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Cecil Andrews, 29 Edengrove Park, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AZ, Northern Ireland Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEBSITE - http://www.takeheed.net Quick Links - Home - Assorted Articles - Audio/Video - Ministry Newsletters - Words of Wisdom |
Responding
to articles (mostly pro Roman Catholic) sent anonymously to me and received
14th June 2011:
Response
(1) to: ‘Does Christ’s sacrifice continue?’
Not for the first time,
on 14th June 2011, I received anonymously a large package of assorted
articles. There was a brief unsigned note that read ‘Dear Cecil, A few theological articles for your interest’. Where
the anonymous sender personally stands ‘theologically’ I cannot be absolutely sure
as some of the articles would be arguing in favour of the Roman Catholic
understanding of certain issues, others would be from an Arminian standpoint
and several would purport to be from a Reformed standpoint. Overall I would
suspect that the anonymous sender clearly views Roman Catholicism as being
‘Christian’ and it wouldn’t surprise me if the person were to be someone who is
actively engaged in the practice and promotion of that religion.
Previous packages have
not elicited any response from me, but interestingly enough, when this package
arrived, I already had on my desk a piece of paper on which I had jotted down,
some days previously, the heading for a possible article. That heading read as
follows –
‘The Sacrifice of the
Mass’:
Still deceiving and
damning millions.
As a result I have
decided to work my way through each of the 10 articles that were sent to me.
With each (pro Roman Catholic) article I will focus on some key assertions made
in the articles and which I believe my anonymous sender obviously believes show
the Roman Catholic understanding on the issues to be correct. His intention I
believe is to show to me that in his opinion the Roman Catholic view of the
issues is correct and that either I am wrong in what I personally believe or
else or perhaps in addition that I have misunderstood what Roman Catholicism
teaches as ‘truth’ on the issues. As I complete each article I will post it to
the ‘Take Heed’ web site so that readers can slowly digest each article
individually rather than having to work through one single huge article
containing all 10 article responses.
Responding to Article 1
This first article was
a copy of an ‘Ascension Talk’ given
by Graham Redding who had been the Pastor of St John’s in the City Presbyterian
Church, Wellington, New Zealand. It was published in a ‘Reformed Worship’
magazine and is located on
http://www.reformedworship.org/article/march-2007/ascension-talk
I will shortly copy the
article and highlight in red the portions that I believe my anonymous sender
wanted me to consider as he, I think, believes they give some basis to the
Roman Catholic belief that the Sacrifice of the Mass does perpetuate/continue
the Sacrifice made by Christ at the place called Calvary. For example, these
are some words from Paragraphs 1364, 1365, 1366 & 1367 of the 1994
Catechism of the Catholic Church –
‘When
the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover and it
is made present: the sacrifice of Christ offered once for all on the
cross remains ever present… the Eucharist is also a sacrifice… In
the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on
the cross, the very blood which he poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins. The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it
re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross… The sacrifice of
Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice…’
As a further example
these are some words from Canon 897 of The Code of Canon Law –
“The
eucharistic Sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in
which the Sacrifice of the cross is for ever perpetuated, is the summit and
the source of all worship and Christian life”.
This now was the ‘Ascension Talk’ article that was sent
to me –
Pondering the Significance of the
Ascension
Sing! A New Creation includes a
delightful little sung meditation by John Bell of the Iona Community that has
as its opening line, “Take, O take me as I am; summon out what I shall be” (SNC
215).
I have used this many times in
worship, often as a sung refrain in a prayer of adoration and confession. I
especially like what it suggests about our humanity: We are accepted by God not
on the basis of who we are (the “God-accepts-me-just-as-I-am” mentality), but
because of who we are in Jesus Christ and what we might yet become, or
are summoned to be in him. Being in Christ, the truly Human One, is the basis of both our acceptance and our
transformation.
There is a strong
echo here of Paul’s exhortation to the church in Colossae to set our minds on
things that are above, for we have died and our lives are “hidden with
Christ in God” (Col. 3:2-3). This is ascension talk.
Humanity Infused with Hope
The Christian life is not merely a
matter of following the example of a person who lived two thousand years ago.
Rather, it’s about being drawn by the Spirit to share personally and
corporately in Christ’s ascended life and humanity, and in so doing finding
ourselves clothed with “a new self, which is being renewed in knowledge
according to the image of its creator” (Col. 3:10).
“In that renewal,” Paul goes on to
declare, “there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian and Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all” (Col.
3:11). In other words, being in Christ involves being part of a new reconciled
and reconciling humanity, in which the divisions and inequalities that
characterize the old humanity have been superseded. When we are in Christ, our
humanity is infused with hope, and we are able to declare with Paul: “It is no
longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
Whenever I ponder this uniquely
Christ-centered and Spirit-shaped perspective on human personhood, my mind
turns to Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). Drawn toward Jesus
out of curiosity, this despised tax collector finds himself ushered into a new
reality that is utterly liberating and transformative, with remarkable
results—he pledges half his money to the poor and promises to repay fourfold
those he has defrauded.
It seems to me vitally important that
Christian worship give robust liturgical expression to this theologically
derived anthropology. In so doing it will inevitably presume the doctrine of
the ascension, for it is the ascension that provides the basis for affirming
the continuing significance of the Incarnation and the vicarious humanity of
Christ.
In light of this affirmation, the
Incarnation should not be understood merely as a necessary prelude to the
events of Easter. Rather, it has atoning significance in and of itself and
finds its completion in the ascension. The ascended Christ is the One in whom,
with whom, and through whom our reconstituted humanity has been lifted before
the throne of grace. Through the activity of the Holy Spirit, we are joined to
Christ and lifted with him into the presence of the Father and brought to share
in the life of this triune God.
Every time we recite the sursum corda (“Lift
up your hearts”; see RW 82) in the liturgy of the eucharist we give voice to this reality. The lifting
of the congregation’s hearts is to be conceived as our being brought by the
Spirit to participate in the perfect praise and adoration that Christ the High
Priest offers on our behalf. This is how Calvin conceived of the real presence
of Christ in the sacrament. Not, as the Romans taught, in the
transubstantiation of the elements, but in the act of being lifted by the
Spirit, through the Son, into the presence of the Father.
Our Ascended Intercessor
Thus understood, the doctrine of the
ascension provides the basis for talking about the ongoing work of Christ in
worship and prayer. In the book of Hebrews, Christ is portrayed as the great
High Priest, the mediator of a new covenant, the leader of worship, the true
intercessor, the pioneer and perfector of our faith.
What this cluster of titles and roles
suggests is that the work of Christ did not end at Calvary. It is ongoing. The
ascended Christ continually offers worship to the Father in our place and on
our behalf; he continues to pray for the world he has redeemed in suffering
love.
This last point is most important for
helping us understand the basis for intercessory prayer. It is interesting to
note that Diebold Schwarz, one of the forerunners to the Genevan
Reformation, located the prayer of intercession within the eucharistic
prayers of consecration and thanksgiving, thereby acknowledging that
intercessory prayers are inextricably linked to the intercessory work of Christ
in his role as High Priest. Calvin maintained this practice.
Of particular significance here is the
idea that in prayer the Church does not merely participate in the benefits
of Christ’s work—it participates in the work itself.
This was a point emphatically
reinforced by the nineteenth-century South African pastor and evangelist Andrew
Murray. In his book With Christ in the School of Prayer, Murray
described Christ’s ascended life in terms of an ever-praying life which, when
it descends and takes possession of us, constitutes in us too an ever-praying
life. Our faith in the intercessory work of Christ, therefore, must not only be
that he prays in our stead when we do not or cannot pray, but that, as author
of our life and faith, he draws us on to pray in union with himself. In prayer,
and through the work of the Spirit, we seek nothing less than the mind of
Christ and commit ourselves to the way of Christ.
Christ, the Eternal Sacrifice
If the doctrine of the ascension
provides a basis for talking about the intercessory work of Christ, it also
provides a basis for talking about his eternal self-offering. In the Church of
Scotland’s 1940 edition of Book of Common Order, the liturgy of the eucharist included a reference to
“pleading Christ’s eternal sacrifice.”
The authorship of this phrase has been
traced to the internationally renowned liturgist of the time, William Maxwell,
who appeared to be drawing on the insights of the nineteenth-century champion
of liturgical reform, William Milligan, and his son, George. Along with John
McLeod Campbell, these pivotal figures in liturgical reform argued that Christ’s offering
to the Father was not confined to the offering of his life at Calvary two
thousand years ago. Rather, in light of the ascension, it is deemed to continue.
The ascended Christ is the one true worshiper
in whom, with whom, and through whom, and by the Spirit, the Church’s own
meager offerings of praise and thanksgiving are joined, perfected, and offered
to the Father.
A worship service that portrays the
offering, duly collected and dedicated, as a means of supporting the life and
mission of the Church is a worship service with a vastly reduced understanding
of the Church’s participation in the eternal self-offering of its Lord. Even
when the eucharist is not
celebrated, the offering should be understood eucharistically
in terms of being united by faith with our great High Priest’s eternal
sacrifice, that we may plead and receive its benefits and offer ourselves in
prayer and praise to the Father.
In summary, the doctrine of the
ascension is essential to understanding the nature of worship and prayer, the
ongoing work of Christ, and the nature of human personhood. Belief in the
ascension flows from a trinitarian doctrine of God, and it commits one to
belief in the vicarious humanity of Christ and his role as High Priest. That
Luke closes his gospel and opens his book of Acts with accounts of the
ascension shows its importance in linking the person and work of Christ (as
narrated in the gospel) with the activity of the Spirit (as narrated in Acts).
Falling as it does between the more
prominent festivals of Easter and Pentecost, the Day
of Ascension is easily overlooked. It does not have a church season named after
it, but that should not render it any less significant.
In the risen and ascended Christ our
humanity—assumed, sanctified, and redeemed through the cross—has been lifted
into the innermost presence of the triune God. For now, the full extent of this
reality is hidden from us, but it is nevertheless something into which we can
grow.
First of all – who is
Graham Redding? On this link http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/staff we read the following –
BCom (Akld); BTheol, PGDipTheol (Otago); PhD (London)
Email: principal@knoxcentre.ac.nz
Phone: 03 473 0784
Teaching: Worship
Before taking up the position of
Principal in February 2007, Graham had fifteen years of ministry experience in
two churches – Somervell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Auckland and St John’s
in the City Presbyterian Church in Wellington. He has held the position of
Moderator of the General Assembly, and has served the Church in a variety of
capacities, including as Co-convenor of the Equipping
the Leadership Policy Group and Convenor of the
Doctrine Core Group. His research interests have lain mainly in the fields of
theology, liturgics, ethics and the arts. His book, Prayer and the Priesthood
of Christ in the Reformed Tradition, was published by T&T Clark in 2003. He
is married to Jenni and they have three
children.
I also came across another article on http://209.200.121.40/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=1642 written by Mr Redding and no doubt the
following portion from it would also have ‘gladdened’ the heart of my anonymous
pro Roman Catholic article sender when Mr Redding
wrote –
This new
humanity’s life is inherently eucharistic, and the
Eucharist, thus understood, is not merely a meal of remembrance—it is an
eschatological banquet in which, through the power of the Spirit, the risen and
ascended Lord is profoundly present, and the church is brought to share in
Christ’s life and mission.
‘Christ’s life and mission’ that Mr Redding referred to was, according to the
Scriptures, to ‘save His people from
their sins’ (Matthew 1:21) and He did that when He ‘redeemed’ them on the cross of Calvary or as Peter put it “ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things (like
bread and wine) … but
with the precious blood of Christ” (1st
Peter 1:18-19).
When that
truth is understood and grasped, enlightened believers recognise that ‘Christ’s life and mission’ were
uniquely and exclusively His and we (the church) do not,
and cannot ‘share’ in it. During the ‘life’ of the church her ‘mission’ is to
PREACH ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified’ (1st
Corinthians 2:2; Mark 16:15 ;) and that is an entirely different ‘mission’ from
that unique and exclusive redemptive mission that was Christ’s.
What Mr
Redding wrote in this short excerpt about ‘sharing
in Christ’s life and mission’ would
also have been ‘music’ (well this
is after all on a web site dedicated to ‘Resources for Planning and Leading
Worship’) to my anonymous correspondent’s
ears, in addition to the article that was actually sent to me, for Rome
believes that through the rituals of her Mass, performed by her priests, that
people are being ‘redeemed’ as we read in Vatican
Council II: Volume 1 (p 1) ‘it is
the liturgy through which, especially in the divine sacrifice of the
Eucharist the work of our redemption is accomplished’.
Returning
now to the article sent to me, I want to comment upon the portions that I
highlighted in red. These portions would appear to endorse the false teaching
of Rome, namely that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is a ‘continuing’
sacrifice rather than a ‘finished’ sacrifice. Rome believes that as Christ’s
sacrifice is to be perpetuated then a whole class/army of sacrificing priests
is always going to be needed until the return of Christ. Listen to these words
from Canons 899 and 900 of The
Code of Canon Law –
‘The
celebration of the Eucharist is an action of Christ himself and of the Church.
In it Christ the Lord, through the ministry of the priest, offers
himself… to God the Father… In the Eucharistic assembly the people of God are
called together under the Presidency of the Bishop or of a priest under
his authority, who acts in the person of Christ… The only minister
who, in the person of Christ, can bring into being the sacrament of the
Eucharist is a validly ordained priest’
In the
light of these teachings by Rome it’s no wonder that the later ‘Mother’ Teresa
had such a very high regard for Roman Catholic priests. In his book
‘Evangelicals & Rome: The Ecumenical End Times “Church”’ David Cloud wrote (pp 325 - 327) –
‘Mother
Teresa was a thoroughgoing Catholic, a faithful daughter of Vatican II… she
believed the wafer of the Mass is Jesus Christ…consider some quotes from her
speech at the Worldwide Retreat for Priests, October 1984… “At the word of a priest, that little piece of bread becomes the body
of Christ, the Bread of Life. The you give this living Bread to us so that we
too might live and become holy…I was so struck by the thought that ONLY when
the priest is there can we have our altar and our tabernacle and our Jesus.
ONLY the priest can put Jesus there for us”’
Let me
now address the relevant portion of the heading to my article namely ‘Does Christ’s sacrifice continue’ (As Rome claims according to
Canon Law 897 quoted earlier with these words ‘the Sacrifice of the cross is for ever
perpetuated’; and, as
it would appear, Mr Redding also claims by referring in his article to Calvary
as being ‘deemed
to continue’).
I believe
God’s Word teaches quite clearly that the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross was
finished there, at Golgotha, at that moment in time/history, and that under no
circumstances is it, the Sacrifice, perpetuated or continued.
In Matthew
16, following Peter’s great confession in verse 16 of who Christ was/is, we
then read this in verse 21 “From that
time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem,
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be
killed and be raised again the third day”.
The Lord
is here setting out a time-scale, a chronology of events that detailed how much
of the remainder of his earthly life would unfold. The journey to Jerusalem
would take a specific time; the suffering at the hands of the religious
authorities would take a specific time; his death (on the Cross) would take a specific time; his burial would last a
certain time; his resurrection would take place after a specific time.
Twice
during His time on earth the Lord used the expression “finished”. Firstly in John 17:4 the Lord said in prayer to His
Father “I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do”. Then secondly in John
19:30, as He hung on the cross, He declared triumphantly “It is finished”. How can these two statements by Christ of “finished” be explained?
In John
17 the Lord is declaring I believe that He has just completed His role as God’s
promised Prophet (See
Deuteronomy 18:15 – I deal with this in more detail in my article on http://www.takeheed.net/Assorted_Articles/Islam/Promised_Prophet.htm).
During
His earthly life thus far, He had spoken to people on behalf of God in His
role as the ultimate Prophet. But more than that, He had done so during a life
lived by Him that had been blameless and totally without sin, thus qualifying
Himself for the next phase of His earthly life, that of being a
self-sacrificing Priest for sin.
John
referred to Christ as “the Lamb of God who
taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) –
this was the language of sacrifice and of course “the lamb” had to be “without
blemish and without spot” (1st Peter 1:19). By His life, Christ
had established a perfect righteousness and so had demonstrated Himself to be
an acceptable sacrifice for sin and therefore He could with authority declare
at this point in His life “I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do”.
Having
said these words, the Lord then embarked upon a further work that He had to do,
namely the work of offering Himself sacrificially on the cross as an atoning
sacrifice for sin. This involved the shedding of His precious blood and also
Him suffering and finally dying as a substitute for His chosen people. Having
read how on the cross He declared “It is
finished”, we then read further in the same verse, John 19:20,
that “he bowed his head and gave
up the spirit”.
The first
“finished” refers I believe to His
having lived sinlessly; the second “finished” refers I believe to His
having died sacrificially. These were two time-limited events that were seen
and witnessed and we read in 2nd Corinthians 4:18 “the things which are seen are temporal”.
Shortly I will address the rest of that verse in Corinthians that speaks of “things eternal” but for now I want to
continue to address the testimony of Scripture to the fact that the Sacrifice
of Christ on the Cross was finished at Golgotha and is in no way ‘perpetuated’
or ‘continued’.
From
Hebrews 9:26-28 we read “But now ONCE in
the end of the ages hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto men ONCE to die, but after this the judgment, So Christ was ONCE offered to bear the
sins of many”. The
Greek for ‘once’ is hapax and in Vine’s Expository Dictionary we read that
its use in “ONCE offered” means that
the offering is ‘of perpetual validity, NOT requiring repetition’.
This
means that the merits and benefits flowing from the Sacrifice of Christ are ‘of
perpetual validity’ but that the actual Sacrifice itself is ‘not
requiring repetition’. The ‘unseen’ merits and benefits of Christ’s
sacrifice are ‘eternally valid’ – when a sinner is genuinely converted to
Christ all the glorious merits and benefits of that sacrifice offered 2000
years ago are credited to him (forgiveness of sins and acceptance by God – see
Ephesians 1:6-7).
I
mentioned earlier how Calvary was a seen and witnessed, time-limited event, and
how in 2nd Corinthians 4:18 we read that “the things which are seen are temporal”. What was not seen or
witnessed at Calvary were of course the unseen merits and benefits that would
flow from that Sacrifice by Christ (forgiveness of sins and acceptance by God)
but the glorious good news of 2nd Corinthians 4:18 is this, that “the things which are not seen are
eternal”.
The
actual visible sacrifice of Christ on the Cross was a ‘temporal’ matter but the unseen merits and benefits flowing from
it were and are ‘eternal’, so the actual
sacrifice itself does not need to be ‘perpetuated’ or ‘continued’ in ‘The Sacrifice of
the Mass’.
One final
portion of Scripture to confirm the absolute ‘finished’ state of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross – Hebrews
10:12 “But this man (Christ) AFTER
he had offered ONE sacrifice for sins FOR EVER, sat down on the right hand
of God”.
This
verse clearly breaks Christ’s life down into ‘time capsules’. There was the
‘time capsule’ of Calvary – now ‘finished’. And then, following other ‘time
capsules’ not mentioned here such as Christ’s burial – now ‘finished’, Christ’s
resurrection – now ‘finished’, Christ’s post resurrection appearances – now
‘finished’ and Christ’s ascension – now ‘finished’, we then have the ‘time
capsule’ of His exalted position now in Heaven (see Philippians 2:9) and even
that will one day be ‘finished’ when He returns to rule and reign over His
people in the new heavens and new earth (see Revelation 21:1-3).
Somewhat
quaintly but very accurately Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary on verses
11-18 of Hebrews 10 –
‘Under the new covenant, or gospel
dispensation, full and final pardon is to be had. This makes a vast difference
between the new covenant and the old one. Under the old, sacrifices must be
often repeated, and after all, only pardon as to this world was to be obtained
by them. Under the new, one Sacrifice is enough to procure for all nations
and ages, spiritual pardon, or being freed from punishment in the world to come.
Well might this be called a new covenant. Let none
suppose that human inventions (Cecil – I
have no doubt that Mr Henry had ‘The Sacrifice of the Mass’ in mind here) can avail those who put them in the place of the sacrifice of the
Son of God’.
Tim
Kauffmann, a brother in Christ and former Roman Catholic, in his article
entitled ‘Mass Deception’ located on
http://www.cwrc-rz.org/zins/theological/99-mass-deception.html wrote
‘The news that
Christ's sacrifice has put away sins once and for all is marvellous news to the
believer, but Rome's priesthood cannot stand the hearing of it. This Good News of Christ's High Priestly ministry
puts an end to everything that Rome's sacrificial priesthood wants to carry on.
No worse news can fall on the ears of a Roman priest than this: Christ's
sacrifice has put away sins once and for all.
But the Christian Hebrews to whom the epistle was written, among whom were no doubt some of the Levitical tribe
of priests, understood the significance of it. We have proof from the
Scriptures that the converted Levites, upon hearing the gospel, did not rush to
construct duplicates of their Levitical altars in
order to continue their ministrations… were they to see EWTN 's (an American Roman
Catholic TV station) daily Mass, they
would stare aghast in wonder that what had been so close to disappearing in
their time had been revived illegitimately’
In
closing let me quote from the second section of a little booklet that contains
portions of the book ‘Roman Catholicism Tested by the Scriptures’ by the Rev
John Coleman. The second section is titled ‘The
Tragedy of the Mass’ and Mr Coleman wrote –
‘Hebrews
chapters 7, 9 and 10 constitute an overpowering refutation of all Roman claims
regarding the Mass. Seven times this passage thunders forth its truth, “ONCE”,
and those sounds come rolling down the centuries to us today, announcing the
finality of an accomplished redemption. This finality of Christ’s sacrifice and
the perfection of HIS priesthood sweep away for ever the claims of a
sacrificing priesthood within the framework of a New Testament Christian
Church’… The Mass points men to that which can never take away sins…The Church
of Rome bids men look to a wafer and on the false doctrine of
Transubstantiation leads them away from the true God’.
Christ’s
sacrifice does NOT, as Rome claims and as Mr Redding suggests, CONTINUE, but gloriously, the merits and benefits of
His FINISHED sacrifice at the place called Calvary, are graciously applied
eternally to all those truly ‘born again’ of His Spirit.
My simple
prayer is that Mr Redding and my anonymous, pro Roman Catholic correspondent
may come to personally know, understand and experience this glorious scriptural
truth in their own lives.
Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’
Ministries – 18th June 2011