Exactly. Most Protestants with whom I've conversed do not understand the bolded part.
And it is Christ that offers the sacrifice of the Mass. And it is Christ who forgives sins.
Apparently you understand the doctrine of "In Persona Christi Capitis" very well.
Good job!!! (no sarcasm)
Except mark there is no priesthood, no roll for a priest in the NT church. There are elders and Bishops and deacons, but no priesthood no more need for sacrifices ...God eliminated the priesthood as Christ had fulfilled the type.
If God had intended a priesthood it would have been outlined in the NT
St. Paul Calls Himself a Priest & Uses “Sacerdotal” Thought Categories (More Biblical Evidence for a New Covenant Priesthood & Sacrifice of the Mass)
tp://socrates58.blogspot.com/2009/12/st-paul-calls-himself-priest-uses.html
A painting inside the chapel of St. Benedict’s Monastery in Corte, Carmen, Cebu, Philippines. [ source ]
The future universality of the priesthood is clearly indicated in the Old Testament:
Isaiah 66:18, 21 (RSV) For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, . . . And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. (cf. 56:3-8)
Zephaniah 3:9-10 Yea, at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord. [10] From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.
Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. (cf. Jer 33:14-22)
St. Paul also casually assumes that priests are still operative under the New Christian Covenant, by referring to the table of the Lord (or altar) and contrasting it with the table of demons, in a eucharistic context:
1 Corinthians 10:14-21 Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. [15] I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say. [16] The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? [17] Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. [18] Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? [19] What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? [20] No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. [21] You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. (cf. 9:13)
He is in the same priestly thought-world in another utterance of his:
Romans 15:15-17 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God [16] to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. [17] In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.
“Offering”? Offering of what? “Priestly service”? The word for “priestly service” is hierourgeo: Strong’s word #2418. It is defined by Strong (my hardcover copy from Riverside Book and Bible House) as “to be a temple-worker, i.e., officiate as a priest (fig.): — minister.” The online version (linked above) has “to minister in the manner of a priest, minister in priestly service.” It also notes (from Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon) historical etymological definitions of “to be busied with sacred things; to be perform sacred rites” (from Philo), and “used esp. of persons sacrificing” (from Josephus). Compare Baptist Greek scholar A. T. Robertson for the basic definition: “to work in sacred things, to minister as a priest.”
Marvin Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament states (for Rom 15:16):
Ministering (ierourgounta). Only here in the New Testament. Lit., ministering as a priest.
Offering up (prosfora). Lit., the bringing to, i.e., to the altar. Compare doeth service, John xvi. 2.
Gerhard Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (abridged one-volume edition, p. 354) defines it as “’to perform sacred or sacrificial ministry.’ In Josephus and Philo it always means “to offer sacrifice” and often has no object. (hierourgia means “sacrifice” and hierourgema the “act of sacrifice.”)”
A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd., 1953, Dom Bernard Orchard, General Editor), provides further helpful analysis:
The essential point in every explanation is to realize that the sacrificial terms used here are metaphorical, and that therefore this verse cannot be quoted against the existence of a specially consecrated priesthood in the Church when Paul wrote . . . The difficulties lie in the analysis of the metaphors. . . . To bring the Gentile world as a worthy sacrifice to the altar of God is probably all that Paul meant to say. For the same idea cf. Is. 66:19 f.
The Eerdmans Bible Commentary (Protestant, p. 1044) concurs:
Paul describes his divine commission in terms of the priesthood: a minister (Gk. leitourgos; lit. a ‘priest’; cf. Heb. 8:2), in the priestly service (Gk. hierourgon) and offering (Gk. prosphora) are three sacerdotal terms.
Thus, Paul has called himself a priest — using two different terms. We get the word liturgy from litourgos (Strong’s word #3011; cf. 3008, 3009, and 3010). Strong’s online, for word #3008 (litourgeo) applies it to, among other things, “priests and Levites who were busied with the sacred rites in the tabernacle or the temple.” The author of Hebrews applies one of these terms to priests in the Old Covenant sense in Hebrews 9:21; 10:11 and to Jesus as high priest in 8:2.
Given the central motif in the New Testament of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb, it stands to reason that the Sacrifice of the Mass would be associated with the Eucharist, as the central rite of Christian worship.
St. Paul also casually assumes the continued existence of altars among Christians (1 Cor 10:14-21), and altars are mentioned in the New Testament in other places (apart from the many mentions of altars in heaven), as well:
Hebrews 13:9-12 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited their adherents. [10] We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. [11] For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. [12] So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
Therefore, if the cross is overthrown by an altar (as John Calvin argues in his Institutes: IV, 18:3: “the cross of Christ is overthrown the moment an altar is erected”), then the New Testament is against the cross. Far more plausible is a state of affairs whereby Calvin has grossly misunderstood New Testament teaching; otherwise, Christianity (all Christianity: not just Catholicism) and the Bible alike are a mess of abominations and contradictions.
The Sacrifice of the Mass is hearkening back and making present (by God’s power alone, not “magic”) one supreme, sublime sacrifice, as the Mass does. We agree that Jesus performed His sacrifice once, forever and also that the sacrifice is eternally present, because it was an act of God, Who is outside of time, as well as an act of man. That’s why Jesus appears even in heaven as a slain lamb.
Check out fhu.com...there is a real leader in Roy Masters.