So who is the final authority on what, in the Bible, we take literally or figuratively? I know when Jesus said He is the “bread of life”, he didn’t mean He was a loaf of bread. No, he meant that bread is what sustains life. So He used bread as a symbol of His life that will sustain us eternally.
Luke 22:19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying “This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.”
He broke the bread as a symbol that His body would be broken. He would suffer. He wanted us to remember the sacrifice He made on the Cross.
Luke 22:20 In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
The cup symbolizes His blood shed for us at the Cross. In no way did Jesus want us to literally eat His flesh. That’s just morbid. Where is the message in that? Why would one want to literally eat someone’s flesh? All He wants is for us to remember the supreme sacrifice He made so we could live.
In I Cor 11 Paul is chastizing the church for their disrespect of communion, they were trying to make it a party instead of a somber moment of remembrance.
In John 3 Christ is describing a physical birth and a spiritual birth. Hence the need to be born again, only a different kind of birth (spiritual).
The final authority is the Catholic Church, -- the same body that produced the New Testament to begin with.
However, usually it is not an either-or proposition: the Eucharist was instituted because it offers an effective symbolism as well as transmits grace.
In I Cor 11 Paul is chastizing the church for their disrespect of communion, they were trying to make it a party instead of a somber moment of remembrance.
St. Paul did not say "somber moment of remembrance". He said that they should "discern the body of the Lord" in the Eucharist (1 Cor. 11:29). In other words, St. Paul chastized the Corinthians for the same error the so-called reformers teach today.
Excellent. Thank you for such a good explanation.