None at all. It is a memorial of the one offering Christ made of himself on the cross, once for all.

The mass is rejected in blunt terms, and the reason given is the one that matters: a sacrifice repeated is a sacrifice that did not finish. It has already been said that Christ's work was completed.

If that were the case, he would have had to suffer again and again since the world began. But now, at the turning point of history, he's shown up once to wipe out sin by offering himself.

Hebrews 9:26

Confession 30.2

That treating the supper as a sacrifice offered for sin is deeply wrong and does injury to Christ's own one sacrifice, which is the only payment for all the sins of the elect.

The objection is arithmetic before it is anything else. If the cross was one offering made once for all, then a sacrifice repeated at an altar is either a second one, which would mean the first was not enough, or it is not a sacrifice at all. The confession takes the second view and calls what remains a memorial.

If that were the case, he would have had to suffer again and again since the world began. But now, at the turning point of history, he's shown up once to wipe out sin by offering himself.

Hebrews 9:26

Confession 30.2

The minister prays and blesses the bread and wine, setting them apart from a common use to a holy one, takes and breaks the bread, takes the cup, and gives both to the people - taking them himself as well.

Two details in a short paragraph are aimed at practices the confession rejects. The minister communicates with everyone else rather than administering from outside, and both elements go to all of them, which the next paragraph makes explicit.

For I passed on to you what I received: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread.

He gave thanks, broke it, and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this to remember me.'

After they finished eating, Jesus took the cup and said, 'This cup is the new agreement God is making with you, sealed with my blood. Every time you drink it, remember me.'

1 Corinthians 11:23-25

Confession 30.3

Denying the cup to the people, worshipping the elements, lifting them up or carrying them about to be adored, and keeping them back for some other religious use.

Each of the four names something that was actually done, and the objection to all of them is the same. They treat the bread and wine as holy in themselves rather than as things being used, and the supper is an action to be carried out rather than an object to be venerated.

Then he took a cup, thanked God, and gave it to them and said, 'All of you, drink from this.'

Matthew 26:27

Confession 30.4

Nothing. They are set apart for a use, and in substance and nature they remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.

They can be called the body and blood, because Scripture calls them that - and the confession says this is figurative language of a familiar kind, the way a photograph is called by the name of the person in it.

So if anyone eats the bread or drinks from the cup in a way that doesn't respect what it means, they're guilty of disrespecting the body and blood of the Lord.

Everyone should take a good look at themselves before eating the bread and drinking from the cup.

1 Corinthians 11:27-28

Confession 30.5

That it is repugnant not to Scripture alone but to common sense and reason, that it overthrows the nature of the ordinance, and that it has been the cause of many superstitions and of gross idolatry.

The scriptural argument is in the proof texts. Heaven must receive Christ until the restoration of all things, so his body is somewhere and it is not on the table; the other two texts are the empty tomb and the risen Christ telling them to handle him and see. Both are moments where the senses are appealed to as evidence, which is why the confession is willing to appeal to them here.

'He must stay in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, just as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.'

Acts 3:21

Confession 30.6

Really and truly, but spiritually rather than physically - present to the faith of believers as the elements are to their senses.

The comparison at the end is the clearest thing in the chapter. The bread is genuinely there to your eyes and hands; Christ is genuinely there to your faith. Neither is a metaphor for nothing.

When we drink from the cup of blessing we thank God for, aren't we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren't we sharing in the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 10:16

Confession 30.7

Those who are ignorant of the gospel or ungodly - who, while they remain so, cannot partake without great sin against Christ.

The confession treats admission as a real question rather than a formality. The concern is not to protect the bread but to protect the person, since Paul warns that eating without discerning is harmful to the one who does it.

If you eat and drink without recognizing what this is really about, you're bringing judgment on yourself.

1 Corinthians 11:29

Confession 30.8

They are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and they eat and drink judgement to themselves.

The sentence is Paul's and the confession quotes it without softening it. It is also the reason the paragraph is worded the way it is: the concern is not that unworthy communicants spoil the table for everyone else, but that they are in danger themselves.

If you eat and drink without recognizing what this is really about, you're bringing judgment on yourself.

1 Corinthians 11:29

Confession 30.8