Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The Holy Eucharist or Holy communion is a Christian sacrament that was instituted by Christ before he was betrayed. Christ, in this very important moment says something very peculiar before partaking of the Passover, he blesses the bread and wine and says "Take eat, this is my body" and "this is my blood". Is it his body, is it his blood? Or is it mere bread and wine.

There is not a single biblical precedent to believe that Christ in instituting the Supper is speaking purely symbolically here. in fact quite the opposite, we have numerous biblical passages that speak to the actual presence of Christs real body and blood in the reception of the holy Eucharist. Let's take a walk through John 6: John 6:47-51

[47] Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat from it and not die. [51] I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world also is My flesh.” Lets stop here for a second, memorialists (people who think the Eucharist is simply a memorial meal) posit that this passage is similar to when Jesus says to the woman at the well he is living water and whoever drinks of this water will never thirst. That it is simply by faith that we eat the figurative bread that is Christ's flesh. However although this view is plausible it becomes immediately implausible if we keep reading. John 6:52-58

[52] Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” [53] So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. [54] The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. [56] The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. [57] Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. [58] This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever." Here in verse 52 we see clearly the Jews are thinking Jesus is referring to literally eating his human flesh. This is the perfect time for Jesus to clarify and says he means it figuratively, but he doesn't he doubles down. He then says in the space of 4 verses 4 times the terms eat my flesh and drink my blood. Clearly Jesus means to show them that he isn't speaking figuratively and if he was why would he purposely deceive them. John 6:60-63 [60] So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?” [61] But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? [62] What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? [63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. We see the clear discomfort of his listeners but Jesus doesn't seem to clarify that he is speaking figuratively. But truly we feast on Christs flesh and blood. John 6:66-68 [66] After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. [67] So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” [68] 'Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ' The result of this sermon is that many of Jesus' followers abandon him and Jesus even asks the 12 if they want to leave too. We see Jesus is not only willing to loose followers ( people potentially being saved) but even loosing his beloved apostles over what? A metaphor! This sermon happens before the Passover but undoubtedly when Jesus says to his disciples "This is my body" while holding a piece of bread that this sermon was in their hearts. Jesus says "do this in remembrance of me" and it is true, in the celebration of Eucharist we are to remember Christ, but that's not all that's happening. Perhaps what will make this clear is the practice of the Churches of the apostles: Paul in response to his church in Corinth getting drunk and fighting over who gets more bread in the Lord's supper he writes. 1 Corinthians 11:27-30  [27] Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. [30] That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. We see Paul says that many people have fallen sick and some have even died, but what was their offence? Paul says they are guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord, not that they have profaned bread and wine, for if the Eucharist is truly just a symbol then how can a symbol kill people? Lastly I Corinthians 10:16-18

[16] 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? [17] For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. [18] Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? Again we see Paul says that what we communion with the body and blood of the Lord.

Passover

It is fairly known that Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice foreshadowed by the old testament sacrifices. The old testament sacrifices were guilt offerings to God and they consisted of a few factors: an unblemished animal, the death of that animal in sacrifice and the eating of the animals burnt offering by the people Leviticus 7:31-36. This is epitomized at the passover with the passover lamb where God says he wants a passover lamb without blemish Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, the lambs bones must not be broken Exodus 12:46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones and they are to eat the lamb Exodus 12:8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. So Jesus is unblemished because he had no sin and was killed as a sacrifice for our sins Isaiah 53:10, his bones were not broken John 19:36 'For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” So when do we eat the passover lamb? Well Jesus is the passover lamb and we partake of him in the eucharist as our passover lamb if that isn't obvious enough, then 1 Corinthians 5:7 be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Lets look at Corinthians 10:16-18 once again which i quoted in my last paragraph Paul says in talking about the Eucharist in verse 18 says: 18] Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? That is, unlike the previous passover lamb Christ is sacrificed once. Hebrews 10: 11-14 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Christ sacrifice is perfect and us as Christians continue to receive the forgiveness of sins from that one sacrifice whenever we partake of the supper Matthew 26:27–28 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

Church history

Once again this doctrine was universal in the church no one denied that Christ's true body and blood was present in the Lord's supper without being labeled as a heretic, it was near unanimous in the church for 1500 years as seen in the historic liturgy of the western church "the mass" and the liturgy of the eastern churches "the divine service". I think the killer blow is the Apostolic father saint Ignatius of Antioch a disciple of the apostle Peter! He writes in his letter to the smyrnaeans in 110 AD: "Let us stand aloof from such Heretics: They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes." We see that one who was taught by an apostle of Jesus saint Peter received from Peter just as Paul repeated to the Corinthians that the Eucharist was the true body and blood of Christ and those that do not confess this (the Gnostics in this case) were considered Heretics by the disciples of the Apostles. Today the Apostolic Churches along with all Magisterial Protestants which again is about 80% of all Christians believe this although they do differ to exactly how Christ's flesh is present but not that it is present.

There is no need to resist this doctrine, it is a blessing to the church that Christ does this for our spiritual nourishment, and can only add to the beauty of the Lord's supper in our churches. In the face of the abundant scriptural passages and not one passage that says "this represents my body" or that its a symbol it is clear to me that some churches have fallen in love with their theology so much that they no longer care what the bible says.