For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (vv. 13-14)

And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (v. 22)

For Christ did not enter a holy place made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year by year with blood that is not his own. (vv. 24-25)

When one learns about God and reads the Bible, it is easy to conclude that the Savior came because Adam and his descendants sinned. This is one side of the gospel. Like a coin with two sides, the other side of the gospel explains our adoption as the children of God and the coming kingdom, which had been planned before creation.

This chapter continues to explain why Christ, the Son of God, is the only mediator and the eternal High Priest of the new covenant, the Covenant of Grace. For many of us, it is hard to grasp why the Covenant Theology (CT) and the Active Obedience of Christ (AOC) are erroneous. The theories focus on only one side of the coin. When a coin has engravings on one side only, it is not used as money. It must be destroyed.

As we read the NT, we find that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law did not accept Christ as the Son of God. They focused on God’s wrath on those who disobeyed Him. They thought they were the children of God, but Christ simply denied them. Theologians and ministers explain that God is loving BUT also just. This idea of God’s justness is tied to the law. People think that righteousness comes from keeping the law. But there is only one kind of righteousness. God is the source of righteousness. Only God is righteous. This righteousness is above the law because God is not judged by His own law. Unless we are united with Him, we are not righteous. God’s loving-kindness and justness do not contradict to each other.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. (Galatians 5:18)

Once someone asked, “Why didn’t God create another innocent human like Adam to be the ultimate sacrifice?” Indeed, God could do that because nothing is impossible for Him. I don’t know how theology has gone so wrong. Even those who have been born in a Christian family do not know why Christ had to come as a man. It is not that God made the law impossible to keep, and it requires the Son of God. The law (or God’s command in Adam’s case) was never given for us to gain righteousness. People often think Christ exists for us, not us for Christ. Christ shed His own blood to redeem His people from bondage. The saints do not merely need forgiveness of sins and/or the eternal life. The saints are made for the Son and the kingdom. The Son must become the head of the church. The church must become like the Son.

For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes of the righteousness that is based on the Law, that the person who performs them will live by them. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL GO UP INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:4-10)

Since many believe that the law gives righteousness and that Christ had to keep the law for righteousness, they will be judged by the law at the end. True righteousness that comes from faith is based on our union with Christ.