John 6:54
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
Many Christians ask “what the
Lord really meant when He made this statement to the Jewish disciples?”
Catholicism takes this literally,
believing that at their communion of the bread and cup “become” the literal body and blood of
Christ. As with all Bible study, we must let scripture interpret scripture. So,
what does Scripture say to God’s people, Israel,
about eating flesh and drinking blood?
We know that the Lord could not
have meant this literally because, for Jews, the drinking of blood is forbidden.
Leviticus 17:12
Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat
blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
The eating of human flesh is
always associated with the judgment of God.
Leviticus
26:28-29 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even
I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29 And ye shall eat the flesh
of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
Obviously the Lord was using a
figure of speech, as He did so often. Here, he had just finished saying these
words.
John 6:40
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I
will raise him up at the last day.
Note that the same exact phrase
“I will raise him up” is used in both
John 6:40 and in John 6:54. Note that
in verse 40 there is no connection with a requirement of eating His flesh and
drinking His blood in order to have eternal “life.”
We can see in John 6:40 above
that the eating flesh and drinking blood in John 6:54 is replaced with “believeth on Him.”
Isn’t “believing” always the requirement for all that we gain from God, as seen
throughout the Bible?
Eating His flesh and drinking His
blood is a “symbol” such as somebody might says “He swallowed the whole
story I told him.” By this we mean they “believed” the whole story.
The Lord’s Supper as presented by
the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 11:24-25, one of his first 7 epistles, is only
a “memorial.” How can I say it is but
a “memorial”? Let’s read the Lord’s
words that Paul recites as taken from the account of the Last Supper.
1 Corinthians
11:24-25 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my
body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of
me. 25 After the same
manner also he took the cup,
when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood:
this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of
me.