This is the final chapter in the section (Chs. 11-15) of Leviticus having to do with the laws concerning clean and unclean things. At any given time, each person in Israel would have been considered either clean or unclean as defined by these laws. Being unclean was no sin, although failure to abide by the laws concerning such things was a serious sin.
Being clean, on the other hand, did not make a person sinless. Indeed the principle benefit of being clean was that one could then approach God freely to offer sacrifices in atonement for one’s sins. However even those who were clean and offered sacrifices in strict accordance with the law could not please God, unless they sincerely loved and served God and their fellow man. All of the Old Testament prophets knew and proclaimed these things, as would Jesus in a later time.
