This is the point where your whole argument explodes. In liturgical prayer, and in theology, "remembering" is not the mere exercise of a function of the brain. In the mind of God, everything is present, and we constantly ask God to "remember" us and all sorts of things--things that are not past. In fact, when GOD remembers, the things he remembers are not merely recalled to thought, they are MADE real. When Jesus is asked, "REMEMBER me when you come into your kingdom," he does not respond, "Okay, I will think about you." He says, "This day you will BE with me in paradise." And that is exactly what the good thief was asking, because as a Jew, he knew that when God REMEMBERS us, we live.
The command to "Do this in REMEMBRANCE of me" in no way militates against the real PRESENCE, and in no way advances the notion that the Eucharist is a mere symbol.
I see that you nowhere quote John 6, where Jesus says his flesh is REAL FOOD, and his blood is REAL DRINK. Where Jesus repeatedly says we are to GNAW, CHEW, MUNCH his flesh.
Just as I predicted, you try to explain away the words of Jesus: This IS my body...This IS my blood..."
How odd that you quote 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, when every syllable of that passage reinforces the teaching that the Eucharistic species ARE the body and blood of Jesus. The verb TO BE is used again and again, and never the verbs "to signify," "to symbolize," etc. The entire passage is about how those who fail to believe this teaching are eating and drinking their own condemnation, and some may have caused their own physical death! That doesn't sound much like something that happens from consuming a nice, tame little piece of bread and a sip of wine.
“In the mind of God, everything is present... And that is exactly what the good thief was asking, because as a Jew, he knew that when God REMEMBERS us, we live.”
God is not bound by time, but the thief was not thinking Christ would remember him in the present. He was asking Him to remember him in the future when He would come into His kingdom and then take action on his behalf. There is no ever-present contemplation going on in the mind of the thief that you are inventing. Besides that, communion involves us remembering. We, unlike God, are bound by time. And remembering means remembering.
“The entire passage is about how those who fail to believe this teaching are eating and drinking their own condemnation, and some may have caused their own physical death! That doesn’t sound much like something that happens from consuming a nice, tame little piece of bread and a sip of wine.”
No that is not at all what the passage is about. Paul wrote the Corinthians to correct a number of serious problems. Most of them revolve around their divisions and failure to recognize the spiritual union of believers as the “body of Christ”.
1 Corinthians 1:10
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
He also explains spiritual realities using figurative language numerous times, and shows this “discerning” is a spiritual rather than carnal activity.
1 Corinthians 2:13-14
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 6:15
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
The church in Corinth had a problem with sexual immorality. Paul connects this with their failing to discern the body of Christ. This is the type of grave sin that was causing many to get sick and some to even die (the term “sleep” is used figuratively in chapter 11).
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
What comprises the bread spoken of here? “We”, that is believers, are that “one bread” and that “one body”. What body? The body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:17-18, 29
Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Remember, discerning is a spiritual and not carnal act. They were acting divisively and not discerning the Lord’s body, which in part means they were failing to recognize that each of them as believers were a body part in Christ’s body. So how can Christ’s body be divided? It is not. So to treat brothers and sisters in Christ with contempt, especially is this reverent act of communion, is a sin deserving severe judgment which is exactly what was happening. The divisions among the Corinthian believers is specifically a failure to discern Christ’s body, and Paul corrects them for it.
Discerning requires recognizing what it is. Wrongly thinking that the church is some hierarchal system made up of clergy, and relics, and buildings, and real estate, and stained glass windows, and works of art, and writings, and many more things, is failing to discern the body of Christ. The church is believers, that is, people who have believed in Christ’s finished work for salvation. It is nothing more and nothing less. The church is the bride of Christ which He loves and redeemed by His own blood. The church is His body.
Thinking that Christ body and blood are corruptible things like bread and wine is failing to correctly discern Christ’s body. Thinking that believers are in communion consuming the incorruptible body and blood of Christ and that these are entering into their physical bodies is carnal (fleshly) minded thinking and does not discern the spiritual reality of Christ’s resurrection and spiritual union with believers through the indwelling Holy Spirit. If it were possible for us to eat and drink Christ’s incorruptible flesh and blood then those parts of our body which were nourished by this food and His incorruptible flesh and blood having become part of our bodies, our bodies would also never undergo corruption. Yet they do decay in the ground just like any unbeliever.
1 Corinthians 12:12, 26-27
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ...
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
“I see that you nowhere quote John 6, where Jesus says his flesh is REAL FOOD, and his blood is REAL DRINK. “
Well, between the two of us, it is I who is relying on scripture and by no means am avoiding any part of it. Let’s look at John 6.
John 6:35-40
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Is consuming Christ’s body and blood a physical act or spiritual? I am not asking is it real. Spiritual realities are greater than physical realities. But my question is whether communion of Christ’s body is physical or spiritual. The above passage in John 6 indicates that those who partake will never hunger or thirst. Have you partaken of His body and blood? Do you ever become physically hungry or thirsty? If you can show me a person who has taken communion and never had to eat or drink again, I will concede that Christ is saying partaking of the bread and cup are consuming His physical body and blood.
John 6:53-58
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
Do those who have never eaten or tasted communion have “no life” in them? Christ said they have no life. Does this mean their bodies are not physically alive? Of course not. The audience here was physically alive and were hearing Him with their physical ears, but were spiritually dead and spiritually deaf and blind.
John 6:61-63
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
Again, is Christ speaking carnally or spiritually. His words were spiritual words. He is describing something that is true and real, but a spiritual reality rather than a natural, physical, carnal one.
It is thus throughout John and the other scriptures about His earthly life.
John 3:12
If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
John 4:13-14
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
He said these words about the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit made out of water? Or does He transform Himself into water? No. Christ uses the physical water in the well to illustrate a true, valid reality, albeit a spiritual one.
John 8:43
Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
Why did they not understand what Christ was saying?
John 10:6
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
John 10:9
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Was Jesus saying He is a literal, physical door? Did He have hinges? No. It is an illustration.
John 10:11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Is Christ a shepherd of literal sheep animals? No. He is saying we are like sheep, and He is like a shepherd toward us. He is better than any earthly shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd. He is the Perfect Shepherd.
John 11:11-14
These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”
Was Lazarus dead or merely sleeping? The passage clarifies that Jesus was speaking figuratively. Although, as far as He is concerned, there is little difference between death and sleep.
John 12:46
I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.
Was Jesus literally glowing and radiating light, illuminating the surrounding with His physical presence here? No. He uses natural illustrations to explain spiritual realities.
John 16:25
These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.
Matthew 13:10, 13, 34
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?...”
“Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand...”
All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them.
I have supported my comments with a large range of passages. I have shown that these are not merely me twisting some verse out of context but rather are the context of entire books of the Bible. Do not be stubborn about listening to spiritual truth. Light rejected brings darkness. Look at the evidence and be willing to be obedient. Those who truly desire the truth, those who seek wisdom whole heartedly, those who are willing to be obedient to God’s commands, those who keep seeking will find and know the truth.
Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
John 7:17
If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.