John Owen: Did Christ carry material blood into heaven?

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Reformed Covenanter

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It is a vain speculation, contrary to the analogy of faith, and destructive or the true nature of the oblation of Christ, and inconsistent with the dignity of his person, that he should carry with him into heaven a part of that material blood which was shed for us on the earth. This some have invented, to maintain a comparison in that wherein is none intended. ...

For more, see John Owen: Did Christ carry material blood into heaven?
 
Is having blood essential to be human?

I think that the question John Owen is dealing with is not whether or not blood runs in the veins of the resurrected and ascended Christ, but whether or not Christ took the blood that he shed on earth into heaven at his ascension. Over here, some Fundamentalists argue that he did on the basis of Hebrews 9:12.
 
I think that the question John Owen is dealing with is not whether or not blood runs in the veins of the resurrected and ascended Christ, but whether or not Christ took the blood that he shed on earth into heaven at his ascension. Over here, some Fundamentalists argue that he did on the basis of Hebrews 9:12.

A side-discussion is the fate of the foreskin of Jesus left on earth. Many churches housed the holy foreskin as a relic and medieval theologians made a huge deal about it, since this was the first blood shed by our Saviour. Some theologians speculate that the foreskin also ascended into heaven. The 17th century theologian Leo Allatius taught that it ascended into heaven to become the rings of Saturn!
 
A side-discussion is the fate of the foreskin of Jesus left on earth. Many churches housed the holy foreskin as a relic and medieval theologians made a huge deal about it, since this was the first blood shed by our Saviour. Some theologians speculate that the foreskin also ascended into heaven. The 17th century theologian Leo Allatius taught that it ascended into heaven to become the rings of Saturn!
Er... Wow.:confused:
 
A side-discussion is the fate of the foreskin of Jesus left on earth. Many churches housed the holy foreskin as a relic and medieval theologians made a huge deal about it, since this was the first blood shed by our Saviour. Some theologians speculate that the foreskin also ascended into heaven. The 17th century theologian Leo Allatius taught that it ascended into heaven to become the rings of Saturn!

I woke up this Sabbath morning. Had my morning devotions. Sat down with a cup of coffee and thought to check what is brewing on the PuritanBoard.

But now, I think I'd best go back to my Bible and spend more time with the Lord in prayer before heading to Church.
 
I woke up this Sabbath morning. Had my morning devotions. Sat down with a cup of coffee and thought to check what is brewing on the PuritanBoard.

But now, I think I'd best go back to my Bible and spend more time with the Lord in prayer before heading to Church.

For further reading, get the book:

“An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church's Strangest Relic in Italy's Oddest Town.”

by David Farley

I would link it here, but it has a picture of Jesus as a baby on the cover.

It does touch on the very important point of theology that if the man Jesus ascended to heaven whole, then his foreskin also had to ascend. It was part of his body, after all (so they wrongly concluded, which led to all sorts of strange theories).

But their solutions caused more problems than they solved. If I had my arm amputated on earth, I would expect my arm to be there again in heaven, after all. But what of the millions who have been circumcised? Are they all somehow "not whole" if they are still circumcised in heaven? I think not.

Add this fascination with speculative doctrine to the importance of relics and visiting relics in the Middle Ages, and you get several Churches of the Holy Foreskin throughout Christendom with the supposed foreskin of Christ as part of their relics, which would earn you an indulgence from the Vatican if you took a pilgrimage to visit. So what we gasp at today, the medieval believers labored to see and witness and even venerate (which serves as an indictment of that whole medieval Catholic system of relics and indulgences).

This relates to the OP.

I don't think God's shed blood needs be regathered, anymore than I think his foreskin or any toenails he lost while walking in the desert needs to be regathered, or any loose hairs or skin he lost (surely he skinned his knees at some point and that skin lost on rocks was not regathered to glory). He is whole in heaven (and even has his crucifixion wounds, too), despite losing blood, hair, skin, and foreskin on earth.
 
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