81. And the bread which I shall give. Above the Lord showed that he is the bread that refreshes according to his divine nature; here he shows according to his human nature. And since this seemed false and harsh or hard, therefore this part has three parts. First is set forth the instruction of the faithful: second, its confirmation on account of the disputation of the Jews, at: The Jews therefore disputed, etc.: third, its explanation on account of the scandal of the disciples, at: These things he said in the Synagogue teaching, etc.
(Verse 52). A brief instruction is set forth, in which he says that his flesh is bread; on account of which he says: And the bread, etc.: thus I am bread according to my Divinity; I am also bread according to my flesh; whence he says: And the bread which I shall give, namely for refreshment, according to what we ask in the Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our supersubstantial bread," Matthew 6: is my flesh, which namely refreshes: First Corinthians 10: "The bread which we break, is it not the body of the Lord?" For the life of the world, namely the flesh of Christ was given, when it was exposed to suffering, according to that passage in Lamentations 3: "He will give his cheek to the one who strikes him," indeed his whole body; whence Isaiah 50:
"I gave my body to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked them"; and not only for striking, but indeed also for immolation; whence Ephesians 5: "He delivered himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God."
82. The Jews therefore were disputing. The instruction has been set forth; here secondly, on account of the disputing of the Jews, a confirmation is set forth. And first the disputation of the Jews is set forth; second, the confirmation of the doctrine, at the passage: Jesus therefore said to them.
(Verse 53). The disputation therefore was about this, that he had called his flesh bread, which they understood carnally. For this reason he says: The Jews therefore were disputing. First they murmured, but now they dispute, when they contradict with loud and open speech. The Jews were contentious, which the servants of God ought not to be; whence Second Timothy 2: "The servant of God must not dispute, but be gentle toward all." Saying to one another: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? As if they were saying: this is impossible, unless he kills himself. Similarly Nicodemus asked above: "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born again?" Hence they asked this foolishly; Chrysostom: "You ask how he can give his flesh? Why did you not say concerning the loaves: how did you extend five loaves to so many?"
83. Jesus therefore said to them. The disputation of the Jews has been set forth; here the confirmation of the doctrine is set forth. He therefore confirms what he had said, that his flesh is bread, in this order: first the necessity of eating the flesh of Christ is set forth; second, the utility of eating; third, the truth of the refreshment; fourth, the dignity.
(Verse 54). First therefore the necessity of eating is shown, because without it there is no salvation; on account of which he says: Amen, amen I say to you, that is, in truth: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, as true bread, and drink his blood, as true drink: you shall not have life in you, namely the life of grace, of which it is said in the Psalm: "Quicken me according to your word."
Augustine: "Nothing lives by the Spirit of Christ except the body of Christ. If therefore you wish to live by the Spirit of Christ, be in the body of Christ." But he who eats the body of Christ is in the body of Christ; therefore he who does not eat does not live, because it is said below in the same chapter: "He who eats my flesh abides in me."
84. (Vers. 55.). He who eats etc. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the benefit of eating: because he who eats the flesh is vivified in soul and body: in soul: whence he says: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life: has, I say, in merit; or has, because he has already in a certain way begun to possess it; Isaiah fifty-five: "Hear, you who hear me, and eat what is good, and your soul shall delight in richness: incline your ear and come to me, and your soul shall live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the faithful mercies of David."
He also gives bodily life: whence he adds: And I will raise him up on the last day, in that hour, of which above in chapter five: "The hour comes, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and those who have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."
85. (Vers. 56.). For my flesh etc. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the truth of the refreshment. For the flesh of Christ truly refreshes, because it is true food, and therefore gives life. For this reason he says: For my flesh is truly food: so truly have I said that he who eats has life; for my flesh is truly food, not in a phantasmic way, like bodily foods, which refresh for a moment and then fail. And my blood is truly drink, because it takes away thirst entirely; above in the same chapter: "He who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." And that his flesh is true food that refreshes and vivifies, he shows by this reasoning: he who abides in me lives because of me; but he who eats my flesh abides in me; therefore he who eats my flesh lives because of me. Of this reasoning he first sets forth the minor premise, when he says:
86. (Vers. 57.). He who eats my flesh, by spiritual eating, and drinks my blood abides in me, through love: First John four: "He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him"; and I in him, through indwelling: below in chapter fourteen: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him." Having set forth the minor premise, he adds the proof of the major premise, namely, that he who abides in the Son lives because of him. He makes this clear by a similitude.
87. (Verse 58.). As the living Father sent me: living, by essence; and I live because of the Father, namely because I have life from him; above in the fifth chapter: "As the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself," and this from the Father remaining in him: below in the fourteenth chapter: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me"; and from this the major premise is obtained: He who remains in me, etc. And from this the conclusion is drawn: And he who eats me, he also shall live because of me: because, namely, he who remains in life by eating truly lives because of me, since, as is said below in the eleventh chapter, "I am the resurrection and the life."
88. (Verse 59.). This is the bread, etc. Here the fourth point is touched upon, namely the dignity of the refreshment, which surpasses that refreshment of the fathers which the Jews were praising above, both because it is nobler and because it is more lasting: nobler, because this bread is from heaven: whence he says: This is the bread that descended from heaven: above in the same chapter: "Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you bread from heaven," and thus it is nobler. It is also more lasting, because that bread preserved temporally, but this one eternally; whence he says: Not as your fathers ate manna and died, and thus were preserved only temporally, because within forty years they died in the desert, according to that verse of the Psalm: "For forty years I was offended with that generation," etc.; Numbers chapter fourteen: "Your children shall wander in the desert for forty years and shall bear your fornication, until the corpses of the fathers are consumed in the desert." But this bread preserves eternally: whence he says: He who eats this bread shall live forever: that is, he who eats worthily shall live forever, because, as is said in First Corinthians chapter eleven, "he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment upon himself": he who eats worthily shall live forever. He frequently promises eternal life, both so that they may desire that food and so that he may draw them away from love of earthly life to eternal life. For as is said in Matthew chapter ten: "He who loves his soul more than me is not worthy of me"; Deuteronomy chapter thirty: "Choose life for yourself."
Questions.
89. Question I. An inquiry is made concerning the quarreling of the Jews; about which Chrysostom asks: whence is it that above they were murmuring in secret, but now they quarrel openly?
I respond to this that it arises from a twofold cause: both because evil men and seducers and the unruly grow worse the more the truth is explained to them; and also because what had been said above concerning the Divinity, although it seemed false, was nevertheless not inhuman: but what he had now said about eating his flesh seemed not only false but inhuman and unclean, which the Jews abhor: therefore they quarreled.
90. Question II. An inquiry is made here concerning the eating of the body of Christ and his flesh. — And that it is not eaten seems to be the case:
1. Because what is eaten is ground down and chewed: but the impassible flesh of Christ cannot be ground down by the teeth: therefore neither can it be eaten.
2. Likewise, what is eaten is converted into the one eating: but the body of Christ is not converted into us, but we into him: therefore we do not eat him, but he eats us.
I respond: In eating we find three things, namely mastication, incorporation, and conservation. Mastication is twofold according to the twofold eating: for there is sacramental eating, and in this there is sacramental mastication, because the species is chewed: there is also spiritual eating, and in this there is spiritual mastication, which is a spiritual discernment through faith. There is furthermore incorporation, by which we are incorporated into the body of Christ: there is also conservation, by which we are conserved through the Spirit of Christ, as the members of the body are conserved through the soul. Concerning these three things Augustine says: "O sacrament of piety! O sign of unity! O bond of charity! Whoever wishes to live, let him draw near, let him believe, let him be incorporated, let him be vivified."
1. Through this the first objection is clear: because there is mastication there, not carnal but spiritual or sacramental.
2. To the objection that he is not incorporated into us, it must be said that the ultimate effect of food is to conserve; and because, although we are incorporated into Christ by eating, nevertheless because by eating we are conserved through him, he is rightly called our food.
91. Question III. Likewise there is a question concerning what he says: Unless you shall have eaten the flesh, etc. — From this it seems that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is of necessity, and that no one can be saved without it.
Against: Either he means the life of grace or the life of glory: not of grace, because whoever wishes to approach worthily must first have the life of grace: therefore he does not have it through eating; nor the life of glory, because if one can have the life of grace without eating, one can also have glory.