Eating the Flesh and Drinking the Blood of the Son of Man

This was the original hard saying: as John reports, “many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” (John 6:60). Bruce shows that to feed on Christ in one’s heart by faith with thanksgiving is to “eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood” and so have eternal life.

Summary: the original “hard saying—all four evangelists—Mark’s lesson—the manna—“My flesh”—a natural question—not taken literally—Augustine of Hippo—Bernard of Clairvaux—connection to the communion feast—summed up.

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Frederick Fyvie Bruce (1910 – 1990), was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester. He was born in Elgin, northern Scotland, and was educated at the University of Aberdeen, Cambridge University and the University of Vienna. He wrote over thirty books and served as editor of The Evangelical Quarterly. He retired from teaching in 1978.

Bruce was a distinguished scholar, best known for his book, Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free He also wrote commentaries on Gospel of John, Acts, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Hebrews.

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This article first appeared in Hard Sayings of Jesus. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983). It is reproduced here, lightly edited (with summary) exclusively for the Krapf Project by permission of F.F. Bruce Copyright International, Nashville, Tennessee, USA and Bath, England.