Expositions on favorite Roman Catholic doctrines
Hebrews 1:3
when he had by himself purged our sins.
6. PURGATORY (Matthew 5:25)
By its very name, the Roman Catholic Purgatory must be a place of
cleansing. A Vatican II document says, In Purgatory, the souls of
those who died in the charity of God and truly repentant, but who have
not made satisfaction with adequate penance for their sins and
omissions, are cleansed after death with punishment designed to purge
away their debt.
Note the clear contrast. The modern Roman Catholic church talks about
cleansing being effected by punishments after death, and the Bible
states that Jesus Christ had by Himself purged our sins.
To quote from the Roman Catholic Confraternity New Testament (the most
accurate Roman Catholic translation), Christ has effected man's
purgation from sin.
(I John 1:7)
Hebrews 2:15
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage.
9. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (Matthew 7:11)
While this thinking is not nearly as prevalent in modern Roman
Catholicism, underlining the dread aspect of death used to be one way
to condition the minds of Roman Catholics. A 1966 catechism states
that, upon retiring for the night, one should occupy oneself with
thoughts of death until falling asleep. (A Catechism of
Christian Doctrine, Number 370, page 64)
(I Peter 5:3)
Hebrews 2:17
that he might be made a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God.
26. PRIEST (Matthew 23:9)
This is the first of more than a dozen references to our Lord Jesus
Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews as priest or high priest. The
Greek word used is hierus; this word was never used to designate a
minister of the New Testament Church.
Hierus was used by Cyprian in the third century to designate
the presiding officer at the Lord's table. It is the word from which
the term hierarchy (the rule by priests) comes from, and it
indicates the absolute bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic church
regarding any aspect of their hierarchy priestly rule and
ministry being scriptural.
Hebrews 7:27
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up
sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the peoples: for this
he did once, when he offered up himself.
24. COMPLETED SACRIFICE OF CHRIST (Colossians 1:24)
This is the first statement, in the Book of Hebrews, concerning the
once-for-all finished work of Jesus Christ. Although it is not fully
comprehensive, it begins God's great contrast between those high
priests and the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Those high
priests had to offer up sacrifice daily; this the Lord Jesus
Christ did once, when He offered up Himself.
Primarily these contrasts are to Old Testament priests, but it is
clear that any daily sacrifice gives evidence that it is never
complete. Its very repetition proves its invalidity.
(Hebrews 9:25)
Hebrews 9:22
without shedding of blood is no remission.
12. MASS (Matthew 8:8)
St. Peter's Catechism of Christian Doctrine (1972) states,
The sacrifice of the Cross differs from the sacrifice of the Mass
in the Mass Christ continues to offer Himself without the
shedding of His Blood.
This proves, scripturally, why the Mass is not the true and
propitiatory sacrifice the Council of Trent stated it to be. God's
Word declares that without the shedding of blood is no remission of
sins, and, if a continuing sacrifice were necessary, it would have to
be a bloody sacrifice to meet God's requirements.
(Hebrews 13:10)
Hebrews 9:25-28
Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest
entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now
once in the end of the world 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 judgement: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins
of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second
time without sin unto salvation.
24. COMPLETED SACRIFICE OF CHRIST (Colossians 1:24)
In this passage, God continues His controversy against continuing
sacrifices that claim to be efficacious. Not that he should offer
himself often why? because one sacrifice that is infinite is all
that is needed. If the continuing sacrifices are valid, then since
Christ's sacrifice is eternal, He would have had to suffer in the
previous sacrifices. God assures us that He appeared once TO PUT
AWAY SIN by His infinite sacrifice. The third assertation of the
one offering in these few verses proves to us how important it
is. In fact, if the eternal, infinite, once-for-all sacrifice of
Christ is not accepted, it severely blasphemes the person and work of
our Saviour. No wonder John Knox could stand in the streets of
Edinburgh, Scotland, and cry, The Mass is blasphemy.
(Hebrews 10:11)
Hebrews 10:11-18
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down on the right hand of God: For by one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified And their sins and
iniquities I will remember no more. Now where remission of these is,
there is no more offering for sin.
24. COMPLETED SACRIFICE OF CHRIST (Colossians 1:24)
God Himself said, In the mouth of two or three witnesses
shall every word be established. We know that whatever God
says is true, but when He continues to witness to a fact and builds
that witness to a climax, we know that we must pay attention.
In the preceding passages in Hebrews, God has already given us the
truth concerning the once-for-all sacrifice of His Son. The
blasphemous sacrifice of the Mass has already been torn to shreds.
God, however, relentlessly continues on the same subject, as if to
highlight His desire that man understand, without any possible
contradiction, that Christ did offer one sacrifice one infinite
sacrifice, the only efficacious sacrifice for sin.
To one who knows the infinite Christ of the Bible as his Saviour from
sin, Hebrews 10:11-18 reads like pure poetry. With the hammer of His
Word, God is proclaiming in undying tones the work of His Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, and at the same time pounding coffin nails into the
insidious fables of continuing sacrifices for the sins of the living
and the dead.
verse 10 we ARE sanctified once for all.
verse 11 the activities of any human priest, Hebrews or Roman.
verse 12 the majestic BUT, God's greatest contrast, the contrast
finite human endeavor and infinite salvation. BUT THIS MAN what
Man? The Man Christ Jesus, Who not only offered that one sacrifice for
sins forever, but then was authenticated by God in His glorious
resurrection, and He sat down (again denoting completion) on the right
hand of God.
verse 14 The climax of God's perfect work in Christ in a verse
that every human being ought to love and memorize. Note the concepts
of infinity in just one verse.
For by one the only reason to do something only once is because
it is complete.
offering the offering of the Son of God, an infinite
sacrifice.
he the infinite God.
hath a completed action.
perfected infinitely made holy in Him.
forever just to make sure you know it is for eternity,
eternally secure in His Love and Grace, just to make sure there is no
doubt in the puny minds of finite human beings, God caps His great
statement of this one eternal, infinite, never-to-be-repeated
sacrifice of His Son for your sins.
And to make you doubly certain not only of the worth of the sacrifice,
but of its efficacy for you, God completes this passage by giving the
promise of forgiven sin (see Psalm 103:12) and then His divine
conclusion: Where remission of these (sins) is, THERE
IS NO MORE OFFERING FOR SIN.
(I Peter 3:18)
Hebrews 13:10
We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve
the tabernacle.
12. MASS (Matthew 8:8)
Occasionally one runs into this as a proof text for the Mass. I first
heard this when witnessing to a priest in Portglenone, Co. Antrim,
Ireland. He had offered to show me the Mass in the Book of Hebrews,
and when he finally came to giving one verse, this is the verse he
gave me.
His reasonsing about this verse was that if God speaks of an altar,
there must be a sacrifice, and if God speaks of a sacrifice, it must
be the Mass.
Of course this verse has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Mass.
II Timothy 3:16
II Peter 1:20
I John 2:27
Revelation 22:18
Works Romans 11:6