Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:36
But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
36. I said unto you ] When? no such saying is recorded. Ewald thus finds some slight evidence for his theory that a whole sheet of this Gospel has been lost between chapters 5 and 6. But the reference may easily be to one of the countless unrecorded sayings of Christ, or possibly to the general sense of Joh 5:37-44. In the latter case ‘you’ must mean the Jewish nation, for those verses were addressed to Jews at Jerusalem. See on Joh 10:26, where there is a somewhat similar case. That ‘I said’ means ‘I would have you to know,’ and has no reference to any previous utterance, does not seem very probable.
ye also have seen me ] ‘Also’ belongs to ‘have seen,’ not to ‘ye,’ as most English readers would suppose: ye have even seen me (not merely heard of me), and (yet) do not believe. The tragic tone again. See on Joh 1:5; Joh 1:10-11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But I said unto you – This he said, not in so many words, but in substance, in Joh 6:26. Though they saw him, and had full proof of his divine mission, yet they did not believe. Jesus then proceeds to state that, although they did not believe on him, yet his work would not be in vain, for others would come to him and be saved.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 6:36
Ye also have seen Me and believe not
The reason of faith
1.
The grand distinction of Christianity is that it makes its appeal to faith, and upon that rests the promise of salvation.
2. But this is the scandal of men. If we hold any truth by reason, perception, or on evidence what need of holding by faith? And if we hold it without such evidence what is belief, but a surrender of our proper intelligence?
3. It is proposed to show how it is that we, as intelligent beings, are called to believe, and how, as sinners, we can in the nature of things, be saved only as we believe. This text sets us at the point when seeing and believing are brought together as not united; in Joh 6:40 they are united.
4. It stands on the face of the language
(1) That faith is not sight but something so different that we may see and not believe;
(2) That sight does not include faith or supersede the necessity of it, for after sight faith is expected;
(3) That sight is supposed to furnish a ground for faith, and involving guilt when faith is not exercised. Let us look at three kinds of faith.
I. Take the case of SIGHT. It has been a great question how it is we perceive objects. Berkeley denied that we saw them at all. The persons who saw Christ had only certain pictures cast in the back of the eye which were mere subjective impressions. How then do we bridge the gulf between sensations and their objects; how it is that having a true picture in the back of the eye we make it a tree. Some deny the possibility of any solution; but the best solutions conceive the soul to take these forms as more than objects perceived, that we complete sensation or issue it in perception by assigning reality to the distant object. What is this but the exercise of a sense faith. We thus see by faith.
II. Take that FAITH WHICH, after perception is completed, ASSIGNS TRUTH TO THE THINGS SEEN, and takes them to be historic verities. Thus after Christ had been seen in the facts of His life, it became a question what to make of those facts–whether there could have been conspiracy or self-imposition in the miracles. The mere seeing of a wonder never concludes the mind of the spectator. How many testify to having seen the most fantastic wonders, and yet they very commonly conclude by saying they know not what to make of them, doubting whether sleight of hand, ventriloquism, etc., may not account for them. The evidence to one who saw Christ was as perfect as it could be; but all that can be said is that a given impression has been made, and that impression is practically nought till an act of intellectual assent is added. Then the impression becomes to the mind a real and historical fact, a sentence of credit passed.
III. We come now to CHRISTIAN FAITH. This begins just where the last-named faith ends. That decided the greatest fact of history, viz., that Christ actually was. But what is now wanted and justified and even required by the facts of His life is a faith that goes beyond the mere evidence of proportional verities, viz., the faith of a transaction; and Christian faith is the act of trust by which one being, a sinner, commits herself to another Being, a Saviour. In this faith
1. Everything is presupposed that makes the act intelligent and rational. That Christ was what He declared Himself to be and can do what He offered to do, and that we can commit ourselves to Him.
2. The matters included in this act are the surrender of our mere self care, the ceasing to live from our own point of separated will, a complete admission of the mind of Christ, a consenting to live as infolded in His spirit.
3. Great results will follow.
(1) The believer will be as one possessed by Christ, created anew in Christ Jesus.
(2) New evidence will be created. As in trying a physician new evidence is obtained from the successful management of the disease, so the soul that trusts itself to Christ knows Him with a new kind of knowledge; has the witness in himself.
Lessons.
1. The mistake is here corrected that the gospel is a theorem to be thought out and not a new premiss of fact communicated by God to be received of men in all the threefold gradations of faith.
2. We discover that the requirement of faith, as a condition of salvation, is not arbitrary but essential for deliverance from sin. What we want is God, to be united to Him and thus to be quickened, raised, made partakers of the Divine Nature.
3. We perceive that mere impressions can never amount to faith, inasmuch as it is the commitment of our being to the Being of Christ our Saviour.
4. It is plain that what is wanted in the Christian world is more faith. We dabble too much in reason. We shall never recover the true apostolic energy without it. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Christ the true bread must be both seen and appropriated
Christians grow weak because they let their meat and drink stand by them. It is not the flesh in the pot, but the flesh in the stomach, that gives nourishment. It is not the drink in the vessel, but the drink taken down, that revives. Stir up spiritual hunger, and that will make you feed heartily on Christ. Eat and drink Christ by meditation, eat and drink Him by application. Let your faith draw in Christ in every ordinance. Keep your spiritual meals as constantly as you do your other meals. Your eating will help you to a stomach. Satisfaction and hunger are mutual helps one to another. Eating and drinking other meat takes away the appetite, but it increaseth the spiritual appetite. Fixed times of spiritual feeding every day are marvellous profitable. When you have prayed, call your heart to account what it hath taken in of Christ. When you have been reading, ask it what nourishment it hath received from the word. When the Lords Supper is over, inquire what refreshment is received. Put yourselves forward to frequent, constant, actual feeding. It is a pity such precious meat and drink should stand in corners when the soul hath so much need of it. (Ralph Robinson.)
Christian faith
If a man comes to a banker with a letter of credit from some other banker, that letter may be read and seen to be a real letter. The signature also may be approved, and the credit of the drawing party honoured by the other, as being wholly reliable. So far what is done is merely opinionative or notional, and there is no transactional faith. And yet there is a good preparation for this; just that is done which makes it intelligent. When the receiving party, therefore, accepts the letter, and entrust himself actually to the drawing party in so much money, there is the real act of faith, an act which answers to the operative, or transactional faith of the disciple. Another and perhaps better illustration may be taken from the patient or sick person as related to his physician. He sends for a physician, just because he has been led to have a certain favourable opinion of his faithfulness and capacity. But the suffering him to feel his pulse, investigate his symptoms, and tell the diagnosis of his disease, imports nothing. It is only the committing of his being and life to this other being, consenting to receive and take his medicines, that imports a real faith, the faith of a transaction. In the same manner Christian faith is the faith of a transaction. It is not the committing of ones thought, in assent to any proposition, but the trusting of ones being to a being, there to be rested, kept, guided, moulded, governed, and possessed for ever. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
You have seen me in the flesh, you have heard my doctrine, you have seen the miracles which I have wrought, confirming that doctrine, and me to be the true Messias; for I have done amongst you those works which never any man did: but you are of the generation of those of whom it was prophesied: That in seeing you should not see, nor yet perceive; for though you have seen me with your bodily eyes, and could not but conclude by what works I have done that I am the true Messiah; yet you do not own and acknowledge me as such, nor will by faith close with me, and come unto me for life and happiness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
36. But . . . ye have seen me, andbelieve notseen Him not in His mere bodily presence, but inall the majesty of His life, His teaching, His works.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But I said unto you,…. The substance of what follows in Joh 6:26 though the Persic and Ethiopic versions render it, “I say unto you”; and so refers not to anything before said, but to what he was about to say:
that ye also have seen me, and believe not; that is, they had not only seen him in person, which many kings, prophets, and righteous men had desired, but not enjoyed, yet nevertheless believed; but they had seen his miracles, and had shared in the advantages of them, being healed, and fed corporeally by him, and yet believed not in him as the spiritual Saviour and Redeemer of their souls; nor did they come to him in a spiritual way, for eternal life and salvation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That ye have seen me ( ). It is not certain that is genuine. If not, Jesus may refer to verse 26. If genuine, some other saying is referred to that we do not have. Note (also or even).
And yet believe not ( ). Use of = and yet.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
But. Though you have seen as you asked, I repeat what I said to you that you have seen and do not believe.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But I said unto you,” (all’ eipon humin) “But I told you all,” and would remind you as responsible and accountable people, Rom 2:11; Rom 14:11-12.
2) “That ye also have seen me,” (hoti kai heorakate me) “That you all also have seen me,” the Messiah who is the true manna from heaven, and that prophet who was to come, whom you all have seen, Joh 6:26; Joh 6:49-50; Deu 18:1518].
3) “And believe not.” (kai ou pisteuete) “And you all do not believe,” or trust me, for who I am, Joh 1:11-12; Joh 8:24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
36. But I have told you. He now reproves them for wickedly rejecting the gift of God, which is offered to them. Now, that man is chargeable with wicked contempt of God, who rejects what he knows that God has given him. If Christ had not made known his power, and plainly showed that he came from God, the plea of ignorance might have alleviated their guilt; but when they reject the doctrine of him whom they formerly acknowledged to be the Lord’s Messiah, it is extreme baseness. It is no doubt true, that men never resist God purposely, so as to reflect that they have to do with God; and to this applies the saying of Paul,
They would never have crucified the Lord of glory, if they had known him (1Co 2:8.)
But unbelievers, because they willingly shut their eyes against the light are justly said to see that which immediately vanishes from their sight, because Satan darkens their understandings. This, at least, is beyond all controversy, that when he said that they saw, we must not understand him to mean his bodily appearance, but rather that he describes their voluntary blindness, because they might have known what he was, if their malice had not prevented them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(36) But I said unto you . . .There is no record of this saying. It was included in the thoughts of Joh. 5:37-44, and was perhaps uttered then, or, more probably, to those whom He is now addressing. That there are many words of Christ which have not been preserved to us is certain. (Comp. Notes on Joh. 20:30-31.) It is possible, but scarcely more than this, that the words refer to what He was about to say.
Ye also have seen me.The also is misplaced. It is not ye in addition to others, but Ye have even seen Me. Ye have not simply been told, but have had the fullest evidence, amounting to actual seeing. (Comp. Joh. 20:29.) You asked for a sign, that you may see it and believe (Joh. 6:30); you have had much more, and do not believe. (Comp. Note on Luk. 16:29.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
36. I said When this was said in express terms is not recorded. But the full import of the expression is found in Joh 6:26. They had seen his miracles, but believed not on him as being what in truth he is. To refer to Joh 5:37-44 as Alford does, is strangely ignoring that those words were uttered at Jerusalem, perhaps a year ago.
Believe not They were fixedly sordid in their views; seeking a feeder for their stomachs, not a Saviour for their souls.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe’.
However, He recognised that they were not willing genuinely to respond to this message. He realised that their belief was in the earthly leader whom they had envisioned for themselves, a military champion who would introduce the good times. It was not in what Jesus had really come to be and do. It was true that outwardly they had seen Him and heard Him, they had ‘heard His voice and seen His form’, but inwardly it was far from the case. They had simply failed to recognise Him for what He was.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 6:36. But I said unto you, &c. He next turned his discourse to those of his hearers who did not possess that ingenuousness of mind which the former had expressed: “You ask me to shew you a sign, that you may see and believe me, Joh 6:30 but I must inform you, that you have seen me,seen my character and divine mission in the miracles which I have performed already; that is to say, you have seen me perform many signs sufficient to convince you that I am the Messiah; nevertheless, you do not believe that I am he, but reject me as an impostor. Therefore your infidelity proceeds, not from want of evidence, as you pretend, Joh 6:30 but from the perverseness of your own disposition.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
Ver. 36. Ye have seen me ] But not savingly. Your understandings have been gilded over with a common kind of supernatural light, Heb 6:4 , but not to a transmentation. You have seen me as a traveller seeth the pomp and splendour of a foreign court, or as men see far countries in maps, with an intuitive insight, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
36. ] ; . Euthym [90] But perhaps, as Euthym [91] himself seems to suggest, and as Lcke and De Wette are inclined to think, the reference may be to ch. Joh 5:37-44 , and the may be said generally. Stier and others think that Joh 6:26 is referred to: but this is far-fetched. We have instances of reference to sayings not recorded, in ch. Joh 10:26 ; Joh 12:34 .
[90] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
[91] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
] ‘Ye have seen the true Bread from heaven, the greater than the manna, even Me Myself: and yet have not believed.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 6:36 . But although God and this perfect satisfaction were brought so near them, they did not believe: . Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Godet, Weiss, etc., understand that refers to Joh 6:26 . Euthymius, preferably, says , . Lampe gives the alternatives without determining. Undoubtedly, although the reference may not be directly to Joh 6:26 , the means seeing Jesus in the exercise of His Messianic functions, doing the works given Him by the Father to do. But seeing is not in this case believing. It was found very possible to be in His company and to eat the provision He miraculously provided, and yet disbelieve. If so, what could produce belief? Might not His entire manifestation fail to accomplish its purpose?
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
ye also have seen Me = ye have seen Me also; with emphasis on “seen”.
and = yet.
believe. App-150.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
36.] – ; . Euthym[90] But perhaps, as Euthym[91] himself seems to suggest, and as Lcke and De Wette are inclined to think, the reference may be to ch. Joh 5:37-44, and the may be said generally. Stier and others think that Joh 6:26 is referred to: but this is far-fetched. We have instances of reference to sayings not recorded, in ch. Joh 10:26; Joh 12:34.
[90] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
[91] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
] Ye have seen the true Bread from heaven, the greater than the manna, even Me Myself: and yet have not believed.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 6:36. , I said unto you) He said so, Joh 6:26, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves. As I said that you were, saith He, such ye still are: Ye [also] both have seen Me, (and have not believed: ye see,) and (yet) believe not. Hereby is refuted what they had said at Joh 6:30 : Do [some sign] that we may see it, and we will believe.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 6:36
Joh 6:36
But I said unto you, that ye have seen me, and yet believe not.-The reason they could not receive that life was that he had shown himself in his teachings and many works he had done in their presence, yet they refused to believe in him so refused to do the work of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
That: Joh 6:26, Joh 6:30, Joh 6:40, Joh 6:64, Joh 12:37, Joh 15:24, Luk 16:31, 1Pe 1:8, 1Pe 1:9
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
All through the years that Jesus was in his public ministry, the controversy between him and the Jews revolved about His divinity. They pro-fessed to have great love for God, yet were averse to the idea that Jesus was the Son of God. That is the thought in this verse, for Jesus accusses them of refusing to accept the testimony of their own eyes.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 6:36. But I said unto you, that ye have indeed seen me, and believe not. When had such words been uttered? Certainly the reference is not to chap. Joh 5:37, spoken in Jerusalem to the Jews, not to the multitude in Galilee. It is not likely that Jesus is speaking of words of censure not recorded in this Gospel; and it is hardly possible to understand the simple expression I said unto you in the sense, I would have you know, this is what I would say. We must take the words as referring to the substance, to the spirit if not the letter, of something previously said in this chapter, and we can do this without any violence of interpretation. It is remarkable that the people themselves have used words almost identical (Joh 6:30): What doest Thou as a sign, that we may see and believe Thee?that is, may see Thee in Thy working, and believe Thee. This is a confession on their part that as yet they had seen no sign that had led them to see and believe Him. The words of Jesus in Joh 6:26 imply that in truth they had not seen signs: they had seen His miracles, but these had not so proved themselves to be signs as to lead the people to see and believe Him. The charge, therefore, that they seeing saw not is perfectly equivalent to what is said in that verse; they had indeed seen Him in the works which were the manifestation of Himself, but they had not been led to faith. The charge is very grave, but it is not made in anger, nor does it leave the accused in hopelessness: not judgment, but encouragement, is the spirit that pervades this part of the discourse. Perhaps it is for this very reason that the word is I said, not I say. The fact was so; it may be so still; but the state is one that need not last,even now it may pass away.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Joh 6:36-37. But I said, &c. But valuable as these blessings of my grace are, you are little disposed to pursue and accept them. For ye also have seen me, and believe not You have seen a manifestation of my true character, in my life and conversation, and have been eye-witnesses of the ample proofs which I had given of my divine mission, in the miracles which I have already performed; signs certainly sufficient to convince you that I am the Messiah: nevertheless, you do not believe that I am he, but reject me as an impostor. Therefore, your infidelity proceeds not from want of evidence, as you pretend, (Joh 6:30,) but from the perverseness of your own disposition. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me Nevertheless, though you reject me, yet I shall not be universally rejected, nor shall the purposes of my mission be entirely frustrated; for all that hearken to the teaching of my Father, and in consequence thereof see themselves to be in a lost estate, guilty, depraved, weak, and wretched, and therefore follow the drawings of his grace, (see Joh 6:44-45, where our Lords meaning is explained,) will come to me By faith: such as these the Father in a peculiar manner giveth to the Son. And him that cometh to me Being thus convinced of sin, humbled, and penitent; I will in no wise cast out I will give him pardon, holiness, and happiness, and even heaven, if he continue in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Thus our Lord encouraged his disciples, who had already believed on him; and at the same time invited those who were disposed to believe, from the consideration that he would not reject them, however low their circumstances might be, however vile they might appear in their own eyes, or however much they might have formerly injured him, by speaking evil of him and opposing him. The expression, , is extremely beautiful and emphatical. It represents an humble supplicant, as coming into the house of some prince, or other great person, to cast himself at his feet, and to commit himself to his protection and care. He might fear his petition would be rejected, and he be thrust out of doors: but our Lord assures him to the contrary. His house and heart are large enough to receive, shelter, and supply all the indigent and distressed. Doddridge.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 36. But I said unto you: you have seen me, and yet you do not believe.
They had asked to see in order to believe (Joh 6:30). But this condition was long since fulfilled: they have seen Him in all His greatness and goodness, as much as was necessary to believe, and yet the effect is not produced: you do not believe. Jesus has the right to draw this conclusion even from their request. No doubt they had faith enough to ask Him for the miraculous bread, but not to recognize Himself as the heavenly bread. This proves that they are still strangers to the spiritual needs which might lead them to Him, and to the work which He came to accomplish here on earth. This is what is signified to an ear as sensitive as that of Jesus by the prayer: Give us, while they already possess Him Himself. In this way they end by revealing their moral stupidity. Comp. two equally rapid and decisive judgments, the one at Jerusalem (Joh 2:19), the other at Nazareth (Luk 4:23).
To what earlier saying does Jesus allude in the expression: I said unto you? The words in Joh 4:48 may be thought of, in which the relation between the two ideas of seeing and believing is altogether different. The declaration of Joh 5:37, of which de Wette, Lucke, and Reuss, think, has also a very different meaning, and besides it was uttered in Judea. There is nothing here which troubles Reuss. On the contrary, in his view this only proves more evidently this fact: That in the mind of the redactor all these discourses are addressed to one and the same public, the readers of the book. In order that this conclusion should be well founded, it would be necessary that no other more exact reference should present itself. Others suppose that Jesus cites a saying which John has not mentioned; but, in that case, to what purpose recall it expressly by the formula of quotation: I said to you? Meyer proposes to translate by: dictum velim, regard it as said. This sense is unexampled in the New Testament.Bruckner thinks that Jesus is calling to mind His whole teaching in general. But this expression indicates a positive citation.
Jesus quotes Himself here, as He often quotes the Old Testament, according to the spirit rather than according to the letter. On the arrival of the multitude, He had said to them: You have seen signs, and yet you seek Me only for the renewal of material satisfaction and not because of Myself. It is this charge of Joh 6:26 which He repeats here in a little different form. You have seen Me, corresponds with: you have seen signs; and you do not believe, with you seek Me only for the sake of the flesh and not that your soul may be satisfied. To say to Him: Give us, when one has Him as presentwas not this to refuse to believe in Him as the true gift of God? The reading of the Sinaitic and Alexandrian MSS.: you have seen (without , me), undoubtedly sets forth better the contrast between seeing and believing. The Alexandrian MS. itself, however, replaces the pronoun after (), and in the entire context it is the person of Jesus which plays the chief part. The two … (and…and), are untranslatable: they forcibly bring out the moral contrast between the two facts which they so closely bring together.
Between this word of condemnation and the calm and solemn declaration of the following verses (Joh 6:37-40), there is a significant asyndeton. This omission of any connecting particle indicates a moment of silence and profound meditation. Jesus had received a signal from His Father; in the joy of His heart, He had given a feast to all this people; He had made for them a miraculous Passover. And these dull hearts have not understood it at all. They ask again for bread, the earth still and nothing but the earth, while He had desired, by means of this figurative repast, to offer them life, to open to them heaven! In the presence of this failure, which for Him is the prelude of the grand national catastrophe, the rejection of the Messiah, Jesus communes with Himself; then He continues: It is in vain that you do not believe! My work remains, nevertheless, the Father’s work; it will be accomplished without you, since it must be; and in the fact of your exclusion nothing can be laid to my charge; for I limit myself to fulfilling in a docile way, at each moment, the instructions of my Father! Thus the painful check which He has just experienced does not shake His faith, He rises to the contemplation of the assured success of His work in the hearts which His Father will give Him; and by protesting His perfect submissiveness to the plan of the Father, He lays upon the unbelievers themselves the blame of their rejection, and thus addresses to their consciences the last appeal.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Jesus charged these Galileans with unbelief as He had formerly charged the Judean residents of Jerusalem with it (Joh 5:36-38). They had seen Him physically, and on the physical level they had concluded that He might be the predicted Prophet. However, they had not seen who He was spiritually. They did not believe that He was the divine Messiah. Physical sight and spiritual insight are two different things.