March 13, 2009 FB
John MacArthur has seemed to imply that it is not the blood of Christ that makes atonement for our sins, but it is his death only. He seems to say that the actual fluid from his body does not have a part in salvation but it was his death. He went on to say that any time the New Testament authors spoke of the blood of Christ it is not talking about the fluid from his veins but of the torturous and violent nature of his death.
Obviously it did take the death of Christ in our place to take away sins, but it seems as though MacArthur might say that if Jesus never shed a drop of blood in his death, that this would have been enough to make atonement for our sins. I know this may be taken all wrong but it just seemed that this is what he was saying.
I have a different viewpoint on this because of some Old Testament passages, although I don't know if I would go as far as Dr. J. Vernon McGee who says that Jesus took some of his actual blood into heaven and offered it to the Father for our sins (This view is based on Heb. 9:12-14). Although this interpretation seems to be more plausible, it also seems to be too literal, and we will never know for sure until we go to be with our Beloved.
So, here is why I cannot accept the former viewpoint. And in all of these passages the death of the sacrifice is implied.
Exodus 30:10 "And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD."
Here we are told that there is a special offering for the atoning of sins, and it is not death but blood, although death is still implied.
Leviticus 6:30 "But no sin offering from which any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of meeting, to make atonement in the holy place, shall be eaten. It shall be burned in the fire."
Same thing here. God says that blood makes atonement.
Leviticus 8:14-15 And he brought the bull for the sin offering. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering, and Moses killed it. Then he took the blood, and put some on the horns of the altar all around with his finger, and purified the altar. And he poured the blood at the base of the altar, and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.
Once again here is the same thing, only there is one more aspect to it; the blood also purifies.
Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."
Here is the most obvious and undeniable one. The reason that the blood makes atonement is because the life is in the blood. God specifically states that blood makes atonement for the soul. This goes right along with the passage in Hebrews 9. There is something special about blood. It seems as though, when we sin, God sees our life-blood as tainted and the only way it can be purified is if it is cleansed by the spotless offering and sacrifice of the life-blood of Jesus in our place.
The New Testament writers held a very high view of the blood of Jesus. Almost as if they saw the blood as the most important part of salvation.
Paul: Romans 3:24-25 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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
John: 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Hebrews writer: Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Finally let's see how Peter saw the blood of Jesus: 1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
The blood of the Savior is precious. Let us never make light of it.
Nehemiah Ryan © 2009
I have a different viewpoint on this because of some Old Testament passages, although I don't know if I would go as far as Dr. J. Vernon McGee who says that Jesus took some of his actual blood into heaven and offered it to the Father for our sins (This view is based on Heb. 9:12-14). Although this interpretation seems to be more plausible, it also seems to be too literal, and we will never know for sure until we go to be with our Beloved.
So, here is why I cannot accept the former viewpoint. And in all of these passages the death of the sacrifice is implied.
Exodus 30:10 "And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD."
Here we are told that there is a special offering for the atoning of sins, and it is not death but blood, although death is still implied.
Leviticus 6:30 "But no sin offering from which any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of meeting, to make atonement in the holy place, shall be eaten. It shall be burned in the fire."
Same thing here. God says that blood makes atonement.
Leviticus 8:14-15 And he brought the bull for the sin offering. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering, and Moses killed it. Then he took the blood, and put some on the horns of the altar all around with his finger, and purified the altar. And he poured the blood at the base of the altar, and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.
Once again here is the same thing, only there is one more aspect to it; the blood also purifies.
Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."
Here is the most obvious and undeniable one. The reason that the blood makes atonement is because the life is in the blood. God specifically states that blood makes atonement for the soul. This goes right along with the passage in Hebrews 9. There is something special about blood. It seems as though, when we sin, God sees our life-blood as tainted and the only way it can be purified is if it is cleansed by the spotless offering and sacrifice of the life-blood of Jesus in our place.
The New Testament writers held a very high view of the blood of Jesus. Almost as if they saw the blood as the most important part of salvation.
Paul: Romans 3:24-25 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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
John: 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Hebrews writer: Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Finally let's see how Peter saw the blood of Jesus: 1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
The blood of the Savior is precious. Let us never make light of it.
Nehemiah Ryan © 2009
ORIGINAL NOTE COMMENTS
Katie LoveI agree, Jesus blood is precious...as was his life! I don't believe there's much significance to the theological argument. Whether it was actual blood or Jesus without it, you have to take both...you have to take it ALL to get to the heart of God.
Thanks for posting, Neo!
James Braden
This question came up about 25 years ago when MacArthur's comments were taken out of context then, as now. He said it was not JUST the blood, but the blood in His sacrificial death. It is true that the blood of Christ is was was paid for your (and my) eternal souls. However, the blood had to be shed IN THE SACRIFICE of His death--it would not have counted if He merely cut Himself in the carpenter's shop. The whole package was needed--that is why He is the Lamb of God.
Nehemiah Ryan
Yes, and I do not want to make MacArthur seem uncaring because I know that he has a deep love for Jesus. At work I have been listening to some of his old sermons and it's pretty obvious that he loves the Lord. It just seemed to me that the more he explained it, the further he got away from Leviticus 17:11. It also seemed like the more he explained it, the more he himself confused the view. At least I was left confused. All I know is that God sees the blood of His Son in a different way than he does ours, and it is on the merit of Jesus' shed blood, and death, that we can even come to God.
These things matter to me because when I was a teenager (seems like along time ago), I had a weird but valid thought: "what was the point of Jesus' resurrection?" Paul says that we are still in our sins if he did not rise from the dead, but I thought it was his death that saves. So then what does the resurrection do if it is part of salvation? Well last year I wrote a 40+ page paper to answer myself. So now I am going to force myself to answer this question: What part does the blood play and what part does the death play, if they are not the same thing?
Katie Love
I'm curious, how does answering or not answering these questions effect your faith?
Christopher J Kent
What does he say about Heb. 9:22b " and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" ?
Nehemiah Ryan
These questions are very important because they are soteriological matters. If they were matters of ecclesiology or eschatology, it would not matter that much, but this concerns the very core belief of our "religion". And it will not increase my faith, but it will help me be more clear if the matter should come up during evangelism. Answering these questions is not for myself as much as it is for sharing Jesus' atoning work with others. The more clear I am on it, the more clear I can be in telling others.
Also, Chris I have no idea what MacArthur would say to that verse. I just used him as an example of that belief, and I'm pretty certain he would answer something life this (which is what I would agree with).
The blood fluid itself does not contain some magical element in it. No more than the cup and bread do at the Lord's Supper. But blood does represent life, and therefore, the life had to be poured out to make atonement for sins, death had be be involved because the penalty had to be paid, and resurrection had to take place for three reasons: (1) to clean Jesus from being dead with our sins, (2) to allow Jesus to save because a dead person cannot save, and (3) because our life is united with his life and when he was raised to immortality so we were with Him. I hope this clears everything up: The blood atones for sin, the death pays the penalty, and the resurrection gives eternal life.
Keith Hess
In reference to Nehemiah's comment above, Katie, I would agree with Nehemiah, and I would add that coming up with answers to certain questions are goods IN THEMSELVES, whether or not these answers affect one's faith. So, the following question is not the only criterion for answering theological questions (or questions of any other kind): will answering this question affect on my faith? Indeed, there are MANY other goods that can come from answering questions such as these (e.g., answering such questions should deepen one's understanding of God, his nature, and the way he acts, and as a result, should deepen one's awe of God, answering such questions should satisfy certain intellectual curiosities, it will sharpen one's mind, it will strengthen one's mind, etc.).
Actually, it may increase one's faith if it (for example) results in a deepening of one's awe of God.
Great job, Nehemiah.
Jack-Anna Ryan
Yes, you are understanding MacArthur correctly. And YES (!) you have the biblically correct answer. It IS the blood of Christ that cleanses us from sin, not just the death of Christ. Great thinking on this vital issue.
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