Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 4. Atonement
Does blood atonement have a foundation in the Bible?
In short
- 1.Ezekiel 18:20: 'The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent.'
- 2.Ezekiel 18:21-23: the wicked who repent live — 'none of the offences they have committed will be remembered against them'.
- 3.Hosea 6:6: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice' — quoted approvingly by Jesus (PBUH) himself [Matthew 9:13].
- 4.Nineveh is forgiven en masse through repentance and fasting, with no sacrifice at all [Jonah (PBUH) 3:10].
- 5.Deuteronomy 24:16: fathers are not put to death for children, nor children for fathers.
The claim being examined
Blood sacrifice for sin is presented as the constant thread of scripture, from the Temple offerings to Calvary.
The Islamic position
Islam points out that the Hebrew prophets themselves reject vicarious punishment and describe forgiveness through repentance, exactly as the Qur'an does.
Analysis
Ezekiel 18 matters here because the chapter is directly about how sin is dealt with, and it flatly rejects the idea that an innocent person can carry a guilty person's sin — a belief the prophet's audience seems to have picked up from the practice around them. Read alongside Hosea 6:6 and Jonah (PBUH), the Hebrew Bible shows a God who forgives when people repent. On this point the Old Testament and the Qur'an agree with each other, and it is substitutionary (the belief that a death pays for someone else's sin) that stands apart.
From the Qur'an
أَلَّا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌۭ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَـٰنِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ
allā taziru wāziratun wiz'ra ukh'rā wa-an laysa lil'insāni illā mā saʿā
No bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another, and man shall have nothing but what he strives for.
وَلَا تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلَّا عَلَيْهَا ۚ
walā taksibu kullu nafsin illā ʿalayhā
Every soul earns not but against itself.
From the Bible
הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַחֹטֵאת הִיא תָמוּת
The soul who sins shall die; the son shall not bear the guilt of the father.
Read it in their Bibleלֹא־יוּמְתוּ אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים
Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers.
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