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John 6:63 seems like a slam-dunk rebuttal to the real presence: "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail." Jesus wouldn't give us his real flesh if it was "of no avail," right?
However, this is a basic misreading of scripture. (thread)
#JesusWeek
However, this is a basic misreading of scripture. (thread)
#JesusWeek
First, if Jesus was clearing up the point here, then we have to wonder why many of the disciples left him immediately thereafter. (v. 66) They obviously believed our Lord meant what he said. (2/)
If he really meant to clear things up here and say, “I was only speaking symbolically, folks—I only meant that you have to believe in me and follow me,” then why would they have left? They already believed in him and were following him. (3/)
Second, Jesus did not say, “My flesh is of no avail.” He said, “The flesh is of no avail.” There is a huge difference between the two. No one would have believed he meant "my flesh" avails nothing. (4/)
Why? Because he just spent a good portion of this same discourse telling us that his flesh would be “given for the life of the world” in John 6:51, even confirming his intent in verses 50-58. So what was he referring to? (5/)
"The flesh" is a New Testament term often used to describe human nature apart from God’s grace. Examples include Mk. 14:38, Rom. 8:1-14, 1 Cor. 2:14, and 1 Cor. 3:1. (6/)
Supernatural grace is required to believe the radical declaration of Christ concerning the Eucharist. As Jesus himself said both before and after this “hard saying” (v. 44, 65), “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him.” (7/)
In other words, belief in the Eucharist is a gift of grace. The natural mind—or the one who is in “the flesh”—will never be able to understand and accept this great Christian truth. (8/)
Third, Jesus also said, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail,” because he wanted to ensure his words would not be taken as an endorsement of cannibalism. (9/)
It is the Holy Spirit that will accomplish the miracle of Christ ascending into heaven bodily while simultaneously distributing his body and blood in the Eucharist. A human body, even a perfect one, apart from the power of the Spirit, could not accomplish this. (10/)
Fourth, we don’t want to fall into the trap of believing that just because Christ says his words are “spirit and life,” or “spiritual,” they cannot involve material substance. This will get you into all sorts of trouble, biblically speaking. (11/)
For example, when speaking of the resurrection of the body, St. Paul wrote: “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body” (I Cor. 15:44). Does this mean we will not have a physical body in the resurrection? Of course not. (12/)
Jesus made that clear after his own resurrection in Luke 24:39: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." (13/)
The resurrected body is spiritual, and indeed, St. Paul refers to strong Christians as “spiritual” in I Cor. 3:1-2. Inasmuch as a Christian is controlled by the Spirit of God, he is “spiritual.” This in no way means immaterial. That's more Gnostic than Christian. (14/)
This last point demonstrates that the confusion around Jn. 6:63 is often based upon a failure to properly distinguish between “spiritual” or “spirit” being used as an adjective versus “spirit” used as a noun. (15/)
When “spirit” is used as a noun—for example, “God is spirit” in John 4:24, or angels are “messenger spirits” in Heb. 1:14—Scripture is presenting that which is not material. (16/)
When used as an adjective denoting “spiritual,” however, it is referring to that which is controlled, or led, by the Spirit. In John 6:63, “spirit” is used as an adjective to describe Jesus’ words, not as a noun. In other words, they are spiritual. (17/)
This in no way means they are representing something that is devoid of materiality. (18/)
Jesus' words in Jn 6:63 have essentially a two-fold meaning: it is only the Spirit that can accomplish the miracle of the Eucharist, and it is only the Spirit that can empower us to believe in the miracle. If you are relying on the power of the flesh, you aren’t going to see it!
