Sin in Christian Thought
Is human sacrifice really necessary for the forgiveness of sin? A look at what the Old Testament itself says about inherited guilt and substitution.
Christian doctrine holds that Jesus (peace be upon him) died for the sins of all humanity — that the Messiah had to be the blood sacrifice necessary for the forgiveness of sin, in other words a human sacrifice. Does the Old Testament, which Christians hold to be equally God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), actually support that?
QuestionIf human sacrifice is necessary for the forgiveness of sin, why did God refuse when Moses offered himself as atonement for his people?
וַיְהִי֙ מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔ת וַיֹּ֤אמֶר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־הָעָ֔ם אַתֶּ֥ם חֲטָאתֶ֖ם חֲטָאָ֣ה גְדֹלָ֑ה “The next day Moses said to the people, 'You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.' So Moses returned to the Lord and said, 'Alas, this people has sinned a great sin... But now, if you will forgive their sin — but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.' But the Lord said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.'”
In a dialogue with Christian friends, I once asked, “is blood sacrifice the only way for the forgiveness of sin?” — the answer was yes. At the time I hadn’t read much of the Old Testament, so I went looking, and found the verse above. It shows plainly that atonement through the sacrifice of one person for the sins of another is not what God emphasizes here. Instead, God says the opposite: “whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book” — the one who sinned against God is the one God will hold accountable, not a substitute.
QuestionIf a substitute like Jesus can bear another's sin, why does God elsewhere insist that only the one who sinned shall be put to death?
לֹֽא־יוּמְת֤וּ אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים וּבָנִ֖ים לֹא־יוּמְת֣וּ עַל־אָב֑וֹת אִ֥ישׁ בְּחֶטְא֖וֹ יוּמָֽתוּ׃ “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”
The first clause alone is decisive: one person cannot be put to death for the sins of another. The second makes it explicit — “each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”
QuestionDoes the rest of the Old Testament reinforce this, and what does it say about whether good deeds can outweigh sin?
הֵ֤ן כָּל־הַנְּפָשׁוֹת֙ לִ֣י הֵ֔נָּה כְּנֶ֧פֶשׁ הָאָ֛ב וּכְנֶ֥פֶשׁ הַבֵּ֖ן לִי־הֵ֑נָּה הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ הַחֹטֵ֖את הִ֥יא תָמֽוּת׃ “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.”
הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ הַחֹטֵ֖את הִ֣יא תָמ֑וּת בֵּ֞ן לֹא־יִשָּׂ֣א׀ בַּעֲוֺ֣ן הָאָ֗ב “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him.”
In one conversation, Christian friends asked (in Tagalog), “kaya mo bang bayaran ang kasalanan mo?” — “can you afford to pay for your sins?” I answered that I would simply stop the bad I do and do more good instead. I was told that isn’t enough on its own — yet that is exactly what God says above: turning from wickedness to do what is just and right means the person “shall surely live,” with the past transgressions not held against them.
בְּשׁוּב־צַדִּ֧יק מִצִּדְקָת֛וֹ וְעָ֥שָׂה עָ֖וֶל וּמֵ֣ת עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם “When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life.”
The same principle recurs in Jeremiah, where God describes a future time when the old proverb about inherited guilt will no longer be repeated:
בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֔ם לֹא־יֹאמְר֣וּ ע֔וֹד אָב֖וֹת אָ֣כְלוּ בֹ֑סֶר וְשִׁנֵּ֥י בָנִ֖ים תִּקְהֶֽינָה׃ “In those days they shall no longer say, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.”
Taken together, these verses suggest that human sacrifice is not what the God of the Old Testament asks for — turning away from sin and doing good is.
See also Original Sin and Atonement of Sins for the doctrines this directly responds to.