[Mrs. Don-o]

The point was made in *your* reply, that Jesus uses synechdoche here: He refers to a part (flesh) in place of the whole (His whole being.)

I'm agreeing. It was synechdoche.

If it was a metaphor, as grey_whiskers pointed out, Jesus would have corrected the people when they left him, due to their extreme uneasiness that He was speaking about drinking His blood.

On a similar occasion, Nicodemus asks Jesus whether a man has to literally get into his mothers womb and be born again. Jesus explains that "no," he dosn't mean "born" in that literal way.

But when people interpret Him as meaning His blood is drink, He does not deny it, He reiterates it: My Blood is true drink. Really drink.

HE - GAR - SARX - MOU - ALETHES - ESTIN - BROSIS.
the - for - flesh - of me - TRUE - is - food.

KAI - TO - HAIMA - MOU - ALETHES - ESTIN - POSIS.
and - the - blood - of me - TRUE - is - drink.

Unlike with his "Be born again" image, he doesn't walk it back and say, "No, you don't have to climb into your mother's womb," This time he doubles down: He means it exactly as He said it. .

[grey_whiskers]

By the way, where in the Bible does it define "being born again" as "accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal savior"? /Evangelical catch phrase>

I've begun to realize that a lot of what the Protestants teach (despite the *claims* of sola scriptura is merely the teaching of men, without even holding a Council of Nicea or of Ephesus.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Rome-blindness