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 himself [Matthew 9:13].
- 4.**Nineveh** is forgiven en masse through repentance and fasting, with no sacrifice at all [Jonah 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 is decisive for this argument because the chapter is explicitly about atonement and explicitly rejects the idea that the innocent may bear the guilt of the wicked — a belief the prophet's audience had apparently absorbed from surrounding practice. Read together with Hosea 6:6 and Jonah, the Hebrew Bible presents a God who forgives on repentance. On this point the Old Testament and the Qur'an agree with each other, and it is the theology of substitutionary atonement that stands apart.
From the Qur'an
Qur'an 53:38-39
أَلَّا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ
No bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another, and man shall have nothing but what he strives for.
Qur'an 6:164
وَلَا تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلَّا عَلَيْهَا
Every soul earns not but against itself.
From the Bible
Ezekiel 18:20
הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַחֹטֵאת הִיא תָמוּת
The soul who sins shall die; the son shall not bear the guilt of the father.
Read it in their BibleHosea 6:6
כִּי חֶסֶד חָפַצְתִּי וְלֹא־זָבַח
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
Read it in their BibleDeuteronomy 24:16
לֹא־יוּמְתוּ אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים
Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers.
Read it in their BibleSources
Abu Zakariya, Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · Ezekiel 18 · Hosea 6:6 · Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah — ch. 4, pp. 86-89
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