Sin is Not in the Blood

There are those who teach that Adam and Eve started out with perfect blood, but something happened to that blood after they sinned. In other words, the blood properties changed and that is understood to be ‘sinful blood’ as opposed to maintaining ‘sinless blood’. This “sinful blood” in turn is given to all Adam’s progeny.

I even read where one teacher said that Adam and Eve had water flowing through their veins before they sinned! (Ruckman, Peter. Ruckman’s Bible References: Personal Notes on Salient Verses in the Bible. 1997, p. 25) But enough of this nonsense.

Now, if there is sin in the blood, if a person loses his blood, would he become sinless? Does he become less sinful as he bleeds? A logical conclusion would indicate that losing blood would be a positive thing.

Most importantly, where in scripture does it teach that sin is in the blood and transmitted by the blood? Where in scripture does it say blood is the place where sin resides? Where in scripture does it say Adam’s blood became impure after he sinned? And for that matter, where in scripture does it say Adam and Eve had water running through their veins before they sinned?!

Sin is a transgression (1 John 3:4), NOT something we are born with.

The Bible is clear that a person is born innocent and corrupts himself (Genesis 6:5-7, 11-12; Exodus 32:7-8; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Deut. 31:29; Deuteronomy 32:5-6, 18). Sin is something that happens AFTER we are born, it is not something we are born with, not something that is in our genes DNA, or chromosomes. This doctrine makes sin to be a physical problem, and this is exactly the belief in the majority of

Christendom and the world. Those in the world think that someday they will be able find the cure for the “sin gene.”

Jehovah Witnesses believe sin is in the blood. This is what the Watchtower teaches,

“The blood in any person is in reality the person himself. It contains all the peculiarities of the individual from whence it comes. This includes hereditary taints, disease susceptibilities, poisons due to personal living, eating and drinking habits . . . The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood.” (Watchtower 9/15/1961, page 564)

Watchtower is saying that such sins reside in physical blood. This is one of the reasons why they won’t allow blood transfusions. Sin does not reside in the blood, nor does righteousness reside in the blood, and any Scripture quoted is used as a smokescreen to enforce the Gnostic thinking.

The Bible does use terms like “innocent blood” and “righteous blood” but this is not talking about the properties of blood itself.

The innocent blood is speaking of one who was simply innocent from doing any crime, who are unjustly punished, and the righteous blood refers to those saints who were righteous, “righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias.”

Here are two quotes some may use to try and prove blood has moral properties.

“For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?” -1 Sam 19:5

“That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” -Matt. 23:35

Note it is obvious that it’s not referring to moral properties in the blood, for physical blood has no moral properties. A person who is innocent is one who is free from guilt; not having done wrong or violated any law. In Matthew Jesus talks about those righteous people from Abel right onto Zacharias! Jesus was not referring to these people in the sense of their blood having moral property (for it doesn’t!), but of the people themselves living a righteous life, innocent, and whose blood was shed, from Abel to unto the blood of Zacharias.

Some people try to prove that Jesus had “righteous blood” flowing in his veins by quoting 1 Peter 1:19 for support. Nowhere in the passage does it say anything about “righteous blood.” The text says “PRECIOUS BLOOD.”

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

Precious means of great price; costly; as a precious stone. Highly valued; much esteemed. Nothing in there about moral properties in the blood of Jesus he Messiah.

Worshipping Someone Does Not Make Them God

The majority of Christendom think that since Jesus was worshipped, this means he is God. They will also often refer to the passage where Jesus says,  

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” (Matt. 4: 10).  

Note that Jesus did not say, “I am the LORD your God, worship me only.”

In the Hebrew culture worship is not reserved exclusively for God.  Worship was offered to God and other people.  For example:

• Lot “worshipped” the two strangers as they entered Sodom (Gen. 19: 1). 
• Abraham “worshipped” the Gentile leaders of the land where he lived (Gen. 23: 7). 
• Jacob “worshipped” his older brother Esau (Gen. 33: 3). 
• Joseph’s brothers “worshipped” him (Gen. 43: 26). 
• Ruth “worshipped” Boaz (Ruth 2: 10). 
• David “worshipped” Jonathan (1 Sam. 20: 41). 
• David “worshipped” King Saul (1 Sam. 24: 8). 
• Mephibosheth fell on his face and “worshipped” David (2 Sam. 9: 6). 
• Abigail “worshipped” David the outlaw (1 Sam. 25: 23, 41). The whole congregation “worshipped” the king (1 Chron. 9: 20).

In Rev. 3:9, the saints will be worshipped,

Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.”

People who were worshipped were God’s representatives. This is called “Jewish Agency.”  When a superior commissions an agent to act on his behalf, the agent is regarded at the person himself.  We can take a few examples from scripture.  For instance:

Jacob wrestled with “a man” all night until dawn and said he had “seen God face to face” (Gen. 32:24-30).  When we read the book of Hosea 12:3-4 it states, “As a man he [Jacob] struggled with God; he struggled with the angel and overcame him.” 

When Israel started their journey through the wilderness we read in Exodus 13:21, 

The LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night.”

Then in Exodus 14:19 we read, 

“And the angel of God who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.”

Here we have the LORD Himself who went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud and there other passage says it was the angel of God.   The angel of God is the angelic representative of Yahweh as if the angel is Yahweh Himself.  Now it might be said that this speaks of Jesus the Messiah, but if they want to call and say Jesus is an “angel,” they will run into many problems trying to read that into the text.

Notice when Moses gathers the people together to tell them of the great signs and wonders the LORD did for them, he says,

You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders (Deut. 29: 2-3).  

Now in verse 6 he says, 

You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the LORD your God.

No one would have mistaken that Moses was claiming to be the LORD their God.  Moses, as God’s agent, speaks as though he is the LORD himself.

Concerning the concept or “law” of Jewish agency, The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion states: 

Agent (Heb. Shaliah): The main point of the Jewish law of agency is expressed in the dictum, “a person’s agent is regarded as the person himself” (Ned. 72B; Kidd, 41b). Therefore any act committed by a duly appointed agent is regarded as having been committed by the principal, who therefore bears full responsibility for it with consequent complete absence of liability on the part of the agent. (R.J.Z. Werblowsky, G. Wigoder, New York: Adama Books, 1986, p. 15.)

We can compare this concept when a person is given “Power of Attorney” for someone.  They have full rights to speak on behalf of that person and take care of all his affairs in all matters as if he were the person himself.

In the New Testament Jesus is the ultimate agent of God, "power of attorney" so to speak. He is the messiah sent from God (“sent,” not meaning Jesus literally came down from heaven as though he preexisted his birth) as all other agents, whether men or angels, were sent.

So when it comes to worshipping Jesus, the Jewish people did not recognize him to be God himself, but as the prophet of God, sent from God.  When Jesus did mighty works, they glorified God through him (Matt. 9: 8; 11: 27; 28: 18; Luke 7: 16; 9: 11; 10: 22.).

Summary

The Hebrew and Greek word for "worship" apply to God and also apply to superior human agents of the only true God. Worshipping a superior human agent did not make them the only true God. Jesus is the ultimate spokesman for God and said to be the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), “and the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:3), which means he perfectly reflected God's mind and character while he walked on this earth, but this does not make him the only true God. Both are worthy of worship, that is, Jesus as the lord Messiah, and the ULTIMATE praise and worship to the ONLY TRUE GOD AND FATHER of our lord Jesus Christ. (John 17:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:3)