John vi. 53 — 55. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
THE natural man neither does nor can understand spiritual truths a. This inspired declaration has been verified in all ages. The Samaritan woman shewed how unapt we are to receive spiritual instruction b. Even Nicodemus formed the most absurd conceptions of our Lord's meaning0: such also was the blindness of the Jews to whom our Lord addressed this dis- coursed. He, however, in compassion to them, pro- ceeded to confirm his gracious declarations. May we experience the illuminating and constraining influ- ences of divine grace6, while we consider,
I. What is meant by eating the flesh of Christ, and drinking his blood —
Great caution is necessary in explaining the figura- tive expressions of Scripture. We shall endeavour to exhibit the full scope of the metaphor, without press- ing it too far. It is sufficiently obvious that the text
a 1 Cor. ii. 14. b John iv. 14, 15. c John hi. 3, 4.
d ver. 41, 52. e ver. 44, 45.
is not to be understood in a literal sense ; nor does it relate to the sacrament, that being not yet insti- tuted ; nor does it signify the giving a mere assent to our Lord's doctrines.
[The doctrines of the Gospel are sometimes represented as bread and wine ; and our Lord may be considered as speak- ing of his doctrines when he speaks of himself as the bread of life. But he could not intend a mere assent to those doctrines by the metaphor of eating. If this were all that he meant, Judas and Simon Magus were truly possessed of eternal lifef.]
Our Lord explains the eating of him as synony- mous with believing on himg: but to speak more particularly, the metaphor of eating the flesh of Christ, &c. implies,
1. An union with his person —
[The doctrine of our union with Christ is set forth by a great variety of images in Scripture. It naturally arises from the metaphor in the texth. It is particularly mentioned by our Lord in the two verses following1.]
2. A trust in his sacrifice —
[Our Lord speaks of his flesh expressly in reference to his sacrifice k. The words which he used at the institution of his Last Supper confirm this idea. The eating of his flesh therefore can mean no less than a trust in that sacrifice.]
3. A dependence on his grace —
[What animal food is to the body, that the grace of Christ is to the soul. Unless we have recourse to Christ continually, we must fall and perish1.]
According to this view of the metaphor, it is worthy of the deepest attention.
II. The importance of the doctrine —
This is abundantly manifest, from the words before us. There is nothing so important as a life of faith on Christ : nothing,
f Acts viii. 23. Mark xiv. 21. s ver. 35.
* Eph. iii. 17. Col. i. 27.
1 From hence it appears, that as our bodily life is upheld by the invisible operation of our food within us, and as the spiritual life of Jesus was maintained by the indwelling of the Deity within him ; so the eating of him is, in fact, an union with him, and shall ever be ac- companied by the invisible supports of his Spirit and grace.
k ver. 51. ' John xv. 5.