📖 Biblical Definition
Atonement blood is the blood of sacrificial animals — and supremely of Christ — by which atonement is made for sin. Leviticus 17:11 is the foundational principle: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Life is in blood; blood makes atonement; atonement is by life-given-for-life — substitution. Hebrews makes the doctrine final: "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). Christ’s blood is therefore not symbolic; it is the very life of God-in-flesh poured out in death, sufficient to cover every sin of every saint who comes by faith.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Sacrificial blood by which atonement is made; principle of life-for-life.
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The blood of sacrificial animals (and supremely of Christ) by which atonement was made. Leviticus 17:11 names the principle: "the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Atonement is by life-substituted-for-life. Hebrews 9:22 makes the principle universal: "without shedding of blood is no remission."
📖 Key Scripture
Leviticus 17:11 — "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."
Hebrews 9:22 — "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
1 John 1:7 — "And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern squeamishness about blood and substitution makes this central biblical theology hard to hear; "blood theology" gets dismissed as primitive.
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The age finds blood-talk disturbing. Scripture is unflinching: life is in blood; sin requires life; atonement is by life-given. Christ's blood is not metaphor or symbol; it is the actual life of the perfect Substitute given for the saved.
Recover the blood theology without flinching: "there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins" is not Victorian sentiment — it is Hebrew theology. The blood cleanses because the blood was life poured out.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew dam (blood) + kaphar (atone).
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['Hebrew', 'H1818', 'dam', 'blood']
['Hebrew', 'H3722', 'kaphar', 'to cover, atone']
Usage
"Life is in blood; atonement requires life."
"Without shedding of blood is no remission."
"Christ's blood cleanses from all sin."