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I'm reading Liviticus (sorry sp) and was wondering what is the difference between the burnt offering and the sin offering. They have so many different offerings....peace, burnt, sin, wave, trespass.
Why couldn't one offering suffice for all the sins?

Thanks for the help!

Jessie, this is a very legitimate and a very good question.

I am so glad that today we are under grace and not under law.

Jessie the book of Leviticus does mention a lot of offerings , now remember this was way before Jesus was born, crucified, resurrected, and before His asccension to Heaven. Thank God that Jesus di away with all these offerings and that now all we have to do is accept Him as our Lord and Savior and we are born again by faith, under grace.

Isrealites had to offer sin offerings for the sin that we inherited from Adam, and also from sins of fallen mankind. This is a good topic for an indepth Bible study. At this very moment, I am not able to answer your question in depth as it is 4:30 am where I live, however if you have an electronic Bible that comes with convordances you can look up and get answers to your question, or you may down load a free electronic Bible from e-sword.com. it has various commentaries available that may be able to help you.

Hello Jessie,

Israel was under the Law of Moses then, and that involves well over 600 laws with varying punishments for violations. This was also a time for elaborate ceremonies and rituals that had to be performed perfectly. There were hundreds of various requirements woven into a system with priests, judges, prophets, elders, etc., and Almighty God was literally the head of the system. We know that Almighty God hates sin, and the people of Israel committed many sins. GOD showed Israel great Mercy by even sparing their lives. Only a portion of the offerings and ceremonies were for sins. There were really many purposes, and thanks to GOD would only be an example. As another example, offerings were given to sustain the Levite Priests. It was a very complicated system, so a full explanation would be a very lengthy study.

In reading the history of Israel, you will notice that they failed GOD many times by worshiping other gods and idols. GOD had mercy on the people of Israel many times and the prescribed penalties were not carried out. As an example, adultery involved a death sentence, and King David committed adultery. David was spared and forgiven by GOD.

Almighty God was never really pleased with the various kinds of offerings made by His people. GOD was never pleased with the punishments either. If you carefully read the Old Testament and compare it to some portions in the New Testament, you will see that many of the offerings and ceremonies were shadows of what was to come. JESUS CHRIST was the reality who replaced those shadows. JESUS was the perfect sacrifice for sin, and GOD THE FATHER was pleased with the most perfect sacrifice of Blood on the Cross from the crucifixion of JESUS. There never was such a perfect and Holy Sacrifice.

Jessie, I hope this at least partially answered your question.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 78:4-6 NASB  We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children,

As you mentioned there were many different types of offerings mentioned in the Old Testament. As also mentioned they were a shadow of things to come. Being "a shadow of things to come" tells us that they were a symbol of what now is and not something that we should do. Jesus Christ was the offering inn our place.

To keep it simple and short. The burnt offering was a free will offering and the sin offering was a mandatory offering. The burnt offering was done to make ready for the sin offering.

The system of the different offerings were a much more complex system than what I have just stated but that gives you a basic idea of it.

For a more in depth study of this I reccomend using several different commentaries to get the full idea behind these offerings and what Christ did on the cross for us in place of them.

What do you mean by that?

Thank you Tom, Air and Roger. I fully understand that all these offerings forshawdowed the final, perfect offering. But i was just wondering why God made so many different ones. Ya know? 
Thanks for explaining the differrence Roger. So, one could only do the sin offering and hardly ever do burnt and peace offerings?

The burnt offering was considered to be a frewwil offering but the sin offering was a mandatory one. The burnt offering was done just prior to the sin offering. That is the most that I can remember right off. I would have to reasearch it again myself to be able to go into it in anymore detail than that.