Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:28

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

28. Then said they ] They said therefore.

What shall we do, that we might work ] Better, what must we do that we may work. They see that His words have a moral meaning; they are to do works pleasing to God. But how to set about this?

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? – That is, such things as God will approve. This was the earnest inquiry of men who were seeking to be saved. They had crossed the Sea of Tiberias to seek him; they supposed him to be the Messiah, and they sincerely desired to be taught the way of life; yet it is observable that they expected to find that way as other sinners commonly do – by their works. The idea of doing something to merit salvation is one of the last that the sinner ever surrenders.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Joh 6:28-29

Then they said unto Him, what shall we do that we might work the works of God

Synagogue questioning

I.

THE SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE AND UNBELIEF OF THE NATURAL MAN.

1. When our Lord bade His hearers, Labour for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, they began to think of works to be done.

2. When He spoke of Himself as one sent of God and the need of faith in them, the response was, What sign showest Thou? and this directly after the miracle (Mar 6:6).

3. We should remember all this in our efforts to do good and not be discouraged if our words seem thrown away.

II. THE HIGH HONOUR WHICH CHRIST PUTS ON FAITH IN HIMSELF. Faith and works elsewhere seem contrasted, but here Christ declares that believing on Him is the greatest of all works. Not that He meant that there was anything meritorious in believing; but–That it is the act of the soul which specially pleases God. Without it it is impossible to please Him.

2. That it is the first act that God requires at a sinners hands.

3. That there is no life in a man till he believes.

III. THE FAR GREATER PRIVILEGES OF CHRISTS HEARERS THAN OF THOSE WHO LIVED IN THE TIMES OF MOSES. The manna, wonderful as it was, was as nothing compared with the true bread.

1. The one could only feed the body; the other could satisfy the soul.

2. The one was only for the benefit of Israel; the other for the whole world.

3. Those who ate the former died and were buried, and many of them lost for ever; those who ate of the latter would be eternally saved. (Bp. Ryle.)

A plain answer to an important inquiry

I. FAITH IS THE COMPREHENSIVE SUMMARY OF ALL TRUE WORK.

1. There lies within it every form of holiness, as a forest may lie within an acorn. It may be microscopic in form, but it only wants development.

2. All the graces come out of faith (see Heb 11:1-40.).

II. FAITH IS IN ITSELF MOST PLEASING TO GOD. Because

1. It is the creature acknowledging its God. The man who says my own good deeds will save me sets himself up in independency of God. But when a man submits himself to Gods way of salvation, the rebellious heart submits to the Divine authority, and the poor erring creature comes into its right place.

2. It accepts Gods way of reconciliation. It thus shows a deference to Gods wisdom, and confidence in His love, and yielding to His will.

3. It puts honour on Christ whom the Father dearly loves. That which dishonours Christ must be obnoxious to God.

4. It puts us in a right relationship with God, i.e

(1) A relationship of dependence;

(2) of child- like rest.

III. FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. IS THE TEST OF WORKING FOR GOD.

1. Without faith the spirit of work is wrong. Suppose you said to me, I will spend my life in your service, but I am not going to believe what you say. All that you do must be destitute of real excellent because you begin by malting God a liar in not trusting Him (1Jn 5:10).

2. Without faith the motive of work fails and becomes selfish; whereas faith aims at Gods glory.

IV. FAITH IS THE SEAL OF ALL OTHER BLESSINGS.

1. Of our election (Joh 6:37). If you believe in Christ you are one that the Father hath given Him.

2. Of our effectual calling. If you believe the Father hath drawn you to Christ.

3. Of our final perseverance (Joh 6:47).

4. Of our resurrection (Joh 6:39; Joh 6:49), (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The peoples question

Faith and works are both factors in the work of salvation. Faith is the life root of which works are the fruit. The Jew sought to justify himself by his works, and then inferentially organized his faith to work the works of God, with Him was to drive a bargain with God. What good thing must I do? Christ shows that the way to the Father was by no such circuitous route, but by faith in Himself.

I. A GRAVE INQUIRY. This is not a Jewish question. It is the question of humanity.

1. Man has never been able to throw off a belief in God nor to escape the apprehensions such a belief creates. Hence, in their unrest and great mental hunger, men still ask this question.

2. You see evidences of this mental disquietude in the breaking away from the restraints of creeds, in retreats from the simplicity of the present into the traditions of the past; in the rush of various systems of mediatorial penance, in the impossibility of successfully impugning the Divine record and in the despair which ensues on its rejection. Philosophy in its wildest departures from God can neither answer this question nor escape the responsibility of discussing it. Men seem to treat it as a scoff, but they arc compelled to do homage to its impressiveness in the vague worship of the unknown.

II. CHRISTS ANSWER.

1. The work of God is not the alone work of Gods appointing. It is God and man mutually working. A fractured relation of the soul and God necessitates for its readjustment the correlation of two forces.

(1) In this work a factor is demanded that we cannot supply. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. That which our working secures is just the willingness to receive what God alone can give.

(2) The want that goes in quest of God is not Gods work but ours. On the other hand, to pacify the disquieted heart by renewing it is not mans work, but Gods. Our first lesson, therefore, touches the pride of our self-sufficiency. We are powerless with all our power when power is needed most.

(3) Then there are things which we must cease to do. We must cease to do evil, get clean away from all dependence on our own works.

2. The work of man.

(1) To believe in Christs mission. Christ claims to have been sent into the world by the Father to perform a specific work. Miracles were His credentials. His own profound self-consciousness of His mission explains and necessitates this supernatural signature. Now, if Jesus believed Himself to be the Sent and the Son of God, and was not, He was deceived and a deceiver; but if He was, we cannot put ourselves into harmony with God otherwise than as we accept this mission.

(2) Accepting the mission. What does a man do when he believes in the Person of Christ? What does a blind man do when he commits himself to a guide? He puts himself out on trust. A drowning man, when he clings to his plank, lives suspensively on that to which he clings. A penitent sinner, when he believes in Christ, does both. And this is the work of God for all men. (John Burton.)

The work of God

There was nothing peculiar about this question. All men are asking it, some listlessly, some with agonizing importunity. There is much implied in it; amongst other things that there is some alienation between God and man which must be removed. Unfallen angels do not ask it.

I. MANS WAY OF ANSWERING THE QUESTION.

1. One man imagines that the works of God are to be performed by the members of the body, by prayers, genuflexions, etc. The result is that the man blinded goes down to death, or he is forced by experience to own that he has not found what he sought and to turn away from externals, still saying, What shall I do? etc.

2. The next stage he reaches is that of substituting moral for ceremonial acts. Hence the constant disposition to make social charities the test of character, and to establish an order of irreligious saints. In this delusion thousands live and die. But to others, goaded by conscience, this is not enough. We have tried to do right, but we find our good works imperfect and marred by the sins that have run side by side with them. What shall we do? etc.

3. The man has now been brought to the necessity of expiation. He must make good his past failures by working the works of God. But where shall he begin? Perhaps by refraining from sin. This unexpected difficulty drives him to repentance. He will weep over his offences. But he finds that he can no more break his heart than change his life. The sinner, abandoning the impossible effort, asks in despair, What shall I do?

4. This is the highest ground man ever reached by himself. If he goes beyond he goes down.

(1) Some accordingly descend to the lower ground of meritorious abstinence and self-mortification. Because they have not been able to appease God by renouncing sinful pleasures, they will now do it by renouncing innocent enjoyments.

(2) A descent in another direction leads to a desperate transfer of responsibility. As the sinner cannot work the works of God himself, the Church or a priest shall do it for him.

II. CHRISTS WAY. The whole point here is the contrast between believing and working. They would not have been surprised had He enjoined some task. To a self-righteous spirit, difficulty, danger, pain are inducements rather than dissuasives; but a requisition to believe on Him was something different, comprehending as it did a belief of His Divine legation and authority, of His ability and willingness to save, and a full consent to be saved by Him.

1. It was this simple and implicit trust that created the difficulty, and the same feeling of incongruity is experienced now. After spending a lifetime in working out my own salvation, must I be told at last that I have only to believe?

2. Let this reluctance subside, and men will ask in what sense faith is the work of God.

(1) Some have taught that the act of believing is meritorious, and is accepted in lieu of all the rest. But how can this be reconciled with Gods justice?

(2) Men have run to the opposite extreme, and held that faith dispenses with all moral obligation, which is at variance with the constant requisition of obedience.

3. The true meaning of the words may be summed up in two particulars.

(1) Our access to God and restoration to His favour are entirely independent of all merit or obedience on our part. The saving benefit of the atonement is freely offered to us. Unreserved acceptance of it must, of course, exclude all reliance on any merit of our own. This is all we have to do to begin with.

(2) We are saved, not in sin, but from sin, and when belief in Christ is represented as the saving work which God requires, it is not to the exclusion of good works, but rather the source from which they flow. (J. Addison Alexander, D. D.)

Faith and its operations

I. FAITH IS HERE CONSIDERED AS THE WORK WHICH GOD ENJOINS IN EVERY INDIVIDUAL. Why is it that men do not believe the testimony which God has so clearly made?

1. A wilful turning aside from God and a determination to take up with the nearest trifle is one reason.

2. The deceitfulness of the human heart is another. Sin possesses in a most astonishing degree the faculty of hiding its own deformity.

3. The reasons of this disobedience vary in different men according to their different characters and circumstances.

4. What does the Holy Spirit do when He introduces the principle of faith into the heart of man?

(1) He removes every obstacle which we cherished in our natural state.

(2) He fixes in us principles of obedience, and makes duty a delight.

5. What is this faith? A continual reliance on Christ as a Saviour. 6 What does this faith do? It delivers the believer from the charge and dominion of sin and purifies the heart.

II. GODS SENDING HIS SON INTO THE WORLD.

1. This was an act of sovereignty.

2. Christ was sent as the medium of Gods moral government and as the channel of salvation.

3. What a view this gives us of the mercy and love of God!

4. How this heightens the guilt of the rejection of Christ!

III. THIS OBEDIENCE OF FAITH IS THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE DESIGN OF GOD AND THE COMPLETION OF THE SAVIOURS TRIUMPH. (W. Howels, M. A.)

Faith the sole saving act

1. The Jews inquired as though there were several works of God. Christ narrows down the terms of salvation to a single one.

2. In this as in many incidental ways our Lord teaches His Divinity. Imagine Paul or David resting the destiny of the soul on faith in himself.

3. The belief is natural to man that something must be done in order to salvation. The most supine expect to have to rouse themselves some day. Let us examine

I. THE COMMON NOTION UNDERLYING THE QUESTION. When a man begins to think of God and his relations to Him, he finds he owes Him service and obedience. His first spontaneous impulse, therefore, is to begin the performance of the work he has hitherto neglected. The law expressly affirms that the man who doeth these things shall live by them. He proposes to take the law just as it stands and to live by service.

II. THE GROUND AND REASON OF CHRISTS ANSWER.

1. Because it is too late in any case to adopt the method of salvation by works. The law demands and supposes that obedience begins at the very beginning of existence, and continues down uninterruptedly to the end of it Gal 5:3). If any man can show a clean record, the law gives him the reward he has earned (Rom 4:4; Rom 11:6). But no man can do this Psa 58:3; Eph 2:3).

2. This is the conclusive ground for Christs declaration that the one great work which every fallen man must perform in order to salvation is faith in another work.

III. THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY FAITH.

1. Faith is a work, a mental act of the most comprehensive and energetic species. It carries the whole man in it, heart, head, will, body, soul, spirit.

2. Yet it is not a work in the common signification, and is by Paul opposed to works, and excluded from them. It is wholly occupied with anothers work. The believer deserts all his own doings, and betakes himself to what a third person has done for him, and instead of holding up prayers, almsgiving, penances, or moral efforts, he holds up the sacrificial work of Christ.

3. St. John repeats this doctrine in his first epistle (1Jn 3:22-23). The whole duty of sinful man is here summed up and concentrated in the duty to trust in another person than himself and in another work than his own. In the matter of salvation, when there is faith in Christ there is everything; and where there is not faith in Christ there is nothing.

Conclusion:

1. Faith in Christ is the appointment of God as the sole means of salvation Act 4:12).

2. There are enjoyments in the human conscience that can be supplied by no other method.

(1) The soul wants peace. Christs atonement satisfies the demands of a broken law.

(2) The soul wants purity. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. (Prof. Shedd.)

Faith and works

All upon which the name of Paulinism has been bestowed is contained in embryo in this verse, which at the same time forms the point of union between Paul and James. Faith is the highest kind of work, for by it man gives himself; and a free being can do nothing greater than to give himself. It is in this sense that James opposes works to a faith which is nothing more than intellectual belief; and it is in a perfectly analogous sense that Paul opposes faith, active faith, to works of mere observance. The faith of Paul is really the works of James, according to the sovereign formula of Jesus: This is the work of God that you believe. (F. Godet, D. D.)

The value of faith

Faith will be of more use to us than any other grace, as an eye, though dim, was of more use to an Israelite (bitten by a serpent) than all the other members of his body. It is not knowledge, though angelical, nor repentance, though we could shed rivers of tears, could justify us; but only faith, whereby we look on Christ. (T. Watson.)

Works are useless for our salvation

Coin that is current in one place is valueless in another. Suppose an Indian, far in the western wilds, were to say, I will become a trader with the whites. I will go to New York city and buy up half the goods there, and then come back and sell them, and then what a rich Indian I shall be. He then collects all his wampum beads, which are his money, and compared with other Indians he is very rich, and away he journeys to yonder city. Imagine him going into Stewarts, and offering his wampum there in exchange for their goods. They are refused. They were money in the woods–in the city they are worthless. And there are thousands of men who are carrying with them, to offer at the judgment, what is no better than the Indians beads. They are reckoning on their generosity, their prompt payment of all their debts, their various good natural qualities; but when they present them, they will all be found worthless trash. The things that have made them strong, and valued, and important here, will there be worse than useless to them. (H. W. Beecher.)

Faith is trust in another

The daughter of a celebrated physician was once attacked by a violent and dangerous fever; but she exhibited great resignation and tranquillity. She said she was ignorant of what might effect her cure, and if it were left to herself to prescribe, she might desire remedies which would be prejudicial. Shall I not gain everything, she added, by abandoning myself entirely to my father? He desires my recovery; he knows much better than I do what is adapted to the restoration of my health; and having confidence, therefore, that everything will be done for me which can be done, I remain without solicitude either as to the means or aa to the result. Religious faith, in like manner, trusts itself in the hands of God, in the full confidence that it will be well in the end. (J. Upham.)

The preciousness of faith

Faith is the vital artery of the soul. When we begin to believe we begin to love. Faith grafts the soul into Christ as the scion into the stock, and fetches all its nutriment from the blessed vine. (T. Watson.)

Faith and works

That is a very instructive anecdote which St. Simon relates respecting the last hours of the profligate Louis XIV. One day, he says, the king, recovering from loss of consciousness, asked his confessor, Pere Tellier, to give him absolution for all his sins. Pere Tellier asked him if he suffered much. No, replied the king, thats what troubles me. I should like to suffer more, for the expiation of my sins? Here was a poor mortal who had spent his days in carnality and transgression of the pure law of God. He is conscious of guilt, and feels the need of its atonement. And now, upon the very edge of eternity and brink of doom, he proposes to make his own atonement, to be his own redeemer and save his own soul, by offering up to the eternal Nemesis that was racking his conscience a few hours of finite suffering, instead of betaking himself to the infinite passion and agony of Calvary. This is a work; and, alas I a dead work, as St. Paul so often denominates it. (Prof. Shedd.)

Faith in God

In the first Punic war, Hannibal laid siege to Saguntum, a rich and strongly-fortified city on the eastern coast of Spain. It was defended with a desperate obstinacy by its inhabitants; but the discipline, the energy, and the persistence of the Carthaginian army were too much for them; and, just as the city was about to fall, Alorcus, a Spanish chieftain, and a mutual friend of both the contending parties, undertook to mediate between them. He proposed to the Saguntines that they should surrender, allowing the Carthaginian general to make his own terms; and the argument he used was this: Your city is captured, in any event. Further resistence will only bring down upon you the rage of an incensed soldiery, and horrors of a sack. Therefore surrender immediately, and take whatever Hannibal shall please to give. You cannot lose anything by the procedure, and you may gain something, even though it be a little. Now, although there is no resemblance between the government of the good and merciful God and the cruel purposes and conduct of a heathen warrior, and we shrink from bringing the two into any kind of juxtaposition, still, the advice of the wise Alorcus to the Saguntines is good advice for every sinful man in reference to his relations to eternal justice. We are all of us at the mercy of God. But the All.Holy is also the All-Merciful. He has made certain terms, and has offered certain conditions of pardon, without asking leave of His creatures, and without taking them into council; and were these terms as strict as Draco, instead of being as tender and pitiful as the tears and blood of Jesus, it would become us criminals to make no criticisms even in that extreme case, but accept them precisely as they were offered by the Sovereign and the Arbiter. (Prof. Shedd.)

The simplicity of faith

The complexity sometimes charged upon the Christian doctrine of faith is not greater than exists in any analogous or corresponding case. Tell the drowning man to be of good cheer, for you will save him, and you call upon him to perform as many acts as are included in the exercise of saving faith. For, in the first place, you invite him to believe the truth of your assertions. In the next place, you invite him to confide in your ability and willingness to save him. In the last place, you invite him to consent to your proposal by renouncing every other hope and agreeing to be saved by you. There is nothing more abstruse or difficult in saving faith. The difference is not in the essential nature of the mental acts and exercises, but in the circumstances under which they are performed. (J. A. Alexander, D. D.)

Creed and conduct

It is a very common charge against Christianity that it puts creed above conduct. Whether there is any truth in that charge depends upon what is understood by the term creed. When Jesus was asked directly concerning right conduct, he answered that a right belief is the basis of right conduct. If that be giving a first place to creed, let it be borne in mind that it is Jesus Christ Himself who makes the assignment. A popular saying nowadays is that it doesnt make any difference what a man believes if he only acts right; but a Boston clergyman once improved on that saying by the simple change, It doesnt make any difference what a man believes if he doesnt act right. If a man is a persistent evil-doer, the soundness of his theological convictions will not compensate for his wrong conduct. But when God has sent His Son to be a Saviour and a Guide, it makes all the difference in the world whether a sinner accepts or refuses to believe on the One who is the only Mediator between God and man. So far, a correct belief is all-essential as a basis of right conduct and of safe conduct. That is the truth as Jesus puts it. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 28. That we might work the works of God?] That is, Divine works, or such as God can approve.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

They easily understood that our Saviour did not speak of any worldly food, by his opposing the labour he mentions, and persuadeth for, to a labour for the world; but still they did not understand what labour he spake of, but dreamed of the works of the law; knowing of no other work which God commanded, but which was prescribed in the law; and they (probably) being some, or many of them, strict observers, especially of the law contained in ordinances, and probably many of them of the moral law also, according to the sense of it given by their teachers; in which sense the young man, Mat 19:20, being bid by our Saviour to keep the law, and naming most of the precepts of the second table, told him, All these things have I kept from my youth: what lack I yet? They wondered what works our Saviour meant; what labour, when he said, Labour for that bread, or that meat which endureth to everlasting life; thinking that those who kept the law (in the sense before expressed) had no more to do.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

28-31. What shall we do . . . theworks of Godsuch works as God will approve. Different answersmay be given to such a question, according to the spirit whichprompts the inquiry. (See Hos 6:6-8;Luk 3:12-14). Here our Lord,knowing whom He had to deal with, shapes His reply accordingly.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then said they unto him,…. Understanding by what he said, that they must labour and work, though not for perishing food, yet for durable food; and as they imagined, in order to obtain eternal life by working:

what shall we do that we might work the works of God? Such as are agreeable to his will, are acceptable to him, and well pleasing in his sight: they seem to intimate, as if they desired to know whether there were any other works of this kind, than what Moses had directed them to, or than they had done; and if there were, they suggest they would gladly do them; for this was the general cast and complexion of this people; they were seeking for righteousness, and life not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Christ the True Bread from Heaven; Christ Welcomes All that Come to Him; Necessity of Feeding upon Christ.

      28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?   29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.   30 They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?   31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.   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.   33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.   34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.   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.   36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.   37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.   38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.   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.   40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.   41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.   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?   43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.   44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.   45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.   46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.   47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.   48 I am that bread of life.   49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.   50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.   51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.   52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?   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.   54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.   55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.   56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.   As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 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 for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

     Whether this conference was with the Capernaites, in whose synagogue Christ now was, or with those who came from the other side of the sea, is not certain nor material; however, it is an instance of Christ’s condescension that he gave them leave to ask him questions, and did not resent the interruption as an affront, no, not from his common hearers, though not his immediate followers. Those that would be apt to teach must be swift to hear, and study to answer. It is the wisdom of teachers, when they are asked even impertinent unprofitable questions, thence to take occasion to answer in that which is profitable, that the question may be rejected, but not the request. Now,

     I. Christ having told them that  they  must  work for the meat  he spoke of, must  labour  for it, they enquire what work they must do, and he answers them,  v. 28, 29. 1. Their  enquiry  was  pertinent  enough (v. 28):  What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?  Some understand it as a pert question: “What works of God can we do more and better than those we do in obedience to the law of Moses?” But I rather take it as a humble serious question, showing them to be, at least for the present, in a good mind, and willing to know and do their duty; and I imagine that those who asked this question, How and What (v. 30), and made the request (v. 34), were not the same persons with those that murmured (v. 41, 42), and strove (v. 52), for those are expressly called  the Jews,  who came out of Judea (for those were strictly called Jews) to cavil, whereas these were of Galilee, and came to be taught. This question here intimates that they were convinced that those who would obtain this everlasting meat, (1.) Must aim to do something great. Those who  look high  in their expectations, and hope to enjoy the  glory of God,must  aim high  in those endeavours, and study to  do the works of God,  works which he requires and will accept,works of God,  distinguished from the works of worldly men in their worldly pursuits. It is not enough to speak the words of God, but we must do the works of God. (2.) Must be willing to do any thing:  What shall we do?  Lord, I am ready to do whatever thou shalt appoint, though ever so displeasing to flesh and blood,  Acts ix. 6. 2. Christ’s answer was plain enough (v. 29):  This is the work of God that ye believe.  Note, (1.) The work of faith is the work of God. They enquire after the  works  of God (in the plural number), being careful about  many things;  but Christ directs them to one work, which includes all, the one thing needful: that  you believe,  which supersedes all the works of the ceremonial law; the work which is necessary to the acceptance of all the other works, and which produces them, for without faith you cannot please God. It is  God’s work,  for it is of his  working in us,  it subjects the soul to his working on us, and quickens the soul in working  for him,  (2.) That faith is the work of God which closes with Christ, and relies upon him. It is to  believe on him  as one whom God  hath sent,  as God’s commissioner in the great affair of peace between God and man, and as such to  rest  upon him, and  resign ourselves  to him. See  ch. xiv. 1.

     II. Christ having told them that the  Son of man  would  give them this meat,  they enquire concerning him, and he answers their enquiry.

     1. Their enquiry is after  a sign  (v. 30):  What sign showest thou?  Thus far they were right, that, since he required them to give him  credit,  he should produce his  credentials,  and make it out by miracle that he was  sent of God.  Moses having confirmed his mission by  signs,  it was requisite that Christ, who came to set aside the ceremonial law, should in like manner confirm his: “What dost thou work?  What doest thou drive at? What lasting characters of a divine power does thou design to leave upon thy doctrine?” But  herein  they missed it,

     (1.) That they overlooked the many miracles which they had seen wrought by him, and which amounted to an abundant proof of his divine mission. Is this a time of day to ask, “What sign showest thou?” especially at Capernaum, the  staple  of miracles, where he had done so  many mighty works, signs  so significant of his office and undertaking? Were not these very persons but the other day miraculously fed by him? None so blind as they that will not see; for they may be so blind as to question whether it be day or no, when the sun shines in their faces.

     (2.) That they preferred the miraculous feeding of Israel in the wilderness before all the miracles Christ wrought (v. 31):  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert;  and, to strengthen the objection, they quote a scripture for it:  He gave them bread from heaven  (taken from  Ps. lxxviii. 24),  he gave them of the corn of heaven.  What a good use might be made of this story to which they here refer! It was a memorable instance of God’s power and goodness, often mentioned to the glory of God (Neh. xix. 20, 21), yet see how these people perverted it, and made an ill use of it. [1.] Christ reproved them for their fondness of the miraculous bread, and bade them not set their hearts uponmeat which perisheth;  “Why,” say they, “meat for the belly  was the great good thing that God gave to our fathers in the desert; and why should not we then labour for that meat? If God made much of them, why should not we be for those that will make much of us?” [2.] Christ had fed five thousand men with five loaves, and had given them that as one sign to prove him  sent of God;  but, under colour of  magnifying  the miracles of Moses, they tacitly  undervaluethis miracle of Christ, and  evade  the evidence of it. “Christ fed his thousands; but Moses his hundreds of thousands; Christ fed them but once, and then reproved those who followed him in hope to be still fed, and put them off with a discourse of spiritual food; but Moses fed his followers forty years, and miracles were not their rarities, but their daily bread: Christ fed them with bread out of  the earth,  barley-bread, and fishes out of  the sea;  but Moses fed Israel with bread  from heaven,  angel’s food.” Thus big did these Jews talk of the  manna  which  their fathers did eat;  but their fathers had slighted it as much as they did now the barley-loaves, and called  light bread,  Num. xxi. 5. Thus apt are we to slight and overlook the appearances of God’s power and grace in our own times, while we pretend to admire the wonders of which  our fathers told us.  Suppose  this  miracle of Christ was outdone by that of Moses, yet there were other instances in which Christ’s miracles outshone his; and, besides, all true miracles prove a divine doctrine, though not equally illustrious in the circumstances, which were ever  diversified  according as the occasion did require. As much as the manna excelled the barley-loaves, so much, and much more, did the doctrine of Christ excel the law of Moses, and his heavenly institutions the carnal ordinances of that dispensation.

     2. Here is Christ’s reply to this enquiry, wherein,

     (1.) He  rectifies  their  mistake  concerning the  typical  manna. It was true that their fathers did eat  manna  in the desert. But, [1.] It was not Moses that gave it to them, nor were they obliged to him for it; he was but the instrument, and therefore they must look beyond him to God. We do not find that Moses did so much as pray to God for themanna;  and he spoke unadvisedly when he said,  Must we fetch water out of the rock?  Moses gave them not eitherthat  bread or  that water.  [2.] It was not given them, as they imagined,  from heaven,  from the highest heavens, but only from  the clouds,  and therefore not so much superior to that which had its rise from the earth as they thought. Because the scripture saith,  He gave them bread from heaven,  it does not follow that it was  heavenly bread,  or was intended to be the nourishment of souls. Misunderstanding scripture language occasions many mistakes in the things of God.

     (2.) He  informs  them concerning the  true  manna, of which that was a type:  But my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven;  that which is truly and properly the  bread from heaven,  of which the manna was but a shadow and figure, is  now given,  not to  your fathers,  who are dead and gone, but  to you  of this present age, for whom thebetter things were reserved:  he is  now giving  you that  bread from heaven,  which is  truly  so called. As much as the throne of God’s glory is above the clouds of the air, so much does the  spiritual bread  of the everlasting gospel excel the  manna.  In calling God  his Father,  he proclaims himself greater than Moses; for Moses was faithful but as a servant, Christ as a  Son,  Heb. iii. 5, 6.

     III. Christ, having replied to their enquiries, takes further occasion from their objection concerning the  manna  to discourse of  himself  under the similitude of  bread,  and of  believing  under the similitude of  eating and drinking;  to which, together with his putting both together in the  eating  of  his flesh  and  drinking  of his  blood,  and with the remarks made upon it by the hearers, the rest of this conference may be reduced.

     1. Christ having spoken of  himself  as the great  gift of God,  and the  true bread  (v. 32), largely  explains  andconfirms  this, that we may rightly know him.

     (1.) He here shows that he is the  true bread;  this he repeats again and again,  v. 33, 35, 48-51. Observe, [1.] That Christ is  bread  is that to the soul which bread is to the body, nourishes and supports the spiritual life (is the staff of it) as bread does the bodily life;  it is the staff of life.  The doctrines of the gospel concerning Christthat he is the mediator between God and man, that he is our peace, our righteousness, our Redeemer;  by these things do men live.  Our bodies could better live without food than our souls without Christ.  Bread-corn  is  bruised  (Isa. xxviii. 28), so was Christ; he was born at Bethlehem, the  house of bread,  and typified by the  show-bread.  [2.] That he is the  bread of God  (v. 33), divine bread; it is he that is  of God  (v. 46), bread which my Father gives (v. 32), which he has made to be the food of our souls; the bread of God’s family, his  children’s bread.  The Levitical sacrifices are called the  bread of God  (Lev. xxi. 21, 22), and Christ is the great sacrifice; Christ, in his word and ordinances, thefeast  upon the sacrifice. [3.] That he is the  bread of life  (v. 35, and again, v. 48),  that  bread of life, alluding to the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden, which was to Adam the seal of that part of the covenant,  Do this and live,  of which he might  eat and live.  Christ is the bread of life, for he is the fruit of the  tree of life. First,  He is theliving bread  (so he explains himself,  v. 51):  I am the living bread.  Bread is itself a dead thing, and nourishes not but by the help of the faculties of a living body; but Christ is himself  living bread,  and nourishes by his own power. Manna was a dead thing; if kept but one night, it putrefied and bred worms; but Christ is ever living, everlasting bread, that never moulds, nor waxes old. The doctrine of Christ crucified is now as strengthening and comforting to a believer as ever it was, and his mediation still of as much value and efficacy as ever.  Secondly, He gives life unto the world  (v. 33), spiritual and eternal life; the life of the soul in union and communion with God here, and in the vision and fruition of him hereafter; a life that includes in it all happiness. The  manna  did only reserve and support life, did not preserve and perpetuate life, much less restore it; but Christ  gives  life to those that were dead in sin. The manna was ordained only for the life of the Israelites, but Christ is given for the  life of the world;  none are excluded from the benefit of this bread, but such as exclude themselves. Christ came to  put life  into the minds of men, principles productive of acceptable performances. [4.] That he is the  bread which came down from heaven;this is often repeated here,  v. 33, 50, 51, 58. This denotes,  First,  The divinity of Christ’s person. As God, he had a being in heaven, whence he came to take our nature upon him:  I came down from heaven,  whence we may infer hisantiquity,  he was in the beginning with God; his  ability,  for heaven is the firmament of power; and his  authority,  he came with a divine commission.  Secondly,  The divine original of all that good which flows to us through him. Hecomes,  not only  katabasthat came down  (v. 51), but  katabainoithat comes down;  he is descending, denoting a constant communication of light, life, and love, from God to believers through Christ, as the  manna  descended daily; see  Eph. i. 3.  Omnia desuperAll things from above.  [5.] That he is  that bread  of which the  manna  was a type and figure (v. 58),  that  bread, the true bread,  v. 32. As the rock that they drank of was Christ, so was the manna they ate of  spiritual bread,  1 Cor. x. 3, 4.  Manna  was given to Israel; so Christ to the spiritual Israel. There was  mannaenough for them all; so in Christ a fulness of grace for all believers; he that  gathers much  of this  manna  will have none to spare when he comes to use it; and he that gathers little, when his grace comes to be perfected in glory, shall find that  he has no lack. Manna  was to be gathered in the morning; and those that would find Christ must  seek him early.  Manna was sweet, and, as the author of the  Wisdom of Solomon  tells us (Wisd. xvi. 20), was agreeable to every palate; and to those that believe Christ is  precious.  Israel lived upon  manna  till they came to Canaan; and Christ is our life. There was a memorial of the  manna  preserved in the ark; so of Christ in the Lord’s supper, as the food of souls.

     (2.) He here shows what his undertaking was, and what his errand into the world. Laying aside the metaphor, he speaks plainly, and speaks no proverb, giving us an account of his business among men,  v. 38-40.

     [1.] He assures us, in general, that he came from heaven upon his Father’s business (v. 38), not  do his own will, but the will of him that sent him.  He  came from heaven,  which bespeaks him an intelligent active being, who voluntarily descended to this lower world, a long journey, and a great step downward, considering the glories of the world he came from and the calamities of the world he came to; we may well ask with wonder, “What moved him to such an expedition?” Here he tells that he came to do, not  his own will,  but the will of his Father; not that he had any will that stood in competition with the will of his Father, but those to whom he spoke suspected he might. “No,” saith he, “my own will is not the spring I act from, nor the rule I go by, but I am come to  do the will of him that sent me.” That is,  First,  Christ did not come into the world as a  private  person, that acts for himself only, but under a  public character,  to act for others as an ambassador, or plenipotentiary, authorized by a public commission; he came into the world as God’s great agent and the world’s great physician. It was not any private business that brought him hither, but he came to settle affairs between parties no less considerable than the great Creator and the whole creation.  Secondly,  Christ, when he was in the world, did not carry on any  private  design, nor had any  separate interest  at all, distinct from theirs for whom he acted. The scope of his whole life was to glorify God and do good to men. He therefore never consulted his own ease, safety, or quiet; but, when he was to lay down his life, though he had a human nature which startled at it, he set aside the consideration of that, and resolved his will as man into the will of God:  Not as I will, but as thou wilt.

     [2.] He acquaints us, in particular, with that will of the Father which he came to do; he here  declares the decree,  the instructions he was to pursue.

     First,  The  private instructions  given to Christ, that he should be sure to save all the chosen remnant; and this is the  covenant of redemption  between the Father and the Son (v. 38): “This is the Father’s will, who hath sent me;this is the charge I am entrusted with, that  of all whom he hath given me I should lose none.” Note, 1. There is a certain number of the children of men  given  by the Father to Jesus Christ, to be his care, and so to be to him for a name and a praise; given him for  an inheritance,  for a possession. Let him do all that for them which their case requires; teach them, and heal them, pay their debt, and plead their cause, prepare them for, and preserve them to, eternal life, and then let him make his best of them. The Father might dispose of them as he pleased: as creatures, their lives and beings were  derived from  him; as sinners, their lives and beings were  forfeited to him.  He might have sold them for the satisfaction of his justice, and delivered them  to the tormentors;  but he pitched upon them to be the monuments of his mercy, and delivered them to the Saviour. Those whom God chose to be the objects of his special love he lodged as a trust in the hands of Christ. 2. Jesus Christ has undertaken that he will  lose none  of those that were thus  given him  of the Father. The  many sons  whom he was to  bring to glory  shall all be forth-coming, and none of them missing,  Matt. xviii. 14. None of them shall be lost, for want of a sufficient grace to sanctify them.  If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever,  Gen. xliii. 9. 3. Christ’s undertaking for those that are given him extends to the resurrection of their bodies.  I will raise it up again at the last day,  which supposes all that goes before, but this is to crown and complete the undertaking. The body is a part of the man, and therefore a part of Christ’s purchase and charge; it pertains to the promises, and therefore it shall not be  lost.  The undertaking is not only that he shall  lose none,  no  person,  but that he shall  lose nothing,  no part of the person, and therefore not the body. Christ’s undertaking will never be accomplished till the resurrection, when the souls and bodies of the saints shall be re-united and gathered to Christ, that he may present them to the Father:Behold I, and the children that thou has given me,  Heb. ii. 13; 2 Tim. i. 12. 4. The spring and original of all this is thesovereign will of God,  the counsels of his will, according to which he works all this. This was the commandment he gave to his Son, when he sent him into the world, and to which the Son always had an eye.

     Secondly,  The  public instructions  which were to be given to the children of men, in what way, and upon what terms, they might obtain salvation by Christ; and this is the  covenant of grace  between God and man. Who the particular persons were that were given to Christ is a  secret: The Lord knows them that are his,  we do not, nor is it fit we should; but, though their names are concealed, their characters are published. An offer is made of life and happiness upon gospel terms, that by it those that were given to Christ might be brought to him, and others left inexcusable (v. 40): “This is the will,  the revealed will,  of him that sent me,  the method agreed upon, upon which to proceed with the children of men, that  every one,  Jew or Gentile, that  sees the Son, and believes on him,  may have  everlasting life,  and  I will raise him up.” This is  gospel  indeed, good news. Is it now reviving to hear this? 1. That  eternal life  may be had, if it be not our own fault; that whereas, upon the sin of the first Adam, the  way of the tree of life  was blocked up, by the grace of the second Adam it is laid upon again. The crown of glory is set before us as the prize of our high calling, which we may run for and obtain. 2. Every one may have it. This gospel is to be preached, this offer made, to all, and none can say, “It belongs not to me,”  Rev. xxii. 17. 3. This everlasting life is sure to all those who believe in Christ, and to them only. He that  sees the Son,  and  believes on him,  shall be saved. Some understand this  seeing  as a  limitation  of this condition of salvation to those only that have the revelation of Christ and his grace made to them. Every one that has the opportunity of being acquainted with Christ, and improves this so well as to  believe  in him, shall have everlasting life, so that none shall be condemned for unbelief (however they maybe for other sins) but those who have had the gospel preached to them, who, like these Jews here (v. 36), have  seen,  and yet have  not  believed; have known Christ, and yet not trusted in him. But I rather understand  seeing  here to mean the same thing with  believing,  for it is  theoron, which signifies not so much the sight of the eye (as  v. 36,  heorakate meye have seen me) as the  contemplation of the mind.  Every one thatsees the Son,  that is,  believes on him,  sees him with an eye of faith, by which we come to be duly acquainted and affected with the doctrine of the gospel concerning him. It is to look upon him, as the stung Israelites upon the brazen serpent. It is not a  blind  faith that Christ requires, that we should be willing to have our  eyes put out,  and then follow him, but that we should  see him,  and see what ground we go upon in our faith. It is  then  right when it is not taken up upon  hearsay  (believing as the church believes), but is the result of a due consideration of, and insight into, the motives of credibility:  Now mine eye sees thee. We have heard him ourselves.  4. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, in order to their having everlasting life, shall be raised up by his power at the last day. He had it in charge as his Father’s will (v. 39), and here he solemnly makes it his own undertaking: I  will raise him up,  which signifies not only the return of the body to life, but the putting of the  whole man  into a full possession of the eternal life promised.

     2. Now Christ discoursing thus concerning himself, as the  bread of life  that came down from heaven, let us see what remarks his hearers made upon it.

     (1.) When they heard of such a thing as the  bread of God,  which  gives life,  they heartily prayed for it (v. 34):Lord, evermore give us this bread.  I cannot think that this is spoken scoffingly, and in a way of derision, as most interpreters understand it: “Give us such bread as this, if thou canst; let us be fed with it, not for one meal, as with the five loaves, but  evermore;” as if this were no better a prayer than that of the impenitent thief:  If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.  But I take this request to be made, though ignorantly, yet honestly, and to be well meant; for they call him  Lord,  and desire a share in what he  gives,  whatever he means by it. General and confused notions of divine things produce in carnal hearts some kind of desires towards them, and wishes of them; like Balaam’s wish, to die the  death of the righteous.  Those who have an indistinct knowledge of the things of God, who see men as trees walking, make, as I may call them,  inarticulate  prayers for spiritual blessings. They think the favour of God a  good thing,  and heaven a  fine place,  and cannot but wish them their own, while they have no value nor desire at all for that holiness which is necessary both to the one and to the other. Let this be the desire of our souls; have we tasted that the Lord is gracious, been feasted with the word of God, and Christ in the word? Let us say, “Lord, evermore give us this bread;  let the bread of life be our daily bread, the heavenly manna our continual feast, and let us never know the want of it.”

     (2.) But, when they understood that by this  bread of life  Jesus meant  himself,  then they  despised  it. Whether they were the same persons that had prayed for it (v. 34), or some others of the company, does not appear; it seems to be some others, for they are called  Jews.  Now it is said (v. 41),  They murmured at him.  This comes in immediately after that solemn declaration which Christ had made of God’s will and his own undertaking concerning man’s salvation (v. 39, 40), which certainly were some of the most weighty and gracious words that ever proceeded out of the mouth of our Lord Jesus, the most faithful, and best worthy of all acceptation. One would think that, like Israel in Egypt, when they heard that God had thus  visited  them, they should have  bowed their heads and worshipped;  but on the contrary, instead of closing with the offer made them, they  murmured,  quarrelled with what Christ said, and, though they did not openly oppose and contradict it, yet they privately whispered among themselves in contempt of it, and instilled into one another’s minds prejudices against it. Many that will not professedly contradict the doctrine of Christ (their cavils are so weak and groundless that they are either ashamed to own them or afraid to have them silenced), yet say in their hearts that they  do not like it.  Now, [1.] That which offended them was Christ’s asserting his origin to be  from heaven,  v. 41, 42. How is it that he saith,  I came down from heaven?  They had heard of angels coming down  from heaven,  but never of a man, overlooking the proofs he had given them of his being more than a man. [2.] That which they thought justified them herein was that they knew his extraction on earth:  Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  They took it amiss that he should say that he came down from heaven, when he was  one of them.  They speak slightly of his blessed name,  Jesus: Is not this Jesus.  They take it for granted that Joseph was really his father, though he was onlyreputed  to be so. Note, Mistakes concerning the person of Christ, as if he were a mere man, conceived and born by ordinary generation, occasion the offence that is taken at his doctrine and offices. Those who set him on a level with the other sons of men, whose father and mother we know, no wonder if they derogate from the honour of his satisfaction and the mysteries of his undertaking, and, like the Jews here, murmur at his promise to  raise us up at the last day.

     3. Christ, having spoken of faith as the great  work of God  (v. 29), discourses largely concerning this work, instructing and encouraging us in it.

     (1.) He shows what it is to  believe in Christ.  [1.] To believe in Christ is to  come to Christ.  He that  comes to  me is the same with him that  believes in me  (v. 35), and again (v. 37):  He that comes unto me;  so  v. 44, 45. Repentance towards God is  coming to him  (Jer. iii. 22) as our chief good and highest end; and so faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ is coming to him as our prince and Saviour, and our way to the Father. It denotes the out-goings of our affection towards him, for these are the motions of the soul, and actions agreeable; it is to  come off  from all those things that stand in opposition to him or competition with him, and to  come up  to those terms upon which life and salvation are offered to us through him. When he was here on earth it was more that barely coming where he was; so it is now more than coming to his word and ordinances. [2.] It is to  feed upon Christ  (v. 51):  If any man eat of this bread.  The former denotes applying ourselves to Christ; this denotes applying Christ to ourselves, with appetite and delight, that we may receive life, and strength, and comfort from him. To feed on him as the Israelites on the manna, having quitted the  fleshpots  of Egypt, and not depending on the  labour of their hands  (to eat of that), but living purely on the bread given them from heaven.

     (2.) He shows what is to be got by believing in Christ. What will he give us if we  come to him?  What shall we be the better of we  feed upon him? Want  and  death  are the chief things we dread; may we but be assured of the comforts of our being, and the continuance of it in the midst of these comforts, we have enough; now these two are here secured to true believers.

     [1.] They shall never want,  never hunger, never thirst,  v. 35. Desires they have, earnest desires, but these so suitably, so seasonably, so abundantly satisfied, that they cannot be called hunger and thirst, which are uneasy and painful. Those that did eat manna, and drink of the rock, hungered and thirsted afterwards. Manna surfeited them; water out of the rock failed them. But there is such an  over-flowing fulness  in Christ as can never be  exhausted,and there are such  ever-flowing communications  from him as can never be interrupted.

     [2.] They shall  never die,  not die eternally; for,  First,  He that believes on Christ  has everlasting life  (v. 47); he has the assurance of it, the grant of it, the earnest of it; he has it in the promise and first-fruits. Union with Christ and communion with God in Christ are  everlasting life  begun.  Secondly,  Whereas they that did  eat manna  died, Christ is such bread as a man may eat of and never die,  v. 49, 50. Observe here, 1. The insufficiency of the typical manna:Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  There may be much good use made of the death of our fathers; their graves speak to us, and their monuments are our memorials, particularly of this, that the greatestplenty  of the most  dainty  food will neither prolong the thread of life nor avert the stroke of death. Those that did eat manna, angel’s food, died like other men. There could be nothing amiss in their diet, to shorten their days, nor could their deaths be hastened by the toils and fatigues of life (for they neither sowed nor reaped), and  yet they died.  (1.) Many of them died by the immediate strokes of God’s vengeance for their unbelief and murmurings; for,  though they did eat that spiritual meat,  yet with many of them God  was not well-pleased, but they were overthrown in the wilderness,  1 Cor. x. 3-5. Their eating manna was no security to  them  from the  wrath of God,  as believing in Christ is to  us.  (2.) The rest of them died in a course of nature, and their carcases fell, under a divine sentence, in that wilderness where they did  eat manna.  In that very age when miracles were  daily bread  was the life of man reduced to the stint it now stands at, as appears,  Ps. xc. 10. Let them not then boast so much of  manna.  2. The all-sufficiency of the true  manna,  of which the other was a type:  This is the bread that cometh down from heaven,  that truly divine and heavenly food,  that a man may eat thereof and not die;  that is, not fall under the wrath of God, which is killing to the soul;  not die  the second death; no, nor the first death finally and irrecoverably.  Not die,  that is, not perish, not come short of the heavenly Canaan, as the Israelites did of the earthly, for want of  faith,  though they hadmanna.  This is further explained by that promise in the next words:  If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever,  v. 51. This is the meaning of this  never dying:  though he go down  to death,  he shall pass through it to that world where there shall be  no more death.  To  live for ever  is not to  be  for ever (the damned in hell shall  be  for ever, the soul of man was made for an endless state), but to be  happy  for ever. And because the body must needs die, and be as water spilt upon the ground, Christ here undertakes for the gathering of that up too (as before,  v. 44,  I will raise him up at the last day); and even that shall live for ever.

     (3.) He shows what encouragements we have to believe in Christ. Christ here speaks of some who  had seen him and yet believed not,  v. 36. They saw his person and miracles, and heard him preach, and yet were not wrought upon to believe in him. Faith is not always the effect of sight; the soldiers were eye-witnesses of his resurrection, and yet, instead of  believing  in him, they  belied  him; so that it is a difficult thing to bring people to believe in Christ: and, by the operation of the Spirit of grace, those that  have not seen have yet believed.  Two things we are here assured of, to encourage our faith:

     [1.] That the Son will bid all those welcome that come to him (v. 37):  Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.  How welcome should this word be to our souls which bids us welcome to Christ!  Him  that cometh; it is in the singular number, denoting favour, not only to the body of believers in general, but to every particular soul that applies itself to Christ. Here,  First,  The duty required is a pure gospel duty: to  come to Christ,  that we may come to God by him. His beauty and love, those great attractives, must  draw  us to him; sense of need and fear of danger must  drive  us to him; any thing to bring us to Christ.  Secondly,  The promise is a pure gospel promise:  I will in no wise cast outou me ekbago exo. There are two negatives:  I will not, no, I will not.  1. Much favour is expressed here. We have reason to fear that he should  cast us out.  Considering our meanness, our vileness, our unworthiness to come, our weakness in coming, we may justly expect that he should frown upon us, and shut his doors against us; but he obviates these fears with this assurance, he  will not  do it; will not disdain us though we are mean, will not reject us though we are sinful. Do poor scholars come to him to be taught? Though they be dull and slow, he will notcast them out.  Do poor  patients  come to him to be  cured,  poor  clients  come to him to be  advised?  Though their case be bad, and though they come empty-handed, he will  in no wise cast them out.  But, 2. More favour is implied than is expressed; when it is said that he will no cast them out the meaning is, He will receive them, and entertain them, and give them all that which they come to him for. As he will not refuse them at their first coming, so he will not afterwards, upon every displeasure, cast them out.  His gifts and callings are without repentance.

     [2.] That the Father will, without fail, bring all those to him in due time that were given him. In the federal transactions between the Father and the Son, relating to man’s redemption, as the Son undertook for the justification, sanctification, and salvation, of all that should come to him (“Let me have them put into my hands, and then leave the management of them to me”), so the Father, the fountain and original of being, life, and grace, undertook to put into his hand all that were given him, and bring them to him. Now,

     First,  He here  assures  us  that  this shall be done:  All that the Father giveth me shall come to me,  v. 37. Christ had complained (v. 36) of those who, though they had  seen  him, yet would not believe on him; and then he adds this,

     a.  For  their  conviction and awakening, plainly intimating that their not coming to him, and believing on him, if they persisted in it, would be a certain sign that they did not belong to the election of grace; for how can we think that God gave us to Christ if we give ourselves to the world and the flesh?  2 Pet. i. 10.

     b.  For  his own  comfort and encouragement:  Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious.  The election  has obtained,  and shall though multitudes be  blinded,  Rom. xi. 7. Though he lose many of his  creatures,  yet none of his  charge: All that the Father gives him shall come to him  notwithstanding. Here we have, (a.) The election described:  All that the father giveth me,  pan ho didosievery thing  which the Father  giveth to me;  the persons of the elect, and all that belongs to them; all their services, all their interests. As all that he has is  theirs,  so all that they have is  his,  and he speaks of them as his all: they were given him in full recompense of his undertaking. Not only all persons, but all things, are gathered together in Christ (Eph. i. 10) and reconciled,  Col. i. 20. The giving of the chosen remnant to Christ is spoken of (v. 39) as a thing  done;  he  hath given  them. Here it is spoken of as a thing  in the doing;  he  giveth them;  because,  when the first begotten was brought into the world,  it should seem, there was a renewal of the grant; see  Heb. x. 5, &c. God was now about to  give him the heathen for his inheritance  (Ps. ii. 8), to put him in possession of  the desolate heritages  (Isa. xlix. 8), to  divide him a portion with the great,  Isa. liii. 12. And though the Jews, who  saw  him,  believed not  on him, yet these (saith he) shall  come to me;  the other sheep, which are not of this fold, shall be  brought,  ch. x. 15, 16. See  Acts xiii. 45-48. (b.) The effect of it secured:  They shall come to me.  This is not in the nature of a  promise,  but a  prediction,  that as many as were in the counsel of God ordained to life shall be brought to life by being brought to Christ. They are  scattered,  are mingled among the nations, yet none of them shall be forgotten; not a grain of God’s corn shall be lost, as is promised,  Amos ix. 9. They are by nature  alienated  from Christ, and averse to him, and yet  they shall come.  As God’s omniscience is engaged for the finding of them all out, so is his omnipotence for the bringing of them all in. Not, They shall be  driven,  to me, but, They shall come freely, shall be made  willing.

     Secondly,  He here  acquaints  us  how  it shall be done. How shall those who are given to Christ be brought to him? Two things are to be done in order to it:

     a.  Their  understandings  shall be  enlightened;  this is promised,  v. 45, 46. It is written in the prophets, who spoke of these things before,  And they shall be all taught of God;  this we find,  Isa. liv. 13, and Jer. xxxi. 34.  They shall all know me.  Note,

     (a.) In order to our  believing in Jesus Christ,  it is necessary that we be  taught of God;  that is, [a.] That there be a  divine revelation made to us,  discovering to us both what we are to believe concerning Christ and why we are to believe it. There are some things which  even nature teaches,  but to bring us to Christ there is need of a higher light. [b.] That there be a  divine work wrought in us,  enabling us to understand and receive these revealed truths and the evidence of them. God, in giving us reason, teaches us more than the  beasts of the earth;  but in giving us faith he teaches more than the  natural man.  Thus all the church’s children, all that are  genuine,  are  taught of God;  he hath undertaken their education.

     (b.) It follows then, by way of inference from this, that  every man  that has  heard and learned of the Father comes to Christ,  v. 45. [a.] It is here implied that none will come to Christ but those that have  heard  and  learned of the Father.  We shall never be brought to Christ but under a divine conduct; except God by his grace enlighten our minds, inform our judgments, and rectify our mistakes, and not only  tell  us that we may  hear,  but teach us, that we may  learn  the truth as it is in Jesus, we shall never be brought to believe in Christ. [b.] That this  divine teachingdoes so necessarily produce the  faith of God’s elect  that we may conclude that those who do not  come to Christhave never  heard  nor  learned  of the Father; for, if they had, doubtless they would have come to Christ. In vain do men pretend to be  taught of God  if they believe not in Christ, for he teaches no other lesson,  Gal. i. 8, 9. See how God deals with men as reasonable creatures, draws them with the  cords of a man,  opens the understanding first, and then by that, in a regular way, influences the inferior faculties; thus he comes in by the door, but Satan, as a robber, climbs up another way. But lest any should dream of a visible appearance of God the Father to the children of men (to teach them these things), and entertain any gross conceptions about hearing and learning of the Father, he adds (v. 46):  Not that any man hath seen the Father;  it is implied, nor  can  see him, with bodily eyes, or may expect to learn of him as Moses did, to whom he spoke  face to face;  but God, in enlightening men’s eyes and teaching them, works in a spiritual way. The Father of spirits hath access to, and influence upon, men’s spirits, undiscerned. The Father of spirits hath access to, and influence upon, men’s spirits, undiscerned. Those that have not seen his face have felt his power. And yet there is one intimately acquainted with the Father, he  who is of God,Christ himself, he hath  seen the Father,  ch. i. 18. Note,  First,  Jesus Christ is of God in a peculiar manner, God of God, light of light; not only sent of God, but begotten of God before all worlds.  Secondly,  It is the prerogative of Christ to have  seen the Father,  perfectly to know him and his counsels.  Thirdly,  Even that illumination which is preparative to faith is conveyed to us through Christ. Those that  learn of the Father,  forasmuch as they cannot see him themselves, must learn of Christ, who alone hath seen him. As all divine discoveries are made through Christ, so through him all divine powers are exerted.

     b.  Their  wills  shall be  bowed.  If the soul of man had now its original rectitude there needed no more to influence the will than the illumination of the understanding; but in the depraved soul of fallen man there is a rebellion of the will against the right dictates of the understanding; a  carnal mind,  which is  enmity  itself to the divine light and law. It is therefore requisite that there be a work of grace wrought upon the will, which is here called  drawing,  (v. 44):  No man can come to me except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him.  The Jews murmured at the doctrine of Christ; not only would not receive it themselves, but were angry that others did. Christ overheard their secret whisperings, and said (v. 43), “Murmur not among yourselves;  lay not the fault of your dislike of my doctrine one upon another, as if it were because you find it generally distasted; no, it is owing to yourselves, and your own corrupt dispositions, which are such as amount to a  moral impotency;  your antipathies to the truths of God, and prejudices against them, are so strong that nothing less than a divine power can conquer them.” And this is the case of all mankind: “No man can come to me,  can persuade himself to come up to the terms of the gospel,  except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him,”  v. 44. Observe, (a.) The nature of the work: It is  drawing,  which denotes not a  force  put upon the will, whereby of unwilling we are made willing, and a new bias is given to the soul, by which it inclines to God. This seems to be more than a  moral suasion,  for by that it is in the power to  draw;  yet it is not to be called a  physical impulse,  for it lies out of the road of  nature;  but he that  formed the spirit of man within him  by his creating power, and  fashions the hearts of men  by his providential influence, knows how to new-mould the soul, and to alter its bent and temper, and make it conformable to himself and his own will, without doing any wrong to its natural liberty. It is such a drawing as works not only a  compliance,  but a cheerful compliance, a complacency:  Draw us, and we will run after thee.  (b.) The necessity of it:  No man,  in this weak and helpless state, can come to Christ without it. As wecannot  do any natural action without the concurrence of  common providence,  so we cannot do any action morally good without the influence of  special grace,  in which the  new man  lives, and moves, and has its being, as much as the  mere man  has in the divine providence. (c.) The author of it: The  Father who hath sent me.  The Father, having sent Christ, will succeed him, for he would not send him on a fruitless errand. Christ having undertaken to bring souls to glory, God promised him, in order thereunto, to bring them to him, and so to give him possession of those to whom he had given him a right. God, having by promise given the kingdom of Israel to David, did at length  draw the hearts  of the people to him; so, having sent Christ to save souls, he sends souls to him to be saved by him. (d.) The crown and perfection of this work: And  I will raise him up at the last day.  This is four times mentioned in this discourse, and doubtless it includes all the intermediate and preparatory workings of divine grace. When he  raises them up at the last day,  he will put the  last hand  to his undertaking, will  bring forth the topstone.  If he undertakes this, surely he  can  do any thing, and will do every thing that is necessary in order to do it. Let our expectations be carried out towards a happiness reserved for the  last day,  when all the years of time shall be fully complete and ended.

     4. Christ, having thus spoken of himself as the  bread of life,  and of faith as  the work of God,  comes more particularly to show  what of himself  is this bread, namely, his flesh, and that to believe is to eat of that,  v. 51-58, where he still prosecutes the metaphor of food. Observe, here, the  preparation  of this food:  The bread that I will give is my flesh  (v. 51),  the flesh of the Son of man and his blood,  v. 53.  His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed,  v. 55. Observe, also, the  participation  of this food: We must  eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood  (v. 53); and again (v. 54),  Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood;  and the same words (v. 56, 57), he that  eateth me.  This is certainly a parable or figurative discourse, wherein the actings of the soul upon things spiritual and divine are represented by bodily actions about things sensible, which made the truths of Christ more intelligible to some, and less so to others,  Mark iv. 11-12. Now,

     (1.) Let us see how this discourse of Christ was liable to mistake and misconstruction, that  men might see, and not perceive.  [1.] It was misconstrued by the carnal  Jews,  to whom it was first delivered (v. 52):  They strove among themselves;  they whispered in each other’s ears their dissatisfaction:  How can this man give us his flesh to eat?Christ spoke (v. 51) of giving his flesh  for us,  to suffer and die; but they, without due consideration, understood it of his giving it  to us,  to be eaten, which gave occasion to Christ to tell them that, however what he said was otherwise intended, yet even that also of  eating of his flesh  was no such absurd thing (if rightly understood) as  prima faciein the first instance,  they took it to be. [2.] It has been wretchedly misconstrued by the church of Rome for the support of their monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation, which gives the lie to our senses, contradicts the nature of a sacrament, and overthrows all convincing evidence. They, like these Jews here, understand it of a corporal and carnal eating of Christ’s body, like Nicodemus,  ch. iii. 4. The Lord’s supper was not yet instituted, and therefore it could have no reference to that; it is a  spiritual  eating and drinking that is here spoken of, not a  sacramental.  [3.] It is misunderstood by many ignorant carnal people, who hence infer that, if they take the sacrament when they die, they shall certainly go to heaven, which, as it makes many that are weak causelessly uneasy if they want it, so it makes many that are wicked causelessly easy if they have it. Therefore,

     (2.) Let us see how this discourse of Christ is to be understood.

     [1.] What is meant by the  flesh and blood of Christ.  It is called (v. 53),  The flesh of the Son of man, and his blood, his  as Messiah and Mediator: the  flesh and blood  which he  assumed  in his incarnation (Heb. ii. 14), and which he  gave up  in his  death  and  suffering: my flesh which I will give  to be crucified and slain. It is said to begiven for the life of the world,  that is,  First, Instead  of the  life of the world,  which was  forfeited  by sin, Christ gives his own flesh as a ransom or counterprice. Christ was our bail, bound  body for body  (as we say), and therefore  hislife must go for  ours,  that ours may be spared.  Here am I, let these go their way. Secondly, In order to  the  life of the world,  to purchase a  general  offer of eternal life to all the world, and the  special  assurances of it to all believers. So that the  flesh and blood  of the Son of man denote the Redeemer  incarnate  and  dying;  Christ and  him crucified,  and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption: pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the adoption of sons, access to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life; these are calledthe flesh and blood  of Christ, 1. Because they are purchased by his flesh and blood, by the breaking of his body, and shedding of his blood. Well may the purchased privileges be denominated from the price that was paid for them, for it puts a value upon them; write upon them  pretium sanguinisthe price of blood.  2. Because they are meat and drink to our souls.  Flesh with the blood  was prohibited (Gen. ix. 4), but the privileges of the gospel are as flesh and blood to us, prepared for the nourishment of our souls. He had before compared himself to  bread,  which is necessary food; here to  flesh,  which is delicious. It is a  feast of fat things,  Isa. xxv. 6. The soul is satisfied with Christ as  with marrow and fatness,  Ps. lxiii. 5. It is  meat indeed,  and  drink indeed; truly so,  that is spiritually; so Dr. Whitby; as Christ is called the  true vine;  or  truly meat,  in opposition to the shows and shadows with which the world shams off those that feed upon it. In Christ and his gospel there is real supply, solid satisfaction; that is  meat indeed,  and  drink indeed,  which satiates and replenishes,  Jer. xxxi. 25, 26.

     [2.] What is meant by  eating this flesh  and  drinking  this  blood,  which is so necessary and beneficial; it is certain that is means neither more nor less than believing in Christ. As we partake of meat and drink by eating and drinking, so we partake of Christ and his benefits by faith: and  believing in Christ  includes these four things, whicheating and drinking  do:First,  It implies an  appetite  to Christ. This spiritual eating and drinking begins withhungering  and  thirsting  (Matt. v. 6), earnest and importunate desires after Christ, not willing to take up with any thing short of an interest in him: “Give me Christ or else I die.”  Secondly,  An  application  of Christ to ourselves. Meatlooked upon  will not nourish us, but meat  fed upon,  and so made  our own,  and as it were  one with us.  We must so accept of Christ as to appropriate him to ourselves:  my Lord, and my God,  ch. xx. 28.  Thirdly,  A  delight  in Christ and his salvation. The doctrine of Christ crucified must be  meat and drink  to us, most pleasant and delightful. We must feast upon the dainties of the  New Testament in the blood of Christ,  taking as great a complacency in the methods which Infinite Wisdom has taken to redeem and save us as ever we did in the most needful supplies or grateful delights of nature.  Fourthly,  A  derivation of nourishment  from him and a dependence upon him for the support and comfort of our spiritual life, and the strength, growth, and vigour of the new man. To  feed upon Christ  is to do all  in his name,  in union with him, and by virtue drawn from him; it is to live upon him as we do upon our meat. How our bodies are nourished by our food we cannot describe, but that they are so we know and find; so it is with this spiritual nourishment. Our Saviour was so well pleased with this metaphor (as very significant and expressive) that, when afterwards he would institute some outward sensible signs, by which to represent our  communicating  of the benefits of his death, he chose those of  eating  and  drinking,  and made them  sacramental  actions.

     (3.) Having thus explained the general meaning of this part of Christ’s discourse, the particulars are reducible to two heads:

     [1.] The  necessity  of our  feeding upon Christ  (v. 53):  Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  That is,  First,  “It is a certain sign that you  have no  spiritual  life  in you if you have nodesire  towards Christ, nor  delight  in him.” If the soul does not  hunger  and  thirst,  certainly it does not  live:  it is a sign that we are dead indeed if we are dead to such meat and drink as this. When  artificial  bees, that by curious springs were made to move to and fro, were to be  distinguished  from  natural  ones (they say), it was done by putting honey among them, which the natural bees only flocked to, but the artificial ones minded not, for  they had no life in them. Secondly,  “It is certain that you  can have  no spiritual life, unless you derive it from Christ by faith; separated from him you can do nothing.” Faith in Christ is the  primum vivensthe first living principle  of grace; without it we have not the  truth  of  spiritual  life, nor any title to eternal life: our bodies may as well live without meat as our souls without Christ.

     [2.] The  benefit  and  advantage  of it, in two things:

     First,  We shall be  one with Christ,  as our bodies are with our food when it is digested (v. 56):  He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood,  that lives by faith in Christ crucified (it is spoken of as a continued act), he  dwelleth in me, and I in him.  By faith we have a close and intimate union with Christ; he is  in us,  and we  in him,  ch. xvii. 21-23; 1 John iii. 24. Believers dwell in Christ as their stronghold or city of refuge; Christ dwells in them as the master of the house, to rule it and provide for it. Such is the union between Christ and believers that he shares in their griefs, and they share in his graces and joys; he  sups  with them upon their bitter herbs, and  they with him  upon his  rich dainties.  It is an inseparable union, like that between the body and digested food,  Rom. viii. 35; 1 John iv. 13.

     Secondly,  We shall  live,  shall live eternally,  by him,  as our bodies live by our food.

     a.  We shall  live by him  (v. 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.  We have here the series and order of the divine life. (a.) God is the  living Father,hath life in and of himself.  I am that I am  is his name for ever. (b.) Jesus Christ, as Mediator, lives  by the Father;  he has life  in himself  (ch. v. 26), but he has it of the Father. He that sent him, not only qualified him with that life which was necessary to so great an undertaking, but constituted him the treasury of divine life to us; he breathed into the second Adam the breath of spiritual lives, as into the first Adam the breath of natural lives. (c.) True believers receive this divine life by virtue of their union with Christ, which is inferred from the union between the Father and the Son, as it is compared to it,  ch. xvii. 21. For therefore  he that eateth me,  or feeds on me,  even he shall live by me:  those that live  upon  Christ shall live  by  him. The life of believers is  had from Christ  (ch. i. 16); it is  hid with Christ  (Col. iii. 4), we live by  him  as the members by the head, the branches by the root; because he lives, we shall live also.

     b.  We shall live  eternally  by him (v. 54):  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,  as prepared in the gospel to be the food of souls, he  hath eternal life,  he hath it now, as  v. 40. He has that in him which is eternal life begun; he has the earnest and foretaste of it, and the hope of it; he shall live  for ever,  v. 58. His happiness shall run parallel with the longest line of eternity itself.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

What must we do? ( ;). Present active deliberative subjunctive of , “What are we to do as a habit?” For the aorist subjunctive () in a like question for a single act see Lu 3:10. For the present indicative () of inquiry concerning actual conduct see Joh 11:47 (what are we doing?).

That we may work the works of God ( ). Final clause with and the present middle subjunctive, “that we may go on working the works of God.” There may have been an element of vague sincerity in this question in spite of their supercilious attitude.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

What shall we do? [ ] . Literally, what do we do? The best texts read poiwmen, what are we to do?

Works. The question is from the legal standpoint, works being regarded as the condition of obtaining the living bread.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Then they said unto him,” (eipon oun pros auton) “Therefore they said to him,” responded to Him and His chiding them for their priority concern for temporary physical satisfaction of hunger, Joh 6:26-27.

2) “What shall we do,” (ti poiomen) “What (kind of thing) may we do?” the term “labor” had set them thinking, motivated their thinking.

3) “That we may work the works of God?” (hina ergazometha ta erga tou theou) “In order that we may work the works of God?” Works that are pleasing or acceptable to God. To honest inquirers, honest seekers, Jesus always responded compassionately, as He did to Nicodemus by night, to the Samaritan woman at the well, and to Martha and Mary in their hour of grief. The former two needed to be saved first, and the latter, Martha and Mary, needed to be comforted, as dear children of God, to keep their testimony bright. To this question Jesus gave the following plain and definitive reply, for without Him men can do nothing, Joh 15:5.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

28 . What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? The multitude understood well enough that Christ had exhorted them to aim at something higher than the conveniences of the present life, and that they ought not to confine their attention to the earth, since God calls them to more valuable blessings. But, in putting this question, they are partly mistaken by not understanding the kind of labor; for they do not consider that God bestows upon us, by the hand of the Son, all that is necessary for spiritual life. First, they ask what they ought to do; and next, when they use the expression, the works of God, they do not understand what they say, and talk without any definite object. (139) In this manner they manifest their ignorance of the grace of God. And yet they appear here to murmur disdainfully against Christ, as if he were accusing them groundlessly. “Dost thou suppose,” say 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 of which he approves.

(139) “ Ils n’entendent point ce qu’ils disent, et parlent sans certain but.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(28) This verse confirms the meaning given to the preceding words. They understand them in that sense. There are works for them to do which are appointed of God. What shall they do that they may work these works? They had seen Him doing mighty works, which clearly showed the power of God. Are there for them works of a like kind? What steps must they take that they too may work them?

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

28. Work the works of God The Greek word labour in Joh 6:27 is the same as this word work and works, and should have been rendered uniformly. Christ tells them, Joh 6:27, to work a divine work for eternal life; they here, in reply, ask how they shall work this godly work. In this inquiry they seem for one hopeful instant disposed to direct their view to the higher object. Jesus grasps at it in the next verse, and makes one effort to bring them to himself. This is the crisis of their destiny.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘They said therefore to him, “What must we do that we might work the works of God?” ’

The minds of His listeners were momentarily diverted. “What shall we do to in order to carry out God’s works?”, they asked. They wanted this continuous supply of miraculous food, so they wanted to know what they had to do to earn it. Like so many they saw religion in terms of what they must  do, and thought that by those ‘good deeds’ they would somehow merit favour.

In part the desire ‘to do the works of God’ is, of course, a good thing, for the doing is important, as both John the Baptiser and Jesus stressed. But just to consider doing good works in order to obtain benefit for oneself is not good at all. It is bribery. It actually means that the heart is not really right. They had to learn that there was a lot more to pleasing God than just doing good works, however important they might be. The account brings out that it is our attitude of heart towards God which is vital, and this was where they were almost totally lacking.

They needed to recognise that this was a crucial moment in history. Here there was One among them Who was like no other who had come before. And yet here they were, so taken up with getting more “bread” that they were failing to recognise the fact. They must therefore learn that it was necessary first to concentrate on Him and thus to receive ‘the life of the coming age’, eternal life. And that is what Jesus now pointed out.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Joh 6:28. Then said theyWhat shall we do, &c. The metaphors of meat and drink being very familiar to the Jews, and frequently used in their writings to signify wisdom, knowledge, and grace, (see Pro 9:1-5. Isa 55:2-3.) they might easily have understood what Jesus meant by the meat enduring to everlasting life. Nevertheless,theymistookhim altogether, imagining that he spake of some delicious, healthful, animal food, which should make men immortal, and which was notto be had but under the Messiah’s government. Accordingly, being much affected with his exhortation, they asked him, What they should do to work the works of God? They meant, What they should do to erect the Messiah’s kingdom, and to obtain that excellent meat which Jesus said God had authorised the Messiah to give them?works, which they imagined were prescribed them by God, and would be most acceptable to him. It is proper to observe, that a great part of the energy of this question is lost in our translation, by rendering the word , Joh 6:27 labour; it should be rendered work, as it is in this verse, and in Joh 6:30 for the Greek word is the same in all these places, and the propriety of the questions and answers depends upon it.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 6:28-29 . The people perceive that a moral requirement is signified by . , etc.; they do not understand what , but they think that Jesus means works , which God requires to be done ( . , comp. Mat 6:33 ; Rev 2:26 ; Bar 2:9 ; Jer 48:10 ). Therefore the question, “ What are we to do, to work the works required by God? ” (which thou seemest to mean). , “ to perform works ,” very common in all Greek (see on Joh 3:21 ): . here, therefore, is not to be taken as in Joh 6:27 .

Joh 6:29 . See Luthardt in the Stud. u. Krit . 1852, p. 333 ff. Instead of the many which they, agreeably to their legal standing-point, had in view, Jesus mentions only one , in which, however, all that God requires of them is contained the work (the moral act) of faith . Of this one divinely appointed and all-embracing work the fundamental virtue required by God the manifold are only different manifestations.

In the purpose expressed by there lies the idea: “This is the work which God wills, ye must believe .” Comp. Joh 5:47 , Joh 15:8 ; Joh 15:12 , Joh 17:3 ; 1Jn 4:17 ; 1Jn 5:3 . See on Phi 1:9 . And this fundamental requirement repeatedly recurs in the following discourses, Joh 6:35-36 ; Joh 6:40 ; Joh 6:47 , etc.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1637
THE NECESSITY OF FAITH IN CHRIST

Joh 6:28-29. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

THE real scope of these words is more clearly seen in the original than in the translation. Our blessed Lord, knowing that many had followed him from carnal motives, and under an expectation that He who had fed thousands of persons with a few loaves and fishes would establish a temporal kingdom amongst them, had given them this solemn caution: 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. These words they had not fully understood. They supposed that some great advantages were to be derived from him; and that some particular works were to be done, in order to obtain them: but what works they were, they did not know. They asked therefore of our Lord, What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? thou speakest of some works appointed to be done by us; and we want to know what they are, in order that we may commence the performance of them. It must here be observed, that they use, throughout their reply, the very same word as Jesus had used when he bade them labour [Note: ver. 27. .]. Our blessed Lord, still using the same word, says, This is the work of God, (that is, this is the thing which God enjoins you to do, in order to a participation of the blessings which I am come to bestow), that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent.

In opening these words, I will shew,

I.

What is that work which God more particularly requires of us

It is, that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ.
Let us, however, distinctly notice what kind of a work this is
[It is not a mere assent to the truth of his Messiahship, but an humble affiance in him as the Saviour of the world. We must feel our need of him We must see the suitableness and sufficiency of his salvation We must actually go to him as the appointed Saviour, and seek acceptance with God through Him alone We must renounce every other hope and make him all our salvation and all our desire ]

And let us bear in mind, that this is the work of God
[It is a work. True, indeed, it is often in the Scriptures opposed to works; as when it is said, A man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ [Note: Gal 2:16.]: still, however, it is a work, and a great work too, and such a work as none but God himself can enable us to perform. Only bear in mind the foregoing description of it, and you will see, that, in order to the exercise of it, there must be the deepest prostration of soul before God, and a going-forth of the whole soul to him in a way of humble and grateful affiance. And who is sufficient for the performance of it? Verily, it is the gift of God, and of God only [Note: Eph 2:8.]: it is his grace, and his grace alone, that can ever form it in the soul [Note: Act 18:27. Php 1:29.]. It is his work also, not merely because he alone can work it in us, but because it is that which he requires of every living man. When he commanded his Gospel to be preached to the whole world, this was the declaration which was to be universally and invariably made; He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned.]

To justify what is here said of faith, I proceed to shew,

II.

Why it has this great pre-eminence above all other works

In some respects, faith is inferior to other graces: as the Apostle says, Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity [Note: 1Co 13:3.]. There are, however, some points of view in which faith rises above every other grace, and may, in a pre-eminent degree, be called, The work of God.

1.

It is that for which Christ himself was sent into the world

[He was sent, no doubt, to redeem the world by his own most precious blood. He was sent to die for usHe, the just, for us the unjust, that he might bring us to God. But, in executing this office, he was to become the one object of faith and hope to the whole world. He was lifted up upon the cross, precisely in the way that the brazen serpent was erected on the pole in the wilderness. The serpent was to convey healing to those only who looked to it as Gods appointed instrument for that end: and the Lord Jesus must in like manner be looked to, in order to a participation of his benefits; as he says by the prophet, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth [Note: Isa 45:22.]. This our blessed Lord pointed out, with very extraordinary fulness, in his discourse with Nicodemus. He repeated it again, and again, and again: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so shall the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God ..He that believeth on the Son hath life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him [Note: Joh 3:14-18; Joh 3:36.]. If we believe not on him, we defeat, as far as respects ourselves, all the gracious purposes of God the Father, who hath sent him; and all that Christ himself has done, in dying for us; and all that the Holy Spirit has done, in bearing testimony to him, and in revealing him to the world. There is no other grace, the want of which does such dishonour to God, as this: for it sets aside all the wonders of his love, and pours contempt on all the riches of his grace. The whole mystery of godliness is made void, unless he who was God manifest in the flesh is also believed on in the world [Note: 1Ti 3:16.].]

2.

It is that, without which all other graces will be of no avail

[I will suppose a person to possess as many graces as St. Paul himself: of what use will they be to the salvation of his soul, if he believe not in the Lord Jesus Christ? If, indeed, we had never sinned at all, and were to continue sinless to our dying hour, we might hope for acceptance with God without the intervention of Christ. But, as we are sinners before God, how can we ever obtain forgiveness with him, except through the atonement which has been offered for us? But, if we obey perfectly, we do no more than our duty: there can be no overplus to merit the forgiveness of past sin. And, if God were freely to forgive the past, what could we do to purchase heaven? What act have we ever done which we could presume to carry to Almighty God, saying, This needs no forgiveness at thy hands; on the contrary, it is so perfect and meritorious, that I can claim all the glory of heaven as a just recompence for it? Verily, if Job himself, the most perfect man upon earth, dared not urge such a plea in his own behalf [Note: Job 9:20.], much less can we: and therefore we must renounce every such self-righteous thought, and, with the Apostle Paul, desire to be found in Christ; not having our own righteousness, which is of the Law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ [Note: Php 3:9.]. Let me not be misunderstood, as though I would undervalue graces of any kind: they are all good and necessary in their place: but no one of them, nor all together, can justify the soul before God: that can be effected only by faith, which unites us unto Christ, and interests us in all that Christ has done and suffered for us.]

3.

It is that which will secure, for every one that possesses it, all the blessings both of grace and glory

[It is impossible for one who believes in Christ to perish. Whatever he may have been, whatever he may have done, even though he may have been as wicked as Manasseh himself, we are warranted in affirming, that, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he may find acceptance with God: though his sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as wool; though they have been red like crimson, they shall be made white as snow. Our blessed Lord has expressly declared this, without any limitation or exception: Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Nor is there any limit to the benefits which the believing penitent shall obtain at his hands. Does he desire pardon? The declaration of an inspired Apostle is, All that believe, shall be justified from all things. Does his troubled soul sigh for peace? Being justified by faith, be shall have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, so as to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Does he pant after holiness? Such shall be the transforming efficacy of his faith, that his very heart shall be purified by it; and in the exercise of it he shall be changed into the Saviours image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Now there is no other grace, of which these things can be spoken; because there is no other grace that can unite us to Christ, or derive from him those rich communications which alone can produce these great effects.]

Application
1.

Is there, then, an inquirer here?

[I suppose there are some who are ready to ask, What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? Let me, before I reply to this, ask in return, Are you sincere in making this inquiry? And will you, if I set before you the very truth of God, endeavour earnestly to comply with it? Can you, from your hearts, declare before God what Jeremiahs hearers engaged to him, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for which the Lord thy God shall send thee unto us: whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God [Note: Jer 42:3-6.]. If this be really the disposition of your minds, then do I confidently return to you the answer which St. Paul gave to the jailors inquiry, What shall I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. This is the work which must be done by all: and this work really and truly done, you shall as surely find acceptance with God, as if you were already in heaven. I do not say, that, when you have done this, there remains nothing more to be done: but I say, that if this he really done, all the rest will follow. Once find the sweetness of that truth, There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and you will soon attain the character inseparable from it: You will walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.]

2.

But methinks I hear the voice of an objector

[Some one, perhaps, is saying, A fine easy way to heaven indeed! Only believe; and you may live as you will, and be sure of heaven at the last! But this objection will never be urged by one who knows what faith really is. Were it a mere assent to any set of truths, we might well be alarmed at the virtue assigned to it. But it is a grace, which contains in it the seed of all other graces. We speak of a living, not a dead faith: and a living faith will as surely be productive of holiness, both of heart and life, as the light of the sun will dispel the shadows of the night.
But the objector will say, that our whole statement is contrary to the Holy Scriptures; since our blessed Lord, in answer to one who had asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may obtain eternal life? replied, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. The same answer will I give, if, like that inquirer, you are determined to save yourselves by your doings. But then, remember, you must keep them all, and perfectly too, and from the first to the latest moment of your existence. But if, in one instance, even though it be in thought only, you fail, the law will curse you to all eternity; as it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. And if you will not rest your hopes on such an obedience as this, then is there no other refuge for you but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor any other hope of acceptance for you than through faith in him. But if you still wish to adhere to the commandments, know that this is Gods commandment, that ye believe in his Son Jesus Christ [Note: 1Jn 3:23.]; and that there is no commandment in the Decalogue more peremptorily given than this; since it is expressly declared, that if you obey it, you shall he saved: and if you obey it not, you shall be damned.]

3.

Let me not close the subject without a few words to one, as an approver

[It is truly delightful to think, that, however hostile the heart of man is to this doctrine, there are some who cordially approve it. Beloved brother, whoever thou art, who embracest it from thy heart, I congratulate thee from my inmost soul. For, in relation to all other works, a self-righteous man can never tell whether he has a sufficiency of them to justify him before God. To his latest hour he must be in fearful suspense about the state of his soul: but thou hast in thine own bosom a ground of the fullest assurance. The work of faith is such as will at once commend itself to thy conscience as really done. Thou wilt feel a consciousness that thou renouncest every other hope, and reliest on Christ alone. And in Christ there is such a sufficiency of all that thou needest, that thou canst not possibly entertain a doubt, whether he be able to save thee to the uttermost. Go on, then, strong in faith, and giving glory to God. And, as the world will look for the fruits of thy faith, yea, and as God himself also will judge by them, see that thou shew thy faith by thy works, and that thou abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

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

Ver. 28. That we might work ] We would still be working, weaving a web of righteousness of our own, spinning a thread of our own to climb up to heaven by, that we might say with the spider, Nulli debeo; and with that Popish merit monger, Coelum gratis non accipiam, I will not have heaven of free cost. Men would have heaven as a purchase. I would swim through a sea of brimstone, said one, that I might come to heaven at last. But those that cry haec ego feci, I do this, Luther wittily calls the devil’s faeces; dregs, as those that seek to be saved by their good works, he fitly calls the devil’s martyrs; because they suffer much and take much pains to go to hell. Let us all take heed of this piece of natural Popery; and learn to be in duty in respect of performance, and yet out of duty in respect of dependance. We are all apt to do otherwise; and like broken chapmen (merchant) we would still be chaffering, if but for small matters; and think to be saved for a company of poor beggarly businesses.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

28. ] The people understand His literally , and dwell upon it. They quite seem to think that the food which is to endure for ever is to be spiritually interpreted; and they therefore ask this question, referring the . to the works of the law.

must not be taken to mean ‘ the works which God works ,’ but, as in Jer 48:10 ( Jer 31:10 LXX): 1Co 15:58 , the works well pleasing to God .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

John

HOW TO WORK THE WORK OF GOD

Joh 6:28 – Joh 6:29 .

The feeding of the five thousand was the most ‘popular’ of Christ’s miracles. The Evangelist tells us, with something between a smile and a sigh, that ‘when the people saw it, they said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world,’ and they were so delighted with Him and with it, that they wanted to get up an insurrection on the spot, and make a King of Him. I wonder if there are any of that sort of people left. If two men were to come into Manchester to-morrow morning, and one of them were to offer material good, and the other wisdom and peace of heart, which of them, do you think, would have the larger following? We need not cast a stone at the unblushing, frank admiration that these men had for a Prophet who could feed them, for that is exactly the sort of prophet that a great number of us would like best if they spoke out.

So Jesus Christ had to escape from the inconvenient enthusiasm of these mistaken admirers of His; and they followed Him in their eagerness, but were met with words which lift them into another region and damp their zeal. He tries to turn away their thoughts from the miracle to a far loftier gift. He contrasts the trouble which they willingly took in order to get a meal with their indifference as to obtaining the true bread from heaven, and He bids them work for it just as they had shown themselves ready to work for the other.

They put to Him this question of my text, so strangely blending as it does right and wrong, ‘You have bid us work; tell us how to work? What must we do that we may work the works of God?’ Christ answers, in words that illuminate their confusions and clear the whole matter, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’

I. Faith, then, is a work.

You know that the commonplace of evangelical teaching opposes faith to works; and the opposition is perfectly correct, if it be rightly understood. But I have a strong impression that a great deal of our preaching goes clean over the heads of our hearers, because we take for granted, and they fancy that they understand, the meaning of terms because the terms themselves are so familiar. And I believe that many people go to churches and chapels all their lives long, and hear this doctrine dinned into them, that they are to be saved by faith, and not by works, and never approach a definite understanding of what it means.

So let me just for a moment try to clear up the terms of this apparently paradoxical statement that faith is a work. What do we mean by faith? What do you mean by saying that you have faith in your friend, in your wife, in your husband, in your guide? You simply mean, and we mean, that you trust the person, grasping him by the act of trust. On trust the whole fabric of human society depends, as well as in another aspect of the same expression does the whole fabric of Manchester commerce. Faith, confidence, the leaning of myself on one discerned to be true, trusty, strong, sufficient for the purpose in hand, whatever it may be-that, and nothing more mysterious, nothing further away from daily life and the common emotions which knit us to one another, is, as I take it, what the New Testament means when it insists upon faith.

Ah, we all exercise it. You put it forth in certain low levels and directions. ‘The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her,’ is the short summary of the happy lives of many, I have no doubt, of my present hearers. Have you none of that confidence to spare for God? Is it all meant to be poured out upon weak, fallible, changeful creatures like ourselves, and none of it to rise to the One in whom absolute confidence may eternally be fixed?

But then, of course, as we may see by the exercise of the same emotion in regard to one Another, the under side as I have been accustomed to say to you of this confidence in God or Christ is diffidence of myself. There is no real exercise of confidence which does not involve, as an essential part of itself, the going out from myself in order that I may lay all the weight and the responsibility of the matter in hand upon Him in whom I trust. And so Christian faith is compounded of these two elements, or rather, it has these two sides which correspond to one another. The same figure is convex or concave according as you look at it from one side or another. If you look at faith from one side, it rises towards God; if from the other, it hollows itself out into a great emptiness. And so the under side of faith is distrust; and he that puts his confidence in God thereby goes out of himself, and declares that in himself there is nothing to rest upon.

Now that two-sided confidence and diffidence, trust and distrust, which are one, is truly a work. It is not an easy one either; it is the exercise of our own inmost nature. It is an effort of will. It has to be done by coercing ourselves. It has to be maintained in the face of many temptations and difficulties. The contrast between faith and work is between an inward act and a crowd of outward performances. But the faith which knits me to God is my act, and I am responsible for it.

But yet it is not a work, just because it is a ceasing from my own works, and going out from myself that He may enter in. Only remember, when we say, ‘Not by works of righteousness, but by the faith of Christ,’ we are but proclaiming that the inward man must exercise that act of self-abnegation and confession of its own impotence, and ceasing from all reliance on anything which it does, whereby, and whereby alone, it can be knit to God. ‘Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life . . . . This is the work of God, that ye believe.’ You are responsible for doing that, or for not doing it.

II. Secondly, faith, and not a multitude of separate acts, is what pleases God.

Mark the difference between the form of the question and that of the answer. The people say, ‘What are we to do that we may work the works of God?’ Christ answers in the singular: ‘This is the work.’ They thought of a great variety of observances and deeds. He gathers them all up into one. They thought of a pile, and that the higher it rose the more likely they were to be accepted. He unified the requirement, and He brought it all down to this one act, in which all other acts are included, and on which alone the whole weight of a man’s salvation is to rest. ‘What shall we do that we might work the works of God?’ is a question asked in all sorts of ways, by the hearts of men all round about us; and what a babble of answers comes! The priest says, ‘Rites and ceremonies.’ The thinker says, ‘Culture, education.’ The moralist says, ‘Do this, that, and the other thing,’ and enumerates a whole series of separate acts. Jesus Christ says, ‘One thing is needful . . . . This is the work of God.’ He brushes away the sacerdotal answer and the answer of the mere moralist, and He says, ‘No! Not do; but trust.’ In so far as that is act, it is the only act that you need.

That is evidently reasonable. The man is more than his work; motive is more important than action; character is deeper than conduct. God is pleased, not by what men do, but by what men are. We must be first, and then we shall do. And it is obviously reasonable, because we can find analogies to the requirement in all other relations of life. What would you care for a child that scrupulously obeyed, and did not love or trust? What would a prince think of a subject who was ostentatious in acts of loyalty, and all the while was plotting and nurturing treason in his heart?

If doing separate acts of righteousness be the way to work the works of God, then no man has ever done them. For it is a plain fact that every man falls below his own conscience-which conscience is less scrupulous than the divine law. The worst of us knows a great deal more than the best of us does; and our lives, universally, are, at the best, lives of partial effort after unreached attainments of obedience and of virtue.

But, even supposing that we could perform, far more completely than we do, the requirements of our own consciences, and conform to the evident duties of our position and relations, do you think that without faith we should be therein working the works of God? Suppose a man were able fully to realise his own ideal of goodness, without any confidence in God underlying all his acts; do you think that these would be acts that would please God? It seems to me that, however lovely and worthy of admiration, looked at with human eyes only, many lives are, which have nobly and resolutely fought against evil, and struggled after good, if they have lacked the crowning grace of doing this for God’s sake, they lack, I was going to say, almost everything; I will not say that, but I will say that they lack that which makes them acceptable, well-pleasing to Him. The poorest, the most imperfect realisation of our duty and ideal of conduct which has in it a love towards God and a faith in Him that would fain do better if it could, is a nobler thing, I venture to say, in the eyes of Heaven-which are the truth-seeing eyes-than the noblest achievements of an untrusting soul. It does not seem to me that to say so is bigotry or narrowness or anything else but the plain deduction from this, that a man’s relation to God is the deepest thing about him, and that if that be right, other things will come right, and if that be wrong nothing is as right as it might be.

Here we have Jesus Christ laying the foundation for the doctrine which is often said to be Pauline, as if that meant something else than coming from Jesus Christ. We often hear people say, ‘Oh, your evangelical teaching of justification by faith, and all that, comes out of Paul’s Epistles, not out of Christ’s teaching, nor out of John’s Gospel.’ Well, there is a difference, which it is blindness not to recognise, between the seeds of teaching in our Lord’s words, and the flowers and fruit of these seeds, which we get in the more systematised and developed teaching of the Epistles. I frankly admit that, and I should expect it, with my belief as to who Christ is, and who Paul is. But in that saying, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent,’ is the germ of everything that Paul has taught us about the works of the law being of no avail, and faith being alone and unfailing in its power of uniting men to God, and bringing them into the possession of eternal life. The saying stands in John’s Gospel, and so Paul and John alike received, though in different fashions, and wrought out on different lines of subsequent teaching, the germinal impulse from these words of the Master. Let us hear no more about salvation by faith being a Pauline addition to Christ’s Gospel, for the lips of Christ Himself have declared ‘this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’

III. Thirdly, this faith is the productive parent of all separate works of God.

The teaching that I have been trying to enforce has, I know, been so presented as to make a pillow for indolence, and to be closely allied to immorality. It has been so presented, but it has not been so presented half as often as its enemies would have us believe. For I know of but very few, and those by no means the most prominent and powerful of the preachers of the great doctrine of salvation by faith, who have not added, as its greatest teacher did: ‘Let ours also be careful to maintain good works for necessary uses.’ But the true teaching is not that trust is a substitute for work, but that it is the foundation of work. The Gospel is, first of all, Trust; then, set yourselves to do the works of faith. It works by love, it is the opening of the heart to the entrance of the life of Christ, and, of course, when that life comes in, it will act in the man in a manner appropriate to its origin and source, and he that by faith has been joined to Jesus Christ, and has opened his heart to receive into that heart the life of Christ, will, as a matter of course, bring forth, in the measure of his faith, the fruits of righteousness.

We are surely not despising fruits and flowers when we insist upon the root from which they shall come. A man may take separate acts of partial goodness, as you see children in the springtime sticking daisies on the spikes of a thorn-twig picked from the hedges. But these will die. The basis of all righteousness is faith, and the manifestation of faith is practical righteousness. ‘Show Me thy faith by thy works’ is Christ’s teaching quite as much as it is the teaching of His sturdy servant James. And so, dear friends, we are going the shortest way to enrich lives with all the beauties of possible human perfection when we say, ‘Begin at the beginning. The longest way round is the shortest way home; trust Him with all your hearts first, and that will effloresce into “whatsoever things are lovely and whatever things are of good report.”‘ In the beautiful metaphor of the Apostle Peter, in his second Epistle, Faith is the damsel who leads in the chorus of consequent graces; and we are exhorted to ‘add to our faith virtue,’ and all the others that unfold themselves in harmonious sequence from that one central source.

If I had time I should be glad to turn for a moment to the light which such considerations cast upon subjects that are largely occupying the attention of the Christian Church to-day. I should like to insist that, before you talk much about applied Christianity, you should be very sure that in men there is a Christianity to apply. I venture to profess my own humble belief that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, Christian ministers and churches will do no more for the social, political, and intellectual and moral advancement of men and the elevation of the people by sticking to their own work and preaching this Gospel-’This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’

IV. Lastly, this faith secures the bread of life.

The bread of life is the starting-point of the whole conversation. In the widest possible sense it is whatsoever truly stills the hunger of the immortal soul. In a deeper sense it is the person of Jesus Christ Himself, for He not only says that He will give, but that He is the Bread of Life. And, in the deepest sense of all, it is His flesh broken for us in His sacrifice on the Cross. That bread is a gift. So the paradox results which stands in our text-work for the bread which God will give. If it be a gift, that fact determines what sort of work must be done in order to possess it. If it be a gift, then the only work is to accept it. If it be a gift, then we are out of the region of quid pro quo; and have not to bring, as Chinese do, great strings of copper cash that, all added up together, do not amount to a shilling, in order to buy what God will bestow upon us. If it be a gift, then to trust the Giver and to accept the gift is the only condition that is possible.

It is not a condition that God has invented and arbitrarily imposed. The necessity of it is lodged deep in the very nature of the case. Air cannot get to the lungs of a mouse in an air-pump. Light cannot come into a room where all the shutters are up and the keyhole stopped. If a man chooses to perch himself on some little stool of his own, with glass legs to it, and to take away his hand from the conductor, no electricity will come to him. If I choose to lock my lips, Jesus Christ does not prise open my clenched teeth to put the bread of life into my unwilling mouth. If we ask, we get; if we take, we get.

And so the paradox comes, that we work for a gift, with a work which is not work because it is a departure from myself. It is the same blessed paradox which the prophet spoke when he said, ‘Buy . . . without money and without price.’ Oh! what a burden of hopeless effort and weary toil-like that of the man that had to roll the stone up the hill, which ever slipped back again-is lifted from our shoulders by such a word as this that I have been poorly trying to speak about now! ‘Thou art careful and troubled about many things,’ poor soul! trying to be good; trying to fight yourself, and the world, and the devil. Try the other plan, and listen to Him saying, ‘Give up self-imposed effort in thine own strength. Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

What shall we do . . . ? = What are we to do . . . ?

work the works. Figure of speech Polyptoton. App-8.

works. See note on Joh 4:34.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

28.] The people understand His literally, and dwell upon it. They quite seem to think that the food which is to endure for ever is to be spiritually interpreted; and they therefore ask this question,-referring the . to the works of the law.

must not be taken to mean the works which God works, but, as in Jer 48:10 (Jer 31:10 LXX): 1Co 15:58, the works well pleasing to God.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 6:28. ) What are we to do; what work do you desire us to work? Joh 6:27, Labour-for the meat which endureth to everlasting life.- , the works of God) The works approved by God, and which unite us to God.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 6:28

Joh 6:28

They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God?-They recognized that when he said, Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life, he began to tell them to do the work of God that they may have life. They recognized that Gods work would endure forever, and to do the work of God was to labor for the meat that will endure forever, so they asked what they should do in order that they may do that work. They understood, too, that to do what God required them to do was to do the work of God. The meaning then was: what does God require us to do that we may inherit everlasting life?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

What: Deu 5:27, Jer 42:3-6, Jer 42:20, Mic 6:7, Mic 6:8, Mat 19:16, Luk 10:25, Act 2:37, Act 9:6, Act 16:30

Reciprocal: Mar 10:17 – what Luk 8:21 – which Joh 6:27 – Labour not Rom 14:6 – for 1Co 15:58 – the work

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE WORK OF FAITH

Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent.

Joh 6:28-29

Christs answer must have greatly surprised those who asked the question. As much as if one of you were to come to your clergyman, and were to say: I want to do some work for God. Tell me, what shall I do? And he should answer you, and say: Believe! That is your work.

I want you to look at faith as a work. Persons separate faith and work too much, as though a work were a positive thing, done at a definite time and place, for a distinct object, and carrying a particular character, thoroughly real and practical; and faith were not.

How is faith work? Why is faith not easy?

I. To have faith we must first clear the ground.Faith cannot live with any one known sin. We must be prepared to give up anything which our conscience condemns. The condition is absolute. If any man will do His will. And this is hard work; to be willing to give up everything for God; to conquer any wrong thing in the heart and life. But it is an essential prerequisite to faith.

II. What we have to believe is contrary to the natural bias and current of the mind.Nature teaches, and our pride repeats it, that to be saved we must do something: we must be good. It is very hard to get this out of the mind, and to see that we must be saved in order that we may be good, and not that we must be good in order that we may be saved. It is hard to accept a doctrine which so ignores merit, and puts us, and all we do, nowhere.

III. Because it is difficult to bring the mind to receive anything so wonderful as that which we are required to believe. What! if I only acknowledge my sins, and believe that Jesus Christ died for me, am I then and there forgiven and saved? It is too wonderful; it is too good to be true. It would be too good to be true if God had not said it. But He has said it. Nevertheless, the heart must be in a very childlike state to take it, and believe it, and to cast itself upon it without a doubt, without a fear; to live upon it, and to die upon it.

IV. Because faith is appropriation, and appropriation is the hardest thing a man ever has to do. It is difficult, indeed, to see and follow the arguments which prove the inspiration of the Bible; it requires thoughtcareful, accurate, honest thought. But it is essential at the outset. But this is intellectual. The intellectual is always easier than the moral. It is far easier to convince the mind, at this moment, than the heart. But to bring the matter home, to feel, That promise means me. Christ is looking at me. That blood has washed out all my sins. My whole debt is paid. I am a free, forgiven, happy child of Godthat is the strain! Appropriation is the testing point. Shall I tell you how difficult it is? It touches the point of impossibility. It is impossible. You cannot do it. God must do it in you. Here comes the supernatural faith. It is the creation of God. It is the work of Omnipotence. By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. If you cannot believe anything else, believe that. Ask for it. Use what you have.

Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

A life of faith in the Son of God is a life which is guided and ruled by love to Him; a life in which the heart continually tastes the blessedness of pardon and of peace; a life in which the thought of Christ and of His love is ever present to deter us from sin, to incite us to holiness; a life in which every new sin and every new sorrow is brought to the feet of Jesus, and left with Himthe sins to be washed away, and the sorrows to be turned into joy. We may well ask ourselves, Is ours a faith like this; a faith not merely to speak about, but a faith by which we live; a faith which worketh by love? What fruit do we see of our faith in our daily lives? Does it make us better men and women; does it make us care less about this passing world, and more about the everlasting joys of the world to come? Does our faith in Christ help us to love Christ? does it move us to give up our lives to Him Who gave up His life for us? What a blessed thing it would be for us if our lives were lives like this; if each of us could say in truth as St. Paul said, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2:20).

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

8

The people were interested to the extent of making inquiry about carrying out the advice of Jesus that he had given for their benefit.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

[What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?] observe, first, the rule about workmen or labourers: “It is granted by the permission of the law, that the labourer shall eat of those things wherein he laboureth. If he works in the vintage, let him eat of the grapes; if in gathering the fig trees, let him eat of the figs; if in the harvest, let him eat of the ears of the corn,” etc.

Nay further; “It is lawful for the workmen to eat of those things wherein he worketh; a melon, to the value of a penny; and dates, to the value of a penny,” etc.

Compare these passages with what our Saviour speaks; “Labour (saith he) for that meat which endureth to everlasting life.” Now, what is that work of God which we should do, that might entitle us to eat of that food? Believe in Christ, and ye shall feed on him.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

THESE verses form the beginning of one of the most remarkable passages in the Gospels. None, perhaps, of our Lord’s discourses has occasioned more controversy, and been more misunderstood, than that which we find in the Sixth Chapter of John.

We should observe, for one thing, in these verses, the spiritual ignorance and unbelief of the natural man. Twice over we see this brought out and exemplified. When our Lord bade his hearers “labor for the meat which endureth to eternal life,” they immediately began to think of works to be done, and a goodness of their own to be established. “What shall we do that we might work the works of God?” Doing, doing, doing, was their only idea of the way to heaven.-Again, when our Lord spoke of Himself as One sent of God, and the need of believing on Him at once, they turn round with the question,-“What sign showest thou? what dost thou work?” Fresh from the mighty miracle of the loaves and fishes, one might have thought they had had a sign sufficient to convince them. Taught by our Lord Jesus Christ himself, one might have expected a greater readiness to believe. But alas! there are no limits to man’s dulness, prejudice, and unbelief in spiritual matters. It is a striking fact that the only thing which our Lord is said to have “marveled” at during His earthly ministry, was man’s “unbelief.” (Mar 6:6.)

We shall do well to remember this, if we ever try to do good to others in the matter of religion. We must not be cast down because our words are not believed, and our efforts seem thrown away. We must not complain of it as a strange thing, and suppose that the people we have to deal with are peculiarly stubborn and hard. We must recollect that this is the very cup of which our Lord had to drink, and like Him we must patiently work on. If even He, so perfect and so plain a Teacher, was not believed, what right have we to wonder if men do not believe us? Happy are the ministers, and missionaries, and teachers who keep these things in mind! It will save them much bitter disappointment. In working for God, it is of first importance to understand what we must expect in man. Few things are so little realized as the extent of human unbelief.

We should observe, for another thing, in these verses, the high honor Christ puts on faith in Himself. The Jews had asked Him,-“What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” In reply He says,-“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” A truly striking and remarkable expression! If any two things are put in strong contrast, in the New Testament, they are faith and works. Not working, but believing,-not of works, but through faith,-are words familiar to all careful Bible-readers. Yet here the great Head of the Church declares that believing on Him is the highest and greatest of all “works”! It is “the work of God.”

Doubtless our Lord did not mean that there is anything meritorious in believing. Man’s faith, at the very best, is feeble and defective. Regarded as a “work,” it cannot stand the severity of God’s judgment, deserve pardon, or purchase heaven. But our Lord did mean that faith in Himself, as the only Savior, is the first act of the soul which God requires at a sinner’s hands. Till a man believes on Jesus, and rests on Jesus as a lost sinner, he is nothing.-Our Lord did mean that faith in Himself is that act of the soul which specially pleases God. When the Father sees a sinner casting aside his own righteousness, and simply trusting in His dear Son, He is well pleased. Without such faith it is impossible to please God.-Our Lord did mean that faith in Himself is the root of all saving religion. There is no life in a man till he believes.-Above all, our Lord did mean that faith in Himself is the hardest of all spiritual acts to the natural man. Did the Jews want something to do in religion? Let them know that the greatest thing they had to do was, to cast aside their pride, confess their guilt and need, and humbly believe.

Let all who know anything of true faith thank God and rejoice. Blessed are they that believe! It is an attainment which many of the wise of this world have never yet reached. We may feel ourselves poor, weak sinners. But do we believe?-We may fail and come short in many things. But do we believe?-He that has learned to feel his sins, and to trust Christ as a Savior, has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity. He has been in the best of schools. He has been taught by the Holy Ghost.

We shall observe, lastly, in these verses, the far greater privileges of Christ’s hearers than of those who lived in the times of Moses. Wonderful and miraculous as the manna was which fell from heaven, it was nothing in comparison to the true bread which Christ had to bestow on His disciples. He himself was the bread of God, who had come down from heaven to give life to the world.-The bread which fell in the days of Moses could only feed and satisfy the body. The Son of man had come to feed the soul.-The bread which fell in the days of Moses was only for the benefit of Israel. The Son of man had come to offer eternal life to the world.-Those who ate the manna died and were buried, and many of them were lost for ever. But those who ate the bread which the Son of man provided, would be eternally saved.

And now let us take heed to ourselves, and make sure that we are among those who eat the bread of God and live. Let us not be content with lazy waiting, but let us actually come to Christ, and eat the bread of life, and believe to the saving of our souls. The Jews could say,-“Evermore give us this bread.” But it may be feared they went no further. Let us never rest till, by faith, we have eaten this bread, and can say, “Christ is mine. I have tasted that the Lord is gracious. I know and feel that I am His.”

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Notes-

v28.-[Then said they unto him.] These words begin one of the most important of our Lord’s discourses, and one about which the widest differences of opinion prevail. These differences it will be time enough to consider, when we come to the passage out of which they arise. In the mean time let us remember that the speakers before us were men whom our Lord had miraculously fed the day before, and on whom He had just urged the paramount importance of seeking food and satisfaction for their souls. For anything we can see they were Jews in a state of great spiritual ignorance and darkness. Yet even with them our Lord patiently condescends to hold a long conversation. Teachers who desire to walk in Christ’s steps must aim at this kind of patience, and be willing to talk with and teach the darkest and most ignorant men. It needs wisdom, faith, and patience.

[What shall we do…works of God?] This question is the language of men who were somewhat aroused and impressed, but still totally in the dark about the way to heaven.-They feel that they are in the wrong road, and that they ought to do something. But they are utterly ignorant what to do, and their only notion is the old self-righteous one of the natural man,-“I must do something, I must perform some works to please God and buy admission to heaven.” This seems to me the leading idea of the question before us. “Your command to labour or work for the meat that endureth pricks our conscience. We admit that we ought to do something. Tell us what we must do, and we will try to do it.”-It is a case of a conscience partially aroused and put on its defense, groping after light. It is like the rich young man who came running to our Lord and saying, “What good thing shall I do.” (Mat 19:16.)

The expression “what shall we do?” would be more literally rendered, “what do we?” or “what must we do?” or “what are we to do?”

The expression “that we might work,” might have been rendered “that we might labour.” It is the same Greek word that is translated in the previous verse “labour.” The expression, “the works of God,” cannot of course mean “the same works that God works.” It means “the works that please God, that are agreeable to God’s mind, and in accordance with God’s will.” Thus 1Co 15:58, and 1Co 16:10. This is the view of Glassius.

This question, “what shall we do?” we must remember, ought never to be despised. Though it may often be the lazy expression of languid religious feeling, just half awakened, it is at any rate much better than having no feeling at all. The worst part of many persons’ spiritual condition lies here, that they are quite indifferent about their salvation; they never ask “what shall we do?”-Many no doubt content themselves with saying “what shall we do?” and like those of whom we are reading, never get any further. But, on the other hand, in many cases, “what shall I do?” is the beginning of eternal life, the first step toward heaven, the first breath of grace, the first spiritual pulsation. The Jews on the day of pentecost said, “what must we do?” Saul, when the Lord met him near Damascus, said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” The Philippian jailor said, “What must I do to be saved?” Whenever therefore we hear a person ask the question about his soul, “what shall I do?” we must try to help him and put him in the right way. We never know what it may lead to. It may perhaps end in nothing, and prove a mere temporary feeling. But it may also come to something, and end in the conversion of a soul.

v29.-[Jesus answered…this….work…believe…sent.] In this verse our Lord takes hold of the expression used by the Jews about “work,” and answers them according to their state of mind. Did they ask what work they should do? Let them know that the first thing God called them to do, was to believe in His Son, the Messiah whom He had sent, and whom they saw before them.

When our Lord calls faith “the work of God,” we must not suppose He means here, that it is the work of His Spirit, and His gift. This is undoubtedly true, but not the truth of the text. He only means that believing is “the work that pleases God,” and is most agreeable to God’s will and mind.

Of course every well-instructed Bible-reader will remember, that, strictly speaking, believing is so far from being a “work,” that it is the very opposite of working. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him “that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness.” (Rom 4:5.) But it is evident that our Lord accommodates His manner of speaking to the ignorant minds with which He had to deal. Thus Paul calls the doctrine of faith the “law of faith.” (Rom 3:27.) It is much the same as if we said to an ignorant but awakened inquirer after salvation, who fancies he can do great things for his soul,-“You talk of doing. But know that the first thing to be done, is to believe on Christ. This is the first step toward heaven. You have done nothing until you believe. This is the thing that pleases God most. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. This is the hardest thing after all. Nothing will test the reality of your feelings so much as a willingness to believe on Christ, and cease from your own works. Begin therefore by believing.” The very attempt to believe, in such a case, might prove useful.

Let us note in this verse the marvellous wisdom with which our Lord suited His language to the minds of those He spoke to. It should be the constant aim of a religious teacher, not merely to teach truth, but to teach truth wisely and with tact, so as to arrest the attention of those he teaches. Half the religious teaching in the churches and schools of our day, is entirely thrown away for want of tact and power of adaptation in imparting it. To profess truth is one thing: to be able to impart it wisely, quite another.

Let us note in this verse the high honour our Lord puts upon faith in Himself. He makes it the root of all religion, the foundation-stone of His kingdom, the very first step toward heaven. Christians sometimes talk ignorantly about faith and works, as if they were things that could be compared with one another as equals, or opposed to one another as enemies. But let them observe here that faith in Christ is so immeasurably the first thing in Christianity, that in a certain sense it is the great work of works. In a certain sense it is the seed and root of all religion, and we can do nothing until we believe. In short, the right answer to “what must I do?” is “believe.”

v30.-[They said therefore unto him.] The secret unbelief of the Jews begins to come out in this verse. Nothing so thoroughly reveals the hearts of men as a summons to believe on Christ.

Exhortations to work excite no prejudice and enmity. It is the exhortation to believe that offends.

[What sign showest thou then.] The word “thou,” in this sentence is emphatic in the Greek. It is as though the Jews said, “Who art THOU indeed to talk in this way?” “What miraculous evidence of thy Messiahship hast THOU got to show?” There is an evident sneer or sarcasm in the question.

[That we may see and believe thee.] This seems to mean, “that we may see in the miracle wrought unanswerable proof that Thou art the Messiah, and seeing the miracle may thus be able to believe Thee.” This is the common language of many unconverted hearts. They want to see first, and then to believe. But this is inverting God’s order. Faith must come first, and sight will follow.

There is a difference that ought to be marked between the “believing thee” of this verse, and the “believing on him whom he hath sent,” of the preceding verse. “Believing on” is saving faith. “Believing” alone, is merely believing a person to speak the truth. The devils “believe Christ,” but do not believe “on Christ.” We believe John, but do not believe “on him.”

[What dost thou work.] It seems at first most extraordinary that men who had seen such a miracle as that of feeding the five thousand with five loaves, and had been themselves of the number fed, and this only twenty-four hours before, could ask such a question as this! Our first thought is, that no greater sign or miracle could have been shown. But they speak as if it was forgotten! Surely when we see such proofs of the extreme dullness and deadness of man’s heart, we have no reason to be surprised at what we see among professing Christians.

Bucer and Grotius suggest, that the speakers here can hardly be those who were witnesses of the miracle of feeding the five thousand. But I see no need for the suggestion, when we look round us and observe what human nature is capable of, or even look at the book of Exodus, and see how soon Israel in the wilderness forgot the miracles they had seen.

Let us remember that this demand for “a sign,” or great miracle, was common during our Lord’s ministry. It seems to have been a habit of mind among the Jews. Paul says, “The Jews require a sign.” (1Co 1:22.) They were always deceiving themselves with the idea, that they wanted more evidence, and pretending that if they had this evidence they would believe. Thousands in every age do just the same. They live on waiting for something to convince them, and fancying that if they were convinced, they would be different men in religion. The plain truth is, that it is want of heart, not want of evidence, that keeps people back from Christ. The Jews had signs, and evidences, and proofs of Christ’s Messiahship in abundance, but they would not see them. Just so, many a professed unbeliever of our day has plenty of evidence around him, but he will neither look at it nor examine it. So true it is that “none are so blind as those that will not see.”

Quesnel remarks, “The atheist is still seeking after proofs of a Deity, though he walks every day amidst apparent miracles.”

We should observe that the Jews were willing enough to honour Christ as “a prophet.” It was the doctrine of faith in Him that they could not receive. Christ the “teacher,” is always more popular than Christ the “sacrifice and substitute.”

v31.-[Our fathers….manna….written….to eat.] The intention of the Jews in saying what they do in this verse is plain. They evidently implied a disparaging comparison between our Lord and Moses, and our Lord’s miracle of feeding the multitude, and the feeding of Israel with manna. It is as though they said, “Although Thou didst work a miracle yesterday, Thou hast done nothing greater than the thing that happened in the days when our fathers were fed with manna in the wilderness. The sign Thou hast given is not so great a sign as that which Moses gave our fathers when he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Why then should we be called on to believe Thee? What proof have we that Thou art a prophet greater than Moses?”

The word “manna” would have been more correctly rendered “the manna,” i. e., “the well-known and famous manna.”

Let us note in this verse how prone men are to refer back at once to things done in the days of their “fathers,” when saving religion is pressed home on their consciences. The woman of Samaria began talking about “our father Jacob.”-“Art thou greater than our father Jacob?” (Joh 4:12.) The Pharisees “built the sepulchres of the prophets.” (Luk 11:47.) Dead teachers have always more authority than living ones.

Let us mark that the miraculous feeding of Israel in the wilderness with manna is spoken of by the Jews as a notorious historical fact. Our Lord moreover in the following verse entirely assumes the truth of the miracle. The modern attempts to deny or explain away the miraculous facts recorded in the Old Testament, are here, as well as elsewhere, entirely irreconcilable with the manner in which they are always spoken of in the New Testament. He that denies old Testament miracles, is assaulting the knowledge and veracity of Christ and the Apostles. They believed them, and spoke of them, as historical facts. We never need be ashamed of being on their side.

Let us observe the acquaintance with Scripture which the Jews exhibit. They quote the seventy-eighth Psalm (Psa 78:24-25), as a sufficient proof of the fact they had just mentioned. A certain knowledge of Scripture, unhappily, may often be found in a very unbelieving heart. Knowledge of the letter of Scripture at any rate seems to have been very common among the Jews. (See Deu 6:6-7.)

Whether or not they applied the sentence they quoted to Moses, rather than God, I think, admits of a question. Our Lord’s words, in the following verse, would rather lead one to think that they meant that “Moses gave them bread from heaven.”

v32.-[Then Jesus….verily….Moses gave you not that bread.] The object of our Lord in this verse is very plain. He replies to the argument of the Jews, that the miracle of the manna was a greater miracle than any He had come into the world to work, and that Moses was consequently a greater prophet than He was. Yet in the words he uses, it is not very easy to settle where the stress should be laid, and what is the precise word on which the point of the answer rests.

(a.) Some think that it means,-“It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but God.” They lay the stress on Moses.

(b.) Some think that it means,-“Moses did not give you bread from the real heaven of heavens, where God the Father dwells, but only a material food from the upper part of that atmosphere which surrounds this earth.” They lay the stress on heaven.

(c.) Some think that it means,-“Moses did not give the true spiritual bread from heaven, though he gave you bread.” They lay the stress on “that bread.”

The second of these opinions seems to me quite inadmissible. The distinction between the heaven where God dwells and the upper region of our atmosphere was not, I believe, in our Lord’s mind, when He used the language He uses here. Moreover it cannot be denied that the manna, though only material food, was heavenly food, i. e., food supplied by God’s miraculous interposition.

The true view seems to me to be contained in the first and third opinions taken together. The Greek bears it out by putting the word “not” in the very forefront of the sentence. “It was not Moses who gave you that bread from heaven, and even the bread that was given you was not that true bread which endures to everlasting life.”

[But my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.] The use of the present tense should be noticed in this sentence. The idea seems to be, “What Moses could not give you, even the true bread which feeds the soul, my Father does give you, and is actually giving you at this moment, in that He gives you myself.”

The expression, “giveth you,” must not be supposed to imply actual reception on the part of the Jews. It rather means “giving” in the sense of “offering” for acceptance a thing which those to whom it is offered may not receive.-It is a very remarkable saying, and one of those which seems to me to prove unanswerably that Christ is God’s gift to the whole world,-that His redemption was made for all mankind,-that He died for all,-and is offered to all. It is like the famous texts, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (Joh 3:16); and, “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (1Jn 5:11.) It is a gift no doubt which is utterly thrown away, like many other gifts of God to man, and is profitable to none but those that believe. But that God nevertheless does in a certain sense actually “give” His Son, as the true bread from heaven, even to the wicked and unbelieving, appears to me incontrovertibly proved by the words before us. It is a remarkable fact that Erskine, the famous Scotch seceder, based his right to offer Christ to all, on these very words, and defended himself before the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland on the strength of them. He asked the Moderator to tell him what Christ meant when He said, “My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven,”-and got no answer. The truth is, I venture to think, that the text cannot be answered by the advocates of an extreme view of particular redemption. Fairly interpreted, the words mean that in some sense or another the Father does actually “give” the Son to those who are not believers. They warrant preachers and teachers in making a wide, broad, full, free, unlimited offer of Christ to all mankind without exception.

Even Hutcheson, the Scotch divine, though a strong advocate of particular redemption, remarks,-“Even such as are, at present, but carnal and unsound, are not secluded from the offer of Christ; but upon right terms may expect that He will be gifted to them.”

The expression “true,” in this place, when applied to bread, means “true” as opposed to that which is only typical, emblematical, and temporal. The manna was undoubtedly real true food for the body. But it was a type of a far better food, and was itself a thing which could not benefit the soul. Christ was the true spiritual food of which the manna was the type. Examples of “true” in this sense may be seen in Joh 1:9; Joh 15:1; Heb 8:2; Heb 9:24.

v33.-[The bread of God is that, etc.] At first sight, this verse seems to mean, that “Christ coming down from heaven, and giving life unto the world, is the true bread of God,-the Divine food of man’s soul.” But it may well be doubted whether this is the precise meaning of the Greek words. I think with Rollock, Bengel, Scholefield, Alford, and others, they would be more correctly rendered,-“The bread of God is that bread which cometh down from heaven.”

(a.) For one thing, the Jews do not appear to have understood our Lord as yet to speak directly of Himself, or of any person. Else why should they have said,-“Lord, give us this bread.” Moreover, they did not murmur, when they heard these words.

(b.) For another thing, our Lord does not appear as yet to reveal fully that He was the bread of God. He reserves this till Joh 6:35, and then declares it. At present He only gives a general intimation of a certain Divine life-giving bread.

(c.) For another thing, it is more in keeping with the gradual unfolding of truth,-which appears so strikingly in this chapter,-to suppose that our Lord begins with a general statement, than to suppose that He speaks at once of Himself personally. First, (1.) the bread generally,-then, (2.) I am the bread,-then, (3.) the bread is My flesh,-then, (4.) except ye eat the flesh, and drink the blood, no life, etc.,-such seem the gradual steps by which our Lord leads on His hearers in this wonderful chapter. I freely admit that the point is doubtful. Happily, whether we read, “the bread of God is He,” or “the bread of God is that bread,” the doctrine is sound, and Scriptural, and edifying.

The expression, “the bread of God,” seems equivalent to the expression of the preceding verse, “the true bread.” It is that real satisfying food for the soul which God has provided.

The expression, which “cometh down from heaven,” is an assertion of the Divine origin of that spiritual food which God had provided. Like the manna, it came down from heaven, but in a far higher, fuller, and deeper sense, than the manna did. It was “that personal bread,” of which they would soon hear more distinctly.

The expression, “giveth life to the world” implies a contrast between the “bread of God,” and the manna. The manna only supplied the hunger of the twelve tribes of Israel,-viz., 600,000 men and their families. The bread of God was for the whole world, and provided eternal life for every member of Adam’s family who would eat of it, whether Jew or Gentile.

We should mark, again, what a strong argument these words supply in favour of the doctrine of Christ being God’s gift to all. That all the world has not life from Christ, and does not believe in Him, is undoubtedly true. But that life is provided in Christ, and salvation sufficient for all the world, appears to be the natural interpretation of the text.

v34.-[Then said they…Lord…give us this bread.] There is a striking resemblance between the thought expressed in this verse, and the thought of the Samaritan woman, when she heard of the living water that Christ could give:-“Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” (Joh 4:15.) In both cases we see desire called forth and excited by our Lord’s words. There is a vague sense of something great and good being close at hand, and a vague wish expressed to have it. In the case of the Samaritan woman, the wish proved the first spark in a thorough conversion to God. In the case of the Jews before us, the wish seems to have been nothing more than the “desire of the slothful,” and to have gone no further. Wishing and admiring are not conversion.

Let us note, carefully, that there is nothing hitherto to show that the Jews understood our Lord to call Himself the “bread of God,” or “the true bread.” That there was such a thing as the true and satisfying bread,-that it must be the same as that “meat which endureth to everlasting life,” they seem to have concluded;-and that it was something which our Lord could give, they inferred. But there is not a word to make us think they saw it at present to mean Christ himself. This is a weighty argument in favour of that view of the preceding verse which I have tried to support, viz.,-that it ought to be translated “the bread of God is that bread,” not “He.”

There is some probability in Lightfoot’s remark, that our Lord’s hearers, like most Jews, had their minds stuffed with foolish and superstitious notions about great banquets and feasts, which they expected Messiah to give them, whenever He appeared. They had a tradition that Leviathan and Behemoth were to be slain, and their flesh made into a great feast for Israel when Messiah came. Our Lord, possibly, had this tradition in His mind, and desired to turn the minds of the Jews to the true food which Messiah had come to give.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Joh 6:28. They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? Our Lords answer seems to have been but little comprehended by the multitude. They reply with an earnest inquiry, taking up all that they have understood, but missing the central point of His words. He had first bidden them work, His last word had spoken of the Divine authority He bore: their answer deals with works of God, but contains no reference to eternal life or to the promise of a free gift from the Son of man. The works of the law were to them a familiar thought, and they understood that God through His new prophet was commanding them to do some new work. Their question, What must we do, shows a teachable disposition, and a willingness to learn from Him what was the will of God. But what did they mean by the works of God? The expression is used in various senses in the Old Testament. The works of the Lord may be the works done by Him, or they may be the works which He commands and which are according to His mind. In this verse we cannot think of miracles, nor is it easy to believe that the people can have had in their thoughts the works which God produces in those who are His. In its connection here, the expression recalls such passages as Jer 48:10; 1Co 15:58; Rev 2:26. The whole phrase (with slight alteration) occurs in Num 8:11, in the Septuagint: Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord . . . that they may work the works of the Lord. As the meaning in these passages is the works which the Lord would have them do, as the works of the law are those which the law prescribes, so here the works of God signify those which He commands, and which therefore are pleasing to Him.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here the Jews, who were strict observers of the ceremonial law of Moses, and rested thereupon for salvation, inquire of our Saviour what they should do that they might please God? Christ directs them to the great duty of believing on himself to own and acknowledge him to be the true Messiah, and as such to rely upon him alone for salvation; This is the work of God, that ye believe, &c.

Learn hence, That for a penitent humble sinner to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, is a work highly pleasing and acceptable unto God. Christ calls faith the work of God, upon a threefold account; it is the work of his efficiency and operation; it is the work of his commanding; and it is the work of his approbation and acceptation, a work that God is highly pleased with, and greatly delighted in; This is the work of God.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Joh 6:28-29. Then said they Desiring to appear willing to receive his instructions, as well as his bounties; What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Works pleasing to God, so as to secure his favour, and eternal life. Jesus answered, This is the work of God The work most pleasing to God, and the foundation of all others; that ye believe on him whom he hath sent That you acknowledge him for the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, (Joh 20:31; 1Jn 4:14-15;) that you credit and obey his doctrine; rely, for acceptance with God, on his mediation; apply to him for, and receive, his pardoning and renewing grace. See on Joh 3:16-19. Thus our Lord calls them to a work they never thought of; the owning him to be the true Messiah; the receiving him as such, and trusting in him for salvation, present and eternal, which was necessary, notwithstanding all their acts of obedience to the law, whether moral or ceremonial.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Vv. 28, 29. The brief dialogue which follows bears upon the true means of obtaining this really desirable good, the food which abides; it is the true mode of (working).

Vv. 28, 29. They said therefore to Him: What must we do, to do the works of God? 29. Jesus answered and said to them: This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent.

As Jesus had said: Labor (literally, work), the hearers, believing that they entered into His thought, ask Him: How work? In what do these works to be done for obtaining the food which Thou offerest consist? They call them the works of God, as being demanded by God as the condition of this gift. They start herein from the legal point of view, and see in these works to be done a work for which the miraculous food is the payment. It is impossible for me to see that there can be anything grotesque or improbable in this answer of the Jews (Reuss). It corresponds with many questions of the same kind in the Synoptics. (Mat 19:16; Luk 10:25, etc.) Jesus, in His turn, enters into this idea of works to be done; only He reduces them all to a single one: the work, in contrast to the works (Joh 6:28).

This work is faith in Him; in other terms: the gift of God is to be, not deserved, but simply accepted. Faith in Him whom God sends to communicate it is the sole condition for receiving it. It is evident that, in this context, the genitive , of God, designates, not the author of the work (Augustine), but the one with reference to whom it is done: the question is of the work which God requires. What is called Paulinism is implied in this answer, which may be called the point of union between Paul and James. Faith is really a work, the highest work, for by it man gives himself, and a free being cannot do anything greater than to give himself. It is in this sense that James opposes work to a faith which is only a dead intellectual belief; as it is in an analogous sense, that St. Paul opposes faith to works of mere observance. The living faith of Paul is, at the foundation, the living work of James, according to that sovereign formula of Jesus: This is the work of God, that ye believe. With the discussion of the true human work which leads to the possession of the heavenly gift is connected a new one on the way to the attaining of faith. The Jews think that in order to this end, there is need for them of new miracles. Jesus declares to them that the true sign is present; it is Himself.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the {f} works of God?

(f) Which please God: for they think that everlasting life depends upon the condition of fulfilling the law: therefore Christ calls them back to faith.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The works of God are the works that God requires to obtain the food that remains, even eternal life. The people were still thinking on the physical level. They thought Jesus was talking about some physical work that would yield eternal life. Moreover they assumed that they could do it and that by doing it they could earn eternal life. They ignored Jesus’ statement that He would give them eternal life (cf. Rom 10:2-4). There is something within the fallen nature of human beings that makes working for eternal life more attractive than receiving it as a gift.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)