Cees en Anneke Noordzij — Soteriology
b6 — From Passover to Tabernacles
1. Redemption as a New Beginning — Passover Type
Noordzij describes the Passover as the type of redemption from the slavery of the flesh:
“Now in an identical way every believer stands at a new beginning when he lets himself be led out of ‘Egypt’. He is then freed from the slavery of the flesh and a ‘new’ life begins for him, as a member of a ‘holy nation’ (Eph. 2:5, 2 Pet. 2:9).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE PASSOVER.
Interpretation: Redemption is typologically developed through the Passover: deliverance from Egypt = liberation from the flesh. The ‘new life’ as a member of a ‘holy nation’ implies that salvation for Noordzij is not primarily forensic but liberating-transformative in nature.
2. Eating and Drinking Christ as the Way of Salvation (John 6)
Noordzij emphasizes that at the last Passover meal Jesus did not institute a new rite but elevated the ‘old’ Passover to a spiritual reality:
“So he did not institute a new rite, with bread and wine. He made the ‘old’ Passover ‘new’. He elevated it to a spiritual reality. ‘Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood shall live. I will raise him up …’ (John 6:54-56).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE PASSOVER.
“Few know this ‘new’ way of ‘eating Him’. Paul already had to say to the Corinthians: ‘When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat’ (1 Cor. 11:20). They were still doing it the ‘old’ way, as a rite, outwardly, soulishly-fleshly, as infants in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1). That brought no genuine life with the Lord and with one another.”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE PASSOVER.
“‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes’ (1 Cor. 11:26). Until He comes into us!”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE PASSOVER.
Interpretation: For Noordzij the way of salvation runs through the inward ‘eating’ of Christ (John 6), not through outward sacraments. The outward rite is temporary (‘the old signs are valid temporarily, until the new comes’). This is a soteriological position that places participation and inner communion above ceremony.
3. Justification through the Blood of the Lamb
Noordzij acknowledges forensic justification through the blood of Christ while distinguishing two aspects of that blood:
“We know that the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). The blood of this sin offering was poured out at an altar. But the blood of the Passover lamb shows a different aspect: it serves for the redemption of ‘God’s people’ in ‘Egypt’, the domain of the ‘flesh’.”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE PASSOVER.
“It is true: through Jesus’ blood we are justified (Rom. 5:9). But has that fully worked out practically in the people of God? Do we know and experience true holiness and purity in thoughts, words and deeds?”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
Interpretation: Noordzij distinguishes two functions of the blood: (1) as a sin offering that removes guilt (John 1:29) and (2) as Passover blood that delivers from the power of the flesh. Justification (Rom. 5:9) is an acknowledged foundation, but for Noordzij it is insufficient if it does not work through in practical holiness. [TENSION with b1: in b1 Noordzij describes justification as an element in the ordo salutis (Rom. 8:28-30); here the practical dimension of sanctification receives greater emphasis.]
4. Sanctification — Removing Old Leaven
The feast of unleavened bread is developed by Noordzij as a soteriological process of sanctification:
“A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough. Get rid of the old leaven. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:6-8).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.
“All the ‘old leaven’ must go immediately so that for ‘seven’ days the ‘unleavened bread of sincerity and truth’ can be ‘eaten’. But whoever lingers and delays in ‘Egypt’ becomes leavened again by the subtle working of that ‘old’. He therefore does not become free from ‘Egyptian’ thinking and doing.”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.
“To whoever continues to travel with Him through the ‘wilderness’, He gives daily the ‘new manna from heaven’, of which the ‘unleavened bread’ was a sign (John 6:51, 1 Cor. 5:6-8).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.
Interpretation: Sanctification for Noordzij is a continuous, active process of removing ‘old leaven’ (earthly-oriented religious thinking, legalism, hypocrisy). The metaphor ‘seven days’ points to the completeness of the sanctification process. This corresponds to the patterns in b1 (crucifixion of the flesh, Gal. 5:24) and b3 (passage through three curtains).
5. Universal Reconciliation — Scope of the Atonement (Col. 1:20)
Noordzij cites Col. 1:20 as the foundation for a reconciliation of universal scope:
“God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood (Col. 1:20). He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption as the eternal high priest (Hebr. 9:12,14,24).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
“This great work of atonement has far from fully become manifest in the church of Christ, let alone outside it.”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
Interpretation: Noordzij emphasizes ‘all things’ (Col. 1:20) as the objective foundation of the atonement. The fact that this ‘has far from fully become manifest’ implies that the universal scope has an eschatological dimension: accomplished in Christ, but yet to be revealed through the church. This aligns with his apokatastasis perspective in b1 and the universalism via Col. 1:16-20 in b3.
6. Future Fulfillment of the Great Day of Atonement in the Church
Noordzij holds that the great Day of Atonement has an eschatological fulfillment in and through the sons of God as the ‘second goat’:
“It will, however, when the ‘second goat’ (=the sons) lets itself be sent ‘into the wilderness’ as ‘living, holy and pleasing sacrifices to God’ (Rom. 12:1). Those sons form a priestly nation and will ‘bear away the guilt of wrongdoing against the sanctuary’ (Num. 18:1).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
“They ‘suffer for the people and fill up in their flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church’ (Col. 1:24). For the church, God gives them ‘the ministry of reconciliation’ and entrusts to them ‘the message of reconciliation’ (2 Cor. 5:18-19).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
“Thus, full reconciliation between God and His people comes about through the blood of the Lamb AND through the testimony of His own (Rev. 12:11). It comes to pass through His Son AND through the ministries of the sons. Thus ‘the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ’ appears (Rev. 12:10).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
“Thus the true great ‘Day of Atonement’ comes, followed soon by the heavenly ‘feast of Tabernacles’. That is the glorious ‘feast of all fullness’, ‘that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God’ (Eph. 3:19).”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (closing).
Interpretation: The two goats of Lev. 16 are for Noordzij the type of Christ (the slaughtered goat) and the sons of God (the second goat). This model links the individual calling to sonship/priesthood directly to the universal reconciliation mandate. The church is not only the recipient of atonement but also the instrument of its eschatological fulfillment. This corresponds to the ‘ministry of redemption’ through the sons in b1 (§A ministry of redemption).
7. Sanctification as Humility — Preparation for the Great Day of Atonement
Noordzij describes humility as an active prerequisite for sanctification and the eschatological fulfillment:
“What did the people of Israel have to do before the great Day of Atonement? Humble themselves (Lev. 23:27). Also now must the people of God do that in preparation for the ‘great Day of Atonement’.”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
“To this day the great Day of Atonement has not yet found its fulfillment in the Church, and humility is still needed.”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
“It is not just about a life freed from a particular sin or bondage, from an unpleasant temper or a bad habit. It concerns a life that is identical to that of Jesus, in ‘earthen vessels’ of human clay.”
Source reference: Noordzij, From Passover to Tabernacles, §THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
Interpretation: [TENSION with mainstream Lutheran/Calvinist model] Justification is acknowledged (Rom. 5:9), but sanctification is not automatic. Humility and practical holiness are for Noordzij active sanctification components — not an addition to justification but its necessary outworking. Christ in us (‘Col. 1:27, Gal. 4:19’) is the ultimate goal.