TRANSUBSTANTIATION: Proponents of the doctrine of Transubstantiation (the belief that the bread becomes flesh and the wine becomes blood during communion) often attempt to justify this belief with John 6:53, which reads, “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.” They perform a ritual in which they allegedly transform the bread and the wine into the flesh and blood of Jesus, which is totally unscriptural. During this ritual, it is believed that Jesus Christ voluntarily offers Himself again in sacrifice for us; however, this contradicts a whole bunch of scriptures (such as Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 9:25-28, 10:10-14, 10:26-27, 1Peter 3:18), which prove unequivocally that Christ’s sacrifice is not repeated, and in fact, does not need to be repeated. If only they would read a little further in the same chapter (John 6), perhaps they would see that Jesus was not instituting cannibalism, but he was rather talking about believing in Him and accepting by faith what He was about to accomplish in our behalf at the cross, through the giving of His body and blood in sacrifice: “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not” (John 6:63-64a). Thus, “eating” His flesh and “drinking” His blood stand for “believing,” or placing one’s faith in His sacrifice. The whole basis of salvation, according to the scriptures, is faith in the word of God, which points to Jesus and his sacrifice: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17); “For by grace are ye saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8); “Knowing that a man is not justified [made righteous] by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. . .” (Gal. 2:16a); “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. . . ” (John 3:16); “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). The words which Jesus spoke in John 6, refer to the giving of Himself in sacrifice to atone for our sins. If we believe these words, we are saved, and we have eternal life, and those words will sustain us, just as food and water which we consume sustain and nourish our bodies. Jesus used the analogy of eating and drinking to show that the message of Jesus crucified is something we must appropriate, claim for ourselves whole-heartedly, commit to, accepting all of its implications and consequences, and we must partake of it, much like the Israelites were to partake of the paschal lamb, consuming it in its entirety (Exodus 12:10; Num. 9:12). And Jesus is the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The implication here is that it is not possible to eat just a little bit of the Lamb and obtain only a partial benefit. Jesus paid for our entire salvation, and one cannot use only a small portion of it and then add something else, such as self-righteousness, individual merit, or good works, as a supplement! You cannot have Jesus as a partial savior. You cannot atone, nor offer penance for any of your sins, because it will be considered inadequate, unacceptable! Either Jesus is your only, all-sufficient, all-encompassing savior, or He is not your savior at all!
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 17:39:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015