Transubstantiation

Catholics believe that when they take communion, they are committing cannibalism. The Eucharist, or the Holy Communion, involves a priest consecrating the bread and the wine causing the two to actually change into the body and blood of Christ. This change is known as transubstantiation and if believed, then Catholics all around the world are self-proclaimed cannibals' since they think they are eating our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this concept alone causes massive hesitation for those in the Catholic faith, but let’s dive more into why transubstantiation is not just sickening, it is also not biblically true.

Many people will run to John 6 when Christ talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood to partner with the last supper verses. Let’s first start here and break down what Jesus is saying. It is true that Jesus says in verses 54 and 55, “54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” If you take these verses out of context, I see how you can get the Catholic teaching, but obviously this would be wrong to do. If you go back to verse 47 we see the context of what Jesus is talking about. He already gave us the answer to what brings eternal life as mentioned in verse 54. John 6 verse 47 says, “47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” So why the bread and wine motif? This answer comes at the last supper. Before we leave here though, I am someone that will take the Bible literally unless contextually the Bible is telling me not to. Does it do that in John 6? The answer is yes. John 6:63 tells us that Jesus is not talking about actual physical eating and drinking, but a spiritual truth.

Now let’s discuss the bread and wine motif. Luke 22:19-20 tells us that the bread symbolizes the body of Christ that is given for us and the wine symbolizes the blood that is shed for us. Why do I say symbolizes here? It’s very simple, Jesus tells us to do it in remembrance of his sacrifice, not to continually sacrifice him every time you take communion. Another thing to note is that in Mark 14:24-25 Jesus says that the wine is his blood, but then says that he will not drink the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. This is notable because Jesus is then telling us that the cup was still just wine. Paul quotes Jesus in 1 Corinthians 11 and in verse 26 again tells us that this is a symbolism of the Lord’s death. This idea may seem too simple, that’s because this is very simple. We are not called to be cannibals. We are told all the way back in Genesis 9:4 that we are not even supposed to have animal blood, yet is Jesus actually now telling us to drink his? Think about it logically.

So, why does Jesus use this idea of eating his flesh and drinking his blood? How does this all link? Watch out, this might blow your mind… probably not though. If you need to believe in Jesus for everlasting life, as mentioned in John 6:47, but specifically in his death and resurrection, Romans 10:9, then when you take communion in remembrance of this fact, you are proclaiming your belief in it. This is much like baptism being an outward expression of your faith. The truth is not that you must physically eat his flesh and drink his blood, it’s that you must spiritually believe in his death and resurrection. There you go Catholics, stop believing yourself to be cannibals because of false doctrine from traditions of men.