DID JESUS SWEAT BLOOD?
Apr 18, 2019
READ TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
“David. Did Jesus sweat blood”?
I realize that most people think Luke 22:44 says that Jesus sweat blood, but if you carefully look at the verse, it doesn’t say that.
Remember, Luke was a physician. If Dr. Luke had wanted to convey the idea that Jesus sweat blood, he would have written that. There is a medical condition (hematidrosis) where people do indeed sweat blood, but this isn’t Luke wrote in Luke 22:44.
Please carefully look at the following four English translations of Luke 22:44. What does the text say?
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground (ESV).
And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground (NASB).
Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground (CSB).
And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground (NKJV).
I agree with Dr. Darrell Bock that it’s important to realize that the description of Jesus’s sweating is metaphorical (it’s a simile; in the above translations look at the bolded words, “became like”).
Dr. Luke would have left out those words (in Greek it’s one word) if he had wanted to convey Jesus sweat blood.
Dr. Bock explains it well, “the remark depicts Jesus’s emotional state as so intense that he perspired profusely as a result. The sweat beads multiplied on his body like flowing clumps of blood and dropped to the earth. Luke goes out of his way to portray Jesus’s humanity. Jesus realizes the terrible fate he faces, but he is ready to face death now because God has strengthened him for the task.”
Trent Butler explains that sweat “dropped from his skin as if each drop of sweat were as heavy as a drop of blood.”
Sources Used
Bock, Darrell L. Luke: 9:51–24:53. Vol. 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.
Butler, Trent C. Luke. Vol. 3. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000. Print. Holman New Testament Commentary.
The NIV Zondervan Study Bible, eBook: Built on the Truth of Scripture and Centered on the Gospel Message. Zondervan.