BIBLICAL BRIEFS 8
The Bible states in Luke 22:44 that the sweat of Jesus became like drops of blood. Hematidrosis is a medical condition in which extreme tension causes the capillary blood vessels supplying the sweat glands to rupture, causing them to exude blood into the sweat. Blood sweat is therefore physiologically possible. The Greek metaphoric interpretation, however, implicitly signifies more than the physical condition. A part of the first Adam’s curse on humanity states specifically that man will eat his bread by the sweat of his face (Gen. 3:19). The symbolic meaning refers to hard labour “in pain/through sorrow” (verse 17), in an effort to provide food, even if man does not sweat physically sweat during his labour. Eze. 44:18 states clearly that the garments of the Levitical priesthood should not cause them to sweat. This clearly implies that faith does not require “works of the law” (Gal. 2:16) – these are “dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). We must repent “from dead works” (Heb. 6: 1), which refer to religious actions that we falsely think God requires of us. The good works of the faithful are specifically the result of their divine nature (2 Pet.1: 4), by which their faith is displayed (Jam. 2:18; 3:13), and brought forth through their identity in Christ (Eph. 2:10), prepared by God for them. The last Adam, Jesus the Christ (1 Cor. 15:45), reversed this curse of sweat with his blood sweat, enabling believers to enter God’s rest (Heb. 4:10), even though they still have to “work wearily with (their) own hands to earn (their) living” (1 Cor. 4:12), in order “that they shall work quietly and eat their bread” (2 Thes. 3: 12).
Dr. Tom Gouws