The Roman Eucahrist: What Does Vatican II Say?

Vatican II wrote on the Eucharist,

Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, “the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross,” but especially under the Eucharistic species.
At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again.
In the house of prayer the most Holy Eucharist is celebrated and preserved. There the faithful gather, and find help and comfort through venerating the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us on the sacrificial altar (The Documents of Vatican II, Walter M. Abbott, S.J., General Editor. (Chicago: Follett, 1966), pp. 140-141, 154, 543).

John Stott on the Cross of Jesus

John Stott wrote,

The repeated promises in the Qur'an of the forgiveness of a compassionate and merciful Allah are all made to the meritorious, whose merits have been weighed in Allah's scales, whereas the gospel is good news of mercy to the undeserving. The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales.

A Theological Study of Baptismal Regeneration and the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:17 KJV

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

"For Christ sent me not to baptize."  The apostle Paul was sent directly by God through supernatural revelation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ about the supernatural gospel of God.  He was not sent to baptize.  Isn't that "out of place" if infant baptism takes away and pardons original sin?  Why would the great apostle Paul neglect alleged "baptismal regeneration" if he indeed believed it could save the soul?  Could it be that "baptismal regeneration" is a man-made teaching that denies the gospel by adding to the glad tidings of Christ?  Remember Paul comes to preach the supremacy of the Cross in the gospel.  He does not come to baptize the sons and daughters of Adam.  Rather he comes to preach the centrality of the Cross.  

"...but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words."  Paul came to preach the gospel of the Cross.  He did not come with wisdom of words.  He equals by implication "preaching baptism to save" with "wisdom of words."  The preaching of a baptism that saves is a mistaken doctrine of the wisdom of mere men.  It is the wisdom of words.   Rather we ought to preach the supremacy and centrality of the gospel of the Cross of our God and Creator.

"...lest the Cross of Christ should be of none effect."  We ought to never preach baptism as some doctrine that saves us or pardons sin.  If we add to the Cross it is useless and worthless.   It becomes of none effect.  The Cross stands on its own as the way sinners are pardoned, forgiven, cleansed and provided with abundant divine grace.  The Cross is the way to receive supernatural grace.  Romanism adds to the Cross through baptismal regeneration.  It is contrary to the Bible and the doctrine of the Cross. 

The Divine Grace of the Cross, Purgatory and Mt 5:26

Many sincere Roman Catholic apologists will say that Mt 5:26 supports the Roman Catholic teaching of purgatory.  The Bible does not support the teaching of purgatory.  There was never a Old Testament understanding of purgatory nor a New Testament claim of purgatory.  Rather the teaching of purgatory is an invention of man-made tradition.  Ludwig Ott says that Mt 5:26 supports the Roman teaching of purgatory. 

They take a errant interpretation of 2 Maccabees 12 and apply this tradition of men to the New Testament.  2 Maccabees is not inspired or infallible Scripture.  We know that Jesus never quoted from these false writings.   We see that not only Luther rejected these writings but also Jerome.  I am also not saying that 2 Maccabees teaches purgatory.  Rather I am saying that the spiritual prison that Jesus speaks about is something that happens before someone dies.  It does not happen after someone dies because it does not refer to purgatory (cf.  Mt 5:25).  There is nothing in Matthew chapter 5 that refers to the purification of the flames of purgatory.  The former pope concluded that it is not a kind of "concentration camp."  

There is nothing to pay because Jesus paid it all at the Cross.  Purgatory is a denial of the unanimous testimony of divine Scriptures on the perpetuity of the Cross.   

Boast in the Cross Alone: A 2-Point Bible Study on Galatians 6:14

Galatians 6:14KJV
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

1.  Christians ought to boast in the Cross of Jesus Christ alone.  That is where our sins are pardon, forgiven and cleansed.  It is where punishment, vile sin and reprobative wrath is placed on Christ alone at His Cross.  It is where hell is placed on Jesus.  No one could endure the Cross except the God-man.  A mere sinner could never endure the Cross because it was the very redemptive wrath of God.  In no uncertain terms it was the very fury and outright punishment of God.  Jesus endured this wrath of God in our place.  He willingly took our place and suffered what we would suffer in eternity in hell.  That is, Jesus suffered hell in all its darkness and cruelty and fury because it was placed on Jesus at His Cross in behalf of hell-deserving sinners.  We may boast in the Cross of Jesus because it is where we get our divine righteousness alone by faith alone.  Reformed theology is so awesome in light of the Divine Word because we cannot glory in our faith.  The faith of a Christian did not come from our personal decision or human wills.  Rather it came from the divine regeneration of a sinner by the Spirit and the Word.  That is, the Spirit and the Word bring Christ to us through a changed heart by faith alone.   We receive the holy gift of faith through God the Spirit and the written Word.  It is able to change our hearts.  Man-made religion may bring outward reform in some way but it cannot radically change the heart like the Spirit and the Word.  Religions of men make the hearts of men spiritual fat.  The Christian ought to have a baby-skin heart by God's invisible handiwork in progressive sanctification. 

2.  We may boat that our sins are forgiven because of the Cross of Jesus alone.  We did not do the redemptive work.  No, He did!  We did not add to His redemptive sufferings.  No, He did it!  We did not contribute to His unified merit in our behalf.  No, it was Him all the way!  Boast in the Cross of Jesus Christ alone.  Do not glory in anything else.  Good works are filthy rages.  We are corrupt from birth.  There is no hope except for the Cross of Jesus alone.  The Cross of Jesus provides a way of spiritual escape.  We need sufficient atonement made by some who is God and man.  Jesus has two natures; God and man in One Person.  He is the only One who could die for the sins of God's people in obedience to His Father.  Who really killed Jesus Christ?  Was it the Jews?  Was it the Romans?  Was it His people?  The Person who determined to crush Jesus according to His foreordained counsel was God the Father.  It was the Father's perfect will and good pleasure to put His Son to death.  The divine Son was plainly humiliated in openness and in public in behalf of God's people.  People never think of the Father's love because they see a wrathful God.  It is true, however, that there is a wrath of the Father but it was placed on His dear Son as the Lamb of sacrifice!  This must show us the extreme and eternal and incomprehensible love of the Father.  We must understand that it was the Father's design or plan to have His Son bear the full and entire and max of the sins of God's people.  It is was where sin was punished and where sin is forgiven.  It is where justice is satisfied and where righteousness is provided.  That is why no one has the right to glory in His presence when all of our deeds are worthless.  The only deed that is good is through the person and work of Jesus alone.  If God calls someone 'good' it is not because we are 'good' by nature but because we possess the 'goodness of Jesus' by faith alone!  The Cross is the profound  and eternal reason why we stand before God.

Purgatory Denies the Sufficiency of the Cross of Christ

The Bible does not teach purgatory.  Rather it teaches the sufficiency of the Cross of Jesus.  Jesus is the only Person who was able to endure the redemptive suffering of the Cross.  Rome believes that punishment through purgatory can purify us through divine flames.  For lets understand the Roman position,

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

1498 Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.

1475 In the communion of saints, "a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things." In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.

1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.

The problem with purgatory is that it is the fallible wisdom of men and the Cross is totally hindered through the undivine teaching of purgatory (1 Corinthians 1:17).  To the foolish the Cross of Jesus is foolishness but to the true Christian it alone is the very power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).  It is by the nature of man that sinners want to take part in their spiritual salvation.  It is by the sinful nature of man that sinners want to suffer for sin redemptively and contribute to the all-matchless Cross of the Lamb of God.  

Was Jesus Crucified in light of the Claims of Muslims?

Surah 4:157-158 states:

"That they said (in boast), 'We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah'—but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not—nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself."

The Quran seems to say that Jews did not crucify Jesus.  Rather the Romans crucified Jesus Christ.  Do Muslims interpret the Quran correctly in attempts to deny the historical and theological implications of the Cross of Jesus Christ?  If the Cross is denied, we have no spiritual salvation or redemption.  It was the wages of sin that took Jesus to His Cross according to His Father's will.  Jesus Himself predicts His death and resurrection in Matthew 17:22-23.  Surah 3:54 also speaks about the death of Jesus but Muslims deny the historical and spiritual value of the Cross.  We ought to stand on the all-trustworthy Scripture in the Bible because it is the infallible Word of God about the Cross of Jesus Christ.