Doctrine · The Articles of Religion

Article XX — Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon the Cross. The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.

highly contested

What it says

“Christ's one offering on the cross is the complete and only satisfaction for all sin; the Mass understood as a re-offering of Christ for remission of guilt is rejected — in the document's harshest words.”

The stake
The once-for-all sufficiency of the cross (Hebrews) — and the most polemical sentence in the Articles, which the church now asks be read with ecumenical care.
Why it matters
It is the doctrinal floor under justification, purgatory, and the Supper: nothing is added to a finished work.
The Wesleyan take
Wesley kept the 'whole world' scope (unlimited atonement, his Arminianism) and the finished-work doctrine that grounds assurance — while his Catholic Spirit, now the church's Resolution of Intent, disowns the contempt the old wording carries.
Original English
The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit. Thirty-Nine Articles Article XXXI (1571), 'Of the One Oblation of Christ Finished upon the Cross,' kept by Wesley verbatim — including the fiercest phrase in the whole document, 'blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.' The positive doctrine is Hebrews: one sufficient sacrifice 'for all the sins of the whole world' (note the *unlimited* scope — an Arminian-friendly clause Wesley was content to keep). ¶104 footnote 4 lists Article XX among XIV–XXI for ecumenical reading; the Resolution of Intent (2016) addresses precisely this article's harsh wording about the Mass.
VersionRendering
United Methodist Book of Discipline (¶104) The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses… is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.
Thirty-Nine Articles (1571), Article XXXI The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world… Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses… were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits. kept verbatim by Wesley; *Book of Resolutions* #3144 explicitly tempers how this article's anti-Mass polemic is now received.
Resolution of Intent (2016) read 'in consonance with our best ecumenical insights' — the target is a specific *repetition/propitiation* theology of the Mass, not Catholic eucharistic faith as such. the church's own qualification of the article's sharpest phrase.

Traditions cited patristic ·roman catholic ·reformed ·wesleyan ·modern ecumenical

Article XX — Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon the Cross

The Text

Article XX is the doctrinal keystone under half the document, and it contains the single fiercest phrase in the Articles. Its positive heart is Hebrews: “the offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone.” One sacrifice, finished, sufficient, unrepeatable, for the whole world. Its negative is blunt: the Mass understood as the priest re-offering Christ “to have remission of pain or guilt” is “a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.” Wesley kept every word — the glorious finished and the scalding blasphemous fable alike. The church has since asked that the second be read with the charity Wesley himself practiced. Both the keeping and the qualifying belong in an honest annotation.

Translation Notes

“once made… finished upon the cross.” Hapax — once for all (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 26–28; 10:10–14). The whole article hangs on this: the sacrifice is complete, not a process to be continued, extended, or applied by repetition. “Finished” is the cross’s own word (John 19:30, tetelestai).

“for all the sins of the whole world.” Note the scope: unlimited — “the whole world,” “all the sins.” Wesley, the Arminian who deleted predestination (Article VIII), was glad to keep this clause; it confesses a sufficient and intended atonement for all, not a limited satisfaction for the elect.

“blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.” The document’s harshest words. The target is precise: the Mass as commonly then construed — a propitiatory sacrifice the priest offers afresh “for the quick and the dead” to obtain “remission of pain or guilt.” The article does not condemn the eucharist (it has just confessed it in Article XVIII as a real partaking); it condemns a re-offering for remission that, in its judgment, denies “finished.”

Historical Context

Article XXXI of the Thirty-Nine struck at the late-medieval Mass economy: the multiplication of private and chantry Masses, Masses for the dead, the Mass as a repeated propitiatory sacrifice — the same system Articles XI (supererogation) and XIV (purgatory) target. “Blasphemous fable” was sixteenth-century polemical heat aimed at what the Reformers saw as a denial of Hebrews’ hapax.

The decisive modern fact is the United Methodist “Resolution of Intent: With a View to Unity” (2016), which ¶104 footnotes here because Article XX’s wording is exactly the kind the Resolution exists to qualify. The church has formally directed that this be read “in consonance with our best ecumenical insights”: the objection is to a theology of repeated propitiation, not to Catholic eucharistic faith as such — and modern Catholic teaching itself (Trent rightly read; Vatican II; the ecumenical dialogues) insists the Mass re-presents, does not repeat, the one sacrifice. The honest annotation holds both: the article’s true and still-vital positive doctrine, and the church’s own disowning of its contempt.

Lines of Interpretation

The disputed question is the relation of the one finished sacrifice to its eucharistic presence: re-offered? re-presented? merely remembered?

Patristic

Tradition: the eucharist as the church’s offering of the one sacrifice

The Fathers spoke freely of the eucharist as “sacrifice” — not a new immolation but the church’s participation in and memorial-offering of the one. A flat reading of Article XX that denies all sacrificial language cuts against patristic usage the Articles elsewhere honor.

Strengths

  • Keeps the article’s finished without erasing the eucharist’s sacrificial dimension the Fathers assumed
  • Aligns with the Resolution of Intent’s call for nuance

Weaknesses

  • Patristic “sacrifice” language is broad; it cannot by itself settle the propitiatory-repetition question the article targets
  • Some patristic expressions are stronger than Article XX’s reserve

Roman Catholic

Tradition: the Mass as the re-presentation of the one sacrifice (Trent; Mediator Dei; the dialogues)

Catholic teaching holds the Mass does not repeat Calvary but makes present the one sacrifice. Rome would say Article XX condemns a caricature (“the priest offers Christ” as a new immolation) it does not itself teach.

Strengths

  • The convergence is real: both confess one sufficient sacrifice; the dispute narrows to re-presentation vs. repetition
  • Exactly why the Resolution of Intent qualifies the article’s polemic

Weaknesses (of the dispute)

  • The historical Mass-economy the article attacked was real
  • “Re-presentation” must be carefully distinguished from the “remission of pain or guilt” repetition the article names

Reformed

Tradition: the finished work; the eucharist as memorial and thanksgiving (not propitiation)

The Reformed reading takes Article XX at full polemical strength: Christ’s hapax sacrifice forbids any propitiatory eucharistic offering; the Supper proclaims and feeds on the finished work (Article XVIII) but adds nothing to it.

Strengths

  • Fits the article’s letter and ties XX, XIV, and IX into one finished-work logic
  • Guards the comfort of justification: nothing left to be paid

Weaknesses

  • Can over-recoil into a memorialism Article XVIII’s “but rather” forbids
  • “No sacrifice language at all” is stronger than the article (which targets propitiatory repetition, not the eucharist’s sacrifice of praise)

Modern / Ecumenical

Tradition: the eucharistic-sacrifice convergence; Resolution of Intent

Modern dialogue (BEM; the bilaterals) converges: one sacrifice, unrepeatable; the eucharist its anamnesis and re-presentation, not a new immolation. The UMC’s Resolution of Intent applies this to Article XX directly.

Strengths

  • The ecumenical center now holds the article’s positive doctrine in common
  • Lets the church keep “finished” while disowning “blasphemous fable” as invective

Weaknesses

  • Convergence can blur whether a real difference remains on eucharistic offering
  • “Re-present” can be stretched until “finished” goes soft

Wesleyan Voice

Wesley kept Article XX whole, harsh phrase included, and the positive doctrine is central to him for two reasons. First, assurance. Wesley’s gospel of a peace that can be known (a Methodist distinctive) rests on the cross being finished: if satisfaction were ongoing — extended through Masses, completed in purgatory — the believer could never rest. “There is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone” is the doctrinal floor of “Arise, my soul, arise… my name is written on his hands.” Cut the finished and you cut the ground from under the warmed heart. Second, scope. The clause “for all the sins of the whole world” is the atonement-side of Wesley’s Arminianism: unlimited, intended for all — the same instinct as the deleted predestination article (VIII). Wesley had no reason to trim Article XX and every reason to keep it; it secures both the universality and the completeness his whole soteriology assumes.

On the polemic, Wesley is, again, the Resolution of Intent two centuries early. He could be vigorously anti-Roman in controversy, yet his Letter to a Roman Catholic (1749) pleads for mutual love across the divide on the common faith, and his Catholic Spirit forbids unchurching those who hold the essentials. The Wesleyan reception of “blasphemous fable” is therefore exactly what the church later legislated: maintain the scriptural doctrine of the finished, sufficient, sole satisfaction with full conviction; disown the contempt as the era’s heat, not the gospel’s requirement. The Wesleyan tradition keeps the hapax and drops the sneer — and the Hymns on the Lord’s Supper prove it can confess a real eucharistic partaking of the one sacrifice (Article XVIII) without re-offering it, holding XX and XVIII together without strain.

Hymnody

Article XX is the most-sung doctrine in the Wesleyan eucharistic corpus, because the Hymns on the Lord’s Supper are organized precisely to confess the one finished sacrifice while partaking of it. “Victim divine, thy grace we claim while thus thy precious death we show” holds the exact line the article and the dialogues draw: we “show” (re-present, plead) the one death — we do not repeat it. “Arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears; the bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears” is “none other satisfaction… but that alone” as the cure for terror. And “Finish then thy new creation” echoes the cross’s tetelestai into the believer’s hope. The hymnody is the Wesleyan proof that one can adore the eucharistic sacrifice and confess Hebrews’ “once for all” in the same breath — which is the whole modern convergence, sung in 1745.

Pastoral and Liturgical Use

The first pastoral use is the positive, preached as comfort. Article XX is the antidote to every spirituality of the never-finished — the soul forever paying, atoning, making up. It is finished: the one oblation is “perfect… and there is none other.” For the scrupulous, the dying, the guilt-bound, this is the article’s gift, and it must be preached as gift, not as anti-Roman score.

The second use is the Resolution of Intent enacted. When the harsh phrase is read, name it: “blasphemous fable” is sixteenth-century polemic, and the United Methodist Church has formally directed this article be read ecumenically. Teach the real, narrow target (a theology of repeated propitiation) and the real, wide convergence (one sacrifice, re-presented not repeated, now confessed in common). This article, handled so, becomes a master class in holding truth without contempt — Wesley’s Catholic Spirit applied to the church’s own sharpest words.

The third use is integrative. Article XX is the floor under IX (nothing added to a finished work, so justification is by faith only), under XIV (no purgatory, because no unpaid debt remains), and under XVIII (the Supper partakes the one sacrifice, never repeats it). Preaching these together lets a congregation feel the single logic: the cross is enough, therefore the verdict is sure, therefore the table is joy and not anxiety.

Further Reading

  • Hebrews 7:27; 9:11–28; 10:10–18; John 19:30 — the once-for-all, finished sacrifice
  • Thirty-Nine Articles, Article XXXI (1571) — Wesley’s source; Book of Resolutions #3144 (Resolution of Intent)
  • John Wesley, A Letter to a Roman Catholic (1749); Catholic Spirit — the temper the Resolution of Intent later legislated
  • John and Charles Wesley, Hymns on the Lord’s Supper (1745) — “we… thy precious death show” (re-present, not repeat)
  • Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Lima, 1982); the eucharistic- sacrifice bilaterals
  • The person and work it completes: [[articles-of-religion/article-2-of-the-word-or-son-of-god]]
  • Partaking the one sacrifice: [[articles-of-religion/article-18-of-the-lords-supper]]
  • Why no purgatory follows: [[articles-of-religion/article-14-of-purgatory]]

Related

The Articles of Religion

Article I — Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Article II — Of the Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man. The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of men. Article III — Of the Resurrection of Christ. Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at the last day. Article IV — Of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. Article V — Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. Article VI — Of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man. Although the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. Article VII — Of Original or Birth Sin. Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually. Article VIII — Of Free Will. The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will. Article IX — Of the Justification of Man. We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort. Article X — Of Good Works. Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit. Article XI — Of Works of Supererogation. Voluntary works — besides, over and above God's commandments — which they call works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required; whereas Christ saith plainly: When ye have done all that is commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants. Article XII — Of Sin After Justification. Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent. Article XIII — Of the Church. The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. Article XIV — Of Purgatory. The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshiping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God. Article XV — Of Speaking in the Congregation in Such a Tongue as the People Understand. It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the primitive church, to have public prayer in the church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understood by the people. Article XVI — Of the Sacraments. Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him. There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Article XVII — Of Baptism. Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church. Article XVIII — Of the Lord's Supper. The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death… The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the means whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith. Article XIX — Of Both Kinds. The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike. Article XX — Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon the Cross. The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit. Article XXI — Of the Marriage of Ministers. The ministers of Christ are not commanded by God's law either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage; therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve best to godliness. Article XXII — Of the Rites and Ceremonies of Churches. It is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be the same, or exactly alike; for they have been always different, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's Word. Every particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edification. Article XXIII — Of the Rulers of the United States of America. The President, the Congress, the general assemblies, the governors, and the councils of state, as the delegates of the people, are the rulers of the United States of America, according to the division of power made to them by the Constitution of the United States and by the constitutions of their respective states. And the said states are a sovereign and independent nation, and ought not to be subject to any foreign jurisdiction. Article XXIV — Of Christian Men's Goods. The riches and goods of Christians are not common as touching the right, title, and possession of the same, as some do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability. Article XXV — Of a Christian Man's Oath. As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle, so we judge that the Christian religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when the magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so it be done according to the prophet's teaching, in justice, judgment, and truth. Of Sanctification (appended 1939; legislative, not constitutionally protected). Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanseth from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk in his holy commandments blameless. Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority (appended 1939; legislative, not constitutionally protected). It is the duty of all Christians, and especially of all Christian ministers, to observe and obey the laws and commands of the governing or supreme authority of the country of which they are citizens or subjects or in which they reside, and to use all laudable means to encourage and enjoin obedience to the powers that be.