One common attempt to refute the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar goes something like, “If Jesus is the bread and wine, he must also be the door, the vine, and light.”
First of all, Jesus never said “I am this bread” and “I am this wine” but “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” But, in John 6:51 Jesus did in fact say, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven,” so let's continue in this line of reasoning.
Let's look at Jesus' words.
Matthew 26:26-28 ESV
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 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 [new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Mark 14:22-24 ESV
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many.”
Luke 22:17-20 ESV
17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ESV
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for [or broken for] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
So in these passages, the common element is this: “This is my body” and “This (cup) is - my blood of the (new) covenant.”
We understand perfectly well from the context that the antecedent of the first demonstrative “this” is the bread that Jesus broke, and the antecedent of the second demonstrative “this” is the wine in the cup Jesus was holding (
took the cup) and may have poured out from a flask or jar.
Then these are the words at the center of the debate: “This is my body” and “This is my blood.”
The position of those who put forward this argument is that the words “This is” are figures of speech only, and to take them literally would necessitate understanding Jesus' “I am” statements in an equally literal fashion.
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 6:51 "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 10:7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep."
John 10:9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture."
John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
John 10:36 "do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, "You are blaspheming", because I said, "I am the Son of God"?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 15:1 ”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser."
John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
There is a problem with the logic of that argument. The portions of the statements that are to be understood non-literally are not the subject and verb “I am” but the objects “door,” “light,” and “vine.”
We can demonstrate this by the fact that when Jesus made these statements he was claiming to
be something, not to
represent or
be a symbol of something. He was not claiming to
represent the Light of the World, but to
be the Light of the World. He was not claiming to
symbolize the True Vine, but to
be the True Vine.
So, if we assume for a moment that your position is correct, then we must also assume that the non-literal portion of the statement “This is my body” is not the word “is” but the word “body.”
So if we represent this graphically, we have:
Literal > Non-Literal
I am >>> the door
I am >>> the vine
I am >>> the light
This is >> my body
This is >> my blood
Thus, if the words “body” and “blood” are non-literal, as are “door,” “light,” and “vine” then what are we to understand “body” and “blood” as actually referring to?
