Does "denying Jesus has come in the flesh" apply to the Eucharist also?

[janine7]

Does “denying Jesus has come in the flesh” apply to the Eucharist also?

1 John 4:1-3 states “Beloved, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact, is already in the world.” NAB

KJV
NIV

These verses were originally about those who denied Jesus came and walked on this earth as man. That was the issue at hand then. If there was a problem with people denying Christ come in the flesh —in the Eucharist—John would’ve addressed that.

Furthermore, John’s disciple, Ignatius, wrote in 110 AD: “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness raised up again. They who deny this gift of God are perishing in their disputes”

Is this reading too much into these verses to state that denying “Jesus is come in the flesh” also applies to denying the Eucharist is Jesus’ flesh? Ignatius seems to agree with this interpretation.

 

[AmbroseSJ]

Actually the ECFs used the Eucharist as a proof of the humanity of Jesus coming in the flesh. Therefore the reverse would certainly be true. IOW, denying Jesus came in the flesh would also mean they are denying the real presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, just as St. Ignatius is saying.

 

[rdscheirer]

You are obviously Baptist and not Catholic as you represent yourself. Why is it that only Babtists can join the Baptist forums where Catholic welcome all.

 

[janine7]

Hi rdschierer. No, I am thoroughly Catholic–in fact–a revert. After much study, I came to the conclusion that the early Church was Catholic and that the Reformation was actually a Deformation splintering the Church.

I have never been Baptist, so I don’t know anything about the Baptist forums.

The question I asked, in my mind, repudiates the denial (of almost all Protestants) of the Eucharist being Christ’s Body and Blood. I am surprised that Catholic apologists haven’t used this text to prove Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist…or maybe I just haven’t come across it.

Evangelicals readily admit Jesus came in the flesh as a visible man and walked the earth, but that truth is not more important than Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist. In fact, it was penultimate to the Eucharist----so that we could eat His Flesh and drink His Blood in order that we could have eternal life. John 6:53 “I tell you most solemnly; if you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you”.

 

[mackbrislawn]

Evangelicals readily admit Jesus came in the flesh as a visible man and walked the earth, but that truth is not more important than Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist. In fact, it was penultimate to the Eucharist----so that we could eat His Flesh and drink His Blood in order that we could have eternal life. John 6:53 “I tell you most solemnly; if you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you”.

Some groups (Such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, and even some evangelicals) deny that Jesus will come again in the flesh. Of course, the passage in John was about those who denied Jesus’ first coming in the flesh, although there are those who nowadays use it for proof that He will come in the flesh for the 2nd coming, as well.