54 Bible Verses about Sacrifice

When Jesus heard it he said, "Those who are strong have no need of a doctor, but those who are ill. Go and learn the meaning of this word, I care for mercy not for sacrifice. For I have not come to call just men but sinners."

For as the Law has a mere shadow of the bliss that is to be, instead of representing the reality of that bliss, it never can perfect those who draw near with the same annual sacrifices that are perpetually offered. Otherwise, they would surely have ceased to be offered; for the worshippers, once cleansed, would no longer be conscious of sins! As it is, they are an annual reminder of sins read more.
(for the blood of bulls and goats cannot possibly remove sins!). Hence, on entering the world he says, Thou hast no desire for sacrifice or offering; it is a body thou hast prepared for me ??6 in holocausts and sin-offerings thou takest no delight. So I said, 'Here I come ??in the roll of the book this is written of me ??I come to do thy will, O God.' He begins by saying, thou hast no desire for, thou takest no delight in, sacrifices and offerings and holocausts and sin-offerings (and these are what are offered in terms of the Law); he then adds, Here I 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 who live, Christ lives in me; the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

Well then, my brothers, I appeal to you by all the mercy of God to dedicate your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated and acceptable to God; that is your cult, a spiritual rite. Instead of being moulded to this world, have your mind renewed, and so be transformed in nature, able to make out what the will of God is, namely, what is good and acceptable to him and perfect.

for I am controlled by the love of Christ, convinced that as One has died for all, then all have died, and that he died for all in order to have the living live no longer for themselves but for him who died and rose for them.

I know, I am certain in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is in itself unclean; only, anything is unclean for a man who considers it unclean. If your brother is being injured because you eat a certain food, then you are no longer living by the rule of love. Do not let that food of yours ruin the man for whom Christ died. Your rights must not get a bad name. read more.
The Reign of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, it means righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit; he who serves Christ on these lines, is acceptable to God and esteemed by men. Peace, then, and the building up of each other, these are what we must aim at. You must not break down God's work for the mere sake of food! Everything may be clean, but it is wrong for a man to prove a stumbling-block by what he eats; the right course is to abstain from flesh or wine or indeed anything that your brother feels to be a stumbling-block. Certainly keep your own conviction on the matter, as between yourself and God; he is a fortunate man who has no misgivings about what he allows himself to eat. But if anyone has doubts about eating and then eats, that condemns him at once; it was not faith that induced him to eat, and any action that is not based on faith is a sin.

With regard to food that has been offered to idols. Here, of course, 'we all possess knowledge'! Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. Whoever imagines he has attained to some degree of knowledge, does not possess the true knowledge yet; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. read more.
Well then, with regard to food that has been offered to idols, I am quite aware that 'there is no such thing as an idol in the world' and that 'there is only the one God.' (So-called gods there may be, in heaven or on earth ??as indeed there are plenty of them, both gods and 'lords' ??6 but for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all comes, and for whom we exist; one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom all exists, and by whom we exist.) But remember, it is not everyone who has this 'knowledge.' Some who have hitherto been accustomed to idols eat the food as food which has been really offered to an idol, and so their weaker conscience is contaminated. Now mere food will not bring us any nearer to God; if we abstain we do not lose anything, and if we eat we do not gain anything. But see that the exercise of your right does not prove any stumbling-block to the weak. Suppose anyone sees you, a person of enlightened mind, reclining at meat inside an idol's temple; will that really 'fortify his weak conscience'? Will it not embolden him to violate his scruples of conscience by eating food that has been offered to idols? He is ruined, this weak man, ruined by your 'enlightened mind,' this brother for whose sake Christ died! By sinning against the brotherhood in this way and wounding their weaker consciences, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore if food is any hindrance to my brother's welfare, sooner than injure him I will never eat flesh as long as I live, never!

Shun idolatry, then, my beloved. I am speaking to sensible people; weigh my words for yourselves. The cup of blessing, which we bless, is that not participating in the blood of Christ? The bread we break, is that not participating in the body of Christ? read more.
(for many as we are, we are one Bread, one Body, since we all partake of the one Bread). Look at the rites of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I imply, you ask, that 'food offered to an idol has any meaning, or that an idol itself means any thing'? No, what I imply is that anything people sacrifice is sacrificed to daemons, not to God. And I do not want you to participate in daemons! You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of daemons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and also of the table of daemons. What! do we intend to rouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he is? 'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are good for us. 'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are edifying. Each of us must consult his neighbour's interests, not his own. Eat any food that has been sold in the market, instead of letting scruples of conscience oblige you to ask any questions about it; the earth and all its contents belong to the Lord. When an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you agree to go, eat whatever is put before you, instead of letting scruples of conscience induce you to ask any questions about it. But if someone tells you, 'This was sacrificial meat,' then do not eat it; you must consider the man who told you, and also take conscience into account ??29 his conscience, I mean, not your own; for why should one's own freedom be called in question by someone else's conscience? If one partakes of food after saying a blessing over it, why should one be denounced for eating what one has given thanks to God for? So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, let it be all done for the glory of God. Put no stumbling-block in the way of Jews or Greeks or the church of God. Such is my own rule, to satisfy all men in all points, aiming not at my own advantage but at the advantage of the greater number ??at their salvation.

and so Jesus also suffered outside the gate, in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. Let us go to him outside the camp, then, bearing his obloquy (for we have no lasting city here below, we seek the City to come). read more.
And by him let us constantly offer praise to God as our sacrifice, that is, the fruit of lips that celebrate his Name. Do not forget beneficence and charity, either; these are the kind of sacrifices that are acceptable to God.

Then a scribe came up, who had listened to the discussion. Knowing Jesus had given them an apt answer, he put this question to him, "What is the chief of all the commands?" Jesus replied, "The chief one is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, with your whole mind, and with your whole strength. read more.
The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other command greater than these." The scribe said to him, "Right, teacher! You have truly said, He is One, and there is none else but Him. Also, to love him with the whole heart, with the whole understanding, and with the whole strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself ??that is far more than all holocausts and sacrifices."

Next day he observed Jesus coming towards him and exclaimed, "Look, there is the lamb of God, who is to remove the sin of the world!

Then I noticed a Lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living Creatures and the Presbyters; it seemed to have been slain, but it had seven horns and seven eyes (they are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth), and it went and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when it took the scroll, the four living Creatures and the four and twenty Presbyters fell down before the Lamb, each with his harp and with golden bowls full of incense (that is, full of the prayers of the saints), read more.
singing a new song: "Thou deservest to take the scroll and open its seals, for thou wast slain and by shedding thy blood hast ransomed for God men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation; thou hast made them kings and priests for our God, and they shall reign on earth." Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels round the throne and of the living Creatures and of the Presbyters, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, crying aloud, "The slain Lamb deserves to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing." And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth crying, "Blessing and honour and glory and dominion for ever and ever, to him who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!"

We know what love is by this, that He laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for the brotherhood.

For as the Law has a mere shadow of the bliss that is to be, instead of representing the reality of that bliss, it never can perfect those who draw near with the same annual sacrifices that are perpetually offered.