Does the bread & wine really turn into Jesus' body & blood? What is transubstantiation? Do you have to participate in communion, the Lord's Supper or take Eucharist to be saved?
14-Sep-2011
These questions lead us to the issue known as transubstantiation. Those holding to transubstantiation maintain that when the bread or cracker is eaten during the sacrament of communion, it actually is physically transformed into Jesus’s body; and that when the wine or juice is drank, it literally turns into Jesus’s blood. Usually, this passage in John is cited:
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. – Jn 6.53-55
So we have to ask, what is Jesus really communicating? Does He mean it literally? As surely as it is dangerous to hold the extreme view that Scripture is all poetic & figurative (never literal), it is also dangerous to hold an entirely literal interpretation of Scripture. This is simply because not all of it is intended to be taken literally, but we must let Scripture dictate which is which. Our interpretations & understandings of various passages & doctrines (teachings) must not contradict one another. If they do, then one or more of our understandings is wrong. While much of Scripture is meant to be literal, when something is in conflict with known & otherwise obvious Bible doctrines, then at least consider the possibility that it does not have a literal interpretation. (Note that there are many false teachings, personal preferences, pop-ideologies & so-called “science” that contradict the Scriptures, so we must not let them pollute a proper understanding of God’s Word.)
So for example, when Dt 11.12, Ps 11.4 & Pr 15.3 mention the “eyes” of the LORD, are they literally referring to His physical eyes? Well, we know from other passages like Jn 1.18, 4.24 & 6.46 that God the Father is spirit & has no physical body (unlike God the Son – Jn 1.14). This is because He predates the creation of physical matter (Gen 1.1, Ac 17.24-25). The “eyes” of the LORD are therefore a reference to God’s omniscience – His awareness & knowledge of everything. And this coincides with Heb 4.13 & 1 Jn 3.20.
In another example, Jesus said that if we have enough faith, we can move a mountain (Mt 17.20) – does He mean a literal mountain? Or did He mean that mankind’s faith is generally small & that if we actually use some, then we can witness the moving of spiritual “mountains” that are more significant than physical ones? The latter primarily fits with Scripture (Jn 14.12) & our experience confirms it.
Jesus often used hyperboles to capture His audiences’ attention & drive home a point. He also used them to force people think in order to break them out of their limited ways of thinking – their old garments & wineskins (Mt 9.16-17). So we ask again, what is Jesus really communicating? Is He using a hyperbole? What is the context? Here I encourage you to pause & read John chapter 6 for yourself...
To summarize John 6, it starts with Jesus miraculously feeding 5,000 people with 5 small loaves of bread & 2 small fish. This head count only includes the men, so there were likely more than twice that amount. This crowd was initially attracted to Jesus because of miraculous healings He’d performed. Seeing that He was not only able to meet their medical needs, but now their dietary ones, they began to narrowly focus on the physical & wanted to forcibly set Jesus up as king. This wasn’t the type of kingship Jesus was after, so He withdrew after sending His disciples back across the Sea of Galilee.
Half way across the sea, the disciples encounter high winds & rough waters. Then Jesus appears to them walking on the water much to their terror & amazement. Because Jesus never does anything accidentally, this incident has something to do both with what He had already done & is about to do. Much like the ensuing crowds, the disciples didn’t quite grasp the purpose of the miracles they’d witnessed; they too were overly focused on the physical. By walking on the water & then stilling it & the wind, Jesus was demonstrating that there is a spiritual reality that is greater than the physical one – and He had authority over both (Mk 6.50-52).
This event would have instantly reminded His disciples of a prior boating experience of similar design & purpose (Mt 8.23-26, 27). Here too, their faith in Christ’s command of the spiritual needed increased by seeing His command of the physical because they were going to need it when they reached the other shore. And again, Jesus highlights the priority of the spiritual over the physical in the healing of the paralytic (Lk 5.20-21, 22-26).
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." – Jn 6.25-26
From John 6.22 on, the people keep focusing on the physical, but Jesus speaks of the spiritual. The people –physical; Jesus –spiritual. As this volley progresses, Jesus intensifies His efforts to break His peers out of their limited thinking. It culminates in the sifting out of those who were truly seeking Him & those who were merely looking for entertainment (Jn 6.66). Little did they realize that Jesus was the answer to all their needs - physical & spiritual, but if you don’t have your spiritual needs met, you will always be lacking. Tragically, their (our) greatest need is spiritual & Jesus Christ is the only one who can fill it.
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. – Jn 6.47-53
This idea of eating human flesh & blood would have absolutely astounded His Jewish hearers as this would have violated Old Testament law (Lev 3.17, 7.27). That was exactly Jesus’s intent – to shock them out of their limited focus on the physical. Old Testament teaching explained that life was in the blood (Lev 17.11, Dt 12.23). Furthermore, blood was intensely associated with sacrifices, namely atonement for sin. What Jesus was alluding to is that His own bodily & bloody sacrifice was to be the ultimate atonement for sins & that if anyone believes that He was sacrificed for their sin, they would have eternal life – they would never have to look for or do anything else (Jn 6.29, 35, 40, 47-48). Christ was declaring this a spiritual reality. This belief (trust) in Him was & is real spiritual food (not physical) that will sustain eternal spiritual life just as physical bread sustains physical life. So in context, “real” means “actual”, not physical.
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood.” – Lev 17.11-12
While we are discussing the idea of eating physical flesh & blood, this would be a violation of God’s standing law – a sin (1 Jn 3.4). Of course Jesus never sinned, neither would He tempt us to sin (Jas 1.13-14), including eating literal flesh & blood.
It should also be noted that the events of this chapter occur earlier in Jesus’s ministry which is in advance of His last supper where He institutes communion prior to His betrayal & crucifixion. While communion most certainly symbolically represents this idea of Christ’s sacrifice for our remembrance (Lk 22.19, 1 Cor 11.24-25), it is not the context of this discourse in John 6. The sacrament of communion – eating real, physical bread & drinking real, physical juice – serves to remind us of the real, spiritual food of belief in Christ’s real, physical sacrifice of atonement for our sins which provides real, spiritual life. And since the context of the subject passage is not referring to physical food that provides eternal life, partaking in communion is not necessary for salvation which is attained solely by belief (faith – Rom 4.1-5, Gal 3.1-7, Eph 2.8-9).
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day… I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. – Jesus in Jn 6.40, 47-48
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. – Heb 13.9
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. – Jn 6.53-55
So we have to ask, what is Jesus really communicating? Does He mean it literally? As surely as it is dangerous to hold the extreme view that Scripture is all poetic & figurative (never literal), it is also dangerous to hold an entirely literal interpretation of Scripture. This is simply because not all of it is intended to be taken literally, but we must let Scripture dictate which is which. Our interpretations & understandings of various passages & doctrines (teachings) must not contradict one another. If they do, then one or more of our understandings is wrong. While much of Scripture is meant to be literal, when something is in conflict with known & otherwise obvious Bible doctrines, then at least consider the possibility that it does not have a literal interpretation. (Note that there are many false teachings, personal preferences, pop-ideologies & so-called “science” that contradict the Scriptures, so we must not let them pollute a proper understanding of God’s Word.)
So for example, when Dt 11.12, Ps 11.4 & Pr 15.3 mention the “eyes” of the LORD, are they literally referring to His physical eyes? Well, we know from other passages like Jn 1.18, 4.24 & 6.46 that God the Father is spirit & has no physical body (unlike God the Son – Jn 1.14). This is because He predates the creation of physical matter (Gen 1.1, Ac 17.24-25). The “eyes” of the LORD are therefore a reference to God’s omniscience – His awareness & knowledge of everything. And this coincides with Heb 4.13 & 1 Jn 3.20.
In another example, Jesus said that if we have enough faith, we can move a mountain (Mt 17.20) – does He mean a literal mountain? Or did He mean that mankind’s faith is generally small & that if we actually use some, then we can witness the moving of spiritual “mountains” that are more significant than physical ones? The latter primarily fits with Scripture (Jn 14.12) & our experience confirms it.
Jesus often used hyperboles to capture His audiences’ attention & drive home a point. He also used them to force people think in order to break them out of their limited ways of thinking – their old garments & wineskins (Mt 9.16-17). So we ask again, what is Jesus really communicating? Is He using a hyperbole? What is the context? Here I encourage you to pause & read John chapter 6 for yourself...
To summarize John 6, it starts with Jesus miraculously feeding 5,000 people with 5 small loaves of bread & 2 small fish. This head count only includes the men, so there were likely more than twice that amount. This crowd was initially attracted to Jesus because of miraculous healings He’d performed. Seeing that He was not only able to meet their medical needs, but now their dietary ones, they began to narrowly focus on the physical & wanted to forcibly set Jesus up as king. This wasn’t the type of kingship Jesus was after, so He withdrew after sending His disciples back across the Sea of Galilee.
Half way across the sea, the disciples encounter high winds & rough waters. Then Jesus appears to them walking on the water much to their terror & amazement. Because Jesus never does anything accidentally, this incident has something to do both with what He had already done & is about to do. Much like the ensuing crowds, the disciples didn’t quite grasp the purpose of the miracles they’d witnessed; they too were overly focused on the physical. By walking on the water & then stilling it & the wind, Jesus was demonstrating that there is a spiritual reality that is greater than the physical one – and He had authority over both (Mk 6.50-52).
This event would have instantly reminded His disciples of a prior boating experience of similar design & purpose (Mt 8.23-26, 27). Here too, their faith in Christ’s command of the spiritual needed increased by seeing His command of the physical because they were going to need it when they reached the other shore. And again, Jesus highlights the priority of the spiritual over the physical in the healing of the paralytic (Lk 5.20-21, 22-26).
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." – Jn 6.25-26
From John 6.22 on, the people keep focusing on the physical, but Jesus speaks of the spiritual. The people –physical; Jesus –spiritual. As this volley progresses, Jesus intensifies His efforts to break His peers out of their limited thinking. It culminates in the sifting out of those who were truly seeking Him & those who were merely looking for entertainment (Jn 6.66). Little did they realize that Jesus was the answer to all their needs - physical & spiritual, but if you don’t have your spiritual needs met, you will always be lacking. Tragically, their (our) greatest need is spiritual & Jesus Christ is the only one who can fill it.
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. – Jn 6.47-53
This idea of eating human flesh & blood would have absolutely astounded His Jewish hearers as this would have violated Old Testament law (Lev 3.17, 7.27). That was exactly Jesus’s intent – to shock them out of their limited focus on the physical. Old Testament teaching explained that life was in the blood (Lev 17.11, Dt 12.23). Furthermore, blood was intensely associated with sacrifices, namely atonement for sin. What Jesus was alluding to is that His own bodily & bloody sacrifice was to be the ultimate atonement for sins & that if anyone believes that He was sacrificed for their sin, they would have eternal life – they would never have to look for or do anything else (Jn 6.29, 35, 40, 47-48). Christ was declaring this a spiritual reality. This belief (trust) in Him was & is real spiritual food (not physical) that will sustain eternal spiritual life just as physical bread sustains physical life. So in context, “real” means “actual”, not physical.
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood.” – Lev 17.11-12
While we are discussing the idea of eating physical flesh & blood, this would be a violation of God’s standing law – a sin (1 Jn 3.4). Of course Jesus never sinned, neither would He tempt us to sin (Jas 1.13-14), including eating literal flesh & blood.
It should also be noted that the events of this chapter occur earlier in Jesus’s ministry which is in advance of His last supper where He institutes communion prior to His betrayal & crucifixion. While communion most certainly symbolically represents this idea of Christ’s sacrifice for our remembrance (Lk 22.19, 1 Cor 11.24-25), it is not the context of this discourse in John 6. The sacrament of communion – eating real, physical bread & drinking real, physical juice – serves to remind us of the real, spiritual food of belief in Christ’s real, physical sacrifice of atonement for our sins which provides real, spiritual life. And since the context of the subject passage is not referring to physical food that provides eternal life, partaking in communion is not necessary for salvation which is attained solely by belief (faith – Rom 4.1-5, Gal 3.1-7, Eph 2.8-9).
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day… I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. – Jesus in Jn 6.40, 47-48
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. – Heb 13.9