Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
There is no forgiveness of sins apart from the shedding of blood. And not just any blood. Hebrews 10:4 says, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” And Hebrews 10:12 goes on to say that Christ “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.” So, without the shedding of Jesus’ blood, there would be no real forgiveness of sins.
But why is that? Why did Jesus have to shed his blood for us to have forgiveness for our sins? This is a question I have pondered for many years.
Required By a Cosmic Law
Is there some cosmic law that requires the shedding of blood for sins to be forgiven? That is hard for me to accept. It would imply that there is something above God, a law or rule that he must conform to.
Required by God’s Nature
Is there something in God’s nature that demands the shedding of blood to forgive sins? I suppose the righteousness of God may require such a sacrifice. But that just raises the question of why the shedding of blood? And how does the shedding of blood actually result in forgiveness?
Leviticus 17:14 is one of many passages that tell us that the life of a creature is in its blood. We know today that it is not that simple. But the point here is that without the shedding of blood, in other words, death, there is no forgiveness of sins. The only way to God’s forgiveness is to die.
Under the Old Testament Law, it was the death of an animal that atoned for sin. Essentially, the animal took my place. But, as Hebrews 10:4 said, that sacrifice was not sufficient. Only the death of Jesus was sufficient to atone for my sin.
But that does not answer the question of why. Is there something in God’s nature that required the sacrifice of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, to forgive my sins? Or is there another possibility?
Paul hints at another option in his first letter to the Corinthian church.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
The Way That God Chose
What was it that God chose? The cross. Or, more specifically, Jesus’ death on the cross. The idea that the Son of God would give up his life on a rough Roman cross as an atoning sacrifice was scandalous to some and foolish to others.
This suggests Jesus did not have to die on the cross for God to forgive us. But it was the way God chose. A way that this world would never come up with and that most would reject.
But, of course, that raises another question. If God desires that all the world be saved (1 Tim. 2:4, 2 Pet. 3:9), why make it so hard? I have some thoughts on that, but they will need to wait for the next post on this topic.
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