Purchased With His Own Blood (Acts 20:28)
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers,
to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.”
(Acts 20:28)
(Acts 20:28) is another passage of scripture that many Trinitarians and many of us who classify ourselves as “Oneness” (UPC, PAW, Apostolic, Pentecostal, etc…) have historically promoted Jesus as God. We sometimes ask others the question; “When did God have blood?” and then proclaim the answer to be “When God came to earth as the infant Jesus Christ.”
This passage, however, does not indicate God (who is a Spirit) as having blood literally as some assert. It is an obvious reference to the Lord Jesus, the “man” who died to ransom believers (Mat 20:28 NIV; Rom 3:24-26; Eph 5:2; 1Tim 2:6; Heb 9:28).
In this passage, Paul is bidding farewell to the elders of Ephesus, explaining that he carried out the mission the Lord Jesus had given him. Christ commissioned Paul or sent Paul out with a specific mission (at Damascus, Acts 9:3-6).
Note: Paul, having been chosen by Christ (Acts 9:15-16), was (the 14th and last apostle Christ personally commissioned and sent out) therefore Paul was certainly qualified to speak on behalf of Christ as to who Jesus was, and is (Acts 9:20 – Christ, the Son of God), and went out “proving” it (Acts 9:22). After receiving that revelation from Christ, Paul taught and preached that God was Jesus Father (NOT Jesus was God), and Jesus was God’s Son, and Jesus is subject to God (2 Corinthians 11:31; Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 3:14-15; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28) and totally when those things (all that God had given Jesus authority over) have “all” been put under the feet of Christ.
Thus, in his final words, Paul makes a statement to the elders, which they understood, that they were to feed (teach) the church that God purchased with his own blood, which is in reference to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). In other words, Jesus, the Lamb, belongs to God, whom God created (as His only begotten Son) and God gave His Son to the world to believe on him and confess Jesus is the Son of God (John 5:24; 1John 4:15; Rev 3:5).
All Christians acknowledge the fact that Jesus had blood but to prove the true context of this passage, to those who say Jesus is God, two questions arise that they cannot explain truthfully (logically or scripturally) without splitting God into two separate beings or proclaim God as “pretending” to be a man or “acting” as his own son to himself.
1. Was it God hanging on the cross, and if so, how could that be because the scripture (John 1:18) states that “No man hath seen God at any time? (John 4:24) also states “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
2. If we claim Jesus and God are literally “the same” being, when Jesus died on the cross did God “literally” die? Logically, we cannot make that claim truthfully (Jesus and God are one and “the same“) because scripture declares God as being immortal (cannot die).
The problem for both the Trinitarian Doctrine and the “Traditional Oneness Doctrine” (most Earlier Oneness doctrines) arise when they tried to literally “fuse” both God and a man together instead of viewing and presenting God as a Spirit capable of dwelling (entering/influencing the body) in a man named Jesus (the vessel), while Jesus yet maintained his own separate and independent mind/soul/spirit or body, as do all men (the human aspect needed for atonement – Not God “pretending” to be a “man” or becoming his own Son to himself – Both are ludicrous and non-biblical!!).
The “Oneness” theory, as it currently sits (Historically), in essence, asserts that God allowed man to view or “look upon” his flesh nature, (But Jesus said God was a spirit, NOT flesh and spirit).
To understand a verse such as this, one must be thoroughly familiar with the scripture’s teaching of God’s manifestation. God has manifested himself to us through His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, John 8:19 and John 14:7-15. Jesus said in verse 12 that he was going to the Father. It would be ridiculous to proclaim Jesus’ statement as indicating that Jesus going to go to himself.
The only possible means of making (Acts 20:28) true is if you understand that this verse is spoken figuratively. If you understand, that figuratively speaking, Jesus is considered to be both the “Son of God” (not god junior or god #2) and the “Lamb of God” (and not a 4 legged wooly animal) you should also understand that Jesus (as God’s lamb – John 1:29) belonged to God and it was the blood sacrifice (of this real human named Jesus), who died and by the type of relationship God had with Christ (Hebrews 1:5) and because he accepted the work Christ fulfilled (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 9:24, 10:12; Acts 17:30-31), it was God’s blood (figuratively).
So, Let’s Prove This by Comparing the Scripture
It Is the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son That Cleanseth Us from All Sin!
(1 John 1:3-10)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
We must make our lives a living testimony of our profession of faith
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
(Romans 5:8-11)
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
If you were confused at the start, these passages (1 John 1:3-10; Romans 5:8 – 11) clearly explain who our fellowship is with and why. We must always address God properly, the correct personage with their correct “title”, and their titles (Father and Son) correspond respectively and distinguish the one (God) from the other (Jesus), although this is a very hard pill for many to accept. It nonetheless, makes perfect the plan God had for man for us to be reunited and have a living (eternal) relationship with God our true Father.
Our Relationship with God means: (We are Sons/Children of God)
Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons (Romans 8:14) and children of God because of our faith in Christ (Galatians 3:26). This relationship with God as our Father (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2; 1 Timothy 1:2; Philemon 1:3; 2 John 1:3) makes us ONE as he was with Christ (John 17:21-22; John 20:17)
Our Relationship with Christ means: (We are Brothers with Christ)
We become brothers and sisters with Christ, NOT children of Christ. (Matthew 12:50, Mark 3:35) We are therefore ONE in Christ, being adopted sons and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:28-29; Galatians 4:4-7)
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