- May 3, 2022
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Man, oh man, this verse has been debated ever since Jeshua spoke those words. On the surface, this seems grotesque! A statement that is impossible to wrap your brain around. The first time I read this, as a child, I couldn't even guess what this meant. Many struggle with this their entire lives. You can't ignore these words. This is a hard saying! Is it a hard saying that cannot be understood by those of us whose mother tongue is English?
Well, that depends on who is doing the teaching and how they study. We understand that the main duty of anyone of calls himself a "preacher," pastor," or "priest" is to study, learn and teach others what he has learned, well, in theory, anyway. The average person in the pew doesn't have the time or inclination to study Scripture for themselves, nor do they know how. The average person is not equipped to do an in-depth study of Scripture. And this is not a put-down of the average person as they are involved with life, spouses, children, family, school, or job. (This is why Paul taught that when it comes to serving God, it is far better for a person to be single so that they can devote their time to serving God 1Cor 7:32-34.) Being a preacher is indeed a true call of God. Those He calls to teach His word are equipped with intelligence, a burning desire, an obsession, and a passion for discovering the truth of Scripture. Unfortunately, most of those in the pulpits have called themselves. And they end up doing much damage to Scripture and knowingly or, through ignorance, promote false teaching.
These are men who mistakenly believe that:
1. The New Testament was written strictly for Gentiles.
2. What is taught in the New Testament is separate from the Old Testament.
3. That any English version of the Bible is sufficient and accurate to the original text and that whichever version they prefer is good enough.
4. The English language is an exact duplication of the original Hebrew and Greek, so they only need to focus on the English words they read.
5. Our culture and society are identical to the Jewish culture in the days of Yeshua, 8,000 miles away and 2000 years ago. The study of Scripture can be properly done from the viewpoint of our modern-day culture.
6. They lock in whatever passage they are looking at and ignore anything else Scripture teaches.
7. Anything they read in Scripture is prefaced with the question, "What does this mean to me?" In other words, private interpretation is how they "determine" what something in Scripture means
How do I know when I am dealing with this? When I read their explanations of John 6:53:
From Desiring God:
" Eating the flesh of Jesus is not about eating bread. It is about believing in the victory over sin he accomplished for us on the cross."
From Christianity Today:
The reference Jesus made to "eating his flesh and drinking his blood" is a metaphorical way of describing the person who draws on, claims, or lays hold of the reality of his atoning sacrifice by putting personal faith into Jesus."
From Got Questions:
"In other words, when Jesus says, "I am the bread of life," and then "eating this bread" to have life, is actually talking about believing in him.
Which of these is correct? While all three can be wrong, all three cannot be correct. How would you determine which one, if any, of the statements is the truth? None of the three is even close, let alone correct.
A blog called "A HardSaying"
"How do we explain a statement like "eat my flesh," and "drink my blood?" I honestly don't think we need to. Jesus didn't clarify or explain the statements to His disciples. He only challenged them."
I never heard that one before. According to this gentleman, we don't need to know what Yeshua meant, it doesn't matter. While media is a good thing, if used properly, it also opens the door to anyone who thinks they know what Scripture teaches while being woefully inadequate even to begin to try to understand and teach Scripture.
The point here is that we can know exactly what Yeshua was conveying to those he spoke to. But how do we find out? Believe it or not, there are steps that will lead a preacher to discover the meaning of the words of those recorded in Scripture. That all preachers, who are willing to do an honest, unbiased study of Scripture, can all come to the same understanding, and all teach the same thing. Jehovah did not give us Scripture, His word, so that anybody can come up with whatever they want that contradicts or disagrees with what other "pastors" can come up with, and it's "all good."
At the most basic level, the overriding principal reason for the study of Scripture is to determine the meaning of the words, not what the words say in English.
1. Everything starts with the study of Scripture. It is not just the act of studying alone, but the approach to studying Scripture. The single, biggest mistake made by those who try to teach is not recognizing that New Testament is as Jewish as the Old Testament. Everything in the New Testament is centered around the Torah, Jewish theology, Jewish culture and Jewish history. Yeshua, Paul, John, Mark, Matthew, Luke, Peter, James, Jude, and whoever wrote Hebrews were all Jewish men who grew up Jewish, lived in a Jewish culture, lived their lives that centered around the Temple and Synagogue, all taught from the Old Testament, and all viewed things from a Jewish mindset. Everything in the New Testament has a Jewish context and must be understood from a Jewish context. Whatever is read in the New Testament must be read asking the question, "What is the Jewish meaning of that?"
2.The New Testament is not a "Gentile book." The English word "Testament" is incorrect. The titles should be "The Old Covenant" and "The Renewed Covenant." These are not two separate parts of Scripture. The N.T. is a continuation of the O.T. The word "church" is not a translation or transliteration of any Hebrew word describing the body of believers, those in Jehovah's family, or the sheep. It was forced into the KJV by King James.
3. English versions of the Bible are just that, translations of the original manuscripts. Not one English bible is 100% accurate or a carbon copy of the original texts. There are always problems when translating one language into another. Meaning and context are always lost in translation. Finding the original word and defining the original word is crucial. Whatever the meaning is of an original word always overrides any English word used. There are many problems with English versions of the Bible. You won't find any one English version that lines up exactly with any other English version. In fact, there are great differences between some of the English versions.
4. 98% of the Theology and things said in the N.T. were already established in the Old Testament. Most things look back to the Old Testament. The O.T. defines the N.T. The N.T. echos the O.T. There are things said in the N.T., that while they are not a direct quote, have their reference based on the O.T., which the Jews of those days recognized, but we don't. To find out what things mean in the N.T., we have to find out what they mean in the O.T. The Jewish meaning of things did not change in the N.T.
5. We have to know the background of any particular passage of Scripture. What is the situation? What is going on at that point in time?
6. Why are the things that are said being said? What is the purpose of the words? What is being addressed?
7. What other doctrines and other parts of Scripture come into play when studying a particular book, chapter, verse, or passage? Everything in Scripture always ties into other parts of Scripture. Things in the N.T. are tied into the same things in the O.T.
8. The proper context has to be presented. You have to read the verses before and after any particular section of Scripture being studied. There are only a few parts of Scripture that can stand alone. Everything must be established by comparing verses with other verses.
End of part 1
Well, that depends on who is doing the teaching and how they study. We understand that the main duty of anyone of calls himself a "preacher," pastor," or "priest" is to study, learn and teach others what he has learned, well, in theory, anyway. The average person in the pew doesn't have the time or inclination to study Scripture for themselves, nor do they know how. The average person is not equipped to do an in-depth study of Scripture. And this is not a put-down of the average person as they are involved with life, spouses, children, family, school, or job. (This is why Paul taught that when it comes to serving God, it is far better for a person to be single so that they can devote their time to serving God 1Cor 7:32-34.) Being a preacher is indeed a true call of God. Those He calls to teach His word are equipped with intelligence, a burning desire, an obsession, and a passion for discovering the truth of Scripture. Unfortunately, most of those in the pulpits have called themselves. And they end up doing much damage to Scripture and knowingly or, through ignorance, promote false teaching.
These are men who mistakenly believe that:
1. The New Testament was written strictly for Gentiles.
2. What is taught in the New Testament is separate from the Old Testament.
3. That any English version of the Bible is sufficient and accurate to the original text and that whichever version they prefer is good enough.
4. The English language is an exact duplication of the original Hebrew and Greek, so they only need to focus on the English words they read.
5. Our culture and society are identical to the Jewish culture in the days of Yeshua, 8,000 miles away and 2000 years ago. The study of Scripture can be properly done from the viewpoint of our modern-day culture.
6. They lock in whatever passage they are looking at and ignore anything else Scripture teaches.
7. Anything they read in Scripture is prefaced with the question, "What does this mean to me?" In other words, private interpretation is how they "determine" what something in Scripture means
How do I know when I am dealing with this? When I read their explanations of John 6:53:
From Desiring God:
" Eating the flesh of Jesus is not about eating bread. It is about believing in the victory over sin he accomplished for us on the cross."
From Christianity Today:
The reference Jesus made to "eating his flesh and drinking his blood" is a metaphorical way of describing the person who draws on, claims, or lays hold of the reality of his atoning sacrifice by putting personal faith into Jesus."
From Got Questions:
"In other words, when Jesus says, "I am the bread of life," and then "eating this bread" to have life, is actually talking about believing in him.
Which of these is correct? While all three can be wrong, all three cannot be correct. How would you determine which one, if any, of the statements is the truth? None of the three is even close, let alone correct.
A blog called "A HardSaying"
"How do we explain a statement like "eat my flesh," and "drink my blood?" I honestly don't think we need to. Jesus didn't clarify or explain the statements to His disciples. He only challenged them."
I never heard that one before. According to this gentleman, we don't need to know what Yeshua meant, it doesn't matter. While media is a good thing, if used properly, it also opens the door to anyone who thinks they know what Scripture teaches while being woefully inadequate even to begin to try to understand and teach Scripture.
The point here is that we can know exactly what Yeshua was conveying to those he spoke to. But how do we find out? Believe it or not, there are steps that will lead a preacher to discover the meaning of the words of those recorded in Scripture. That all preachers, who are willing to do an honest, unbiased study of Scripture, can all come to the same understanding, and all teach the same thing. Jehovah did not give us Scripture, His word, so that anybody can come up with whatever they want that contradicts or disagrees with what other "pastors" can come up with, and it's "all good."
At the most basic level, the overriding principal reason for the study of Scripture is to determine the meaning of the words, not what the words say in English.
1. Everything starts with the study of Scripture. It is not just the act of studying alone, but the approach to studying Scripture. The single, biggest mistake made by those who try to teach is not recognizing that New Testament is as Jewish as the Old Testament. Everything in the New Testament is centered around the Torah, Jewish theology, Jewish culture and Jewish history. Yeshua, Paul, John, Mark, Matthew, Luke, Peter, James, Jude, and whoever wrote Hebrews were all Jewish men who grew up Jewish, lived in a Jewish culture, lived their lives that centered around the Temple and Synagogue, all taught from the Old Testament, and all viewed things from a Jewish mindset. Everything in the New Testament has a Jewish context and must be understood from a Jewish context. Whatever is read in the New Testament must be read asking the question, "What is the Jewish meaning of that?"
2.The New Testament is not a "Gentile book." The English word "Testament" is incorrect. The titles should be "The Old Covenant" and "The Renewed Covenant." These are not two separate parts of Scripture. The N.T. is a continuation of the O.T. The word "church" is not a translation or transliteration of any Hebrew word describing the body of believers, those in Jehovah's family, or the sheep. It was forced into the KJV by King James.
3. English versions of the Bible are just that, translations of the original manuscripts. Not one English bible is 100% accurate or a carbon copy of the original texts. There are always problems when translating one language into another. Meaning and context are always lost in translation. Finding the original word and defining the original word is crucial. Whatever the meaning is of an original word always overrides any English word used. There are many problems with English versions of the Bible. You won't find any one English version that lines up exactly with any other English version. In fact, there are great differences between some of the English versions.
4. 98% of the Theology and things said in the N.T. were already established in the Old Testament. Most things look back to the Old Testament. The O.T. defines the N.T. The N.T. echos the O.T. There are things said in the N.T., that while they are not a direct quote, have their reference based on the O.T., which the Jews of those days recognized, but we don't. To find out what things mean in the N.T., we have to find out what they mean in the O.T. The Jewish meaning of things did not change in the N.T.
5. We have to know the background of any particular passage of Scripture. What is the situation? What is going on at that point in time?
6. Why are the things that are said being said? What is the purpose of the words? What is being addressed?
7. What other doctrines and other parts of Scripture come into play when studying a particular book, chapter, verse, or passage? Everything in Scripture always ties into other parts of Scripture. Things in the N.T. are tied into the same things in the O.T.
8. The proper context has to be presented. You have to read the verses before and after any particular section of Scripture being studied. There are only a few parts of Scripture that can stand alone. Everything must be established by comparing verses with other verses.
End of part 1
