Old Testament Watchman
“Having blood on one’s hands” is a common phrase used to imply that, while a person may not have taken direct action to end the life of another, they are still responsible for their death. This phrase is used multiple places in scripture in a similar context as well.
First, lets look at an Old Testament use of the phrase.
If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
Ezekiel 3:18-19
In this case, God has given Ezekiel a message of warning regarding coming judgement. God even tells him that they will not listen (Ezekiel 3:7) beforehand! Even though most of them will not repent God still requires of him to deliver the message of warning.
In a sense, the Gospel (while good news to those being saved) is also one of the means (along with general revelation [Romans 1]) by which those who will remain in unbelief are left without excuse.
New Testament Declaration
This idiom is also used by Paul in the New Testament to describe how he had done his diligence in providing the church in Ephesus with the information with which God had entrusted him to deliver, and therefore was innocent of their blood.
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Acts 20:26-27
While Ezekiel was given a more specific message of judgement from God to the people of Israel, Paul had an obligation to proclaim the whole counsel to all of his audience.
Partial Counsel
In another post, I had written about the tendency for the modern church to attempt to craft messages more palatable to those who still love their sin. The one that I believe leaves most Christians today with bloody hands is the shallow gospel for “shallow root” people.
To summarize here: it is when people try to summarize the Gospel with nice sounding messages like “God loves you” or “God has a plan for your life” (both of which are true statements) without addressing topics like sin, judgement, and the sacrifices required to faithfully follow Christ.
Notice how the guilt for the death of the wicked rested upon themselves if Ezekiel warned them. He wasn’t given a quota of people to convince. If he warned every person in Israel and not a single one repented, he was free of their blood.
Similarly, Paul didn’t say that he was innocent of the blood of all because he had convinced enough people. His innocents was on the basis that he withheld nothing. He had given them all the counsel he had (take it or leave it).
I’m hoping this can serve as a warning to the “squishy” Christians out there who feel like their mission is to find some way to get everyone to accept Jesus. Our message is to present the whole counsel of God. We have been entrusted with the revelation of God in the scriptures. Our job is to make sure other people know what it says. Especially those parts from which many are running, as they will be less available.
In this way, we will have fulfilled our responsibility to declare the counsel of God, even if nobody wanted to hear it. Unlike Ezekiel, who was forewarned his message would fall on deaf ears, we have been promised that the good soil (hearts whom God has changed) will respond to our message.
There’s not enough tone policing in the world to craft a message that will save even one person whom God is not saving and even the roughest, accurate presentation of the revelation of God will be received by those who recognize the voice of Christ.
