John 1:29

Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalJohn points at Jesus and says, 'Behold the Lamb of God.' He is the Passover lamb. In Egypt the blood of the lamb on the door turned away death (Ex. 12:13), and Paul says it plainly: 'Christ our passover is sacrificed for us' (1 Cor. 5:7). John's Gospel shows it in the timing: Jesus was crucified on 'the preparation of the passover' (19:14), and not a bone of Him was broken, 'that the scripture should be fulfilled' (19:36; Ex. 12:46). Long before Egypt, Abraham told Isaac, 'God will provide himself a lamb' (Gen. 22:8). God did not send someone else to be the sacrifice. He provided Himself, in flesh: 'the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood' (Acts 20:28). The lamb on Moriah, the Passover lamb, the lamb of Isaiah 53:7 and the Lamb on the throne (Rev. 5:6; 22:3) are one thread, and it ends in one Person. He takes away 'the sin of the world', not Israel's only but everyone's.

JewishThe lamb recalls Passover and the daily offering. Judaism does not accept a human sacrifice for sin.

CatholicEchoed at every Mass in the Agnus Dei and in 'Behold the Lamb of God' before Communion.

ProtestantA central text for substitutionary atonement: the Lamb bears the sin of the world.

OrthodoxIn the Divine Liturgy the bread prepared for the Eucharist is called the Lamb.

DispensationalThe Lamb of the first coming returns as the Lion (Rev. 5:5-6).

AcademicScholars debate whether the image is the Passover lamb, the servant 'brought as a lamb' of Isaiah 53, or the conquering lamb of apocalyptic writing. John's Gospel times the crucifixion to the slaughter of the Passover lambs (19:14, 36).