Sacrifice in the Spirit

Christ’s life, says John Owen in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ , is entirely an oblation and a gift. Though “the perfecting or consummating of this oblation be set out in the Scripture chiefly in respect of what Christ suffered,” still Christ’s offering includes everything He did:

“this oblation or offering of Christ I would not tie up to any one thing, action, or passion, performance, or suffering; but it compriseth the whole economy and dispensation of God manifested in the flesh and conversing among us, with all those things which he performed in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears.”

And Jesus offers His whole life by the Spirit. Whether Hebrews 9:14 is referring to the “bloody sacrifice on the cross” or his self-presentation before the Father, it is by the Spirit. As Owen colorfully puts it, “The willing offering himself through that Spirit was the eternal fire under this sacrifice, which made it acceptable unto God. ”