<p>9:22 <i>And according to the law, I may almost say- </i>This is again language appropriate to a verbal exhortation rather than a letter; see on 13:22. The &quot;almost&quot; is because there were allowances for the very poor to not offer blood sacrifices.</p><p><i>All things are cleansed with blood; and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission of sin</i>- The cleansing and remission was not therefore through ritual of itself, but on the basis that the rituals were as it were smothered in the blood which pointed forward to that of the Lord Jesus. This may seem a fine difference, but it is significant. People with all their dysfunctions and conscious and unconscious sense of sin come to perform various rituals, and then emerge from the rituals feeling better and somehow cleansed. But this is mere religion, the psychology of religious ritual. The cleansing and remission offered under the old covenant was for real, but it was only for real in that the blood looked forward to the future sacrifice of the Messiah.</p>