Christ's blood purifies?
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin . 1 John 1:7 There is a common cultic heresy to the effect that the blood of Christ has no cleansing efficacy of itself, even though this contradicts the plain statement of our text. John wrote the above words long after Christ’s blood had all been spilled on the cross, but it was still miraculously cleansing sinners in His day, and is in ours as well. It is true that Christ’s blood supported His physical life, for “the life of the flesh is in the blood” ( Leviticus 17:11 ). But His blood was not like the blood of other men, for it was “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” ( 1 Peter 1:19 ), uncontaminated either by genetic defects due to accumulated generations of mutations (as in all other men and women) or inherent sin. When His blood was shed, it did not simply disappear into the...