Sacrifice in the New Testament 2 in the Bible Encyclopedia

VI. Rationale of the Efficacy of Christ's Sacrifice. 1. Jesus' Teaching: Jesus emphasizes His voluntary spirit in making the sacrifice. "The Son of man also came .... to give his life a ransom." The sacrifice was voluntary, not compulsory. God did not force Him to lay down His life; He chose to do so (compare Jn 10:11). But Jesus gives us no philosophy on this or any other element in His sacrifice as being the ground of its efficacy. 2. Paul's Teaching: Paul also emphasizes the voluntary gift of Christ (Gal 2:20), but he urges rather the dignity of Him who makes the sacrifice as a ground of its efficacy. It is the sacrifice of God's Son, shown to be such in His resurrection (Rom 1:4; 4:25b). It was no ordinary man but the sinless Son who gave "himself" (Gal 2:20). It was not merely a dying Christ but the Son who rose again "in power" (Rom 1:4), who secures our "justification" (Rom 4:25b; 1 Cor 15:3,4,17b). Paul also emphasizes the sinless life and character of Jesus as a ground of efficacy in Christ's sacrifice, "who knew no sin" in His life experience (2 Cor 5:21a). 3. The Teaching in Hebrews: The author of Hebrews, most of all New Testament writers, elaborates the grounds of efficacy in Christ's sacrifice. (1) It was a personal not an animal sacrifice (9:12-14; 9:26, "sacrifice of himself"; 10:4). (2) It was the sacrifice of the Son of God (3:5). (3) It was a royal person who made the sacrifice (6:20b; 7:1, "after the order of Melchizedek .... king of Salem"). (4) It was a sinless person (7:26,27; 9:14; 10:10,12). Westcott, Commentary on Hebrews, 298, well says, "It becomes necessary, therefore, in order to gain a complete view of the Sacrifice of Christ, to combine with the crowning act upon the Cross His fulfillment of the will of God from first to last, the Sacrifice of Life with the Sacrifice of Death." (5) It was an eternal person (6:20, "for ever"; 7:16, "after the power of an endless (margin "indissoluble") life"). The author of Hebrews reaches the climax of his argument for the superior efficacy of Christ's sacrifice when he represents Him as entering the holy of holies in the very presence of God to complete the offering for man's sin (8:1,2; 9:11,12,24). Peter and John do not discuss the ground of efficacy, and so add nothing to our conclusions above. The efficacy of the sacrifice is suggested by describing the glory of the person (1 Pet 1:19; 2:22,23; 1 Jn 1:7b; 2:2). To sum up our conclusion as to the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice: Jesus and the leading New Testament writers intimate that the efficacy of His sacrifice centers in His personality. Jesus, Peter and John do not discuss the subject directly. Paul, though discussing it more extensively, does not do so fully, but the author of Heb centers and culminates his argument for the finality of Christianity, in the superior efficacy of Christ's sacrifice, which is grounded in His personality, divine, royal, sinless, eternal (see Menegoz, Theol. de l'Ep. aux Hebreux). It is easy to see, from the position...