Does John 6 teach “Eating is Believing”?

Literally, it is a false statement – in John 6 literal eating is not the way of true belief. On the other hand, the discourse functions to show that eating is a metaphor for believing and in this sense the metaphor is perhaps better inverted: in John 6 believing is eating.

In chapter 6:53ff., the evangelist is not emphasising the importance of the eucharist but pointing to an abiding belief in the ‘flesh and bloodness’ of the incarnation, which is the true end of all eucharistic rites and Christian discipleship.This means that if John 6 is not about the eucharist, the eucharist is undoubtedly about John 6.

–David Gibson, in a helpful journal article