3 quick points and I’m done with this thread…if you want to continue you may PM me…other than that there’s nothing more I can add…
Jesus repudiated hundreds of years of iron clad accepted "tradition" (Mt. 15) throughout his ministry. Like Rome's unbiblical traditions the "traditions of the elders" had been around for a long time and like Romes they were but "vain" traditions that produced "vain" worship.
John 6 does not teach a thing about communion. John 6:29-65 is devoted to teaching how faith in him is obtained and what it is. It is a work that no man can do. The very disputed language is aptly introduced and explained in child like language.
His unbelieving audiance ask what they can do, to do the works of God (v. 28) and Jesus tells them that to believe in Him is the work of God (v. 29) and it is a work they cannot do but a work God must do in them. He repeats this over and over again throughout this passage (vv. 29, 37-39; 44-45; 64-65).
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
However, they insist that they are capable of believing in him if he but shows them a miracle or sign like that of Moses:
30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Jesus takes the story of literal manna given by God and applies it to himself as the metaphorical bread given by God for spiritual life:
32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
They ask Jesus to give them this "true bread" from heaven and Christ explains that to partake (eat, drink) of this bread is simply to believe in Him as their Messiah:
34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
Note verse 36! He did not say they failed to LITERALLY eat him but they failed to "BELIEVE." He then returns to his previous point made in verse 29 and AGAIN claims that to believe on him is the work of God not a work they can do as their response in verse 36 proves. However, God does not fail in His work. ALL the Father gives will come and will believe on Him:
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, 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.
The work that only God can do is the work of giving a person to the Son (vv. 37-39) which includes drawing them (v. 44) which includes inwardly disposing them to come to the Son in faith (v. 45). This is easily seen in the parallelism between verse 39 with 40 as the same identical phrase concludes both texts "raise him up at the last day." All that God gives come and all who come none shall be lost as the one coming shall be raised up again at the last day:
This simplistic teaching was rejected by his audiance just as it is rejected by Roman Catholics and all sacramentalists (vv. 41-43)
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
So Jesus again reverts back to the truth he began with in verse 29 that ability to come and believe in him is the work of God not of man and bluntly tells them this once again but in different terms:
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Again, he concludes his statement in verse 44 by the same conclusion he gave in verses 39 and 40 "I will raise him up at the last day." He again explains the work that only God can do in bringing men to Christ in verse 45 where "ALL" who are taught of God, "EVERY MAN" that hath heard and learned of the Father will come to Christ. Simplistic teaching that only blinded hearts reject.
Again, Jesus expressly tells them he is talking about believing in him with direct immediate use of the metaphors of eating and drinking in reference to the MANNA in the wilderness to illustrate believing in him or partaking of him by faith:
47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.48 I am that bread of life.
49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.[/COLOR]
He is still comparing himself to the MANNA that fell in the wilderness and has already defined eating as believing in him (verse 35 and verse 40 and again in vers 47).
However, just like Rome the audiance cannot understand simply metaphorical language but demanded a literal intepretation which became their stumbling block:
52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
His response to these blinded reprobates was to skip the interpretative langauge he had repeatedly given them (vv. 35, 40, 47) and simply repeat the metaphor in the most graphic way:
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
However, even here he is merciful to their blind ignorance and repeats for the fourth time the phrase he used in verse 39, verse 40, and verse 44 where in each case it was directly attached to the work that God must do and does effectively in all He gives and draws:
and I will raise him up at the last day
However, those who are without faith are without spiritual understanding of God's Word (1 Cor. 2:14) and no repitition will help them:
60 ¶ Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
It takes the work of God to understand spiritual things as the flesh cannot understand. He explicitly tells them that he knows not only who the unbelievers are but AGAIN tells them why they don't believe - because "it is not given unto them" by the Father:
64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Explicit child like language does not help unbelievers as they are incapable of beleiving as believing in Christ is a work of God:
66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
However, Peter understood that eternal life was not literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood but in believing, partaking, digesting, drinking, eating, receiving His "WORDS" SO THEY BECAME INSEPARABLE FROM the HEART AND MIND AS THE substance OF HOPE for ETERNAL LIFE.
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Now, Roman Catholics have not been given spiritual understanding of this passage and they will respond to these truth just as the unbelievers in Christ's audiance until God does a work of faith within them.
.....Matt, it leaves humans confused:thumbs:
