John 6:51-63

[INsearch]

John 6:51-63 (King James Version)

51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

58This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

59These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

60Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

61When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

62What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?

63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Back in my days of wanting to be Catholic or Orthodox or even Lutheran! I used to use this verse as the end all, to me it was the perfect spelled right out for you verse that proves the real presence of Christ in Communion, I remember reading in the apologetics for Catholicism how Christs continuing to say "eat my flesh" and not correcting the Jews when they said it was hard to understand ment that he really did intend and mean that his flesh and body will be present, however after re-reading this, I was wondering if the answer to whether it be real presence or not lie in the last verse I quoted?

"the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

The fact that Jesus says that what he just told them is spirit, would this not indicate that he wasn't being very literal? also it says that "the flesh profiteth nothing" thus it would seem again that it is unlikely for Christs real bodily presence to be in Communion because the flesh profiteth nothing. Any insight guys?

 

[au5t1n]

I think you've got it. Also note that Jesus is speaking primarily about his sacrifice here, not directly about communion, but of course, he repeats the same language when establishing the Lord's Supper. So the two passages are indirectly related, not directly. In both the John 6 passage and the Lord's Supper institution, he is talking about his sacrifice.

 

[louis_jp]

D.A. Carson notes the following, in his Commentary on John (p.297):

"Verses 54 and 40 are closely parallel: 'Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (v.54)'... 'everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (v.40)'....

"The conclusion is obvious: the former is the metaphorical way of referring to the latter.... Small wonder that Augustine of Hippo wrote, 'Believe, and you have eaten'".