So on another thread about OSAS a discussion has been raging about John 6. Is Jesus speaking literally when he says "Amen Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you do not have life within you. Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day".
Now this is kind of thought experiment. For this discussion we're going to assume Jesus was not speaking literally. With that in mind the experiment is:
What specific words do you think Jesus would have used if he was speaking literally?
Please don't use the l, Jesus would never say such a thing, argument as that's lazy both intellectually and theologically. Please be specific in your replies. Thank you in advance and I'm looking forward to the responses
Lol Im disappointed but not surprise. I dont really think anyone will actually answer it. But that's not the question before you. If you're afraid to answer it just say so. This is what I mean by intellectual and theological laziness. It's been conceded for this argument that Jesus wasnt speaking literally, AGAIN the question is what words would Jesus have used if he did mean it literally?
Most likely this Gospel also was written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, (like Matthew), and thus the answer would be that he would have said the same exact thing. The reason why is the same as the following warning from Mosheh about how we read and understand what the scripture sets before us.
Deuteronomy 30:11-20 KJV
11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
[Rom 10:6]
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
[Rom 10:7]
14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
[Rom 10:8]
15
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Everyone who reads the Torah, (and all of the scripture), has a choice to make on how they read and understand it and even this the Master himself warns us about:
Luke 8:18 KJV
18
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
H1319-H1320 basar ~
body,
flesh, (noun), but also
good news, (noun), and
to herald good news (verb).
As for blood:
There is the blood of animals and living creatures, there is the blood of mankind, etc., but there is also the blood of grapes: and the pure blood of the grape, (Deut 32:14 KJV), is chamar/chemar/chemer, (H2560, H2516, H2564, rendered as pure in some translations but it refers to a think boiling down of the grape juice more like the thickness of bitumen. During the cooking process the blood of the grape is mixed with acacia-shiyttim tree sap and lamp-black, (charcoal), for making the most ancient ink recipe which was used for writing scripture, the Word, on scroll parchment or vellum, (in the beginning, only lamb skins). Moreover what is it that the Master says is his blood of the covenant in the Pesakh Seder companion passages? (the fruit of the vine, of course). His Testimony is Spirit, (as quoted by another poster above), and we are all made to drink from that same one Spirit because his Testimony is the new Spirit of the renewed covenant foretold in Ezekiel the Prophet, (Eze 11:19-20, Eze 36:25-27, see also John 7:39 but do not add to what is written in the Greek text, as so many errant translators do).
Thus, because the same words would be used in Hebrew: the reader had a choice to make in how they read what they read and how they heard what they heard from statement of the Master referenced in your OP, but that was before it was rendered into Greek, where now this Torah principle from Mosheh cannot be seen, perceived, or understood from the Greek text.
My preliminary study on this went this way:
G2098 ευαγγελιον ~ search various forms in the LXX-Septuagint to find any possible links in Hebrew.......
.......Hey, waddaya know, H1319 basar, good knews, good tidings: 2Sam 4:10, 2Sam 18-27, 1Kngs 1:42, 2Kngs 7:9, Psa 68:11, Psa 96:2, Isa 40:9!!!!!!!
Okay, there are more, but Yeshayah 40:9 is enough for me:
Isaiah 40:9 KJV
9 O Zion, that
bringest good tidings, [H1319 basar] get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that
bringest good tidings, [H1319 basar] lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Well, okay, one more:
Isaiah 52:7 KJV
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings, [H1319 basar] that publisheth peace; that
bringeth good tidings [H1319 basar] of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Flesh, (basar), is eaten with the mouth. The good news, (basar), is consumed with spiritual ears and eyes that hear, see, and understand the Gospel, (Good News). The true Gospel begins in Deut 30 quoted above: for the Master only preaches the Life and the Good, and not the death which is perceived by those who do not understand the Torah, for as Mosheh warned, choose life!