https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Transubstantiation.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: John 6:35-58<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. The Lord’s Supper is a weekly memorial to the death of our Savior<\/p>\n
A. It was instituted by Jesus – Matthew 26:26-30<\/p>\n
B. To be done in memory of Jesus – Luke 22:19<\/p>\n
C. A declaration to the world – I Corinthians 11:26<\/p>\n
D. A sharing – I Corinthians 10:16<\/p>\nII. The Roman Catholics call their rite the Eucharist, which is from a Latin word for giving\nthanks.\n A. In the conducting of this rite, they claim that the bread and wine are changed in a\nprocess called “transubstantiation.”\n B. “the Roman Catholic doctrine that the whole substance of the bread and the wine\nchanges into the substance of the body and blood of Christ when consecrated in\nthe Eucharist” [WordNet]\n C. Catholics claim that “Transubstantiation reflects Roman Catholic faith in the\nliteralness of the words of the Bible.” [CatholicApologetics.org]\n
III. Problems with Transubstantiation<\/p>\n
A. Matthew 26:26-29<\/p>\n 1. The Catholics point out that Jesus said, “This is my body” and “This is my\nblood.”\n
2. The question is was he saying this literally or as a figure or symbol?<\/p>\n
a. Early Christian writers understood that it was symbolic. <\/p>\n b. Tertullian, ca 200 A.D., in Against Marcion<\/i>, IV.40, said, “Taking\nbread and distributing it to his disciples he made it his own body\nby saying, ‘This is my body,’ that is a ‘figure of my body.’ On the\nother hand, there would not have been a figure unless there was a\ntrue body.”\n 3. Because Christ was present before the disciples, whole, while making this\nstatement, the obvious understanding is that he meant this figurative.\n
a. Roman Catholics dismiss this claiming a miracle took place<\/p>\n b. Yet, unlike all the other miracles of the Bible, this one supposedly\ntook place unannounced, unseen, and unnoticed by those present.\n
c. This is not what miracles were for – Hebrews 2:4<\/p>\n 4. If there is no figurative language, then how did the disciples drink the cup?\n– Matthew 26:27\n 5. After saying that the cup was his blood, Jesus then calls it the fruit of the\nvine – Matthew 26:29.\n
a. Are we to say that it changed back?<\/p>\n b. No, we acknowledge that Jesus was speaking figuratively that the\nfruit of the vine represented his shed blood.\n
6. Similar wording is found in Galatians 4:22-25<\/p>\n
a. Hagar wasn’t a mountain.<\/p>\n b. It is called a metaphor: “A short similitude; a similitude reduced to\na single word.”\n
c. Luke 13:32 – Calling Herod a fox is a metaphor.<\/p>\n
B. I Corinthians 10:16-18<\/p>\n
1. The cup and the bread are communions with the blood and body of Christ.<\/p>\n
2. Paul tells us they are representative.<\/p>\n 3. Notice verse 17. It says the church is the bread and the body. So when the\nchurch partakes of the Lord’s Supper, are we eating ourselves?\n
4. If that wasn’t clear enough, look at verse 18. Did Israel eat the altar?<\/p>\n
a. The answer should be clearly “no, not physically”<\/p>\n b. So does the Christian eat the Lord’s body? The answer is the same:\n“no, not physically.”\n
C. John 6:50-55<\/p>\n
1. The Jews took offense to Jesus statement because they took it literally.<\/p>\n a. The Catholics state that Jesus reinforced the statement, and, thus\nthey claim, meant to insist it be taken as literal\n
2. The disciples had a hard time understanding Jesus’ statement – John 6:60<\/p>\n a. Jesus asked if the idea he presented offended them, what would\nthey do when he ascended? – John 6:61-62\n b. In other words, if they insisted on taking Jesus’ statement literally\nand thus were offended by it, what were they going to do when\nJesus ascended and Jesus’ body and blood would no longer be\navailable to them?\n
3. To put things back into perspective – John 6:63<\/p>\n a. Things of this world, such as a body have no profit. It is spiritual\nthings, the things of God which give life.\n
b. Jesus then said that his words<\/i> give life because they are of God!<\/p>\n
4. Go back to John 6:54<\/p>\n
a. Jesus said whoever partakes of his flesh and blood has eternal life.<\/p>\n b. The words of Jesus are the same as his flesh and blood. These\nstatements are not to be taken literally.\n
5. In context<\/p>\n
a. John 6:32-33 – Jesus is the bread of life sent from God.<\/p>\n b. John 6:35 – Jesus is the bread of life and the person who comes to\nhim never hungers and the person who believes in him never thirsts\n c. John 6:37-40 – The explanation – sees and believes in Jesus will\nhave eternal life\n
d. How do people come to Jesus? – John 6:45-48<\/p>\n (1) By being taught by God and believing in Jesus gives eternal\nlife\n
(2) Thus Jesus is the bread of life<\/p>\n
6. Similar statements<\/p>\n
a. John 4:33-34 – To Jesus true food was doing God’s will<\/p>\n
b. John 7:37-38 – True drink is to believe in Jesus<\/p>\n 7. Jesus was speaking metaphorically, not about the Lord’s Supper but about\nthe need to obey God’s will, which he was delivering, and believing on the\none God sent, which was himself.\n
a. It is similar to other statements of Jesus<\/p>\n b. I am the light of the world – John 8:12, but Jesus wasn’t literally a\nlamp\n
c. I am the true vine – John 15:5, but Jesus wasn’t a plant<\/p>\n
d. I am the door – John 10:9<\/p>\n
8. The conversation started because Jesus said, – John 6:27<\/p>\n a. Jesus states that true food is what Jesus gives them from the Father\n(the Father’s teaching)\n b. When the Jews insisted on taking him literally, Jesus explained –\nJohn 6:28-29\n c. To labor for the food of God (the Father’s teaching), one must\nbelieve on Jesus.\n
IV. The doctrine of transubstantiation is not found in the Bible<\/p>\n A. It was created by men who applied literal meaning to some<\/i> of Jesus’ figurative\nstatements, but they did not do so consistently.\n 1. The Roman Catholics do understand the use of figurative speech because\nthey do refer to it in other passages.\n
B. But there is one point that should settle the matter.<\/p>\n
1. The Roman Catholic claim is that they are drinking the blood of Christ<\/p>\n
2. Yet in God’s covenant with mankind – Genesis 9:4<\/p>\n
3. It remained true in Israel – Deuteronomy 12:23<\/p>\n a. Which is why the Jews found Jesus’ statements in John 6 difficult\nand offense when they tried to take it literally\n
4. It remains true in Christ – Acts 15:29<\/p>\n
5. The consumption of blood has always<\/i> been forbidden<\/p>\n
6. But the Catholics claim to do what God has forbade<\/p>\n
V. II Peter 3:14-18<\/p>\n
A. What we find is a doctrine being taught by men who distort what the Bible says.<\/p>\n
B. Historically it began being talked about first in the mid-300’s. <\/p>\n 1. ”Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread\nis not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the\nseeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of\nChrist; and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth\nman’s heart, to make his face to shine with oil, ‘strengthen thou thine\nheart,’ by partaking thereof as spiritual, and “make the face of thy soul to\nshine.” [Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, XXII:8 (c.A.D. 350)]\n C. But it wasn’t popularized until near the 1100’s and then made law at the council of\nTrent.\n 1. ”The term transubstantiation seems to have been first used by Hildebert of\nTours (about 1079). His encouraging example was soon followed by other\ntheologians, as Stephen of Autun (d. 1139), Gaufred (1188), and Peter of\nBlois (d. about 1200), whereupon several ecumenical councils also\nadopted this significant expression, as the Fourth Council of the Lateran\n(1215), and the Council of Lyons (1274), in the profession of faith of the\nGreek Emperor Michael Palæologus. The Council of Trent (Sess. XIII,\ncap. iv; can. ii) not only accepted as an inheritance of faith the truth\ncontained in the idea, but authoritatively confirmed the “aptitude of the\nterm” to express most strikingly the legitimately developed doctrinal\nconcept.” [Catholic Encyclopedia]\n
D. Yet it never was from God.<\/p>\n E. We must always be on guard against false doctrine lest is sweep us away from the\ntruth.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 6:35-58 I. The Lord’s Supper is a weekly memorial to the death of our Savior A. It was instituted by Jesus – Matthew 26:26-30 B. To be done in memory of Jesus – Luke 22:19 C. A declaration to the world – I Corinthians 11:26 D. A sharing – I Corinthians 10:16 II. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[146,1599,286],"class_list":["post-63623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-lords-supper","tag-roman-catholic-church","tag-transubstantiation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/misconceptions-about-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":63623,"position":0},"title":"Misconceptions About the Lord’s Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Osamagbe Lesley Egharevba via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 4, No. 2, April-June 2024 One of the acts of worship the New Testament church engaged in was the Lord's Supper. It is also called \"the breaking of bread\" (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7), \"the Communion\" (I Corinthians 10:16), or \"the Lord's table\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/communion-300x200.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63589,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-lords-supper-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":63623,"position":1},"title":"The Lord’s Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 11:17-34 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a covenant meal \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Luke 22:19-20 - The cup is the new covenant \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A covenant that is taken with us in the kingdom - Matthew 26:28-29 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Covenants were often sealed with a meal shared between the two parties.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-christians-sing-during-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":63623,"position":2},"title":"Should Christians sing during the Lord’s supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Should Christians sing during the Lord's supper? Answer: I wonder what is next -- singing during prayer or singing during the sermon!? I really don't understand why people think that the Lord's Supper needs some kind of \"crutch\" or \"support\" to make it meaningful and relevant to Christians. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50570,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/foundations-of-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":63623,"position":3},"title":"Foundations of the Lord’s Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Alan Feaster","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12922,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-judas-at-the-last-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":63623,"position":4},"title":"Was Judas at the Last Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question concerns Judas and his participation or not, in the first Lord's Supper. I have read over the verses concerning the Lord's Supper, the night Jesus initiated it. Luke 22:14-22 appears to say he was there, and after the supper, Jesus then identified Judas as the one to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53840,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-unleavened-bread\/","url_meta":{"origin":63623,"position":5},"title":"Why Unleavened Bread?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Why do we use unleavened bread when we partake of the Lord's Supper? At the first level of understanding, we recognize that Jesus used unleavened bread when giving instructions for the Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:26). 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