Is the Eucharist symbolic or real?

Question

Please give biblical proof for your answer, or don't answer at all.
Thank you.

toast: I just want biblical proof because that is, for most Christians, the only source of authority. I have nothing against opinions.

Answer 1

Real.

Scripture: Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53).

Tradition: "In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained" - the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Reason - It's certainly what St. Paul and the Early Church believed: "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." Saint Paul - 1 Corinthians 11:29

Besides all of that - Jesus was pretty clear when he said:

"Hoc est enim corpus meum"

"THIS IS MY BODY"

Answer 2

It just boils down to what brand of Christian you are...some Protestants (some Lutheran sects and Episcopalians) believe that Christ is in the Eucharist and not merely symbolic..and as we know all Catholics do too. Most protesants do not..interpreting only ONE verse with new world version of the text and omitting all other scripture that may suggest otherwise...but again..to each his own. EVERYONE sees and believes this differently. But even the Bible is open to interpretation and it's all subjective to ones own beliefs...so your question is a good one but one that will never be definitively answered. People will interpret and believe the way the choose (and that's how it should be) Anyway, if you want scripture to back up what the Catholic's believe that it's MORE than just symbolic..a miracle occurs...then here is their response and of course - backed up with scripture.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05573a.htm

Good question though - one many have argued..but I do think it's not something that can be proven one way or the other. It's a matter of ones OWN faith and beliefs and ones own interpretation of the Bible.
Yes, Protesants AND Catholics alike point to scripture ...and?..they believe differently on this (most of the time - my sister-n-law is Lutheran - she belives in the "Holy" miraculous Eucharist and so does my mother's Episcopalian side - so not all protestants believe it to just be symbolic) Scripture is God's word. A Catholic will read the same scripture as most protesants..and they both will say the same scriptures proove their own point...lol. Now ya know it's true.

Answer 3

i think that's symbolic yet that Christ is cutting-edge on the Eucharist. I only don't think the bread and wine rather substitute into the physique and blood. I base this on the reality that He suggested to have the bread and wine in remembrance of him. Granted he suggested it became His physique and blood, yet i think He became conversing metaphorically. i'm no longer asserting i'm suitable. that's only what i think of and have self belief.

Answer 4

Jesus said the remember when you do this, so it must be symbolic.

One of the problems is, few follow the request. Few break unleavened bread and pass it from hand to hand, few drink wine from the same cup or any cup at all. Few have a complete meal, as was the Seder dinner they had!

I have a very hard time with most Protestant religions with their little finger crackers and grape juice in McDonald's ketchup cups.

Answer 5

To Catholics it is real.
Jesus stated..'Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in you.' This was a great insult to the Jews in Jesus' day who traditionally thought that 'Blood' is contaminated.
This statement appealed to pagans who were accustomed doing 'Bloody' sacrifices.
I want to think that the Eucharist is a symbol of Christ and the sacrifice he made...according to Christianity.

Answer 6

I could give scripture that is already evident from the other scriptures given here.But does it make sense to eat the body of Christ,drink His Blood,and then God forgive me but crap Him out in the toilet later on.Please wake up and start thinking spiritual for a change.God looks at the heart and it's intentions and desires.The bread and wine are a symbol to remind us of what He did on the cross.To bring to remembrance.

Answer 7

Symbolic--- because Catholics believe that Jesus is there, for real, in the cup and the bread, which is not true. The Holy Bible did not state that.

Biblically, Jesus lives and is now in the right hand of God. The Eucharist should just be in remembrance of His death that happened 2 thousand years ago. It was a done deal. He already has risen for our benefits.

We should not reduce Jesus as just in a cup and in the bread. He is alive and has given His Holy Spirit to anyone who truly believes in Him. He is within those who believes that He is their Lord and their Savior. *smile*

That's why the Bible said: Jesus Believers' bodies are the temples of God, and He is not in a mere gold cup and bread. *smile*

Answer 8

Symbolic - Like 22:19 ....do this in remembrance of Me.

When we celebrate our birthday, we are remembering the day we were born, we are not going back to the delivery room.

When we look at the picture of a loved one who has passed away and remember things about their life, they do not come back to life during the moment.

A remembrance is a symbolic gesture.

Answer 9

It is real.. Why Biblical proof. I don't believe that you really want to hear the opinion of ant one else

Answer 10

The Eucharist is sybmolic and real....TO THE CATHOLIC, not to any one else.

Communion, where we break bread and share wine (or grape juice) is done in REMEMBRANCE OF HIM (Symbolic). It is against God's law that we partake of the blood of any living thing.

Leviticus 17:10-12: If any man of the house of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

So, was jesus asking them to literally eat His flesh and drink His blood? Of course not. It is metaphorical for the brokenness of His body and the spilling of His blood. When we eat A PIECE OF BREAD and drink a cup of JUICE, we are not eating human flesh and drinking human blood, and neither did Jesus and the aposltes, and neither has any christian, for that matter.

Unfortunately, catholics believe in the eucharist. They believe that the bread actually becomes a little piece of Jesus' flesh and the wine literally becomes the blood of Jesus. THIS IS cannabalistic, and not at all adherent to the teaching of Christ, or the doctrine of christians.