Another
way of interpreting the verse is to take “flesh” not as a substantive but as
referring to a fleshly function. Thus, the meaning is that fleshly food avails
nothing. This meaning is derived from this same source as in the case above
where “flesh” was taken in an absolute sense and not as referring to Our Lord’s
own flesh in the words, “The flesh avails nothing.” He distinguished flesh from
Spirit, and with reference to eating said that it is the Spirit who gives life
while the flesh is of no avail. The meaning is that fleshly food avails nothing,
but spiritual food gives life. This was a direct answer to the question posed
by the Jews who asked not about the substance of what was promised but about
the way it would be given [John 6:52]: “How can this man give us his flesh to
eat?” Presupposing the gift of flesh, they asked how it would be given, Our
Lord answered that the manner is not fleshly but spiritual. Flesh, that is,
fleshly food, is of no avail toward eternal life, but spiritual food gives life
to the soul.
The
fact that in Holy Scripture “flesh” can refer not to the substance of flesh but
to a fleshly function is clear from the Apostles in 1 Corinthians 15[:50], “Flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” It is clear that the fleshly
function, not the substance of flesh and blood, is not excluded from the
kingdom of God. for when we rise, we like Christ will have flesh and bones.
The
context of John 6 shows that in this passage “flesh” does not refer to the
substance of flesh, for Our Lord said of the substance of his flesh, “He who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” [6:54]. Clearly the
substance of his flesh, when eaten spiritually avails greatly and gives life,
that is, eternal life. Therefore, the saying, “The flesh avails nothing,” is
not about flesh as a substance, but refers literally to the fleshly function,
as is clear from the carnal-minded question of the Jews (“How can this man give
us his flesh to eat?” [6:52]) to which they are a direct answer. “Flesh,” that
is, fleshly food, profits nothing, while spiritual food gives eternal life. They
were thereby given to understand what he meant by claiming, “Unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man . . .”, and “My flesh is truly food” [6:53, 55]. He was
speaking here of spiritual, not carnal food. (Tommaso De Vio Cajetan, “Errors
in a Booklet on the Lord’s Supper—Instruction for the Nuntio 1525,” in Cajetan
Responds: A Reader in Reformation Controversy [trans. Jared Wicks;
Washington, D.C. : The Catholic University of America Press, 1978; repr., Eugene,
Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2011], 157-58)