Matthew 15:16

And he said, Are ye also even yet without understanding? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever goeth into the mouth passeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings: these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.

Behold in this a ray of light on transubstantiation. It being true, as Jesus said, that nothing entering the mouth defiles the man, it is equally true that nothing entering his mouth can sanctify and bless him. "Whatsoever," said Jesus, that enters the mouth proceeds to the belly and thence to the draught; therefore, it cannot be anything literal in the bread or the wine of the Lord's Supper that can either defile or bless him. Thus it is clear that the bread and the wine are emblems or symbols of the Lord's blood and body. It cannot be the physical and material substance of those sacred tokens which either blesses or procures condemnation; but, on the other hand, it is the act of obedience, the answer of a good conscience toward God, the spiritual perception of the saving truth certified and memorialized by those tokens - it is these that bless the man. Origen stated it thus: "If this were not so, it would sanctify him who eats unworthily of the bread of the Lord."[7]

A slight problem occurs in that Peter inquired about one thing, the blind leading the blind; and Jesus answered with emphasis on another thing, the things that defile a man. This was often done by Christ as for example in Luke 13:23. In that case, the disciples asked, "Are there few that be saved?" But the following dissertation never touched that question but focused on the need for every man to "strive to enter the narrow door." In this case, Christ replied by giving Peter the information he needed, rather than by replying in the same vein as the question.