which includes the painful tearing out of remaining sin. It is a process.
But the warning in verse 57 is stark and realistic. Even after a piece has been torn out, a new outbreak can occur. This is the reality of the Christian life. The remaining corruption in our nature means that we are never, in this life, beyond the possibility of a new outbreak of sin. This is why we must remain vigilant. We must be constantly inspecting our own hearts and lives, ready to bring any suspicious mark immediately to our Great High Priest.
Our Great High Priest
This entire chapter, with its detailed procedures, drives us to one glorious conclusion: we need a priest. We are utterly incapable of diagnosing or curing the leprous corruption of our own hearts. Our attempts at self-reformation are like the man trying to wash the stubborn stain that will not fade. We can contain sin for a time, but we cannot change its nature.
But we have a Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who inspects our hearts with perfect wisdom. He does not need to isolate us for seven days; He sees the truth of our condition in an instant. And He does not offer us the temporary solutions of the Old Covenant.
When He finds a spreading malignancy, He does not simply command that the garment be burned. In an astonishing reversal, He takes our unclean garment upon Himself. He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). He wore our leprous rags to the cross, and there, in the consuming fire of God's wrath, He and our sin with Him were burned. He destroyed the power of indwelling sin by destroying it in His own body on the tree.
And when He finds a stubborn stain, He does not just command it to be washed with water. He washes it with His own blood, and that blood does not just fade the stain, it removes it entirely. "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). He does not just tear out a piece of the garment; He gives us a completely new garment, the pure white robe of His own perfect righteousness.
This is the gospel according to the mildew. The law shows us the depth of the corruption and the radical measures required to deal with it. It shows us our helplessness. It makes us cry out for a priest, for a cleansing, for a fire that can purify. And in doing so, it drives us straight into the arms of Jesus, the one who touches the unclean and makes them clean, the one who takes our corrupted fabric and clothes us in eternal holiness.