Blood Sacrifice: Primitive and Offensive, Now and Then

Moreover, an atonement theology that says God sacrificed his own son in place of humans who needed to be punished for their sins might make some Christians love Jesus, but is an obscene picture of God. It is almost heavenly child abuse, and may infect our imagination at more earthly levels as well. I do not want to express my faith through a theology that pictures God demanding blood sacrifices in order to be reconciled to God. [John Dominic Crossan, Who Is Jesus? (Westminster: John Knox Press, 1996), 115.]
Reading the above quote from John Dominic Crossan of the “Jesus Seminar,” I am reminded of a story often told by R.C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries. Sproul relates:

If primitive is an appropriate word to describe the content of Scripture, obscene is even more so. All of the obscenities of sin are recorded with clear and forthright language in the Scripture. And what is more obscene than the cross? Here we have obscenity on a cosmic scale. On the cross Christ takes upon himself human obscenities to redeem them. [R.C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1977), 15-16.]
And so Crossan is not the first person to have a “problem” with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our redemption on the cross. In fact, people have always had a problem with the message of the cross, from the very beginning of the Church, as explained by the Apostle Paul:
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31 NKJV)
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31 NKJV)
Notice that in this passage, Paul entirely shatters the argument that “the language of blood sacrifice was [employed because it was] appropriate to people used to the sacrifices that were part of ancient temple worship.” Rather, the sacrificial language used by the apostles was actually more offensive to the Jews due to their cultural background. For the religious Jews prided themselves on remaining entirely separate from anything that was ceremonially unclean, and certainly from anything that was cursed, but Paul taught:
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. (Galatians 3:13 HCSB)
And 1 Corinthians 1:23 also makes it clear that the apostles did not change their message to be more culturally relevant to their audience, even if they were scoffed at for the content of their preaching. So it is obvious that the Good News of the Christian faith is the message of the Cross: the message of a “blood sacrifice” made by Jesus on our behalf. Anyone who wishes to change this message should hear the words of the Apostle:
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: if anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him! (Galatians 1:8-9 HCSB)
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