And being
in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of
blood falling down to the ground. LUKE
22:44
“GREATEST SUFFERING WAS IN
GETHSEMANE. We speak of the passion of Jesus Christ. A great many people have
an idea that when he was on the cross, and nails were driven into his hands and
feet, that was his great suffering. His great suffering was before
he ever was placed upon the cross. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that the blood oozed
from the pores of his body: ‘Which suffering caused myself, even God, the
greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to
suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup,
and shrink.’ That was not when he was on the cross; that was in the garden.
That is where he bled from every pore in his body”[1]
Peculiar to Mormonism is the idea that Jesus atoned for the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane. Though espoused by many Mormon leaders, this is not what the Bible teaches.
Throughout the New Testament
it is the death of the Christ that is stressed.
Romans
5:10- For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of
His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Hebrews
9:22 states that without the shedding (not sweating) of blood, there is no
remission of sins.
The Apostle Paul,
writing to the believers at Corinth said:
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to
you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are
being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you
believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I
also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day in accordance with the Scriptures.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-4
The Apostle Peter wrote that:
“He (Jesus)himself bore our sins” in his body
on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by
his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
According to the Bible, Jesus did not atone for the sin of the world through perspiration (through sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane) but through expiration (he died).
THE CROSS
The Garden of Gethsemane is
only mentioned by name twice (Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32) and it is never
spoken of as playing a role in the atonement. Rather, it is the cross that is stressed.
Galatians
6:14- “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
Philippians 2:8- “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
It was on the cross that Jesus was inaugurating the New Covenant and it was in his dying, that he was following the pattern for forgiveness of sin as laid out in the Old Testament. Under the Old Covenant redemption was made through ceremonial sacrifice. Atonement for sin was made via the death of an innocent substitute. This substitute would give its life, to pay the penalty of sin.
And
the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and
he shall be forgiven.
Leviticus
4:35
YOM KIPPUR
Then, once a year the people of Israel
celebrated the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. On this day the High Priest
would offer sacrifice for Israel as a nation.
For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You
shall be clean before the Lord from
all your sins.
LEVITICUS 16:30
The sacrifice was a vicarious substitution. The
animal (often a lamb) was taking upon itself the penalty due sinful man. This
animal sacrifice was a type of Jesus who would one day come and willingly pay
the price of sin through His own death on the cross.
This sacrifice of the Lord Jesus fulfilled and surpassed
that which was taught under the Old Covenant, a fact spoken of by the writer to
the Hebrews:
But
as it is, the Messiah has obtained a ministry that is as much more
excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since
it is enacted on better promises. For if that first
covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a
second.
HEBREWS
8:6-7
But when Christ appeared as a
high priest of the good things that have come, then through the
greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this
creation) he entered once
for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves
but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For
if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons
with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the
flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify
our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Hebrews 9:11-14
Discussing whether the atonement took place in the Garden
of Gethsemane or on the Cross of Calvary is important. If the Mormons are
correct, then Jesus’ death on the cross is of little consequence. Indeed, if
true, did He even need to die?
In conversations with Mormons, it is always important to define
terms. We can be using the same words, but their understanding is ‘Mormonese’.
We have so far considered where Mormons believe the
atonement took place, but what do they understand of the atonement? What did
the atonement achieve and how is it applied to their lives? That will be
discussed in the next article.
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