Hebrews 10:4
Hebrews 10:44because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Jehovah's Witnesses accept that animal sacrifices could not permanently remove sin, which is why Jesus' ransom sacrifice was necessary. However, the Watchtower argues that the ransom required only a perfect human equivalent for Adam — strict mathematical equivalence. Since Adam lost a perfect human life, God's justice demanded a perfect human life in return, no more and no less. This is why, in JW theology, Jesus could not be God: a divine sacrifice would exceed the requirement and violate the balance of divine justice.
establishes why exact-equivalence sacrifices failed: "it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." The old covenant sacrifices were finite offerings repeated year after year (10:1) precisely because they were insufficient. Their failure proves that only a sacrifice of greater-than-finite value could accomplish what they could not. Christ's sacrifice succeeds "once for all time" (10:10) because of the infinite worth of the one offering himself — not because it matches Adam's life exactly. confirms: "by one sacrificial offering he has made those who are being sanctified perfect forever." If strict equivalence worked, the animal sacrifices — which were exact-equivalence offerings matching the value of the offerer — would have succeeded. Their failure is the proof that the ransom mechanism requires something greater, not something equal.