ἀμνοῦ. Cf. John 1:29. The reference is most probably to the passover lamb, which, though not actually the ransom paid for deliverance from Egypt, was closely connected with that deliverance and did redeem the firstborn of Israel from the destroying angel. So the regulation about the paschal lamb, “Not a bone of him shall be broken,” was applied to our Lord in John 19:36, and in 1 Corinthians 5:7 St Paul says Christ our Passover (i.e. paschal lamb) is sacrificed for us, and in Revelation 15:3 the Song of the Lamb is associated with the Song of Moses.

ἄμωμος, without blemish. There was an old Greek word μῶμος, meaning blame, from which a poetical word, ἄμωμος, blameless, was derived, but this is not the meaning in the Bible. The word μῶμος in the LXX. was borrowed to translate the Hebrew word מוּם (mûm) = blemish. So when an adjective was needed to translate the word תָּמִים = perfect, free from blemish, an adjective ἄμωμος was formed from μῶμος. The word is used again of Christ as an unblemished sacrifice in Hebrews 9:14; of Christians in Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:22; Philippians 2:15 v.l., Jude 1:24; of the Church, Ephesians 5:27; and of those that follow the Lamb, Revelation 14:5.

ἄσπιλος = without spot; cf. 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Peter 3:14; James 1:27. Christ was free alike from inherent blemish and from external defilement.

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Old Testament