I am familiar with Catholic teaching on transubstantiation. I was raised Roman Catholic, but never was a devotee. I always admired the paegentry and programs, especially the frankincense, which is no longer used in many circles as it is too costly.
Let's look at some verses:
Jn 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
It is apparent that Jesus did not appear as a piece of bread. He was made flesh and fashioned as a man. It is a figure of speech, that He is the living bread, not bread that is alive.
and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Here the figure is broken down even more, with a literal counterpart given, His flesh.
Jn 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.Jn 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Jn 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Jn 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. Jn 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. Jn 6:58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
All these terms were spoken in figurative speech. My flesh "is like" is what is meant, it is a figure of speech
Jn 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
AV Hb 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart
How can something invisible have attributes like quick and powerful and sharp? It cannot. Yet they describe the action of the Word on our spirits and souls. It is a figure of speech, used to describe likeness with something.
The new and everlasting covenant the Lord spoke of in Jeremiah was inaugerated with Israel at the "Last Supper". It belongs to the Jews alone, and finds its fulfillment with the Lord sitting on His throne as the Son of David. This has not yet happened.
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah
He is coming back to ensure completely what Israel as a whole failed to do--accept Christs' rule.
Jer 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Believe God when He says it is Israel alone who is being spoken to. It is not to the Gentiles He is speaking. It does not include us.
Neither does the Eucharistic feast supply what God intented as a figure of speech, His body. If God did not provide it, how is it that mere mortals can conjure up such a feat? The Scriptures supply no record of men being allowed the power or glory of this display, it is Christ alone Who can descend from above as a man of flesh again, to rule and reign in Jerusalem as meant to be.
Transubstantiation proscribes to men what belongs to God alone, the power to make alive and deathless the ones at His choosing and advent. It is sovereign and will not be shared with anyone. To believe it is in the hands of men to perform this, even with the supposed cooperation of God, is contrary to the Truth found in the Holy Writings.
It is an issue of believing God.
fivesense