John 6:54

He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up, at the last day.

Is there any reference here to the Lord's Supper? With due deference to the screams of outrage marking the reaction of most modern commentators to such a question, it is the positive certainty of this interpreter that such a reference to the Lord's Supper is surely here. Our Lord said of the bread and the wine in the Lord's Supper, "This is my body ... this is my blood"; and there is no logical way of dissociating those remarks from what is said here. This is not to say that "eating the flesh and drinking the blood" of the Son of God refers exclusively to the Lord's Supper; but there is no escape from the positive certainty that the Lord's Supper is included. Therefore, it is denied here that persons who are neglecting or refusing to observe the Lord's Supper as Christ commanded are in any manner whatsoever "eating and drinking" in the manner mentioned here. Let those who contend that they are indeed "eating" Jesus' flesh and "drinking" his blood explain the mystery of how such "eating and drinking" means spurning the only "eating and drinking" Jesus ever commanded, namely, that of the Lord's Supper!

The oldest interpretations that have come down through history affirm the reference here to the Lord's Supper. Thus, Cyprian said:

When therefore he says that whosoever shall eat of his bread shall live forever; as it is manifest that those who partake of his body and receive the Eucharist by the right of communion are living, etc.[21]

This interpretation is offensive to some, as for example, Adam Clarke, who said:

This can never be understood of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper: (1) Because this was not instituted until a year later; (2) it cannot be said that those who do not receive the sacrament shall perish everlastingly; and (3) nor can it be supposed that all who do receive it are necessarily eternally saved.[22]

Clarke's objections have no weight, because: (1) John spoke mysteriously of the Holy Spirit long before he was given (see John 7:39 and comment). This prophesies the supper. (2) Clarke's objection here refutes the interpretation that would make the Lord's Supper the only thing meant by Jesus' words; but, of course, the totality of Jesus' teaching, of which the Lord's Supper is a conspicuous part, must be believed and obeyed. Moreover, those who refuse Jesus' teaching as it regards the Lord's Supper have no promise whatever of eternal life. Men may scream about this if they please, but this is what the word of God says. (3) In this, Clarke's words are true enough but irrelevant as an argument against a reference to the Lord's Supper as being intended here. Clarke's argument is just this: "Look, if this refers to the Lord's Supper, it would mean that people who observe it are saved, and those who don't are lost! And that cannot possibly be true!"

Well, why not? If the Lord's Supper is a normal and conspicuous element of Christianity, designed to be partaken of by the whole body of the redeemed of all ages and to be continued until the second advent of the Son of God; and, if the Lord's Supper is the only ceremonial ordinance commanded to be observed repeatedly throughout the full lifetime of every Christian, is it not therefore absolutely true that the saved and lost of all ages may be accurately identified as those who do, or who do not, observe it? Of course it is. The trouble with the commentators is that, so long they have construed salvation by faith as meaning "by faith only," that they similarly interpret the obvious reference to the Lord's Supper here as "Lord's Supper only." However, the reference to the Lord's Supper in this place, which is stoutly affirmed by this writer, is not to the supper ONLY, but to the entire system of Christianity for which it (by metonymy) stands.

[21] Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V. p. 452.

[22] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Whole Bible (London: Mason and Lane, 1837), Vol. V, p. 563.