P. M. WILLIAMS [21/10/16] IS ROMAN CATHOLICISM TRUE ? – PART 9

THE OF THE

Introduction

This now being our fourth teaching part on the , the first being an introduction to the sacraments, the second a biblical examination of the sacrament of , and the third taking apart the sacrament of Penance, we come at last having already touched on it in past teachings, but now to set in focus – the sacrament of the Eucharist. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek noun “eucharistia” which being interpreted means “thanksgiving”.

24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (1Co 11:24)

The Greek word for “thanks” used in verse 24 by Paul is the Greek verb “eucharisteo” from where we get we get the word Eucharist. One cannot overstate the importance of the sacrament of the Eucharist in the life of the Roman Catholic .

In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking." - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1327 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

Indeed, the sacrament of the Eucharist is the central and crowning sacrament, the summit and pinnacle of all the sacraments to which all the other sacraments are ordered (CCC. 1211). The questions that we want to ask in this teaching are two in number. Firstly, we want to ask; for what reason is the sacrament of the Eucharist so important and secondly; is the sacrament of the Eucharist biblical?

Why the Sacrament of the Eucharist?

As has already been stated in part 6 of this teaching series, the Roman Catholic Church has seven sacraments; Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. It is dogmatically defined by the Catholic Church that these seven sacraments are not merely outward symbols conveying the reality of an inward reality but rather that these seven sacraments are visible rituals (ceremonies) carrying actual power to impart divine life and saving grace to those who are the recipients of them in true faith (CCC. 1131). It is believed that they are efficacious (having the power to bring about the desired effect) because in them, Christ himself is the one at work communicating the grace that each sacrament signifies (CCC. 1127). If the sacrament of the Eucharist is the crowning sacrament of sacraments, we want to ask in starting, why this is so? To answer this question, we will have once again to turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which by way of reminder was brought into effect by the official proclamation of Pope John Paul II in 1992. He himself declared it to be a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial and a sure norm for teaching the faith!! Let us then attempt to answer the question, why the Eucharist?

…The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ …Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet… - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1391 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh "given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit," preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion… - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1392 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

We see then that the answer to the why the Eucharist has to do with the life being imparted through communion in this sacrament. Whilst no doubt, it is believed that Christ is present in every sacrament, it is right to say that in the sacrament of the Eucharist he is present in a more special, unique and fuller way.

The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained”…Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present. - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1374 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

In asking why it is that Christ is present in the “fullest sense” in the sacrament of the Eucharist (“wholly and entirely present”), the answer has already been given to us in the paragraph just read. “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." It is this flesh and blood, namely, the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ that Roman Catholics are instructed to ingest.

The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: "Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1384 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

Lest one thinks that these words are to be taken in a spiritual sense, another quote will suffice to show that this is not the case at all. When the Roman Catholic speaks of eating the flesh of Jesus Christ and drinking his blood in the sacrament of the Eucharist, he does so in a literal, physical sense!!

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. - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1365 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

It is for this reason and this reason alone, that the sacrament of the Eucharist is so important to Roman Catholics because they believe that in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ himself really and truly becomes present in the bread and wine so that by ingesting these elements they receive to themselves the very life of Jesus Christ.

The Doctrine of

The theological name for the changing of literal bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ is called transubstantiation which comes from the Greek word “Metousiosis” which being interpreted means a change of essence. There are a number of essential ingredients that are critical to the celebration of the aka the sacrament of the Eucharist. Firstly there must be the bread and wine, secondly there must be a and thirdly there must be an . One can see immediately why there is a need for the bread and wine, because these are the very elements that are to be changed from one form into another!

And because that Christ, our , declared that which He offered under the species of bread to be truly His own body, therefore has it ever been a firm belief in the Church of God, and this holy doth now declare it anew, that, by the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood; which conversion is, by the holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation. - The Council of Trent, 13th Session, Chapter 4 https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct13.html

Rome admits that the whole process of transubstantiation is a mystery. It readily recognises that for all intents and purposes the bread and wine having been transubstantiated take on the appearance (species) of bread and wine still looking the same, tasting the same and smelling the same; yet at the same time they maintain that it really is the Christ!! According to a Catholic doctrine known as The Doctrine of Concomitance, Christ’s body cannot be separated from his blood and hence the full presence of Christ is in each element fully (CCC. 1377). When asked how, the bread and wine becomes such, the Roman Catholic with two hands will point one towards the priest and the other towards heaven! The hand pointing at the priest recognises that he is Gods instrument. Without an ordained priesthood, Rome has no means by which to guarantee that it is really Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit (CCC. 1120). Without an ordained priesthood the sacraments lose their efficacy and power! As has already been pointed out, the crowning sacrament and the pinnacle of all the sacraments to which they all tend is the sacrament of the Eucharist by virtue of the fact that Rome maintains that Christ is really present under the auspices of bread and wine. If this is true, then the crowning and supreme function of the priesthood is that of his role in the mass (for a brief examination of the unbiblical nature of the Catholic priesthood, see part 6 of this teaching). The culminating pinnacle of the mass is where the priest prays a prayer called the “” (Greek – an “invocation” or a “calling down from on high”) in which he prays to ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine so that it would become the literal body and blood of Jesus.

In the epiclesis, the Church asks the Father to send his Holy Spirit (or the power of his blessing) on the bread and wine, so that by his power they may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ… Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1353 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

At this point it is believed that the bread becomes “the host” in what is termed transubstantiation. What you may ask is a host? Welcome onto the scene the third essential ingredient of the mass, the altar. The word host is derived from the Latin word “hostia” which means “sacrificial victim”. At the point of transubstantiation, the bread now becoming the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ is re-sacrificed in an unbloody propitiatory sacrifice upon the altar of a Roman Catholic Church!!

“The Holy Mass is the holiest thing we have here on earth…The main thing is what Christ does. And what does Christ do in the Holy Mass? He offers himself for us, as he offered himself on the Cross. He sacrifices himself for us. That is why we say that the Mass is the same Sacrifice as that of the Cross renewed in an unbloody manner on the altar. On the altar just on the Cross, Christ offers his body and blood for us. The difference is that on the Cross his body and blood were visible to the eyes of those who were present, while in the Mass they are hidden under the appearances of bread and wine. But they are really present. This is the great fact. In each Mass, Christ is really present and renews the Sacrifice of the Cross.” - The Mass Explained, Christ’s Action, Cormac Burke http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-mass-explained.html

The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of , who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.” - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1367 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

The thought of any such doctrine that dares to put forward such a notion of a continuation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ under the auspices of bread and wine is at best mystical nonsense and worst utterly blasphemous and injurious to the person of and His precious Son Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews forever stands as a contradiction to such abhorrence. 11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (Heb 10:11-12)

The writer of Hebrew is absolutely clear. Christ once gave Himself a sacrifice for sins for ever. This stands in direct contrast to the priests coming before Him who ministered daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which could not take away sins. Having accomplished His great redemptive purpose, Christ now sits at the right hand of God until the appointed time of His appearing (Heb. 1:3).

14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb 10:14)

Roman Catholics however, reject the sufficiency of the once offered sacrifice of Christ by stating that it is needed to be perpetuated for the forgiveness of sins committed daily!! It’s not enough that the shed blood of Jesus Christ forever has redeemed forever those coming to receive its merits by faith; that sacrifice it is believed must be made available again and again in an unbloody manner via the sacrament of the Eucharist in order that the work and fruit of redemption be carried out and applied!!

…"As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out." - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1364 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

“The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit” - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1366 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

A Biblical Response to Sacrament of the Eucharist

The chief passages of Scripture put forward by the Roman Catholic Church to advance its position regarding the sacrament are those relating to ’s Supper along with a crucial passage found in John chapter 6. Let us first look at those pertaining to the Lord’s Supper and ask, do they teach the doctrine of transubstantiation.

26And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Mat 26:26-28)

When a Roman Catholic reads the words of Christ at the he takes them literally!!

The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation." - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1376 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

As Protestants, we maintain that the words are to be taken figuratively. Obviously, Jesus was not yet crucified and was physically sitting among the disciples as the Last Supper. In fact, He was the one passing round the bread and wine thus drawing a clear distinction between Himself and the two. To suggest that He meant that the literal bread and wine before them was really His literal flesh and blood is absurd! All throughout the New Testament, Jesus used metaphorical language to describe spiritual truths. In John 15:1, Jesus said He was the Vine and In John 10:9 Jesus said He was the Door. Can we say in a literal sense He was such? The answer is no! The metaphor being used was supposed to teach a spiritual truth. Jesus is the Vine because as a branch abides in a vine for life and sustenance, so those who abide in Christ by faith shall also bear fruit! Jesus is the door, because as the sheep come through the opening of the sheepfold to find safety and belonging in the fold, so we as sheep coming through Christ have admittance into His fold wherein is safety and belonging! Many Catholics object to Jesus’ words “body and blood” being taken symbolically on the grounds that He did not tell His disciples that that was His intention. I respond by simply saying, neither did He in the other passages where He identified Himself as the door and the vine. The very fact that Jesus went on to tell His disciples that He would not drink again of the fruit of the vine, until He drinks it new with them in His Father’s kingdom (Mt. 26:29), demonstrates that He had in mind literal wine at least and therefore by inference, literal bread as well. Paul Himself, in sharing with the Corinthian Church, that which he had received of the Lord also referred to the elements as bread and wine in 1 Cor. 11.

23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. (1Co 11:23-29)

Once again, Roman Catholic will insist that this verse be taken in its most literal sense to mean that the bread being offered by Jesus to His disciples was His actual body and the wine being given, His actual blood. However, the language being employed by our Lord was that of “covenant language”. The disciples were sharing together of the Passover in which they remembered God’s deliverance of their people out of Egypt in the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt. Jesus now on the eve of ratifying a new covenant, in the intimacy of a fellowship meal, took the natural elements of bread and wine as tokens and symbols of what He was about to accomplish. Just as the Passover meal was to serve as a memorial throughout Israel’s generations, so this meal was to serve the same function in bringing to their “remembrance” the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ – the very means by which the New Covenant was cut. The bread symbolically represented the giving of His body on the cross and the wine, symbolic of His precious blood, the blood of the new covenant which was to be shed for many. In verses 26 & 27, Paul readily admits that the elements of the bread and wine are just that, bread and wine!! He does not say, “For as often as ye eat this body of Jesus, and drink the blood of Jesus, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” Rather he says, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” That said, their symbolic significance is not to be played down. Due examination and diligence was to be given by the Church as still is the case, to rightly judge themselves before taking the Lord’s Supper lest they bring God’s judgment upon themselves. What I think is clear is this…The Lord’s Supper was to be a remembrance meal and a memorial. Yet whilst Rome recognises that this is the case, it goes way beyond these parameters in formulating the doctrine of transubstantiation.

To suggest that Jesus meant to teach what Catholics term the Mass, namely that through the agency of a priest and by the power of the Holy Spirit - the literal elements of bread and wine become the very body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ; that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is then re-presented (made present) in every Mass as Christ offers Himself again in an unbloody sacrifice to make available to the worshipper the fruit of His redemptive sacrifice by the ingesting of His body and the drinking of His blood would have been unthinkable by any of the disciples gathered in that upper room. For starters, there was a strict prohibition against any Jew eating the blood of any flesh!

14…Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. (Lev 17:14) This command is also brought over into the New Testament in Acts 15:29, “That ye abstain from…blood”. Yet, the chief passage of Scripture that Rome will point to support its doctrine of cannibalism is John 6 where Jesus identifies Himself as the “Bread of Life”.

35And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (Joh 6:35)

If Jesus is not a literal vine in John 15:1, and not a literal door in John 10:9, why do Roman Catholics not employ the same in allowing for Jesus to not be a literal piece of bread!! Rather, they insist that the words of Jesus in John 6 be taken literal.

48I am that bread of life. 49Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (Joh 6:48-56)

The first thing to notice in the above passage is that in order for Rome to claim this passage as the greatest proof passage in favour of the sacrament of the Eucharist, they have to infer the connection between it and the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. If one really takes the passage in its literal sense then one has to conclude that Jesus was authenticating cannibalism, in that He was inviting His listening audience to feast on His flesh and to drink His blood. Notice, the mystical notion of Christ being present in the Mass under the auspices of bread and wine is nowhere even hinted at in the text. Rome must abandon its so called literal approach to the text in order to draw spiritual inferences by applying it to the Mass. In light of the prohibition against the consumption of blood in Leviticus 17, there is no way that Jesus could have been condoning the drinking of His literal blood!! His listening audience were right to have been offended at such a statement if Christ’s words were being meant to taken literally. The question however is, was Christ speaking literally? For a start, Christ was claiming to be living bread!! Can we say that Christ was a loaf of bread? Rather, Christ was contrasting Himself with the physical manna coming down from heaven giving physical life vs the living bread coming down from heaven which gives spiritual life, namely eternal life!! The language is very similar to our Lord’s words in John 4 regarding the “living water”. His words were deliberately provocative because unlike modern day evangelism which seeks to win converts through superficial means, Christ knew, only those whom the Father was drawing would come to Him (Jn. 6:44, 65). Many of His disciples upon hearing the words of Jesus were also offended, their understanding being also dull (Jn. 6: 60). Jesus sought to address the matter and the root of the offence!

60Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (Joh 6:60-63)

Note, Jesus emphatically clears up any misunderstanding that they may have had that He was intending His words to be taken literally!! He points out that the words He is speaking are spirit and life and have nothing to do with flesh just as when He said to Nicodemus “ye must be born again”, He did not refer to fleshly means!! Why then does Rome miss this? For the same reason many of His disciples did - resulting in their going away - their minds were already made up!! What was Jesus then trying to communicate? He was the living bread, the source of life, who had come down from heaven to give Himself for the life of the world. The key verse in interpreting the passage aright is that found in verse 47!! 47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (Joh 6:47)

The means by which they were to receive everlasting life and thus partake in the intimacy of life giving union with Christ and to be made partakers in His life was by faith! The New Testament bears 100% record to this truth as does the rest of John. Life does not come by ingesting the flesh and blood in communion but rather through faith in Jesus Christ!!

Eucharist Adoration

The final point that I want to draw to your attention is that of the blasphemous idolatry that is contained in the worship of the Eucharist!!

Worship of the Eucharist. In the of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting (bending of the right knee to the ground) or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in ." - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1378 (emphasis mine) http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

Quite literally, the consecrated bread is adored and worshipped by Roman Catholics as Christ present in the pieces of wafer!! This worship takes place during the Mass and after it, when following the Mass, the consecrated Eucharist host is placed inside a monstrance (vessel) where it becomes the object of worship by Roman Catholics worldwide!! Once a year, in the Feast of Corpus Christi, celebrated in June, the Eucharist is paraded by a procession through the streets of a town or city. In some places, the Eucharist is on display 24 hours a day and uninterrupted worship around the clock is perpetually carried out. Prayers are offered in worship to what is believed by hundreds of millions to be the very Christ! One such prayer by the now deceased cardinal, John Henry Newman, reads:

I place myself in the presence of Him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am before I place myself there. I adore You, O my Savior, present here as God and Man, in Soul and Body, in true Flesh and Blood. I acknowledge and confess that I kneel before the Sacred Humanity, which was conceived in Mary's womb, and lay in Mary's bosom; which grew up to man's estate, and by the Sea of Galilee called the Twelve, wrought miracles, and spoke words of wisdom and peace; which in due season hung on the cross, lay in the tomb, rose from the dead, and now reigns in heaven. I praise and bless, and give myself wholly to Him, Who is the true Bread of my soul, and my everlasting joy. - A Eucharistic prayer by John Henry Newman

In short, this is nothing short of idolatry!! The Bible strictly condemns the making of any image of God to be worshipped and Eucharist adoration stands in direct violation of the Word of God!!

4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (Exo 20:4-5)

In conclusion, the sacrament of the Eucharist fails at every point to be substantiated biblically and stands in direct contradiction to the Bible. Biblically, Christ is not present in a consecrated piece of wafer; eternal life cannot be received by ingesting the body and blood, of Jesus Christ; a man cannot have power on earth to change the substance of that bread and wine into the body, blood, soul and divinity Jesus Christ; and finally, idolatry is flatly condemned in the pages of Scripture. All of this brings us to conclude that the crowning sacrament of the Roman Catholic is a fraud at best and at worst utterly damnable to the souls participating in it!!