In First Corinthians 2:14, he tells us, “The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” In First Corinthians 3:1, Paul goes on, “But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ.” It requires supernatural grace in the life of the believer to believe the radical declaration of Christ concerning the Eucharist. 6:3 eij" toV o[ro" … This phrase does not necessarily refer to a particular mountain or hillside, but may simply mean “the hill country” or “the high ground,” referring to the high country east of the Sea of Galilee (well known today as the Golan Heights). In verse 54, John begins to use trogo instead of phago. When spirit is used, e.g., “God is spirit” in John 4:24, it is then referring to that which is not material. In Psalm 27:1-2, Isaiah 9:18-20, Isaiah 49:26, Micah 3:3, and Revelation 17:6-16, we find these words (eating flesh and drinking blood) understood as symbolic for persecuting or assaulting someone. For millions of non-Catholic Christians, Jesus was using pure symbolism in John 6:53 when he declared to his followers, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” The reasons non-Catholics give can usually be boiled down to these: First, a literal interpretation would make Christians into cannibals.
. Belief in the Eucharist is a gift of grace. Catholics receive him in the form of bread and wine. Thus, we could conclude that Jesus’ words, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail” have essentially a twofold meaning. John the Baptist introduced our Lord as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, see also verse 36). The apostles, in fact, did see Jesus literally ascend to where he was before (see Acts 1:9-10).
After seeing the Jews and the disciples struggling with the radical nature of his words, our Lord says to the disciples and to us all: “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Protestants claim Jesus here lets us know he was speaking symbolically or “spiritually” when he said “the spirit gives life, the flesh is of no avail.” See?
Compare this with other examples in Scripture when followers of the Lord are confused about his teaching. 407 BC) and especially by king John Hyrcanus (d. 104 BC). Symbolically performing an immoral act would be of its nature immoral. After seeing the Jews and the disciples struggling with the radical nature of his words, our Lord says to the disciples and to us all: “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” When we examine the surrounding context of John 6:53, Jesus’ words could hardly have been clearer. Trogo is a decidedly more graphic term, meaning “to chew on” or to “gnaw on”—as when an animal is ripping apart its prey. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! Jesus’ graphic imagery about eating His flesh and drinking His blood is indeed puzzling at first. The resurrected body is spiritual, and indeed we can be called spiritual as Christians inasmuch as we are controlled by the Spirit of God. 3) On another level very closely related to our last point, Christ said, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail,” because he wills to eliminate any possibility of a sort of crass literalism that would reduce his words to a cannibalistic understanding. We deserve to die for our sins, because … NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Second, Jesus claims to be a “door” in John 10:9 and a “vine” in John 15:5. Reasoning from the Scriptures with Catholics by Ron Rhodes. No one listening to him understood him to be speaking metaphorically. Jesus’ Jewish audience would never have thought he was saying, “Unless you persecute and assault me, you shall not have life in you.” Jesus never encouraged sin. In John 6:50-53 we encounter various forms of the Greek verb phago, “eating.” However, after the Jews begin to express incredulity at the idea of eating Christ’s flesh, the language begins to intensify.
Would anyone think him to have meant, “What if you were to see me symbolically ascend?” Hardly! What is the spiritual presence view of the Lordâs Supper? In verse 51, he plainly claims to be “the living bread” that his followers must eat. Why is the real presence of Christ in the Lordâs Supper such a controversial issue? Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.