Catholics, along with other Christians, argue that Jesus’ body and blood must be present in the Eucharist because in John 6, Jesus commanded us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. And he meant it literally. But some Christians argue that Catholics overlook a key detail in the narrative that proves Jesus was speaking not literally, but metaphorically.
What is that detail? And does it disprove the Catholic interpretation? Let’s find out.
The detail is found in verse 35, the context that precedes Jesus’ command to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.’” Protestant apologist Robert Zins, in his book Romanism: The Relentless Roman Catholic Assault on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, identifies this verse as “the controlling verse of John 6.”
In explaining this verse, formerly well-known Protestant apologist Eric Svendsen, in his book Evangelical Answers: A Critique of Current Roman Catholic Apologists, notes, “There can be no doubt that what Jesus meant by ‘eating’ and ‘drinking’ him was to come to him and to believe in him.” For Svendsen, since Jesus speaks of hunger and thirst symbolically here, he must be speaking symbolically of eating his flesh and drinking his blood later in verse 54.
Protestant apologist James White concurs. He writes,
“Coming” and “believing” will become “eating” and “drinking” in verse 54 . . . the definitions assigned to these terms by the Lord (being spiritual and symbolic, not literal and earthly) must be carried through the rest of the text (The Roman Catholic Controversy, 170).
Both White and Svendsen further cite verse 47, where Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life,” and infer from this that eating equals believing. For example, when White gets to the “eating” of the bread of life mentioned in verse 54, he comments,
The “eating” here is paralleled with the “believing” of verse 47—any attempt to make this a physical action misses the entire point the Lord is making. He who believes has eternal life—he who eats of the true bread from heaven will never die. Eating = believing. This is clearly the literal meaning of the text.
So what can we say in response?
First, it’s true that that in verses 27-48, Jesus speaks about the necessity to believe in him. But in verse 51, Jesus introduces his flesh and identifies it as the bread from heaven that he will give for the life of the world. It’s this detail that adds something new to the conversation.
Initially, the Jews murmur about Jesus saying he came down from heaven (v. 41). But in verse 52, they quarrel specifically over Jesus identifying his flesh as the bread from heaven and saying whoever eats it will live forever, for they say, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Belief in Jesus is not the issue here. It’s eating his flesh.
So, at least within the thinking of the Jews, there is something new added to the mix of Jesus’ teaching about believing in him—something that causes them distress.
But is there something new that Jesus intends to add as well? There is!
If Jesus intended his statement about eating his flesh to be understood as mere belief, and not something that a believer will do in order to have his spiritual hunger and thirst sated, then he could have easily retracted his language about eating his flesh and gone back to the metaphorical language of coming to him and never hungering and believing in him and never thirsting, as he did in verse 35. This would have gone a long way in calming the Jews’ fear that he was suggesting they actually eat his flesh.
But he doesn’t do that. In fact, he develops even more emphatically what the Jews understood to be a direct command to eat his flesh by speaking of eating his flesh and drinking his blood six times in six verses (vv. 53-58). Moreover, the language for eating in the Greek intensifies in those verses (the opposite of what you would expect if Jesus were speaking figuratively).
Before verse 54, when Jesus gives the command, John uses the aorist form of the Greek verb esthíō, which is related to the verb phago—a fairly generic term for eating. But starting in verse 54, the Greek word changes to trogo, which carries the idea of gnawing or chewing.
Now, the same line of reasoning applies to his disciples. In verse 60, we’re told that his disciples struggle just as much as the Jews. If Jesus intended his words “eat my flesh” and “drink my blood” to be taken metaphorically, as only to convey the idea that they must come to and believe in him, then Jesus could easily go back to the metaphorical language in verse 35. This would easily quell the disciples’ fear, since they already believe in Jesus. They are his disciples!
But Jesus doesn’t do that. In fact, he underscores the difficulty in verse 61 by saying how it will be even more difficult to believe his ascension.
The difficulty of the teaching to eat his flesh and drink his blood explains why Jesus spends some time priming his disciples with a teaching about coming to him and believing in him in verse 35. Belief in Christ must precede belief in the Eucharist, since one can believe in the Eucharist only on account of belief in Christ.
One last thing to consider in response: Jesus speaks of giving his flesh to eat in the future. Note how Jesus says, “The bread which I shall give [Greek, dōsō, future tense of didōmi].” He doesn’t say, “The bread which I give now in the present.” The future tense doesn’t jibe with taking Jesus’ words to mean belief. Why would his disciples need to wait to believe in him in the future? That doesn’t make sense. Shouldn’t they believe in Jesus at that moment? Of course they should.
So, this argument based on verse 35 doesn’t hold up. There’s no need for a Catholic to overlook it. Rather than working against a literal interpretation, it actually fits perfectly with it. A radical command like eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood requires preparation with an emphasis on faith. And Jesus does just that.
***This article was originally published by Catholic Answers Magazine Online on June 16, 2026