Jesus also said he was a “vine,” a “door,” a “stone,” and a “lamb,” among many other things. Please elaborate.
Fundamentalist writers who comment on John 6 also assert that one can show Christ was speaking only metaphorically by comparing verses like John 10:9 ("I am the door") and John 15:1 ("I am the true vine"). The problem is that there is not a connection to John 6:35, "I am the bread of life." "I am the door" and "I am the vine" make sense as metaphors because Christ is like a door—we go to heaven through him—and he is also like a vine—we get our spiritual sap through him. But Christ takes John 6:35 far beyond symbolism by saying, "For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John 6:55).
He continues: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me" (John 6:57). The Greek word used for "eats" (trogon) is very blunt and has the sense of "chewing" or "gnawing." This is not the language of metaphor.
| So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. | All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. | I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John : 10:7-9 |
| Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; | |
| and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. | |
| For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame." |