Perhaps someone learned in Scripture can help me out here. There are two passages in the OT that I see particularly as being stumbling blocks to Jews that would want to approach Christ: (1) God says that the person who hangs on the tree is cursed; (2) God forbids blood to be eaten/drunk.
- Christ was crucified. How did the early Church get around (1)?
- Christ said that to have everlasting life one would have to drink of his blood. How did the early Church get around (2)?
Thanks in advance.
Pax tecum!
I think Jesus WAS cursed, cursed with the sins of the world. Yeah, I think that is exactly the point.
Yes, there were a lot of controversies for centuries over the Blood of Christ, and still are in many places. I think the essence of the explanation are the words of Christ, Himself.
Recall, that in the OT, the prohibition about eating blood was tied up with the pagan sacrifice of the animals, in the first place. The consumption of blood was tied up with the idea of sharing the living essence of the sacrificial animal, which were pagan practices. In its own context, that prohibition was highlighting the outlines of the new monotheistic beliefs that God was revealing.
In early times, the Christian faith was very spiritual, and the sacrifices of animals and related superstitions were immensely superceded and replaced. The early Church fathers taught that the consecrated bread and wine were transformed into the same Body and Blood of Christ, as instituted by Christ at the “last supper” (not a biblical term).
The OT was written in Hebrew and Hebrew didn’t have words for expressing certain things. So often, two words were used to represent the idea that couldn’t be expressed just so. For example, in Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth – the technical term is “merism” – to represent “everything.”
Hebrew does use a collective term “man” to represent both male and female. There are other examples, that just don’t come to mind right now.
That is the basis or something close to the basis for the Church later defining that the consecrated bread and wine – each – are the “body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.” Recall that the practice of the Eucharist preceded the writing of the New Testament. The belief was there, under that inspiration of the Holy Spirit, from the beginning, from the time of the “last supper.”
