This is gnosticism. It’s false. Jesus taught the disciples at the last supper how to prepare the passover meal from that point on and that the bread and wine was His Body and His Blood. He didn’t say “this wine represents my blood.” He said this IS my blood.
I'm not a student of gnosticism, but I believe, perhaps wrongly, that they thought that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh. That, of course, is incorrect according to the Scriptures. In His incarnation, He had both divinity and sinless humanity complete with blood.
In Matt. 26:28, Jesus says, "This is My blood of the [new] covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins." This is a reference to the new covenant God said He would enact in Jeremiah 31:31-34. There, He said that in this new covenant, He would put His law in our inward parts and write it upon our hearts...for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. The blood of animals could not take away sin, but the blood shed on the cross could. The wine foreshadowed the blood that would be shed for the forgiveness of sin. The reality was the blood that was shed on the cross. But, according to Heb. 9:14, Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. And according to 1 John 1:7 (above v. 17 is a typo), the blood is now in the Spirit. And in one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body, and are given to drink the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). A sister verse to the Jeremiah reference in Ezekiel 36:27 says that God will put His Spirit in us.
As for eating His flesh, remember John said, "In the beginning was the Word (v.1)...and the Word became flesh (v. 14). Jesus said, I am the living bread (Jn. 6:51). "Eat My flesh...My words are spirit and life (v. 63). The flesh profits nothing. But it is the flesh that would profit if transubstantiation were real. Peter said, "You have the words of eternal life (v. 68). We eat His flesh and drink His blood whenever we turn our heart to the Lord in the word. Then the veil is taken away, and the Lord is the Spirit. Then we can behold Him and are transformed into His image from glory to glory by the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:15-18).
There are a lot of different gnostics and they had a few different heresies. One of the main unifying heresies of the gnostics was that only knowledge (gnosis)/acknowledgment was required for salvation (“faith alone”).
“The flesh profits nothing” refers to the finite nature of OUR flesh, not HIS flesh. This is obvious since he says 6 times “you must eat of my body or you have no life in you.” Obviously His flesh profits us greatly. As more and more followers walked away, He did not explain what would have been quite simple to explain: “It’s just a metaphor, come back.”
"only knowledge (gnosis)/acknowledgment was required for salvation (“faith alone”)." Knowledge is not faith. You can "know" and still reject. Faith is necessary to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:14). Was anything else required of the thief on the cross?
What is His flesh? In the beginning was the Word, the Word was God (Jn. 1:1) and the Word became flesh (v. 14). My words are Spirit and life, Man shall live not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out from the mouth of God. Christ is the word, even the bread, that came out from God. The reality of the flesh of Christ is the Word. He came that we might have life. His words convey His life. His flesh does not exist in the physical world anymore. The doctrine of transubstantiation was just an attempt to understand how it would be possible to eat His flesh. Had His disciples thought that He meant for them to consume His body in order to have life, Joseph of Arimethea and whoever was with him in collecting Jesus' body would have cannibalized it. That would surely be of more value than a transubstantiated flesh. And the "flesh profits nothing" because whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach goes out in the drain (Matt. 15:17).
And what is it "to eat?' It is a word that contains the thought of taking something that is outside of you into you and it becomes part of you, your constitution. Peter, in Acts 10, was shown that "eating unclean meat," was not a matter of what you put in your mouth, it was a metaphor for persons (meat) you associate with (eat). The history of the Jews was that they associated with (ate) idolaters (meat) and became idolaters. That understanding became his testimony in the house of Cornelius. And the uncleanness has to do with what is in their hearts (Acts. 15:9), as Jesus also said in Matt. 15:18-19. The "heart," of course, not being the physical pump, but the inward parts, our thoughts, feelings, will, and conscience. The physical flesh of Jesus is not consumable, but His Spirit in resurrection is consumable through faith. The Spirit conveys God in Christ as heavenly food into us. When we "eat" His flesh (the Spirit/word) by having our mind renewed with the mind of Christ, we become the Body of Christ. Taste the milk of the word and see that the Lord is good (1 Pet. 2:2-3).
The ONLY reason faith alone was required of the thief on the cross was because he was in his dying moments unable to be baptized, confess his sins, or eat of the Body of Christ. It’s borderline dishonest to suggest that beause a man who was crucified next to Christ didnt need baptism then technically no one does. You let me know when you get crucified not knowing Christ and learn of Him literally while you are crucified, and you can claim you don’t need to be baptized.
“To eat him is to take him in spiritually”
This is gnosticism. It’s false. Jesus taught the disciples at the last supper how to prepare the passover meal from that point on and that the bread and wine was His Body and His Blood. He didn’t say “this wine represents my blood.” He said this IS my blood.
I'm not a student of gnosticism, but I believe, perhaps wrongly, that they thought that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh. That, of course, is incorrect according to the Scriptures. In His incarnation, He had both divinity and sinless humanity complete with blood.
In Matt. 26:28, Jesus says, "This is My blood of the [new] covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins." This is a reference to the new covenant God said He would enact in Jeremiah 31:31-34. There, He said that in this new covenant, He would put His law in our inward parts and write it upon our hearts...for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. The blood of animals could not take away sin, but the blood shed on the cross could. The wine foreshadowed the blood that would be shed for the forgiveness of sin. The reality was the blood that was shed on the cross. But, according to Heb. 9:14, Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. And according to 1 John 1:7 (above v. 17 is a typo), the blood is now in the Spirit. And in one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body, and are given to drink the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). A sister verse to the Jeremiah reference in Ezekiel 36:27 says that God will put His Spirit in us.
As for eating His flesh, remember John said, "In the beginning was the Word (v.1)...and the Word became flesh (v. 14). Jesus said, I am the living bread (Jn. 6:51). "Eat My flesh...My words are spirit and life (v. 63). The flesh profits nothing. But it is the flesh that would profit if transubstantiation were real. Peter said, "You have the words of eternal life (v. 68). We eat His flesh and drink His blood whenever we turn our heart to the Lord in the word. Then the veil is taken away, and the Lord is the Spirit. Then we can behold Him and are transformed into His image from glory to glory by the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:15-18).
There are a lot of different gnostics and they had a few different heresies. One of the main unifying heresies of the gnostics was that only knowledge (gnosis)/acknowledgment was required for salvation (“faith alone”).
“The flesh profits nothing” refers to the finite nature of OUR flesh, not HIS flesh. This is obvious since he says 6 times “you must eat of my body or you have no life in you.” Obviously His flesh profits us greatly. As more and more followers walked away, He did not explain what would have been quite simple to explain: “It’s just a metaphor, come back.”
"only knowledge (gnosis)/acknowledgment was required for salvation (“faith alone”)." Knowledge is not faith. You can "know" and still reject. Faith is necessary to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:14). Was anything else required of the thief on the cross?
What is His flesh? In the beginning was the Word, the Word was God (Jn. 1:1) and the Word became flesh (v. 14). My words are Spirit and life, Man shall live not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out from the mouth of God. Christ is the word, even the bread, that came out from God. The reality of the flesh of Christ is the Word. He came that we might have life. His words convey His life. His flesh does not exist in the physical world anymore. The doctrine of transubstantiation was just an attempt to understand how it would be possible to eat His flesh. Had His disciples thought that He meant for them to consume His body in order to have life, Joseph of Arimethea and whoever was with him in collecting Jesus' body would have cannibalized it. That would surely be of more value than a transubstantiated flesh. And the "flesh profits nothing" because whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach goes out in the drain (Matt. 15:17).
And what is it "to eat?' It is a word that contains the thought of taking something that is outside of you into you and it becomes part of you, your constitution. Peter, in Acts 10, was shown that "eating unclean meat," was not a matter of what you put in your mouth, it was a metaphor for persons (meat) you associate with (eat). The history of the Jews was that they associated with (ate) idolaters (meat) and became idolaters. That understanding became his testimony in the house of Cornelius. And the uncleanness has to do with what is in their hearts (Acts. 15:9), as Jesus also said in Matt. 15:18-19. The "heart," of course, not being the physical pump, but the inward parts, our thoughts, feelings, will, and conscience. The physical flesh of Jesus is not consumable, but His Spirit in resurrection is consumable through faith. The Spirit conveys God in Christ as heavenly food into us. When we "eat" His flesh (the Spirit/word) by having our mind renewed with the mind of Christ, we become the Body of Christ. Taste the milk of the word and see that the Lord is good (1 Pet. 2:2-3).
The ONLY reason faith alone was required of the thief on the cross was because he was in his dying moments unable to be baptized, confess his sins, or eat of the Body of Christ. It’s borderline dishonest to suggest that beause a man who was crucified next to Christ didnt need baptism then technically no one does. You let me know when you get crucified not knowing Christ and learn of Him literally while you are crucified, and you can claim you don’t need to be baptized.