Timebuilder said:
Mar,
While I am always interested in Super 80's answers, since he has spent far more time and energy on the "scholarly" aspect of study than I have, I think I can give you an answer.
One easy tenet of Bible study is this: "If the plain sense makes sense, then don't make any onther sense."
Clearly, Christ was not saying that the bread was his physical body, since he was still in his pre-ressurection form. He wasn't saying that this body should be eaten, and never said that future events of the Lord's Supper would trigger an event of transubstantiation. If it did, that would be the aforementioned eating of human flesh; a sin.
In Bible study, we look for the clearest meaning possible. Often, the meaning is not literal, but figurative. All of the parables fit this format, establishing Christ's use of figurative speech as examples of the point He is making. The use of the bread and the wine are clearly in line with this familiar format.
Since Christ did not take the extra step of saying that the bread and wine would in the future bercome His actual body and blood, this is a non-Biblical interpretation and doctrine devised by Men.
The best explanation would be the simple explanation from the Lord Himself:
Luke 22:
19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
There is no secret or mystery or type. He instituted the Lord's Supper as a reminder of Him and His work on the cross, and the covenant of grace we have received through His sacrifice.
There are mysteries in the Bible. Some were hid from the Jews in the OT and revealed now in the NT, some are hid from us and will be revealed to those in the next age. To try to determine what these codes are and what they mean is pointless, and there is no instruction for us to try, God will reveal them in His own time.
Ephesians 3
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
