What did Jesus mean when He said we must “eat His flesh and drink His blood”?
John 6:53-54 (NASB)
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal
life...55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
It is recorded for us that Jesus Christ Himself gave the meaning of what he meant by His words through the immediate context of John 6:53-55. Before Jesus spoke these , he already said this:
John 6:35 (NASB)
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me
will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
This shows that since the beginning of his discourse about the bread that comes down from heaven, Jesus never meant his words to be literal but only metaphorical.
To eat the flesh of Jesus means to come to Jesus.
To drink the blood of Jesus means to believe in Jesus.
What Jesus emphasizes on his words in the context of John 6:53-54 is His Incarnation not any bread and wine that change in substance (Transubstantiation).
John 6:26-65 (NASB)
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek
Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and
were filled. 27 Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the
food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to
you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they
said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you
believe in Him whom He has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “What then
do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work
do You perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it
is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then
said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has
given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you
the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is [i]that which
comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they
said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 35 Jesus said to them,
“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he
who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you
have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me
will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast
out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of Him who sent Me,
that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on
the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who
beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I
Myself will raise him up on the last day.” 41 Therefore the Jews were
grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down
out of heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have
come down out of heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not
grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father
who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It
is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46
Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God;
He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes
has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the
manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which
comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I
am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of
this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give
for the life of the world is My flesh.” 52 Then the Jews began to
argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to
eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no
life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh
is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and
drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father
sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also
will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of
heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will
live forever.” 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught
in Capernaum. 60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this
said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” 61 But
Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them,
“Does this cause you to stumble? 62 What then if you see the Son of
Man ascending to where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives
life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you
are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not
believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not
believe, and who it was that would [j]betray Him. 65 And He was
saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to
Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
In the Bread of Life Discourse in John chapter 6, Jesus said:
John 6:35 Belief in Jesus = eternal life
John 6:36 Belief in Jesus = eternal life
John 6:40 Belief in Jesus = eternal life
John 6:47 Belief in Jesus = eternal life
John 6:64 Belief in Jesus = eternal life
John 6:54 eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus = eternal life
John 6:55 eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus = eternal life
John 6:59 eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus = eternal life
Was Jesus teaching about TWO WAYS to have eternal life?
1) Belief in Him
2) Eat his flesh and drink his blood
Of course not! John 6:35 is clear that to believe in Jesus is equivalent to eat Jesus [and will never be hungry] and to come to Jesus is equivalent to drink Jesus [and will never get thirsty].This shows that eating and drinking Jesus' flesh and blood by faith is a one time event or else, are we to believe [if it is literal] that we need to re-eat and re-drink Jesus' flesh and blood? This would contradict Jesus' words that we will never get hungry or thirsty if literal consumption was meant in John 6:35.