To whom did JESUS say the portion about literally eating His flesh and drinking His blood? You have included yourself in that mob of seekers after signs, the unbelievers to whom JESUS was speaking! Spiritual truth is as real as literal physical truth. Spiritually, your spirit must be sustained by HIM. Jesus was teaching of SpIRITUAL matters, as HE clarified in John 6:63: 62 Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Do you even detect the significance of verse 62? Relate it back to your idea that He was commanding them to eat His flesh and drink His blood; when the Disciples see Him leaving, how could they imagine someone could then eat His flesh and drink His blood if He is gone to the Father? Your spiritual antenna, if your human spirit has The Holy Spirit spark in it, immediately detects a conundrum. Which then JESUS clarifies with verse 63.
But your mind is so steeped in catholiciism that you will not be able to actually see what The Spirit is saying! If Jesus gave His transmogrified flesha nd blood to the Disciples, actually, physically, on the night before His crucifixion, then He would be causing His Disciples to break the standing command of GOD against such! I'm sure your trained magic thinking can rationalize that contradiction, but you cannot make it real because JESUS would not break the commandment of God, especially as He walked straightway to the Cross as the Lamb of God, sinless.
Finally you tried this little sneak: "But you do agree, then, that he commanded us to keep his commandments. Faith alone is not enough." No, lost soul, I did not agree that salvation is the result of faith and works. That wasn't even a good try at putting words in my mouth, er, at the tips of my old fingers.
Keeping His / Jesus's two commandments is only possible to any degree because of HIS SPIRIT Presence in us. That Spirit Presence is the absolute proof that we have eternal life BEFORE as we then seek to keep His two commandments. And the WORDS JESUS Spoke in John 6, they are spirit and they are life, even remaining with us as He Ascends unto the Father.
He was speaking to the crowd that included his disciples and the Apostles.
Jesus was teaching of SpIRITUAL matters, as HE clarified in John 6:63: 62 Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Because the Body and Blood includes the soul and divinity of the living Lord, and is not just mere flesh and blood, it is spirit filled. And the words that he spoke, which are spirit and life, are clear:
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever. (John 6:53-58)When the Disciples see Him leaving, how could they imagine someone could then eat His flesh and drink His blood if He is gone to the Father?
Through the institution of the Eucharist in which the bread and wine are turned into his Body and Blood. That was the whole point.
If Jesus gave His transmogrified flesha nd blood to the Disciples, actually, physically, on the night before His crucifixion, then He would be causing His Disciples to break the standing command of GOD against such!
Jesus is God, he is the Law Giver. As such, he can change the law. We see this in Acts 10:
The next day, while they were on their way and nearing the city, Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray at about noontime. He was hungry and wished to eat, and while they were making preparations he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all the earth’s four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky. A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.” But Peter said, “Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean.” The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.” This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into the sky. (Acts 10:9-16)Finally you tried this little sneak: "But you do agree, then, that he commanded us to keep his commandments. Faith alone is not enough." No, lost soul, I did not agree that salvation is the result of faith and works.
So we are not required to keep his commandment? Great! Am I engaged in dishonest business dealings? Carry on because I have faith that Jesus paid the price for my sins. Am I having an affair with my neighbor's wife? Carry on because I have faith that Jesus paid the price for my sins. Do I want to kill my brother so that I can get the entire inheritance? Go for it because because I have faith Jesus paid the price for my sins.
Now before you say that these scenarios are ridiculous, answer the question: Do I have to keep the commandments or not? It is a yes or no question. You cannot have it both ways. Nor try to skirt the issue by saying that someone with faith would not do these things. Both Paul and James warned that faith can exist without charity or works and that such faith is worthless.
Keeping His / Jesus's two commandments is only possible to any degree because of HIS SPIRIT Presence in us.
Agreed.
That Spirit Presence is the absolute proof that we have eternal life BEFORE as we then seek to keep His two commandments.
But what if we have faith but fail to seek the keep his commandments?