“Meeting the Protestant Response,” #36: “The words eat and drink are used in the Bible as metaphors to refer to our relationship with God.”

Thanks for joining us today as we continue to examine and respond to Catholic apologist, Karlo Broussard’s book, “Meeting the Protestant Response” (2022). This week, Broussard completes his first of two chapters defending transubstantiation and the eucharist using John 6:48-67 as his lengthy proof-text. For brevity’s sake, find that passage here.

Protestant response #36: “The words eat and drink are used in the Bible as metaphors to refer to our relationship with God.”

Broussard writes, “(This comeback) argues that the language of ‘eating’ and ‘drinking’ were symbols frequently used in the Old Testament to signify, in the words of (evangelical apologist) Todd Baker, ‘personally experiencing and appropriating the words and blessings Yahweh has lavishly and freely given to his prophets and people.’ Baker, as well as other Protestant apologists, appeals to several passages in the Old Testament, one of which is Jeremiah 15:16: ‘Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and a delight of my heart.’ Baker infers from this biblical use of the Hebrew idioms of eating and drinking that Jesus must be ‘following his Old Testament predecessors’ and making ‘the same practical use of these Hebrew eating idioms throughout John chapter six to convey the indisputable truth that one must fully receive his life-giving death . . . to receive eternal life.’

Broussard’s response

Broussard argues, “The reason why this inference is false is that the appeal to the Old Testament passages shows only that ‘eating’ and ‘drinking’ could (author’s emphasis) be used as metaphors in John 6:53-58. It does not prove that Jesus (author’s emphasis) uses these images in a metaphorical way. Other contextual evidence would be required for such a conclusion. And given what we’ve said (previously), the contextual evidence favors a literal interpretation.”

My response

In addition to Jeremiah 15:16, we see a number of passages in the Old Testament that use the metaphorical idioms of eating and drinking for appropriating God’s Word and for belief/trust:

Deuteronomy 8:3 – “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Job 23:12 – “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.”

Psalm 4:7 – “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.”

Psalm 19:10 – “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

Psalm 34:8 – “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”

Psalm 36:8 – “They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.”

Psalm 42:1 – “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”

Psalm 119:103 – “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

The above is not an exhaustive list.

The disciples and observant Jews were absolutely aware of these Old Testament eating and drinking metaphorisms/idioms for belief/trust. Did Jesus have them in mind as He was giving His Bread of Life Discourse? It’s clear from John 6:31-32 that Jesus was drawing directly upon the OT account of the manna from Heaven (Exodus 16:1-36) in correlation with the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1-15) in order to teach, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” – John 6:35. Believing/trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior by faith alone is the key to salvation and eternal life, not physically eating Jesus. Todd Baker is correct in stating that Jesus’ audience was certainly familiar with the OT idioms of eating and drinking as metaphors for believing/trusting. Although Jesus did not quote the OT verses directly in John 6, He was building upon His audience’s familiarity with these idioms in presenting His metaphorical Bread of Life Discourse. Broussard’s rebuttal, claiming Baker’s proposal is a false inference, is preposterous given the abundancy of eating/drinking Scriptural references with which the observant Jews of 1st century Judea were thoroughly familiar.

Next week: Protestant response #37: “Jesus identifies the contents of the chalice as the ‘fruit of the vine’ after the words of consecration.”