Blood and Forgiveness?

Question

In Hebrews 9:22 Paul says

"In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the cleansing of blood there is no forgiveness."

This statement - that only blood can forgive sin - cannot be found in the Old Testament. Yes, there were blood sacrifices, but that was not the only way to get forgiveness from God.

A lot of Christians I have met point to Lev 17:11 as the proof for this statement. When in fact it is merely an injunction for not eating blood. No where does it say that blood is the only path to forgivness. And no where does it say this through out the law.

I would like to know where Paul got this idea from. And if it can even be supported by the Old Testament.

I am not asking for the exact words - just the very idea and proof that it exists in the law would be enough.

And saying that it doesn't have to exist in the written law is a cop-out and a grave misunderstanding of the law. The written law was to show people how to be obident and serve God. So how to obtain forgiveness would definitely be in there. The oral law does not add nor take away - it only helps people understand the law and how it applies to their daily life.

And why should we take Jesus' ressurection and such into account? This is a simple concept - the basis of Christianity. Either it is in the law or it isn't.

Tribble: None of your examples actually prove anything. They are only examples of blood being used in the OT - to cleanse. Not necessarily forgive. To different things.

None of these answers really addresses the questions.

Yes there are more passages about blood - but none supporting what Paul claims.

And, I understand the theory behind Jesus' death. What I am pointing out is that the belief that only blood washes away sins is nowhere in the OT.

I'll probably just let the question go to vote. It's not worth chosing an answer to me for 3 points that really didn't address what was being asked.

Answer 1

Read Karen Armstrong's A History of God.

Pagan deities were "sustained" through worship, and specifically, blood sacrifice. Sacrificial lambs, in the case of Yahweh, the Canaanite God of War.

Put in that context, the idea of Jesus as being a Sacrificial Lamb was born. Then through some clever re-interpretation in the founding of the Christian Church, substitutionary atonement was developed.

Answer 2

So how is a perfect God's demand for justice for sin reconciled with our own imperfections? Here we find that God came up with a perfect solution. He became flesh, lived a perfect life, and acted as our representatives in God the Father's court of justice. There He was judged and crucified, carrying all the past and future world's sins with his crucifixion. God the Son, Christ, became our sin bearer and we need only acknowledge that sacrifice to be made "justified" in God's eyes and in God's demand for justice for sin.

Think of it this way. Your son does something like breaking a neighbor's window. Yet your son is too young to be made to pay for his crime. Society demands that the parent then act in the son's role and pay for these crimes. Likewise, God the Father allows God the Son to be humankind's representative. Christ paid the price for us all; it is deposited there in the justice bank of God. We need only claim our "share" of that account's balance and present ourselves to God.

In summary, a perfectly just being, God the Father, requires that sin be punished. In the Old Testament, such punishments were the slaughter of an innocent animal, accompanied by prayers of adoration and contrition to God the Father. These lawful rituals drove home the point to mankind that there are consequences for bad behaviors. These lawful rituals also foreshadowed a more significant means of reconciliation before God the Father’s demand for justice. A perfect being, Christ, willingly went to His death. A perfectly just God the Father, knows that the Son’s death is not justice, for the Son was sinless. Therefore, the perfectly just God the Father credits anyone who will claim the Son’s death as payment for their sins.

Answer 3

You'd have to do the same thing that Paul did: go to a religious school and evaluate the entire body of Moses' law.

He made this statement based on the recognition that in the OT, the law gave no forgiveness for sin until after blood sacrifice was offered. The exact words don't need to be there.

Answer 4

The above answers of Tribble and Mahal are true and good answers. Also,...Blood sacrifice was/is a forerunner of the blood of Christ. Without blood there is no life. It took Christ's blood/life to forgive our sins. Jesus blood shed on the cross is the way to salvation. It took holy God & man to forgive sin...enter Jesus. Through His death and reserection we can have eternal life. In that way His blood sacrafice gives us life.

Answer 5

Jesus Christ died on the cross that all may have the opportunity of repentance and forgiveness. We have the ability only because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to find forgiveness.

Many prophets taught about Christ's coming and about the Atonement and repentance LOOOONG before Christ actually came and made the atoning sacrifice. But the peoplw who lived before Christ did not have to wait for the Atonement to have it become effective in their lives. It was applied IMMEDIATELY if they exercised faith and repentance. Time is only measured unto man..with God the past, present and future of mortality are one eternal NOW.

Answer 6

Human sacrifice is forbidden in Judaism. whilst the temple existed and sacrifices have been completed, the animal to be sacrificed had to be a "sparkling" animal - one that we'd evaluate "kosher" on the instant, which potential an animal with the two cloven hooves and the skill to bite its cud. A human has no hooves, and would not bite its cud, hence it is not a valid sacrifice in accordance the the regulations of Judaism. to boot, Christianity's perception that Jesus become a sacrifice isn't valid in Judaism using fact we are expressly directed that one and all sacrifices must be presented up in the temple (Deuteronomy 12:14) and that no sacrifice may well be presented up outdoors the temple (Deuteronomy 12:13). on the instant, we don't furnish up sacrifices using fact the Temple become destroyed, and thanks to the two verses mentioned, there is no place to furnish them, till such time using fact the Temple is rebuilt.

Answer 7

Paul is saying that Jesus' blood is what saved you. He was the blood sacrifice. That is why your sins are forgiven.

"Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is. His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God. let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." ( Hebrews 10:19-23 )

Matthew 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. -- Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Answer 8

ok

Ezekiel 43:20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.

EX 24:8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

Leviticus 16:19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

Answer 9

There's a reason why there is a new testament and the old testament. The start of a new religion needed to have it's own merit. don't look for answers to the new testament in the old testament, they are like apples and oranges. One has nothing to do with the other. Why do you think the Jewish religion only has one testament, they knew went to stop.

Answer 10

Christians use a term called "prefiguration" when referring to the Old Testament. It simply means that the writings and events of the Old Testament are a precursor to the sacrifice of Christ. So it all needs to be re-evaluated and re-interpreted in light of the Resurrection of Christ.