Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?
It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.
Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.
We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.
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Introduction
The average person probably recoils at the idea of the sacrificial spilling of blood. Modern culture doesn't really understand it. It really makes no sense to them. But it is a particular sense of justice that permeates the OT blood sacrifice, blood for blood, life for life. This is why God instituted the sacrificial system, based on the fundamental idea that blood needs to be spilled for sin.
Blood is Life
Life is represented by blood. This certainly makes sense, because a body without blood is a dead body. And every living creature has blood. Blood is synonymous with life.
In Jewish culture the blood is regarded as the very substance of life:
Leviticus 17:14 ...the life of every creature is its blood.
Life is represented by blood. This certainly makes sense, because a body without blood is a dead body. And every living creature has blood. Blood is synonymous with life.
This is a central understanding.
The Spilling of Blood
Obviously, unjust death (the spilling of blood) must have consequences. The required action to deal the spilling of blood is the death of the perpetrator, i.e., to spill blood. Death is required when death is unjustly caused:
Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.
We do understand that murderers get the death penalty. This seems sensible to us, life for life. The concept comes directly from God's commandment:
Numbers 35:3 Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. He must surely be put to death.
A murderer must not be allowed to be released from the death sentence. In contemporary language, we must not set free a murderer on bond, commute his sentence, or even, mitigate the death penalty with a life sentence. These all violate God's justice.
Polluting The Land
How important is the blood? Surely we underestimate it. God's righteous anger is directed towards the unjust spilling of blood. In fact, it pollutes the land:
Numbers 35:33-34 Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 19:10 That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.
"Land" is the Hebrew word erets, which means earth, whole earth (opposed to a part); earth, opposed to heaven; inhabitants of earth; country, territory; district, region; tribal territory; piece of ground. The land is important as a defining characteristic of a people group. The land was given as an inheritance to the various tribes of Israel:
Genesis 26:4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands...
Therefore, the land represents the highest blessing in Hebrew culture. It symbolizes favor, riches, peace, and especially, that God was with them. Thus the unjust spilling of blood falls onto the land and soaks into it, staining the blessing and inheritance. The land defiled with blood will not produce crops, rain will not fall on it, and what was previously God's blessing becomes a curse.
As a side note, Deuteronomy 19:10 mentions how God warned Israel that the shedding of innocent blood would be upon them. That is, they would be held responsible for this sin. Interestingly, Israel used this very same language to invite the curse regarding the possibility of Jesus' innocence:
Mt. 27:25 All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
They wanted to be held guilty for the shedding of innocent blood. Ugh.
This is how seriously God regards the blood.
Death, The Penalty For Sin
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins shall die.
Adam's sin brought death. He received this wage:
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death...
Note very carefully that this verse applies to Adam's one particular sin. His sin earned the wages of death, and therefore death came to all of us:
Ro. 5:16-17 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation... 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man...
We didn't so much inherit original sin so much as we inherited death and condemnation because of Adam's sin. His "one sin" was judged, and that judgment was death, in particular, spiritual death. Therefore, that wage has already been paid out. And we are descendants of the one man, and therefore are already spiritually dead when we were born.
That's the natural state of man, death and condemnation:
John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.
The judgment has already been made and the wages paid out: Death. Sinning is what dead people do. Therefore, we sin because that's what dead people do, and sin is lawbreaking:
1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
This is a reference to God's law. These walking dead people, the human race, are law breakers, and their blood must be spilled, in essence, to balance the equation. The spilling of blood as a violation of God's law demands the physical death of the perpetrator, but violations of Law have both natural and spiritual consequences. Murder, stealing, lying, adultery, bitterness, coveting, all these can certainly have repercussions in peoples' lives, but they are also are a stench before God.
Blood needs to be spilled.
Atonement
The Hebrew word for atonement is kaphar, which means to cover over.
In that sense, then the death of a murderer, blood for blood, is a kind of atonement. But God instituted animal sacrifice so that sin could be atoned for (covered over). Though sin requires spilled blood, the spilled blood of an animal satisfies God's requirement that blood must be spilled for sin. So blood sacrifice for sin is also atonement.
Sin breaks the law and requires either death or atonement.
The first use of the word "atonement" in the Bible is:
Genesis 6:14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
"Coat" is the Hebrew word kaphar. Moses atoned for the ark in the sense that he covered it over.
That same word is used here:
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
The blood sacrifice is specifically purposed to atone for the sins of Israel, but had to be repeated time after time:
Hebrews 10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year...
Atonement is an inadequate solution, for it only covers over sin. Sin is only obscured or out of sight, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). Atonement ultimately is insufficient, and falls short of God's ultimate requirements.
Jesus Propitiated
So we need more than an animal sacrifice, we need a Savior. Atonement falls short. We need something lasting, eternal. That sacrifice is Jesus, the Son of God, who spilled his blood as the single sufficient sacrifice:
He. 10:10 ...we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins...
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
Romans 3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed...
"Propitiation" is an obsolete term for modern Christians, but we think it's more accurate because it shows that Jesus' death is a better sacrifice. "Propitiation" is hilastērion, relating to appeasing or expiating, having placating or expiating force, expiatory...
This is the important effect of propitiation: It completely deals with the Father's wrath against sinners:
Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Jesus' sacrificial death satisfied the Father's wrath. He propitiated for us by means of His blood which washed us clean. This is different than atonement, which as we mentioned only covers over (Hebrew, kaphar) of sin. His blood is superior and totally effectual.
Conclusion
God did everything necessary to completely negate the effects of sin. By His blood we have been washed clean. That might be enough if God simply stopped there, but Jesus rose from the dead as a conqueror, and that means our deadness is also remediated. Otherwise we would be forgiven but still dead. The resurrection made possible our new birth:
1Pe. 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...
Both sin and death have been overcome:
Ro. 8:2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
This is exactly what we needed.
Dear reader, if you have not put your trust in Jesus as savior, you should do that right now. Here's how:
- Confess: Admit to God what He already knows. You are a dead sinner and a lawbreaker and need a savior.
- Repent: This means to turn away from your sin. Reject the deeds of darkness and forsake your selfish ways.
- Receive His forgiveness: He is more than willing to forgive.
- Ask Him to save you: He will give you new life
- Ask Him to be filled with the Holy Spirit: His Holy Spirit dwells in every believer, now including you, but you need the fullness of the Holy Spirit in order to live an obedient life.
If you have done this, we celebrate with you and praise God for His goodness!
In addition, we would counsel you to do the following things:
- Find a good church
- Read your Bible
- Pray
- Grow in faith
Remember to not be discouraged if you have some missteps. You are still human, after all. The Holy Spirit is the power in your life to keep your heart true. Keep in step with Him and you will live a life pleasing to God.
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