Transubstantiation

Here is a study on the question about the Eucharist and whether it is symbolic or if it actually becomes the body and blood of the Lord…

The wonderful advantage we have is knowing that the Word of God does not contradict itself.  So, when I am dealing with a question like this I try to look at the entirety of scripture to find out what is truth.

Look at what happened at the Last Supper prior to the crucifixion.  There is no indication that the disciples were eating human flesh or drinking human blood during the meal.  The Lord was obviously still alive at that point but told His disciples that the unleavened bread was His Body and the wine was His Blood.  So the only reasonable conclusion is that this was being said metaphorically.

In fact, Matt. 26:26-29, Mark 14:24-25 and Luke 22:17-20 clarifies that the Lord is speaking metaphorically when He first refers to the wine as His blood and then in the same context refers to the beverage in the cup as the fruit of the vine.

In much of the Lord’s ministry did He speak and teach allegorically and metaphorically.  Much of His teachings were in parables so whenever the Lord said something that was not to be taken literally but figuratively, that was certainly not uncommon with Him.

In Leviticus 17:10-14 the Law of Moses does not allow someone to drink blood - not animal blood and certainly not human blood.  So literally drinking the blood of the Lord would be in direct conflict with what the law forbids people to do.

Also, whenever cannibalism is mentioned in the Bible, it is always in a negative sense.  Ezekiel 5:10;  Lev. 26:29;  Lam. 2:20;  Jer. 19:9;  Deut. 28:57;  2 Kings 6:28-29 are all examples of this and all are horrible events.  None are positive.

When the Apostle Paul refers to the consumption of the elements of the Last Supper, he refers to this event as being a memorial to what the Lord did for us at His crucifixion (1 Cor. 11:23-26).  By changing these elements to the Lord’s actual body and blood, it would be like sacrificing our Savior over and over, again.  No way could that be right.  Yeshua’s sacrifice was once and for all time and was complete.

Let’s look at John 6:42-63 that you referenced.

The flesh profits nothing.  The Spirit gives life (vs. 63).  But the only way the Spirit of the Lord can indwell someone is if their hearts are prepared to receive the Spirit by repentance and asking forgiveness of sins.  And that can only happen because sin was paid for by our Lord through the sacrifice of His Body and the shedding of His blood.

So what does the Lord mean when He is telling the people to eat His flesh and drink His blood?  It was obviously misunderstood by His disciples when He said it to them as recorded in John 6:66, and it is still misunderstood today.  The Lord cleanses us from sin from the inside out.  So, by figuratively saying we are to eat His flesh and drink His blood, the Lord is making Him a part of us through the power of His Spirit, and His sacrifice was the complete payment to transform our bodies into His likeness.  This is completed when we release our spirit from our body in death and take on our new, glorified bodies.

We know that the Lord spoke both in figurative speech and He spoke literally (John 16:25).  So we need to look at context to know the difference.  When the Lord is talking about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, it is obvious that this is one of those times where He is using figurative speech to say, “Believe in Me completely.  Have total trust in the sacrifice of My body and My blood for the absolute and total payment for your sins.  When you do that, You and I are One just as the Father and I are One.  If you don’t do that, you can’t be a part of Me.  You are not a part of My family.”

There are other passages in which the Lord spoke figuratively.  He calls Himself a shepherd (John 10:11), a door (John 10:7), and a vine (John 15:5).  I don’t think anyone is making the case that He is saying He is literally any of those things.  In Matthew 5 the Lord calls you as a believer the salt of the earth (vs. 13) and the light of the world (vs. 14).  In John 15:5 the Lord says we are branches.  This is all a metaphor to illustrate what He is expecting us to do for Him and through Him and what we can accomplish for His Kingdom as believers (vs. 15-16).

I hope this information is helpful and clarifies what He was meaning when He told His disciples to eat His flesh and drink His blood.  It was not literal.  He was speaking metaphorically.