Christian Blog

"The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was a sacrifice properly propitiatory. It did indeed make atonement for sin; thereby satisfaction is made for the injury done to God. The Old Testament sacrifices, ten thousand of ‘em, were not sufficient to make atonement for one sin." (Jonathan Edwards, "The Sacrifice of Christ", The Works of Jonathan Edwards vol. 14, ed. Kenneth P. Minkema (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 450-451)

"[The Old Testament sacrifices were] to typify the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and to lead men to trust in him. Christ was the end of all the ceremonial observances of the law; he was the sub and substance of all. By this ceremonial law, the gospel was preached to them; though they had not the direct light of the sun of righteousness, yet they had it reflected from those typical ordinances.

Those sacrifices were to point forth Christ and to lead them to trust in him, to prepare the church for the reception and entertainment of him when he came. They would more readily receive the mystery of Christ’s satisfaction by his death, for having been so long taught the necessity of sacrifices in order to purge away sin." (Jonathan Edwards, "The Sacrifice of Christ", The Works of Jonathan Edwards vol. 14, ed. Kenneth P. Minkema (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 448)

Most Christians today believe that there is not enough information to conclude who wrote Hebrews. It is interesting to note Jonathan Edwards belief about this matter.

"Therefore, as the Apostle says (Heb 9:9), those gifts and sacrifices ‘could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience’" (Jonathan Edwards, "The Sacrifice of Christ", The Works of Jonathan Edwards vol. 14, ed. Kenneth P. Minkema (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 445)

"And if [sinners] deserve punishment for their sins, they don’t deserve it the less because others are not punished, but are pardoned. How doth God’s saving and pardoning one, oblige God to pardon and save another? If God’s grace is not due to any at all, then it is God’s own, and that that he may dispose of as he pleases: for that is the very nothing of a thing’s being one’s own, that it is at his disposal. Therefore if God’s grace is his own, he may dispose of it to whom he pleases, and may deny it to whom he pleases, and nobody has any reason to find fault with him for so doing. Matthew 20:15, ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?’" (Jonathan Edwards, "All God's Methods Are Most Reasonable", The Works of Jonathan Edwards vol. 14, ed. Kenneth P. Minkema (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 173)