CUL:Expositions on favorite Roman Catholic doctrines Hebrews 1:3 <169>when he had by himself purged our sins.<170> 6. PURGATORY (Matthew 5:25) By its very name, the Roman Catholic Purgatory must be a place of cleansing. A Vatican II document says, <169>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.<170> 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), <169>Christ has effected man's purgation from sin.<170> (I John 1:7) Hebrews 2:15 <169>And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.<170> 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, <169>one should occupy oneself with thoughts of death until falling asleep.<170> (A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Number 370, page 64) (I Peter 5:3) Hebrews 2:17 <169>that he might be made a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.<170> 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. <169>Hierus<170> 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 <169>hierarchy<170> (the rule by priests) comes from, and it indicates the absolute bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic church regarding any aspect of their hierarchy <197> priestly rule and ministry <197> being scriptural. Hebrews 7:27 <169>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.<170> 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 <169>those high priests<170> and the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. <169>Those high priests<170> 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 <169>without shedding of blood is no remission.<170> 12. MASS (Matthew 8:8) St. Peter's Catechism of Christian Doctrine (1972) states, <169>The sacrifice of the Cross differs from the sacrifice of the Mass <193> in the Mass Christ continues to offer Himself <193> without the <193> shedding of His Blood.<170> 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 <169>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.<170> 24. COMPLETED SACRIFICE OF CHRIST (Colossians 1:24) In this passage, God continues His controversy against continuing sacrifices that claim to be efficacious. <169>Not that he should offer himself often<170> <197> why? <197> 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, <169>The Mass is blasphemy.<170> (Hebrews 10:11) Hebrews 10:11-18 <169>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: <193> For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified <193> And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.<170> 24. COMPLETED SACRIFICE OF CHRIST (Colossians 1:24) God Himself said, <169>In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.<170> 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 <197> 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 <197> we ARE sanctified <197> once for all. verse 11 <197> the activities of any human priest, Hebrews or Roman. verse 12 <197> the majestic BUT, God's greatest contrast, the contrast finite human endeavor and infinite salvation. BUT THIS MAN <197> 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 <197> 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 <197> the only reason to do something only once is because it is complete. offering <197> the offering of the Son of God, an infinite sacrifice. he <197> the infinite God. hath <197> a completed action. perfected <197> infinitely made holy in Him. forever <197> 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: <169>Where remission of these (sins) is, THERE IS NO MORE OFFERING FOR SIN.<170> (I Peter 3:18) Hebrews 13:10 <169>We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.<170> 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