The Mass as a Propitiatory Sacrafice

The Light Shines in the Darkness...

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins… then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,” He then says, “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

-Hebrews 10:1-4, 9-18 NASB

Roman Catholic dogma states that the Mass is a propitiatory sacrifice that atones for the venial sins of those who partake of it:

“For inasmuch as in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner the same Christ who once offered himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross; the holy council teaches that this is truly propitiatory, and that if we, contrite and penitent, with sincere heart and upright faith, with fear and reverence, draw nigh unto God, we obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid. For, appeased by this sacrifice, the Lord grants the grace and gift of penitence, and pardons even the gravest crimes and sins. For the victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the ministry of the priests who then offered himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different…Wherefore, according to the tradition of the Apostles, it is rightly offered not only for the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities of the faithful who are living, but also for those who are departed in Christ but not as yet fully purified.”

-Council of Trent, Session XXII, Chapter II

Many serious Roman Catholics go to Mass day after day to receive the forgiveness of their venial sins. According to Roman Catholic theology, it is possible (and very likely) that a Roman Catholic could go to Mass every day of their life (except as an infant of course) and still go to Purgatory to have their soul cleansed from sin. They’re reminded of their sins because they still have consciousness of sins (i.e. they need to have their sins satisfied). Perhaps the greatest refutation of much of Roman Catholic sacramentalism is found in the book of Hebrews. Here, I will give the exegesis of Hebrews 10:1-18.

Theme of the Book of Hebrews:

Simply put, the purpose of the book of Hebrews is to show that the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant (Hebrews 1:1-4), and thus, the Old Covenant is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). The author (who is unknown) is attempting to convince those Jews who are being pressured by friends and family to return to the Mosaic Covenant to stay faithful to Christ (Hebrews 2:1-4). Thus, every single one of the arguments that is presented by the author must be interpreted in light of this as well as the immediate context. The context of Hebrews 10 is that the sacrifice of Christ is better than the old Levitical sacrifices of the Mosaic Law. All Scripture quotes are from the NASB.

Hebrews 10:1

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.

Commentary:

There are two points need to be made about this verse. First, it states that the continuous Old Covenant sacrifices were a mere shadow of Christ’s sacrifice. In other words, they merely foreshadowed Christ’s sacrifice, and thus, they never actually forgave sin (although God said that they appeased his wrath temporally: Leviticus 1:9, etc.). Second (and most importantly for the purpose of this article), the author states that the believer in the Old Covenant had to continually return time after time to make sacrifices for the satisfaction (i.e. forgiveness) of his/her sins, and obviously, this is because the sacrifice did not perfect them (i.e. remove all the guilt and punishment for all of their sins).

Hebrew 10:2

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?

Commentary:

In verse 2, the author gives a rhetorical question. If the old sacrifices perfected those for whom they were made, why would believers need to return and have another sacrifice performed for them? Because the old sacrifices could not cleanse men from all of their sins (past, present, and future), the believer would have to return to the priest time after time to have their sins forgiven with each offering. If their consciences had been cleansed of sin, they would not feel the need to return to the priest.

Hebrews 10:3

But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.

Commentary:

The sacrifices of the Old Covenant that are continuously made remind the believer that they have not been perfected. Otherwise, their consciences would be cleansed, and thus, they would not need to go continuously to the priest to receive the forgiveness of their sins.

Hebrews 10:4-8

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’” After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law)

Commentary:

Again, the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant never took away sin, and thus, they were merely a foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:9

…then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

Commentary:

The author states that the LORD has taken away the Old Covenant and established the New. [Side Note: This destroys the idea in post-Vatican II Roman Catholicism that the modern Jews can be saved through their own Covenant.]

Hebrews 10:10

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Commentary:

The author argues that by the will of God, the believer has been sanctified for all time.

Hebrews 10:11

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins…

Commentary:

The priests of the Old Covenant could never, by those continuous sacrifices made on behalf of the believers who came to them, take away their sins because the sacrifices were a mere foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:12-13

…but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.

Commentary:

Unlike the Levitical priests whose work was never done (because believers continually needed to come to them to make a sacrifice for their sins), Christ made one sacrifice which atoned for the sins of believers for all time. Thus, His work is finished, and He waits until it is time for him to return to the earth and defeat the enemy.

Hebrews 10:14

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

Commentary:

Here is the key verse. In contrast to the non-perfecting, non-conscience cleansing Old Covenant sacrifices which by their repetitive nature remind us that sin always needs to be satisfied (i.e. atoned for), Christ’s sacrifice has perfected those who are sanctified. Now, sanctified in this passage does not have the more derived meaning of ‘to make holy’, but rather, it has its main usage of ‘to be set aside from all else’. [See 1 Peter 3:15; Can Christ be made more holy? Of course He can’t!] Believers have been set apart from the rest of the world as the people of God, and by Christ’s sacrifice, they have been perfected. Thus, they do not need to constantly return to a priest time after time because they no longer have consciousness of sin. Because the believer no longer returns to a priest for the expiation of their sins, they are no longer reminded of any sin that needs to be satisfied.

Hebrews 10:15-18

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,” He then says, “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Commentary:

The author quotes a beautiful passage from Jeremiah where God promises a New Covenant in which He will not impute sin to His people’s accounts because their sin has already been satisfied. Thus, the author concludes that there is no longer any sacrifice performed by a priest because all sin has been atoned for.

Summary of Hebrews 10:1-18 and Implications to the Doctrine of the Mass:

1. The author of Hebrews clearly implies that unlike the Old Covenant sacrifices, the sacrifice of the New Covenant, the sacrifice of Christ, can actually remove sin. According to Roman Catholic dogma, the sacrifice of the Mass actually removes sin. So, no argument can be made there.

2. The author of Hebrews clearly implies that unlike the Old Covenant sacrifices, the sacrifice of the New Covenant, the sacrifice of Christ, is done ‘once for all’ time and is not continuously done over and over again. According to Roman Catholicism, the Mass is the same sacrifice as Christ, and it does not repeat the sacrifice. Therefore, no argument shall be made here either.

3. The author of Hebrews clearly states that the believers under the Old Covenant had to continuously return to a priest to have their sin taken away, and in contrast, this implies that the believers under the New Covenant no longer have to continuously return to a priest to receive the forgiveness of sin because all of their sin (past, present, and future) was dealt away with. However, in Roman Catholicism, the believer must return day after day to the priest to receive the forgiveness of their sins in the Mass just like the Old Covenant.

4. The author of Hebrews clearly states that because the believer under the Old Covenant had to continuously return to the priest for sacrifice, this action was a reminder to them of their sin. Thus, the author of Hebrews implies that the believer under the New Covenant would not have to return to a priest for sacrifice because such an action would be a reminder of their sin. However, in Roman Catholicism, because the believer returns to the priest day after day, they are constantly reminded of their sins just as in the Old Covenant.

5. The author of Hebrews clearly states that the believer under the Old Covenant continuously returned to the priest for sacrifice because he had consciousness of sin. Clearly, the implied contrast is that the believer under the New Covenant does not return to a priest for sacrifice because he has no consciousness of sin. However, in Roman Catholicism, the believer does need to return to a priest day after day because he has consciousness of sin that needs to be expiated just like in the Old Covenant.

6. The author of Hebrews clearly states that the believer under the Old Covenant is not perfected by the old sacrifices. Otherwise, he would not need to return for another. In contrast, the author of Hebrews explicitly states that the sacrifice of the New Covenant, the sacrifice of Christ, has perfected Christians, those who are set apart from the rest of the world. Thus, it implies that he does not need to return to a priest. However, a Roman Catholic can receive Mass thousands of times in his lifetime, die imperfect, and need to go through the purifying fires of Purgatory.

Thus, the Mass is contrary to the New Covenant because it is just like the Old Covenant in the following ways:

1. The Roman Catholic must continually return to a priest time after time.

2. Because he/she must continuously return, it is a reminder of his/her sin that needs satisfaction.

3. The Roman Catholic returns to Mass time after time only because he/she has consciousness of sin that needs satisfaction.

4. The Mass does not perfect those that receive it. Otherwise, they would not need to return for another.

Objections and Refutation:

James White has written an excellent article on this passage which answers the objections of Roman apologists. It is found here: http://aomin.org/Hebrews10.html. He also did an audio webcast that replies to Scott Hahn here: http://www.straitgate.com/aom/dl/01.htm (December 29)

In conclusion, any attempt to make the Mass compatible with Hebrews 10 is an impossible task because it destroys the argument that the author is trying to make, both in the context of the immediate passage and of the entirety of the book itself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, some helpful audio on this topic can be found at:

http://www.straitgate.com/webster/

http://www.straitgate.com/aom/dl/99.htm (Feb. 13)

Some helpful online reading can be found here:

http://aomin.org/Hebrews10.html