The title is found just twice in the New Testament, in the Gospel according to John:
- The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
- The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." (John 1:35f)
The title has to be understood against the background of:
- the paschal lamb of the Old Testament whose blood protected and saved the Israelites (Exodus 12). This link is explicit in 1 Cor 5:7. For Paul, Christians are saved by Christ as their true paschal lamb.
- the Old Testament practice of sin offerings. Lambs could be used in these offerings (e.g. Lev 4:32-34 and 5:6). This link is strongly suggested by John 1:29 and 1 Peter 1:19. Like the sin of a person could be forgiven through the offering and the pouring out of the blood of an "unblemished" lamb (cf. Lev 4:32) so Christians would be freed from sin by the blood of Christ as unblemished lamb.
- the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who "like a lamb led to the slaughter" (53:7) was silent and "gives his life as an offering for sin" (53:10). This link is explicit in Acts 8:32 and strengthens the idea of Christ as sin offering.
In heraldry, a lamb of God (or paschal lamb, or agnus Dei) is a lamb passant proper, with a halo Or charged with a cross gules, and the dexter forelimb reflexed over a cross staff from which a pennon of St. George (Argent a cross gules) is flotant.