BLOOD. The viscous red fluid essential to life which circulates throughout the body in veins, arteries, and capillaries. It conveys oxygen and nourishment to the tissues and removes from them carbon dioxide and other waste matter. In this normal sense it is found frequently in Scripture, whether of animals (Gen 37:31; Exod 23:18, etc.) or men (2 Sam 20:12; 1 Kings 18:28; Luke 13:1, etc.). Because of its fundamental importance for individual existence, blood was frequently used as a synonym for life itself, as with the blood of Abel (Gen 4:10). In a fig. sense it was employed of murder (Hab 2:12; Matt 27:24), and in a metaphorical sense of the Nile (Exod 7:17) or the moon (Joel 2:31) being turned into blood, but frequently in Scripture it was used to describe the blood shed in sacrifices intended for the expiation of sin. In the NT the blood of Christ was regarded as central to the implementing of the New Covenant.

In the OT the word דָּם, H1947, occurs 362 times of which 203 point to death by violence and 103 to sacrificial blood. While the word was thus associated closely with death, there were times when the OT specifically related it to life (Gen 9:4; Deut 12:23). The most direct statement of this kind (Lev 17:11) spoke of the life of the flesh being in the blood, and of atonement being achieved by blood “by reason of the life.” This variation raises the question as to whether the use of “blood” points basically to life or to death. Some authorities have thought of life as somehow inherent in the blood, so that when an animal was sacrificed, its life remained in the blood. The offering of the blood in the ceremonial rites would then indicate that a pure life was being surrendered to God. According to this view the death of the victim would have little significance, although some have understood it as pointing to the penal consequences of sin. In any event the significance would lie in the presentation of life, not death. From this viewpoint, therefore, the NT expression “the blood of Christ” would mean little more than “the life of Christ presented.”

From OT usage the predominant association of blood is with death rather than life, and the “life of the flesh” (17:11) can mean life yielded up in death just as readily as life set free for surrender to God. The sacrificial rituals consistently pointed to the seriousness of sin, and the shedding of blood in sacrifice was prescribed as an acceptable substitute for the life of the sinner and an act of atonement by which he could be restored to fellowship with God. Most of the narratives which mention sacrifice include some reference to the death of the victim but say nothing about its life. The shed blood of the animal implies life given up in death on behalf of the sinner so that he might live and not suffer the penal death of the ungodly. The OT, therefore, indicates that atonement for human sin was obtained by the death of an acceptable substitute, rather than by its life, and this emphasis, which is basic to the Old Covenant, is carried over into the NT with specific reference to the work of Jesus Christ in the New Covenant.

In the NT the word αἷμα, G135, is used to indicate kinship (John 1:13), human nature (Matt 16:17; 1 Cor 15:50 etc.) and particularly describes violent death of which there are twenty-five examples apart from the sacrifice of Christ. There are twelve references to the blood of animal sacrifices (Heb 9:7, 12, etc.), all of which point to death rather than life. Where the blood of Christ is mentioned (i.e., Col 1:20), it indicates in the most obvious fashion the death of Christ. The justification achieved by the blood of Christ (Rom 5:9) is paralleled by the statements which speak of the sinner being reconciled to God “by the death of his Son” and being “saved by his life” (Rom 5:10). Other references to men being redeemed by the blood of Christ clearly indicate atonement through the death of a victim (cf. Acts 20:28; Eph 1:7, etc.). Since the death of Christ is sometimes considered in terms of a sacrifice (cf. Rom 3:25; 1 Pet 1:2), where the “sprinkling of blood” indicates a sacrificial ritual and continues the OT concept of the “blood of the covenant,” the emphasis is still upon the death of the victim that secured atonement for the sinner. The sacrificial blood is associated with the death of the Savior (Heb 9:14), and the author of Hebrews makes it plain that the blood is associated with death rather than life (12:24). It seems evident, therefore, that sacrifices were efficacious through the death of the victim, and that blood indicates life given up in death, not life set free.

Bibliography A. M. Stibbs, The Meaning of the Word “Blood” in Scripture (1947); L. Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross (1955).