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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
February 8
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Today's Pathway:
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Today's passage opens with a theological statement that has been ignored and undermined over the last few decades by pastors and professors who should know better, including some in our Independent, Fundamental Baptist circles. Paul writes that we are "justified by His blood". There has been a movement that says that the blood of Christ is not important, and that the term "blood" simply refers to Jesus' "violent death". One famous evangelical pastor put it this way:
"It was His death that was efficacious...not His blood...The shedding of blood had nothing to do with bleeding...it simply means death...violent sacrificial death."
He also stated,
"We have to stop short of saying 'We are saved by the blood of Jesus,' in the sense that there is some efficacy in the fluid that poured out of His body."
While it is true that the blood of Christ needed to be shed on Calvary through the death of Christ, to downplay the importance of the blood is a very dangerous position indeed. Verse 9 states that it is through the blood of Jesus that we are justified. Other passages tell us that Christ's blood washes (Rev 1:5), redeems (Eph 1:7), sanctifies (Heb 13:12), makes us nigh (Eph 2:13), gives us peace (Col 1:20), and gives us victory (Rev 12:11). So, the blood of Christ must be important.
Also, If the blood serves no purpose, what was the point of all the blood sacrifices in the Old Testament? In Leviticus 17:11 God clearly states,
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."
Hebrews 9:22 echoes that by saying,
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
Hebrews 9:12 links these two thoughts together by saying,
"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."
Just as the Old Testament High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and sprinkled the blood of lamb upon the Mercy Seat, so Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, entered into the Holy Place and offered His own blood for the atonement for the souls of mankind (vs 11).
The second half of verse 9 coupled with verse 10 are simply showing once again the eternal security of the believer. According to verse 10, before we were saved we were enemies of God. However, because we received Christ as Savior, we have been justified. As justified people who are no longer enemies of God, we do not need to fear the wrath of God. Charles Hodge put it this way,
"If Christ has died for His enemies, He will surely save His friends."
How does He do this? According to verse 10 it is through His life. We know that His death brings reconciliation, so what does "by His life" mean? Jesus answered that question in John 14:19 when He said,
"Because I live, ye shall live also."
It is His resurrection that guarantees that the believer will spend eternity with Him in Heaven, and needs not fear the Lake of Fire, nor even the torments of the Tribulation as believers will be raptured out into the presence of God before that takes place. His eternal life guarantees the eternal life of those that He has justified through faith in His blood.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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