1. What is a sacrifice properly so called?

“A sacrifice is a ceremony or work, commanded by God, and rendered as an honor to him.” (Apology, Art. xii.)

2. What is the difference between a sacrifice and a sacrament?

“A sacrament is a ceremony or work, whereby God gives us that, which the divine promise attached to this ceremony, offers:” a sacrifice, on the other hand, as has been already said, is a work, whereby we bring something to God. (Apology, Art. xii.)

3. How many kinds of sacrifices are there?

There are only two kinds of sacrifices: “The one is an atoning sacrifice, by which satisfaction is rendered for guilt and punishment, the anger of God appeased and conciliated, and forgiveness of sins obtained for others. Only one such sacrifice has been made in the world, and that but once; it also can not and ought not to be repeated, namely, the sacrifice of Christ’s death. Heb. 7:27; 10:12.

The other kind is the thank-offering or eucharistic sacrifice, by which forgiveness of sins or atonement is not procured; on the contrary, it is rendered by those who are already reconciled, in giving thanks for the forgiveness of sins and other gifts and tokens of grace, which they have received. In the Old Covenant the trespass offering, meat offering, thank-offering, first fruits and tithes were sacrifices of this kind. (Apology, Art. xii.)

4. Were not some of the Levitical sacrifices also propitiatory sacrifices?

Yes; but they were so called because of their significance, not that they by their power or of themselves merited forgiveness of sins; but partly because they were types of the promised, pure, only and true expiatory sacrifice, the Messiah,—partly because they merited the remission of sins according to the righteousness of the law; so that those for whom they were made were not banished from the congregation of the people of Israel. And in this ecclesiastical respect they became expiatory sacrifices for sins and trespasses, and were called burnt offerings. (Apology, Art. xii.)

5. Do these Levitical sacrifices of propitiation still take place in the Church of God?

They do not; for since the Levitical law had to cease with the revelation of the Gospel, these sacrifices also ceased. Or rather, they were not true expiatory sacrifices, because the Gospel was to present the true propitiation.

6. Are the thank-offerings only of one kind?

No. For some were only external sacrifices, as described in the book of Leviticus, which have long since become antiquated. Others, however, are spiritual thank-offerings, and these are common to both Testaments, and will continue to the end of the world; to which kind belong the sacrifices of praise, as, the preaching of the Gospel, prayer, thanksgiving, confession, and the cross borne by saints; in short, all the works of the saints. And concerning these spiritual sacrifices, saith Malachi, ch. 1:11:

For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering.

And St. Peter, 1 Ep. 2:5, 9:

Ye are a royal priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (Apology, Art. xii.)

7. Did the Levitical sacrifices merit anything, ex opere operato, i.e., merely by being made, without respect to those sacrificing?

No. For the prophets of the Old Testament themselves condemned the opinion, that their sacrifices already rendered satisfaction, and they demanded righteousness and the sacrifices of the spirit.

Jer. 7:22. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; but this thing commanded I them, saying: Obey my voice and I will be your God.

Ps. 50:1-3. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, etc. And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Ps. 51:16. For thou desirest not sacrifice, etc. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

8. Is the Romish mass, then, really a sacrifice?

The Papists indeed say yes to this; maintaining that in the mass, i.e., in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, the body and the blood of Christ are offered to God, the Father, by the priest, for the sins of the living and the dead. But this opinion I reject as impious and blasphemous. (See Augsburg Confession, Art. xxiv.)

9. Why?

First, because Christ, according to Holy Scripture, had to be offered, and was offered, only once, in his sufferings on the cross. Heb. 7:27; 9:12; 10:12. He, therefore, cannot be incessantly offered in the mass. (Augsburg Confession, Art. xxiv.)

In the second place, Holy Scripture teaches, that we are justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ, namely, when we believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. If the Romish mass, then, in and of itself, merely as a work, blot out the sins of the living and the dead, justification would not come by faith, but by the work of the mass. (Augsburg Confession, Art. xxiv.)

Thirdly, a double use of the Holy Supper is expressed in the words of institution:

(1.) An external use, which consists in eating and drinking.

(2.) An internal use, namely, that it is done in remembrance of the Lord. But neither of these two uses can intimate a sacrificial institution, yea, the latter radically overthrows the entire sacrifice of the mass. For if the remembrance of a sacrifice is celebrated here, the Holy Supper certainly cannot be the sacrifice itself.

Fourthly and finally, the Romish mass, like a dragon’s tail, has created much idolatry and innumerable abominations, as: the doctrine of purgatory, the appearance of spirits, pilgrimages, fraternities, relics of saints, and also indulgences, which were sold for money on behalf of the living and the dead.