Originally posted by @sonship
Taking the gospel preached by Jesus during His ministry as a whole, one must KEEP His word (commandments) for "eternal life" / the Kingdom of God.
Yes, but two things I notice:
[b]1.) you use the phrase "as a whole" when you exclude words that you do NOT have the intention to believe or keep. For example, His speaking of the ...[text shortened]... t between the "red letters" of your favored selection and the epistles of Paul.
Cont. below.[/b]
1.) you use the phrase "as a whole" when you exclude words that you do NOT have the intention to believe or keep. For example, His speaking of the establishing of His new covenant with the pouring out of His blood for the forgiveness of sins.
Jaywill, I've posted on this many times before. In fact, the last time wasn't all that long ago.
Why do you dishonestly keep pretending that I haven't?
Once again:
To understand what Jesus is saying there, you'll need to understand it in context of other things He said.
1) The word given as "forgiveness" from Luke in your translation literally means "freedom".
2) In John 6 Jesus also speaks of "eating", "bread", "body/flesh", "drinking" and "blood". wherein Jesus uses the metaphor of "eating flesh", "drinking blood" to refer to " the words that I have spoken to you". In short, one "eats" and "drinks" His words so that they will abide in Him.
3) In John 15 Jesus explains that "abiding" in Him entails "keep[ing] His commandments" (words).
4) In John 8 Jesus explain that those who "abide in [His] words" will be made "free" from committing sin.
So when Jesus tells them to eat His body (flesh) and drink His blood, He is really speaking of them eating and drinking His words just as He does in John 6.
So what Jesus means in Matthew 26:28 is "for [these are My words] of the covenant, which is poured out for many for [freedom from] sins" which parallels what He said in John 8 about those who abide in His word being freed from committing sin.
This makes so much more sense than Him making some really awkward reference to His future death. Especially in light of Luke 22:19 where He says "do this in remembrance of Me." He's asking them to do it in remembrance of His words - NOT in "remembrance" of His death which hasn't happened yet.