Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:38
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
38. I came down ] Better, I am come down or have descended. Four times in this discourse Christ declares that He is come down from heaven; Joh 6:38; Joh 6:50-51; Joh 6:58. The drift of these three verses (38 40) is; How could I cast them out, seeing that I am come to do my Father’s will, and He wills that they should be received?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For I came down … – This verse shows that he came for a specific purpose, which he states in the next verse, and means that, as he came to do his Fathers will, he would be faithful to the trust. Though his hearers should reject him, yet the will of God would be accomplished in the salvation of some who should come to Him.
Mine own will – See notes at Joh 5:30.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 6:38-40
For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me
The love of the Father
The amazing love of the Father appears
I.
IN HIS SPARING THIS GUILTY WORLD, though He spared not the angels that sinned. His mercy is seen in mans long day of grace, and in thy day of grace, sinner. Accept it ere the dawn of the day of judgment.
II. IN CHOOSING AND DRAWING GUILTY MEN TO BE SAVED. To give men liberty to be saved is love indeed; to provide a ransom is love higher still; but its loftiest height is seen in the drawing operations of Father, Son, and Spirit. But for this men would not come at all.
III. IN HIS GIVING CHRIST TO BE THE WAY OF SALVATION (chap. 3:16; Rom 8:32). Had He shot down a beam of heavenly light, or caused us to hear a heavenly note, this would have left us inexcusable; but He gave the best of His treasures. He resolved that all salvation should be found in the Son, and avoided leaving any details to us.
IV. IN HIS REVEALING HIMSELF TO US THROUGH CHRIST (chap. 14:9, 10). Not through an interpreter, but through One who shared His nature and was the perfect embodiment of His will.
V. IN APPOINTING THE ETERNAL REWARD FOR REDEEMED SINNERS THROUGH CHRIST (Joh 6:39-40). (A. A. Bonar)
The purpose of Christs coming
I. CHRIST CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN.
1. How does it appear that He was originally in heaven? (Joh 6:33; Joh 6:51; Joh 6:62).
(1) He had a real existence before He was born (chap. 1:15; 8:58).
(2) He was before the world (Heb 1:8); for He made the world Heb 1:2; Heb 1:8; Heb 1:10; Col 1:14-16; Joh 1:1-2).
(3) The existence He had before was purely Divine (Php 2:6-7; Act 20:28).
(4) The Divine nature was communicated to Him from the Father (chap. 5:26, 7:29, 16:15; Heb 1:3).
(5) Hence He is said to be in heaven by reason of His Divine essence, which He always had from and with the Father (Joh 6:62).
2. What are we to understand by His coming down from heaven? His assuming our human nature, and in it conversing upon earth (Jn 1Ti 3:16).
II. As Christ came from heaven, so HE CAME NOT TO DO HIS OWN WILL, BUT HIS THAT SENT HIM.
1. Christs will as He is God is no way different from the Fathers.
2. As man His will was distinct from the Fathers, but still subordinate to it Luk 22:42); and therefore though He had a will of His own as man, yet He came not to fulfil that.
3. But our Saviour speaks not here of Himself, either as God or man, but as God-man, Mediator, one sent from the Father to do His will.
From hence it follows
1. That Gods will only is the fountain of mans happiness and salvation. For
(1) God made man upright and happy (Ecc 7:29).
(2) Man made himself sinful and miserable (Hos 13:9).
(3) But he cannot make himself happy again (Jer 10:23).
(4) And as man cannot, so none but God can. None else could find out a way, and none else effect it when found.
(5) God hath no other motive but His own will and pleasure to save Eph 1:5).
(a) Man himself could be no motive (Deu 7:7-8).
(b) Neither could the hope of glory be so, God receiving nothing thereby (Job 22:2-3; Psa 16:2).
2. That Christ came to accomplish the will of God.
(1) By acquainting us with what is necessary to be known or done in order to be saved (Joh 14:2).
(2) By giving us, in His own person, a perfect example. (Mat 11:30).
(3) By enabling us sincerely to perform whatsoever is enjoined us (chap. 15:5; Php 4:13).
(4) By dying for us (Mat 20:28; 1Ti 2:16).
(5) By continuing to intercede for us (Heb 7:25; Joh 1:1-2).
III. USES.
1. Give God the glory of your salvation.
2. Bless Him for all the means of it.
(1) For sending His Son to die for us.
(2) For sending His Spirit to live within us.
(3) For vouchsafing to us the means of grace.
3. Trust Him only for the accomplishment of your salvation.
(1) By the pardon of your sins.
(2) The strengthening of your graces (Php 2:13).
(3) Power to persevere (Mat 10:22).
4. Hence learn also of your Saviour
(1) To submit your wills to Gods (1Sa 3:18).
(2) To do the will of Him who sent you hither.
And it is His will
(1) That you repent (Act 17:30).
(2) That you turn from your sins (Eze 18:30; Eze 33:11).
(3) That you love the Lord with all your hearts (Mat 22:37).
(4) That you earnestly endeavour to work out your salvation Php 2:12). (Bp. Beveridge.)
Perfect obedience
In a daring inroad beyond the Tigris, Abu Taher advanced to the gates of the capital with no more than five hundred horse. By the special order of Moctador the bridges had been broken down, and the person or head of the rebel was expected every hour by the Commander of the Faithful. His lieutenant, from a motive of fear or pity, apprised Abu Taher of his danger, and recommended a speedy escape. Your master, said the intrepid Carmathian to the messenger, is at the head of thirty thousand soldiers; three such men as these are wanting in his host. At the same instant, turning to three of his companions, he commanded the first to plunge a dagger into his own breast, the second to leap into the Tigris, and the third to cast himself headlong down a precipice. They obeyed without a murmur. Relate what you have seen, continued the Imam. Before the evening your general shall be chained among my dogs. Before evening the camp was surprised and the menace executed. (Gibbon.)
To do the wilt of God is the true end of life
The end of life is not to do good, although many of us think so. It is not to win souls, although I once thought so. The end of life is to do the will of God whatever it may be. (Professor Drummond.)
This is the Fathers will that of all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
The Fathers will
I. THE DIVINE SIDE OF THE WORK OF SALVATION.
1. How sovereign its character. The Fathers will is independent, omnipotent, unchangeable, perfect, full of love.
2. The obedient servant of that will (Joh 6:38). Christ came not to do His own will, His own private purposes, but the commandment of the Father (Psa 40:1-17.). To this end He took on Him the form of a servant (Isa 42:1-25.).
(1) This was needful as an example for us;
(2) and that we may know that Christ is no amateur Saviour. He has come willingly enough, but the reason was the Fathers will. So that when Christ forgives or receives it is the Fathers will.
3. Gods will was that His Son should have disciples, a flock, members, a bride, brethren.
4. These persons Jesus undertook to keep, and to raise them up at the last day.
II. THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE WORK OF SALVATION (Joh 6:40).
1. This is still based on the Divine will.
2. The same obedient servant is engaged in it.
3. The terms are seeing and believing on the Son. We cannot see Christ with our natural organs, but we can read and hear about Him. The eyes of our understanding discern Him; the sense of faith recognizes Him.
4. These terms are open to all. Every one, the man of great or of little faith, rich or poor, etc. None are excluded but those who exclude themselves.
5. Those who believe in Jesus are in a present state of safety. They have everlasting life.
Conclusion:
1. Never fear that there is anything in the secret purposes of God which can contradict His open promises. Never dream if you are a believer that any dark decree can shut you out from the benefits of grace.
2. Fear not that your believing will end in failure. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Doing Gods will in our daily work
(text, and Mar 6:3):–Scripture speaks of Christ as the Servant of the Lord. But not till most of His brief history had passed did He begin to preach the gospel. For thirty years He was engaged in the everyday duties of life.
I. OUR DAILY WORK MAY BE TRUE SERVICE FOR GOD. Housework, the innumerable details of a mothers lot, manual labour, a sufferers duties, commercial life, brain-toil–for these we may be as truly sent of God as an apostle or a prophet.
1. Gods providential appointment shows where He wants our work. That we have our particular gifts, that our training fits us for a special post, that circumstances uncontrolled by us have brought us to a certain position, that our position involves definite duties–what are these but God pointing to what He requires us to do.
2. It were unlikely that most of our life should be necessarily spent on what has no vital bearing on eternity. No small feature of the blessedness of heaven is that there they serve Him. Consecration to Christ involves that He be glorified by our entire being. He claims us wholly. It is said that there is a point in the upper air where the discordant sounds of earth blend in harmony, the noise of the streets cannot be distinguished from the murmur of the sea, nor the shout of the battle from the chime of bells, nor the mirthful song from the sufferers moan–there they are one; so the varied parts of our life may blend in a harmonious voice of praise ceaselessly rising to our exalted Lord, as by Himself the will of God was done as truly at the carpenters bench aa in the most solemn agony of the garden and the cross.
II. SOME OF THE DIRECTIONS IN WHICH THIS DIVINE SERVICE MAY BE RENDERED.
1. Our daily toil tends to the well-being of others. The domestic servant contributes to the comfort of the home, the mechanic serves many a real human need, the teacher by voice or pen spreads knowledge, the physician and the nurse heal the body, the artist trains some of the higher faculties of the mind, the merchant produces or makes earths productions available; there is no right calling which does not in some way benefit mankind.
2. And daily toil presents the best opportunity for manifesting the religion of Christ.
3. Daily toil is one of the great schools for training spiritual life.
III. THE POSSIBILITY OF THIS SERVICE SHOWS THE SACREDNESS OF OUR WORKDAY LIFE.
1. That all work may be Divine may well reconcile us to tasks that seem lowly.
2. This suggests a searching test of our belonging to Christ. For what is it to be Christs, but to share His life. If we are only Christians on Sundays we are not Christs.
3. This shows Gods way to larger service presently. Was it not because He did the will of Him that sent Him in that humble village home, that He learnt to say in trial more awful than man can know, Father, not as I will, but as Thou wilt? (C. New.)
The believers safety
I. CHRIST WILL LOSE NONE THAT ARE GIVEN TO HIM.
1. How doth God give us to Christ?
(1) By making us sensible of our sin and misery (Jer 8:6;Joh 16:7-8).
(2) By making us humble (Isa 64:6; Mat 5:3; Mat 11:28).
(3) By inclining us to piety by His preventing grace (Jam 4:6).
(4) By convincing us that Christ was sent to be our Saviour.
2. How shall those not be lost? They shall have
(1) Their sins pardoned (1Jn 2:1-2).
(2) Their hearts renewed (Eze 36:25; Tit 3:5).
(3) God reconciled (Rom 5:10; 2Co 5:18).
(4) Their graces confirmed (Luk 22:32).
(5) And so their souls eternally saved.
(6) This Christ is able (Heb 7:25) and willing (Luk 13:34) to do.
II. CHRISTS CARE OVER HIS PEOPLE REACHES TO THE DAY OF THEIR RESURRECTION.
1. Gods justice will raise the wicked
(1) To judge (Ecc 12:14; 2Co 5:10).
(2) To condemn.
(3) To punish (Mat 25:46).
2. Christ will raise the saints to bless them
(1) With freedom from all evil (Rev 21:4).
(2) With the confluence of all good (1Co 2:9).
III. USES.
1. Carefully attend those means which God gives to bring your souls to Christ.
2. Commit your souls only to Christs care (1Pe 4:19).
3. Live as becomes Christians. (Bp. Beveridge.)
Christ our keeper
The next thing we learn here is that all these persons Jesus Christ undertook to keep. He should lose nothing. This is a very remarkable expression. The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, has taken all those who were given of the Father to Him into His custody. He is the surety; He is responsible for them, and He keeps them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The last day.
I. EACH MAN HAS HIS LAST DAY. To each a sun rises of which he never sees the setting, or a sun sets of which he never sees the rising.
II. FAMILIES HAVE THEIR LAST DAY. Households part never to meet again. Ancient lines dating back beyond the Conquest, at last come to an end. The ancestral mansion is vacant, the title is extinct, the estates revert to the state. In almost every community there is one alone, he hath neither child nor brother, and his last day will be the last day of his name and race.
III. STATES ALSO HAVE THEIR LAST DAY. Where are the thrones of Carthage and Tyre, of Assyria and Egypt, of Macedon and Rome? One sun arose on them still breathing, the next found them only matters of history. In the interval they had passed from something to nothing. And other states occupied their places; not a few of whom, in their turn, have expired and been laid away in the cemeteries of history.
IV. THE WORLD WILL HAVE ITS LAST DAY. We have the best authority for saying that the time will come when the human race will disappear in a body from the earth, and the planet itself and all things therein be burned up. Exactly when this greatest of last days will come we are not informed. The month, the year, the century, the millennium even, in which it will occur, is not foretold. So little hint is given of its exact locality in history, that its actual advent will take the world by surprise. Up rolls the last sun from the east as brightly and steadily as usual. Men get them to their business, their pleasures, without a thought of change. (E. F. Burr.)
The resurrection of believers
When a farmer holds in his hand the first ripe sheaf of corn he has in possession an unassailable proof that he will have a harvest. More decisive and satisfactory evidence to that effect could not be desired by any reasonable man. Long before this time the precious seed had been east into the dark bosom of the earth, when no tokens were visible that nature possessed any power of life. But in due season the sun began to warm the sleeping world, the gentle rain from heaven fell upon the place beneath, and the winds of the south whispered of a coming revival. Soon there was first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the car, soon the first ripe sheaf telling of a harvest at hand. Christ is the first-fruits of them that slept, the infallible proof that we shall have a resurrection from the gloomy winter of death. (Archibald Craig.)
The resurrection of believers a certainty
Trees, in the winter time, appear to the view of all men as if they were withered and quite dead, yet when the springtime comes, they become alive again, and, as before, do bring forth their buds, blossoms, leaves, and fruit, The reason is because the body, grain, and arms of the tree are all joined and fastened to the root where the sap lies all the winter time, and from thence, by reason of so near conjunction, it is derived in the springtime to all parts of the tree. Even so the bodies of men have their winter also, and that is in death, in which time they are turned into dust, and so remain for a time. Yet in the springtime, that is, in the last day, at the resurrection of all flesh, by means of the mystical union with Christ, His Divine and quickening virtue shall stream from thence to all the bodies of His members, and cause them to Live again, and that to life eternal. (Strode.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 38. Not to do mine own will] I am come, not to act according to human motives, passions, or prejudices; but according to infinite wisdom, goodness, and mercy. Jewish passions and prejudices would reject publicans and sinners as those alluded to, and shut the gate of heaven against the Gentiles; but God’s mercy receives them, and I am come to manifest that mercy to men.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our Lord confirmeth what he had before said concerning his gracious reception of believers, and preserving them by his grace in their state of grace, so that they shall not be cast out with reprobates in the day of judgment, from this, that he came not to execute any particular will of his own, but what was also the will of his Father, who sent him into the world.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
38. For I came down from heaven notto do Mine own willto play an independent part.
butin respect to boththe foregoing things, the divine and the human side ofsalvation.
the will of Him that sentMeWhat this twofold will of Him that sent Him is, we are nextsublimely told (Joh 6:39;Joh 6:40):
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I came down from heaven,…. by change of place, or local motion; for Christ is the immense, infinite, and omnipresent God, and cannot be said properly to move from place to place; for he fills all places, even heaven and earth, with his presence, and was in heaven as the Son of God, at the same time he was here on earth as the son of man: wherefore this must be understood in a manner becoming his proper deity, his divine sonship, and personality: this descent was by the assumption of the human nature into union with his divine person, which was an instance of amazing grace and condescension. The Jew m objects to this, and says,
“if this respects the descent of the soul, the soul of every man descended from thence; but if it respects the body, the rest of the evangelists contradict his words, particularly Luke, when he says, Lu 2:7 that his mother brought him forth at Bethlehem.”
But this descent regards neither his soul nor body, but his divine person, which always was in heaven, and not any local descent of that; but, as before observed, an assumption of human nature, which he took of the virgin on earth; and so there is no contradiction between the evangelists; nor is descent from heaven unsuitable to Christ as a divine person, since it is ascribed to God, Ge 11:7; and if God may be said to go down from heaven by some display of his power, and intimation of his presence, Christ may be said to descend from heaven by that marvellous work of his, taking upon him our nature, and walking up and down on earth in the form of a servant; and which was done with this view, as he says,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me; that is, not to do his own will, as separate from his Father’s, and much less as contrary to it; otherwise he did come to do his own will, which, as God, was the same with his Father’s, he being one with him in nature, and so in power and will; and though his will, as man, was distinct from his Father’s, yet not repugnant, but resigned unto it: and this will he came to do, was to preach the Gospel, fulfil the law, work miracles, and obtain the eternal redemption and salvation of his people. What the above Jewish writer n objects to this part of the text is of very little moment: whose words are;
“moreover, what he says, “not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”, shows, that he that sent, is not one and the same with him that is sent, seeing the will of him that is sent, is not as the will of him that sends.”
It is readily granted that they are not one and the same person; they are two distinct persons, which sending, and being sent, do clearly show; but then they are one in nature, though distinct in person, and they agree in will and work. Christ came not to do any will of his own different from that of his Father’s; nor do these words imply a difference of wills in them, much less a contrariety in them, but rather the sameness of them.
m R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 44. p. 434. n R. Chizzuk Emmuna, par. 2. c. 44. p. 434.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I am come down (). Perfect active indicative of . See on 33 for frequent use of this phrase by Jesus. Here is correct rather than with .
Not to do ( ). “Not that I keep on doing” (final clause with and present active subjunctive of ).
But the will ( ). Supply after , “but that I keep on doing.” This is the fulness of joy for Jesus, to do his Father’s will (John 4:34; John 5:30).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
From heaven [ ] . But the best texts read ejk, from, instead of ejk, out of, the idea being rather that of departure (I came down) than of origin. I came down should be as Rev. (I am come down). The tense is the perfect.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For I came down from heaven,” (hoti katabebeka apo tou ouranou) ”Because I have come down from heaven,” on a mission, from an high and holy place, to a sinful and lowly place, 2Co 8:9; Eph 4:10-11.
2) “Not to do mine own will,” (ouch hina poio to thelema to emon) “Not in order that I may do my will,” independently, carnally, or selfishly, Luk 19:10; Heb 10:7; Php_2:5-8; Joh 17:4-5.
3) “But the will of him that sent me.” (alla to thelema tou pempsantos me) “But the will of the one who sent me,” the priority will, the high and holy will of the Father who sent Him, the supreme will. Such required that He protect and provide for all that was committed to Him, Joh 3:35; Joh 4:43; Joh 5:22; Joh 5:27; Joh 5:30; Psa 40:7-8; Mat 26:39.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
38. For I came down from heaven. This is a confirmation of the preceding statement, that we do not seek Christ in vain. For faith is a work of God, by which he shows that we are his people, and appoints his Son to be the protector of our salvation. Now the Son has no other design than to fulfill the commands of his Father. Consequently, he will never reject those whom his Father hath sent. Hence, finally, it follows, that faith will never be useless. As to the distinction which Christ makes between his own will and the will of the Father, in this respect, he accommodates himself to his hearers, because, as the mind of man is prone to distrust, we are wont to contrive some diversity which produces hesitation. To cut off every pretense for those wicked imaginations, Christ declares, that he has been manifested to the world, in order that he may actually ratify what the Father hath decreed concerning our salvation.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(38) Not to do mine own will.Comp. Joh. 5:30. He has spoken of the Fathers gift and of human action. He now once more identifies His own will with that of the Father, and yet states the fact of His possessing an independent will. It cannot be that He should cast out any one who comes. He knows, indeed, with the knowledge of human nature, how hard it is for men to read the spiritual through the sensuous, and what are the hindrances in the way of every seeker of truth. Added to this, He knows, with a divine knowledge, what is the infinite love of the Father, and He has Himself come down from heaven to fulfil heavens will in love to man.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
38. Not to do mine own will Not to separate myself by personal self-will from the Father, but perfectly to cooperate and carry out his scheme of redeeming mercy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For I am come down from Heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me’.
He stresses once again that He has come down from Heaven, and that in order to do the Father’s will. It is important not to glide over this amazing fact. We can so take it for granted that we lose the wonder of it. For as we will discover in Joh 17:5 the point was that He had put aside the glory which He had had with the Father before the world was, for our sakes. He had left the splendour of heaven, and His exalted place within it, and had abased Himself by coming to earth. The verb is now in the aorist, indicating a specific once-for-all coming down as man. But He emphasises that He has not come down from Heaven simply to choose His own path and do whatever He wants. Rather He has come to do the Father’s work in the Father’s way. He has a divine task to fulfil. Father and Son are working in total cooperation. Thus those who feed on Him by hearing Him and trusting in Him, will in fact be those given to Him by the Father. Father and Son are working together in total unison.
‘Not to do my own will’. He was, of course, doing His own will as He was well aware, for His will aligned with His Father’s will. But His point was that His primary concern was to do the Father’s will. His was not a ‘one-man exercise’. The whole of the Triune God was involved.
We have here a reminder that the reason that Jesus is described as ‘the Son’ is partly because He is ‘the One sent’ to represent the Godhead, in the same way as a son might be sent by his father as representative of the whole family. The idea of ‘Sonship’ also indicates to us that He shares the same nature with the Father. He is the only true Son by nature. What it does not signify is that He was born at some point in time after the Father. For in eternity He is co-eternal and co-equal with the Father (‘in the beginning the Word was already in existence’ – Joh 1:1).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 6:38. I came down from heaven, &c. “I came not to act according to the bent of human passions, which lead men to return whatever injuries are done them; and therefore I will not instantly leave off exhortingthose who at first reject me. Neither will I inflict immediate punishment on them; but I will bear with them, and try all possible means to bring them to repentance, that they may be saved; for I am come to do the will of him that sent me.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Ver. 38. Not to do mine own will ] As man, he did his Father’s will; as God, he hath the same will with the Father.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
38 40. ] His reception of men is not capricious, nor even of His own arbitrary choice; but as He came into the world to do the Father’s will, and that will is that all who come to Him by faith shall have life, so He receives all such; loses none of them; and will raise them all up (here, in the fullest and blessed sense ) at the last day. ( again is not ‘ destroy ,’ ‘ condemn ,’ but lose: see ch. Joh 12:25 ; Joh 17:12 . , Euthym [92] ) Olshausen remarks, that “in ch. 4 we had only the inexhaustible refreshing of the soul by the water of life; but this discourse goes further; that not even death itself shall destroy the body of him who has been nourished by this bread of life” (ii. 167).
[92] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
refers to the only resurrection which is the completion of the man in his glorified state; it does not set aside the , but that very term is a debasement of : its true sense is only .
Bengel has beautifully given the connexion of this last promise with what went before: “hic finis est, ultra quem periculum nullum.” But there is much more than this in it. In this declaration ( Joh 6:39-40 ) is contained the key of the following discourse, Joh 6:44-59 . The end of the work of God, as regards man, is the glorification of his restored and sanctified nature, body, soul, and spirit , in eternity. Without this, salvation, restitution, would be incomplete. The adoption cannot be consummated without the redemption of the body. Rom 8:18-23 . And the glorification of the body, soul, and spirit, of the whole man, cannot take place but by means of the glorified Body of the second Adam . “He who does not see this, will never understand either the Holy Communion, or this testimony of the Lord in its inner meaning.” Stier, iv. 243, edn. 2.
The here is a different thing from the mere of Joh 6:36 . It is the awakening of the attention preparatory to faith, answering to the looking on the serpent of brass: , Euthym [93] ; but afterwards he makes the = , to which it is only preparatory.
[93] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 6:38-39 . . Everywhere Jesus forestalls the idea that He is speaking for Himself, and is uttering merely human judgments, or is in any way regulated in His action by what is arbitrary: it is the Supreme Will He represents. And this will requires Him to protect and provide for all that is committed to Him. , on this nominative absolute, see Lcke or Raphel, who justify it by many instances. The positive and negative aspects of the Redeemer’s work, and the permanence of its results, are indicated. On , Bengel says: “Hic finis est ultra quem periculum nullum,” and Calvin finely: “Sit ergo hoc animis nostris infixum porrectam esse nobis manum a Christo, ut nos minime in medio cursu deserat, sed quo ejus ductu freti secure ad diem ultimum oculos attollere audeamus”. It is a perfect and enduring salvation the Father has designed to give us in Christ.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
I came down = I am come down.
will. Greek. thelema. App-102.
sent. See note on Joh 1:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
38-40.] His reception of men is not capricious, nor even of His own arbitrary choice; but as He came into the world to do the Fathers will, and that will is that all who come to Him by faith shall have life, so He receives all such;-loses none of them;-and will raise them all up (here, in the fullest and blessed sense) at the last day. ( again is not destroy, condemn, but lose: see ch. Joh 12:25; Joh 17:12. , Euthym[92]) Olshausen remarks, that in ch. 4 we had only the inexhaustible refreshing of the soul by the water of life; but this discourse goes further;-that not even death itself shall destroy the body of him who has been nourished by this bread of life (ii. 167).
[92] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
refers to the only resurrection which is the completion of the man in his glorified state;-it does not set aside the , but that very term is a debasement of : its true sense is only .
Bengel has beautifully given the connexion of this last promise with what went before: hic finis est, ultra quem periculum nullum. But there is much more than this in it. In this declaration (Joh 6:39-40) is contained the key of the following discourse, Joh 6:44-59. The end of the work of God, as regards man, is the glorification of his restored and sanctified nature,-body, soul, and spirit,-in eternity. Without this,-salvation, restitution, would be incomplete. The adoption cannot be consummated without the redemption of the body. Rom 8:18-23. And the glorification of the body, soul, and spirit,-of the whole man,-cannot take place but by means of the glorified Body of the second Adam. He who does not see this, will never understand either the Holy Communion, or this testimony of the Lord in its inner meaning. Stier, iv. 243, edn. 2.
The here is a different thing from the mere of Joh 6:36. It is the awakening of the attention preparatory to faith, answering to the looking on the serpent of brass: , Euthym[93]; but afterwards he makes the = , to which it is only preparatory.
[93] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 6:38. , I came down) This speech in many things flows from His personal union with the Father. For His descent from heaven refers to the nature which He had, prior to His birth from Mary according to the flesh.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 6:38
Joh 6:38
For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.-The end of all Gods dealings with men is to bring them to do the will of God. Jesus came from heaven to earth to lead men in this way. He had no will of his own apart from the will of God. To do that will was the supreme and only object of Jesus and should be of his followers.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I came: Joh 6:33, Joh 3:13, Joh 3:31, Eph 4:9
not: Joh 4:34, Joh 5:30, Psa 40:7, Psa 40:8, Isa 53:10, Mat 20:28, Mat 26:39-42, Rom 15:3, Phi 2:7, Phi 2:8, Heb 5:8, Heb 10:7-9
Reciprocal: Gen 18:21 – I will go down Exo 3:8 – I am Exo 19:11 – the Lord Num 16:28 – of mine Dan 11:36 – do Mar 14:36 – nevertheless Luk 2:49 – my Luk 4:43 – therefore Luk 22:42 – not Joh 5:43 – come Joh 7:16 – but Joh 8:28 – and that Joh 8:29 – for Joh 10:18 – This Joh 10:36 – sent Joh 11:42 – that thou Joh 12:49 – General Joh 14:10 – words Act 7:34 – and am Rom 10:6 – to bring 2Co 6:17 – and I Gal 1:4 – according Gal 4:4 – God Heb 3:2 – faithful
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
This verse is more along the line of cooperation between Jesus and his Father. Jesus came into the world to do that very thing (Heb 10:9).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 6:38. Because I have come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. The previous verse was full of the power and energy of love; but even then Jesus expresses no feeling or purpose of His own as the motive of His acts. He will cast out none, because such is the Fathers will, and to do this will He has come down from heaven (comp. Joh 6:33).
It may be well, however, to observe that a different preposition from that in Joh 6:33 is here used: here from, for it is the work of Jesus; there out of, for it is the heavenliness of His origin that is the prominent thought.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these words our Saviour gives us the confirmation of the foregoing promise, that he will in no wise cast out those that come unto him, by assuring us, that it was the great end for which he came into the world. His Father sent him to do his will, and not his own: that is, not to do his own will without his Father’s, but to do his own will and his Father’s. For Christ, as God, had a co-ordinate will with his Father’s, and as man, a will subordinate to the will of his Father. Now, it is the will of both Father and Son, that such as believe in him should be preserved from perishing, and be raised up by Christ at the last day.
Learn hence, 1. That the Lord Jesus Christ stands not only inclined by his own mercy and goodness to save repenting and believing sinners, but doth also stand obliged thereunto by virtue of a trust, committed to him from the Father. Therefore Christ mentions the will of him that sent him, as a reason of his fidelity in this matter.
Learn, 2. That the Father’s will and good pleasure is the original source the fountain and first spring, from whence the salvation of believers doth proceed and flow. It is the Father’s will that sent me, that every one that seeth the son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.
Learn, 3. That such as are given to Christ by the Father, and put as his trust into his keeping, he looks upon them as his charge, and stands engaged for the preservation of them. This is my Father’s will, that of all which he hath given me, I shall lose nothing. Yet hath the Father so committed the care of believers to his Son, as that he keeps them still in his own hand. My Father which gave them to me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. Joh 10:28-29
Learn, 4. From those words, I will raise him up at the last day, that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly, essentially, and really God. That person who can by his own almighty power raise the dead, must certainly be God. And this power Christ had. He raised others from the dead, and his own dead body from the grave also, by his own power; and therefore Christ says, I am the resurrection and the life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Doubtless he that spake these words and made these promises, knew his own power to perform them; and that power must be omnipotent, and that act of omnipotence doth prove him to be God. It is true, the disciples raised the dead, who yet were no God, by with this difference, they raised the dead by Christ’s power; but Christ raised others and himself also by his own power.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 6:38-40. For I came down from heaven Into this lower world; not to do mine own will Or to seek any separate interest of my own; but the will of him that sent me Who is loving to every man, and willeth not the death of a sinner. And this is the Fathers will This he revealeth to be his will; that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing It is the will of my Father that every thing necessary be done, both for the conversion of sinners and for the preservation of those in the paths of righteousness who are already converted. He even willeth all men to be saved, yea, eternally saved; and in order thereto, to come to the knowledge of the truth, and to persevere therein. But he willeth these things conditionally, and not absolutely: men through his grace must repent, and bring forth fruit worthy of repentance: they must believe in Christ, and in the truths and promises of his gospel, with a faith that worketh by love: they must resist the devil, steadfast in the faith; overcome the world, and crucify the flesh: they must endure unto the end, believing, loving, and obeying; must be faithful unto death, and then they shall receive the crown of life. And this is likewise the will of him that sent me This also he wills conditionally; that every one which seeth the Son Seeth the character and mission of the Son in the miracles which he works, and in the other evidences wherewith his mission is attended: as in Joh 6:36; or who recognises the Son, views him with an attentive mind; as seems evidently to imply; that sees him so as to know him; and in consequence of that knowledge, cordially believeth on him Receiving him by faith, and trusting in him as an all-sufficient Saviour; may have everlasting life It is the fixed determination of the Father, to bestow everlasting life on all who persevere in this faith; and therefore, in execution of my Fathers will; I will raise all such up at the last day I will make them completely happy, both in soul and body, in the enjoyment of a glorious immortality: nor are there any purposes or decrees of God inconsistent with this. Thus did Jesus place the character of the Messiah in a light very different from that in which his hearers had been accustomed to view it; and taught them, that instead of temporal blessings, which they expected from him, they were to receive none but such as were spiritual.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine {k} own will, but the will of him that sent me.
(k) See above in Joh 5:22 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus next explained why He would accept all who come to Him and will preserve them. The purpose of the Incarnation was that the Son would fulfill the Father’s will. The Father’s will was that the Son should lose no individual of all whom the Father gave Him. Preserving them includes raising them from the dead to eternal life. The distant purpose of the Father is the eternal life of those whom He gives to the Son, namely, those who believe on the Son. Jesus Himself will raise believers. This is an added proof of our security.
"This thought is of the greatest comfort to believers. Their assurance is based not on their feeble hold on Christ, but on his sure grip on them (cf. Joh 10:28 f.)." [Note: Morris, p. 326.]
Beholding the Son equals believing in Him here. Jesus meant beholding with the eyes of faith. The last day is the day of the resurrection of believers, whenever it may occur. It is last in the sense that it will be the last day that we experience mortality.
"Joh 6:37-40 contains Jesus’ explanation of the process of personal salvation. These are among the most profound words He ever spoke, and we cannot hope to plumb their depths completely. He explained that salvation involves both divine sovereignty and human responsibility." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:312.]
The fact of divine election did not embarrass Jesus or John. Even though God has chosen the elect for salvation, they must believe on Jesus. Jesus balanced these truths beautifully in this discourse (cf. Joh 17:1; Joh 17:6; Joh 17:9; Joh 17:24). He likewise affirmed the eternal security of the believer (cf. Joh 17:11-12). If one believer failed to reach heaven, it would be a disgrace for the Son since it would indicate His inability or unwillingness to fulfill the Father’s will. Judas Iscariot may appear at first to be an exception, but God did not choose Him for salvation (Joh 6:70-71; Joh 17:12) even though Jesus chose him as one of the Twelve.