John Chapter 6

Introductory remarks:

"We come now to the miraculous feeding of the five thousand - a miracle recorded in all four Gospels. In the Gospel of John, Jesus follows this miracle with a discourse on the Bread of Life. John records only certain miracles signs because signs are for a purpose. You will remember that he said, 'And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name' (John 20:30-31). This is an important verse because it is actually the key to this entire Gospel.

Now we find Jesus feeding the five thousand, and out of this grows His great discourse on the fact that He is the true Bread of God" (McGee).

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Verse 1, "After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias."

LGT "After these things Jesus went away over the Sea of Galilee of Tiberius."

"After these things"

Obviously this is referring to the events of chapter five.

"Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias."

"Jesus was at that time on the west of the lake and could easily cross to the eastern side, as He is here said to have done. The 'Sea of Galilee', called Kinnereth in the OT (Num. 34:11, etc.) because of its shape (the word means 'lyre'), came to be known as Lake Tiberias from the city which Herod Antipas founded on its west shore about AD 20 and named in honor of the Emperor Tiberius. The lake had probably not acquired this new name at the time of Jesus' ministry, but it was generally so known by the time this Gospel was written (cf. John 21:1) [The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce].

Verse 2, "And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased."

LGT "And following Him [was] a great crowd, because they were beholding the signs which He had been doing upon the ones who were sick."

Both the words 'following' and 'had been doing' are imperfect active indicatives, and it means that they had been following and beholding his signs for some time. The crowds that followed Jesus were for the outward interest in His miracles; they had no real interest in the Christ who was performing all the miracles.

"The crowds that followed Jesus, to judge by their attitude as the narrative develops, apparently belonged to the class described in a Jerusalem setting in John 2:23: they were impressed by the signs which was only superficial because they did not appreciate the inward import of the signs" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

Verse 3, "And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples."

LGT "And Jesus went up into the mountain and there He was sitting with His disciples."

Jesus took time out for a brief period to rest and sit and converse with the original disciples He had personally called.

Verse 4, "And the Passover, a feast of the Jews was [near]."

LGT "And was near the Passover, the feast of the Jews."

This verse is parenthetical between verses three and four.

Verse 5, "When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"

LGT "Therefore, Jesus having lifted up His eyes and was beholding the great crowd is coming toward Him, He said to Philip, when will we buy loaves in order that these may eat?"

The same crowd that had followed Jesus around the Lake is now coming up the mountain to see more signs. It was late in the afternoon, and Christ asks Philip, where are they going to be able to buy loaves (the word 'bread' is plural) to feed the crowd. The Lord is not asking for advice from Philip, as Christ had never need to ask advice. The next verse will explain why He is asking this question from Philip.

Verse 6, "And He said this to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do."

LGT "And He said these things testing him: for He already [knew] what He was about to do."

Bruce says that this verse is parenthetically supplied to give the reason Jesus asked Philip the question, for Christ knew full well what He was about to do. McGee adds, 'He was testing Philip. Philip looked over that crowd that was coming - five thousand men besides women and children. I estimate it must have been at least fifteen thousand people. Friend, that's a pretty good-sized crowd, especially for that land and in that day. When Philip saw them coming, he wasn't thinking of a miracle at all.'

Verse 7, "Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little."

LGT "Philip answered Him, Two hundred denarii's of loaves is not sufficient for them in order that each a few may take."

Philip was answering that two hundred denarii's would not be enough to feed so many.

"Philip did some quick mental arithmetic, Since a denarii's was acceptable as a day's wage for casual laborer (Matt, 20:2), it would presumably buy a days supply of bread for an average family. But Philip reckoned that even if 200 denarii's could be raised, that sum would not go nearly far enough to meet present need. (The figure of 200 denarii's is mentioned also in Mark 6:37, but there it is 'the disciples' who mention it, not Philip in particular). It is hardly worth while nowadays to try to translate denarii's" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

Verse 8, "One of the disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto Him,"

LGT "One of His disciples saying to Him, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter,"

The only distinction for Andrew is that he brought his brother, Simon Peter to the Lord.

Verse 9, "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?"

LGT "There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two little (cooked dainty) fish: but what are these among so many?"

The Greek word for 'little boy' is 'paidarion' the diminutive (very small condition) of 'pais', a boy or lad. This small lad had five barley loaves and two little fish.

"When we read that these five were barley-loaves, we learn that, no doubt from voluntary choice, the fare of the Lord and of His followers was the poorest. Indeed, barley bread was, almost proverbially, the meanest [poorest kind]. Hence, as the Mishnah puts it, while all other meat-offerings were of wheat, that brought by the woman accused of adultery was to be of barley, because (so R. Gamaliel puts it), 'as her deed is that of animals, so her offering is also of the food of animals'. The other minute trait in St. John's Gospel consists in the use of a peculiar word for 'fish', 'opsarion', which properly means what was eaten along with bread, and especially refers to the small, and generally dried or pickled fish eaten with bread, like our 'sardines,' or the 'caviar' of Russia, the pickled herrings of Holland and Germany, or a peculiar kind of small dried fish, eaten with the bones, in the North of Scotland" (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah - Alfred Edersheim).

Verse 10, "And Jesus said, Make the men to sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand."

LGT "Jesus said, Make the men to recline: And there was much pasture ground in that place. Therefore the men reclined, the number about five thousand."

The Greek expression for 'to sit down' is literally 'to recline.' The use of the term 'men'- 'andres' (husband or man) was not to exclude the women and children; the custom of the Jews was as Edersheim notes: "We recall the Jewish ordinance, that the Head of the House was only to speak the blessing if he himself shared in the meal, yet if they who sat down to it were not merely guests, but his children, of his household, then might he speak it, even if he himself did not partake of the bread which had broken" (Rosh hash. 29b). Here we have five thousand men; if we count women and children, McGee says, there were probably fifteen thousand persons in all.

Verse 11, "And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would."

LGT "Then Jesus took the loaves and He having given thanks He gave the ones reclining likewise also of the fishes as much as they wished."

"And Jesus took the loaves"

Jesus took the loaves (of verse nine) that the little lad had given.

"And when He had given thanks,"

There are some commentators that like to draw some spiritual significance of this phrase to the 'Eucharist', but I believe this is a stretch of exegesis; I do believe, however, that it should set an example to us that we should give thanks to our heavenly Father, without shame, for providing us with our daily bread. We may be very self-sufficient in our businesses, but if we are honest, our very livelihood is in the hands of our dear Father.

"The verb rendered 'gave thanks' in verse 11 is 'eucharisto', from which we derive the term Eucharist ('thanksgiving'), commonly used of the Holy Communion. But this in itself would not require a Eucharistic significance for the feeding; the verb is perfectly common and un-technical in Greek. If Jesus used the regular form of thanksgiving on such an occasion, He would have said, 'blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

"He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down."

This whole phrase is not in the best manuscripts; however, we will let it slide, because the Synoptic records do have it.

"And likewise of the fishes as much as they would."

The Greek word for 'would' is 'athelon' an aorist active indicative meaning 'as much as they wished.' Everyone there ate to their' hearts content.

Verse 12, "When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost."

LGT "And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, Gather together the over and above broken pieces, in order that not anything may be wasted."

Christ had broken the bread before He had his disciples distribute it to the multitude, and He now instructed them to gather up what was left over so as not to let anything be wasted. There are two points that have stood out in my mind in this miracle; beside how wonderful it is that the Lord knew all along what he was about to do when He saw the multitude approach, He first of all gave thanks to God as a testimony for us that we should always keep in our minds who provides our daily bread, and secondly, He gathered up what was left so as not to waste what was provided. It seems to me quite irresponsible to thank God for our daily bread and then waste it through carelessness.

Verse 13, "Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten."

LGT "Therefore they gathered together and filled twelve hand-baskets of the broken pieces from the five barley loaves which were over and above to the ones who had eaten."

The food that was left over filled twelve 'hand-baskets'; some expositors say that there was left over one basket for each of Christ's apostles, however, I can't find any significance in this; so I will stick with the fact that the lord simply did not want them to be careless with his liberality and waste food.

Verse 14, "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."

LGT "Therefore the men having seen the signs Jesus had done they said This is truly the prophet the One who is coming into the world."

"Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said,'

It was quite impressive to these men when they beheld the miracle that Jesus had just performed, however, they immediately jump to the wrong conclusion regarding the One who did these signs.

"This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."

These men immediately thought He was a second Moses, and were willing to accept Him as a Prophet, but as soon as it is evident to them that He was come to deliver them from their sins, they would say, Sorry! We have no use for this guy.

"A rabbi of a later date is credited with the observation that 'as the first redeemer caused manna to descend, . . . so will the last redeemer cause manna to descend', and the general idea seems to have been current in the first century. The Evangelist does not suggest that the people were wrong in identifying Jesus as the coming prophet; he does suggest that they were wrong in interpreting His significance on a material and external plane. When the true interpretation of His significance was made plain to them, most of them took offence" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

Verse 15, "When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone."

LGT " Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to be coming and seizing Him in order that they might make Him king, He withdrew up again into the mountain Himself alone."

"When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force,"

The Greek word for 'perceived' is 'gnous' a second aorist active participle, lit. 'Perceiving' that they were coming to get Him. "There was already a movement to start a revolution against Roman rule in Palestine by proclaiming Jesus King and driving away Pilate" (Robertson).

"To make Him king,"

The rulers of the Jews were not looking for a Savior; they were expecting a King to deliver them from Roman oppression.

"If this was the second Moses, He would surely do for them what the first Moses had done for their ancestors and deliver them from oppression. This time no long journey was necessary to bring them to the Promised Land: the Promised Land now was a national independence right where they were. If the Galileans did not live directly under Roman control, as their brethren in Judea did, their ruler Herod Antipas was a creature of Rome, and they experienced no feelings of patriotic pride as they contemplated the Herodian dynasty. The Herods stood or fell with the Romans: to oppose the one was to oppose the other. It may well have been in the hope that Jesus would lead the cause of liberation that the crowd came to Him on this occasion (verse 5): His feeding them in the wilderness confirmed their assurance that He was indeed the man of the hour.

Their attempt to make Him king does not necessarily mean that they recognized Him as the Messiah of David's line. Elsewhere in this Gospel it appears that the Messiah and the prophet were distinguished in public expectation (John 1:19-25; 7:40-42); they were certainly distinguished in the thinking of the Qumran community. We should not, indeed, assume that the rank and file of the people kept the various aspects of the eschatological hope neatly separated in their minds, any more than their modern successors do. Jesus had already shown His power to banish disease; now He had shown His power to banish hunger. If only He would show His power to secure His people's liberation, nothing could stand in His way. Here, surely, was the leader for whom they had been waiting; with Him as their captain and king, victory and freedom were as good as won! If He would not take the initiative and present Himself to them as their leader, they would compel Him to do so. But Jesus recognized in their action a recurrence of one of His wilderness temptations. He knew that this was not the way in which He was to fulfill the Father's will and win deliverance for His people. So He avoided the crowd's unwelcome attention by withdrawing to the Golan Heights - not this time with the disciples (whom He sent back across the lake) but in solitude" (The Gospel and Epistles of John, F. F. Bruce).

"He departed again into a mountain Himself alone."

Jesus now departs by Himself to be alone with His Father (Matthew and Mark both add 'to pray') in order to fellowship with the Father around the real purpose that He came. There are those who say, Well, isn't He the King? The answer is certainly He is King, but being Israel's King is not part of the mission of His incarnation. Jesus Christ came to die so that all might live. He will come the second time and set up His earthly Kingdom, and then, and only then, will He be crowned king of Israel. At this time only the heavenly Father could be a comfort to the Son for the task that was ahead; the task of dying for every sin of mankind, past, present, and future, was agony that needed reinforcement from His heavenly Father. We whine and cry over spilt milk now, without the slightest regard to what real agony is. No man has suffered as This Son. The cruelty of the cross was the greatest insult, and the most heinous indignity that God could bear; the separation of the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, during the three hours of darkness was the greatest agony for the Deity. Christ had to get alone with The Word of God. Calvin adds: "Let us also learn from this with what reverence we ought to abide by the pure and simple Word of God; for as soon as we turn aside in the smallest degree, the truth is poisoned by our leaven, so that it is no longer the word."

Walking on the Water

Verse 16, "And when even was come, His disciples went down unto the sea,"

LGT "And when it became evening (lit. The late hour) His disciples went down upon the sea,"

It was late evening just before dark when His disciples went down unto the sea and boarded a ship. Mark 6:45 fills in some important details, "And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away" (ASV). Jesus may have had some very significant reasons for sending the disciples away, in order that he might deal with the unruly crowd that were coming to take Him by force to make Him their King. The disciples were young and hadn't been with Him very long, and so they might be exposed to the excitement and might have even been inclined to agree with the sentiments of the crowd (Bruce).

Verse 17, "And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them."

LGT "And having entered into a ship they were going over the sea into Capernaum. And it had already become dark and Jesus had not yet come to them."

It had already turned dark as the disciples headed for Capernaum, and Jesus had not yet joined them. Jesus was still fellowshipping with His Father. Here again Mark adds some details. "And after bidding them farewell, He departed (again) to the mountain to pray" (ASV Mark 6:46). Jesus knew the importance for fellowship with His Father, for His time was growing near that he would have to go to the Cross, and He needed the Father to uplift him before he met the crowd to send them away. Mark's account says they headed for 'Bethsaida.' Edersheim says:

"Remembering how common the corresponding name is in our own country [I have counted twelve different places in England bearing names which might be freely rendered by 'Bethsaida,' not to speak of the many suburbs and quarters which bear a like designation, and, of course, my list is anything but complete], and that fishing was the main industry along the shores of the lake, we need not wonder at the existence of more than one Beth-Saida, or 'fisher-town'. Nor yet does it seem strange, that the site should be lost of what, probably, except for the fishing, was quite an unimportant place. By the testimony both of Josephus and the Rabbis, the shores of Gennesaret were thickly studded with little towns, villages, and hamlets, which have all perished without leaving a trace, while even of the largest the ruins are few and inconsiderable. We would, however, hazard a geographical conjecture [assumption]. From the fact that Mark (Mark 6:45) names Bethsaida, and John (verse 17) Capernaum, as the original destination of the boat, we would infer that Bethsaida was the fishing quarter of, or rather close to, Capernaum, even as we so often find in our own country a 'Fisher-town' adjacent to larger towns….'Bethsaida was the 'Fisher-town' of Capernaum" (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah - Alfred Edersheim).

Verse 18, "And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew."

LGT "And the sea was rising, agitated by a great wind that was blowing."

The KJV misses a lot by not using the literal senses of the tenses. Vincent says, "It is lamentable how the Authorize Version misses the graphic force of these imperfect tenses. The Revised Version has it rightly, was rising. Literally, was being awakened. The imperfects convey the sense of gathering danger, and throw into stronger relief the fact of Jesus' appearance. They were going; the darkness had already fallen, the sea was rising, and Jesus had not yet come." By using the imperfects in our translation we get the full impact of the action happening and building to a crescendo of fear in the disciples that would inevitably be calmed by the Savior.

Verse 19, "So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: they were afraid".

LGT "Having rowed therefore about twenty five or thirty furlongs they beheld Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they became terrified."

The Sea of Galilee is six miles wide, so they were in the middle of the lake, a furlong being an eighth of a mile [220 yards], being tossed about by the high winds.

"The other gospels tell us that He hurried the disciples down to the Sea of Galilee and put them in a boat to go across while He went up into the mountain to pray. Since those mountains are about three thousand feet high, a storm from them will break suddenly upon the Sea of Galilee - and this was a real storm! When they were twenty-five or thirty furlongs out on the sea, they were halfway across. It was in the middle of this sea that they saw Jesus walking on the water. They were afraid because they didn't recognize Him" (T. T. B. J. Vernon McGee).

Verse 20, "But He saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid."

LGT "But He saying to them, I am [He]; stop being terrified."

There are those skeptic liberal college professors that say that the disciples boat was only a few hundred yards off the shore, and what the disciples actually saw was Jesus walking on the shore beside the sea. Now we know that John was a fisherman and was well aware of the conditions of the Sea of Galilee, and he also knew what he was saying when he used the preposition 'on' and not 'beside' the sea. It takes unbelief to corrupt the Scriptures, and it takes faith to interpret them correctly.

Verse 21, "Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land wither they went."

LGT "They were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land unto which they were going."

"Then they willingly received Him into the ship:"

As soon as they realized it was Jesus they were willing to receive Him into the boat. The imperfect tense states a continuous state of mind, 'they were willing to receive Him into the boat.'

"And immediately the ship was at the land"

"Whether Jesus actually entered the boat or not, John does not say. The more natural inference is that he did. Both Matthew and Mark say so. Their immediate and miraculous arrival at the shore was simultaneous either with their entertaining the wish to receive Him, or with His actually coming on board. Only John mentions this incident. Matthew and Mark say that the wind ceased." (Vincent's Word Studies in the NT).

Wither they went."

'They went' is an imperfect 'hupagon' meaning they were going, continuous action intended. They landed on shore where they were planning on going.

"As soon, then, as they realized that it was really their master that they were seeing, and no apparition, the disciples gladly took Him on board with them. There was no more trouble. Mark (6:48, 51) fills in the details by telling us that it was 'about the fourth watch of the night' - i.e., not long before dawn - that He came to them, and that the wind fell as soon as He entered the boat. Probably dawn was breaking as they came safely ashore at Capernaum" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

Jesus the Bread of Life

Verse 22, "The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereunto His disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples were gone away alone;

LGT "On the morrow the crowd which stood the other side of the sea saw that none other boat was there except one, and that Jesus went not together with His disciples into the boat, but His disciples alone went away."

This verse was very difficult for me to translate, but I believe the next few verses will help give direction. The phrase 'whereunto His disciples were entered' is missing from the best manuscripts. The crowd saw that the disciples went away in their boat without Jesus.

Verse 23, "(Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:)"

LGT "But there came boats out from Tiberias near the place where they ate bread, the Lord having given thanks.

This verse is an explanatory parenthesis. The people came over from the capitol of Herod Antipas diagonally across the lake (Robertson).

Verse 24, "When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus."

LGT "When therefore the crowd saw that Jesus was not there neither His disciples, they entered into the boats and came into Capernaum seeking the Jesus."

"When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there,"

This is a resumption of the complicated verse twenty-two.

"Neither His disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus."

Edersheim expounds on verses 22-24 thus:

"It is in this view of the mental and moral state of those who, on the morning after the meal, came to seek Jesus, which alone explains the question and answers of the interview at Capernaum. As we read it" 'the following day the multitude which stood on the other [the eastern] side of the sea' 'saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples' (John 6:22,24). But of two facts they were cognizant. They knew that, on the evening before, only one boat come over, bringing Jesus and His disciples; and that Jesus had not returned in it with His disciples, for they had seen them depart, while Jesus remained to dismiss the people. In these circumstances they probably imagined, that Christ had returned on foot by land, being, of course, ignorant of the miracle of that night. But the wind, which had been contrary to the disciples, had also driven over to the eastern shore a number of fishing-boats from Tiberias (and this is one of the undersigned confirmations of the narrative). These they now hired, and came to Capernaum, making inquiry for Jesus. Whether on that Friday afternoon they went to meet Him on His way from Gennesaret (which the wording of John 6:25 makes likely), or awaited His arrival at Capernaum, is of little importance" (The Life and Times of Jesus The messiah - Alfred Edersheim).

Verse 25, "And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea, they said unto Him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?

LGT "And having found Him the other side of the sea said to Him, 'Rabbi, when have you come here?"

It was natural that people had wondered how Jesus came across, for they knew He had not come across with the disciples.

Verse 26, "Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled."

LGT "Jesus answered them and said, 'Verily, verily I am saying to you, You seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the bread and were filled."

This is a very strong rebuke from the Lord to the multitude. Even His own disciples did not learn the right message from the feeding of the crowd, for in Mark 6:52 we read: "For they [His disciples] had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened." The phrase 'not gained any insight' is 'ou sunakan' meaning 'to not comprehend clearly.' Mark uses the strongest Greek negative 'ou' to relate that they had not gained the true meaning of the Lord's miracle of feeding the crowd. Mark goes on to say in the last part of this verse, 'their heart was hardened.' The first thing to recognize in this last phrase is that it is introduced with an adversative conjunction, 'but' which means on the contrary. So we see that Mark says, they had not gained insight 'But' on the contrary, 'their hearts were hardened.' The Greek word for 'Hardened' is 'peporomena', a perfect passive participle from poros meaning, 'stony concretion, petrify, to harden' (AGL). Mark uses this perfect participle in the sense that their hearts became 'callous' and not impressed, and they are still that way.

The phrase 'and were filled' (echortasthete), a first aorist passive indicative of chortos (grass or fodder), as in verse 10, to eat grass, then to eat anything, to satisfy hunger. (The Lord was making reference more to the manner in which they ate, rather than what they had eaten - they did not dine on the bread, they grazed as cattle). They were more concerned with hungry stomachs than with hungry souls. It was a sharp and deserved rebuke (Robertson).

This crowd reminds me of the crowds I encounter when I go to the warehouse type supermarket 'Cosco' and watch the crowds graze at the sample tables. All you have to do is offer something for free, and the crowds will go and eat, even if they are not hungry; and hang on to your hat, for they will knock you down if you get in the way of the stampede heading for the tables.

Verse 27, "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed."

LGT "Work not for the food which will perish, but the food which will last unto eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you: for this One the Father sealed the God" (to mark distinctly as invested with a certain character –AGL).

"Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto eternal life."

This is a very simple discourse Christ is giving the crowd; it is in the same manner as in chapter four with the woman at the well. The woman was seeking life sustaining water and Christ offered her eternal life giving water, that only He could provide; here in chapter six the crowd is seeking life sustaining food from Him, and He is offering them eternal life giving food only He could provide. In this case Christ is telling them that it is more important for them to seek this everlasting food. In either case, whether they seek temporal nourishment or eternal life, it is all from Christ, for Christ created everything. You see, what the Lord is telling the people is that they need to get their perspectives straight; He is not telling them that they shouldn't work for their daily provision, but that they need to see that our daily bread is only temporary, which he provides anyway, but that they need to see the need for spiritual food that will lead to everlasting life. Edersheim said: "What brought the crowd, was not that they had discerned either the higher meaning of that miracle, or the Son of God, but those carnal Judaistic expectancies which had led them to proclaim Him King. What they waited for, was a Kingdom of God - not in righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost, but in meat and drink - a kingdom with miraculous wilderness-banquets to Israel, and coarse miraculous triumphs over the Gentiles."

"Which the Son of man shall give unto you:"

"Shall give unto you" (dosei) is future active indicative, which means that the outcome will be determined by their attitude toward the offer of the Son of man (Robertson). "Son of man" is Christ's reference to His humanity, and the offer of eternal life to His deity.

"For Him hath God the Father sealed."

Christ is saying all that He has previously said is by the authority of His Father. Christ is saying that God has placed His signet upon Him, and sent Him to do this work of offering salvation to 'whosoever will', and that He is sealed by the Father to do this work. The literal translation of this phrase is, 'For this One (Christ) the Father sealed, even God." It is an ancient custom among the ancients to set their seal of approval on most legal transactions. Here our Lord uses the term to illustrate to the people that God the Father has set His seal on Him to offer this eternal life giving bread. Notice also that the Lord avoids using the term 'Messiah' when referring to Himself, because that would stimulate the crowd further to try and make Him King. He refers to Himself as 'the Son of man' for the reasons stated above noting both His humanity and His deity.

Verse 28, "Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?"

LGT "Therefore they said to Him, What might we be doing (as a habit) in order that we might be working (continually) the works of God?"

They just don't seem to get it, do they kids? They figured if they had to toil for their daily bread, they would also have to toil for this eternal food Christ had offered. In both of these phrases in verse 28, 'What might we be doing, and in order that we might be working the works of God, are both subjunctives with the meaning that they would have to keep continually working.

"In this manner they manifest their ignorance of the grace of God. And yet they appear to murmur disdainfully against Christ, as if He were accusing them groundlessly. 'Dost thou suppose,' says they, 'that we have no solicitude about eternal life? Why, then, dost thou enjoin us to do what is beyond our power?' By the works of God we must understand those which God demands, and which He approves" (John Calvin's Commentary on the Gospel of John).

McGee says, "In other words, they are asking what they can be doing (italics mine) to be saved. Man has always felt that if he could just work at it, he could be saved. Man feels thoroughly capable of working out his own salvation. He feels competent to do it, and he feels that God must accept his works. Notice carefully what the work of God is."

Verse 29, "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."

LGT "Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, in order that you all should keep on believing on Him whom He sent."

Bingo! It could not be any clearer than this. Whenever salvation and works are united in the Scriptures, it is always referring to believing on Christ; that is, putting your trust in the Christ whom God sent to die in our place on the Cross. In the previous verse we read that they wanted to 'keep on working,' and Christ says that 'they keep on believing.' Christ doesn't infer that they would stop believing, He is simply replying that if they should believe they would be eternally saved. Vincent writes: "The work of God is to believe. Faith includes all the works, which God requires (Christ did all the work on the cross - all we must do is believe He did). The Jews' question contemplates numerous works. Jesus' answer directs them to one work. Canon Westcott justly observes that 'this simple formula contains the complete solution of the relation of faith and works.'"

Verse 30, "They said therefore unto Him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe Thee? What dost Thou work?"

LGT "They said therefore to Him, What sign therefore are you doing in order that we might believe you? What are you working?

These Jews keep requiring more signs. To witness a sign will not bring salvation to the soul. The particle 'therefore' is placed after the word 'sign' as they are saying, if you are who you say you are, prove it with another sign (miracle).

In his commentary McGee states: "May I say that this reveals the hardness of the human heart. Here are the men who had been fed miraculously by our Lord when He fed the five thousand and they say, 'Show us a sign, What dost Thou work?' In other words, they did not want to believe at all. And they take their conversation right back to the dinner table." Calvin says, "This wickedness abundantly proves how truly it is said elsewhere, This wicked generation seeketh a sign, (Matthew 13:39). They had been at first drawn to Christ by the admiration of His miracles or signs, and afterwards, through amazement at a new sign, they acknowledge Christ to be the Messiah, and, with that conviction, wished to make Him king; but know they demand a sign from Him, as if He were a man unknown to them."

Verse 31, "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert: as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat."

LGT "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, Bread out of heaven he gave them to eat."

For many of these Jews, Jesus feeding of the multitude was not enough. These Jews likened Jesus' feeding them, to Moses' miracle in the wilderness, of their fathers being fed the manna from heaven (Exodus 16:11-36). All they saw in Jesus was a Prophet the same as Moses. They were so ignorant that they thought it was Moses supplying the manna and not God. If they had the least bit of faith, they would have known this was the promised Messiah.

"Thus we see that Christ put His finger on the sore, when He told them that they came to fill their belly; for they discover this gross disposition [nature], when they demand a Messiah by whom they are to be fed. And as to the magnificent terms in which they extol [praise] the grace of God in the manna, they do this cunningly, in order to bury the doctrine of Christ [as Savior], by which He condemned them for immoderate [excessive] desire of corruptible food; for they contrast with it the magnificent title bestowed on the manna, when it is called heavenly bread. But when the Holy Spirit bestows on the manna the honorable appellation [title] of the bread of heaven, (Psalms 78:24), it is not with this intention, as if God fed His people, like a herd of swine, and gave them nothing more valuable; and, therefore, they are without excuse, when they wickedly reject the spiritual food of the soul, which God now offers them" (John Calvin's Commentary on the Gospel of John).

Verse 32, "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven."

LGT "Therefore Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I am saying to you, Moses has not given you the bread out of the heaven, but My Father is giving you the bread out of the heaven the true bread:"

Christ repeats what He is trying to impress on these Jews, that Moses is simply an instrument which God used to feed His people, just as when He fed the five thousand He gave thanks publicly to God for the bread, in order that they would realize who provided it. In His humanity Christ gave thanks to God for the physical bread for sustaining physical life, but notice the change in language when He offers them spiritual life.

"But My Father giveth you true bread from heaven."

Christ is the only One at this time who is able to address God as 'My Father'; all the rest of the Jews had to address God as 'our Father.' This will become a big deal to the Jews in a while, because they will see it as Christ claiming to be One with God. We Christians in this age of grace are able to address God as 'My father' because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross; we are now in union with Christ, and we are adopted into His family and we are now able to cry 'Abba Father', that is, 'Daddy,' or 'Papa.'

Verse 33, "For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world."

LGT "For the bread of God is the One which coming down out of the heaven and is giving life to the world."

It is not until verse thirty five that Christ openly reveals Himself as this bread, but in this verse it is plain to me that He is saying that He is the 'Bread of Life'. Again He says that the offer of eternal life is offered to the entire world. Calvin says, "This passage teaches that the whole world is dead to God, except so far as Christ quickens [makes living] it, because life will be found nowhere else than in Him."

Verse 34, "Then said they unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread."

LGT "Therefore they said to Him, Lord, always give to us this bread."

These Jews, like the woman at the well, are only thinking of physical bread. It took Him some time to get the message across to the woman, and even longer to get some of these Jews to see the spiritual side. McGee says, "And it takes Him a long time to get these folk away from the dinner table and get them to see the spiritual Bread that gives life." Robertson also notes, "Like the woman at the well (4:15) they long 'always' to have 'this bread,' a perpetual supply.'

Verse 35, "And Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst."

LGT "Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of Life: The one coming to Me will never hunger, and the one believing in Me will never thirst at any time."

"I am the Bread of Life."

Here Christ identifies Himself as 'The Bread', and not just the giver of 'The Bread.' Christ is offering Himself to the world as the giver of eternal life.

"Jesus' hearers had not understood what He meant by the 'bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' Now He tells them plainly what He means. In the former section of the discourse He had spoken of Himself as the giver of this bread; in this section He identifies Himself with it. 'For Jesus is Himself the gift of which He is the Giver,' He has come to give Himself that men and women may live by Him. To partake of the Bread of Life they must come to Him. This total self-commitment to Christ, this appropriating Him by faith, is the secret of eternal life and perpetual soul-refreshment" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

"He that comes to Me shall never hunger;"

Jesus uses the double negative 'shall never hunger,' 'ou me' meaning 'may it never be.' He also uses this double negative in the next phrase 'shall never thirst.' Notice in my LGT the phrase added in the Greek 'popote', meaning 'at any time.' When it comes to expressing eternity the Greeks were very expressive; the final phrase reads, lit. 'Will never [by no means] thirst, at any time.'

Verse 36, "But I said unto you, That ye also have seen Me, and believe not."

LGT "But I said to you that you also have seen [Me] and yet are not believing."

Jesus uses the adversative 'but' expressing stronger contrast. What Jesus is saying is, I have shown you what you have asked for, and you refuse to accept it. You ask for the everlasting Bread of God, and I am now offering it to you, 'but' you refuse to take it. The Lord says, 'You also have seen Me,' expressing the fact that they have 'no excuse' for rejecting Him. Calvin writes, "But unbelievers, because they willingly shut their eyes against the Light, are justly said to see that which immediately vanishes from their sight, because Satan darkens their understandings. This, at least, is beyond all controversy, that when He said that they saw, we must not understand Him to mean His bodily appearance, but rather that He describes their voluntary blindness, because they might have known what He was, if their malice [hatred for Him] had not prevented them."

Verse 37, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no way cast out."

LGT "All that the Father is giving to Me will come [will reach Me], and the ones coming to Me, I will never [by any means] cast outside."

This verse is a definite promise of Jesus to all who come to Him (Robertson). Jesus now turns from addressing the crowd to speaking to His disciples. To those who will not come to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no hope. Edersheim writes. "Again, the totality - the all - would reach Him, since it was the Will of Him 'that everyone (pas) who intently looked (not just with a passing glance - but intently look) at the Son, and believeth on Him, should have eternal life; and the coming ones would not be cast outside, since this was His undertaking and promise as the Christ in regard to each: 'And raise him up will I at the last day.'" The last phrase 'I will never' is a double negative ou me meaning 'may it never be.'

This verse has been used to prove the doctrine of predestination. I refuse to argue about it, because first of all, I am not qualified, and secondly it does no good. I do see in this verse that all who come to Christ will never be cast out, and also all who come are the elect. I believe the doctrine of predestination is a doctrine for the elect and the un-believer will never understand any way.

Verse 38, "For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me."

LGT "For I am come down from the heaven not in order to do My own will, but the will of the One who sent Me."

The will of the Father who sent the Son is that He goes to the cross in order that all who come to Christ trusting Him for salvation will be made partakers of their divine family.

Verse 39, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which he hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

LGT "And this is the will of the One who sent Me, that all the ones He has given to Me I should not lose [any] of It [that is, that Jesus will not allow any to perish - John 3:16], but I should raise it [in] the last day."

As I mentioned in my exposition on verse thirty-seven, the term 'predestination' can only be applied to believers. All believers are a gift from the Father to the Son. Wherever the term 'predestination' is used it is referring to the benefits for believers, and cannot even be comprehended by unbelievers. This should be an encouraging verse for every believer, for Christ is saying that He will keep us safe; this is eternal security. I will quote J. Vernon McGee here in order to encourage you that there are others that believe the same as I: "The term predestination applies only to the saved. It means just exactly what He is saying here (verse 39). When a person accepts Christ, he is justified; and just as he is justified, he is going to be glorified. When Jesus starts out with one hundred sheep, He's going to come through with one hundred sheep. He will not lose one. That is what this means. Everyone who believes and receives Christ has everlasting life and will be raised up again at the last day." I rejoice to be fortified in my belief by such a sound teacher as the late J. Vernon McGee. Even Calvin, the great teacher of the sixteenth century, during the reformation, taught that predestination was a universal doctrine, that is, some were predestined to heaven, and some were predestined to Hell. There are many good teachers who agree with Calvin, and there were many before Calvin that believed this error. I say error, because it really doesn't fit the context of grace doctrine. I believe this doctrine of predestination is a doctrine of positional truth, that is, it is a doctrine explaining our position in Christ, and therefore it can only apply to His family. I will quote Calvin's commentary on this verse to show that He did not understand positional truth. He is confused on this issue as I believe you will see: "And this is the will of the Father." He now testifies, that this is the design of the Father, that believers may find salvation secured in Christ; from which again it follows, that all who do not profit by the doctrine of the Gospel are reprobate. [Now, so far, all Calvin has said is that those who accept Christ will benefit by His grace, and those who reject will be reprobate - good for nothing]. Wherefore, if we see that it turns to the ruin of many [the unbelievers], we have no reason to despond, because those men willingly draw down the evil on themselves [Calvin is admitting here that unbelief is a choice]. Let us rest satisfied with this, that the Gospel will always have power to gather the elect to salvation." [This last phrase is where Calvin shows he is ignorant of 'positional truth.' Salvation always comes before we can be termed 'elect.' The elect are all those who believe from every generation till the end of time. It is true that everyone who rejects Christ is predestined to hell, and everyone who accepts Christ is predestined to heaven; but in no way can anyone say that individuals were designated before they were born to go to heaven or hell; anyone believing this is totally ignorant of positional truth: the truth of the matter is, everyone accepting by faith Jesus Christ as Savior is predestined to eternal life as an adopted child into the divine family, and everyone that refuses to accept Jesus Christ by faith is predestined to spend eternity in hell with their father, the Devil]. Calvin later in this same commentary makes this resounding statement regarding the unbeliever's rejection of Christ: 'In this manner the world 'deliberately' drives away the grace of God.' You see the inconsistency in his position, that some are predestined to heaven and some to hell. When you take the free will away from the equation, you come up with a false conception, and this false conception is that man has absolutely no choice in the matter of being saved: if this be the truth, why does John Calvin use the word deliberately?

Verse 40, "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

LGT "For this is the will Of My Father, in order that all the ones who behold the Son and are believing unto Him will keep on having eternal life, and I Myself will be raising them up [in] the last day."

"For this is the will of My Father,"

The word 'for' joins this verse with the last section; in order to be raised up in the last day, a person must 'behold' the Son.

"That everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him,"

The word 'behold' is a very strong word in the Greek NT; some expositors describe it as the 'eye of faith.' The word in the Greek is 'theorone' and it means 'earnest contemplation.' Compare 'ye have seen Me, and believe not, in verse 36. The Lord designedly used this word for 'behold' (Vincent). Robertson says that the word 'behold' means 'to see with the eye of faith.' Without faith it is impossible to 'behold' Christ. We must first 'behold' the Son, before we can believe the Son; this is the rule of faith, or as Robertson called it, 'the eye of faith.' First we must 'see' and then we must 'believe.'

"And I Myself will raise him up at the last day."

This is a very strong assertion of the Lord that He will never lose any that comes to Him for salvation. He will end up with as many as He starts out with. When Christ died on the cross for all sin, His death was not only sufficient to save the elect, it was also sufficient to keep the elect safe for all eternity. We who believe on Christ are dead with Christ, to sin, we are buried with Christ, to sin, and we will be raised with Christ at the last day; how wonderfully secure we are in Christ. We had nothing to do with our salvation, and it is certain that we have nothing to do with His keeping us secure for the resurrection.

Verse 41, "The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, I am the bread which came down from Heaven."

LGT "Therefore the Jews were secretly complaining concerning Him because He said I am the bread which came down from heaven."

"The Jews then murmured at Him,"

The Greek word for 'murmur' is 'egonguzon' an active imperfect verb meaning they were 'secretly complaining or belligerently cranky.' All the while Jesus was explaining the way to eternal life, these Jews were huddled off to the side remembering what He had said in verses 32 and 35.

"Because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven."

These Jewish leaders of the synagogue were increasingly belligerent about Christ's claims to be God. Christ could say whatever He wanted, as long as He didn't claim His deity. How could a common Jew from Nazareth make such a claim? Here Christ by claiming to come down from heaven is saying that He is the virgin born Son of God. He makes the claim that 'He is very God of Very God'. He is the God man sent to redeem mankind. Vernon McGee has a very good comment in his exposition on the Gospel of John:

"You see, He taught that He was God and that He came down from heaven. May I say to you, in this section here He is teaching His Virgin Birth. There are those who say the Lord Jesus never taught that He was virgin born. What do you think He is saying here, friend? The Jews understood what He was saying. They asked how this could be when they knew His father and mother. Well, it's by the Virgin Birth. As the angel told Mary, it was the Holy Spirit who conceived that 'Holy Thing' in Mary (see Luke 1:35). This section right here (beginning with verse 38) is a complement or a counterpart of the Virgin Birth and needs to be added to the other portions of Scripture which deal with it. 'I came down from heaven' - that's the Christmas story. 'Out of the Ivory Palaces into a world of woe.' He came down from heaven's glory; He stepped down from the throne to ascend the Cross for you and for me. He did it by way of the Virgin Birth. You can have the jingle of bells and all the Ho, Ho, Ho's - but that is not Christmas. The Virgin Birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Christmas story.

Verse 42, " And they said, Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He saith, I came down from heaven?"

LGT "And they were saying, is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph, of whom we know the father and the mother? How does He now say that Out of the heaven I have come down?"

"Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?"

This does not mean that Joseph was still alive; it only means that they knew that Mary and Joseph were Jesus' parents (Vincent).

"How is it then that He saith, I came down from heaven?"

It was not that the Jews did not understand Jesus' message, it was that they would not accept the message. Their questions were very critical just as all unbelievers' questions are very critical. It is not that unbelievers do not understand the message that Christ died for their sins, it is that they do not want anything to do with this man who claims to be born of a virgin and has come down out of the heaven. The unbelievers use science as their god, and if what our God says differs from what their god says, they wallow in their scientific unbelief. What these Jews were complaining secretly about is that this Man has the audacity to claim to have come down out of God's abode and came to dwell on this earth; in their legalistic minds, nothing could be further from the truth. 'What puzzled the skeptic then is puzzling the skeptic today; How could anyone be born of a virgin, and come down to this earth out of the heaven? (Robertson). The natural man cannot believe such a miracle as this. We believers know the answer; nothing about God or His Christ can be comprehended scientifically or naturally; it is by faith and faith alone that we understand the beautiful mystery of redemption.

Verse 43, "Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves."

LGT "Jesus answered and saying to them, Stop complaining one with another."

Jesus uses an imperative with a prohibition 'me' 'stop murmuring or complaining' with one another. There was a rising tide of protest among the Jews (Robertson). These Jews were complaining or murmuring secretly, and yet Jesus rebukes them openly as if He had attended their whine fest. If this doesn't speak to their unbelief, it would certainly give them all the more reason to hate this Nazarene. Calvin says, "Jesus throws back on them the blame for murmuring, as if He had said, 'My doctrine contains no ground of offence, but because you are reprobate [degenerate], it irritates your envenomed [poisoned] breasts, and the reason why you do not relish it is, that you have a vitiated [impure] tastes." Bruce adds, "Their complaint was not directed to Jesus, but it is from Him that the answer comes. He urges them to stop this exchange of scandalized criticism: they would not arrive at the truth that way."

Verse 44, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

LGT "No one is able to be coming to Me unless the Father which sent Me might drag him, and I will raise him in the last day."

This is another verse the 'predestinarians' use in order to prove that all believers were called to salvation before they were born. As Robertson points out, 'any approach to God is initiated by Him.' The same thought is presented in verse 37, 'All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.' I only have one thing to add to my notes on verse 37 and this is that all men are drawn to the Father, not just the elect; the elect become the elect through believing on Jesus Christ as Savior, as McGee clearly points out, 'predestination applies only to the saved.' You see kids; the difficulty is not in understanding the Scriptures as interpreted in the 'light of Grace,' but only as certain men interpret them. Calvin is given the credit for his stand on the Sovereignty of God as the basis for his interpretation on the 'Universal predestination,' that is, that some are predestined to heaven and some to hell. He makes claims that God can make any decision and it is perfectly just. This falls into the realm of 'speculative theology' for which John Calvin was vehemently against. He charged the Catholic Schoolmen of this very error of 'speculating on Scripture. I haven't found any theologian any more dependent on the Word of God for truth than John Calvin. However, when it came to issues that were so abused by the Roman Church, he went a little rabid. Issues such as baptism, the Lord's Supper, and predestination, he would take the opposite side of the 'so-called Mother Church.

"No man can come to Me, except the Father draw him:"

The Greek word for 'draw' is 'helkusei' a first aorist subjunctive meaning to 'drag.' We will continue the study of this doctrine when we reach the twelfth chapter; but for now let us look at a verse in the twelfth chapter, verse 32, "And if I be lifted up from the earth [resurrection] I will draw all men to Myself." The entire context here is the resurrection of Christ. Now here in our study Christ is looking forward to His resurrection when He will draw all men to Him, however, as we well know, not all men will respond to His drawing.

"And I will raise him up at the last day."

This is the third time Jesus makes this statement, but it is not the last. This phrase speaks of the resurrection of all believers who respond to this drawing of Jesus Christ; this is the crowning glory of Christ's saving work (Bruce).

Verse 45, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore hath heard, and learned of the Father, cometh unto Me."

LGT "It is written in the prophets, And they will be all taught of God; Everyone who has heard from the fathers and has learned is coming to Me."

I don't know how much clearer Christ could make it. If we listen to the Word of God, and we learn from it, we will come to Christ.

"It is written in the prophets,"

"By 'the prophets' we are to understand the second division of the Hebrew Bible, The quotation comes from Isaiah 54:13, where the restored city of Jerusalem receives the assurance: 'All your children shall be taught by the Lord.' The new age - the kingdom of God - to which these words pointed has now dawned with the coming of Jesus, the true Wisdom of God. In the NT the restoration of Zion after the Babylonian exile, celebrated in Isa. 40-66, is treated as a parable of the restoration effected by Christ. When the words quoted here compare the promise of the new covenant in Jer. 31:31-34, also interpreted of the Christian age by the NT writers (2 Cor. 3:4-4:6; Heb. 8:6 - 10:18): 'I will put My Law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and…they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

"They will all be taught of God;"

Who will be taught of God?

"Everyone who has heard from the Fathers and has learned of Me [LGT]"

Everyone that has heard the Word of God, and has responded to it by faith, that's who! Robertson says, "It is not enough to hear God's voice [in God's Word]. He must heed it and learn it and do it [remember earlier Christ said 'To believe on Him is to do the work of God - that is faith in Christ as savior is the work]. This is a voluntary response. This one inevitably comes to Christ." The mystery to me is that some respond to the 'drawing' of the Holy Spirit, and some men don't. We all know that God created man with a free will, that is, man is able to choose for himself what he will believe. Why one person believes and another person disbelieves is to me a mystery. The predestinarians deny the free will of man. I contend that we who are saved responded to the truth, and the ones who are lost do not and did not respond to the truth, but they rejected the truth. Now, it only makes sense to me that a person must understand something in order to reject it. The unbeliever understands the truth; they just love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. In the flesh I also like to sin, however, because the truth abides in me, I now, when in fellowship with the Father and the Son, hate sin, because I now see things from the divine viewpoint. I hope this helps you kids a little to understand free will. Think about it this way, why does one child in a family obey his or her parent, while another disobeys the parent? They are from the same family with the same parents, and one obeys while the other disobeys. These family members have the same sin nature, but one chooses to be obedient, while the other chooses to be disobedient. Another mystery is, that some children take longer to mature than others. We are not all robots, but free moral agents with the right to choose or reject individually. The one who rejects is not at a disadvantage to the one who accepts truth, he just wants his own way, and many times this leads to perdition.

Verse 46, "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father."

LGT "Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God, This One has seen the Father."

The only way to see the Father is to see the Son by faith. God the Father by the means of the Holy Spirit enlightens men to see the Son, and by seeing the Son we see the Father and the Spirit.

Verse 47, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life."

LGT "Verily, verily I am saying to you, the one who is believing is having eternal life."

It cannot be said any clearer than this, 'if you believe you will have eternal life', and verse 40, 'you will be raised up in the last day.'

Verse 48, "I am the bread of life."

LGT "I am the bread of the life."

Here Christ repeats verse 35, that He is the life given bread.

Verse 49, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead."

LGT "Your fathers ate in the wilderness the manna and died."

Edersheim writes, "The personality of Christ was the Bread of life: 'I am the Bread of Life.' The Manna had not been bread of life, for those who ate it had died; their carcasses had fallen in the wilderness. Not so in regard to this, the true Bread from heaven. To share in that food was to have everlasting life, a life which the sin and death of unbelief and judgment would not cut short, as it had that of them who had eaten the Manna and died in the wilderness."

Verse 50, "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die."

LGT "This is the bread which out of heaven comes down, in order that anyone from it might eat and not die."

Robertson says, "The wonder of it all, but quite beyond the insight of this 'motley' crowd."

Verse 51, " I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

LGT "I am the Bread the living One which came down out of the heaven: If anyone will have eaten of this Bread he will live forever, and the Bread also which I will give is My flesh on behalf of the life of the world."

Jesus presents to this Galilean multitude His offer of eternal life to the world. Jesus refers to His flesh, which can only be a reference to His giving of His life. The Lord earlier in the chapter has discussed all of these statements. To eat of this Bread is to believe that Christ died for you.

"For the life of the world."

The offer is to the entire world and is a very clear representation of the 'vicarious suffering' of the Savior, that is, as a substitute for all sin.

Verse 52, "The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

LGT "The Jews therefore were contending [challenging] with one another saying, How is this man able to be giving the flesh [of His] to be eating?"

"The Jews therefore strove among themselves,"

The Greek word for 'strove' is emachonto' an imperfect middle indicative meaning 'to wage a war' or in this case 'a war of words' among themselves (Robertson).

"Saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

Similar question of Nicodemus of "How can a man be born when he is old, or can a man enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born?" in answering Jesus, when He said "Ye must be born again." The difference in the questions is that these Jews were being contemptuous [sneering] with Jesus, saying in effect, 'Do we look like cannibals?'

Verse 53, "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you."

LGT "Jesus therefore said to them, Verily, verily, I am saying to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you are not having life in yourselves."

The Law of Moses forbade the eating of flesh or drinking of blood, so the Jews became even more contentious than ever. Of course the Lord is referring to His giving of His life for their sins, and shedding his blood on Calvary's Cross, however, these Jews were in no mind to see this spiritual application in Christ's words. Some expositors make a reference to the Lord's Supper where the wafer and the wine represent the Body and Blood of the Lord that was offered for us all on the Cross. Down through the ages there has been bitter strife over the 'Lord's Supper' and 'Baptism.' The lord instituted both of these rituals in order to signify His death, burial, and resurrection, before He completed them, and now that the Bible is complete, and we have the full revelation of God concerning all things, these signs were done away. I realize this is my personal belief regarding these issues, but they are not without grace logic. If I posses the completed Word of God why do I need a sign?

Verse 54, "Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

LGT "The one who is eating My flesh and drinking My blood is having eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day."

The only way to eternal life is to appropriate by faith the Son of God to your life. We must believe that He gave His life and shed His blood on the Cross in order to be saved. Robertson says, "Some men understand Jesus here [in verse 54] to be speaking of the Lord's supper by prophetic forecast or rather they think that John has put into the mouth of Jesus the sacramental conception of Christianity by making participation in the bread and wine the means of securing eternal life. To me that is a violent misinterpretation of the Gospel and an utter misrepresentation of Christ. It is a grossly literal interpretation of the mystical symbolism of the language of Jesus, which these Jews also misunderstood. Christ uses bold imagery to picture spiritual appropriation of Himself who is to give His life-blood for the life of the world (verse 51). It would have been hopeless confusion for these Jews if Jesus had used the symbolism of the Lord's Supper. It would be real dishonesty for John to use this discourse as propaganda for sacramentalism. The language of Jesus can only have a spiritual meaning as He unfolds Himself as the true Manna." It is encouraging for me to have a master Greek scholar such as A. T. Robertson agree with my position on this passage.

"And I will raise him up at the last day."

"In verse 54 it is the person who eats the flesh of the Son of Man and drinks His blood that will be raised up by Him at the last day; in verse 40 the same promise is held out to 'every one who seeks the Son and believes in Him.' So, those who 'eat His flesh' and 'drink His blood' are those who see Him and believe in Him: it is they who have eternal life; it is they whom He will raise up at the last day. In His strange words, then, we recognize a powerful and vivid metaphor to denote coming to Him, believing in Him (cf. verse 35), appropriating Him by faith" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

Verse 55, "For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed."

LGT "For My flesh is true meat, and My blood is true drink."

This message of Christ is saying the same thing that we say today as 'feeding on the Word of God.' The word 'indeed' in NT Greek is 'alethes' which means true meat and true drink. All that Christ is saying is that He is the true Spiritual food out of heaven, and everyone who believes He is, 'will be raised up at the last day.' This is certainly a reference to His death on the Cross for you and me; this is the Apostle Paul's entire message 'for me it is Christ and Christ crucified' (Col. 1:22).

Verse 56, "He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him."

LGT "The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is remaining in Me and I in him."

The word 'dwell' is a favorite word with John 'menei', meaning to 'abide, remain, or dwell.' Paul expressed the same thing in his writings with the term 'in Christ.' This is the mystical relationship we have with the Lord Jesus Christ as John brought out in his Epistles, we 'abide in Christ, and He abides in us.' The only way we can partake of Christ's death is by faith. By faith we become one with Christ, and this union assures us, 'that we will be raised with Him at the last day.' Anyone can believe that Christ died on the Cross, but only the believer, by faith, can appropriate His death, and remain in Christ, and He in us. This is such a beautiful truth that He is stressing here; we have confidence that Christ is with us always, even unto the ends of the earth.

Verse 57, "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me."

LGT "Just As the Living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, and the one who is eating Me, that one will live because of Me."

Jesus will develop this theme more fully in the 'Upper Room Discourse', but for now, He is saying that because His life is wholly dependant on the Father, so He is able to give life to all who put their trust in Him. Our union with Christ is based on His union with the Father. You see kids, what a wonderful family we belong. "The living Father" is nowhere else used in the NT. Christ is dependant on the Father for the Father sent Him into the world for this specific purpose. In the sixties there was a movement among the hippies on the university level that bandied about idiocy that 'God is dead.' They were under the drug-induced delusion that if they said God is dead, everyone would listen to them. This type of pseudo-intellectualism is still in our universities; however, it has taken another turn; they are not saying God is dead, they are saying God doesn't exist; they say He only exist in the minds of the stupid religious sects and the conservatives. There is a strong movement today to remove God from every vestige of public notice. We will see who is dead at the 'Great White Throne Judgment Seat.' Christ says here that a 'Living Father sends him' and I believe I will stick with Jesus Christ's Words.

Verse 58, "This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this Bread shall live forever."

LGT "This is the Bread which came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate [manna] and died: the one who eats of this very Bread will live forever."

This is Christ's final explanation that He is the Bread from heaven. Calvin writes concerning these last words of Christ about being the heavenly bread, "There is no reason why you should prefer Moses to Me, because he fed your fathers in the wilderness; since I supply you with far more excellent food, for I bring heavenly life with Me."

Verse 59, "These things said He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum."

LGT "These things He said in [the] synagogue teaching in Capernaum."

'These things, most probably comprise the discourse of verses 27-58 (Bruce). The article is missing from 'synagogue' so it would be lit. In a synagogue or an assembly (Vincent). He also adds, "Among the ruins at Tell Hum, the probable site of Capernaum, have been found among the remains of a synagogue a block of stone, perhaps the lintel, carved with the pot of manna, and with a pattern of vine leaves and clusters of grapes."

The Words of Eternal Life

Verse 60, "Many therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?"

LGT "Many therefore of His disciples having heard this said, Hard is this saying: who is able it to be hearing?"

"This is a hard saying;"

The Greek word for 'hard saying' is skleros meaning rough, harsh, dried hard (from skello to dry) (Robertson). These were certainly His disciples, but they weren't really true disciples until after His resurrection when Jesus spent forty days ministering to them before He ascended to heaven.

"The remaining verses of chapter six form an appendix to the discourse, describing how many of Jesus' hearers, even of those who had hitherto been well disposed to Him and had been reckoned among His adherents, were scandalized at His teaching. Although they knew that He must have been speaking figuratively when He talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, yet such language was more than they could endure. This was not simply because they thought the metaphor outrageous, but because the whole tenor of His argument implied a claim to be greater than Moses - to be, in fact, uniquely associated with God. His language was hard to take not merely because it was difficult to grasp but because they found it offensive" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

"Who can hear it?"

To anyone who might listen to the words of Christ with feelings alone, they will inevitably be discouraged. The Word of God is not for the casual reader or hearer. It is the 'Sword of the Spirit' the 'Ever discerner of the thoughts an intents of the heart', which is 'A revealer of our very souls.' This is why the unbeliever cannot nor does he desire to understand the Word of God, because it is Spiritually Discerned.

Verse 61, "When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this offend you?"

LGT "But Jesus knowing in Himself that His disciples were murmuring concerning this [word], He said to them, does this cause you to stumble?"

"When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it,"

Isn't that how it always is; when people become disgruntled they complain in a low whisper, and begin to gossip about the person or the situation. Of course the One they were murmuring about could read their thoughts and was always one jump ahead. If these disciples had come right to the point with Jesus, they would have no room for complaint. Throughout this whole discourse Christ made it very plain that He was not speaking of literally eating His flesh, and drinking His blood; had they been listening instead of murmuring, they would have realized Jesus was speaking of His death on the cross, and of His resurrection; He said the Son of Man must be lifted up, referring to His ascension, and it would not be until His ascension that His disciples would truly believe.

"Doth this [word] offend you?"

The Greek word for 'offend' is skandalon meaning a stumbling block (AGL). Christ is pointing out to His disciples that if they simply hear what He is saying in a physical sense, they will never get the true Spiritual significance, and they will always stumble, causing them to murmur.

Verse 62, "What if ye see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?"

LGT "If then you behold the Son of Man ascending up where He was before?"

Vincent says, "The completion of this sentence is lit. this would be even more reason for you to stumble." Of course we know at the proper time after Christ finishes His work on the cross, he will resurrect and come back and minister to His disciples for forty-days, and then He will ascend to His Father, and they will definitely believe."

Verse 63, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life."

LGT "The Spirit is the one who is quickening, the flesh is not profiting one thing: the words which I have spoken to you is Spirit and is life."

"It is the Spirit that quickeneth:"

The Greek word for 'quickening' is zoopoioun a present active participle mean to 'make alive with salvation'.

"The flesh profiteth nothing."

We must see here in Jesus' words a contrast between the flesh and the Spirit. To read too much into His words is just as harmful as to ignore them altogether. It seems to me that Christ is saying that all you Jews are thinking only of the benefit of what pleases the flesh; and I am telling you that you must understand what I am saying is that the importance of My words are that the Spirit is the one who makes a soul alive unto salvation. This seems to be born out by His next phrase.

"The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life."

The words 'I speak' is in the perfect tense lelaleka which reads better 'which I have spoken.' This better explains what Jesus is saying; all that I have been saying to you is that My word is Spiritually discerned, and in order to understand them you must believe them as I am saying them. Just as Christ told Nicodemus, 'That which is flesh is flesh, and that which is Spirit is Spirit, ye must be born again.'

Verse 64, "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and should betray Him."

LGT "But there are of you some who are not believing. For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones not believing and who is the one who would deliver up Him."

"But there are some of you that believe not."

Jesus use an adversative 'but' to emphasize the fact that some were only listening to Him in order to see him perform another miracle or two, in other words, they were simply listening with the physical ear. Calvin says, "Wherefore, if we are to profit at all under this Teacher, let us bring minds well disposed to listen to Him; for if the entrance to His doctrine be not opened up by humility and reverence, our understandings are harder than stones, and will not receive any part of sound doctrine."

"For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who believed not."

John adds this to show that there were those who claimed to be Jesus' supporters, but would be revealed in due time. John says that Jesus knew from the 'beginning' who did not believe. What beginning is John referring to? In order to keep everything in context, I am sure John is referring to the beginning of the Lord's earthly ministry. The Lord is able to sense by the reaction of His disciples who would believe and who would not believe.

"And who should betray Him."

John is not saying that Christ knew Judas would betray Him when He chose him, only that He was not taken by surprise when it happened (Robertson).

Verse 65, "And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come to Me, except it were given unto him of My Father."

LGT "And He said, Therefore I said to you that no one is able to be coming to Me unless it be given to him from My Father."

Here our Lord uses the term 'given to Him', where earlier in this chapter He uses the term 'draw.' I believe Christ is making it very clear here that no one is able to even believe on Him without spiritual discernment. Some in this crowd would believe, but the majority would not, and this is exactly how it has been throughout the ages. Believers make up a scarce minority of the population of the earth. The best reason I can give for the stupidity of unbelievers is that they spend their entire lives fighting God, in order that they will not be affected by His irresistible grace. I use the term irresistible; because that is what it becomes the moment we accept Christ as our Savior. The ignorance of the unbeliever is something that defies the law of logic, as far as I can tell; the Bible states in this way, 'Men love darkness, rather than light, because their deeds are evil.'

Verse 66, "From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him."

LGT "Out of this, many [of] His disciples went back and no longer walked around with Him."

The literal Greek is 'Out of this' or because of what he said the hangers on, those who followed because of being fed disappeared. Remember the term 'disciple' simply means a follower. As long as the Jews were convinced that Jesus was going to be their King they were satisfied; but when He presented Himself to them as their God and Savior, they wanted no part in this. They liked to see His miracles, but they never saw the inner meaning of eternal life in the miracles. There were many disciples (followers) there that day that turned back, not the twelve, but the others including the religious leaders.

"The crisis had come. These half-hearted seekers after the loaves and fishes and political power turned abruptly from Jesus, walked out of the synagogue with a deal of bluster and were walking with Jesus no more. Jesus had completely disillusioned these hungry camp-followers who did not care for spiritual manna that consisted in intimate appropriation of the life of Jesus as God's Son" (WPNT A. T. Robertson).

"To be attracted by signs is one thing, to appreciate and embrace their inward significance is another; and it is only those who do the latter who can be counted as true disciples. The disciples who now 'went back' showed by their doing so that they were only temporary disciples, and therefore no true disciples. Perseverance is the criterion of reality where discipleship to Jesus is concerned" (The Gospel and Epistles of John - F. F. Bruce).

Verse 67, "Then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away?"

LGT "Jesus therefore said unto the twelve, are you also wishing to go away?"

Jesus uses the negative me in the question expecting a negative answer; 'surely you are not wishing to go away, are you? (Robertson). Jesus knew His hand picked twelve were not going to desert Him on this occasion; however, I am sure that Judas sympathized with the other dissenters, but He kept his mouth shut for the time being.

Verse 68, "Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."

LGT "Simon Peter answered Him, Lord to whom shall we go? You are having the words of eternal life."

"Simon Peter answered Him,"

Peter, the spokesman for the crowd, gave the answer Christ expected. Bruce says that the unsophisticated Peter was not about to mask his thoughts with a bunch of rhetoric; Peter answered directly what was on his mind. Perhaps Peter was starting to grasp the true meaning of these words Christ had spoken.

"Lord to whom shall we go?"

Peter says here, why would we go anywhere else, You are the One we chose to follow: You are the One with these wonderful words.

"Thou hast the words of eternal life."

Peter is assuring Jesus that they are interested in what He had to say, that even though the ones who have turned back because they were only interested in being fed with the physical bread; he and the other eleven were interested in the spiritual food; Peter says, Lord, You have these words we must hear.

Verse 69, "And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

LGT "And we have believed and have known that You are the Holy One of God."

"And we believe and are sure"

This phrase is in the perfect tense and should read, as I have in my LGT, 'We have believed and still believe, and we have known, and still know.' Remember the perfect tense states that they learned something in the past, and what they learned continues into the future as a completed result.

"That Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

The Best Mss. Have 'That You are the Holy One of God."

The other disciples that had turned back said that they thought that Jesus was a great prophet like unto Moses; here Peter is saying we believe you are who you say you are, 'The Holy One sent from God.' I believe that these twelve have saving faith, except of course for Judas, and this will be verified when they see Christ ascend into heaven after His forty days of comforting His disciples.

Verse 70, "Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil."

LGT "Jesus answered them, Did I not chose you, the twelve? And of you one is a devil."

Of course Jesus is referring to Judas who will betray Christ. Robertson says, "Jesus does not say that Judas was a devil when He chose him, but that he is one now. In 13:2 and 27 John speaks of the devil entering Judas. How soon the plan to betray Jesus first entered the heart of Judas we do not know (12:4). One wonders if the words of Jesus here did not cut Judas to the quick." A lot could be said here about Judas Iscariot, but of course it would be speculation, and you kids know what I think of idle speculation; so we will just content ourselves with what Jesus says about him, 'One of you is a devil.'

Verse 71, "He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray Him, being one of the twelve."

LGT "But He spoke of the Judas of Simon Iscariot: for this one was about to deliver up Him, [being] one of the twelve."

Robertson says that 'Judas being one of the twelve was the eternal horror of the situation.' There has been a lot of speculation as to why the lord would pick a traitor like Judas as one of the twelve. Now remember, Jesus picked the twelve before they were believers and not because they were believers. The best I can say at this point is that it is a mystery to me. The devil is a mystery to me, and so are all of his works. Jesus calls this 'Judas Iscariot' a 'devil.' Calvin writes, "Although Judas had a bad conscience, still we do not read that he was at all moved. Hypocrites are so stupid that they do not feel their sores, and in the presence of men they have such hardened effrontery [impudence], that they do not scruple [regret] to prefer themselves to the very best of men."

Go To Chapter 7

Share freely but cite the source: http://bbbiblehelps.epizy.com