17/07/2026
DO THE BREAD AND THE GRAPE JUICE BECOME THE LITERAL BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST WHEN PARTAKING OF THE LORD'S SUPPER?
The Doctrine of Transubstantiation, held by our Roman Catholic Church friends, asserts that the bread and the grape juice are turned into a literal body and blood of the Lord during the observance of the Lord's Supper. This is actually one of the common concerns we encounter when sharing God's words. Is this Biblically correct according to Christianity, based on the teachings of Christ as we read in the New Testament?
In reading Matthew 26:17-19, when our Lord instituted the Lord's Supper, note that He was physically present with the apostles. In verse 26, it says, "As they were eating, JESUS TOOK BREAD, BLESSED AND BROKE IT, AND GAVE IT TO THE DISCIPLES, and said, 'Take IT, THIS IS MY BODY." (Note that Captions are mine to illustrate and to give emphasis. .
Jesus was holding the literal bread, un unleavened bread, based on the context. He literally took it and blessed it. While literally holding it, He gave that literal bread to His disciples. Then He said, "TAKE THIS, THIS IS MY BODY." Is this imperative statement by the Lord to them, then, literal? Was the literal bread the literal body of Christ at the time when the statement was made? The answer is NO.
The statement is figurative: Metaphor
Remember, when the literal interpretation of the statement is impossible, the statement is figurative. The "TAKE THIS BODY" is impossible because the Lord was holding that bread as He handed it to the disciples. He was not pointing His physical body. The pronoun "THIS" refers to the literal bread, not His physical body.
This form of figurative speech is a Metaphor, in which a word is used as a substitute for a kind, even though in reality, it is not literally, to convey certain traits that represent or symbolize the subject of the statement.
About the grape juice, the same principle or rule should be employed in understanding the Lord's statement, based on the context and the nature of the statement.
The Statement is in the present tense:
The Lord said, "THIS IS MY BODY" and "THIS IS MY BLOOD." He did not say it WILL BECOME MY BODY or IT WILL BECOME MY BLOOD. In fact, when Jesus said, 'THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW COVENANT, WHICH IS SHED FOR MANY FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS,' He was still with them, not yet taken to Pontius Pilate to be nailed and die on the cross. There was no crucifixion and no shedding at this time. Jesus did not extract any amount of His literal blood offered to His disciples.
Paul's instruction is to discern the Lord's body:
In 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, Paul corrected the Corinthian Christians' wrong way in the Lord's Supper. He told them to examine themselves, their own selves, by discerning the Lord's body, verse 29. Verse 26 says that in doing the Lord's Supper, it is an act of proclaiming "the Lord's death until He comes." This indicates His sacrifice and death on the cross ought to be thought of when partaking of it.
The text John 6:53-55 in their effort to reason out their claim:
It is true that Christians, members of the church, in partaking the bread and the grape juice, have communion in the body and the blood of Christ, 1 Co. 10:16-17. Hence, those who do it, as a privilege being one body have the hope of eternal life. However, this is not the very essence of His statement by considering the context of the text, the whole chapter.
a. The context:
This is after the feeding of the five thousand men and when Jesus saw the people followed Him the following day that He straightforwardly told them their reason of coming to Him, verse 26. Then told them to work not for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to everlasting life.
The institution of the Lord's Supper here is out of the picture.
The mention of the word "bread" began when Jesus reminded them to not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life verse 26-27.
In response to Him, the people asked Him of what to do, to work or do the work of God, verse 28. His reply, to believe in Him, verse 29.
Then they demanded a sign from Him to believe Him, verse 29. He answered them by recalling how the Father gave the manna(literal bread) to their fathers. But, to them (in whom He was talking to) the sign is Him, the true bread from heaven, that gives life to the world, verses 31-30.
In verses, 35,41, 48 and 51, He repeatedly emphasize claiming that He is the bread of life they should believe, to eat, verse 50 to have eternal life. Then He said, in a figurative statement said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven..."
The Lord's statement was that deep, not easy to understand, according to many of His disciples, verse 60. Going back to verse 52, it says, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" This implies that Jesus was not talking about the literal bread as His literal flesh.
Then note this verse 61 it says, 'When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained ABOUT THIS. He said,," Does THIS offend you?" What is the word "THIS" all about that offended them?
In verse 63 is the Lord's meaning to what He was talking about the food, the bread they ought to work, to believe Him, to have eternal life. "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are the spirit, and they are life."
The food, the bread, that Jesus was talking about, according to Him is about His words to believe and obey in order to have eternal life. This should be their reason in following Him, not the material things to satisify their bellies.
Jesu's words, His life and His teaching, we must believe and obey, is the bread we must savor to be alive with a hope for eternal life.
John 6: 53-55 is not about the turning of the bread and the grape juice becoming the literal body and literal blood of Christ. It is a figurative statement by the Lord to indicate how the communion in His body and His blood give hope to have eternal life in Him in obedience to His words.
