Silver, Gold, or Blood

In the movie, The Terminal, a traveler from Eastern Europe is stuck in New York’s JFK Airport without a visa to enter the States but simultaneously unable to return to his country as it was going through a military coup. The immigration officer who was giving him trouble, at one point, was curious about what was in a small box that he was carrying. Perhaps riches or gold? Ultimately, the audience sees it as an insignificant item to everyone else but very valuable to that traveler (I’ll not spoil the ending).

If we were given a box of gold or a cup of blood, which one would we choose? Or which one would we think is valuable?

Peter wrote,

“You were redeemed from your misused traditions of your parents, not by perishable silver or gold but by the honorable blood of Christ [who was offered] as an unblemished and unspotted lamb.” (1 Pet 1:18–19)

In the second sentence, Peter used four words starting with the letter alpha or “a,” giving a beautiful alliteration: aimati(“blood”) amnou (“lamb”) amomou (“unblemished”) aspilou (“unspotted”). The phrase “unblemished lamb,” amnou amomou, imitates the sound of a lamb (which is called onomatopoeia, like ssssnake or giggle).

The Hebrew audience would have never thought that they needed to be redeemed from the traditions of their parents. Peter was talking about the Law. What was wrong with that tradition? Nothing was wrong with the Law, but it was misused, mataios. Peter used a word from one of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not misuse [mataios] the name of the Lord your God” (Exod 20:7). You see, instead of living by the precepts of the Law, the Hebrews weren’t. More than that, they were using the Law to separate themselves from the Gentiles who didn’t have the law. Paul called it the “enmity wall that divided the Hebrews from the Gentiles” (Eph 2). Since they misused the traditions of their parents, they needed to be redeemed from them. God did that redemption by Christ’s blood.

Silver and gold were precious metals for the Hebrews. In fact, the entire ark of the covenant was covered in and out with gold. The priests held gold and silver bowls to collect blood from the altar. Peter told a physically challenged person, “We don’t have silver and gold.” But from God’s perspective, silver and gold were perishable items. Silver tarnish and gold evaporate at extreme heat. Not so with the blood of Christ.

The blood itself was honorable (timios related to Timotheos, meaning “honor to God”). But the lamb – it was unblemished and unspotted. Their law required that when they offered sacrifices like burnt or sin offerings, they were to sacrifice unblemished animals (without any physical defects) and unspotted animals (without mange – that causes hair to fall off). God gave the very best unblemished and unspotted lamb. Ironically, from a human perspective, that lamb of God was wounded – had holes on his hands, feet, and side! It was blemished. From God’s perspective, however, he was unblemished and unspotted, the perfect lamb. His offering and blood were perfect to redeem those Hebrews in exile from the misused traditions of their parents.

I often wonder what kind of misused traditions of my fore-parents, Christian and secular, I follow. When they give us false hope of freedom or spirituality, we must remove them. We need the true redemption that comes only by the honorable blood of that pure lamb of God.