Most Christians think that the Jews had this understanding that for sin to be forgiven, and salvation received, an animal had to die for one's sins. So before Jesus, God had set up this complicated process by which sin could only be forgiven via sacrifice. Jesus becomes the Lamb sacrificed for everyone so animals no longer have to be sacrificed. Jesus, in most Christians' view, steps into this sacrificial system and completes or negates it, making the sacrifice of animals unnecessary. But before Jesus came, that was how sins were forgiven: by killing animals. Without the purification of that ritual and sacrifice, nobody could make it into heaven. This is what most Christians believe.
How they can believe this is beyond me. The Old Testament repeatedly makes it clear that sacrifice is not what forgives sin, nor is it necessary for forgiveness, salvation or right relationship with God. Psalm 51, Isaiah 1, and Micah 6 are prime examples. So long before Jesus came, God had made it clear that salvation and forgiveness just didn't work this way. No doubt, sacrifice was a big, vital and bloody part of Temple-centric Judaism. However, this was more about setting the Jews aside as God's special possession, and the special duties that came with election, than about the mechanics of salvation. Sacrifice was the duty of the forgiven, it was not the source of forgiveness.
Even more telling is that during Jesus time, the Jews had set aside a part of the outer courtyard of the Temple for those gentiles who had come to believe in and worship Yahweh but had not become a part of the Jewish community. These people were not allowed to sacrifice for were they allowed to be sacrificed for. However, Jews saw them as having some place in God's kingdom and gave them a special place to worship. Most Christians don't know this, but most Christian pastors should. This was the area in which Jesus drove out out the money changers from the Temple. Christian pastors know this, but they continue the lie that Jews thought only sacrifice could bring salvation. I mean what do people think, that this sacred space was being set aside for the hellbound? Hardly. It is clear proof that most Christians' conception of ancient Judaism is totally off, and so is the standard understanding of the significance of Jesus' sacrifice.
Speaking for myself, I've never heard of this until you mentioned it. I would be surprised if most pastors know this. I've never heard any of them say a word of this. As a matter of fact, my Catholic catechism echoed this very idea.
ReplyDeleteIs this now something emphasized in seminary?
Of course Leviticus & Numbers and the existence of this elaborate falderal in the Temple would seem to argue someone thought it was critical.
Well there may have been a time when this was the way Hebrews thought of sacrifice this way. But the prophets and wisdom writers changed the faith.
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