"Prayer and repentance replaced the sacrifices"
The claim, stated fairly
Since the Temple fell, atonement comes through repentance, prayer and good deeds; Hosea 14:3 says "So will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips".
The Torah says "it is the blood that maketh atonement". The sacrifices stopped forty years after Yeshua, and the Talmud records that the signs of atonement stopped too.
Leviticus 17:11: "it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life." The Day of Atonement centred on blood brought into the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 16).
The Talmud says that in the forty years before the Temple's destruction the lot for the LORD did not come up in the high priest's right hand and the crimson strap did not turn white (Yoma 39b). Messianic Jews see the atonement those signs pointed to fulfilled in Yeshua, around 30 CE.
Hosea 14 calls for words of repentance, which the prophets always required alongside sacrifice; it does not say sacrifice was no longer needed.
The text
11כִּ֣י נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר֮ בַּדָּ֣ם הִוא֒ וַאֲנִ֞י נְתַתִּ֤יו לָכֶם֙ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ לְכַפֵּ֖ר עַל־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם כִּֽי־הַדָּ֥ם ה֖וּא בַּנֶּ֥פֶשׁ יְכַפֵּֽר׃
11For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.
WEB/WMB: For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.
Leviticus 17:11 (Hebrew, JPS 1917, WMB)
3קְח֤וּ עִמָּכֶם֙ דְּבָרִ֔ים וְשׁ֖וּבוּ אֶל־יְהוָ֑ה אִמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֗יו כָּל־תִּשָּׂ֤א עָוֺן֙ וְקַח־ט֔וֹב וּֽנְשַׁלְּמָ֥ה פָרִ֖ים שְׂפָתֵֽינוּ׃
3Take with you words, And return unto the LORD; Say unto Him: ‘Forgive all iniquity, And accept that which is good; So will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.
WEB/WMB: Take words with you, and return to the LORD. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good; so we offer bulls as we vowed of our lips.
Hosea 14:3 (Hebrew, JPS 1917, WMB) · English Bibles: Hosea 14:2
In the New Covenant
11But Messiah having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9:11-12 (WMB)
11Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, 12but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God,
Hebrews 10:11-12 (WMB)
Where scholars disagree
Repentance has always been central in Judaism and in the New Covenant. The disagreement is whether repentance alone atones, or whether God provided a final atoning sacrifice.
Sources
- Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 39b
- Avot de-Rabbi Natan 4
- Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex. English: JPS 1917; World Messianic Bible (public domain).