THE EUCHARIST - THE TWO CONTEXTS

THE TWO CONTEXTS

CONTEXT 1
Here are some ‘eating flesh’ verses in scripture in the literal sense:
• Leviticus 26:29
You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.
• Jeremiah 19:9
I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the stress of the siege imposed on them by the enemies who seek their lives.’

CONTEXT 2
Here are some ‘eating flesh’ verses in the metaphorical/figurative sense:
• Psalm 27:2,
KJV - “When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes…”
RSV - When evildoers assail me, uttering slanders against me, my adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall.
• Isaiah 9:20
[18] For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. [19] Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no man spares his brother. [20] They snatch on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours his neighbour’s flesh,

We need to understand the ‘eat flesh’ sayings of Jesus within the biblical context and we have only two biblical options to choose from. The precedent has been set. Scripture itself gives you the context on how it is to be understood – after all Jesus could only have been quoting either “context” 1 or 2. Which ever one it was, it will give us eternal life.

Using scripture, which context above should we apply to John 6 – the literal or figurative?