WHEN RESTITUTION BECOMES ANOTHER MEANING

The word restitution simply means the act of giving back to someone something that was lost or stolen or of paying the money for the loss. It is also described as an act of restoring or a condition of being restored, such as a restoration of something to its rightful owner or making good of or giving an equivalent for some injury.

This context under which this term is often being used is in the religious context. It is used to establish more behavioural content where it is preached that doing restitution is giving back something taken or acquired wrongfully to the original or true owner.

Application of restitution appears in the Bible, Leviticus 5:16, in this verse " You shall make restitution for that which he has done wrongfully in holy thing and shall add a fifth  part to it and give it to the priest, and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering and he will be forgiven" .

Also, in Luke 19:8, Zacchaeus said, "Behold, Lord, if I have taken anything from any man by force accusation, I restore him fourfold."

There are 48 Bible verses about restitution in the Bible. For example Exodus 22:7 declares " If a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him, and it is stolen from the man's house, if the thief is caught, he shall pay double".

Another one that may interests you is that which is the gain of restitution, Ezekiel 33:14-15 " But when I say to the wicked, you will surely die and if he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness If a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery" walks by the statues which ensure life without committing inequity, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 

These are perfect precepts from the Holy Bible, which established the virtues of restitution as a way of repentance, justice, and equity in relation between one person to another or our neighbours. Eventually, these are injunctions man must comply with in order to enter the kingdom of God.

The Islamic religion, too, has something to say about restitution, which is called Tawba in Arabic and is the Islamic concept of repenting to God due to performing any sins or misdeeds. It is the act of leaving what God has prohibited and returning to what he has commanded. The word denotes the act of being repentance of once misdeeds atoning for those misdeeds and having a strong determination to forsake those misdeeds. If one sins against another person, restitution is required.

This Islamic code or behaviour still points to the fact that restitution is making our ways perfect before God by redressing our conducts between our fellow neighbours and any other person for the matter. 

However, restitution, among other applications by contemporary Christians, has been extended to amendment of sins committed through marriage. Restitution is now required to be made by Christians who marry more than one wife to restitute by divorcing either of the wives to be left with only one wife. 

It arguably safe to contend this position based on the fact that ten or thereabout verses in the Bible mention marriage with particular emphasis on unity of purpose, love, marriage proper and inseparability in marriage withouts mentioning restitution in marriage. 

The only injunction given to bishops and elders, according to Titus 1:6-7, is that they should remain irreproachable and the husband of both one wife whose children are well trained and well behaved with other virtues .

It is, therefore, in my own opinion becoming evidently clear that restitution has been given another meaning by contemporary Christians in view of the following arguments.

Firstly, it is not biblical to force Christians who are not bishops or elders to divorce their wife or wives on account of restitution because the Bible has not recorded such ordinance.

Again, the Bible should be seen as having the same spiritual inspiration from Genesis to Revelation, and Christians have not seized from making use of both the old and new testaments as reference points. Actors who are apples of God's eye and friend of God in the Bible, and even prophets are recorded to have more than one wife, and they were not commanded to make restitution. Is it now the same Bible with the same God's holy Spirit inspiration we read. 

Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith seems to have settled this matter in one of his dialogues with Sadducees provided answer to them... Mark 12:25 " For when they arise from the dead, men do not marry nor are women given the marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." The import of this conversation in that in heaven, according to the popular saying, "You are on your own," marital status is not a criterion for heavenly candidacy.

The ten commandments as given to men through Moses has all the commandments in terms of do's and don's, ranging from ' you shall not commit adultery, fornication, adolatry, sins against neighbours covetousness,  worshipping other gods, stealing and other vices.  No mention was made against man having more than one wife

From the moral point of view, bringing restitution to marriage is adding salt to injury. Those who are laid off in their prime of their marriage status will end up in the adulterous markets and further increase the already saturated market.  Today,  women around the world are clamouring for polygamy, requesting the government to legislate that men should have more than one wife, due dearth or scarcity of men. Finland of recent protested half naked in their cities clamouring for law to allow men to have more than one wife.  In my considered opinion, what Christians should rather preoccupy themselves with at this end time and perilous time is preparing their souls for the kingdom by abhoring acts that can destroy the soul rather than the issue of marriage which is not a considered issue at resurrection. 

Fumilayo Ikueduranni, 

A Communication Specialist, 

Writes from Akure.