Uniqueness of Christ's Sacrifice- Hebrews 9 and 10

 As I was reflecting on Christ's Passion this week, I thought about the Reformation emphasis on the uniqueness of Christ's sacrifice. We always need to stress this point. Of course, Christians are called to present themselves as "living sacrifices" (Romans 12:1). We are also called to offer sacrifices of praise (Hebrews 13:15). Thus, our worship and our efforts to do good can be viewed as sacrificial. In this sense, the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist can be seen as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

However, we must beware. Our sacrifices are merely thankful human responses to what God has done in Christ. Our sacrifices are not atoning. They can never set us right with God. Only Christ's self-offering throughout His life on earth and especially on the Cross can overcome our sin and restore us to fellowship with God.

The New Testament proclaims the unique and final nature of Christ's sacrifice in many places (especially in Hebrews 9:28, 10:10, 10:14). Unfortunately, we human beings have a perennial tendency to overvalue what we do. Thus, during the Middle Ages, the unique value of Christ's sacrifice was eclipsed. Christ's atoning death was obscured by exaggerations of human worth, misinterpretations of the role of the saints, high claims for the church hierarchy, and mistaken theories of the Mass. The Reformation was a scripturally based reaction that sought to restore a proper emphasis on the uniqueness of Christ's unrepeatable atoning work. We must never soften this point in misguided efforts to make the Christian message more acceptable to the world.