# Drops Of Blood in Luke 22:44



## KMK

Did Jesus perspire sweat drops that looked/acted like blood?
or
Did Jesus perspire actual blood mixed with sweat?


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## Bill The Baptist

I would assume that since the crown of thorns had caused his head to bleed, his sweat was mixing with blood as it flowed off of his head.


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## KMK

Bill The Baptist said:


> I would assume that since the crown of thorns had caused his head to bleed, his sweat was mixing with blood as it flowed off of his head.



Jesus had not yet received the crown of thorns in Luke 22:44.


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## VictorBravo

I always took the "as it were" to be comparative: "and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood. . . ." The Greek word "ὡσεὶ" used there seems to mean "like unto".


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## Romans922

Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ can be helpful at least in possibilities.

Is a person able to perspire blood? The answer in Strobel's research, seeking medical physicians for the answer, was yes a person under a great amount of stress may perspire blood.


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## kvanlaan

I've heard the same thing from Beeke - it is medically possible that a person sweat blood under great stress.


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## KMK

VictorBravo said:


> I always took the "as it were" to be comparative: "and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood. . . ." The Greek word "ὡσεὶ" used there seems to mean "like unto".



This is what got me thinking. Must it mean "like unto"?

Foote: 



> ...it has been remarked, that the word "as," or the expression, "as it were," like the corresponding Greek word, does not always signify similarity, but often reality, as in the following passages: "They counted John as a prophet"-"Their words seemed to them as idle tales"-"We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father"-"We are changed into the same image, from glory to flory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Commentary on Luke; Vol 3; Pg 424



I have read Strobel's book but was wondering if there are modern scientific claims that contradict him.


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## py3ak

I am not sure what the point of the comparison would be if the sweat were not bloody. How can a drop of sweat become more bloodlike without an admixture of blood?


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## VictorBravo

py3ak said:


> I am not sure what the point of the comparison would be if the sweat were not bloody. How can a drop of sweat become more bloodlike without an admixture of blood?


 
Well, a few things come to mind: 

When it is dark, but still light enough to see, we don't see color, so I don't think the drops looked red.

In my personal experience, I've sweat heavily, even to the points of drops falling, but they were kind of light-weight drops like water.

On the other hand, a few times I've had fairly bloody wounds. The blood hitting the floor pools and is sort of thick.

So I had the picture of great pools of sweat falling onto the ground around Jesus, pooling in a thick manner and reflecting what little light there was as if it were pools of blood.

But I wouldn't be so dogmatic about it. But I do think trying to find a medical explanation of what happened sort of distracts from the primary image of extraordinary agony. Is any believer really going to suddenly disbelieve the description in Scripture of our Lord's suffering if some medical physiologist says you don't sweat blood? And the inverse: Is any unbeliever going to suddenly believe Scripture because some other medical expert says you indeed can sweat blood?


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell

Luke does use the Greek word "thrombos" (clot) in the passage, and he was a medical doctor. I believe that there was some real blood mingled with his perspiration.


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## py3ak

VictorBravo said:


> In my personal experience, I've sweat heavily, even to the points of drops falling, but they were kind of light-weight drops like water.
> 
> On the other hand, a few times I've had fairly bloody wounds. The blood hitting the floor pools and is sort of thick.
> 
> So I had the picture of great pools of sweat falling onto the ground around Jesus, pooling in a thick manner and reflecting what little light there was as if it were pools of blood.



That's interesting, Vic, thanks.


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## surnamelevi

Dr. Frederick Zugibe says, "Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form. Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands. As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat."


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## InSlaveryToChrist

Well, whatever the drops consisted of, we know the stress was indescribably painful! It's not relevant at all whether actual blood came out. If an angel from heaven had to come to strengthen Christ's mortal body under this stress, that should tell us something of the _pain_ of the event!


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## rookie

surnamelevi said:


> Dr. Frederick Zugibe says, "Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form. Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands. As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat."



The term is called hematidrosis.


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## rookie

InSlaveryToChrist said:


> Well, whatever the drops consisted of, we know the stress was indescribably painful! It's not relevant at all whether actual blood came out. If an angel from heaven had to come to strengthen Christ's mortal body under this stress, that should tell us something of the _pain_ of the event!



Not for nothing, that He prayed "if it possible, pass this cup from me, that I should not go through this, but not my will, but Thy will be done"

Even He wanted it to be another way.


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