While some approach various texts, both Old and New Testament, that speak of the shedding of blood being efficacious as evidence, if not proof, of penal substitution, such is not the case. As Sharon L. Baker wrote:
Blood and the Bible
Leviticus 17:11 explains blood as the life force. In this verse we are told that “the life of the flesh is the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (NASB). This means that the flesh lives only because the blood gives it life. No blood, no life. Blood, therefore, symbolizes life. In fact, medieval Jewish rabbi, Rashi, comments that interpreting the blood as a symbol for life is a well-known Jewish tradition that goes back literally centuries.
Additionally, in the Hebrew sacrificial system we see that the blood of animals somehow atoned for sin. God required the blood because the blood is life. Blood, therefore, is connected with atonement as the symbol for life. It is the life (life that the blood brings) that atones for sin—the offering of life that makes atonement. Blood stands for life and represents the life given to God. That life, given to God in devotion, atones, cleanses, purifies, and brings about forgiveness of sin. Blood equals life and must be offered as atonement in sin. The next question is: what is atonement?
We get the word “atonement” from the sixteenth-century Protestant reformer William Tyndale (1494-1536). He defined it literally as at-one-ment, to describe the double act of God’s cleansing our sin and reconciling us into union with God. We often see the word “atonement” in the English translations of the Old Testament, especially in the book of Leviticus. Leviticus gives the people instructions on how to offer animal sacrifices to God. In order to atone for sin, the priest must sprinkle the blood of the lamb or goat on the altar. This sprinkling of blood, as a symbol of the offerer’s life given to God, cleanses him of sin. The cleansing is analogous to forgiveness.
It’s important to remember that killing the animal and sprinkling its blood on the altar to atone for sin has nothing to do with punishing the animal in place of punishing the people. It has everything to do with blood as the life force that cleanses and purifies the people. The priest kills the animal for its blood—for the life that the blood symbolizes. In fact the Hebrew word for “to sprinkle” is closely connected to the act of forgiveness—to sprinkle blood, then, points to the act of God forgiving sin.
For the Hebrews, the blood of an ox or goat symbolized life or, when offered, the giving of life to God. Remember the scapegoat that took the sins of the people far away on the Day of Atonement? Well, the blood of the other goat sacrificed on that same day symbolized the purification of the people and the gift of their lives to God. The blood served as an outward symbol of an inward reality—the life of the worshiper given by God and given to God—set apart for God’s purposes. As the worshiper offers his life, as symbolized by the blood, he is purified and stands before God forgiven, with a clean slate.
The blood points to the costly nature of life and the personal investment entailed to develop and maintain close relationships with God and with others . . .We can interpret the many passages of Scripture that talk about the blood of Jesus in light of its cleansing and purifying power, washing away the stain of sin through forgiveness. We must remember, however, that when we invoke the “blood” we really do so as a symbol for “life.” So for verses such as this: “this is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many,” we could say this instead: “this is my life, which has been given for many” (Matt. 26:28; Mk. 12:24). Or “. . . the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son” (Acts 20:28), might mean that God obtained the Church through the life of Jesus that brought forgiveness of sin. We could interpret the verse “through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20) to mean that through the cleansing purification of forgiveness, God reconciled all creation through the selfless, life-giving, sacrifice of Jesus. How about this one? “Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured” (Heb. 13:12-13). We might say that by the life of Jesus, we are cleansed, purified, and forgiven. Because of that, we must live selflessly, giving our lives for the benefit of others even if their sin causes us to suffer as Jesus did. (Sharon L. Baker, Executing God: Rethinking Everything You’ve Been Taught About Salvation and the Cross [Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013], 123-24, 146, italics in original)
