Leviticus 7 · a question people ask
Jesus spoke of drinking his blood. Didn't the law forbid it?
This chapter forbids eating "any blood, whether it is of bird or of animal" (7:26), and Leviticus gives the reason: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood" (17:11). In John 6 Jesus said, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves" (John 6:53). His hearers found it hard: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (John 6:52), and many disciples said, "This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?" (John 6:60). John doesn't connect these words to Leviticus 7. Christians read them in two main ways. Both agree that Jesus was speaking of himself, of the bread he would give "for the life of the world" (John 6:51), and of eternal life (John 6:54).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Coming to him and believing
Those who hold this view read eating and drinking as coming to Jesus and believing in him. They note that he had just said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35), and that "he who believes in me has eternal life" (John 6:47) promises what "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (John 6:54) promises. They also point to "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life" (John 6:63).
John 6:35 · John 6:40 · John 6:47 · John 6:54 · John 6:63
Pointing also to the Lord's Supper
Those who hold this view read John 6 alongside the Supper. They note that Jesus said, "For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John 6:55). At the Supper Jesus took bread and said, "Take, eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26), and of the cup, "All of you drink it, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28). Paul passes on what Jesus said of the cup: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (1 Corinthians 11:25). They read Jesus' words in John 6 as pointing to what he gives in the Supper.
John 6:53-56 · Matthew 26:26-28 · Luke 22:19-20 · 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
The verses
“You shall not eat any blood, whether it is of bird or of animal, in any of your dwellings. Whoever it is who eats any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people.’””
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.”
“Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?” But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.”