Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:27
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.
27. Labour not for, &c.] Better, Work not for, &c. The translation in the margin is preferable, to keep up the connexion with Joh 6:28-30. The people keep harping on the word ‘work.’
the meat which perisheth ] Better (to avoid all ambiguity), the food that perisheth: ‘meat’ in the sense of ‘flesh-meat’ is not intended. Comp. (Joh 4:13) ‘whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.’ The discourse with the Samaritan woman should be compared throughout: ‘the food which abides’ here corresponds with ‘the living water’ there; ‘the food that perisheth’ with the water of the well. ‘Perisheth’ not merely in its sustaining power, but in itself: it is digested and dispersed (Mat 15:17; 1Co 6:13).
endureth unto everlasting life ] Better, abideth unto eternal life: see on Joh 1:33 and Joh 3:16.
for him hath God the Father sealed ] Better (preserving the emphasis of the Greek order), for Him the Father sealed, even God. ‘Sealed,’ i.e. authenticated (Joh 3:33), as the true giver of this food (1) by direct testimony in the Scriptures, (2) by the same in the voice from Heaven at His Baptism, (3) by indirect testimony in His miracles and Messianic work.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Labour not – This does not mean that we are to make no effort for the supply of our wants (compare 1Ti 5:1; 2Th 3:10), but that we are not to manifest anxiety, we are not to make this the main or supreme object of our desire. See the notes at Mat 6:25.
The meat that perisheth – The food for the supply of your natural needs. It perishes. The strength you derive from it is soon exhausted, and your wasted powers need to be reinvigorated.
That meat which endureth – The supply of your spiritual wants; that which supports, and nourishes, and strengthens the soul; the doctrines of the gospel, that are to a weak and guilty soul what needful food is to the weary and decaying body.
To everlasting life – The strength derived from the doctrines of the gospel is not exhausted. It endures without wasting away. It nourishes the soul to everlasting life. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint, Isa 40:31.
Him hath God the Father sealed – To seal is to confirm or approve as ours. This is done when we set our seal to a compact, or deed, or testament, by which we ratify it as our act. So God the Father, by the miracles which had been performed by Jesus, had shown that he had sent him, that he approved his doctrines, and ratified his works. The miracles were to his doctrine what a seal is to a written instrument. See the notes at Joh 3:33.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. Labour not for the meat] That is, for that only, but also for the bread, c. Our Lord wills every man to be active and diligent in that employment in which providence has placed him but it is his will also that that employment, and all the concerns of life, should be subservient to the interest of his soul.
But for that meat, c.] He who labours not, in the work of his salvation, is never likely to enter into the kingdom of God. Though our labour cannot purchase it, either in whole or in part, yet it is the way in which God chooses to give salvation and he that will have heaven must strive for it. Every thing that can be possessed, except the salvation of God, is a perishing thing: this is its essential character: it can last to us no longer than the body lasts. But, when the earth and its produce are burnt up, this bread of Christ, his grace and salvation, will be found remaining unto eternal life. This is the portion after which an immortal spirit should seek.
Him hath God the Father sealed.] By this expression, our Lord points out the commission which, as the Messiah, he received from the Father, to be prophet and priest to an ignorant, sinful world. As a person who wishes to communicate his mind to another who is at a distance writes a letter, seals it with his own seal, and sends it directed to the person for whom it was written, so Christ, who lay in the bosom of the Father, came to interpret the Divine will to man, bearing the image, superscription, and seal of God, in the immaculate holiness of his nature, unsullied truth of his doctrine, and in the astonishing evidence of his miracles. But he came also as a priest, to make an atonement for sin; and the bread which nourishes unto eternal life, he tells us, Joh 6:51, is his body, which he gives for the life of the world; and to this sacrifice of himself, the words, him hath God the Father sealed, seem especially to relate. It certainly was a custom, among nations contiguous to Judea, to set a seal upon the victim which was deemed proper for sacrifice. The following account of the method of providing white bulls among the Egyptians, for sacrifices to their god Apis, taken from HERODOTUS, Euterpe, b. ii. p. 117, casts much light upon this place. “They sacrifice white bulls to Apis; and for that reason make the following trial. If they find one black hair upon him, they consider him as unclean: that they may know this with certainty, the priest appointed for this purpose views every part of the animal, both standing and lying on the ground. After this, he draws out his tongue, to see if he be clean by certain signs: in the last place, he looks upon the hairs of his tail, that he may be sure they are as by nature they should be. If, after this search, the bull is found unblemished, he signifies it by tying a label to his horns; then, having applied wax, he seals it with his ring, and they lead him away: for it is death to sacrifice one of these animals, unless he have been marked with such a seal.
The Jews could not be unacquainted with the rites and ceremonies of the Egyptian worship; and it is possible that such precautions as these were in use among themselves, especially as they were so strictly enjoined to have their sacrifices without SPOT, and without blemish. Infinite justice found Jesus Christ to be without spot or blemish, and therefore sealed, pointed out and accepted him, as a proper sacrifice and atonement for the sin of the whole world. Collate with this passage, He 7:26-28; Eph 5:27; 2Pe 3:14; and especially He 9:13-14: For if the blood of BULLS and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth – how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself WITHOUT SPOT to God, purge your consciences from dead works! The rabbins talk much of the seal of God, which they suppose to be emeth, or truth; and that this is a representation of the unoriginated and endless perfections of God. This doctrine is just; but their method of proving it is not so satisfactory. Aleph , say they, is the first letter of the alphabet; mem the middle; and tau the last: these three letters make emeth, TRUTH, because God is the first – there was none before him; he is the middle – none mingles with him; and he is the last-there can be none after him. Hieros. Sanhed. fol. 18. See also 1Pe 1:18-19.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By the bread which perisheth, is not strictly to be understood bread, but whatsoever is necessary or accommodating to us in this life; all things of this nature are perishing, and perish with the using: nor is all labour as to them forbidden us; for we are to the contrary commanded, In the sweat of our face to eat our bread; and the apostle commandeth, that those that will not labour should not eat; and, Pro 31:27, the good woman is commended for not eating the bread of idleness: but excessive labour for these things is forbidden. So also is a first and greater labour for and seeking after them, than after
that meat which endureth to everlasting life; under which notion also unquestionably cometh whatsoever is necessary by Gods revealed will, that we may have in us the hopes of glory here, and may enter into the actual possession of that glory hereafter. Such as are, first, the knowledge of the gospel; then the believing of it, and the acceptance of that Saviour, and way of salvation, which God hath revealed in it for lost sinners; and that holiness of life which God hath made necessary to it. All which (saith he) I, who am the Son of man, (a name he ordinarily giveth to himself), will give unto you freely. Not that you are to do nothing; no, labour for it; though it be a gift, yet it is a gift upon labour, for all your labour will not procure it; there will be a great deal of free grace seen when you have given all diligence. And Christ must give it; for the Father, in whose hand this life is, hath (as men by their seals use to confirm the commissions they give out to any persons to do any thing for them, and in their name) confirmed Christ as his commissioner, to give out this eternal life to whomsoever he pleaseth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. which the Son of mantakingthat title of Himself which denoted His incarnate life.
shall give unto youinthe sense of Joh 6:51.
him hath God the Fathersealedmarked out and authenticated for that transcendentoffice, to impart to the world the bread of an everlasting life, andthis in the character of “the Son of man.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Labour not for the meat which perisheth,…. Meaning either food for the body, which is perishing; its virtue is perishing; man cannot live by it alone, nor does it last long; its substance is perishing; it is received into the stomach, and there digested; it goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught; and that which it supports, for a while, is perishing; and both the one, and the other, shall be destroyed; even meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: now, though it becomes men to work for their bread, to provide it for themselves and families; yet they should not be anxiously solicitous about it, or labour only for that, and prefer it to spiritual food: or else food for the mind is meant, and that either in a sensual way, as sinful lust and pleasures, the honours of this world, and the riches of it; which are sweet morsels, though bread of deceit, to carnal minds, and which they labour hard for: or, in a religious way, as superstition, will worship, external works of righteousness, in order to please God, and obtain eternal life and salvation; which to labour for in such a way, is to spend money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which profiteth not; and in each of these ways were these Jews labouring for perishing food, from which Christ dissuades them:
but for that which endureth unto everlasting life; either the grace of Christ, which, as meat, is quickening and refreshing, strengthening and supporting, and which causes nourishment and growth, and by virtue of which work is done; and this springs up unto everlasting life, and is inseparably connected with it; and particularly the blessings of grace, such as sanctification, adoption, pardon, and justification: or the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, which are refreshing, and strengthening, and by which the saints are nourished up unto everlasting life; or rather the flesh of Christ eaten, in a spiritual sense, by faith, of which Christ so largely discourses in the following part of the chapter:
which the son of man shall give unto you; meaning either everlasting life, which is in Christ’s gift, and is a free grace gift of his; or else the meat which endures unto it: for though it is to be laboured for, not so as to prepare it, or to purchase it, but by asking for it in prayer, and by attending on ordinances, and exercising faith on Christ; yet it is his gift, and he gives it freely; grace, and the blessings of it, are freely given by him, and so are the Gospel and its ordinances; and also his own flesh, which is first given by him, by way of sacrifice, in the room and stead of his people, and for the life of them, Joh 6:51; and then it is given unto them to feed upon spiritually by faith, and which is here designed:
for him hath God the Father sealed; designated and appointed to be the Saviour, and Redeemer of his people, and has sent, authorized, and commissioned him as such; and has made him known, and approved of him, by the descent of the Spirit on him, and by a voice from heaven, declaring him his beloved Son; and has confirmed him to be the Messiah by the miraculous works he gave him to finish; for all which several uses seals are, as to distinguish one thing from another, to render anything authentic, to point it out, or to confirm it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Work not for ( ). Prohibition with and present middle imperative of , old verb from , work.
The meat ( ). The act of eating (Ro 14:17), corrosion (Mt 6:19), the thing eaten as here (2Co 9:10). See on Joh 4:32.
Which perisheth ( ). Present middle participle of . They were already hungry again.
Unto eternal life ( ). Mystical metaphor quite beyond this crowd hungry only for more loaves and fishes. Bernard thinks that John has here put together various sayings of Christ to make one discourse, a gratuitous interpretation.
Will give (). Future active indicative of . The outcome is still future and will be decided by their attitude towards the Son of man (verse 51).
For him the Father, even God, hath sealed ( ). Literally, “For this one the Father sealed, God.” First aorist active indicative of , to seal. See elsewhere in Joh 3:33 (attestation by man). Sealing by God is rare in N.T. (2Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13; Eph 4:30). It is not clear to what item, if any single one, John refers when the Father set his seal of approval on the Son. It was done at his baptism when the Holy Spirit came upon him and the Father spoke to him. Cf. 5:37.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Meat (brwsin). See on 4 32. In Mt 6:19, 20, and there only, it is used in the sense of rust, that which eats or corrodes. Similarly, corrode is from rodo, to gnaw.
Him hath God the Father sealed. The Rev. makes the sentence culminate properly in God : “for Him the Father, even God, hath sealed.” According to the strict Greek order it is : for Him the Father sealed, even God. On sealed [] see on 3 33. Wyc., betokened Him.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Labour not for the meat which perisheth,” (ergazesthe me ten brosin ten apollumenen) “You all work not for the food that is perishing in nature, “for bread and food that pollutes; toil not for it as life’s priority, for by toil and works the hunger of the soul will never be satisfied, Rom 11:6; Eph 2:9; Tit 3:5. Food that perishes meets only temporary needs, passing needs.
2) “But for that which endureth unto everlasting life,” (alla ten brosin ten menousan eis zoen aioion) “But(work) for the food remaining, continuing, existing into eternal life,” seek and call upon God for it, until you find and receive it, Jer 29:13; Isa 55:2; Rev 22:17; Joh 4:14; Jer 15:6.
3) “Which the Son of man shall give unto you:” (hen ho huios tou anthropou humin dosei) “Which the Son of man will give or dole out to you,” Joh 7:17; Joh 10:27-29. Jesus was Himself this food (bread of life) Eph 2:8-9; Joh 6:48-51.
4) “For him hath God the Father sealed.” (touton gar ho pater esphragisen ho theos) “Because God the Father had sealed (put His seal upon) this one,” as His property, at His baptism, Mat 3:17; at His annunciation in the synagogue in Nazareth, Luk 4:16-22; at His transfiguration, Mat 17:5; and in His resurrection, Rom 8:11. See also Psa 2:7; Isa 42:1-7; Act 2:22-24; 2Pe 1:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
27. Labour for food, not that which perisheth. He shows to what object our desires ought to be directed, namely, to eternal life; but because, in proportion as our understandings are gross, we are always devoted to earthly things, for this reason he corrects that disease which is natural to us, before he points out what we ought to do. The simple doctrine would have been, “Labour to have the incorruptible food;” but, knowing that the senses of men are held bound by earthly cares, he first enjoins them to be loosed and freed from those cords, that they may rise to heaven. Not that he forbids his followers to labor that they may procure daily food; but he shows that the heavenly life ought to be preferred to this earthly life, because the godly have no other reason for living here than that, being sojourners in the world, they may travel rapidly towards their heavenly country.
Next, we ought to see what is the present question; for, since the power of Christ is debased by those who are devoted to the belly and to earthly things, he argues what we ought to seek in him, and why we ought to seek it. He employs metaphors adapted to the circumstances in which his sermon was delivered. If food had not been mentioned, he would have said, without a figure, “You ought to lay aside anxiety about the world, and strive to obtain the heavenly life.” But as those men were running to their fodder like cattle, without looking to anything better, (135) Christ presents his sermon in a metaphorical dress, and gives the name of food to everything that belongs to newness of life. We know that our souls are fed by the doctrine of the gospel, when it is efficacious in us by the power of the Spirit; and, therefore, as faith is the life of the soul, all that nourishes and promotes faith is compared to food
Which endureth to eternal life. This kind of food he calls incorruptible, and says that it endureth to eternal life, in order to inform us that our souls are not fed for a day, but are nourished in the expectation of a blessed immortality; because the Lord
commences the work of our salvation, that he may perform it till the day of Christ, (Phi 1:6.)
For this reason we must receive the gifts of the Spirit, that they may be earnests and pledges of eternal life. For, though the reprobate, after having tasted this food, frequently reject it, so that it is not permanent in them, yet believing souls feel that enduring power, when they are made partakers of the power of the Holy Spirit in his gifts, which is not of short duration, but, on the contrary, never fails.
It is a frivolous exercise of ingenuity to infer, as some do, from the word labor or work, that we merit eternal life by our works; for Christ metaphorically exhorts men, as we have said, to apply their minds earnestly to meditation on the heavenly life, instead of cleaving to the world, as they are wont to do; and Christ himself removes every doubt, when he declares that it is he who giveth the food; for what we obtain by his gift no man procures by his own industry. There is undoubtedly some appearance of contradiction in these words; but we may easily reconcile these two statements, that the spiritual food of the soul is the free gift of Christ, and that we must strive with all the affections of our heart to become partakers of so great a blessing.
For him hath God the Father sealed. He confirms the preceding statement, by saying that he was appointed to us for that purpose by the Father. The ancient writers have misinterpreted and tortured this passage, by maintaining that Christ is said to be sealed, because he is the stamp and lively image of the Father. For he does not here enter into abstruse discussions about his eternal essence, but explains what he has been commissioned and enjoined to do, what is his office in relation to us, and what we ought to seek and expect from him. By an appropriate metaphor, he alludes to an ancient custom; for they sealed with signets what they intended to sanction by their authority. Thus Christ — that it may not appear as if he claimed anything of himself, or by private authority (136) — declares that this office was enjoined on him by the Father, and that this decree of the Father was manifested, as if a seal had been engraven on him. It may be summed up thus: As it is not every person who has the ability or the right (137) to feed souls with incorruptible food, Christ appears in public, and, while he promises that he will be the Author of so great a blessing, he likewise adds that he is approved by God, and that he has been sent to men with this mark, which is, as it were, God’s seal or signet (138)
Hence it follows that the desire of those who shall present their souls to Christ, to be fed by him, will not be disappointed. Let us know, therefore, that life is exhibited to us in Christ, in order that each of us may aspire to it, not at random, but with certainty of success. We are, at the same time, taught that all who bestow this praise on any other than Christ are guilty of falsehood before God. Hence it is evident that the Papists, in every part of their doctrine, are altogether liars; for as often as they invent any means of salvation in the room of Christ, so often do they — by erasing, as it were, the impression which has been made — spoil and deface, with wicked presumption and base treachery, this seal of God, which alone is authentic. That we may not fall into so dreadful a condemnation, let us learn to keep pure and entire for Christ all that the Father has given to him.
(135) “ Sans regarder a rien de meilleur.”
(136) “ A fin qu’il ne semble que Christ vueille de soy-mesme et d’une authorite privee s’attribuer quelque chose.”
(137) “ Que ce n’est pas une chose facile et commune a chacun.”
(138) “ Qui est comme le seau ou cachet de Dieu.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(27) Labour not for the meat which perisheth.This is one of the instances in which the reader of the English Bible has in the margin a much better rendering than in the text. Work not shows the verbal connection with Joh. 6:28-30, which is wholly lost in labour not. It will be instructive to compare the other passages in this Gospel where the word occurs: Joh. 3:21 (wrought in God); Joh. 5:17; Joh. 9:4. Work not is better than work not for, by which the words have been sometimes rendered The sense is, Work not outlet it not be the result of your constant workingto have food (comp. Joh. 4:32) which perisheth; but let your work be one worthy of your endeavour, food which endureth unto eternal life, which food the Son of Man will give to you.
For him hath God the Father sealed.The emphasis of the original is seen better by preserving the order of the words, for Him hath the Father sealed, even God. (Comp. Note on Joh. 3:33.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Labour not Let this clause be thus punctuated:
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. This makes our Lord (not to forbid labour for bodily food, but) command solely labour for eternal life. It limits his command to seeking the heavenly; it does not make him prohibit a due attention to the earthly.
Endureth unto everlasting life Like the water springing up into everlasting life, Joh 4:14.
The Son of man Our Lord centres his discourse on his own divine person.
Sealed By the stupenduous miracle by which they had been so fed and startled.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Do not work for food that perishes, but for food which continues unto eternal life which the Son of Man will give you, for him the Father, even God, has sealed.”
So He emphasises that they are not to put their efforts into obtaining food that can only go bad, but into obtaining the spiritual food which never goes rotten but goes on and on feeding the soul and resulting in eternal life (compare Mat 6:19-21; 2Co 4:18; Col 3:1-3). This is the kind of food which the Son of Man has come to give them, and it is on Him that God the Father ‘has set His seal’ (Joh 6:26-27). Note the references to the Son of Man, and to the fact that God was His Father and had sealed Him. The whole atmosphere is Messianic, and more.
So He knew that they were not there because they had recognised from His signs Who He really was and what He had come to do, nor because they were seeking spiritual life, but merely because they wanted a leader who would constantly be able to supply them with their worldly needs. The miraculous feeding had been intended to show them that God could also feed their souls, and possibly also to stress that by coming to Him they were becoming part of the covenant community, but they were merely taking it to mean that He could look after their bodily cravings.
Thus He stressed that they must put their efforts into finding soul food, ‘the food which endures to eternal life’, food that would go on benefiting them for ever and give new life, the life of the new age. And He, as the Son of Man, Who was licensed by God the Father to give this food, is the One to Whom they should look for it.
‘Has set his seal.’ The setting of the seal provided the recipient with the right to act in the stead of the sealer, as His representative. That seal was set for Jesus at His baptism when the voice spoke from Heaven. It was confirmed by His miracles and the feeding of the great crowd and by all that He did.
‘The Son of Man.’ John only brings out this title when he has something very significant to say. So in Joh 1:51 the Son of Man was the one on whom the angels ascended and descended, indicating that God was with Him in the fulfilling of some special divine purpose. In Joh 3:13-14 He is the One Who has come down from Heaven and must be lifted up. In Joh 5:27 He is the One authorised to carry out judgment. In Joh 6:53 He is the One without Whose death there can be no eternal life. In Joh 6:62 He is the One Who will rise to where He was before. In Joh 8:28 He is to be lifted up. In Joh 12:23; Joh 13:31 He is destined to be glorified. Thus in John the title ‘Son of Man’ is far from simply indicating His humanity, or even Messiahship (although it does include that). Note its paralleling with the idea of ‘the Son’ in Joh 6:40; Joh 6:53. It is rather concentrating on the idea of the Son of Man as a figure connected with Heaven Who has come to earth with a divine purpose to fulfil, a purpose linked to His death, and which will result in final triumph. Here in particular He is seen as the giver of eternal life.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 6:27 . “ Strive to obtain, not the food which perisheth, but the food which endureth unto life eternal .” The activity and labour of acquiring implied in ( laborando sibi comparare ; comp. . , Dem. 1358. 12; . , Palaeph. xxi. 2; . , Theodot. Prov xxi. 6; see especially Stephan. Thes. Ed. Hase , III. p. 1968) consists, when applied to the everlasting food, in striving and struggling after it, without which effort Jesus does not bestow it. We must come believingly to Him, must follow Him, must deny ourselves, and so on. Then we receive from Him, in ever-increasing measure, divine grace and truth , by a spiritual appropriation of Himself; and this is the abiding food, which for ever quickens and feeds the inner man; the thing itself not being really different from the water , which for ever quenches thirst (Joh 4:14 ). See on , Joh 4:32 , also, and the in Philo, de profug . p. 749; Allegor . p. 92. According to this view, the thought conveyed in , as thus contrasted with that of on the other side, cannot be regarded as strange (against De Wette); both conceptions rather are necessary correlatives. Phi 2:12-13 .
.] not merely in its power, but in its very nature; it is digested and ceases to be (Mat 15:17 ; 1Co 6:13 ). On the contrast, . . . ., comp. Joh 4:14 , Joh 12:25 .
.] sealed, i.e. authenticated (see on Joh 3:33 ), namely, as the appointed Giver of this food; in what way? see Joh 5:36-39 .
] emphatically added at the end to give greater prominence to the highest authority.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1636
LABOURING FOR HEAVEN
Joh 6:27. Labour 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.
OUR blessed Lord never failed to improve any occasion that was afforded him of doing good to the souls of men. His labours collected people from every quarter; and sometimes they must actually have fainted by the way, if he had not interposed by miracle to supply their necessities. But these very exertions of his, in administering to their temporal wants, were made an occasion of fostering in many their favourite sentiment, that he was come to accomplish for them a temporal deliverance. He had just fed five thousand men with five loaves and two small fishes: and we are told that, in order to prevent their taking him by force to make him a king, he departed into a mountain himself alone [Note: ver. 14, 15.]. His Disciples he sent over the sea, towards Capernaum: and multitudes, though they saw he was not with them, concluding that, by some means or other, he would follow them, went thither to meet him: and when they had found him, they expressed their surprise, and asked him, how he had contrived to come thither? Our Lord, instead of gratifying their foolish curiosity, turned their attention to the state of their own souls, and pointed out to them the mistake under which they laboured: they supposed that they were evincing a zeal for his glory; whereas they were not actuated by any conviction that he was the true Messiah, but by a blind hope that he would prove himself such a Messiah as they vainly expected: Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, (and were convinced by them of my Messiahship), but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled; and conclude from thence, that I both can and will effect for you all which your carnal ambition can desire [Note: ver. 25, 26.]. Then he gives them the solemn admonition which I have just read to you: in unfolding which, I shall notice,
I.
The direction here given
We are not to understand the direction as containing a prohibition to attend to the concerns of the body, but only as intimating that they were not to be placed in competition with the concerns of the soul. It is in this way that we are to understand those memorable words, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice [Note: Mat 12:7.]. God does not mean to prohibit sacrifices, which he had positively enjoined: but only to express, that if an act of mercy could not be performed without entrenching upon a ceremonial command, the latter should give way to the former; since that which was of a moral nature was of greater worth, in his sight, than any thing which was merely ceremonial.
To attend to temporal concerns is a positive duty
[It is a duty we owe to ourselves: we are, by the very necessities of our nature, constrained to obtain our bread by the sweat of our brow [Note: Gen 3:19.]. We owe it to our families: for if a man provide not for his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel [Note: 1Ti 5:8.]. We owe it to the poor: for if we have enough for ourselves, yet are we enjoined to work with our hands the thing that is good, that we may have to give to him that needeth [Note: Eph 4:28.]. We owe it to the Church. No man is to be supported in idleness: for God has ordained, that if a man will not work, neither shall he eat [Note: 2Th 3:10; 2Th 3:12.]. We owe it to our God: we are to be not slothful in business, at the time that we are fervent in spirit, serving the Lord [Note: Rom 12:11.]. In truth, whatever our hand findeth to do, we should do it with all our might [Note: Ecc 9:10.].
It is of great importance that this matter should be well understood. Religion does not supersede our civil or social duties: it regulates them, and suggests the proper motives by which we are to be actuated in the performance of them: but it does not dispense with any: it subordinates them, indeed, to the duties which we owe immediately to God; but it inculcates and enjoins them, as necessary in their place, and as truly acceptable to God himself. We must render unto Csar the things which are Csars, and unto God the things which are Gods.]
But an attention to spiritual concerns is of greater and more indispensable importance
[The labour which pertains to them is incomparably more worthy of an intelligent and immortal being, than that which relates to the things of this life. I would not undervalue the occupations of the student in the pursuit of science, or of the artisan in the execution of his work, or of the peasant in the labours of the field. All are good in their place; but all may be performed by a heathen, no less than by a child of God. But the exercises of humiliation before God, of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, of an entire consecration of our souls to the service of the Deity; in a word, fellowship with God, and with his Son Jesus Christ, is a work in which an angel may engage, and in the performance of which the highest archangel would be honoured The fruit also of spiritual labour infinitely excels all that can be reaped in the field of nature. The statesman, the philosopher, the merchant, the mechanic, have doubtless a rich reward of their labours: but it is a reward which an atheist may enjoy; and which, to whatever extent it is enjoyed, perishes with the using: it is all but as the meat that perisheth. But the peace of God which passeth all understanding, the light of his reconciled countenance, a sense of his love shed abroad in the heart, the joy of the Holy Ghost, the earnests and foretastes of the heavenly bliss; what shall I say of these? what are earthly things in comparison of these? what, but a taper before the meridian sun? Besides, these endure for ever: they are a meat that endureth unto eternal life; and, to whatever extent they are enjoyed, they are but as the dawn of future blessedness, the first-fruits of an abundant harvest
Can any labour be too great for these? The mind may easily be too intensely fixed on the vanities of time and sense, and the exertions made for them be too great: but it is not possible to have the desire after spiritual blessings too ardent, or the pursuit of them too laborious.]
Let us now turn our attention to,
II.
The encouragement here afforded
We may labour for the meat which perisheth, and be disappointed; as thousands are, who, after years of incessant toil, have either acquired little, or perhaps been reduced to the lowest ebb of want and misery. But this shall never be experienced by those who labour for that better meat which endureth unto everlasting life. For, as a recompence of their labours,
1.
The Lord Jesus Christ will give it to them
[The Lord Jesus constantly calls himself the Son of Man; because by that name, in particular, the Messiah was expected, and had been foretold [Note: Dan 7:13.]. Him had God the Father sealed, and attested, by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him, and by an audible voice from heaven [Note: Mat 3:16-17.]. By all his miracles, too, did God bear ample testimony to his Messiahship [Note: Joh 5:36.], and, above all, in his resurrection from the dead, and his visible ascension to the highest heavens. There is he invested with all power both in heaven and earth; and from thence will he communicate to all his believing people, according to the full extent of their necessities. The Lord Jesus Christ is of himself well disposed to give us all that we can desire: but, if it were possible to have any security beyond that which we possess in his own love and mercy, we have it in his ordination to that very office by the Father, and in his exaltation to heaven for that very end, that he may be Head over all things to his Church, and that he may fill all things out of the fulness that is treasured up in him [Note: Eph 1:22-23.].]
2.
He will give it to them all, without exception
[There is no want of power in him to give it to whomsoever he will. Nor will he be constrained to work a miracle to supply any number that call upon him. In his Fathers house there is bread enough, and to spare. Nor will he shew any partiality to one above another. Every labourer, whether old or young, rich or poor, shall receive his proper recompence, every one in exact proportion to his own labour [Note: 1Co 3:8.]. There will not be with him a different standard whereby to estimate the labours of men; the time and zeal of one being regarded as nothing, in comparison with the exertions of others. He will judge righteous judgment. It may be that some do not begin to labour till they are incapable, according to human apprehension, of doing any thing to good effect: but though they come into the vineyard at the eleventh hour, they shall have a portion dealt out to them with a liberal hand. One thing only must be observed by all: whatever they receive, they must receive it as a gift, a reward, not of debt, but of grace [Note: Rom 4:4.]. This is indispensably necessary for them all. Not one is to look upon the meat as earned by him; because there is no proportion whatever between the work and the reward, so far as merit is concerned. The labour of ten thousand years would not merit the smallest portion in heaven: the best of men are but unprofitable servants: but, if men will labour, they shall never labour in vain, or run in vain [Note: 1Co 15:58.].]
This subject affords just occasion for,
1.
Reproof to the indolent
[Truly, when we see how anxiously and industriously men exert themselves for the things of time and sense, the very best amongst us may well be ashamed and confounded on account of his own listlessness and inactivity in the ways of God. Look at the worldling: see him rising early, and late taking rest, and eating the bread of carefulness, for weeks, and months, and years: see the satisfaction which he feels in prospects of success, and his pain in the apprehensions of failure: see how alive he is to every thing which may help him forward in his favourite pursuit, and how every thing is made to bear upon that. When shall we engage with such ardour as that in the pursuit of heaven? When shall we use the means of grace with the same zest and constancy as they do the means of temporal advancement? When will every thing be swallowed up, as it were, in the concerns of the soul? Alas! it must be confessed that we fall exceeding short in all these exertions, and that the men of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. For one Mary that sits habitually at the Saviours feet, there are many Marthas, who, in spite of their professed love for Christ, are careful and cumbered about many things.
But, if this be the case with the most spiritual amongst us; what shall I say to those who have never yet set themselves in earnest to obtain eternal life? The consciences of many must surely testify against them, that, instead of labouring with all their might for spiritual and eternal blessings, they have never spent so much as one hour in prayer for the salvation of their souls. They are content to leave their eternal interests to chance, if I may so speak; though, if God be true, they leave them to certain ruin. The Lord Jesus Christ, as we have seen, will give to them that labour: but where is it said, that he will give to them that labour not? No such promise can be found in all the book of God. No, indeed: all is suspended on the use of means: Ask, and ye shall have: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. He who improves his talents, whether they be more or less, shall be rewarded: but the unprofitable servant, that hides his talent in a napkin, shall assuredly be cast into outer darkness. Consider this, my dearly beloved, and begin without delay the work that is assigned you; for the day is fast passing away; and the night is quickly coming, when no man can work.]
2.
For congratulation to the poor
[It must be confessed, that, in relation to temporal concerns, your portion is far inferior to that of the more opulent. For you may often be willing to labour, and not be able to find employment: and when you do labour ever so hard, you may be scarcely able to earn sufficient to supply your necessities. But, in relation to spiritual and everlasting happiness, the balance is altogether as much in your favour. The richer part of the community are so engrossed with the cares or pleasures of this life, that they can scarcely find a moment to devote to the concerns of eternity. The very dispositions which are generated by carnal ease, render it more difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Hence you read, that not many mighty, not many noble, are called [Note: 1Co 1:26.]. But what do you read concerning the poor? Hear, and be astonished! hear, and bless your God! Hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of his kingdom [Note: Jam 2:5.]? Yes, he has: and experience proves it: and the appeal which God himself makes to us respecting it is absolutely unanswerable. Be of good cheer then; and bless your God for the privileges which you enjoy. True, indeed, no rich man shall perish because he is rich; nor shall any poor man be saved because he is poor: but if the rich neglect their Saviour and their God, however full their tables may now be, they shall soon want a drop of water to cool their tongues: but the poor, though they be so destitute that they have not rags to cover their sores from the dogs that molest them, shall, if they truly seek after God, soon sit down with Abraham at the heavenly banquet, and rejoice in all the abundance of Gods glory for ever and ever [Note: Luk 16:19-25.]. Let not your poverty, then, be urged as an excuse for neglecting God; but be improved rather, as an incentive to secure the true riches, which shall never fade away.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
27 Labour 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.
Ver. 27. Labour not for the meat, &c. ] When Basil was tempted with money and preferment, he answers, Pecuniam da quae permaneat, ac continuo duret, gloriam quae semper floreat. The fashion of this world passeth away, as the water of a river that runs by a city, or as a fair picture drawn upon the ice that melts away with it. Men come to the world’s felicities, as to a lottery, with heads full of hopes, but return with hearts full of blanks.
Labour for the meat that endureth ] We may not dream of a delicacy in God’s ways, or think that good things will drop out of the clouds to us, as towns were said to come into Timothy’s toils while he slept. We must be at pains for heaven. Laborandum Working was one of the emperor’s mottoes, and may be every Christian’s. Strive they must even to an agony, , Luk 13:24 ere they can get into the strait gate; together with our stooping, there must be a certain stripping of ourselves.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27. ] ., imperative: another instance of the construction which I have advocated in ch. Joh 5:39 .
The E. V., ‘ Labour not for ,’ does not give the sense of . They had not laboured in this case for the , but it had been furnished miraculously. A better rendering would be, Busy not yourselves about , Do not weary yourselves for, which they were doing, by thus coming after our Lord: [but best of all Work not for: so as to preserve the connexion between Joh 6:27 ; Joh 6:29-30 .]
. “ whose nourishing power passes away ,” De Wette. Rather perhaps more literally, which perisheth , E. V.: the useless part of it, in being cast out; the useful , in becoming part of the body which perishes (see 1Co 6:13 ).
. . ] It is important to bear in mind that the spoken of above, which also applies to this, was not a ‘ working for ,’ or ‘ bringing about of ,’ but a following Christ in order to obtain. So the meaning will be, but seek to obtain , by following after Me. And thus . keeps its true literal force, Do not. but.
. . ] See ch. Joh 4:14 . If this remains to eternal life , it must be spiritual food .
. ] See ch. 4 ib. agrees with , not with . , future, because the great Sacrifice was not yet offered: so in ch. 4.
. ., emphatic here and belonging to this discourse, since it is of His Flesh that He is about to speak.
. ] for Him the Father sealed, even God .
., by undoubted testimony , as at His baptism; and since, by His miracles , see ch. Joh 10:36 : not, ‘stamped with the image of His Person,’ which is altogether beside the present subject, and inconsistent with the meaning of .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 6:27 . . “Work not for the meat which perisheth.” means “I earn by working,” “I acquire,” see passages cited by Thayer in voc . The food which He had given them the evening before He called : they were already hungry again, and had toiled after Him for miles to get another meal. Rather must they seek , the food which abides , that is, which is not consumed in the eating but rather grows as it is enjoyed. Cf. Joh 4:14 . This food . He does not call Himself “the Prophet,” as they had called Him yesterday, because this would have excited false expectations; but in calling Himself the Son of Man He suggests His sympathy with all human wants and at the same time indicates to the initiated that He claims the Messiahship. The guarantee is given in the words , “For Him hath the Father, God, sealed”. By giving the Son the miracle of the previous day and other signs to do, the Father has sealed or authenticated Him as the Giver of that which nourishes life everlasting. [For the idea, approved by Delitzsch, that the seal refers to the stamping of loaves with the name of the maker, see O. T. Student , Sept [58] , 1883, and Expositor , 1885. Elsner with more reason cites passages showing that a person ordering a banquet gave his seal to the slave or steward commissioned to provide it: and thus that Christ here declares “se a Patre constitutum esse ad suppeditandum Ecclesiae salutarem cibum”. The various meanings of the word are given by Suicer.] Some at least of the crowd are impressed; and conscious that their toil was, as Jesus said, commonly misdirected, they ask Him (Joh 6:28 ) [better, ] ; that is, how can we so labour as to satisfy God? What precisely is it that God waits for us to do, and will be satisfied with our doing? To which Jesus, always ready to meet the sincere inquirer, gives the explicit answer (Joh 6:29 ) . If God has sent a messenger it is because there is need of such interposition, and the first duty must be to listen believingly to this messenger. To this demand that they should accept Him as God’s ambassador they reply (Joh 6:30 ) “Judaeis proprium erat signa quaerere,” 1Co 1:22 , Lampe. Grotius and Lcke think this asking for a sign could not have proceeded from those who saw the miracle of the previous day. But Lampe rightly argues that they were the same people, and that they did not consider either the miracle of the previous day or the ordinary cures wrought by Jesus to be sufficient evidence of His present claim.
[58] Septuagint.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Labour not . . . but = Labour for the latter rather than for the former. Figure of speech Heterosis (of Degree). App-6.
meat. Greek brosis, the act of eating (Mat 6:19, Mat 6:20 = “rust “). Not broma = food (Joh 4:34). Compare also 1Co 8:4.
endureth. Greek. meno. Same as “dwelleth”, Joh 6:56. See note on “abode”, Joh 1:32.
unto. Greek. eis. App-104. Not the same as in verses: Joh 6:5,
everlasting. Greek. aionios. See App-151.
life. Greek. zoe. See note on Joh 1:4, and App-170. the Son of man. See App-98.
him hath God the Father sealed = for Him (= this One) the Father, even God, sealed.
God. See App-98.
the Father. See note on Joh 1:14.
sealed. The Jews discussed “the seal of God”, e.g. “What is the seal of the Holy, Blessed God? Rabbi Bibai answered, ‘ Truth’. But what is ‘truth’? Rabbi Bon saith, ‘ the living God and King eternal’. Rabbi Chaninah saith . ., ‘truth is the seal of God’. “Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedr., quoted by Lightfoot, vol. xii, p. 291 (Pitman’s ed.)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27.] ., imperative: another instance of the construction which I have advocated in ch. Joh 5:39.
The E. V., Labour not for, does not give the sense of . They had not laboured in this case for the , but it had been furnished miraculously. A better rendering would be, Busy not yourselves about,-Do not weary yourselves for,-which they were doing, by thus coming after our Lord: [but best of all Work not for: so as to preserve the connexion between Joh 6:27; Joh 6:29-30.]
. whose nourishing power passes away, De Wette. Rather perhaps more literally, which perisheth, E. V.:-the useless part of it, in being cast out;-the useful, in becoming part of the body which perishes (see 1Co 6:13).
. .] It is important to bear in mind that the spoken of above, which also applies to this, was not a working for, or bringing about of, but a following Christ in order to obtain. So the meaning will be, but seek to obtain, by following after Me. And thus . keeps its true literal force, Do not. but.
. .] See ch. Joh 4:14. If this remains to eternal life, it must be spiritual food.
. ] See ch. 4 ib. agrees with , not with . , future, because the great Sacrifice was not yet offered: so in ch. 4.
. ., emphatic here and belonging to this discourse, since it is of His Flesh that He is about to speak.
.] for Him the Father sealed, even God.
., by undoubted testimony, as at His baptism; and since, by His miracles, see ch. Joh 10:36 : not, stamped with the image of His Person, which is altogether beside the present subject, and inconsistent with the meaning of .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 6:27. , [tractate] trade in) So , Rev 18:17. Devote your exertions [labour for, Engl. Vers.], saith He, to the everlasting food: just as you are now seeking Me with great earnestness for the sake of bread. Jesus gives no reply to the When? of the Jews [Joh 6:25, When earnest Thou hither?]: and so often in His discourses He has regard rather to those things which the series of circumstances and the state of souls require, than to the unseasonable interruptions of the speakers.-, not) Very similar things are opposed to one another: ch. Joh 4:10, [Jesus to the woman of Samaria] If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.- , that perisheth) Joh 6:12, Gather up the fragments-that nothing be lost; : 1Co 6:13, Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them. The food of the body perisheth; therefore it confers not immortality.-) . Ye ought not, saith He, ask from Me nutriment for the body, but for the soul. First it is set before us as food [meat], Joh 6:27; next as bread, Joh 6:32, The true bread from heaven; then in express terms, the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, Joh 6:51; Joh 6:53, The bread that [will give, is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world:-Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.-, will give) Joh 6:51.-, for) This tiology [enunciating not merely the proposition, but also, at the same time, the reason and cause of it] appertains to the , which endureth.- , God the Father) Therefore Jesus Christ is the Son of God.-, hath sealed) Hath pointed out and distinguished Him by this very miracle, Joh 6:14 [as the anointed Prophet: 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]; as also by His whole testimony, which in its turn needed to be sealed by the faith of the hearers: Joh 6:29, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent; ch. Joh 3:33, He that hath received His testimony hath set to His seal that God is true. By a seal, that which is genuine is stamped with commendation, and all that is not genuine is excluded.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 6:27
Joh 6:27
Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed.-He diverted their minds to the great spiritual truths that he would give them as meat that would endure unto eternal life. The Father owned and confessed him as his prophet to teach the world. He makes use of this occurrence to impress the importance of seeking spiritual good that will result in eternal or imperishable blessings. The material food they ate perishes; the body sustained by this food perishes, but the spirit lives forever, and the food which sustains and promotes its well-being is spiritual food that perishes not. Jesus was drawing the distinction and contrast between the body and the spirit, and between the food that sustains the vigor of the body and that which promotes the well-being of the soul.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Son of man
(See Scofield “Mat 8:20”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Labour not: or, Work not, Joh 6:28, Joh 6:29, Gal 5:6, Phi 2:13, Col 1:29, 1Th 1:3
the meat: Joh 4:13, Joh 4:14, Ecc 5:11-16, Ecc 6:7, Isa 55:2, Hab 2:13, Mat 6:19, Mat 6:31-33, Luk 10:40-42, 1Co 6:13, 1Co 7:29-31, 1Co 9:24-27, 2Co 4:18, Col 2:22, Col 3:2, Heb 4:11, Heb 12:16, Jam 1:11, 1Pe 1:24, 2Pe 3:11-14
which endureth: Joh 6:40, Joh 6:51, Joh 6:54, Joh 6:58, Joh 6:68, Joh 4:14, Jer 15:16
which the: Joh 10:28, Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26, Joh 14:6, Joh 17:2, Pro 2:2-6, Rom 6:23
for him: Joh 1:33, Joh 1:34, Joh 5:36, Joh 5:37, Joh 8:18, Joh 10:37, Joh 10:38, Joh 11:42, Joh 15:24, Psa 2:7, Psa 40:7, Isa 11:1-3, Isa 42:1, Isa 61:1-3, Mat 3:17, Mat 17:5, Mar 1:11, Mar 9:7, Luk 3:22, Luk 4:18-21, Luk 9:35, Act 2:22, Act 10:38, 2Pe 1:17
Reciprocal: Gen 34:23 – General Exo 5:17 – General Num 11:8 – the people Deu 30:13 – go over the sea Jos 18:3 – How long are Jdg 18:9 – be not Pro 9:5 – General Pro 10:4 – becometh Pro 10:16 – labour Pro 13:4 – but Pro 14:23 – all Pro 23:4 – Labour Ecc 1:3 – profit Ecc 5:16 – for Jer 32:10 – and sealed Hag 2:23 – and will Zec 3:9 – I will engrave Mat 5:6 – are Mat 6:33 – seek Mat 11:12 – from Mat 19:16 – what Mar 8:8 – and were Mar 10:17 – eternal Luk 11:3 – Give Luk 12:31 – General Luk 13:24 – Strive Luk 14:15 – Blessed Luk 22:16 – until Joh 5:40 – that Joh 10:36 – whom Joh 17:3 – and Jesus Act 16:30 – what Rom 9:32 – Because 2Co 1:22 – sealed 2Co 5:9 – we labour Gal 6:8 – of the Spirit Eph 1:13 – ye were Eph 2:8 – through Phi 2:12 – work 2Th 1:11 – the work 2Pe 1:5 – giving 1Jo 2:1 – Father 1Jo 2:25 – General Rev 7:2 – having
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE LABOUR QUESTION
Labour not for the meat which perisheth.
Joh 6:27
The most pressing question of the day is the Labour Question. Our Lords teaching shows us:
I. The dignity of labour.He worked with His own hand at a useful trade. He described His Divine office in the world as working. In almost all His parables He pictures earthly labour. The old curse, to eat bread in the sweat of the brow, He turned into a blessing. A blight has fallen upon the relations of employer and employed from the old pagan tradition as to despising him who serves. The place of the labourer, the servant, is the place occupied by the Lord Jesus. The remedy for the dangerous gulf created between the masses and the classes is not more policemen, but in the noble teaching of Christ.
II. His sympathy with labourers fatigue.Christ tenderly pitied the weariness of the toil-worn labourer; ought not His Church to do the same? There is a higher law of political economy than to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest.
III. The true object of labour.Labour for that meat which endureth. When lifes aim is for the life with God, all labour is elevated by it.
Bishop Wynne.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
7The Bible does not contradict itself, hence an apparent conflict in its language will be understood when all the passages involved are considered. Ephesians 4:28 directs men to labor for the necessities of life, so we are to understand our present passage to mean that our desire for them must not be our chief purpose in the world; it should all be regarded in the light of Matthew 6:33. Sealed is from SPHRAGIZO, and Thayer defines it at this place, “To confirm, authenticate, place beyond doubt.” The idea is that we should seek the food that the Son of man offers which will lead to everlasting life. This is assured since the Father has placed his seal or stamp of approval on his Son’s work.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Labour 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.
[For him hath God the Father sealed.] The Jews speak much of the seal of God; which may not be impertinently remembered at this time. “What is the seal of the holy blessed God? R. Bibai, in the name of R. Reuben, saith, Truth. But what is truth? R. Bon saith, The living God and King eternal. Resh Lachish saith, Aleph is the first letter of the alphabet, Mem the middle, and Tav the last: q.d. I the Lord am the first; I received nothing of any one; and beside me there is no God: for there is not any that intermingles with me; and I am with the last.”
There is a story of the great synagogue weeping, praying, and fasting; “At length there was a little scroll fell from the firmament to them, in which was written, Truth. R. Chaninah saith, Hence learn that truth is the seal of God.”
We may easily apply all this to Christ, who is “the way, the truth; and the life,” Joh 14:6; he is the express image of his Father, the truth of the Father; whom the Father, by his seal and diploma, hath confirmed and ratified; as the great ruler both of his kingdom and family.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 6:27. Work not for the eating which perisheth. The rendering work is required to bring out the connection with the following verse, in which the same word is used. The language of the original is very expressive:Work, use all the energies of your nature, not unto partaking of perishable but of imperishable food. It is not an act of life but the active life itself that is referred to, and the object of this whole life. When we bring together this verse and that which precedes, we cannot doubt that our Lord, in speaking of working for perishable food, alludes to the labour which the multitude had undergone in their persistent search for Him. As their object in thus seeking Him had been carnal, not spiritual, this act of theirs (good and wise in itself,most blessed, had the aim been higher and more true) was a fitting type of their life, a life occupied with the search after material good and the satisfaction of lower wants and desires.
But for the eating which abideth, unto eternal life which the son of man shall give unto you. In contrast with what they had sought in thus toiling to discover Him, Jesus sets the feast which it is His glory to offer and of which they should be eager to partake. As in Joh 4:14 He had spoken of the gift of water which had power to quench for ever the recipients thirst, so here He speaks of an eating that abides and never perishes. That verse and this are closely parallel, and each helps to explain the other. In the one Jesus says what the water that He giveth shall become in him that receiveth it: here in like manner it is not of meat that He speaks, but of eating,not of food itself, but of food appropriated. In both passages the words unto eternal life occur; and in each case there is some difficulty in determining whether the phrase belongs to the word preceding or to the whole thought of the clause. Yet, as in the first it is probable that life eternal is the end attained when the fountain is opened in the soul, so in this verse unto does not seem to belong to abideth, but to express the object of that eating for which they may and ought to work. Not the eating that perisheth, but the eating that abideth, must absorb their labour, that they may thus win eternal life. If this is the connection intended by John, we must certainly join the second relative which (not with eating, but) with the words that immediately precede, viz. eternal life. There is nothing difficult in such a connection of the words: on the contrary, it is easier than any other, and best agrees with the following verses and with other passages in the Gospel. Almost uniformly in this chapter Jesus speaks of Himself as the bread of life, and of the Father as the Giver of the bread, while eternal life is the result of receiving Him as the living bread (Joh 6:33; Joh 6:51; Joh 6:54). A close parallel is found in chap. Joh 10:28, I give unto them eternal life, as also in chap. Joh 17:2; and the connection of the Son of man with this gift reminds us at once of chap. Joh 3:14. How this gift will become theirs the later verses explain: the two points here are that this life is obtained from the Son of manfrom the God-man alone, and that it is a free gift from Him. This is not inconsistent with the working of which Jesus has spoken. The multitudes had toiled, in that they had put aside all obstacles to come to Him: having come to Him they may receive His free gift. The reception of the gift is opposed to labouring for wages or for merit, but not to earnest effort. The gift can be bestowed in its fulness on those only whose one thought and one effort are bent on receiving it: were there no such activity on our part, we could not be in a position to receive the gift without destroying the nature we possess.
For him the Father, God, did seal. For this very purpose that He might be the Giver of eternal life, was He made the Son of man, was He sent by the Father into the world. (Compare chap. Joh 10:36, Joh 17:2.) He came commissioned by the Father: on Him the Fathers seal was set. The reference is not to the miracle just related, as if Jesus would say that what they had themselves seen was the Fathers attestation of Him, the evidence which should have led them to believe in Him. This is but a small part of the truth, as what is said in chap. 5 on the witness of the Father very plainly shows. There, however, the thought is made to rest on the continued and abiding testimony of the Father: here the whole attestation is looked upon as concentrated in one past act of the Father, as included and implied in the act of sending the Son: and this Father is God, that God whom they themselves allowed to be the supreme source and end of all things. The special reference to the Father in this verse, where Jesus speaks of the gift of eternal life, receives its explanation from Joh 6:57 (which see).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 27. Work to obtain, not the food which perishes, but the food which endures to eternal life, that which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him hath the Father, God, sealed.
Behold now the true way in which Jesus would be sought. It follows, indeed, from the contrast between , work, and , you seek me (Joh 6:26), that the work to which He exhorts His hearers is none other than the seeking for His person with a spiritual aim. The repast of the preceding evening had sustained them for that day. But, when the morning came, were they not obliged to eat again? That bread, miraculous as it was, had, thus, been only a temporary nourishment. What purpose would the renewal of a similar gift on this day have served? To this transient food Jesus opposes that which abides inherent in the human person as a permanent principle of life and action. The term , to work, signifies here: to obtain by one’s labor (see the examples drawn from classical Greek, in Meyer).The words: unto eternal life, designate either the effect immediately produced (Reuss) or the final limit (even to); see at Joh 4:14.
The future, shall give. is certainly the true reading; it is designed to raise the minds of the hearers to the nourishment of a higher nature which Jesus brings to the world, and of which the multiplied loaves were only the type and promise. This notion of giving seems at the first glance in contradiction to the order to work (). But the work by which man procures for himself this truly life-giving food does not consist in creating it, but in making himself fit to receive it, by believing on the divine messenger who brings it to him. The human work would remain useless, without the divine gift, as also the divine gift remains inefficacious without the internal work by means of which the man appropriates it to himself. The name Son of man is also in connection with the thought developed afterwards, that Jesus is Himself this celestial food; for if it is placed within the reach of faith, it is by virtue of the incarnation (Joh 6:33; Joh 6:38; Joh 6:50; Joh 6:58). The for relates to the wordwill give. Jesus is sealed, that is, personally pointed out to the world by His miracles in general, and more particularly by that of the preceding day, as the one who brings this life-giving bread to the earth and who gives it. This is the explanation, given by Jesus Himself, of the term signs. His miracles are the authentic signs of the salvation with which He is intrusted, in its different aspects. The word , God, is placed at the end of the sentence to set forth distinctly the person of Him who, as possessor of supreme authority, has alone the power and the right to give such certifications.
The first dialogue has contrasted and characterized in an altogether general way the two kinds of good which may be sought from Jesus.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
6:27 {d} Labour 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 {e} sealed.
(d) Bestow your labour and pain.
(e) That is, whom God the Father had distinguished from all other men by planting his own power in him, as though he had sealed him with his seal, so that he might be a vivid example and representation of him: and furthermore he installed him to this office, to reconcile us men to God, and bring us to everlasting life, which office belongs only to Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus had previously spoken to the Samaritan woman about living water (Joh 4:10; Joh 4:14), and now He spoke to these Galileans about food that endures. He was, as previously, contrasting physical and spiritual nourishment. Consequently the descriptions that follow contain a mixture of literal and metaphorical language. Jesus wanted His hearers to view the spiritual aspects of His mission as more important than its physical aspects.
The people apparently understood His reference to bread that endures to eternal life as meaning physical bread that does not become stale and moldy. As the Son of Man, Jesus claimed to be able to give this food because God the Father had set His seal of approval on Jesus. The Father had authorized the Son to act for Him (cf. Joh 5:32-47). This was one of the functions of a seal in Jesus’ culture, and God setting His seal on something or someone was a common expression for it being true. [Note: Edersheim, 2:28-29.] Jesus was speaking of Himself as the food (Joh 6:35; Joh 6:53). The Son would give this food and eternal life, but the people had a responsibility to work for it too.