For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
my.
Exodus 24:7,8 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient…
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
shed.
Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Romans 5:15,19 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many…
Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
which is poured out for many
The imagery of blood being "poured out" suggests a sacrificial death, reminiscent of the sacrificial system in Leviticus where blood was poured out at the altar for atonement. The phrase "for many" indicates the wide-reaching impact of Jesus' sacrifice, aligning with Isaiah 53:12, which speaks of the suffering servant who "bore the sin of many." This highlights the inclusivity of Christ's atonement, extending beyond Israel to all who believe, fulfilling the Abrahamic promise of blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:3).
for the forgiveness of sins
This phrase underscores the purpose of Jesus' sacrifice: to provide forgiveness. In the Old Testament, forgiveness was sought through the sacrificial system, but it was temporary and incomplete (Hebrews 10:4). Jesus' sacrifice offers complete and eternal forgiveness, fulfilling the prophecy of a suffering servant who would bear the iniquities of others (Isaiah 53:5-6). This forgiveness restores the broken relationship between humanity and God, a central theme in the New Testament, and is foundational to the Christian understanding of salvation (Ephesians 1:7).
• Jesus lifts the Passover cup and declares, “This is My blood” (Matthew 26:28), connecting the wine directly to His imminent sacrifice.
• Leviticus 17:11 reminds us, “the life of the flesh is in the blood,” underscoring that Jesus is offering His very life.
• Hebrews 9:22 affirms, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” so the statement announces the necessary means God chose for redemption.
• The disciples would hear echoes of Exodus 12:7,13—Passover lamb blood sparing the Israelites—now fulfilled in the true Lamb of God (John 1:29).
• Covenants in Scripture are always ratified with blood. Exodus 24:8 records Moses sprinkling blood and saying, “This is the blood of the covenant,” a pattern Jesus now fulfills and surpasses.
• Jeremiah 31:31-34 foretells a “new covenant” where God writes His law on hearts and remembers sins no more; Jesus declares it has arrived.
• Hebrews 9:15 calls Him “Mediator of a new covenant,” and Hebrews 12:24 points to “Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
• “Poured out” pictures a deliberate, sacrificial offering, not an accidental death (Isaiah 53:12, “He poured out His life unto death”).
• At Golgotha the prophecy becomes history—John 19:34 records blood and water flowing from His side, confirming the literal outpouring.
• Philippians 2:8 stresses His willing obedience “to death— even death on a cross,” highlighting that the pouring out is voluntary and purposeful.
• Jesus echoes Isaiah 53:11-12 where the Servant “will justify many,” and Mark 10:45 where He gives His life “as a ransom for many.”
• “Many” points to a vast company from every nation (Revelation 5:9-10) while still inviting each hearer personally; the provision is sufficient for all and efficient for all who believe (Romans 5:15-19).
• This phrase guards against exclusivism yet affirms the particular effectiveness for those who trust Christ.
• The goal of the shedding is crystal-clear: complete remission and release. Ephesians 1:7 proclaims, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”
• Colossians 1:14 repeats the same promise, grounding our pardon not in our performance but in His sacrifice.
• Hebrews 10:17-18 celebrates the result: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more… there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.”
• The cross is therefore not merely an example of love but the effective means by which God cancels the record of debt against us (Colossians 2:14).
Matthew 26:28 reveals Jesus intentionally identifying His own blood as the substance that seals the promised new covenant, poured out in a once-for-all sacrificial death, effective for the vast company of believers, and securing full forgiveness of sins. Each phrase builds a sweeping portrait: the Son of God offers His lifeblood, institutes a covenant of grace, sacrifices Himself willingly, extends the benefit to multitudes, and accomplishes total pardon—assuring every believer that nothing more needs to be added to what His blood has achieved.
(28) For this is my blood of the new testament.--Better, this is My blood of the Covenant; the best MSS. omitting the word "new" both here and in St. Mark. It was probably introduced into the later MSS. to bring the text into harmony with St. Luke's report. Assuming the word "new" to have been actually spoken by our Lord, we can understand its being passed over by some reporters or transcribers whose attention had not been specially called to the great prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-34. That prophecy was, however, certain to have a prominent place in the minds of those who had come into contact, as St. Luke must have done, with the line of thought indicated in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Matthew 8, 9), and therefore we cannot wonder that we find it in the report of the words given by him (Matthew 22:20) and by St. Paul (1Corinthians 11:25). If we were to accept the other alternative, it would still be true that the covenant of which our Lord spoke was ipso facto new, and was therefore that of which Jeremiah had spoken, and that the insertion of the word (looking to the general freedom of the Gospels in reporting our Lord's discourses) was a legitimate way of emphasising that fact.Dealing with the words, we note (1) that the word "covenant" is everywhere (with, possibly, the one exception of Hebrews 9:16, but see Note there) the best equivalent for the Greek word. The popular use of the "New Testament" for the collected writings of the apostolic age, makes its employment here and in the parallel passages singularly infelicitous. (2) That the "blood of the covenant" is obviously a reference to the history of Exodus 24:4-8. The blood which the Son of Man was about to shed was to be to the true Israel of God what the blood which Moses had sprinkled on the people had been to the outward Israel. It was the true "blood of sprinkling" (Hebrews 12:24), and Jesus was thus the "Mediator" of the New Covenant as Moses had been of the Old (Galatians 3:19). (3) That so far as this was, in fact or words, the sign of a new covenant, it turned the thoughts of the disciples to that of which Jeremiah had spoken. The essence of that covenant was to be the inward working of the divine law, which had before been brought before the conscience as an external standard of duty--("I will put My law in their inward parts," Jeremiah 31:33)--a truer knowledge of God, and through that knowledge the forgiveness of iniquity; and all this, they were told, was to be brought about through the sacrifice of the death of Christ. . . .
Verse 28. - For. Yes, drink ye all hereof, for it is unspeakably precious. This (τοῦτο, as before, ver. 26) is my blood. This which I here give you. The blood separated from the body represents Christ's death by violence; it was also the sign of the ratification of a covenant. Of the new testament; διαθήκης: covenant. The adjective"new" is omitted by some good manuscripts and modern editors, but it gives the sense intended. The Vulgate has, novi testamenti. The old covenant between God and his people had been ratified at Sinai by the blood of many victims (Exodus 24:5-8; Hebrews 8:8-13; Hebrews 9:15, etc.); the blood of Christ shed upon the cross ratifies "the new or Christian covenant to the world and the Church, and the same blood sacramentally applied ratifies the covenant individually to each Christian" (Sadler). The evangelical covenant supersedes the Judaic, even as the sacrifice of Christ fulfils and supersedes the Levitical sacrifices. Which is shed (is being shed) for many. The Vulgate has effundetur, in reference to the crucifixion of the morrow; but this is tampering with the text. Rather, by using the present tense, the Lord signifies that his death is certain - that the sacrifice has already begun, that the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8) was now offering the eternal sacrifice. The whole ordinance is significant of the completion of the atonement. "Many" here is equivalent to "all." Redemption is universal, though all men do not accept the offer (see on ch. 20:28). Even Calvin says, "Non partem mundi tantum designat, sed totum humanum genus." For the remission of sins. "For without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22); "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7). The sacrifices of the Law, the blood of bulls and goats, could not take away sin; at most they gave a ritual and ceremonial purification. But what the Mosaic Law could not effect was accomplished by the precious blood of Christ, who offered himself a spotless and perfect Victim unto God. This is our Lord's most complete announcement of the propitiatory nature of his sacrifice, which is appropriated by faith in the reception of his precious blood. St. Paul adds, "This do ye (τοῦτο ποιεῖτε), as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me [εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν, 'for my commemoration']." These were, of course, Christ's words spoken at the time, and are of most important bearing on what is called the sacrificial aspect of the Holy Eucharist.