S
ome verses used to support Protestant arguments.
Genesis 9:4 - "Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat."
Deuteronomy 12:18 - "You shall not partake of the blood, but must pour it out"
Acts 15:29 - "Abstain from ... meats of strangled animals"
The resolution:
What Our Lord was calling the Jewish people to do is to die to the Old Adam and Old Testament laws and rituals and enter the new covenant of his body and blood. Also in:
Psalms 27:2; Isaiah 49:26; Micah 3:3; 2 Samuel 23:15-17; Revelation 17:6, 16 - to symbolically eat and drink ones body and blood back in Jesus' times means to assault. This would make our Lord promise life everlasting to the culprit for slandering and hating Him, which would reduce the whole passage to utter nonsense. Christ would be saying "He that reviles me has eternal life". (Page 241 "Catholicism and Fundamentalism by Keating")
An example of Jesus talking symbolically about food
John 4:31-34; Matthew 16:5-12 - Jesus talking symbolically about food
Eucharist is promised.
John 6:35-71 - Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
1 Corinthians 2:14 to 3:4 - St. Paul explains what Jesus means by "the flesh"
Foretold and prefigured.
Exodus 12:8, 46 - Paschal lamb had to be eaten
Exodus 16:15 - "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat" (manna)
Malachi 1:11 - "everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering"
John 6:32-60 - (The Bread of Life discourse - Jesus refers back to the manna of the Old Testament.)
See also: - Psalms 78:24ff, Proverbs 9:2ff, Wisdom 16:20
Instituted by Christ.
Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:17-20 - Eucharist is instituted by Jesus
1 Corinthians 5:7 - Jesus is called the paschal lamb who has been sacrificed
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 - (St. Paul pens the earliest written account of the institution of the Eucharist)
John 1:29 - Jesus is called "the lamb of God"
Celebrated by the Apostles.
Acts 2:42 - "devoted themselves to the ... breaking of the bread and to the prayers."
Acts 20:7 - "first day of the week when we gathered to break bread"
1 Corinthians 10:16-22 - Eucharist is our participation in Christ's Body and Blood
Christ is truly present in the Eucharist.
Matthew 26:26 - "Take and eat, this is my body."
Mark 14:22, 24 - "This is my body ... This is my blood of the covenant."
Luke 22:19-20 - "This is my body, which will be given for you ... new covenant in my blood"
John 6:50-69 says: {This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." {See note} But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."}
Note 1: - Verse 62-63 states "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life."
What Our Lord says here is not intended a Maldonatus thought, to increase the scandal, but to rectify what was simply a cannibalistic interpretation of what he has just said. The ascension will perhaps surprise the recalcitrants more, but it will eliminate the chief difficulty about eating the flesh of One who in celestial glory takes his place where he was from eternity.
Note 2: - Notice that the close followers of Our Lord, the "disciples" LEFT HIM because this was a hard saying. Then Our Lord asks Peter if he will leave him too. Peter representing the 12 apostles says: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. WE HAVE COME TO BELIEVE (John 6:69)". My personal note to my separated brethren: Come join us and BELIEVE!
1 Corinthians 10:16 - (In the Eucharist, we participate in the Body and Blood of Christ)
1 Corinthians 11:24 - "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
St. Ignatius (107AD) - [heretics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of Our Savior Jesus Christ... (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6, 2)
St. Justin Martyr (150AD) - not as common bread, nor common drink do we receive these; but ... as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh are nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that Incarnated Jesus."(First Apology 66, 20)
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (195AD) - He [ Jesus ] has declared the cup, a part of his creation, to be His own Blood from which causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of his creation, He has established as His own Body from which He gives increase to our bodies. (Against Heresies 5, 2, 2)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (350AD) - "He himself, therefore, having declared and said of the Bread, 'This is My Body', who will dare any longer to doubt? And when he himself has affirmed and said, 'This is My Blood' who can ever hesitate and say it is not His Blood." (Catechetical Lectues: Mystagogic 4, 22, 1)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (350AD) - "Do not regard the bread and wine as simply that, for they are, according to the Master's declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ. Even though the sense suggest to you other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this manner by taste, but be fully assured by faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the Body and Blood of Christ." (Catechetical Lectues: Mystagogic 4,22,6)
The Eucharist must be worthily received.
(if the Eucharist were just a symbol there would be no need to partake of it worthily)
1 Corinthians 10:21 - "cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons"
1 Corinthians 11:23-29 - "whoever eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself" (receiving the Eucharist unworthily makes us guilty of his Body and Blood)
-Read More
ome verses used to support Protestant arguments.
Genesis 9:4 - "Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat."
Deuteronomy 12:18 - "You shall not partake of the blood, but must pour it out"
Acts 15:29 - "Abstain from ... meats of strangled animals"
The resolution:
What Our Lord was calling the Jewish people to do is to die to the Old Adam and Old Testament laws and rituals and enter the new covenant of his body and blood. Also in:
Psalms 27:2; Isaiah 49:26; Micah 3:3; 2 Samuel 23:15-17; Revelation 17:6, 16 - to symbolically eat and drink ones body and blood back in Jesus' times means to assault. This would make our Lord promise life everlasting to the culprit for slandering and hating Him, which would reduce the whole passage to utter nonsense. Christ would be saying "He that reviles me has eternal life". (Page 241 "Catholicism and Fundamentalism by Keating")
An example of Jesus talking symbolically about food
John 4:31-34; Matthew 16:5-12 - Jesus talking symbolically about food
Eucharist is promised.
John 6:35-71 - Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
1 Corinthians 2:14 to 3:4 - St. Paul explains what Jesus means by "the flesh"
Foretold and prefigured.
Exodus 12:8, 46 - Paschal lamb had to be eaten
Exodus 16:15 - "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat" (manna)
Malachi 1:11 - "everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering"
John 6:32-60 - (The Bread of Life discourse - Jesus refers back to the manna of the Old Testament.)
See also: - Psalms 78:24ff, Proverbs 9:2ff, Wisdom 16:20
Instituted by Christ.
Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:17-20 - Eucharist is instituted by Jesus
1 Corinthians 5:7 - Jesus is called the paschal lamb who has been sacrificed
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 - (St. Paul pens the earliest written account of the institution of the Eucharist)
John 1:29 - Jesus is called "the lamb of God"
Celebrated by the Apostles.
Acts 2:42 - "devoted themselves to the ... breaking of the bread and to the prayers."
Acts 20:7 - "first day of the week when we gathered to break bread"
1 Corinthians 10:16-22 - Eucharist is our participation in Christ's Body and Blood
Christ is truly present in the Eucharist.
Matthew 26:26 - "Take and eat, this is my body."
Mark 14:22, 24 - "This is my body ... This is my blood of the covenant."
Luke 22:19-20 - "This is my body, which will be given for you ... new covenant in my blood"
John 6:50-69 says: {This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." {See note} But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."}
Note 1: - Verse 62-63 states "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life."
What Our Lord says here is not intended a Maldonatus thought, to increase the scandal, but to rectify what was simply a cannibalistic interpretation of what he has just said. The ascension will perhaps surprise the recalcitrants more, but it will eliminate the chief difficulty about eating the flesh of One who in celestial glory takes his place where he was from eternity.
Note 2: - Notice that the close followers of Our Lord, the "disciples" LEFT HIM because this was a hard saying. Then Our Lord asks Peter if he will leave him too. Peter representing the 12 apostles says: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. WE HAVE COME TO BELIEVE (John 6:69)". My personal note to my separated brethren: Come join us and BELIEVE!
1 Corinthians 10:16 - (In the Eucharist, we participate in the Body and Blood of Christ)
1 Corinthians 11:24 - "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
St. Ignatius (107AD) - [heretics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of Our Savior Jesus Christ... (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6, 2)
St. Justin Martyr (150AD) - not as common bread, nor common drink do we receive these; but ... as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh are nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that Incarnated Jesus."(First Apology 66, 20)
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (195AD) - He [ Jesus ] has declared the cup, a part of his creation, to be His own Blood from which causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of his creation, He has established as His own Body from which He gives increase to our bodies. (Against Heresies 5, 2, 2)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (350AD) - "He himself, therefore, having declared and said of the Bread, 'This is My Body', who will dare any longer to doubt? And when he himself has affirmed and said, 'This is My Blood' who can ever hesitate and say it is not His Blood." (Catechetical Lectues: Mystagogic 4, 22, 1)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (350AD) - "Do not regard the bread and wine as simply that, for they are, according to the Master's declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ. Even though the sense suggest to you other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this manner by taste, but be fully assured by faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the Body and Blood of Christ." (Catechetical Lectues: Mystagogic 4,22,6)
The Eucharist must be worthily received.
(if the Eucharist were just a symbol there would be no need to partake of it worthily)
1 Corinthians 10:21 - "cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons"
1 Corinthians 11:23-29 - "whoever eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself" (receiving the Eucharist unworthily makes us guilty of his Body and Blood)
-Read More
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