Roman Catholicism teaches that in the Mass, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ Himself is actually re-presented to the faithful and its benefits applied to them.

Although the Catholic Church maintains that the Mass in no way detracts from the atonement of Christ, it still believes that it is principally through the Mass that the blessings of Christ’s death are applied to believers—and therefore the blessings of Christ’s death are not procured solely by faith alone.

But one must ask how credible this claim is to not detract from the atonement. The Mass is defined throughout Catholicism as being "truly propitiatory." Further, because it pardons sins, it is held to be necessary for salvation. From a Protestant perspective, the natural question is this: If Christ died for all sin on the cross and faith alone procures this benefit, is the sacrifice of the Mass really necessary?

The Catholic Church has always emphasized the fact that Christ is resacrificed in the Mass (Catholics use the term "re-presented") as propitiation to God. The authoritative Council of Trent affirmed that the sacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory both for the living and the dead:

Of course, underlying the Mass rests the doctrine of transubstantiation claiming that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ. This doctrine was codified in its present form by Thomas Aquinas (1225-74). Nevertheless, this doctrine cannot be established biblically:

In other words, Jesus was telling His disciples to "eat" (ingest and digest) His words, not literally His physical flesh and blood. (Regardless, if Christ were speaking literally, why does the Catholic Church prohibit the laity from partaking of the wine when Christ clearly told all His disciples to drink His blood?)

Vatican II continued this view of the Mass also reaffirming the position of Trent: "One... and the same is the victim, one and the same is He Who now offers by the ministry of His priests, and Who then offered Himself on the Cross; the difference is only in the manner of offering."5

As a result, Vatican II teaches that at the Mass, "the faithful gather, and find help and comfort through venerating the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us [now] on the sacrificial altar."6

As noted elsewhere, according to Karl Keating in Catholicism and Fundamentalism, "...The Church insists that the Mass is the continuation and re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary."7 Emphasizing it is not a recrucifixion of Christ where Christ suffers and dies again, he cites John A. O’Brien who says, "The Mass is the renewal and perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross in the sense that it offers anew to God the Victim of Calvary... and applies the fruits of Christ’s death upon the Cross to individual human souls."8

In essence, the real problem between Catholics and Protestants is this: Catholicism teaches that Christ is still offering Himself today in thousands of Masses conducted regularly throughout the world.9 We stress that the Mass is not merely the symbolic offering of the Eucharist or the thanksgiving of the faithful, "It is the supreme moment in the Church’s worship when the priest claims to offer Christ as a sacrifice for the living and the dead."10

Thus, according to The Catholic Encyclopedia, "We may establish that the Eucharist is a true sacrifice.... The true nature of a sacrifice is realized in the Mass. By declaration of the Council of Trent, Christ is recognized as the offering Priest, the Victim offered, and the immolation in the sacramental order. These essentials of the sacrifice are present in the three main actions of the Mass: the Offertory, the Consecration, and the Communion."11

But a continual resacrificing of Christ is not the picture we arrive at from the Bible. In the Bible, Christ is pictured as having accomplished His work and having sat down at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 1:3; 8:1). The finality of Christ’s sacrifice stands in stark contrast with the Catholic conception of the constant "renewal" of that sacrifice in the Mass.

Consider the book of Hebrews. Hebrews repeatedly uses terms such as "once," "once for all" and "forever" to emphasize both the perfection and the finality of Christ’s death on the cross (Hebrews 9:12,26,28; 10:12, 14; 12:2).

If Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever and thus obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12; 10:10-14), what is the need for a perpetual "bloodless sacrifice" of Christ over and over again literally millions of times? How can the Mass apply a forgiveness of sins that was already fully earned by Christ on the cross and applied to the believer at the very point of saving faith (John 5:24; 6:47)?

The Scripture is clear: "one sacrifice for sins forever"; "once for all"; "It is finished," etc. (Romans 6:9; Hebrews 7:27; 9:26-28; 10:10-14; 1 Peter 3:18; John 19:30). Thus, in the book of Hebrews the "once for all" sacrifice of Christ is clearly contrasted with the perpetual offerings of the Levitical priest. In Hebrews 9:25-28 we are told that Christ was not to offer Himself repeatedly, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world:

Thus, Jesus appeared "once for all" to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. This final sacrifice is further contrasted with the levitical priestly sacrifices which "can never take away sins" (Hebrews 10:11). Indeed, it is the very idea of a repetition of sacrifices which proves their insufficiency. Otherwise, they "would not have ceased to be offered" (Heb. 10:2).

In other words, Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, reflected by His own cry from the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30), leaves no room at all for the Catholic resacrifice of Christ at the Mass based on the idea that Christ is actually present in the bread and wine.

In conclusion, because of the dogma of transubstantiation, Roman Catholicism teaches that Christ continues to offer himself as a holy sacrifice for sin at every Mass. Many Protestants have argued that if this does not undermine the finality and sufficiency of the atonement, they can think of little else that does.

(to be continued)