What is the meaning ofAgnus Dei?
Agnus Dei is Latin for "Lamb of God" — the title John the Baptist gave to the Lord Jesus Christ in John 1:29: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
The Lamb as sacrifice
The lamb was the Old Testament animal supremely devoted to sacrificial use, and Christ is its fulfilment. Morrish's Bible Dictionary explains:
Morrish's Bible DictionaryThe lamb is symbolical of meek submissiveness, and when selected for the sacrifices, must be without blemish and without spot: a very apt type of the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God. He, the submissive and spotless One, was "like a lamb dumb before his shearer," and was proclaimed by John as "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world;" and again as 'the Lamb of God' as an object for the soul's contemplation. John 1:29, 36.
F.B. Hole unfolds what John the Baptist meant:
F.B. HoleJohn said in effect, "Here is the one effectual, never-to-be-repeated SACRIFICE of eternal value." In the Old Testament the lamb had been specially marked as the animal devoted to sacrificial use: hence the title here. Jesus is the Lamb of God's providing, and if He takes away by sacrifice the sin of the world — not merely your sin or mine, or Israel's sin, but the sin of the whole "cosmos" — then there has been effected a work of such magnitude that the settlement abides to eternity. We usually think of sin in its manifestations and myriad details, but here it is regarded as one gigantic and terrible problem, meeting its complete solution and removal. God will have a cosmos — the universe as an ordered whole — totally and eternally purged from sin; and here is the One who by His sacrifice accomplishes this. He is the Sacrifice of the Ages.
"Sin" — not "sins"
Several writers draw particular attention to the precise wording: "the sin of the world" (singular), not "the sins of the world." This is not about the forgiveness of individual believers' sins (a separate blessing), but the ultimate removal of sin as a principle from the entire creation.
J.N. Darby writes:
J.N. DarbyHe is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" — note, not sins. "Behold the Lamb of God," that is God's lamb, what specially appertains to God Himself — "the Lord's lot." He takes away the sin of the world, not here the sinner's sins, but the sin of the whole world; this will be the new heaven and new earth, where there will be no sign or trace of sin. We have had an innocent world, and a sinful world, then we shall have a righteous world depending on God's Lamb. God's Lamb is from God, according to God, and for God. In the very place of sin He has perfectly glorified all that God is.
William Kelly insists on the same distinction:
William KellyChrist is "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin," not the sins, "of the world." One is a blessed truth, the other is a mistake with the gravest consequences.
And further:
sonofgodWe must not confound the bearing of our sins in His own body on the tree with taking away the sin of the world, as He will, for the new heavens and the new earth. When it is a question of sin-bearing, it is "our" sins (1 Peter 2); when it is a question of taking away, it is the world's sin.
The Lamb and the Holy Spirit — two sides of one work
John the Baptist gave two testimonies about Christ: He is the Lamb of God, and He is the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit. F.B. Hole draws these together:
F.B. HoleAs the Sacrifice He takes away the sin of the world: as the Blesser He fills it with the light and energy of the Spirit of God. It is plain therefore that here we have two parts of one whole, and both statements are on broad, comprehensive lines.
Hamilton Smith likewise:
Hamilton SmithHe is the Lamb of God and the Son of God. As the Lamb of God He takes away the sin of the world; as the Son of God He baptizes with the Holy Ghost.
The Lamb in Revelation
The title carries through to the end of Scripture. Morrish traces it:
MorrishThe special character attached to the title of 'Lamb' in the book of Revelation is that of suffering, the earth-rejected One, but seen in the midst of the throne in heaven. He who suffered is vindicated there, and finally possesses His bride, the new Jerusalem, in which the throne of God and of the Lamb is established. He will always bear the character of the chosen One of God "that taketh away the sin of the world" on the ground of the sacrifice of Himself.
"Agnus Dei" in liturgical history
The phrase entered Christian worship very early. Edward Young, describing Pope Gregory's Easter service around 600 AD, records:
Edward YoungThe choir chanted "Agnus Dei."
This chant — addressing Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away sin — has been carried forward in both Catholic and Protestant worship ever since.
Agnus Dei, then, is far more than a liturgical phrase. It is the title that identifies Jesus Christ as the sacrifice God Himself provided — meek, spotless, offered once for all. It carries a double weight: on the one hand, Christ bore the sins of believers in His body on the cross; on the other, as the Lamb of God He will ultimately remove sin itself as a principle from the entire universe, so that in the new heavens and new earth there will be no sign or trace of it. In Revelation, the Lamb once slain is seen on the throne in heaven, the object of universal worship. From John the Baptist's first cry — "Behold the Lamb of God!" — to the closing vision of the throne of God and of the Lamb, this title spans the whole scope of Scripture.