How are sins forgiven — by works or by blood?

The Man Who Thought Forgiveness Was a Word Spoken Without a Price

He was a Muslim man who believed that God is forgiving and merciful, so he supposed that forgiveness was a simple matter: if a person sinned and then repented and asked, God would forgive by His sheer mercy, with no need for an atonement or blood. So it seemed to him that the cross was needless, even foreign to the mercy of God; for why would a merciful God require a death in order to forgive, when He is able to forgive by a word? So he lived confident that forgiveness was a word spoken, not a price paid. But one day he read in the Holy Bible a principle that recurs from its beginning to its end, and it stopped him: "and without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). And he paused: if God Himself has bound forgiveness to the shedding of blood from the beginning, then forgiveness is not a word without a price, but has a price that God appointed.

The Bible's answer to the question of forgiveness is a single sentence, and once it is grasped it reveals the depth of God's mercy: forgiveness is not by mere overlooking, but by an atonement that God appointed, and its way is the shedding of blood from the beginning. For from Adam onward, God's way of dealing with sin has been redemption by blood, a life given for a life. And the animal sacrifices were not sufficient, but pointed to the one Lamb who actually takes away sin. As for the supposition that the merciful God forgives by a mere word without an atonement, it is overturned by the fact that justice and holiness require that the claim of sin be satisfied; and this is why the justice of God and His mercy met at the cross, so that He was just and forgiving at once. So the cross does not contradict mercy, but is its costliest expression.

What the Muslim Teaches About Forgiveness

Let the position be stated fairly. Many Muslims teach that God forgives sins by His sheer mercy, so that if a person repents and asks for forgiveness, God forgives by His word, with no need for an atonement or shed blood. They hold that the merciful God needs no death in order to forgive, and that to say forgiveness requires a cross and blood detracts from His mercy and His power. So the rejection of the cross, in their view, is an honouring of the mercy of God, who forgives by His mere will.

And we acknowledge that there is truth in this which we share: God is indeed merciful, and He forgives freely the one who comes to Him, and nothing detracts from His power. The Muslim's confession of God's mercy is a sound confession that we value. But the matter is not whether God is merciful — that is agreed — but what His mercy requires of His justice. The difficulty is not in God's power nor in His mercy, but in His justice and His holiness. For the holy and just God cannot overlook sin as though it had never been, since if He forgave without justice He would be a judge releasing the guilty without right. So the Bible does not deny the mercy of God, but reveals how He shows mercy without nullifying His justice: by an atonement He Himself appointed, by which justice is satisfied and the doors of mercy are opened. So the cross is not a contradiction of mercy, but the deepest declaration of it.

Redemption by Blood Was God's Way From the Beginning

The first thing that settles the matter is that redemption by blood was no late innovation, but God's way of dealing with sin from the first pages of the Bible. When Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, but God Himself clothed them with coats of skin: "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21). And a skin requires the death of an animal; so the first covering of human shame came at the cost of a life whose blood was shed. From the beginning, God taught that the covering of sin costs a life.

Then the thread continues: Abel's bloody offering was accepted, and Cain's bloodless offering of produce was not. And in the whole law of Moses, atonement was by blood: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Leviticus 17:11). So the life is in the blood, and the blood makes atonement for the soul. Then the Bible sums up the whole principle in a single sentence: "and without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). So from Eden to the altar, God's steadfast way of forgiving has been the death of a substitute, a life for a life. And this is no Christian notion imposed on the question, but the pattern God Himself established and kept across the centuries.

Why Blood? Because the Life Is in It, and the Wages of Sin Is Death

It may be asked: why blood in particular? And the answer is that God bound the blood to the life, and made the wages of sin death. For sin is not a trifle erased by a mere word, but has wages that God appointed: "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). So sin requires death, because it is rebellion against a God of infinite holiness. And since the life is in the blood, the shedding of blood is the paying of the wages of sin: a life given in place of the life that the iniquity required.

So atonement by blood is no arbitrary ritual, but an expression of a deep truth: that sin costs a life. This is why, when the sinner brought a sacrifice, he would lay his hand on its head, and the sacrifice would die in his place, a declaration that the death he had incurred had fallen upon the substitute. So the shed blood declares that the wages of sin have been paid, not that they were overlooked. And this reveals why forgiveness by a mere word does not suffice: because a word alone leaves the wages unpaid and justice unsatisfied. But the blood pays the wages, satisfies justice, and opens the door of mercy. So God did not make blood a condition to make forgiveness difficult, but to show both the gravity of sin and the worth of forgiveness. So forgiveness that costs blood is not cheap, but the costliest there is.

The Animal Sacrifices Were Not Enough, but Pointed to the One Lamb

But the animal sacrifices, though they taught the principle, were not able to actually take away sin. The Bible declares plainly that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). The sacrifices covered and pointed, but they were not the final answer. And the proof of their insufficiency is their unending repetition: for had a single sacrifice actually taken away sin, there would have been no need for daily and yearly repetition. So their very repetition was a testimony that none of them was the final answer.

What then did they point to? They were shadows cast backward from a coming reality: the one Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. When the Lord Jesus Christ came, John the Baptist declared: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He is the Lamb to whom all the sacrifices pointed. And by His one sacrifice He accomplished what all the sacrifices could not: "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). And His blood alone cleanses from all sin: "and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). So the whole bloody history of the altar was God teaching one lesson across thousands of years: that sin costs a life, and preparing the world to recognize the Lamb when He came. So the sacrifices were not the goal, but an arrow pointing to Christ.

The Objection: «The Merciful God Can Forgive by a Word»

Here the Muslim raises his strongest objection: is not God merciful and able? Can He not forgive by a word, without all this blood? And the answer first affirms the mercy of God, and then reveals that the difficulty was never in His power nor in His mercy, but in His justice and His holiness. For if a just judge released a criminal by a mere word, without the claim of justice being satisfied, he would not be merciful but unjust, for he would be discarding the right of the wronged and the dignity of the law. So forgiveness that overlooks justice is not complete mercy, but a breach of justice.

And sin is an offence against a God of infinite holiness, so it is not erased by mere overlooking, but the claim of justice must be satisfied. This is why, when the Muslim asks God to forgive by a word without an atonement, he asks Him — unintentionally — to be merciful at the expense of His justice, that is, to be less than holy. But the cross shows God to be merciful and just at once: for He punished sin fully in the substitute, so that justice was satisfied, and at the same time forgave the sinner freely, so that mercy appeared. So justice is not discarded, nor is mercy withheld. And this is more complete and more worthy of God than a forgiveness that nullifies His justice. So the cross is no deficiency in the mercy of God, but a declaration that His mercy does not discard His holiness.

At the Cross the Justice and Mercy of God Met

And here the wisdom of the cross shines: upon it the justice of God and His mercy met, without either being diminished. For Christ bore the punishment our sins deserved, so that justice was fully satisfied; and at the same time the door of mercy was opened to sinners, so that God became just and forgiving at once. This is what the Bible declares: "That he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). «Just, and the justifier» — that is, just at the very moment He forgives.

So the cross is not a suspension of the mercy of God, but the way by which He shows mercy without nullifying His justice. And in it the love of God appeared in its highest form: that He did not overlook sin lightly, nor let the sinner perish, but Himself bore the price of forgiveness in His Son: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). So the forgiveness the Muslim supposed to be a cheap word is in truth the costliest there is: purchased by the blood of the Son. So the cross does not detract from the mercy of God, but reveals its depth: a mercy that did not overlook justice, but paid its price itself. And this is greater and more worthy of God than a forgiveness without a price.

A Full and Free Forgiveness for the One Who Comes

And the wonder is that this forgiveness, which cost God the blood of His Son, is offered to the sinner freely; he does not pay its price, because Christ paid it. So the atonement is complete, and the forgiveness is full, received by faith and not by merit. For in the blood of Christ we have redemption and forgiveness: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Ephesians 1:7). So the sinner who comes to Christ receives a full forgiveness, not partial nor suspended.

And it is declared that by this One forgiveness of sins is preached, and that everyone who believes in Him is justified from all that the sacrifices could not accomplish: "Be it known unto you therefore... that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 13:38). So the forgiveness the Muslim asked for by a word, God truly offers — but not by a word that discards justice, but by an atonement that satisfied it, and then it is granted freely by faith. So the one who comes to Christ receives not a cheap, overlooking forgiveness, but a costly forgiveness paid in full, that cleanses him from all sin. So the mercy the Muslim loved is real, but it is deeper than he supposed: a mercy that cost him nothing, but cost God the blood of His Son.

The Passover: the Blood by Which Judgment Passed Over Those Who Sheltered in It

One of the clearest pictures of redemption by blood in the Old Testament is a story the Muslim knows: the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt by the hand of Moses. When God would deliver His people from bondage, and His judgment would pass over Egypt, He commanded every house to slay a lamb and put some of its blood on the doorposts, so that the judgment would pass over the house upon which the blood was. God said: "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13). So deliverance from judgment was not by word, nor by intention alone, but by shed blood placed upon the door.

Consider: God did not say «I see your repentance and pass over you,» nor «I see your goodness,» but «when I see the blood, I will pass over you.» So what delivers from judgment is the blood, a token that a lamb has died in place of the household. And this Passover was a shadow of a coming reality: for Christ is our Passover, slain for us: "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). So as the judgment passed over those who sheltered in the blood of the lamb in Egypt, so the judgment of God passes over those who shelter in the blood of Christ. So forgiveness and deliverance from judgment are bound to the blood, not to the word alone. The one who asks to be forgiven without blood is like one who wished the judgment of Egypt to pass over him with no blood on his door. But God appointed the blood as the token of deliverance, and fulfilled it in the blood of Christ.

Is Repentance Alone Not Enough?

The Muslim may raise a sound question: is repentance alone not enough? Is not what God wants that a person forsake his sin and turn back to Him? And the answer is that repentance is indeed necessary, and there is no forgiveness without sincere repentance; but repentance addresses the future, and does not pay the debt of the past. The penitent ceases from sin from now on, and this is good and required; but his former sins remain a debt unpaid. The one who stole and then repented and ceased from stealing — is what he stole erased thereby? No, for ceasing from theft is already his duty, and does not return what he took. So repentance mends the way forward, but does not pay the price of what is past.

So repentance and atonement are not rivals, but complementary: repentance turns the heart back to God, and atonement pays the price of sin. The sinner needs both: to repent and turn back, and to be atoned for and forgiven. This is why, in the Old Testament, God did not content Himself with requiring repentance, but joined to it the sacrifice: the penitent would come with a sacrifice, and his repentance would be accepted along with the blood. So repentance alone leaves the debt of the past unpaid; and blood alone without repentance profits not a heart that has not turned. But the two together: repentance turns, and the blood pays. And in Christ they meet: the sinner repents and comes to Him, and finds that His blood has paid the price of all his sins, past and present. So repentance does not abolish the need for atonement, but accompanies it; and atonement does not abolish repentance, but completes it.

Closing — Receive the Forgiveness Purchased With Precious Blood

If you have supposed forgiveness to be a word spoken without a price, the Bible reveals to you a deeper mercy: a forgiveness purchased with the blood of Christ. For redemption by blood was God's way from Adam onward, and the animal sacrifices pointed to the one Lamb who actually takes away sin. You are not called to detract from the mercy of God, but to know its depth: that He showed mercy without nullifying His justice, and paid the price of your forgiveness Himself. And this Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), accomplishing the atonement that all the sacrifices could not.

Come, then, and receive the forgiveness purchased for you with precious blood. Do not seek a cheap forgiveness that discards justice, but receive the costly forgiveness that satisfied justice and displayed mercy. Read the Bible for yourself, and trace the thread of blood from Eden to the cross, and see how God was preparing you to know the Lamb. And ask Him to cleanse you by the blood of His Son. For the One who paid the price of your forgiveness invites you to receive it freely.

A Special Prayer

If you have come to see that forgiveness was purchased with the blood of Christ, and that the mercy of God did not discard His justice but paid its price, you may come to Him now. What saves you is not the words of a prayer, but faith that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you and rose again. So pray from your heart to the living God who hears:

"O great and holy and loving God, the one true God: I supposed forgiveness to be a word without a price, and I see now that Thou art merciful and just at once, and that Thou hast paid the price of my forgiveness with the blood of Thy Son. I confess that I am a sinner, and that I need a Saviour. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died on the cross for my sins, shed His blood as an atonement for me, was buried, and rose again the third day. I trust in Him alone as my Saviour, and I receive the forgiveness purchased with His blood. Forgive me, cleanse me, receive me, and grant me eternal life. I pray in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."

After You Have Prayed

If you prayed this prayer from a sincere and believing heart, then you have received the forgiveness purchased with the blood of Christ, been cleansed from all sin, and become a child of God forever. Here are steps to steady you:

First — read the Word of God every day. Know that the King James Version (KJV) is the truest and purest copy of the Word of God in all the world, His true and pure Word, and you will find it on this website (alinjil.com); and in Arabic, read the trustworthy Van Dyck translation. Begin with the Gospel of John, not in haste, but with meditation and prayer, for God speaks to you through His Word.

Second — pray to God directly every day in words from your own heart, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thanking Him for the forgiveness purchased with the blood of His Son.

Third — trace the thread of blood in the Bible from Genesis to the cross, and ponder how God was teaching that sin costs a life, and pointing to the one Lamb.

Fourth — seek a church that honours the Word of God and proclaims the redemption by the blood of Christ, join the fellowship of believers, and be baptized in obedience to the Lord.

Fifth — bear witness to others with gentleness and love that forgiveness was purchased with precious blood, and that the mercy of God is deeper than is supposed, especially to those who reckoned forgiveness a word without a price.

And keep reading the Word of God in the King James Version, the truest and purest Word of God in the world, and in the Van Dyck in Arabic — both found on this website — that you may grow in the knowledge of the One who cleansed you by His blood.

A Personal Word to You, Dear Reader

Thank you for taking the time to read this message about the forgiveness purchased with the blood of Christ, the mercy that meets justice at the cross, and the salvation that God offers through the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have received Christ as your own personal Saviour, you have received a full forgiveness, been cleansed from all sin, and become a child of God forever. "and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

We encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John for yourself, to continue in the Word of God in the King James Version — the truest and purest Word of God in the world — and in the Van Dyck in Arabic, both found on this website (alinjil.com), and to share this good news with everyone who supposed forgiveness to be a word without a price. May God richly bless you as you receive the forgiveness He purchased for you with the precious blood of His Son.

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

This article has sought to address its subject honestly and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, without evasion and without minimising the genuine difficulty of the questions involved. The reader who finds the biblical answers compelling is invited to pursue them further — in the Holy Scriptures themselves, in prayer addressed directly to God, and in genuine engagement with a community of believers who take both the questions and the answers seriously. The reader who remains uncertain is invited to continue the search with the same honesty with which it began. God honours the sincere seeker: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

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