Dear brother in Christ,<\/p>\n
I am seeking your kind guidance for the following:\u00a0When blood was required to be shed for sin as an atonement, how is it that a flour offering can be considered where there is no blood present in it?<\/p>\n
Can you please kindly clarify?<\/p>\n\t
For a sin offering, a person was required to offer a female lamb or goat as an offering (Leviticus 5:6). If the sinner could not afford the lamb or goat, then he could offer two turtledoves or two pigeons instead (Leviticus 5:7). If the sinner could not afford even these, he could bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour (about three quarts — the amount of food a person might eat in a day (Exodus 16:8,36)) (Leviticus 5:11).<\/p>\n
The offering did not vary based on the type of sin a person committed. This emphasizes the fact that to God all sin is the same. It did vary based on the economic status of a person, showing that God wanted forgiveness to be available to everyone.<\/p>\n
The writer of Hebrews noted, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness<\/em>” (Hebrews 9:22). Notice that he said, “one may\u00a0almost<\/strong> say.<\/em>” While it was generally true, there were a few minor exceptions. For example, in the matter of cleansing or purification, some things were cleansed by fire and some things by water (Numbers 31:22-24; Leviticus 16:26,28). That God chose to make a few exceptions (Numbers 16:46) does not change the general rule (Leviticus 17:11).<\/p>\n\t Thank you so much brother for your kind clarification.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Dear brother in Christ, I am seeking your kind guidance for the following:\u00a0When blood was required to be shed for sin as an atonement, how is it that a flour offering can be considered where there is no blood present in it? Can you please kindly clarify? Answer: For a sin offering, a person…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[115,272],"class_list":["post-41317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-old-law","tag-sacrifices"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47126,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sin-and-guilt-offerings\/","url_meta":{"origin":41317,"position":0},"title":"The Sin and Guilt Offerings","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 13:10-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Law of Moses featured numerous sacrifices and making sense of them can be difficult \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were five categories: Sin, trespass, burnt, meat, and peace offerings \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But they were also grouped in another way: Firstfruits, wave, heave, vow, voluntary, and drink offerings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23831,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-fornication-not-a-sin-under-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":41317,"position":1},"title":"Was fornication not a sin under the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since the Old Testament had no shedding of blood for fornication, could it be considered a sin under the Old Testament? Answer: There were numerous types of offerings given to God depending on the circumstances. A sin-offering was given when the person's sin did not have restitution included in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53602,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/burnt-offerings\/","url_meta":{"origin":41317,"position":2},"title":"Burnt Offerings","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 9:24-10:10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The sacrifices of the Old Testament can be confusing because they are classified in different categories, such as by how they were done (heave, wave, burnt), what they were for (sin, trespass, vow, voluntary, peace), what they were (firstfruits, food, drink), or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-a-sin-offering-was-required-is-masturbation-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":41317,"position":3},"title":"Since a sin offering was required, is masturbation a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering if masturbation was a sin even if one didn't have any sinful thoughts when he does it. In Leviticus 15:14-15\u00a0it says that the person who had a discharged should offer two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and other for a burnt offering. Does this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/human-sacrifices\/","url_meta":{"origin":41317,"position":4},"title":"Human Sacrifices?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Judges 11:29-40 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are two stories that cause some concern because they involve the concept of sacrificing a human being to God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They cause concern because the Bible is very clear about God\u2019s opinion on human sacrifices. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The slaying of humans invokes a death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/simple-offerings\/","url_meta":{"origin":41317,"position":5},"title":"Simple Offerings","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores \"Now when anyone presents a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it\" (Leviticus 2:1). The grain offering was simple: no animal, no blood; just flour, oil, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n