Restitution: when saying sorry isn't enough

Restitution means making good, as far as you are able, the loss your sin caused someone else. You return what you took, repay what it cost them, or correct what you falsely said. It does not earn God’s forgiveness. That is given freely through Christ, and nothing you pay could add to it. But where your wrong left someone with a real loss that you could repair, repentance will want to repair it. An apology says “I was wrong.” Restitution says “and here is what I took.” When the harm was concrete, the first without the second is incomplete.

The clearest picture of this in the New Testament is a tax collector in Jericho who had grown rich by overcharging his neighbours.

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. — Luke 19:8-9

Restitution follows forgiveness and does not buy it

Notice the order in that story. Jesus did not tell Zacchaeus to pay back what he owed and then come for dinner. He invited himself to Zacchaeus’s house first, while the crowd muttered about him eating with a sinner. The repayment came after the welcome. Zacchaeus was not buying his way in. He had been let in, and it changed what he wanted to do with his money.

This matters, because restitution done in the wrong spirit becomes a way of paying for your own sin. You hand over the money and feel you have settled the account with God. The account with God was settled at the cross. What you are settling now is the account with your neighbour, and you are doing it because you have been forgiven, not so that you will be.

What the law of Moses required

Restitution was built into the law God gave Israel, and it came paired with confession.

“Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman acts unfaithfully against the LORD by committing any sin against another, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged. — Numbers 5:6-7

Three things stand out. First, a sin against another person is called unfaithfulness against the Lord. You cannot wrong your neighbour and leave God out of it. Second, confession and repayment go together. Neither is enough alone. Third, the repayment is more than the loss: the full value, and a fifth on top. The wronged person is not merely returned to where they were. They are left a little better off.

Leviticus adds a detail about timing.

or anything else about which he has sworn falsely. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value, and pay it to the owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt. — Leviticus 6:4-5

On the day. Not when it becomes convenient, not once you have saved up enough to feel comfortable. Christians are not under the civil law of ancient Israel, but the heart of it has not changed: when you admit the wrong, you move to repair it, and you do it generously.

What can be restored and what cannot

Not every wrong can be repaid in kind, so it helps to think in categories.

Money and property. This is the simplest case. If you stole, borrowed and never returned, cheated on a sale, or took from an employer, you pay it back. Paul tells the thief not only to stop but to become someone who gives.

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need. — Ephesians 4:28

Reputation. If you lied about someone, the repair is to correct the lie with the people who heard it. This is often more costly than paying money, because it means admitting to others that you are a person who lies. It is also the only thing that actually helps the person you slandered. The guides on lying and half-truths and on gossip go further into this.

Work and time. Fiddled expenses, time billed but not worked, a qualification gained by cheating. Some of these can be repaid in money. Some cannot be undone at all, but you can stop profiting from them and be honest where honesty is owed.

Things that cannot be given back. A lost opportunity, a broken trust, a childhood that went differently because of you. There is no sum that restores these. Here restitution means a sincere apology, a changed life, and sometimes a costly act of care towards the person, if they want it. Be wary of inventing grand gestures. A large gift pressed on someone who did not ask for it can be one more way of making yourself feel better at their expense.

Working out what you owe

It helps to be practical and unhurried.

1. Write it down. List what you took or damaged, from whom, and roughly when. Be honest about amounts. The temptation will be to round down.
2. Work out the real value. If money lost value over years, or the loss caused other costs, take that into account. The added fifth in the law is a picture of generosity, not a precise rate.
3. Decide how to return it. Sometimes you hand it back with an apology. Sometimes it is wiser to repay without a meeting, for instance to a large company, or to someone who has asked for no contact.
4. If you cannot pay it all at once, make a plan and tell the person, if that is appropriate. A promise kept over months is still restitution.
5. If the person cannot be found or has died, the law made provision for that too.

But if the man has no relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest along with the ram of atonement, by which the atonement is made for him. — Numbers 5:8

The debt did not disappear because the person was gone. It went to God. Many Christians today apply this by giving the amount to their church or to the poor. The guide on when the person you wronged has died looks at the wider question.

When making it right could cause fresh harm

Sometimes restitution is complicated. Putting one wrong right might expose someone else’s sin, cause needless pain, or have legal consequences for you. Do not use this as a reason to do nothing, but do not rush either. Talk it through with a pastor you trust. Where the law is involved, get proper legal advice before you act. Accepting the lawful consequences of what you did may itself be part of making it right. Paul’s line about peace applies here too.

If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone. — Romans 12:18

Where Christians differ

Christians agree that repentance shows itself in putting right what can be put right. They differ in how they describe it. In Roman Catholic teaching, making reparation is part of the penance that follows confession, and it helps to heal the damage sin has done. Most Protestants stress that restitution adds nothing to Christ’s payment for sin before God, and see it as love for the neighbour flowing from forgiveness. There is also honest disagreement over how far back to go, particularly for wrongs done long before a person became a Christian. Many pastors advise repaying what you reasonably can and trusting God with the rest. This site leans towards the Protestant way of framing it, while respecting the other.

Starting today

Take the list to God first. Ask him to show you what you owe and to loosen your grip on it. Then do the first concrete thing this week: one payment, one phone call, one corrected lie. Zacchaeus did not wait until the following month. Salvation came to his house the same day his wallet opened, and that was not a coincidence.