55 Bible Verses about Sacrifice

He heard the question and replied, "It is not men in good health who require a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means, 'It is mercy that I desire, not sacrifice'; for I did not come to appeal to the righteous, but to sinners."

For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves, the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, give complete freedom from sin to those who draw near. For then would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, because the consciences of the worshippers--who in that case would now have been cleansed once for all--would no longer be burdened with sins? But in those sacrifices sins are recalled to memory year after year. read more.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering Thou has not desired, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me. In whole burnt-offerings and in sin-offerings Thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'I have come--in the roll of the book it is written concerning Me--to do Thy will, O God.'" After saying the words I have just quoted, "Sacrifices and offerings or whole burnt-offerings and sin-offerings Thou hast not desired or taken pleasure in" --all such being offered in obedience to the Law-- He then adds, "I have come to do Thy will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.

I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassionsof God, to present all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship. And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.

For the love of Christ overmasters us, the conclusion at which we have arrived being this--that One having died for all, His death was their death, and that He died for all in order that the living may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again.

As one who lives in union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am certain that in its own nature no food is 'impure'; but if people regard any food as impure, to them it is. If your brother is pained by the food you are eating, your conduct is no longer controlled by love. Take care lest, by the food you eat, you lead to ruin a man for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let the boon which is yours in common be exposed to reproach. read more.
For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of right conduct, peace and joy, through the Holy Spirit; and whoever in this way devotedly serves Christ, God takes pleasure in him, and men highly commend him. Therefore let us aim at whatever makes for peace and mutual upbuilding of character. Do not for food's sake be throwing down God's work. All food is pure; but a man is in the wrong if his food is a snare to others. The right course is to forego eating meat or drinking wine or doing anything that tends to your brother's fall. As for you and your faith, keep your faith to yourself in the presence of God. The man is to be congratulated who does not pronounce judgement on himself in what his actions sanction. But he who has misgivings and yet eats meat is condemned already, because his conduct is not based on faith; for all conduct not based on faith is sinful.

Now as to things which have been sacrificed to idols. This is a subject which we already understand--because we all have knowledge of it. Knowledge, however, tends to make people conceited; it is love that builds us up. If any one imagines that he already possesses any true knowledge, he has as yet attained to no knowledge of the kind to which he ought to have attained; but if any one loves God, that man is known by God. read more.
As to eating things which have been sacrificed to idols, we are fully aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but One. For if so-called gods do exist, either in Heaven or on earth--and in fact there are many such gods and many such lords-- yet *we* have but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and for whose service we exist, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we and all things exist. But all believers do not recognize these facts. Some, from force of habit in relation to the idol, even now eat idol sacrifices as such, and their consciences, being but weak, are polluted. It is true that a particular kind of food will not bring us into God's presence; we are neither inferior to others if we abstain from it, nor superior to them if we eat it. But take care lest this liberty of yours should prove a hindrance to the progress of weak believers. For if any one were to see you, who know the real truth of this matter, reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience (supposing him to be a weak believer) Why, your knowledge becomes the ruin of the weak believer--your brother, for whom Christ died! Moreover when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak consciences, you are, in reality, sinning against Christ. Therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall, never again to the end of my days will I touch any kind of animal food, for fear I should cause my brother to fall.

Therefore, my dear friends, avoid all connection with the worship of idols. I speak as to men of sense: judge for yourselves of what I say. The cup of blessing, which we bless, does it not mean a joint-participation in the blood of Christ? The loaf of bread which we break, does it not mean a joint-participation in the body of Christ? read more.
Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; we, all of us, share in that one loaf. Look at the Israelites--the nation and their ritual. Are not those who eat the sacrifices joint-partakers in the altar? Do I mean that a thing sacrificed to an idol is what it claims to be, or that an idol is a real thing? No, but that which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God; and I would not have you have fellowship with one another through the demons. You cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons: you cannot be joint-partakers both in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons. Or are we actually arousing the Lord to jealousy. Are we stronger than He is? Everything is allowable, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable, but everything does not build others up. Let no one be for ever seeking his own good, but let each seek that of his fellow man. Anything that is for sale in the meat market, eat, and ask no questions for conscience' sake; for the earth is the Lord's, and all that it contains. If an unbeliever gives you an invitation and you are disposed to accept it, eat whatever is put before you, and ask no questions for conscience' sake. But if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice;" abstain from eating it--out of respect for him who warned you, and, as before, for conscience' sake. But now I mean his conscience, not your own. "Why, on what ground," you may object, "is the question of my liberty of action to be decided by a conscience not my own? If, so far as I am concerned, I partake with a grateful heart, why am I to be found fault with in regard to a thing for which I give thanks?" Whether, then, you are eating or drinking, or whatever you are doing, let everything be done to the glory of God. Do not be causes of stumbling either to Jews or to Gentiles, nor to the Church of God. That is the way that I also seek in everything the approval of all men, not aiming at my own profit, but at that of the many, in the hope that they may be saved.

And for this reason Jesus also, in order, by His own blood, to set the people free from sin, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, sharing the insults directed against Him. For we have no permanent city here, but we are longing for the city which is soon to be ours. read more.
Through Him, then, let us continually lay on the altar a sacrifice of praise to God, namely, the utterance of lips that give thanks to His Name. And do not forget to be kind and liberal; for with sacrifices of that sort God is greatly pleased.

Then one of the Scribes, who had heard them disputing and well knew that Jesus had given them an answer to the point, and a forcible one, came forward and asked Him, "Which is the chief of all the Commandments?" "The chief Commandment," replied Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole mind, and thy whole strength.' read more.
"The second is this: 'Thou shalt love thy fellow man as thou lovest thyself.' "Other Commandment greater than these there is none." So the Scribe said to Him, "Rightly, in very truth, Rabbi, have you said that He stands alone, and there is none but He; and To love Him with all one's heart, with all one's understanding, and with all one's strength, and to love one's fellow man no less than oneself, is far better than all our whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices."

The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and exclaimed, "Look, that is the Lamb of God who is to take away the sin of the world!

Then, midway between the throne and the four living creatures, I saw a Lamb standing among the Elders. He looked as if He had been offered in sacrifice, and He had seven horns and seven eyes. The last-named are the seven Spirits of God, and have been sent far and wide into all the earth. So He comes, and now He has taken the book out of the right hand of Him who is seated on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four Elders fell down before the Lamb, having each of them a harp and bringing golden bowls full of incense, which represent the prayers of God's people. read more.
And now they sing a new song. "It is fitting," they say, "that Thou shouldst be the One to take the book And break its seals; Because Thou hast been offered in sacrifice, And hast purchased for God with Thine own blood Some out of every tribe and language and people and nation, And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests to our God, And they reign over the earth." And I looked, and heard what seemed to be the voices of countless angels on every side of the throne, and of the living creatures and the Elders. Their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, and in loud voices they were singing, "It is fitting that the Lamb which has been offered in sacrifice should receive all power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And as for every created thing in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and everything that was in any of these, I heard them say, "To Him who is seated on the throne, And to the Lamb, Be ascribed all blessing and honor And glory and might, Until the Ages of the Ages!"

We know what love is--through Christ's having laid down His life on our behalf; and in the same way we ought to lay down our lives for our brother men.

For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves, the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, give complete freedom from sin to those who draw near.