We have been told that Jesus shed his blood as atonement while in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion. Wouldn't this be considered as a blood sacrifice on his part?
Answer:
The reference is to an alleged bloodlike sweat reported by the author of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 22:44). A sweat of blood is not physically impossible. There are instances of hematidrosis, involving intense dilation of subcutaneous capillaries that burst into the sweat glands. The blood then clots and is carried to the surface of the skin by the sweat. The Gospel of Luke, however, does not speak of a sweat of blood but of a sweat so profuse that it was like blood. It describes the drenching perspiration as becoming "like drops of blood," but there was no actual blood. The shedding of sweat does not qualify as atonement sacrifice.
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