The Eucharist
Does the Eucharist forgive sins?
Regarding the Eucharist, the Catholic Catechism teaches,
“...the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins. . . . ‘I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins’ ” (para. 1393).
In contrast, the Bible states,
“If we acknowledge our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing” (1 John 1:9).
The Bible tells us here that it is God—not the Eucharist—who forgives us our sins and cleanses us from every wrongdoing. It also tells us that God is faithful to do this if we acknowledge our sins to Him. The Bible does not teach that receiving the Eucharist will forgive our sins; it teaches that our sins are forgiven through confession to God.
Additionally, the Catholic Catechism states,
“ ‘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’ ” (para. 1367).
This may sound nice, but there is a problem when it comes to forgiveness through the Eucharist “offered in an unbloody manner,” because the Bible says,
“...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22).
Since the Eucharistic sacrifice is “unbloody,” there is no shedding of blood; therefore there is no forgiveness through the Eucharist.
Are the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Sacrifice of Jesus one and the same?
The Catholic Catechism states,
“The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord’s body and blood” (para. 1382).
It also says that
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice...” (para. 1367).
This means that Christ’s sacrifice is still continuing today. But the Bible teaches the opposite:
“It is fitting that we should have such a high priest [Jesus]: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself ” (Hebrews 7:26, 27).
These verses tell us that Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice once for all and that there is no need to offer sacrifice day after day. The Bible also says,
“For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him” (Hebrews 9:24–28).
The Catholic Catechism teaches that the Eucharist is not being offered repeatedly because it says the sacrifice of the Eucharist and the sacrifice of Jesus are “one single sacrifice.” But this teaching ignores the fact that the Bible tells us Christ was “offered once to take away the sins of many.” This offering occurred in the past (it was “offered”); Jesus’ sacrifice is over. The Bible further states,
“By this ‘will,’ we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one [Jesus] offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated” (Hebrews 10:10–14).
Again the Bible tells us that one offering was offered and that “the offering of the body of Jesus” was offered once! Jesus no longer needs to be offered for our sins, yet the Catholic Church continues offering Him daily as a sacrifice for sin. If you are still uncertain that the sacrifice of Christ is already finished and is not continuing today, read what Jesus said in the following passage from the Bible as He died on the cross and His sacrifice ended:
“ ‘It is finished.’ And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit” (John 19:30).
The Catholic view of the continuation of the sacrifice of Christ is clearly different from the Biblical view of the completion of the sacrifice by Christ, even in the Catholic Bible, where Jesus said, “It is finished.”
Are bread and wine transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus?
In addition to teaching that the sacrifice of Christ continues today, the Catholic Catechism teaches that bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus:
“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’ ” (para. 1374; italics in original).
“It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament” (para. 1375).
“...‘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’ ” (para. 1376).
The Catholic belief that the bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus through a process called transubstantiation is based on the following Bible verses referenced by the above quotations:
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body’ ” (Matthew 26:26).
“While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is my body’ ” (Mark 14:22).
“Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me’ ” (Luke 22:19).
“...and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ ” (1 Corinthians 11:24).
From just these verses it may be possible to believe Jesus meant that the bread and wine really became His body and blood. But let us take a look at these verses again, this time in context, and include the verses that follow immediately after them:
Matthew 26
• “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body’ ” (Matthew 26:26).
• “Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father’ ” (Matthew 26:27–29).
Mark 14
• “While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is my body’ ” (Mark 14:22).
• “Then he took a cup, gave thanks, gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God’ ” (Mark 14:23–25).
Luke 22
• “Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which will be given for you; do this in memory of me’ ” (Luke 22:19.
• “And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you’ ” (Luke 22:20).
1 Corinthians 11
• “And after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ ” (1 Corinthians 11:24).
• “In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup’ ” (1 Corinthians 11:25–28).
Notice in the first two passages that after Jesus is supposed to have changed the wine into blood, He referred to it as “the fruit of the vine.” If it were in fact changed into His blood, why would He refer to it as “the fruit of the vine”? I am in no way saying that Jesus couldn’t have done it if He had wanted to. I’m just saying that He didn’t and that the Bible does not support the teaching that He did.
Notice in the last two passages that Jesus referred to the cup as the covenant “in” His blood—not “of ” His blood. Again, He was not saying that the wine had become His blood.
Finally, notice in the last passage from the Bible that after Jesus was supposed to have changed the bread into His body, it is still called “bread.”
Let’s read 1 Corinthians 11:26–28 one more time:
“For as often as you eat this bread [not the body of Jesus] and drink this cup [not the blood of Jesus], you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread [not the body of Jesus] or drinks the cup [not the blood of Jesus] of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread [not body of Jesus] and drink the cup [not blood of Jesus]” (1 Corinthians 11:26–28).
When we read the entire passages, we see in a new light the actual meaning of Jesus’ words and the Bible’s teaching. When we read in their entirety the verses quoted by the Catholic Catechism to support the belief that the bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus, it becomes clear that Jesus never claimed, and that the apostles did not teach, that this transformation ever occurred. The Bible calls the bread “bread,” and the wine, “the fruit of the vine.” The bread, or Eucharist, is clearly not transformed into the actual body of Christ, and it has absolutely no power to forgive sins. Yet the Catholic Church continues to offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist for the forgiveness of sins, claiming it is the actual body and blood of Jesus.
Is the Eucharist truly and actually Jesus?
Right before communion, the priest holds up the Eucharist and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, blessed are we who are called to his supper.” “The Lamb of God” is a direct reference to Jesus. Sometimes the priest may directly say, “This is Jesus, who takes away the sins of the world.” When we hear this, we are being told that the Eucharist at which we are looking is actually Jesus. But Jesus Himself tells us when and how He will physically return. Jesus spoke to His disciples about the end of the age and said that no one knows the day or the hour when it will come:
“But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36).
Jesus also told how He will return:
“For just as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:27).
Acts 1:11 also tells how Jesus will return. An angel shared the message that,
“This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
These verses tell us how Jesus will physically return to the earth. Neither of these verses describes His physical return as being through the changing of bread and wine into His body and blood. Yet as stated earlier, the Catholic Catechism teaches that,
“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.’ ‘This presence is called “real” by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be “real” too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present’ ” (para. 1374).
It also teaches that,
“It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament” (para. 1375).
Jesus, on the other hand, said,
“If anyone says to you then, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ [Jesus] or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you beforehand” (Matthew 24:23–25).
With these words, Jesus was warning us about people who will say, “Here is Jesus” or “Here is the Christ” before His actual physical return.
Is the conversion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus necessary for Jesus to be present during communion?
The Catholic Catechism teaches:
“It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament” (para. 1375).
But Jesus Himself said,
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
Whenever we gather in the name of Jesus, He is in our midst. Therefore, transubstantiation is not needed for Jesus to be present when we share communion.
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