Actually, that souls gain eternal life by eating human flesh is what is confected, as it is akin to paganism and contrary to what Scripture clearly teaches is the means to obtaining spiritual life within and eternal life. Thus John never mentions the Lord's supper at all in writing on how believers may know they have eternal life. (1Jn. 5:13)
Christ said THREE TIMES in clarification that yes, he was talking about his actual body and blood...
We have been thru this so many times here but i will do so again briefly if necessary, and that Christ in the stomachs of the kosher apostles supposedly eating blood while yet stood before them, or that Jn. 6:53,54ff teaches this, is an interpretation that ignores and is inconsistent with not only the gospel of John but the frequent use fo figurative language in Scripture for eating or drinking.
David even called water, "the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives" and thus "poured it out unto the Lord," (2Sam. 23:15-17) as it is strictly forbidden to consume blood. Which Catholics would interpret literally if they were consistent.
Nor is 1Cor. 11:19ff speaking about the elements being eaten as being the body of Christ, but the church .
the word for eat used is closer to gnaw.
A usual argument, but the word you refer to for gnaw, "trōgō " is used as the plural for phagō, to "eat, " with the former occurring as eateth, 5 Joh_6:54, Joh_6:56-58 (3), Joh_13:18 eating, 1 Mat_24:38, that is the act of eating. As such it does not distinguish literal from metaphorical.
When Jews say something three times they mean it.
Indeed, and thus the frequent figurative use of eat or drink, even in (Rv. 2:7,14,17,20; 17:16), and that life is gained the moment one believes, excludes the Lord's supper as being necessary to have life within and eternal life.
People left over that teaching — just like JUDAS. You and Judas are on the same page on this one....He still told us to EAT HIS FLESH AND DRINK HIS BLOOD.
So to be consistent, since you take Jn. 6:53,54 literally, then you must deny that those who take this figuratively have life within and eternal life. Which renders you further heretical.
And you are schooled in ignorance of the faith.
Actually, RCs are the ones who ignore the evidence which excludes gaining spiritual life by physically eating, and the use of figurative language, and of John's characteristic use of the physical as representing the spiritual, thus Jn. 6:63 says the words are spirit, are life, and therefore obtaining spiritual life is NEVER shown to be by physically eating, but believing the gospel message. (Acts 10:43-47; 15:7-9) Even the NAB notes on 6:63 recognize this much: "Spirit . . . flesh: probably not a reference to the eucharistic body of Jesus but to the supernatural and the natural, as in ⇒ John 3:6." http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PXE.HTM#$3TD
And the aforementioned figurative use of John is seen
in John 3, Jesus is the likened to the serpent in the wilderness (Num. 21) who must “be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal” (vs. 14, 15).
In John 4, Jesus is the living water, that “whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (v. 14).
In John 5, Jesus is the Divine Son of God “making himself equal with God”, and the prophesied Messiah (vs. 18, 39).
In John 6, Jesus is the bread of God “which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” “..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” (vs. 35,40). This bread is called His flesh, “which I will give for the life of the world” (v. 51). And as He is the “living bread,” and “the life of the flesh is in the blood,” so the soon to be crucified Christ is metaphorical bread and blood.
In John 10, Jesus is “the door of the sheep,”, and the good shepherd [who] giveth his life for the sheep”, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” vs. 7, 10, 11).
In John 12, He is the LORD who Isaiah saw high and lifted up in glory, when Isaiah uttered the prophecy which as given in it’s fulfilled sense in Jn. 6 (Is. 6:1-10; Jn. 12:34b-50). To God be the glory.
In John 15, Jesus is the true vine. Thus the use of metaphors in Jn. 6 to denote believing and living by the Word of God, and most essentially Christ, is consistent theologically, culturally and and grammatically, whereas eating something to gain eternal life is distinctively pagan. The Jewish passover did not impart life, and Jesus analogy in Jn. 6 was not to the passover, but the miraculous bread from Heaven, which gave physical life, which corresponds to spiritual life under the New Covenant.
If John 6 is what Rome says it means, then according to v. 53, in order to have "life in you", which comes by receiving the holy Spirit (Acts 10:43-47; 11:18; 15:7-9; Eph. 2:1, 5), and to receive the gift of eternal life, then we would see the apostles preaching to take part in the Lord supper in order to be born again, and be saved. Instead, they preached that we are believe on the Lord Jesus, which is what Jn. 6: 63 confirms is the meaning of v. 53. The apostles taught how one becomes born again, and so have “life in you” (Eph. 2:1, 5), is by believing the word of the gospel, that of Christ crucified and risen again (Eph. 1:13; Acts 10:43-47).
In addition, the Lord tell us we are to “live by every word which proceedeth forth from the mouth of God
(Mt. 4:4), and in Jn. 4 He tells us that do His Father's will was in essence His food (v.34). Then, in Jn. 6:57 the Lord gives us a clear interpretation of how we are to live by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, by giving us the example of how He lives, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. And as Jesus “lived” by every word of the Father, (Mt. 4:4) not by literally eating His flesh, and His “meat and drink” was to do His will, (Jn. 4:34), so are we to live by believing Him, which is shown in following.
And that this is what Jn. 6 speaks of, and to which the rest of Scripture concurs, that by believing the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ, men receive His Spirit, and which enables a life of obedience. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (Jn. 6:63). So “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Ps. 34:8.
” IT’s the main thing wrong with you protestants.
Actually, as Catholics, even weekly ones are overall more liberal and less committed than their evangelical counterparts , and lose members to them who seek life, then it is Rome that is spirutually lacking. As a former weekly RC who became born again while still going, i know the vast difference btwn institutionalized religion and regeneration. If the Eucharist was regulated by the FDA as health food it would be liable for false advertising.
When I was a Catholic I heard the “bread of life” gospel many times, and this was always omitted: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Those words are absolutely critical and essential to that whole passage.
I’ll just say this too, from a logical standpoint, if eating bread was such an absolutely critical and fundamental concept to entering the Kingdom of God, why is it that only John writes about it. Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not even broach the subject.
Anyway, good post daniel1212. I learned from it.
A very good lay down of the difference between eisegesis and exegesis.