REFORMATION 500 WEEK 30: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA’S 80-82

Reformation 500 WEEK 30: Heidelberg Catechism QA’s 80-82

Question 80: What difference is there between the Lord’s Supper and the Pope’s Mass? The Lord’s Supper testifies to us that we have full forgiveness of all our sins by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself once accomplished on the cross; and that by the Holy Spirit we are engrafted into Christ, who, with His true body, is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and is there to be worshipped. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have forgiveness of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is still daily offered for them by the priests, and that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and is therefore to be worshiped in them. And thus the Mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.

The first half of Question 80 is a brief summary of what was previously taught about the Lord’s Supper in Questions 75-79. The second half summarizes the Roman Catholic Mass. The word mass “means ‘to dismiss.’ In the early days of Christianity, those who could not partake of the Lord’s Supper were dismissed after the sermon and before the Lord’s Supper” (Norman Jones, Study Helps).

Catholic doctrine teaches that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross did not fully pay for all our sins; therefore, our faith in Christ is not enough to forgive all our sins. The cross only makes forgiveness possible as long as certain other conditions are met. The Mass is one of those conditions. The Mass teaches there is no forgiveness for the faithful (whether in this life or in purgatory) “unless Christ [whose flesh and blood are in the bread and wine] is still daily offered for them by the priests.” Catholics believe the Mass is a sacrificial offering of Christ on the altar by an ordained priest. They believe that when Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of Me,” He was making His apostles priests. The words “Do this” were not directed to all believers, but only to the apostles. “Do this” does not mean to eat the bread and drink the wine; it means “offer My body and blood in the form of bread and wine to God.” Since Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was not enough to turn away God’s wrath against our sins, the priests have to re-sacrifice Christ in the form of bread and wine every day during Mass.

The Mass is a denial of the truth that Christ needed to be sacrificed only once, because on the cross He truly did FINISH paying for all our sins! He “does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (Heb. 7:27); “with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12, cf. vv.25-26); “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). He “offered one sacrifice for sins forever” (Heb. 10:12).

The Mass is an accursed idolatry, because it teaches people to worship bread and wine (which they think is Christ). “The Roman Church teaches that since Christ is really present in the bread and wine when transubstantiation takes places, He must be ‘adored’ (worshipped) in them. Therefore, when the priest holds up the wafer and cup (the host), all are to bow and worship those elements” (Jones, Study Helps). The Mass is an accursed [damnable] idolatry because it preaches a different gospel. “If anyone preaches any other gospel…let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9).

In case we think this is too severe, let me quote from an honest Roman Catholic priest: “the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism understand exactly what is Catholic doctrine. We do adore Christ in the Eucharist. We do genuflect to It … because the Eucharist is actually Jesus Christ…If Christ isn’t there on the altar…then we are idolaters for worshiping whatever else is there” (The Wanderer, April 2, 1987).

Question 81: Who are to come to the table of the Lord? Those who are displeased with themselves for their sins, yet trust that these are forgiven them, and that their remaining infirmity is covered by the suffering and death of Christ; who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to amend their life. But the unrepentant and hypocrites eat and drink judgment to themselves.

                Only believers have the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice; therefore, only those who know themselves to be believers should partake of the symbols of those benefits. We learned from Question 2 that true believers know three things: sin, salvation, and service. Therefore, if we are displeased with ourselves for our sins [sin], trust that all our sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ [salvation], and desire more and more to strengthen our faith and to amend our life [service], then we are ready for the Lord’s Supper. Paul speaks of the necessity of self-examination before partaking of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:28). The unrepentant and hypocrites “eat and drink judgment” to themselves (1 Cor. 11:29), “because they profane the covenant of God, by taking to themselves the signs of the covenant. They desire to appear in covenant with God, when in fact they are in league with the devil” (Ursinus, 428).

Question 82: Are they, then, also to be admitted to this Supper who show themselves by their confession and life to be unbelieving and ungodly? No, for thereby the covenant of God is profaned and His wrath provoked against the whole congregation; therefore, the Christian Church is bound, according to the order of Christ and His Apostles, to exclude such persons by the Office of the Keys until they amend their lives.

It is the church’s duty to admit to the Lord’s Supper, first of all, those who are baptized members of the church (just as in the OT only those who were first circumcised were permitted to eat the Passover). Second, those “who are of a proper age to examine themselves…. The infant children of the church are, therefore, not admitted to the use of the Lord’s supper, even though they are included among the number of the faithful.” Third, since “the church is not able to judge in regard to that which is secret and hidden. It admits… all whom it hears and sees professing repentance and faith by confession, and the external deportment of life [“the church should carefully observe and inquire into the character of those who are admitted”] … If the church were to admit to the Lord’s Supper, knowingly and willingly those who by confession and life,” declare themselves unbelievers or ungodly [Titus 1:16], the church would “profane the covenant of God, [which] is to commend and recognize those as the… friends of God, who are His enemies, and to represent God as…in league with hypocrites, and wicked men” (Ursinus, 429- 430). In which case, the wrath of God is kindled against the whole congregation (1 Cor. 11:30-31).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 80-82

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 30

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

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REFORMATION 500 WEEK 20 JOHN CALVIN AND GENEVA

Reformation 500 WEEK 20    John calvin and geneva

Prior to Calvin’s arrival in Geneva in August 1536, “the Genevan city council had officially broken with the Roman Catholic Church, abolished the Sacrifice of the Mass, and called for the removal of all images and relics from the churches. Church properties had been converted to Protestant uses for religion, charity, and education. The council had committed the city to ‘live according to God’s law and God’s Word and to abandon idolatry’.” (DeMar, Reformation, 201).

“Before the city council had disestablished Roman Catholicism, the church ruled the state through the Roman Catholic bishop. Afterwards, the state ruled the church through the council.” Calvin’s goal was to change “this unbiblical approach to government,” and “to establish a church governmentally independent of the council while assuring that the council would not be independent of God’s law as it pertained to its civil jurisdiction…. Calvin drew a clear line of distinction between the civil magistrate, whose authority was confined to civil matters, and the elders of churches, whose authority was confined to ecclesiastical matters” (Ibid., 201).

In January 1537, when Calvin and Farel began their work of reform, the Genevan city authorities “were not sure what path to take, and they were certainly not sure about putting their collective futures in the hands of ‘that Frenchman,’ as they liked to call Calvin” (Nichols, Reformation, 75).

Calvin “was offered the position of ‘Professor of Sacred Scripture’ by the council. He accepted the position and began a series of reform efforts. As part of his duties, he prepared a confession of faith to be accepted by everyone who wished to be a citizen of Geneva; he planned an educational program for the populace; and he insisted on the biblical doctrine of excommunication for those who broke God’s law and refused to repent.

“It was over the issues of a strict moral code and church discipline that Calvin’s efforts were opposed. The council believed that it, not the church, should have the authority and power to set the moral agenda and exercise discipline in the church. Calvin maintained that only the church and its government are given the authority to discipline church members” (DeMar, 203).

In 1538, new officials (Libertines, as Calvin described them) were elected to the city council, and they “decided to bring matters to a head. The form of worship in the neighboring city of Bern differed somewhat from that in use in Geneva. For some time, Bern had wished to have it adopted in Geneva. Now the city council insisted on introducing this form of worship. Calvin and Farel did not think that the differences were very important. But they refused to introduce the liturgy of Bern, because it was being imposed upon the Geneva church by the civil government without consultation with the church officers.” Consequently, Calvin and Farel were banished from Geneva on April 23, 1538. Farel went to Neuchatel, where he remained until his death in 1565. “Martin Bucer, who had been won for the Reformation by Luther during the great Leipzig Debate, invited Calvin to Strasbourg. Calvin gladly accepted this invitation. It had brought him to the city where he had been so eager to go in the first place” (Kuiper, Church in History, 195). Surprisingly, he would soon return to Geneva. 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 John Calvin and Geneva

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 20

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 14 JOHN CALVIN

Reformation 500 WEEK 14    John calvin

     “John Calvin was born, July 10, 1509 in Noyon, a little town in northern France, near Paris…. Because of the early death of his mother, Calvin was brought up in the household of a nobleman in the neighborhood of his own home.”

     “In 1512, when Luther was still unknown, Professor Jacques Lefevre of the Sorbonne in Paris published a Latin translation of, and commentary on, the epistles of Paul. It is God who saves ‘by grace alone,’ said the professor. One of his students, Guillaume Farel, saw with the eyes of faith what his teacher was telling him.

     “Many others in France rediscovered the truths of God’s Word. Churches were changed. Margaret, the king’s sister, was converted. The new faith spread throughout the country. As in all lands, this raised fierce opposition. Lefevre’s writings were condemned in 1525, as were the writings of Luther and a little book by Margaret. Anyone found possessing such writings could expect to pay dearly. Into such a Paris came John Calvin in 1523 [to study at the university].

     “Calvin drove himself to master all his studies: the classical languages, logic, the writings of the Church Father’s, law. At his father’s wish, Calvin changed from the study of theology to that of law. On his father’s death, Calvin decided to practice neither, but to live the life of scholar in Paris.

     “Late in 1533 Nicholas Cop, now rector of the University of Paris, made his annual All Saints’ Day address. The speech sounded like the ideas of Erasmus and Luther. It was rumored that Cop had written it with the advice of Calvin. Both had to flee for their lives. John Calvin escaped through a back window while some friends talked to the bailiffs in the front” (above quotes taken from Kuiper, 189-190).

     In the preface to his commentary on Psalms, Calvin writes of his conversion. “At first, since I was too obstinately devoted to the superstitions of the papacy, that it was extremely difficult to drag me from the depths of the mire, God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame… Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, I yet pursued them with less zeal.”

     In his Letter to Sadoleto, Calvin says that prior to his conversion he was “overwhelmed by the consciousness of sin, just as Luther was… He tells us that his conversion was not, as has sometimes been maintained, a cold intellectual decision, but an act in the depths of a heart which trusts. He shows us his struggles, his hesitation in leaving the Church of his childhood, and his repentance with tears…. But especially do we feel in these pages this grip of God on his life, this impossibility of resisting the heavenly vision, this ‘I can do no other’ which is indeed the hallmark of Reformation piety” (John Cadier, The Man God Mastered, 41-42).

      “Calvin was hunted from city to city. He often used assumed names such as Charles d’Esperville or Martianus Lucanius. Everywhere he went he taught small groups in secret places. A new torture was devised about this time, a device to lift the victim in and out of the fire, roasting him slowly instead of burning him all at once. Nowhere in France was a Protestant safe” (Kuiper, 190-191).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 John Calvin

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 14

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 14: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 35-36

Reformation 500 WEEK 14: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 35-36

Question 35: What is the meaning of [article 3 of the Apostles Creed] conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary? That the eternal Son of God, who is and continues true and eternal God, took upon Himself the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Spirit; so that He might also be the true seed of David, like unto His brethren in all things, except for sin.

     The eternal Son of God took upon Himself the very nature of man (soul and body) – He “became flesh” (John 1:14) – without ceasing to be the eternal Son of God. The Son of God cannot change. “I am the LORD, I do not change” (Mal. 3:6).

     To understand this better, we need to know the difference between person and nature. God is three divine persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in one divine nature. A human being is one person in one nature. The person of the Son of God united Himself to a human nature (soul and body), not a human person. “Hence it is correct to say: the person took the nature, …but we cannot correctly say, the person took a person, (Ursinus, 210). As we confess in the Belgic Confession, “the Person of the Son of God is inseparably united and connected with the human nature; so that there are not two Sons of God, nor two Persons, but two natures [divine and human] united in one single Person… 

wherefore we confess that He is very God and very man” (article 19). Thus, “the two natures subsist in the single person of Christ, without confusion, without change, indivisible, and inseparable, as it is expressed in the Chalcedonian creed” (Ursinus, 211). In His eternal divine nature, the Son of God could say, “Before Abraham was I AM” (John 8:58); and in His finite human nature, the Son of God could say, “I thirst” (John 19:28). One Person spoke according to His two natures.

    The Son of God became a man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, just as the angel said: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20). Mary was a pregnant virgin, just as the prophet had foretold (Matt. 1:23). Jesus’ human nature was taken from the very substance of Mary – of her flesh and blood – in much the same way that our flesh and blood is received from our mother (Heb. 2:14). Just as Joseph and Mary descended from David, so did Christ (Rom. 1:3). But in Christ’s case the Holy Spirit miraculously caused His human nature to be conceived without the seed and substance of a man, so His human nature was formed from His mother alone. Thus, “in all things He had to be made like His brethren” (Heb. 2:17). Thus, He had a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, “except for sin” (Heb. 4:15).

Question 36: What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ? That He is our Mediator, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin, wherein I was conceived.

The eternal Son of God became a sinless Man to be a true Mediator (God-Man) to reconcile God and sinful man. It will be explained later in Question 60, how our sin in which we were conceived can be covered, that is forgiven, on the basis of Christ’s perfect holiness. For now, we declare what David declared in Psalm 32:1: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 HC QAs 35-36

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 14

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 1: JOHN WYCLIFFE

Reformation 500 Week 1: John Wycliffe

This year we join the reformed family of churches throughout the world in celebrating the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, which began on October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses Against Indulgences to the bulletin board on the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. This was the beginning of the church’s return to the Bible and its gospel of salvation by grace alone.

Preparation for Reformation

Martin Luther was not the church’s first reformer. In the latter part of the Middle Ages there arose many individuals who criticized the doctrine and government of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the most important was John Wycliffe (1320-1384).

Wycliffe was born in England in the year 1320. He studied at the university of Oxford, and later became professor in that institution. Wycliffe believed the plague known as the Black Death was the judgment of God on a faithless people and a corrupt church. He charged his audience to turn back to the Bible and to God in repentance. Catholic doctrine taught that the teachings of the church were equal to the Bible, but Wycliffe insisted that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the only infallible authority; and, therefore, it is superior to the Church, its hierarchy, and its traditions.

Wycliffe taught that individuals need to establish a direct and personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. No priest or pope could serve as a mediator between God and man. Wycliffe denounced the worship of images, relics, the sale of indulgences, masses for the dead, processions, and pilgrimages. Wycliffe also denounced the Pope as Antichrist; and he condemned the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, the belief that at the Lord’s Supper the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus.

The Bible at that time was written in Latin and could not be read by the people. In order that Christians in England might be able to read the Bible for themselves, Wycliffe translated it into the English language. He was the first to translate the Bible in the language of the people. Since few people could read, Wycliffe tackled this obstacle through a massive literacy campaign to teach people to read God’s word without the need of the clergy. Wycliffe’s followers called the “Lollards” carried his teaching and the newly translated Bible into many parts of England.

The pope and the clergy “did all they could to destroy Wycliffe. But a large portion of the English people and among them many powerful nobles were in hearty sympathy with the reformer. These nobles protected him so that he did not fall into the hands of his persecutors. Wycliffe died in peace on the last day of the year 1384” (Kuiper, The Church in History, 144).  

Because of his influence, Wycliffe helped to prepare the way for the Reformation, and for this reason has been called the “Morning Star of the Reformation.”



NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Here is a link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Wycliffe 

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.