Unintentional sin by keeping a command under pretext of piety
Origen is commenting on Leviticus 4:27, explaining what it means for a soul to sin unintentionally and why such a sin requires sacrifice.
Verse 27: “A soul, if it sins unintentionally,” it says, “and does not do any of all the commandments of the Lord, which it is necessary to do.”
But consider what is natural here. There are perhaps certain ordinances of the Lord which it is not necessary to do, according to the text: “They gave themselves ordinances that were not good” (Ezekiel 20:25). So a soul sins unintentionally when it keeps what it should not keep under pretext of piety. And this requires a sacrifice for forgiveness, whereas the one who acts deliberately does not require a sacrifice—like the one who became a Jew in order to gain Jews, and circumcised Timothy.
Verse 28: It indicates, then, that the very thing being offered is also called sin. This is how we must understand the text: “They will eat the sins of my people” (Hosea 4:8). If, then, the one who sins seems to offer the sin itself as a sacrifice in repenting, he ought not to fall back into the same sins, since the sin comes to life again. In this way it is possible to call Christ sin, as having been sacrificed for the sin of all.
Greek
Στίχ. κζ΄. Ψυχὴ ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ ἀκουσίως. φησὶ. καὶ μὴ ποιήσῃ ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν Κυρίου, ὧν δεῖ ποιεῖν.
(12) Εἰ δὲ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχει. Ἔστι τάχα τινὰ προστάγματα Κυρίου, ἃ οὐ δεῖ ποιεῖν, κατὰ τό· Ἕδωξαν αὐτοῖς προστάγματα οὐ καλά. Ψυχὴ οὖν ἁμαρτάνει ἀκουσίως, ὅτε προφάσει εὐσεβείας τὸ μὴ δέον τηρεῖ. Καὶ δεῖται θυσίας πρὸς ἄφεσιν, οὐ δεομένου θυσίας τοῦ δρῶντος ἐξεπίτηδες· ὡς ὁ γεγονὼς Ἰουδαῖος, ἵνα Ἰουδαίους κερδήσῃ, καὶ περιτεμὼν τὸν Τιμόθεον.
Στίχ. κη΄. Σημαίνει οὖν, ὅτι ἀμσρτία καλεῖται καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ προσαγόμενον. Οὕτω νοητέον τό· Ἁμαρτίας λαοῦ μου φάγονται. Εἰ οὖν ὁ ἁμαρτάνων αὐτὴν δοκεῖ θύειν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῷ μετανοεῖν, οὐκ ὀφείλει τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπίπτειν, ἐπεὶ ἀναζῇ ἡ ἁμαρτία. Οὕτω δυνατὸν τὸν Χριστὸν καλεῖν ἀμαρείαν, ὡς ὑπὸρ τῆς πάντων ἁμαρτίας τυθέντα.