Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
Real Presence of Christ in the Eucvharist Found in Scripture
I am astounded that although every verse in the Bible that talks of the Eucharist refers to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, that most Protestants who believe in the Bible do not believe this doctrine. To me, this doctrine is just totally obvious.
26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body 27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the[b] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26
One has to remember that Jesus was no mere man. He was God in the flesh. Being God, He knew everything. He must have known that for the next fifteen hundred years, all Christians would take him literally. If this was a misunderstanding, this was a very serious misunderstanding. And Jesus would have known this. And He could have prevent all this misunderstanding for the next 1500 years by simply saying “This is like my body”. Why did he not clarify this better, if He intended not to be taken literally?
Sure, Jesus used figurative language at times. He said He is the vine and we are the branches. He said He is the good shepherd. He said He was the light of the world.
But figurative language is never used in specifics. Jesus did not point to a specific vine and He say He was that vine. He did not point to branches and say to His disciples “See these branches. These branches are you”. He is did not hold up a candle and say “I am this light”.
But at the last supper, Jesus held up the piece of bread and said “THIS is my body”. This is not how figurative language works. If Jesus wanted to be taken figuratively, he would have compared His body to a generic piece of bread. But He is talking about a specific piece of bread, in His hand, the piece He just blessed. THIS is His body.
Jesus said it. I believe it. That settles it!
16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
1 Cor 10:16
How can this passage be any plainer? The cup we drink is the participation in the blood of Christ. The bread we eat is the participation in the body of Christ.
1 Cor 11:27
How can one be guilty of the body and blood of Christ by eating it in an unworthy manner unless it is actually the body and blood of Christ.
29: For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.
1 Cor 11:29
This is the only time the Bible ever says that if we do somthing unproperly, we would face judgement. In fact, some of the Corinthians even died because of taking this unworthily.
But why is this so, if it is just a symbol? People don’t die because they heard a sermon unworthily. They don’t die if they read the Bible unworthily. So why does this happen only if they eat the Lord’s Supper unworthily? It makes no sense if it is just a symbol. But if it is the actual body and blood Christ, then it makes perfect sense. The way you treat the Eucharist is the way treat Christ, because Christ is the Eucharist.
For John 6, see http://www.catholic.com/library/Christ_in_the_Eucharist.asp
Early Church Fathers teaching on the Eucharist
Ignatius of
"I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible" (Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]).
"Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1 [A.D. 110]).
Justin Martyr
"We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus" (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).
Irenaeus
"If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could he rightly take bread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be his body and affirm that the mixture in the cup is his blood?" (Against Heresies 4:33–32 [A.D. 189]).
"He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?" (ibid., 5:2).
Clement of
"’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children" (The Instructor of Children 1:6:43:3 [A.D. 191]).
Augustine
"Christ was carried in his own hands when, referring to his own body, he said, ‘This is my body’ [Matt. 26:26]. For he carried that body in his hands" (Explanations of the Psalms 33:1:10 [A.D. 405]).
"I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table. . . . That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ" (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).
...
"What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction" (ibid., 272).
See http://www.catholic.com/library/Real_Presence.asp
Both scripture and the early church fathers testify that the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ.
