Jesus: Salvation = Loving Him As God
And Trusting in His Sacrifice Pt. 1
Muslim taqiyyist Paul Bilal Williams just doesn’t know when to call it quits. He posted another blog article where he again twists the Gospels in order to force them to agree with his theological presuppositions. This time he cites Luke 10:25-37 in order to establish that Jesus didn’t believe that vicarious sacrifices were needed for salvation since he taught that a person is saved by the Law, specifically by keeping the commands to love God with one’s entire being, and to love one’s neighbor as one self.
It is therefore time to, once again, expose Williams’ deliberate manhandling of the inspired Word of God by examining this Lukan text in both the immediate and wider contexts of Luke’s writings.
Yet before we do so, it is important that we first see what the Law of Moses actually says regarding this issue of salvation.
Loving God Wholeheartedly Requires Substitutionary Atonement
In the first place, the same Law that commands believers to love God with their entire being plainly states that the way that one goes about doing so is by perfectly observing all that God has commanded:
“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Yet these are the same commandments which required animal sacrifices in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins!
“If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt and the sin they committed becomes known, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the tent of meeting. The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. He shall dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times in front of the curtain. He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the community.” Leviticus 4:13-21
And:
“The Lord said to Moses: ‘If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit—when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.” Leviticus 6:1-7
Yahweh even commanded the high priest to enter the most holy place once a year on the Day of Atonement and offer up a bull, a goat, and a ram as vicarious sacrifices in order to make atonement for all the transgressions and evils that Israel had committed against God:
“‘This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering… From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering… He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the UNCLEANNESS AND REBELLION of the Israelites, WHATEVER THEIR SINS HAVE BEEN. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel. Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites. When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it ALL THE WICKEDNESS AND REBELLION of the Israelites—ALL THEIR SINS—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness… This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you—because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from ALL YOUR SINS. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for ALL THE SINS of the Israelites.’ And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Leviticus 16:3, 5-11, 15-22, 29-34
In fact, the Law expressly says that the shedding of blood is essential for making atonement for the sins committed against God:
“I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.’” Leviticus 17:10-11
Compare this with the inspired NT teaching:
“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22
Hence, the only way one could love God completely is by carrying out his commands, including the ones where he demands that vicarious sacrifices be made for salvation!
In other words, a person could not truly love God with his/her entire being if s/he failed to offer sacrifices for atonement since this is what God required in the very Law that he revealed through Moses.
So much for Williams’ appeal to the Law in order to deny the necessity and centrality of vicarious sacrifices for salvation.
It is time to move on to the second part of our rebuttal.