📖 Biblical Definition
Covenant blood is the sacrificial blood that ratifies a covenant. Moses sprinkled the blood of the covenant on the altar and on the people at Sinai (Ex 24:8); Christ, on the night He was betrayed, declared the cup my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Mt 26:28). Hebrews names His blood the blood of the everlasting covenant (Heb 13:20).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Composite.) The sacrificial blood that ratifies a covenant; in Scripture, especially Christ's blood as the new covenant's seal.
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Sinai pattern: animals slain, blood divided, half on the altar (God's side), half on the people (Israel's side). The covenant was therefore cut; the blood declared the seriousness of the bond and the consequence of breaking it.
Calvary fulfillment: Christ's blood, shed once for all, ratifies the New Covenant. Hebrews develops the typology at length (Heb 9-10): the old blood pictured what the new accomplished.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 24:8 — "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you."
Matthew 26:28 — "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
Hebrews 9:22 — "Without shedding of blood is no remission."
Hebrews 13:20 — "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity is sometimes squeamish about blood; Scripture is not, and the covenant doctrine is incoherent without it.
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Hebrews 9:22 is unflinching: without shedding of blood is no remission. The covenant requires blood because the breach of covenant requires death. Christ's blood substitutes; the household lives because of it.
Recover the blood-vocabulary in song, sermon, and sacrament. There is a fountain filled with blood, nothing but the blood, the blood of the everlasting covenant. Modern aesthetic squeamishness costs us the doctrine.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew dam berit (blood of covenant) and Greek haima diathēkēs are the technical terms.
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Hebrew dam — blood; berit — covenant. Dam berit, the blood of the covenant.
Greek haima diathēkēs — blood of the covenant; the formula in Mt 26:28 and Heb 9:20.
Usage
"Without shedding of blood is no remission."
"Christ's blood ratifies the New Covenant; the household lives because of it."
"Modern squeamishness costs us the doctrine."