1. Expose the faulty teaching of the Catholic Church and some mainstream protestant churches on the Lord’s Supper. They believe the bread and juice are literally the body and blood of Christ.
- During the Mass Christ is sacrificed on the cross of Calvary in a propitiatory way. (Catechism. 1367).
B. It is Biblical and necessary to expose false doctrine.
- Matt 16:6, 12: He warned His disciples to be aware of the false doctrine of the religious leaders (Matt 16:6, 12). He condemned false teachers as He called them hypocrites and whitewashed tombs (Matt 23).
- Gal, Phil, other epistles Paul exposes the false teaching of Judaizers by calling them dogs (Phil 3:2), enemies of the cross (Phil 3:18), who are condemned to hell (Gal 1:8-9).
- The Apostle John exposes the Gnostics in 2 John. He calls their deeds evil as well as anyone who condones their teaching (2 John 9-11).
C. Although this passage does not teach about the Lord’s Supper, it does give us a good application in that it helps us to understand saving faith.
John 6:53-54.
The Lord was not being literal but was being symbolic.
- The Lord Jesus Christ often spoke in symbolism as He called Himself, The Light of the world, The door, the good shepherd, and the true vine (John 8:12, 10:9,11, 15:1).
- OT Saints could not go to heaven. David understood his sins were forgiven (Psalm 32). Others like Abraham, Job, Moses, could not go to heaven if these verses are to be taken literally. I believe these individuals had some understanding of heaven and certainly looked forward to being with the Lord forever (Heb 11).
- OT Law contradicts drinking of blood (Lev 3:17, 17:10-14).
- Context & Other Scriptures teach salvation by faith (Vs 35-36, 40, 47: Rom 4, Eph 2:8-9, John 3:16…)
- Undermines the one time death of Christ on the Cross (Heb 10:11-14).
What was Christ teaching?
- 1. He was giving us an insight to what “believe” really means
- Example: You are what you eat.
John 2:23-25
John 2:23-25
The Discerner of Hearts
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.