Explain to me why Christ would break the law against eating blood and have His apostles do the same.
CB, you’re posting to the wrong guy... But nice to hear from you as always.
“Explain to me why Christ would break the law against eating blood and have His apostles do the same.”
I don’t believe He spoke literally. It is up to you to explain why God incarnate would break His own command, if you believe it was literal.
Ok, I'll give it a shot.
The Mosaic Law forbade unclean foods.
But Christ's Body and Blood is not an unclean food.
Christ is both God and Man. He is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. When we eat His Body and drink His Blood we feast upon the living God Himself.
God is not to be likened to some ritually unclean meat. Being nourished by and upon God Himself is neither unclean nor evil.
Think of a baby with his mother. Is a baby nourished at the breast unclean, because he eats and drinks of his own mother? We wouldn't equate breast-feeding with cannibalism or ritual uncleaness - why then would anyone condemn God's gift of Himself as unclean?
Finally and most importantly - God commands us to eat of Him.
Christ the Son of God instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist - the Bread and Wine becoming His Body and Blood - at the Last Supper.
Just to remind the thread about the institution of the Eucharist, and to show its provenance in the early Church.
From Luke:
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."
If any corroborating evidence were needed, St Paul speaks about the Eucharist in Corinthians.
And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
Which I quote at length because it shows that the Eucharist was celebrated in the extremely early Church.
In summary: Christ commanded us to eat His Body and drink His Blood: He also commanded us to re-enact the Eucharist.
Let us do as He commanded - not take refuge in a misapplied nostrum of the Mosaic Law.