Answers to "Ask Mike"
Questions
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27. Please explain John chapter 6 where it seems that Jesus is saying that there might be a real or literal body of Christ in the bread.
He is not saying he is actually H2O but is instead an
unending source of refreshment. Here in In other words, you don't need physical bread to nourish you spiritually. You need that which is spiritual! It must also be pointed out that had Jesus meant his disciples to understand him as indicating an actual "eating" of his flesh, they would have been shocked. The suggestion would be tantamount to cannibalism, an act abhorrent to Jews. It is not likely Jesus would have used literal language because of that fact. * NIV note on "spirit" in
see also For more answers,
see Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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Many
use John 6 to construct a sacramental view of the Lord's Supper, a
view in which the loaf in the Lord's Supper is actually transformed
into the fleshly body of Christ. In my view, this is an error in
judgment. Two verses seem to indicate that Jesus speaks
metaphorically; that is, he uses figurative language. John 6:27 (NIV)
says, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures
to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him
God the Father has placed his seal of approval." Jesus contrasts
food that spoils, the bread he distributed in the feeding of the
5000, with that which does not spoil. He speaks of himself as the
"bread of life" and the "water of life" (John 6:35). Just as in his
conversation with the woman at the well (John 4), Jesus uses the
figure of living water or water of life.