Heidelberg Catechism, Question 80
Question 80
What difference is there between the Lord’s supper and the Popish mass?
The Lord’s supper testifies to us, that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself has once accomplished on the cross (Heb. 10;14); and that we by the Holy Ghost are ingrafted into Christ (John 6;63); who, according to his human nature, is not now on earth, but in heaven, at the right hand of God his Father, and will there be worshipped by us (Acts 7;56-59); but the mass teacheth that the living and the dead have not the pardon of sins, through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests; and further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and therefore is to be worshipped in them; so that the mass, at bottom, is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ (Gal. 5;4), and an accursed idolatry (Deut. 27;15).
Scripture references for paragraph 1
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Hebrews 10:1414because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.
Luke 22:1919And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Luke 22:2020In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.
Hebrews 9:25-2825Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
26Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
1 Corinthians 5:77Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
John 19:3030When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.
Hebrews 7:2727Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.
John 6:6363The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
1 Corinthians 6:1717But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:1313For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.
Acts 7:56-5956“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him.
58They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Luke 24:5151While He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven.
Luke 24:5252And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
Colossians 3:11Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Galatians 5:44You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
Isaiah 1:1111“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
Jeremiah 2:1313“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns— broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Matthew 15:99They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”
Deuteronomy 27:1515‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Daniel 11:3838And in their place, he will honor a god of fortresses—a god his fathers did not know—with gold, silver, precious stones, and riches.
Daniel 11:3939He will attack the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him, making them rulers over many and distributing the land for a price.
Isaiah 1:1212When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you— this trampling of My courts?
Isaiah 1:1313Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me— your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly.
Source and edition
Heidelberg Catechism. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879
Public Domain (historic text); CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikisource transcription). Source transcription.
Transcription licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
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