One of the huge disparities between what the Catholic Church teaches and practices and what the New Testament teaches relates to the priesthood and the Mass. The Catholic Church has blended Old Covenant ideas and rites with the New Covenant, an abominable form of syncretism. The priesthood and Mass are rooted in Old Covenant types, which have already been perfectly fulfilled by Christ and rendered obsolete by God.
Under the Old Covenant, the people of Israel generally had no direct access to God. Although God revealed himself to various leaders and spokesmen (for example, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and the prophets), he set up the sacrificial system as the means for his people to approach him and stay in a temporary right relationship with him. The priests acted as mediators between God and the people and offered daily sacrifices on their behalf. However, these sacrifices had no power to make the people right with God. The blood of animals could never do this, only the blood of God’s own Son.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:4 (NASB95) —
The purpose of the Old Covenant was to prepare God’s people for their coming Messiah.
The Law pointed out our need for God’s forgiveness and intervention through the only sacrifice that had the power to save us. Once Jesus came and fulfilled the Old Covenant and introduced the New Covenant in his blood, the Old Covenant was rendered obsolete.
But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. 7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8 But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 9 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the LORD. 10 But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already. 12 And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” 13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear. Hebrews 8:6–13 (NLT) —
Old Covenant priests were required to offer daily sacrifices, and once a year, and only once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies, where God dwelled, to sprinkle blood on the Ark of the Covenant on the Day of Atonement in order to provide temporary forgiveness for himself and the people.
The sacrificial system and Day of Atonement pointed to its fulfillment when Jesus died on Calvary and subsequently rose from the dead as Lord. The introduction of the New Covenant through Christ marked a drastic and complete break with the Old Covenant.
Again we turn to the Letter to the Hebrews.
Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. 23 There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. 24 But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. 25 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. 26 He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. 27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. 28 The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever. Hebrews 7:22-28 (NLT)
The Old Covenant sacrificial system could never remove sin. It was a stop gap measure until the true Lamb of God would come and shed his blood. God accepted the sacrifices made under the Law, if they were made in faith, because that was the only way God had revealed up until that time.
When Christ came to fulfill all the requirements of the Law on our behalf, there was no longer any need for the “shadow” provided by what the Old Covenant required.
History informs us that some 37 years after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish sacrificial system abolished forever. This fits perfectly with what the author of Hebrews wrote.
When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear. Hebrews 8:13 (NLT)
The Letter to the Hebrews explains that what Christ accomplished on the cross is a perfect and complete work which will never be repeated.
Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. Hebrews 10:11-14 (NLT)
I am convinced the old sacrificial system will never be reinstated. What would be the purpose now that Christ himself has been offered?
Now to the crux of things: the Council of Trent established the following doctrine: “If any one saith, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or, that it profits him only who receives; and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be anathema.” (Trent: On the Sacrifice of the Mass: Canon 3)
By purporting to re-sacrifice Christ on the altar each time a Mass is celebrated, albeit an unbloody one, the Catholic Church not only defies the clear teaching of Scripture, but it abominably pretends to oversee or mediate that sacrifice with its own order of priests!
Propitiation is the appeasement of divine wrath providing forgiveness. If one is to follow the clear teaching of Scripture, it is impossible to embrace any teaching that says Christ is re-sacrificed over and over again in an expiatory manner.
The New Testament also clearly teaches that the Old Covenant priesthood was abolished with the coming of the perfect High Priest, Jesus the Messiah. Instead, Peter writes in his First Letter that the entire church has been made a “holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5) These spiritual sacrifices are clearly enumerated in the New Testament and include dedicating ourselves to God, praise, doing good, and generously sharing with others. (Romans 12:1-2, Hebrews 13:15-16)
Old Covenant priests stood in the gap or mediated between God and men, bringing the people’s sacrifices to God and taking God’s word and blessings to the people. The Catholic Church teaches that its priests also serve in a mediatorial role between God and the people. They are said to act as mediators of God’s grace by administering the sacraments to the people. For example, if a person wants her sins absolved, she must confess these sins to a priest, do some form of penance, and then receive absolution or cleansing from those sins from the priest. (It is also taught that absolution can be directly received from God if the contrition is “perfect,” that is, it is totally selfless, being only concerned about God’s side of things and having no thought for ourselves. I think such a form of contrition is virtually impossible.)
The Bible teaches, on the other hand, that Christ has provided access for every believer to come directly to God to receive what is needed, especially the forgiveness that was once for all provided by Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross.
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT) But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9 (NLT)
It is clear that the New Covenant radically altered all believers’ relationship with God. No longer are we dependent on a priesthood to mediate between us and God.
Instead, as Jeremiah prophesied and the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews affirms:
But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already. 12 And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” Hebrews 8:10-12 (NLT)
When I discovered the glorious promises and the astounding realities of the New Covenant, how could I ever return to a church that teaches doctrines rooted in an abolished Old Covenant system? How could I allow the imposition of a priestly class of mediators between me and God? How could I support a purported re-sacrificing of Christ in the Mass, when the Bible teaches that his sacrifice was perfect and will never be repeated? How can I go back to asking God’s forgiveness through a priest when God has already provided that through Christ and has given me direct access to his throne? I hope it is becoming increasingly clear to you, the reader, that I had no choice but to leave the Church of my youth.
