Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:41
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
41. The Jews then murmured at him ] Better, The Jews therefore muttered respecting Him, talked in an under tone among themselves about Him: it does not necessarily mean that they found fault, though the context shews that they did (comp. Joh 6:61, Joh 7:12). From the mention of the Jews we are to understand that there were some of the hostile party among the multitude, perhaps some members of the Sanhedrin; but not that the whole multitude were hostile, though carnally-minded and refusing to believe without a further sign. Comp. Joh 1:19, Joh 2:18, Joh 5:10, Joh 7:11, &c.
I am the bread which came down from heaven ] They put together the statements in Joh 6:33; Joh 6:35; Joh 6:38.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Joh 6:41-51
The Jews then murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven
Weighty truths
I.
THAT CHRISTS LOWLY CONDITION IS A STUMBLING-BLOCK TO THE NATURAL MAN.
1. Had He come as a conqueror with royal favours for His followers they would have received Him willingly; but their pride refused to believe that the lowly prophet was from God.
2. There is nothing surprising in this. It is human nature showing itself in its true colours (1Co 1:23). Thousands reject the gospel because of its humbling doctrines. Christs teaching and example they admire, but His blood they cannot away with.
II. MANS NATURAL INABILITY TO REPENT AND BELIEVE, until the Father draws him. We are spiritually dead and without the power to give ourselves life. The will of man is the part of him that is in fault. It would not be true to say that a man has wish to come, but no power; it is that a man has no power because he has no desire.
III. THE SALVATION OF A BELIEVER IS A PRESENT THING. It is not said that he shall have life at the judgment day, but that he has it now. (Bishop Ryle.)
Four enigmas solved
I. The enigma of CHRISTS HEAVENLY ORIGIN (Joh 6:41-43).
1. The mystery propounded. The difficulty was not that the Messiahs origin should be mysterious. The popular opinion, based on Dan 7:13, was that when Christ came no one should know whence He was (vii. 27). But the Jews supposed that they knew exactly whence Jesus was, and that He should have come down from heaven seemed absurd.
2. The mystery resolved. What to the learned Scripturists of His day was a puzzle He left a puzzle. To have refuted their objections by a declaration of what took place at Bethlehem would only have increased their incredulity. The true method of faith is not to believe that Christ is Divine because the Incarnation story is authentic: but that Christ having been powerfully declared to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection (Rom 1:4), the account given of His conception must be correct.
II. The enigma of MANS RESPONSIBLITY (verses 43-45).
1. The difficulty set forth. Christ blamed His hearers for their unbelief (verse 36), and yet affirmed (verse 44). This is what the intellect of centuries has wrestled with.
2. The difficulty set aside.
(1) Not by denying the fact of mans responsibility (Joh 5:40; Joh 6:36). This the Scripture often declares (Rom 1:18; Rom 6:23; Eph 1Pe 3:12) and conscience confirms.
(2) Not by explaining away the alleged necessity of Divine grace (verses 37, 44, 45). But
(3) By showing that the Fathers drawing interferes pot with human freedom. In naming it drawing and a teaching Christ makes it a moral suasion.
III. Enigma of SAVING FAITH (verses 46, 47).
1. The perplexity stated. If no one could come to Him without first hearing and learning of the Father, then no one could come (Exo 33:20; 1Ti 6:16). This, though not expressed, was clearly the hearers thoughts.
2. The perplexity recognized. He admitted that no one had ever seen the Father.
3. The perplexity removed. He, the Son, had seen the Father (verses 19; 1:18; 16:28). Hence to hear and learn of the Father was to hear and learn of Him whom He had sent. To learn of the Father one must be a disciple of Christ.
IV. The enigma of ETERNAL LIFE (verses 47-51).
1. The riddle proposed. The manna had only supported physical life for a few years, and those who had partaken of it were dead. The Jews were at a loss to know how Christ could do more for them than Moses.
2. The riddle read.
(1) The bread of life was a living, spiritual Person (verse 48).
(2) It was in itself living and life-giving.
(3) When eaten by the soul it communicates to the soul the life itself contained.
(4) The soul thus vivified could not die. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Reason and faith
There is nothing so truly reasonable as to exclude reason from the province of faith; and nothing so truly irrational as to lose sight of reason in things which are not necessarily of faith. The two excesses are equally dangerous–to shut out reason, or to make it all in all. Faith tells us what the senses cannot tell; but it never contradicts them; it is above, and not against them. (Pascal.)
Murmuring a great sin
Consider that murmuring is a mercy-embittering sin, a mercy-souring sin. As the sweetest things put into a sour vessel sours them, or put into a bitter vessel embitters them, so murmuring puts gall and wormwood into every cup of mercy that God gives into our hands. The murmurer writes Marah, that is, bitterness, upon all his mercies, and he reads and tastes bitterness in them all. As to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet, so to the murmuring soul every sweet thing is bitter. (T. Brook.)
Murmuring a hydra-headed sin
As the River Nile bringeth forth many crocodiles, and the scorpion many serpents, at one birth, so murmuring is a sin that breeds and brings forth many sins at once. It is like the monster hydra–cut off one head and many will rise up in its room. It is the mother of harlots, the mother of all abominations, a sin that breeds many other sins, viz., disobedience, contempt, ingratitude, impatience, distrust, rebellion, cursing, carnality; yea, it charges God with folly, yea, with blasphemy. The language of a murmuring soul is this, Surely God might have done this sooner, and that wiser, and the other thing better. (T. Brooks.)
No man can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him
Coming to Christ
I. THE RELIGIOUS ACTION OF WHICH CHRIST SPEAKS. Coming to Him–a frequent Scriptural phrase expressive of the first step in religion.
1. Its nature. An act of the soul. There was no impediment to a literal approach. He was always accessible. Coming is used for faith in Christ as prophet, priest, and king, and living on His fulness for all spiritual purposes.
2. Its importance.
(1) Implied in the invitation of Scripture, Come unto Me.
(2) In the promises (Joh 6:37).
(3) In the directions, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
(4) In the decisions, If ye believe not ye shall die.
II. THE INABILITY OF MAN TO PERFORM IT OF HIMSELF. Whence does this arise?
1. Not from any Divine decree, for it would be neither just nor reasonable to command men to believe and to decree that they should not. But
2. From the depravity of the heart.
3. And in some cases carnal policy operates to fetter the mind to its moral powers. Success in life is the one thing needful.
4. From religious mistakes. Some imagine that they have come in sacramental actions, or by the repetition of certain words, or by good works.
III. THE DIVINE AGENCY BY WHICH IT IS ACCOMPLISHED.
1. The Father. He draws by moral and persuasive means. He draws man as guilty that He may be pardoned; as ignorant, that he may be instructed, etc.
2. The process is generally conviction of sin, desire for salvation, direction to the cross, discovery of a Saviour, trust, safety, rest.
IV. THE DELIVERANCE PROMISED.
1. The solemn event which the language implies. We must die.
2. The resurrection promised. The event is general, but the benefit is particular.
3. The agency by which it is effected. I, which shows the dignity and power of Christ.
4. The period of its performance–the last day. The day for which all others were made, and to which they are introductory.
Conclusion:
1. In coming to Christ nothing can prevent your salvation (Joh 10:27-29).
2. In turning from Him-nothing can save you from perdition. (J. E. Good.)
The Christian now drawn to Christ, and hereafter to be raised by Him
I. OUR COMING TO CHRIST.
1. This is not to be understood corporeally. It was not so taken by Himself. Ye will not come, and yet many literally come from captiousness, curiosity, for loaves and fishes, and under temporary emotion, and after awhile went back.
2. But the expression is taken from the body, and there is hardly a part of it that has not been used to hold forth the operations of faith. Sometimes the reference is
(1) To the eye; then believing is seeing Christ.
(2) To the ear; then believing is hearing Him.
(3) To the taste; then believing is eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
(4) To the head; then believing is knowing Him.
(5) To the feet; then believing is coming to Him.
3. This coming to Christ implies
(1) Absence. Else why come?
(2) Accessibleness. How can we come unless we can approach
Him? Lo, I am with you alway.
(3) Application. We come to Him
(a) As the way that we may walk with Him;
(b) As to a refuge that we may enter Him;
(c) As to a fountain that we may be cleansed;
(d) As a foundation on which we may build;
(e) As to a physician for cure;
(f) As our prophet, priest, and king, to be taught, saved, and ruled over by Him.
4. Faith is trust, confidence.
II. MANS INABILITY WITHOUT DIVINE AGENCY.
1. This is a very unwelcome doctrine, even to those who admit human depravity; but it is wrapped up in that depravity.
2. This is a Scriptural doctrine–In our flesh dwelleth no good thing.
3. This is a doctrine based upon the nature of things. As we cannot perform natural actions without the concurrence of nature, how can we perform spiritual actions without the concurrence of the Spirit?
4. This is a doctrine of importance.
(1) It serves to show those who are the subjects of this work what is their duty to bless and praise God for His sovereign grace.
(2) It serves to show sinners their duty to pray to Him who wills all men to be saved.
III. THE INFLUENCE BY WHICH THE SOUL IS BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. In a general way the Father draws thus.
1. There is a confliction of sin
2. This produces distress and fear:
3. Hence renunciation and despair.
4. Yet along with this is hope.
5. Concurrently new desires after Jesus.
6. Reception of Jesus as a Saviour, and reliance on His salvation.
IV. THE FINAL BLESSEDNESS RESULTING FROM THIS.
1. The speciality of this reference. He will raise all, but the privilege is limited to some.
2. The memory of this blessedness. It is the completion of the blessedness of a persevering Christian life. Without the body the Christian man would be incomplete. Man will be raised infinitely improved.
3. The Author of it. Christ is not only the model of this resurrection, but its accomplisher.
4. Its certainty. If it were not so, He would have told them. Because I live ye shall live also. (W. Jay.)
Human inability
I. MANS INABILITY. Wherein does this consist?
1. Not in any physical defect. If in coming to Christ moving the body should be any assistance, or includes the utterance of a prayer, man can come.
2. Nor in any mental lack. Man can believe in the Bible and in Christ as in anything else. But
3. In his nature, which is so debased by the Fall that it is impossible for him to come without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. To enter into the subject of this inability note
(1) It lies in the obstinacy of the human will, which is set on mischief and disinclined to that which is good.
(2) The understanding is darkened so that it cannot perceive the things of God until opened by the Holy Spirit.
(3) The affections are depraved and must be renewed. We love that we ought to hate, and hate that we ought to love.
(4) Conscience has been impaired by the Fall, and must be repaired.
4. So that while largely this is a question of the will, it is not exclusively so, for sometimes even in the regenerate there is will without power, much more in those who are dead in trespasses and sins.
5. Were it otherwise, how are we to account for the uniform testimony of the Scriptures that our salvation is wholly due to God?
6. This doctrine is condemned for its hurtful tendency. But what doctrine is there that will not hurt a man if he chooses to make hurt of it? So with this otherwise it only hurts Satans kingdom.
7. You are not warranted in saying, If I cannot save myself and cannot come to Christ, I must sit still and do nothing. There are many things you can do.
(1) To be found continually in the house of God is in your power.
(2) To study the Word of God.
(3) To renounce outward sin.
(4) To make your life honest, sober, righteous.
8. But your want of power is no excuse, seeing you have no desire to come, and are living in wilful rebellion. Suppose a liar has been a liar so long that he says he has no power to speak the truth, is that an excuse? Ii a drunkard has become so foully a drunkard that he cannot pass a public-house, do you therefore excuse him? No; because his inability to reform lies in his nature, which he has no desire to conquer.
II. THE FATHERS DRAWINGS.
1. God draws men by the preaching of the gospel, but not by this alone, for the men of Capernaum had the gospel in its fulness, and attested by miracles. There is such a thing as being drawn by a minister without being drawn by God.
2. Clearly it is a Divine drawing, a sending out of the Third Person in the Holy Trinity.
3. In this there is no compulsion. Christ saves no one against his will.
4. How then does the Holy Spirit draw him? By making him willing. He goes to the secret fountain of the heart and he knows how, by some mysterious operation, to turn the will in an opposite direction. But he is saved with full consent, for he is made willing in the day of Gods power. Draw me and I will run after Thee.
5. How this is done is a mystery, but the apparent way is:
(1) He finds a man with a good opinion of himself–an effectual barrier to coming to Christ–and lays bare,the mans heart, full of sin, so that he stands aghast.
(2) The man says I will try and reform–another barrier–but the Holy Spirit shows him he cannot do this.
(3) The heart sinks, and the man is ready to despair–then the Spirit shows him the Cross and enables him to believe.
III. APPLICATION:
1. One says, If all this be true, what is to become of my religion? I must give it up and begin again. That will be better than building on the sand of your ability, and as soon as you say, I cannot come to Christ; Lord draw me, grace is begun in your heart, and God will not leave you till the work is finished.
2. Careless sinner, thy salvation hangs in Gods hand, and He is the Gad thou art grieving every day. Does not this make them tremble. If so the Spirit has begun to draw.
3. Some of you are conscious that you are coming to Christ. It is the Fathers doing–With lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
4. Rejoice in this love those of you who have come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Things to be remembered
I. We must never suppose that the doctrine of this verse TAKES AWAY MANS RESPONSIBILITY to God for his soul. On the contrary, the Bible always distinctly declares that if any man is lost, it is his own fault Mar 8:36). If we cannot reconcile Gods sovereignty and mans responsibility now, we need not doubt that it will be all plain at the last day.
II. Nor does Christs teaching here LIMIT THE OFFERS OF SALVATION TO SINNERS. On the contrary, we must hold firmly that pardon and peace are to be offered freely through Christ to all without exception. We never know who they are that God will draw, and have nothing to do with it. Our duty is to invite all, and leave it to God to choose the vessels of mercy.
III. We must not suppose THAT WE, OR ANYBODY ELSE, ARE DRAWN, UNLESS WE COME TO CHRIST BY FAITH. This is the grand mark and evidence of any one being the subject of the Fathers drawing work. If drawn he comes to Christ, believes, and lives. Where there is no faith and love, there may be talk, self-conceit, and high profession. But there is no drawing of the Father.
IV. We must always remember THAT GOD ORDINARILY WORKS BY MEANS, and specially by such means as He Himself has appointed. No doubt He acts as a sovereign. But we must carefully maintain the great principle that God ordinarily draws through the instrumentality of His Word. The man that neglects the public preaching and private reading of Gods Word, has no right to expect that God will draw him. The thing is possible, but highly improbable.
V. WE MUST NEVER ALLOW OURSELVES OR OTHERS TO WASTE TIME IN TRYING TO FIND out, as a first question, WHETHER WE ARE DRAWN OF GOD the Father, elect, chosen, and the like. The first and main question is, whether we have come to Christ by faith. If we have, let us take comfort and be thankful. (Bp. Ryle.)
The drawing of the Father
Man is like a waggon sunk in the mire under a heavy load, and Divine love is the strong team which draws it up and draws it forward. (R. Besser, D. D.)
Just as the magnet does not attract everything, but only iron, so there must be in man a disposedness of heart, before Gods drawing can take hold of him. (Theophylact.)
A man cannot come to Christ unassisted by the Holy Spirit
I have seen a captive eagle, caged far from its distant home, as he sat mournful-like on his perch, turn his eye sometimes heavenwards; there he would sit in silence, like one wrapt in thought, gazing through the bars of his cage up into the blue sky; and after a while, as if noble but sleeping instincts had suddenly awoke, he would start and spread out his broad sails, and leap upward, revealing an iron chain that, usually covered by his plumage, drew him back again to his place. But though this bird of heaven knew the way to soar aloft, and sometimes, under the influence of old instincts, decayed, but not altogether dead, felt the thirst of freedom, freedom was not for him, till a power greater than his own proclaimed liberty to the captive, and shattered the shackles that bound him to his perch. Nor is there freedom for us till the Holy Spirit sets us free, and by the lightning force of truth, breaks the chains that bind us to sin. (Dr. Guthrie.)
Why men cannot come to Christ
You see a mother with her babe in her arm. You put a knife into her hand and tell her to stab that babe to the heart. She replies, very truthfully, I cannot. Now, so far as her bodily power is concerned she can if she pleases, there is the knife, and there is the child. But she is quite correct when she says she cannot do it. Her nature as a mother forbids her doing that from which her soul revolts. It is even so with a sinner. Coming to Christ is so obnoxious to human nature that, although so far as physical and mental forces are concerned men could come if they would, it is strictly correct to say that they cannot and will not unless the Father who hath sent Christ doth draw them. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
And they shall be all taught of God
The teachings of God opened
I. WHAT IS IMPORTED BY OUR BEING TAUGHT OF GOD.
1. Negatively. The text is not to be understood
(1) of any extraordinary, visional appearances, or miraculous and immediate voice of God (Num 12:8; Heb 1:1-2),
(2) nor as opposite to or exclusive of the teachings of men. Saul was taught of God (Gal 1:12). Yet the ministry of Ananias was honoured (Act 9:4; Act 9:17).
2. Positively: the teachings of God (2Co 4:6 : Joh 14:26) are
(1) The sanctifying impressions of the Holy Spirit by virtue of which the soul receives marvellous light and insight into spiritual things, and this not only at conversion but continuously (1Jn 2:27; Joh 7:17; Jer 31:33). Sanctification gives the soul experience of the truths of Scripture.
(2) The gracious assistances of the Spirit as our need requires Mat 10:19; Joh 14:26).
II. WHAT THOSE SPECIAL TRUTHS ARE WHICH BELIEVERS LEARN.
1. That there is abundantly more evil in their natures than they ever discerned before (Joh 16:8-9). There is threefold knowledge of sin.
(1) Traditional in the rude multitude;
(2) discursive in the more rational;
(3) intuitive in the divinely enlightened.
2. The wrath and misery which hang over the world in consequence of sin. Scripture threatenings were before slighted (Isa 28:15; Psa 50:21); now they see that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:1-23.).
3. That deliverance from sin is the greatest business man has to do in this Act 16:30).
4. That though it be obligatory to strive after salvation, yet ones own strength is insufficient to attain it.
5. That though the case be sad it is not remediless. There is a door of hope and way of escape.
6. That there is a fulness of saving power in Christ whereby any soul that duly receives Him may be delivered from all its guilt and misery Heb 7:25; Col 1:19; Mat 28:18).
7. That we can never reap any benefit from the blood of Christ without union with Christ (1Jn 5:12; Eph 4:16).
8. That whatever is necessary in order to this union is to be obtained in the way of prayer (Eze 36:37).
9. To abandon their former ways and companions (Isa 55:7; 2Co 5:17; Psa 119:115), and to see the beauty and excellency of the ways and people of God (Psa 16:3; Zec 8:23).
10. That whatever difficulties there maybe in religion they must not be discouraged or return to sin (Luk 9:62; 1Co 9:24).
III. WHAT ARE THE PROPERTIES OF DIVINE TEACHING. God teaches
1. Powerfully (2Co 10:4; 1Th 1:4-5; 1Co 14:25).
2. Sweetly (Son 1:3; Son 5:16),
3. Clearly (2Co 3:16; Luk 24:45).
4. Infallibly (Joh 14:13).
5. Abidingly (Psa 119:98; Jer 31:33).
6. Savingly (2Ti 3:15; Joh 17:3).
7. Penetratively (Mat 11:25; Isa 32:4).
8. Transformingly (2Co 3:18; Rom 6:17).
IV. WHAT INFLUENCE DIVINE TEACHINGS HAVE UPON SOULS IN BRINGING THEM TO CHRIST.
1. They have an influence upon the means (2Co 3:6; 1Co 3:7).
2. Upon the mind to remove what hindered it from Christ.
3. They powerfully allure the sinner to Christ (Hos 2:14).
V. WHY IS IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY MAN TO COME TO CHRIST WITHOUT THE FATHERS TEACHINGS. Because
1. Of the power of sin
(1) Sin is co-natural with the soul (Psa 51:4; Isa 48:8).
(2) The power of sin hath been strengthened by long continued custom which gives it the force of a second nature (Jer 15:23).
(3) Sin is the delight of the sinner (Pro 10:23).
2. Of the indisposition of man (1Co 2:14). Before he can come to Christ
(1) His blind understanding must be enlightened, which is the work of God (2Co 4:6; Rev 3:17; Eph 5:8).
(2) His hard heart must be broken and melted (Act 5:31; Eze 36:26).
(3) His stiff and obstinate will must be conquered (Php 2:13).
3. Of the nature of faith, everything in which is supernatural.
(1) The habit (Eph 2:8).
(2) The light (Heb 11:1; Heb 11:27).
(3) The adventures (Rom 4:18).
(4) The self-denial (Mat 5:29).
(5) The victories (Heb 11:33-34; Act 15:9; 1Jn 5:4). (John Flavel.)
The Christian taught of God
I. THE RECIPIENTS OF THE TEACHING. The people of God; all of them, from the least to the greatest; and that not only instrumentally but directly.
II. ITS SUBJECTS. Spiritual things generally, called
1. Things of God, pertaining to Him and our relationship to Him. His nature and ours; His moral character and ours; His sovereignty and our dependence and duty; His salvation and our need of it.
2. Things of Christ, relating to His person, offices and work.
3. Things of the Spirit, our need of Him; the reality of His influence; His indwelling.
III. ITS NECESSITY.
1. They must be taught. Why so?
(1) Because an all-wise God has ordained it.
(2) Because our ignorance and spiritual darkness require it.
(3) Because this knowledge is the germ of everything of a saving and holy character in a sinners heart.
2. None but God can effectually teach them.
(1) He does not supersede the teaching of His servants, but energizes it.
(2) When the ordinary means fail He does His own teaching.
IV. ITS MEANS.
1. His written Word.
(1) To this all others are subsidiary, and are only helpful so far as they are related to it. Preaching; creeds.
(2) This excludes tradition, modern, so called, inspiration.
(3) But the written Word is not sufficient without the aid of the
Holy Spirit to act upon the heart and to apply its truths.
2. His providence. The man of commerce forgets, e.g., that they that will be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and the God of providence by a calamity brings it to his mind.
3. The Christians inward experience. This harmonizes wonderfully with Scripture, throwing light upon it, and confirming it.
V. ITS EFFECT. God teaches that He may
1. Save.
2. Comfort.
3. Sanctify.
4. Make useful.
5. Make meet for heaven. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Divine light necessary to our salvation
The gospel is a picture of Gods free grace to sinners. Were we in a room hung with the finest paintings, and adorned with the most exquisite statues, we could not see one of them if all light were excluded. Now the blessed Spirits illumination is the same to the mind that outward light is to the bodily eyes. A compass is of no use to the mariner unless he have light to see it by. (Toplady.)
Conviction by the Holy Spirit necessary to conversion
Take the cold iron, and attempt to weld it, if you can, into a certain shape. How fruitless the effort! Lay it on the anvil, seize the blacksmiths hammer with all your might, let blow after blow fall upon it, and you will have done nothing; but put it in the fire, let it be softened and made malleable, then lay it on the anvil, and each stroke shall have a mighty effect, so that you may fashion it into any form you may desire; so take your heart, not cold as it is, not stony as it is by nature, but put it into the furnace; there let it be molten, and after that it can be turned like wax to the seal, and fashioned into the image of Jesus Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Divine teaching necessary
No human teacher can do it. Conscience cannot do it. Law in none of its forms, human or Divine, can do it. Nay, the gospel itself cannot do it. Although the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, yet, unless the Spirit of God draws forth that sword, it lies powerless in its sheath. Only when the Spirit of God wields it, is it quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, a discerner of the thoughts and purposes of the heart. Therefore, as the work of convincing the world of sin is one which nothing less than the Spirit of God can effect–and which yet must be effected thoroughly, if sin is to be driven out from the world–our Saviour was mercifully pleased to send the Comforter to produce this conviction in mankind. (Archdeacon Hare.)
Taught of God
I. THE PERSONS TO WHOM THE PROMISE IS MADE.
1. They must be living ones or they cannot be taught anything. They become so by being quickened together with Christ (Eph 2:5).
2. They are described in Isa 54:13.
3. All that the Father hath given Christ (verses 37, 39). Given
(1) in the covenant of grace to preserve and to teach;
(2) in effectual calling (Joh 17:6).
4. In short, they are those who are loved by the Father, redeemed by the Son and quickened by the Spirit.
II. WHAT SHALL THEY BE TAUGHT?
1. To know themselves
(1) as sinful (Luk 15:18; Rom 7:18).
(2) Their own helplessness (Isa 38:14; Mat 14:30; Joh 15:5).
(3) Their own ignorance (Psa 25:5; Job 36:22).
2. To know Christ as their way of life and salvation.
(1) The suitableness of His righteousness (Isa 45:24).
(2) The completeness of His atonement (Heb 1:26).
(3) The riches and efficacy of His grace (Joh 1:16; Tit 2:12).
(4) In short to embrace Him as their wisdom, etc. (1Co 1:36), and their Saviour from the charge, punishment, guilt, love, and dominion of sin.
3. To use the means of grace
(1) Prayer;
(2) Reading and hearing Gods Word.
(3) The Lords Supper. (S. Barnard.)
The character of faith
The text shows us
I. WHAT FAITH IS. COMING TO CHRIST.
II. THE REASONABLENESS OF FAITH. It is not the offspring of a diseased imagination, but the result of Divine teaching.
III. THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRIST. All Gods teaching is designed to make us feel our need of Christ. (Preachers Analyst.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 41. The Jews then murmured] Because the whole of his discourse event to prove that he was infinitely greater than Moses; and that he alone could give present peace and eternal glory to men.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Jews were exceedingly prone to this sin of murmuring, which is a complaining either through indignation, or impatience of what men hear spoken, or see done: the thing which offended, seemeth not to be his calling himself the true bread, and the bread of life; but because he said, that he came down from heaven.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
41-46. Jews murmuredmuttered,not in our Lord’s hearing, but He knew it (Joh 6:43;Joh 2:25).
he said, I am the bread,&c.Missing the sense and glory of this, and having no relishfor such sublimities, they harp upon the “Bread from heaven.””What can this mean? Do we not know all about Himwhere, when,and of whom He was born? And yet He says He came down from heaven!”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The Jews then murmured at him,…. When they found that he spoke of himself as the true bread, the bread of God, and bread of life, and as descending from heaven: and which was to be fed upon in a spiritual manner by faith, which they were ignorant of, and had no desire unto: and thus being disappointed of the delicious corporeal food they expected, they grew uneasy, and displeased,
because he said I am the bread which came down from heaven; for though, as yet, he had not said this in so many words, and in this direct form, as afterwards, in Joh 6:51; yet he had said what amounted to it, and which might be easily gathered from Joh 6:35 The Vulgate Latin reads, “I am the living bread”; and the Persic version, “I am the bread of life”. And this last renders the first clause “mocked at him”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Murmured (). Imperfect active of the onomatopoetic verb , late verb in LXX (murmuring against Moses), papyri (vernacular), like the cooing of doves or the buzzing of bees. These Galilean Jews are puzzled over what Jesus had said (verses John 6:33; John 6:35) about his being the bread of God come down from heaven.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Then [] . Rev., rightly, therefore : because of His words.
Murmured [] . See on Jude 1:16, and compare 1Co 10:10; Phi 2:14. The word is constantly used in the Septuagint of the murmuring of Israel in the wilderness. Wyc., grudged of Him. So Chaucer, “Judas grucched agens the Maudeleyn whan sche anoynted the hed of oure Lord” (” Parson’s Tale “); and Shakespeare,
“Served Without or grudge or grumbling.” ” Tempest ” 1, 2, 249.
At Him [ ] . Implying that they addressed their remonstrances to Him. But peri means about or concerning. So Rev., properly, concerning.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “The Jews then murmured at him; (egonguzon oun hoi loudaioi peri autou) “The Jews murmured about him,” found fault, as if He were in error, a sinner of their own caliber or lower, 1Ki 8:46; Their fathers had murmured against Moses, as these later did against Stephen, leading also to his death, Exo 15:24; Exo 17:3; Num 14:2; Num 14:7; Num 14:9; Psa 106:24-25.
2) “Because he said, I am the bread,” (hoti eipen ego eimi ho artos) “Because he (had) said, I am (exist as) the bread;- I who stand before you, not Moses or any other fallen human being; Jesus thus claimed to be Superior to or greater than Moses, Heb 3:1-6.
3) “Which came down from heaven.” (ho katabas ek tou ouranou) “The bread that has come down out of heaven,” Joh 6:38; Joh 6:50-51; Joh 6:58. If the manna was a type of Divinely provided food for all men, somebody had to be that Bread, if not Jesus, who else did they have as an alternate? Joh 8:24; Act 4:12. The Jews just simply would not admit His Divine origin and heavenly mission, Joh 1:11-12; Act 7:51-60.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
41. The Jews therefore murmured concerning him. The Evangelist explains the cause of the murmuring to have been, that the Jews were offended at the mean condition of Christ’s human nature, (150) and did not perceive in him any thing Divine or heavenly. Yet he shows that they had a twofold obstruction. One they had framed for themselves out of a false opinion, when they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we hnow? Another arose from a wicked sentiment, that they did not think that Christ was the Son of God, because he came down to men clothed with our flesh. (151) But we are guilty of excessive malignity, if we despise the Lord of glory because on our account
he emptied himself, and took upon him the form of a servant, (Phi 2:7😉
for this was rather an illustrious proof of his boundless love towards us, and of his wonderful grace. Besides, the Divine majesty of Christ was not so concealed under the mean and contemptible appearance of the flesh, as not to give out the rays of his brightness in a variety of ways; but those gross and stupid men wanted eyes to see his conspicuous glory.
We, too, sin daily in both of these ways. First, it is a great hinderance to us, that it is only with carnal eyes that we behold Christ; and this is the reason why we perceive in him nothing magnificent, for by our sinful views we pervert all that belongs to him and to his doctrine, so unskilful are we to profit by them, or to view them in the proper light. (152) Secondly, not satisfied with this, we adopt many false imaginations, which produce a contempt of the Gospel. Nay, there are even many who frame for themselves monsters, that they may make them a pretense for hating the Gospel. In this manner the world deliberately drives away the grace of God. Now the Evangelist expressly names the Jews, in order to inform us that the murmuring proceeded from those who gloried in the title of faith and of the Church, that we may all learn to receive Christ with reverence, when he comes down to us, and that, in proportion as he comes nearer to us, we may more cheerfully approach to him, that he may raise us to his heavenly glory.
(150) “ De la petitesse de Christ, et de sa humaine condition;” — “at the meanness of Christ, and of his human condition.”
(151) “ Prenant nostre chair.”
(152) “ Tant nous sommes mal adroits a faire nostre profit des choses, et les prendre de la sorte qu’il faut.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE BREAD OF LIFE, II
Text 6:41-51
41
The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven.
42
And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how doth he now say, I am come down out of heaven?
43
Jesus answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44
No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day.
45
It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me.
46
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he that is from God, he hath seen the Father.
47
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life.
48
I am the bread of life.
49
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50
This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
51
I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.
Queries
a.
Why did these people call Joseph Jesus father?
b.
If only those whom the Father draws can come to Jesus, how do we know who is drawn?
c.
How is it possible for Christs flesh to be the Bread of Life? How may man eat of it?
Paraphrase
Because Jesus said, I am the Bread which came down out of heaven, the Jews muttered among themselves, saying, Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, Whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, I have come down out of heaven? Jesus answered them, Stop muttering one to another among yourselves. The reason you cannot accept My claims is because of your trust in human knowledge and wisdom, for no one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him; and those drawn to Me by My Father I will raise up in the last day. Men will be drawn to me, as the prophets said, in this manner: And they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard the Word of God and has learned in his heart is coming to Me. This, of course, does not imply that any mortal has ever seen God face to face. He Who comes from the Father has seen Him. I tell you most emphatically, He who is trusting and obeying Me is now possessing eternal life. I am the Bread of Life I am the source of eternal life. The fathers you so eagerly referred to before, ate the manna in the wilderness; yet they died. But this is the Bread that comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and never die. I am this living Bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. The Bread that I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.
Summary
Again the Jews display their utter lack of spiritual insight, The way to spiritual knowledge is to be drawn of God unto His Son; the way to be drawn is to hear and learn the Word of God. The heaven-sent Food which gives eternal life is the atoning death of Christ. Men appropriate this Food by trusting and obeying the Son of God.
Comment
From the moment Jesus had declared Himself to be sent from the heavenly presence of God, the Jews began to mutter among themselves. One after another was saying, Isnt this Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Joseph the carpenter? why, we know His mother and father! How can He be from heaven? Preposterous! They were judging by human standards; they rejected Jesus because:
a.
They judged things by human values and external standards
b.
They were too eager to express their opinions and argue, while they were not at all interested in Gods revealed will.
c.
They listened, but would not learn (cf. Joh. 5:39-42).
These Jews sound just like our self-styled modernists of today who still stumble over the claims of Jesus to be heaven-sent. Todays skeptics also know Joseph (or some other mortal) to be the father of Jesus. The Galileans said this before (cf. Mat. 13:56; Mar. 6:3). Most conservative scholars see strong inference for the virgin birth here. These Jews were well aware that, when Jesus claimed to be sent from heaven, He was claiming supernatural birth into this world. When they muttered about Knowing His father and mother the inference is strong that Jesus may even have mentioned His virgin birth at least He implied it. The Fourth Gospel complements the Synoptics in the doctrine of the virgin birth (cf. Introduction, page 14).
In Joh. 6:44-45 Jesus explains the reason for their failure to grasp the significance of His teaching. Then He shows them the way to true spiritual knowledge and wisdom. There can be no true knowledge of God apart from His revealed Word. Some may gain partial knowledge of God through nature (cf. Rom. 1:19-20). To know God in the inward man, however, one must hear His Word and learn of Him. Thousands hear Gods Word but never learn it! It is as Jesus said, men must will to do Gods will in order to really learn of God (cf. Joh. 7:17).
The major discussion of these two verses (Joh. 6:44-45) today, however, centers in the manner of Gods drawing men unto Jesus. There is no excuse for all the abuse and misinterpretation to which these verses have been subjected. Jesus interprets His statement concerning the drawing with preciseness and lucidness. Men and women are drawn to Him through Gods revealed Word. The drawing power comes from a knowledge of Gods purposes culminating in the lifting up of the Son of man. R. C. Fosters comments on these verses are very appropriate here:
The coming is man part; the drawing is Gods part; both work together. God draws men to Jesus by the death of Jesus on the cross. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. No man can come to Jesus as Saviour and King in the full sense until God has by His divine plan provided the mysterious drawing power of the cross. The statement of Jesus seems to be in sympathy for the crowd in their rejection of Him. They do not understand His spiritual message, but when He has been crucified before them and the gospel of the cross proclaimed if they do not come to Him then, there is no hope. The drawing is to be done by hearing from the Father, i.e., hearing the Word of God and learning the Way of Life. The drawing cannot be irresistible, otherwise man would be but a machine and no one could choose whether or not He should come to Jesus. No one could accept and obey for himself, if he could not resist the drawing. No man could come to God if he could not also refuse to come. Jesus cites the teaching of God in the Old Testament as the very thing which should have helped to draw them and to cause them to come to Him.
The quotation from the Old Testament is not specific, but general (cf. Isa. 54:13; Isa. 60:2-3; Jer. 31:33-34; Joe. 2:28; Mic. 4:2; Zep. 3:9; Mal. 1:11).
Although we may learn of God through the Son Who has come from the Fathers very bosom, we still do not fully comprehend His purposes and actions, for we are limited by finite restraints and physical hindrances (cf. 1Jn. 4:12; 1Jn. 4:20). Someday, however, we shall see God face to face (cf. 1Jn. 3:2). But until then we must behold Him by faith and trust in the incarnate Son.
In Joh. 6:47-51 Jesus shows further that coming to God is done through faith in the Son. He is the Bread of Life. We are told that we must eat of the Bread of Life. How are we to do this? Joh. 6:51 is the key. The act which truly makes Jesus the Bread of Life is His atoning death upon the cross. This atonement was done willingly (He gave His flesh. cf. Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2; Mat. 20:28). To believe (trust, adhere to, obey) is mans way to eat the Bread of Life. The Scriptures teach burial in baptism to be the culminating act where man appropriates the blood of Christ and His atoning death to mans sins (Rom. 6:1-11; Gal. 3:26-27; Col. 2:10-13; Tit. 3:4-7).
Quiz
1.
What is the significance of the statement of the Jews, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph . . . ? What is implied?
2.
How does one learn of God?
3.
How may we know the true interpretation of Joh. 6:44-45?
4.
What is the drawing power of God (cf. Joh. 3:14; Joh. 8:28; Joh. 12:32; 1Co. 1:23-24)?
5.
Is this drawing able to be resisted? Explain.
6.
While we are in this world, how do we behold God?
7.
How are we to eat the Bread of Life? How do we appropriate Christs blood to our sins?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(41) The Jews murmured at him.Better, concerning Him, as in Joh. 7:12; Joh. 7:32. Here, too, it was among themselves (Joh. 6:43). With the true spirit of objectors, they do not regard what He has since said in explanation, but fasten upon what they do not understand in its most striking form. Perhaps they have not listened to what has followed; indeed, the words imply that they were for some time talking to one another, and interrupting His discourse, and that this led to His answering them. They are the Jewish authorities, representing, and probably in part consisting of, members of the Sanhedrin. (Comp. Note on Joh. 1:19.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
41. The Jews Used in an adverse sense, as opposers of Christ.
Murmured The character and destiny he has assigned them (36-40) now elicit their hostility.
Down from heaven The popular view of the coming of the Son of man from heaven, was doubtless modeled on the scene described in Daniel 7.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘The Judaisers therefore murmured concerning him because he said, “I am the bread which came down from Heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say ‘I am come down from heaven’.” ’
These men had probably not been in the crowds when Jesus wrought His miracle with the bread, and they may even not have been present when the crowds requested bread from Heaven. They were therefore looking at what He had just said out of context. Yet they faced the nub of the matter, the claim of Jesus to have come down from Heaven. They discussed this among themselves and agreed that this was not possible because they knew His human parents. The idea of a heavenly figure becoming man was beyond their conception.
“Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?” The writer wants us to contrast ‘is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph’ on their lips with the Son of the Father (‘the Son’ – Joh 6:40) and the Son of Man (Joh 6:27; Joh 6:53) on Jesus’ lips.
‘Whose father and mother we know’. This may simply mean, ‘have knowledge of’. They thought that they knew His forebears. It is not therefore decisive with regard to whether Joseph was alive or dead. The discerning reader, of course, knows that in fact Joseph was not his human father.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Life-Giving Bread Is For Those Drawn by the Father And He Will Give His Flesh For The Life Of The World ( Joh 6:41-50 ).
At this point there would appear to be an important change in the narrative. Up to this point it had been ‘the people’ who have been questioning Him. Now the scene moves on. “ The people” fade into the background and He finds Himself dealing with “the Judaisers”. This is John’s term regularly used for the Jewish authoritarians, and especially for a hard core of them who followed Jesus about, and were so fanatically tied up with their religion that they were filled with antagonism and blinded to the truth about Jesus. (It does not signify all Jews). They probably consisted mainly of some of the harsher Scribes and Pharisees and their followers together with the representatives of the Chief Priests and some of the other priests (not all Pharisees or priests opposed Jesus and were at loggerheads with him as we have seen in the case of Nicodemus). The Scribes were the Jewish teachers who were trained in the Law. The Pharisees were men dedicated to obedience to the Law (in their terms) who on the whole saw themselves as religiously superior to the common people. They very strictly observed certain cleansing rituals which Jesus appears to have gone along with, and were fanatical about the Sabbath. They also believed in the coming resurrection and in angels. They would thus have been very interested in what Jesus was talking about here.
These Judaisers were clearly not among those who would be drawn by the Father, for they were too bigoted to listen, and Jesus was saddened by the fact. Instead they muttered among themselves about Him, and had in their hearts thoughts of putting Him to death. Here He was claiming to be bread that had come down from Heaven when they all knew that He was just a local boy, whose parents were well known to them. Who did He think he was? How could He have come down from Heaven? But in His compassion Jesus wanted them to have their opportunity and again repeated His offer of the bread of life. A slight problem arises as to where we are to include Joh 6:51. If we see it as the final verse in the section from Joh 6:41, it adds a slight edge to what has previously been said, the idea of Him giving His flesh for the life of the world (Joh 6:51). But in our view the probability is that it was said in the synagogue. Either way it was what caused the emphasis to change from His offering of Himself to them as the bread of life (through coming and believing) to the requirement that they eat His flesh and drink His blood (signifying that they would put Him to death). And it is clear from Joh 6:51 that this was Jesus’ deliberate intent as He sought to faced the Judaisers up with what they were doing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The murmuring Jews:
v. 41. The Jews then murmured at Him because He said, I am the Bread which came down from heaven.
v. 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?
v. 43. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
v. 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.
v. 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.
v. 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father. At this point the Jews started to grumble, to murmur among themselves, to express their disapproval. The idea that this man should Himself be that wonderful Bread which had come down from heaven seemed preposterous to them. They could not merely not understand how this could be true, but they believed themselves to be in possession of evidence to the contrary. They were sure that they knew His antecedents, they were acquainted with His mother, they knew the name of His father. Note: It has always been an offense to the reason of man that God and man are united in the person of Jesus. But the Lord here advises against all murmuring, against all attempts to make the matter plausible to reason. For no man can come to Christ by His own reason and strength. All brooding and disputing will not work faith in the heart. There must be a drawing on the part of the Father, by whose strength faith is worked in the heart. Without this work on the part of the Father there can be no faith nor any rising to eternal life. That is the origin, the reason of belief in Jesus: the Father draws to the Son; He influences heart and will in such a way that a person accepts Jesus as His Savior and disregards entirely all difficulties which his reason may experience in the understanding of the person of the Savior. God not only gives the power to come to faith and to choose the good, but He works, creates all good in man and makes him willing. Faith is altogether a work of God. “What does ‘no man’ mean? Do you think it refers only to a cow or ass, or some other animal? Rather ‘no man’ here refers to the entire human race, the whole world, no man excepted, the most powerful, the most holy, the most prudent, the wisest. It is spoken briefly, but it is a powerful phrase, which thrusts down and throws to the ground all that is called human wisdom, reason, judgment, righteousness, and holiness, also religion and worship. For to come to this article and salvation in Christ no wisdom helps, no prudence, no shedding of blood and giving of alms, nor what the entire human generation is able to do with wisdom, with piety and sanctity. For it says: No man can come to Me, except the Father draw him. This should be taught” This fact Jesus substantiates by a passage from the prophets: They will all be taught by God, Isa 54:13. Those that are taught of God, that have learned the lesson of their own inability and lack of strength, and therefore both hear the Father and in all things learn of Him, only they can come to faith in Christ. The Father uses no compulsion, but makes use of teaching only. He appeals to the reason and understanding, to the heart and the will of men, teaches and persuades and makes them willing. And this is possible only because God incidentally illumines the heart. In that way the Father works the willingness, in that way man becomes eager to come to Jesus by faith in His atonement. This is not to be understood as though there were any physical contact between God and man; the knowledge of God was not communicated directly, by immediate vision of God. There is only one Man who has received His Being directly from God and who is also in immediate communication with God; He it is that has seen the Father. For that reason it is essential that a Christian believe the Word of Jesus without the slightest doubt, since His deity demands as much.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 6:41-42. The Jews then murmured, &c. Thus Jesus placed the character of the Messiah in a light very different from that wherein his hearers had been accustomed to view it; and taught them, that instead of the temporal blessings which they expected from him, they were to receive none but spiritual benefits. Hence, as the dispositions of the greatest part of them were carnal, his doctrine offended them; especially his affirming that he was the bread of life, and that he came down from heaven. The Jews did not find fault with Jesus for insinuating thatthe Messiah should come down from heaven; that was a point universally believed; but they were displeased because he said, that he had come down from heaven: a thing which they could by no means believe, because they were acquainted with his father and mother. Dr. Wells argues from this passage, that Joseph was yet alive; but its plain meaning appears to be only, “we know who were his father and mother.” It seems, however, very certain that Joseph was dead quickly after; for if he had been living, it is not to be supposed that Jesus, when dying on the cross, would have consigned his mother to the care of St. John.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 6:41-42 . “ They murmured , and this , Joh 6:43 , against Him with reference to what He had said, viz. that ,” etc. Upon all the rest they reflect no further, but this assertion of Jesus impresses them all the more offensively, and among themselves they give expression half aloud to their dissatisfaction . This last thought is not contained in the word itself (comp. Joh 7:32 ; Joh 7:12 ; according to Pollux, v. 89, it was also used of the cooing of doves), but in the context ( ). We are not therefore, as De Wette supposes, to think of it merely as a whispering . Comp. rather Joh 6:61 ; Mat 20:11 ; Luk 5:30 ; 1Co 10:10 ; Num 11:1 ; Num 14:27 ; Sir 10:24 ; Jdt 5:22 ; Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 358.
] The opposition party among the Jews were therefore among the (Joh 6:5 ; Joh 6:22 ; Joh 6:24 ). Even in the congregation of the synagogue itself (Joh 6:59 ), though it included many followers of Jesus (Joh 6:60 ), there may have been present members of the spiritual aristocracy (see on Joh 1:19 ). The assumption that the itself is here called , on account of its refusal to recognise Jesus (De Wette, Tholuck, Baur, Brckner, Hengstenberg, Godet, and most others), is more far-fetched, for hitherto the had shown itself sensuously eager indeed after miracles, but not hostile.
. . .] compiled from Joh 6:33 ; Joh 6:35 ; Joh 6:38 .
] on both occasions, contemptuously.
] we on our part.
. . . . .] This human descent which they knew (comp. Mat 13:55 ) seemed to them in contradiction with that assertion, and to exclude the possibility of its truth. Heb 7:3 ( ) does not apply here, because it is not a question of the Messiahship of Jesus, but of His coming down from heaven.
. .] The words, on the face of them, convey the impression that both were still alive; the usual opinion that Joseph (whom subsequent tradition represents as already an old man at the time of his espousal with Mary; see Thilo, ad Cod. Apocr . I. p. 361) was already dead, cannot, to say the least, be certainly proved (comp. also Keim, Gesch. J. I. 426), though in John also he is entirely withdrawn from the history.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Ver. 41. The Jews therefore murmured ] They were as good at this as ever their fathers had been in the wilderness, and afterwards, Zec 7:12 ; Act 7:51 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
41. ] Not different hearers, nor does the scene of the discourse here change: they were the same, perhaps the principal among them, the official superintendents of the synagogue: for John generally uses in this official sense.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 6:41-51 . In this paragraph we are first told how the Jews were staggered by our Lord’s affirming that He had come down from heaven; second, how Jesus explains that in order to understand and receive Him they must be taught of God; and third, how He reiterates His claim to be the Bread of Life, adding now the explanation that it is His flesh which He will give for the life of the world.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 6:41 . . “The Jews,” not as we might expect, “the Galileans,” probably because John identifies this unbelieving crowd with the characteristically unbelieving Jews. in Exo 16:7-9 , 1Co 10:10 , etc., has a note of malevolence, but in Joh 7:32 no such note. “Murmur” thus corresponds to it, as carrying both meanings. The ground of their murmuring was His asserting . Cf. Joh 6:33 , , and Joh 6:38 , . Lcke says: “When John makes the descent from heaven the essential, inherent predicate of the bread, he uses the present: when the descent from heaven is regarded as a definite fact in the manifestation of Christ, the aorist”. They not merely could not understand how this could be true, but they considered that they had evidence to the contrary (Joh 6:42 ), , ; the emphatic more clearly discloses their thought. We ourselves know where He comes from. The road from heaven, they argued, could not be through human birth. This was one of the real difficulties of the contemporaries of Jesus. The Messiah was to come “in the clouds,” suddenly to appear; but Jesus had quietly grown up among them. From this passage an argument against the miraculous birth of our Lord has been drawn. The murmurers represent the current belief that He had a father and mother, and in His reply Jesus does not repudiate His father. But He could not be expected to enter into explanations before a promiscuous crowd. As Euthymius says: He passes by His miraculous birth, “lest in removing one stumbling block He interpose another”. To explain is hopeless.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 6:41-51
41Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” 43Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
Joh 6:41 “Therefore the Jews were grumbling” This is an imperfect tense, which implies they started to grumble or grumbled again and again. The parallel with the wilderness wandering period (cf. Exod. and Num.) is striking. The Israelites of that day also rejected Moses, God’s representative, who also provided them food.
Joh 6:42 This shows that the Jews understood Jesus’ words about Himself. He was clearly using Jewish idioms to claim to be pre-existent and divine! Jesus’ words are still shocking coming from a Galilean carpenter! Jesus made such strong statements about Himself. He is then
1. the incarnate Son of God who brings eternal life by His words and deeds or
2. a premeditative liar or
3. a lunatic (taken from Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict)
The truthfulness of Jesus’ claims is the issue of Christianity.
Joh 6:43 “Do not grumble among yourselves” This is a present imperative with Negative particle which usually means to stop an act already in progress.
Joh 6:44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” God always takes the initiative (cf. Joh 6:65; Joh 15:16). All spiritual decisions are the result of the wooing of the Spirit, not mankind’s religiosity (cf. Isa 53:6). God’s sovereignty and a mandated human response are inseparably linked together by the will and mercy of God. This is the OT concept of covenant.
The balance to this “drawing of God” is found in Joh 12:32 where Jesus “draws all men to Himself.” This drawing reverses the OT pattern of God’s people not responding to His prophetic word (examples: Isa 6:9-13; Isa 29:13; Jeremiah). God now speaks, not through prophets to Israel, but through His Son to all mankind (cf. Heb 1:1-3). See Special Topic: Send (Apostell) at Joh 5:24.
Joh 6:45 “It is written in the prophets” This is a quote from Isa 54:13 or Jer 31:34 which describes the internal (new heart, new mind) aspect of the “New Covenant.”
“Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me” It is impossible to claim to know God and reject Jesus (cf. 1Jn 5:1-12).
Joh 6:46 “Not that any man has seen the Father” Jesus’ affirmation is that only through Him can one really understand and know God (cf. Joh 1:18; Joh 14:6; Joh 14:9). Even Moses never truly saw YHWH (cf. note at Joh 5:32).
Joh 6:47 This verse summarizes Jesus’ offer of a free salvation to all humans (“the one believing,” present active participle; “eternal life” cf. Joh 6:51; Joh 6:58; Joh 3:15-16; Joh 3:36; Joh 5:24; Joh 11:26; Joh 20:31). Jesus is the only true revelation of God, the only true door to God (the exclusivism of the gospel, cf. Joh 10:1-9; Joh 14:6), but this is available to all sons and daughters of Adam (the inclusivism of the gospel fulfills Joh 1:4; Joh 1:7; Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16; Gen 3:15; Gen 12:3).
Joh 6:50 This verse, like 31-35, is a play on the meaning of bread, physical bread (manna) and heavenly bread (Jesus). One gives and sustains physical life, but must be repeated and eventually cannot stop death. The other gives and sustains eternal life, but must be accepted and nurtured and puts an immediate end to spiritual death (broken fellowship with God; intimate fellowship with sin and self).
Joh 6:51 “I am the living bread” This is one of the famous “I am” statements of John’s Gospel (cf. Joh 6:35; Joh 6:48; Joh 6:51). It was a literary technique of Jesus to focus attention on His person. Salvation, like revelation, is ultimately a person.
“for the life of the world is My flesh” This is a metaphor emphasizing that Jesus Himself, not some food supply, is our central need. This phrase obviously links back to Joh 1:14.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
murmured = were murmuring. Greek gonguzo, the Septuagint word for Israel’s murmuring in the wilderness. See 1Co 10:10. Compare Jud 1:16.
at = concerning. Greek. peri. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
41.] Not different hearers, nor does the scene of the discourse here change: they were the same,-perhaps the principal among them, the official superintendents of the synagogue:-for John generally uses in this official sense.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 6:41. The Jews then murmured at him,
That is, at the Christ,
Joh 6:41-42. Because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 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?
They did know his mother; but they made a mistake, which may have seemed a very slight one to them, when they said that they knew his father. Yet that is how nearly all great errors spring from some slight and apparently trivial addition to the truth. They did know Mary, but they did not know that Jehovah was the Father of the Christ.
Joh 6:43-44. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves, 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,
Note the unflinching boldness of Christ. He did not say to these people, Well, you have some cause for murmuring, and I will explain the matter to you. On the contrary, he faced them with the doctrine of sovereign grace, and told them that he did not expect them to understand him, for they could not do so except the Father, who had sent him, should draw their hearts towards him.
Joh 6:45. 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.
So, in street, he said to them, You have not been taught of God; the Father has never drawn you, else would you have received me. So does the brave Champion thrust the naked sword of truth into their very souls.
Joh 6:46-47. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Let me read those precious words again, catch at them, you timid and trembling ones: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath now, in present possession, everlasting life.
Joh 6:48-49. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
He does not say, Our fathers. He comes out, as it were, as much from the Jews as from the Gentile ungodly world, and he says, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Joh 6:50-51. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat there, and not die. I am the living bread
Bread that contains life within itself, and is therefore most potent to sustain a life like itself: I am the living bread
Joh 6:51-52. 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. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
I wonder if they perceived that this declaration of Christ involved his death, for he did not speak of giving them his living body, but his flesh. There are some who find their main comfort in the Incarnation of Christ; and,
certainly, that is a very comforting truth; but, without the death of Christ, it affords no nourishment for the soul. Atonement, atonement, there is the kernel of the whole matter. Christ must die, and then he can give us his flesh to eat.
Joh 6:53-54. 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. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
His soul shall live; his spirit shall never die; and though his body shall die, the force of the eternal life within the man shall quicken even his mortal body into an immortality like that of his spirit.
Joh 6:55-60. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 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. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
And a hard saying it really is until we are instructed of the Spirit of God to understand it. The Papist has made it into a gross and carnal saying, teaching men that they really, and actually, and corporeally, eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, which is horrible blasphemy, and nothing less. But they who are taught of God see the inward meaning of the truth peeping up from behind the letter, and know what it is to receive into their hearts, though not into their bodies, into their thoughts, though not into their months, the very body and blood of Christ.
Joh 6:61-63. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth;
The inward, Spiritual meaning gives life to the Word, and life to us also: It is the spirit that quickeneth;
Joh 6:63. The flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
They are not carnal; they are not gross they have in them an inner sense which is full of life and spirit.
Joh 6:64-65. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
No man no, not even an apostle, not the one who ate bread with Christ, and was his familiar friend, not even he could come without being drawn by God. And he did not come to Christ; in the sense in which our Lord used the Word, Judas never really came to him, but perished in his sin. The Father must draw us with cords divine, or else to the Son we shall never come.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Joh 6:41. , began to murmur) Jesus however was aware of it [though not spoken aloud]: Joh 6:43, Murmur not among yourselves.- , the bread) They take hold of the language of His, that was allegorical: they neglect the explanation, which was added in plain words.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 6:41
Joh 6:41
The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven.-The Jews did not understand his meaning or see how he could be the bread of life. They looked at it all from a materialistic standpoint.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Food of Eternal Life
Joh 6:41-51
That phrase, the last day, was constantly on the Masters lips, Joh 6:39-40; Joh 6:44; Joh 6:54; Joh 12:48. It is an indefinite expression for those final scenes in which the history of our race is to be consummated through resurrection and judgment. Jesus lays great emphasis on His resurrection as completing His work for those who come to Him. It is not enough to impart eternal life. That would bless the spirit, but leave the body untouched. And He cannot rest until the whole of our complex nature shares in the emancipation and fullness of His salvation. A transfigured manhood and a glorified body must be the crown of His service to His own. By His mighty power, He will raise them up in the likeness of His glory, that they may share His royal and exalted state. Nothing less will satisfy Him, or undo the ruin that sin has introduced. Let us feed on Christ, by meditation on His words, and by communion with Himself, of which the sacred Feast of the Lords Table is a perpetual reminder. Notice that every soul which is taught of God will recognize Christ, Joh 6:45!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 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? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 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. 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. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 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. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 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. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
It is a very notable principle in connection with the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ with men that if a soul came to Him who was honestly, earnestly, seeking to know the truth, He undertook to make that truth just as simple as possible so that the wayfaring man could understand. On the other hand, if the Savior presented something that was difficult for the natural mind to receive, and men, instead of recognizing their need and coming to Him for explanation, assumed a haughty, unbelieving attitude, He invariably seemed to make the truth more difficult instead of making it simpler. That is to say, if men will not have the truth of God when it is presented to them but deliberately choose to follow the path of error, they will be blinded to the very truth itself. This principle runs throughout Scripture. You remember how Pharaoh set himself against doing the will of God. We read that God hardened Pharaohs heart. He confirmed the haughty king in his very wickedness. Later on, when the people of Israel chose the path of disobedience, God said, Iwill choose their delusions (Isa 66:4). When we look on into the future to the day when the Antichrist, that last sinister enemy of God and man, shall arise, we are told that in that time if men receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved, God will send them strong delusion.
There is something very serious in this. Great responsibility is put upon the man and woman to whom Gods truth is proclaimed. That truth is given us to be believed. It is not something with which we may play fast and loose. We are called upon to accept it. Buy the truth and sell it not, exclaims the writer of the book of Proverbs (23:23). If there is anyone to whom I am speaking today who has not opened his heart to the gospel and received the Savior, do not imagine that it is a small matter if you turn away from that truth. Do not try to persuade yourself that some other day will do just as well. Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Do you imagine that it will be perfectly all right if you wait to make up your mind to come to God when you are ready? When your day comes, you may find that God has withdrawn Himself.
When you at last come to knock on the door, you may find that it has been shut and a voice will say, I never knew you: depart from me (Mat 7:23).
Cowper has said,
Hear the just law, the judgment of the skies:
He that hates truth shall be the dupe of lies;
And he who will be cheated to the last,
Delusions strong as hell shall bind him fast.
Oh, I beg of you, cherish every evidence that the Holy Spirit is working upon your heart and conscience. Thank Him for the opportunity of hearing the gospel. He has written, Hear, and your soul shall live (Isa 55:3).
We have seen in our study of this sixth chapter of the gospel of John that Jesus was dealing with a group of selfish people. They were not interested in spiritual realities. So instead of explaining things in a way they might easily take in, when He perceived that they were not interested or concerned about understanding Him, He seems to make things more and more difficult for the natural mind to comprehend.
The Jewsmurmured (Joh 6:41). They talked one to the other instead of coming to Him and saying, Master, we are ignorant, our minds are darkened. We do not understand, but we long to do so. We do not know what you mean, but we want to know. Master, have pity upon our ignorance and enlighten us. They murmured and said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? No, He was not. He was the son of Mary, but He had no human father. They knew Him as the son of Joseph in Nazareth and so they say, Is not He our fellow townsman? What does He mean by talking about coming down from heaven? They did not address their questions to Jesus, but He heard their murmurs because He knows what is in the heart of man.
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 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 (vv. 43-44). Yes, that was as though He was deliberately turning away from them, saying, You are not the people to whom I have come. I have no message for you. No man can come to Me except the Father draw him, and He is not drawing you. A little while before, He said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me (v. 37). But they did not come, and therefore were not of those who are drawn of the Father.
Hear me, my friend, are you concerned as to whether you are one of those who are drawn of the Father? You can settle that very easily. Have you come to Jesus? Do you desire to come? If in your heart there is the least desire to come, it is the Father who is drawing you to His Son. Oh, cherish the work of the Holy Spirit and instead of resisting His pleadings yield to Him at once. Yield to Him and say, Blessed Lord, there is so much I do not understand, but I seek enlightenment. Make clear to me the things that are dark, but give me to know that I have been born again in Jesus Christ, that I am to be saved eternally. You may depend upon it, you will not be left in darkness and perplexity. 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 (v. 45).
Have you heard? Have you learned of the Father? What is the lesson the Father is teaching? He is seeking to occupy people with the gracious provision He has made in the gift of His blessed Son. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. In His infinite love He sent Him into the world, that we might live through Him. Listen, then, as little children to the Father. Let Him be your instructor. Let Him teach you and open up to you from the Word the riches of His grace as revealed through His blessed Son. Thus you will be taught of God, and you may know that you are numbered among those whose sins have been eternally settled for. It is not that you will be able to see the Father with your natural eyes, but with the eye of the heart. The only one who has ever actually seen the Father is our blessed Savior Himself, for He says, Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father (v. 46).
But though you and I cannot see Him, we can believe His Word. We hear the message. We accept it in faith and have life eternal. And so Jesus says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life (v. 47). Let that be an end of all controversy. Let that be an answer to every anxious questioner. How may I know that I am a child of God, that I am accepted of Him, that my sins are forgiven, that I have life eternal? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Act 16:31). He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
I heard Ira D. Sankey tell how he had been anxious for days and months for the assurance of salvation, and had sought for some internal evidence that might make him know that he had eternal life. But as he sat in a meeting he was led to turn to this sixth chapter of John and his eyes fell on this forty-seventh verse, and it came home to his soul with a strangely new and wonderful meaning, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. Mr. Sankey told us that night long years ago in a meeting in San Francisco, that in a moment he saw it, and he looked up and said, Lord, I believe. I dare to take Thee at Thy word. And that was the beginning of that great ministry of gospel song to hundreds of thousands of people, carrying the glad message of a full and free salvation.
He that believeth hath everlasting life. Do not put anything between believeth and hath. Not hopes to have, but He that believeth hath everlasting life. Take God at His word. I, says Jesus, am [the] bread of life (v. 48). I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead (vv. 48-49). He says, Yes, your fathers ate that kind of bread in the wilderness that you long for, but they are dead. I am the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die (v. 50). I am the living bread (v. 51a). It is not merely, I have come to give you the living bread, but, I am the living bread. I must be received in faith, and the soul must feed upon Me as the body feeds upon natural bread, in order to be sustained. I am the living bread 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 (v. 51).
He is looking forward to the cross. In a little while He is to go to that cross. There He is to be immolated as the great sin offering. The sacrifice of old was called the food of the altar, and He says, There I am going to die, and in thus giving Myself, My body becomes the bread for poor starving souls to feed upon and live forever. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life (1Jn 5:12). And so, dear friends, the great question for every one of us to decide is this, Have I definitely received Christ? When we eat our natural food it becomes part of us and gives new strength and life. In the same way when we receive the Bread of God, when we take the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and our hearts dwell upon the work that He did for us upon the cross, we gain new strength and life.
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. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (Joh 6:51-52). They seemed to be unable to rise above the natural. Our Lords words were clear enough. Anyone who comes to God as a repentant sinner will have no difficulty in understanding this. But the sneering legalist exclaims, Eat His flesh! It is absurd! How can a man give us his flesh to eat? So the Lord Jesus Christ seemed to say, Well, if you refuse to believe Me, if you will not come to Me, I will tell you something even more difficult to believe. If men will not take what He has already told them, then He will give them something harder to comprehend.
So He said, 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. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him (vv. 53-56). What striking expressions these are, and how difficult for an unbelieving Israelite to understand! What did He mean by eating his flesh and drinking his blood? Of course, the words cannot be taken literally. He certainly did not mean that they were to feed upon His actual body and blood.
In the law the children of Israel were forbidden to eat blood in any form or manner. Every kind of flesh that they ate was to have every drop of blood poured out. Yet Jesus speaks of eating blood and, amazing thought, His own blood-the blood of a man! He did not mean that literally. He meant to challenge them, to make them see their ignorance and need of enlightenment. Apparently, His words had no such effect. Neither did He mean that He was to give His flesh and blood in some mysterious sacrament. I know that many suppose He referred to the Lords Supper, in which they tell us the bread and wine, after the prayer of the officiating minister, pass through some mysterious change, so that as people partake of it they will be partaking actually of Jesus body and blood.
But let me say this: millions of people have partaken of what is known as the sacrament of the Lords Supper, the Holy Eucharist, the Communion, the Sacrifice of the Mass-different names have been used-millions of people have partaken of it who have never received life through it. They give no evidence of having received life through it. They can partake of it Sunday morning and live in sin Sunday afternoon. There is no evidence whatever that they have been born again. Sacraments do not give life. But let me tell you this: no one ever ate and drank of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ without receiving life. He promised that, and it is true. His Word has been fulfilled down through the centuries.
What did He mean? Well, throughout the church age He has shown us that to eat of the Bread of life is to receive Him in faith. It is to receive implicitly what Holy Scripture reveals concerning the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvarys cross, that upon the tree His precious body was given up for us and His blood was poured out for our redemption. When we recognize that His precious blood poured out on the cross has atoned for our sins, then we are eating His flesh and we are drinking His blood. And it is practically true that in the regular observance of the Lords Supper we do have that which calls our minds back again to Calvary and reminds us again of the price of redemption. We may recognize the relationship between the communion and this precious truth. But do not confound the symbol with the reality. As we feed in faith upon the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we lose our appetite for everything unholy. That same precious body and blood will be our meat and drink through all the days to come, and when we get to yonder glory we shall still be occupied with Him, the Lamb that was slain. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
murmured: Joh 6:43, Joh 6:52, Joh 6:60, Joh 6:66, Joh 7:12, Luk 5:30, Luk 15:2, Luk 19:7, 1Co 10:10, Jud 1:16
I am: Joh 6:33, Joh 6:48, Joh 6:51, Joh 6:58
Reciprocal: Exo 16:8 – the Lord heareth Joh 6:32 – the true Joh 6:35 – I am Joh 7:36 – manner Eph 4:9 – he also
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
The Jews continued to stumble over their literal interpretation of the statements of Jesus. He used several terms that should have taught them that something besides material bread was meant by the subject under consideration. All of these were ignored, and they went back to the introductory sentences of the conversation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
TRUTHS of the weightiest importance follow each other in rapid succession in the chapter we are now reading. There are probably very few parts of the Bible which contain so many “deep things” as the Sixth Chapter of John. Of this the passage before us is a signal example.
We learn, for one thing, from this passage, that Christ’s lowly condition, when He was upon earth, is a stumbling-block to the natural man. We read that “the Jews murmured, because Jesus said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. 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?”-Had our Lord come as a conquering king, with wealth and honors to bestow on His followers, and mighty armies in His train, they would have been willing enough to receive Him. But a poor, and lowly, and suffering Messiah was an offense to them. Their pride refused to believe that such an one was sent from God.
There is nothing that need surprise us in this. It is human nature showing itself in its true colors. We see the same thing in the days of the Apostles. Christ crucified was “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.” (1Co 1:23.) The cross was an offense to many wherever the Gospel was preached.-We may see the same thing in our own times. There are thousands around us who loathe the distinctive doctrines of the Gospel on account of their humbling character. They cannot away with the atonement, and the sacrifice, and the substitution of Christ. His moral teaching they approve. His example and self-denial they admire. But speak to them of Christ’s blood,-of Christ being made sin for us,-of Christ’s death being the corner-stone of our hope,-of Christ’s poverty being our riches,-and you will find they hate these things with a deadly hatred. Truly the offense of the cross is not yet ceased!
We learn, for another thing, from this passage, man’s natural helplessness and inability to repent or believe. We find our Lord saying,-“No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” Until the Father draws the heart of man by His grace, man will not believe.
The solemn truth contained in these words is one that needs careful weighing. It is vain to deny that without the grace of God no one ever can become a true Christian. We are spiritually dead, and have no power to give ourselves life. We need a new principle put in us from above. Facts prove it. Preachers see it. The Tenth Article of our own Church expressly declares it: “The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God.” This witness is true.
But after all, of what does this inability of man consist? In what part of our inward nature does this impotence reside? Here is a point on which many mistakes arise. Forever let us remember that the will of man is the part of him which is in fault. His inability is not physical, but moral. It would not be true to say that a man has a real wish and desire to come to Christ, but no power to come. It would be far more true to say that a man has no power to come because he has no desire or wish.-It is not true that he would come if he could. It is true that he could come if he would.-The corrupt will,-the secret disinclination,-the want of heart, are the real causes of unbelief. It is here the mischief lies. The power that we want is a new will. It is precisely at this point that we need the “drawing” of the Father.
These things, no doubt, are deep and mysterious. By truths like these God proves the faith and patience of His people. Can they believe Him? Can they wait for a fuller explanation at the last day? What they see not now they shall see hereafter. One thing at any rate is abundantly clear, and that is man’s responsibility for his own soul. His inability to come to Christ does not make an end of his accountableness. Both things are equally true. If lost at last, it will prove to have been his own fault. His blood will be on his own head. Christ would have saved him, but he would not be saved. He would not come to Christ, that he might have life.
We learn, lastly, in this passage, that the salvation of a believer is a present thing. Our Lord Jesus Christ says,-“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Life, we should observe, is a present possession. It is not said that he shall have it at last, in the judgment day. It is now, even now, in this world, his property. He hath it the very day that he believes.
The subject is one which it much concerns our peace to understand, and one about which errors abound. How many seem to think that forgiveness and acceptance with God are things which we cannot attain in this life,-that they are things which are to be earned by a long course of repentance and faith and holiness,-things which we may receive at the bar of God at last, but must never pretend to touch while we are in this world! It is a complete mistake to think so. The very moment a sinner believes on Christ he is justified and accepted. There is no condemnation for him. He has peace with God, and that immediately and without delay. His name is in the book of life, however little he may be aware of it. He has a title to heaven, which death and hell and Satan can not overthrow. Happy are they that know this truth! It is an essential part of the good news of the Gospel.
After all, the great point we have to consider is whether we believe. What shall it profit us that Christ has died for sinners, if we do not believe on Him? “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (Joh 3:36.)
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Notes-
v41.-[The Jews then murmured at him.] The verb here is in the imperfect tense. It seems to mean “the Jews were then murmuring, or beginning to murmur about Him.” It was a murmuring that went on among themselves concerning our Lord, and was not openly expressed. “At Him,” would be more literally rendered “about Him.”
I venture to think there is a break, pause, or slight interval implied at this point of the conversation. The speakers called here “the Jews,” do not appear to be the same who followed our Lord over the lake after being fed with the loaves and fishes, and began the conversation by saying, “When camest thou hither?” (Joh 6:25.) They would rather appear to be the principal people, or leaders, in the synagogue at Capernaum. They had probably heard our Lord’s words to the people who had followed Him over the lake, and were murmuring at them.-To my own mind it is by no means clear that there was not at this point a change in the place where the conversation was carried on. Up to this point it looks as if the conversation was carried on in the open air. At this point our Lord may have gone into the synagogue, and the rulers of it may have taken up the subject and been murmuring about it when He went in.-I throw out this theory with diffidence. It must at least be conceded, that the expressions at Joh 6:25, “when they had found him at the other side of the sea,….when camest thou hither?” can hardly be supposed to mean that our Lord was then in the synagogue. On the other hand, it is perfectly clear from Joh 6:59, that the latter part of His discourse, at any rate, was spoken “in the synagogue at Capernaum.” Where, then, I ask, does the slight break come in, which is necessary to reconcile these beginning and ending statements? I reply that it seems to me to come in here, at Joh 6:41. The language, I think, implies a slight pause in time, and a change in the speaker. Stier, I am aware, calls this idea “highly artificial.” But I cannot see any force in the objection, and I see much difficulty in any other view.
Cyril remarks that a readiness to murmur seemed to be hereditary with the Jews. From the days when they murmured in the wilderness, it was always the same.
[Because he said I am the bread….heaven.] It does not appear that our Lord had actually used these words. We must therefore suppose that the Jews constructed the saying out of three things that our Lord had said. One was, “I am the bread of life;”-another, “I came down from heaven;”-and another, “The bread of God is he (or it) which cometh down from heaven.”
v42.-[Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?] The word “this,” in the Greek, has a latent sneer of contempt about it, which our English version cannot fully convey. It is as if they said, “Is not this fellow,” etc.
The expression “the son of Joseph,” shows what was the impression that the Jews commonly had about our Lord’s birth. They believed Him to be the naturally begotten son of Joseph the husband of Mary. The annunciation by the angel Gabriel, the miraculous conception, the miraculous birth of our Lord, are matters of which the Jews apparently had not any knowledge. Throughout the whole of our Lord’s ministry, we never find them mentioned. For some wise reason a total silence was observed about them until after our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension. It was not probably till after the death of Mary and all her family, that this great and deep subject was allowed to be much brought forward in the Church. We can easily see that an unhallowed curiosity might have arisen on questions connected with the incarnation, which would only have done harm.
[Whose father and mother we know.] These words seem to show that Joseph was still living at this time. They could hardly have been used if Joseph was dead. They also show that Joseph and Mary were known at Capernaum, where this conversation was held. They had either removed there from Nazareth, or else were so connected with Capernaum and such frequent visitors there, that the inhabitants knew them.
[How is it then that he saith.] These words would have been more literally rendered, “How then does this fellow say?” Again, like the beginning of the verse, there is something scornful in the phrase.
[I came down from heaven.] The thing that seems to have vexed and angered the Jews was that our Lord should so openly declare His divine origin, by talking of “coming down from heaven.” They were offended at the idea of one so lowly in dress, and circumstances, and position, taking on Himself to say, that He was one who had “come down from heaven.” Here, as elsewhere, Christ’s humiliation was the great stumbling-block. Human nature would not so much object to a conquering Christ,-a Christ with a crown and an army,-a Christ with wealth to shower on all His followers. But a Christ in poverty,-a Christ preaching nothing but heart religion,-a Christ followed by none but poor fishermen and publicans,-a Christ coming to suffer and die and not to reign,-such a Christ was always an offense to many in this world, and always will be.
Rollock remarks with great truth, that with many persons, “reasoning” (so called) is the grand obstacle to conversion.
v43.-[Jesus answered and said.] This phrase is almost the same as that used in Joh 5:19, when our Lord began what many think was His formal defense of Himself before the Sanhedrim. It leads me to think, as I have already said, that there is a slight break at this point of the chapter, and a slight pause, if only of a few hours in time. Our Lord knew by His divine knowledge that the Jews were murmuring and saying contemptuous things about Him, and He therefore took up their thoughts, and made a reply to them.
[Murmur not among yourselves.] This seems a mild hint that they need not waste their time in murmuring. It neither surprised our Lord, nor discouraged Him. It is as though He said. “Your murmuring is only what I am prepared to expect. I know what human nature is. I am not moved by it. Think not that your unbelief will shake my confidence in my divine mission, or prevent my saying what I do. I know that you cannot naturally understand such things as I am speaking of, and I will proceed to tell you why. But cease from these useless murmurings, which neither surprise nor stop me.”
Webster thinks that the idea is the same as that in Joh 3:7-12, “I have harder things still to say.” (See Joh 5:28.)
v44.-[No man can come…except the Father draw him.] The connection between this verse and the preceding one is not clear. Like many passages in John’s writings, the language is elliptical and the link must be supplied. But the precise link in the present case is not very evident. I believe it is something of this sort:-“You are murmuring among yourselves because I speak of coming down from heaven; and you are making my apparently low origin an excuse for not believing on me. But all the time the fault is not in my sayings, but in your want of grace, and your unbelief. There is a deeper and more solemn truth, to which you seem totally blind: and that is, man’s need of God’s grace in order to believe on me. You are never likely to believe until you acknowledge your own corruption, and ask for grace to draw your souls to me. I am aware that it needs something more than argument and reasoning to make any one believe in me. Your unbelief and murmuring do not surprise me or discourage me. I neither expect to see you or any one else believe until you are drawn by my Father.”-This, or something like it, seems to me the connecting link. One thing at any rate is certain. Our Lord did not mean to excuse the unbelief of His hearers. He rather desired to magnify their danger and guilt, and to make them see that faith in Him was not so easy an affair as they supposed. It was not knowledge of His origin alone, but the drawing grace of God the Father which they needed. Let them awake to see that, and cry for grace before it was too late.
The general lesson of the sentence, apart from the connection, is one of vast importance. Our Lord lays down the great principle,-“That no man whatsoever can come to Christ by faith, and really believe in Him, unless God the Father draws him so to come, and inclines his will to believe.” The nature of man since the fall is so corrupt and depraved, that even when Christ is made known and preached to him, he will not come to Him and believe in Him without the special grace of God inclining his will, and giving him a disposition to come. Moral suasion and advice alone will not bring him. He must be “drawn.”
This is no doubt a very humbling truth, and one which in every age has called forth the hatred and opposition of man. The favorite notion of man is that he can do what he likes, repent or not repent, believe or not believe, come to Christ or not come,-entirely at his own discretion. In fact man likes to think that his salvation is in his own power. Such notions are flatly contradictory to the text before us. The words of our Lord here are clear and unmistakable, and cannot be explained away.
(a.) This doctrine of human impotence, whether man likes it or not, is the uniform teaching of the Bible. The natural man is dead, and must be born again, and brought to life. (Eph 2:1.) He has neither knowledge, nor faith, nor inclination toward Christ, until grace comes into his heart. Man never of himself begins with God. God must first begin with man. And this beginning is just the “drawing” of the text.
(b.) It is the doctrine of the Church of England, as shown in the 10th Article, and of every Protestant confession of faith which dates from the 16th and 17th centuries.
(c.) Last, but not least, it is the doctrine of experience. The longer ministers of the Gospel live, the more do they find that there is something to be done in every heart which neither preaching, teaching, arguing, exhorting, or means of grace can do. When all has been done, God must “draw,” or there is no fruit.-The more the holiest Christians are examined, the more general is their testimony found, that without grace they never would have been converted, and that God “drew” them, or else they never would have come to Christ. And it is a curious fact, moreover, that many who profess to deny man’s impotence in theory, often confess it in their prayers and praises, almost in spite of themselves. Many people are very low Arminians in print or in the pulpit, but excellent Calvinists on their knees.
When our Lord says, “No man can come unto me,” we must carefully remember that it is moral inability and not physical inability that he speaks of. We are not to suppose that any man can have a sincere and hearty wish to come to Christ, and yet be prevented by some mysterious impotence. The impotence lies in man’s will. He cannot come because he will not come.-There is an Old Testament sentence which throws much light on the expression before us. It is said of Joseph’s brethren, that “they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.” (Gen 37:4.) Any one must see at a glance what this “could not” means. They “could not” because they would not.
When our Lord says, “Except the Father draw him,” we must not suppose that the “drawing” means such a violent drawing, as the drawing of a prisoner to a jail, or of an ox to the slaughterhouse, a “drawing” in short against a man’s will. It is a drawing which a Father effects through the man’s own will, by creating a new principle within him. By the unseen agency of the Holy Ghost, He works on the man’s heart, without the man himself knowing it at the time, inclines him to think, induces him to feel, shows him his sinfulness, and so leads him at length to Christ. Every one that comes to Christ is so drawn.
Scott remarks, “The Father as it were cures the fever of the soul; He creates the appetite; He sets the provisions before the sinner; He convinces him that they are wholesome and pleasant, and that he is welcome; and thus the man is drawn to come and eat and live for ever.”
The well-known quotation from Augustine, which seems so great a favorite with many commentators on this text, appears to me defective. He argues that God’s drawing of men to Christ is so entirely a drawing through man’s will, that it is like drawing the sheep by offering to it food,-like drawing and alluring a child by offering him nuts.-But there is this wide difference, that both the sheep and the child have a natural taste and inclination for the thing offered. Man, on the contrary, has none at all. God’s first act is to give man a will to come to Christ. As the 10th Article of the Church of England says, we need “the grace of Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.”
The theory that all members of the Church and all baptized people are “drawn by God,” appears to me a most baseless theory, and practically a most mischievous one. It would reduce the “drawing” to nothing, and make it a thing which the majority of ‘Christians’ resist. [Note, single quote marks were added around the word Christians in the last sentence to avoid confusion. These were not in the original text of Expository Thoughts; Mr. Ryle is referring to professing Christians, as is clear from the first sentence of this paragraph.] I believe the drawing is a thing that belongs to none but God’s elect, and is a part of the procedure by which their salvation is effected. They are chosen in Christ from all eternity, and then drawn to Christ in time.
There are several very important principles of theology connected with this remarkable sentence, which it may be useful to put down together, before we leave the passage.
(a.) We must never suppose that the doctrine of this verse takes away man’s responsibility and accountableness to God for his soul. On the contrary, the Bible always distinctly declares that if any man is lost, it is his own fault. He “loses his own soul.” (Mar 8:36.) If we cannot reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility now, we need not doubt that it will be all plain at the last day.
(b.) We must not allow the doctrine of this verse to make us limit or narrow the offer of salvation to sinners. On the contrary, we must hold firmly that pardon and peace are to be offered freely through Christ to every man and woman without exception. We never know who they are that God will draw, and have nothing to do with it. Our duty is to invite all, and leave it to God to choose the vessels of mercy.
(c.) We must not suppose that we, or anybody else, are drawn, unless we come to Christ by faith. This is the grand mark and evidence of any one being the subject of the Father’s drawing work. If “drawn,” he comes to Christ, believes, and loves. Where there is no faith and love, there may be talk, self-conceit, and high profession. But there is no “drawing” of the Father.
(d.) We must always remember that God ordinarily works by means, and specially by such means as He himself has appointed. No doubt He acts as a Sovereign in drawing souls to Christ. We cannot pretend to explain why some are drawn and others are not drawn. Nevertheless, we must carefully maintain the great principle that God ordinarily draws through the instrumentality of His Word. The man that neglects the public preaching and private reading of God’s Word, has no right to expect that God will draw him. The thing is possible, but highly improbable.
(e.) We must never allow ourselves or others to waste time in trying to find out, as a first question in religion, whether we are drawn of God the Father, elect, chosen, and the like. The first and indeed the main question we have to do with is, whether we have come to Christ by faith. If we have, let us take comfort and be thankful. None come to Him unless they are drawn.
Augustine remarks: “If thou dost not desire to err, do not seek to determine whom God draws, and whom He does not draw; nor why He draws one man and not another. But if thou thyself art not drawn by God, pray to Him that thou mayest be drawn.”
The words of the 17th Article of the Church of England are weighty and wise:-“We must receive God’s promises in such wise as they are generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture: and in our doings, that will of God is to be followed which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God.”
Whether the “drawing” of God the Father is irresistible or not, is a point on which good men differ greatly. My own opinion is decided that it is irresistible. Those whom the Father draws and calls, always “obey the calling.” (See 17th Article of the Church of England.) As Rollock truly remarks, there is often a great fight and struggle when the drawing grace of God first begins to work on the soul, and the consequence is great distress and depression. But when grace once begins it always wins the victory at last.
[I will raise him up at the last day.] This is the same sentence that we have had twice already, and shall have once again. Whosoever does come to Christ, and has the great mark of faith, shall be raised by Christ to a life of eternal glory at the last day. None come but those who are “drawn;” but all who do come shall be raised.
v45.-[It is written…prophets…taught of God.] Our Lord here confirms the doctrine of the necessity of divine teaching, by reference to the Scriptures. He had told the Jews nothing but what their own Scriptures taught, and what they ought to have known themselves. It is not quite clear whether our Lord referred to one particular quotation, or to the general testimony of the prophetical Scriptures. The words of Isaiah (Isa 54:13) are most like the sentence before us:-“All thy children shall be taught of God.” The Greek of the Septuagint version of that text rather favours the idea that our Lord referred to it. On the whole, however, I incline to the opinion that no one particular text is referred to. It was the general doctrine of the prophets that in the days of the Gospel men should have the direct teaching of God.
The words do not mean that under the Gospel all mankind, or all members of the professing Christian Church, shall be “taught of God.” It rather means that all who are God’s children, and come to Christ under the Gospel, shall be taught of God. It is like “this is the true light that lighteth every man,” (Joh 1:9,) where it does not mean that all are lighted, but that such as are lighted are lighted by Christ.
[Every man…heard…learned of the father, cometh unto me.] The meaning of this sentence seems to be-“Every man that comes to me has first heard and learned of the Father.” It is useless to talk of being taught by God, and of God being our Father, if we do not come to Christ for salvation.
Bishop Hooper remarks, “Many men understand the words, ‘except the Father draws him,’ in a wrong sense, as though God did require in a reasonable man no more than in a dead post, and do not mark the words that follow, ‘every man that hath heard Christ;’ God draweth with His Word and the Holy Ghost. Man’s duty is to hear and learn: that is to say, receive the grace offered, consent unto the promises, and not refuse the God that calleth.”-Hooper on Ten Commandments.
v46.-[Not that any man hath seen the Father.] This sentence seems put in, by way of parenthesis, to prevent mistakes in the minds of our Lord’s hearers, both as to the kind of teaching He meant, and the person He intended when He spake of the Father. The Father was the eternal God whom no man had seen nor could see. The teaching was that inward teaching of the heart which the Father gave by His Spirit.
[He which is of God, he hath seen the Father.] Our Lord plainly means Himself in this verse. It is like Joh 1:18. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
I cannot but think that one object our Lord has in view, both here and in Joh 5:37, is to impress on the Jews’ minds, that all the appearances of God which are recorded in the Old Testament, were appearances not of the First Person in the Trinity but of the Second. His object in both places, I suspect, was to prepare their minds for the great truth which as yet they were unable to receive, that, however unbelieving they now were, Christ who was now with them, was that very Person who had appeared to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses.
v47.-[Verily, verily…He that believeth on me…life.] In this verse our Lord returns to the main thread of his discourse, which had been interrupted at Joh 6:40. He now speaks out much more clearly and plainly about Himself, dropping all reserve, and revealing Himself as the object of faith, openly and without figure. It is one of those great, broad, simple declarations of the Gospel way of salvation, which we can never know too well.
He that would have his sins pardoned and his soul saved must go to Christ for it. It is to “me,” says Christ, that he must apply.-What are the terms held out? He must simply trust, lean back, rest on Christ, and commit his soul to His hand. In a word, he must “believe.” What shall such a man get by believing? He “hath everlasting life.” The very moment he believes, life and peace with God are his own.-(a.) Faith, (b.) the great object of faith, (c.) the present privileges to which faith admits a man, are three subjects which, however often repeated in the Gospel, ought never to weary the Christian’s ear.
The frequent repetition of this doctrine of “believing,” is a strong proof of its great necessity and importance, and of man’s infinite backwardness to see, understand, and receive it. “We must believe,-we must believe,” says Rollock, “is a truth that needs constant repetition.”
v48.-[I am that bread of life.] Here our Lord distinctly proclaims to the Jews, that He himself is that “bread of life,” that soul-satisfying food, the true bread, the bread of God, of which He had spoken generally in the earlier part of His discourse. He had awakened their curiosity by speaking of that bread as a real thing, and a thing worth their attention. He now unveils the whole truth to them, and tells them plainly, “I am that bread.”-“If you ask what it is, and where it is, you have only to look at me.”
v49.-[Your fathers did eat manna…dead.] In this verse our Lord points out the inferiority of the manna which the Jews ate in the wilderness, to the bread which He himself offered. The manna not only could do nothing for the soul, but was unable to preserve from death those who ate it.
Here, as before, we should observe how our Lord speaks of the miraculous feeding of Israel in the wilderness, as an undoubted historical fact.
Piscator remarks, that our Lord here says emphatically, “your fathers,” and not “our fathers.”-He thinks it was intentionally done to remind the Jews how little lasting good their fathers got from the manna, and how unbelieving they were even while they ate of it; for they all died in the wilderness. It was a tacit caution to beware of doing like them.
v50.-[This is the bread…heaven…eat…and not die.] The object of this verse is to show the superiority of the “true bread from heaven” to the manna. It is as though our Lord said,-“This bread that cometh down from heaven is bread of such a nature, that he that eateth of it shall never die. His soul shall not be hurt by the second death, and his body shall have a glorious resurrection.”
I am not without doubt whether our Lord did not point to Himself in speaking the words of this verse:-“This person who now stands before you is that bread which came down from heaven, that any one eating of it should not die.” But I throw out the conjecture with much diffidence. Lampe seems to favour the idea,-saying, “the pronoun ‘this’ is here demonstrative and pointed to Himself.” Trapp and Beza also take this view.
v51.-[I am the living bread…heaven.] This sentence is a repetition of the idea that has been already given out in Joh 6:50 and Joh 6:49. The thought is repeated in order to impress it on the minds of the Jews, and make it impossible for them to misunderstand our Lord’s meaning.
We must never be ashamed of repetition in religious teaching.
[If any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever.] The thought here is only an expansion of the one contained in Joh 6:35. There it is said, “He that comes to Christ shall never hunger.” Here it is “The eater of the bread of life shall live for ever.” The meaning is that the soul of the man who feeds on Christ by faith, shall never die and be cast away in hell. There is no condemnation for him. His sins are put away. He shall not be hurt by the second death.
[The bread…give is my flesh.] In these words our Lord goes even further than he has gone yet, in explaining the great theme of His discourse. When He speaks of “my flesh,” I believe he means, “my body offered up in sacrifice on the cross, as an atonement for man’s sins.” It is our Lord’s death that is specially meant. It is not merely His human nature, His incarnation, that feeds souls. It is His death as our substitute, bearing our sins and carrying our transgressions.
[Which I will give for the life of the world.] These words appear to me to make it certain that the Lord meant “His body offered in sacrifice as an atonement for sin,” when He said “my flesh is the bread.” For He does not say, “I have given,” or, “I do give,” but “I will give.” That use of the future tense seems to me a conclusive proof that “my flesh” cannot mean only “my incarnation.” The “giving” was about to take place, but had not taken place yet. It could only be His death.
When our Lord says, “I will give my flesh,” it appears to me that He can only mean, “I will give it to die, to suffer, to be offered up on the cross, as a sacrifice for sin.”
When our Lord says, “I will give my flesh for the life of the world,” I believe He means, “I will give my body to death, on account of, for the sake of, to procure, purchase, and obtain the life of the world.” I will give my death to procure the world’s life. My death shall be the ransom, the payment, and the redemption-money, by which eternal life shall be purchased for a world of sinners.”
I hold strongly that the idea of substitution is contained in these words of our Lord, and that the great doctrine of his vicarious death, which is so directly stated elsewhere (Rom 5:6-8) is indirectly implied in this sentence.
When our Lord says, “I will give my flesh for the life of the world,” I can only see one meaning in the word “world.” It means all mankind. And the idea contained, I believe, is the same as we have elsewhere,-viz., that Christ died for all mankind, not for the elect only, but for all mankind. (See Joh 1:29, and Joh 3:16, and my notes on each text.) That all the world is not saved is perfectly certain. That many die in unbelief and get no benefit from Christ’s death is certain. But that Christ’s death was enough for all mankind, and that when He died He made sufficient atonement for all the world, are truths which, both in this text and others like it, appear to my mind incontrovertible.
Let us note in this verse what a full and broad offer Christ holds out to sinners. He says,-“If any man, no matter who or what he may have been, if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” Happy would it be for many, whose whole hearts are set on eating and drinking, and feasting their poor perishable bodies, if they would only look at these words! It is only those who eat this bread who shall live for ever.
Let us remember how impossible it is for any one to explain the end of this verse who denies the sacrificial character of Christ’s death. Once grant that Christ is only a great teacher and example, and that His death is only a great pattern of self-denial, and what sense or meaning can be got out of the end of this verse? “I will give my flesh for the life of the world”! I unhesitatingly say that the words are unintelligible nonsense if we receive the teaching of many modern divines about Christ’s death, and that nothing can make them intelligible and instructive but the doctrine of Christ’s vicarious death, and satisfaction on the cross as our Substitute.
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Joh 6:41. The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. The murmuring denotes more than that indistinct complaining to which we generally apply the word. The frequent and indignant expressions of discontent by the Israelites when journeying in the desert are expressed by the same word in the Septuagint, and this (comp. 1Co 10:10) seems to have fixed its meaning in the New Testament. The Jews did not complain in the presence of Jesus, but sought to foment discontent and ill-feeling amongst those who at the time had been willing hearers of His words. It is characteristic of the spirit and motives of these enemies of our Lord that their charge against Him is put in the most captious form. As in the very similar case related in chap. Joh 5:12, the words of nobler meaning are as far as possible left out: nothing is said about the bread of life or the bread of God. Indeed the bread is a mere link of connection, dropped as soon as it has served to introduce the words joined with it, to which they can (as they think) attach a charge of falsehood. On the offer of life, eternal life, they will not dwell.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Although Christ had in the foregoing verses plainly asserted himself to be the true bread that came down from heaven, for the benefit of the world; yet the Jews understanding his words carnally, are offended with him, for pretending to come down from heaven, when they knew him to be the son of Joseph and Mary. They understood nothing of his divine nature, nor of his miraculous conception by the over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost, and therefore were highly offended at him.
Thence learn, That ignorance of Christ’s divine nature was the ground and occasion of that contempt which was cast upon his person.
Observe farther, The proof which Christ gave of his divine nature, in his knowing the hearts and thoughts of these murmuring Jews; Jesus said, Murmur not among yourselves. Christ knows and observes the most secret murmurings and repinings that are found in the breasts of the children of men: and this his knowledge is an evidence and proof of his divinity, that he is truly and really God.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 6:41-47. The Jews then murmured at him The dispositions of the greatest part of the Jews being carnal, the doctrine of our Lord respecting the spiritual nature of the blessings which his followers were to receive, and especially his affirming that he was the bread of life, and that he came down from heaven, greatly offended them. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, &c. Was he not born into the world as other men are, and are we not well acquainted with his parents, and know him to be earth- born? How then can he pretend to have come down from heaven? Jesus answered, Murmur not among yourselves On account of my words, for it is not want of truth in them, but want of affection to my doctrine, and your not considering the testimony God hath given to it, that makes you thus to murmur at and reject what I say. Set yourselves, therefore, to reflect seriously on your present state, and on your true interest. I know indeed that your prejudices against me are strong, and, without the influences of divine grace, will prove invincible and fatal: for, such is the moral blindness and degeneracy of human nature, that no man can come to me Namely, by a saving faith; except the Father which hath sent me draw him By the influence of his Holy Spirit on the heart, saving faith being of the operation of God, and the gift of God, Col 2:12; Eph 2:8. In other words, no man can believe in Christ to the saving of his soul, unless God give him power: God draws us first by good desires, not by compulsion, not by laying the will under any necessity; but by the strong and sweet, yet still resistible motions of his heavenly grace. That the expression, applied to reasonable agents, does not import any force or constraint, is plain from Jer 31:3, where God says to Israel, With loving kindness have I drawn thee; that is, by the manifold benefits which I have bestowed on thee, and particularly by the revelation of my will committed to thee, and have prevailed with thee to obey me. Thus also our Lord uses the expression, Joh 12:32; If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me; that is, being put to death on the cross, and raised from the dead, and exalted into heaven, and preached through the world, I will, by my word and Spirit, persuade many to follow me to heaven. Thus also, Hos 11:4, God says, he drew Israel with the cords of a man, with bands of love. Wherefore, by the Fathers drawing men to Christ we may understand his persuading them to believe on him, by the several proofs wherewith he has supported his mission, by the doctrine of his gospel, and by those influences of his grace, which are necessary to give men a right discernment of the evidences of religion, and of the certainty and importance of the great truths of it, and to impress these things deeply on their minds. Accordingly, in the following verse, the effect which the Fathers drawing hath upon men, is described by their hearing and learning of him. It is written in the prophets, (see the margin,) they shall be all taught of God Namely, not merely by his word, but also and especially by his Spirit, termed therefore, (Eph 1:17,) the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Before the coming of Christ the Father spake to the world concerning him by the prophets, and when he appeared in the human nature on earth, he demonstrated the truth of his mission by the testimony of John, and by voices from heaven, declaring him to be his beloved Son, and commanding all men to hear him. He did the same likewise by the doctrines which he inspired Jesus to preach, by the miracles which he gave him to perform, and by the influences of the Spirit which he empowered him to dispense. Every man therefore, &c. Every one that hath heard and understood what the Father hath said concerning the Messiah, whether by the prophets or by John the Baptist, or by the voices from heaven, or by my doctrine and miracles, and has also been enlightened, and drawn by the influences of the Holy Spirit; cometh unto me Will believe on me, and cordially receive me under the character I profess. Not that any man hath seen the Father Not that I mean, when I speak of mens hearing and learning of God, that they can see God personally, and be taught of him in the manner that a scholar is taught of his master; save he who is of God No man hath seen the Father personally, except the Son, who is come to men as the great ambassador from God; he, indeed, being statedly resident with him, and inseparably united to him, has seen the Father, and enjoyed that intimacy with him which no creature can pretend to have known.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. Vv. 41-51.
A murmur which rises in the assembly (Joh 6:41-42) forces Jesus to declare to the Jews distinctly their incompetency in this matter (Joh 6:43-46); after which, with an increasing solemnity, He again affirms Himself to be the bread of life (Joh 6:47-51); and this while adding in the last words (Joh 6:51 b) a striking, defining phrase, which becomes the occasion of a new phase of the conversation.
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
Vv. 41-51a.
1. The Jews mentioned in Joh 6:41 were probably persons who were present during the conversation with the , and in this sense a part of it; but we may infer from the technical use of this expression that they formed only a part of the company, and were of a similar character to that of the leading adversaries of Jesus in Jerusalem, who are ordinarily designated by this title in the Fourth Gospel.
2. The opinion of Meyer seems to be correct, that Joh 6:42 conveys, rather than otherwise, the impression that Joseph, as well as Mary, were still alive at this time. As the design of the sentence, however, is found, not in itself, but in the words which follow in the closing part of the verse, no conclusion can be confidently drawn from it.
3. The general thought of this passage is similar to that of the verses which immediately precedethe non-receptivity of the unsusceptible soul, and the life which the susceptible soul receives through Christ. The following points, however, may be especially noticed:
(a) The giving of the Father is here explained as a drawing it is a Divine influence working upon the soul.
(b) The soul, in connection with this drawing influence, hears the Father’s voice and learns from Him.
(c) As thus learning, the soul is ready to find in Christ the full revelation of the Father and of the life (the light-life in which there is no darkness), and thus to believe on Him.
(d) Believing on Him and finding eternal life in Him, the soul recognizes in Him the bread which gives life and the bread which has life in itself ( , Joh 6:48; Joh 6:51), and, feeding upon this bread, it will find its life not ending in death, as was the case with those who ate the manna, but continuing forever.
4. The whole development of thought in this discourse, which bears upon the inner life of the soul, seems to show clearly that, in such verses as Joh 6:44; Joh 6:37, the question is not of God’s electing purpose, but of the inward susceptibility to Divine influence. And the same is true of other similar passages in this Gospel.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Joh 6:41-51. The Murmuring of the Jews.The changes of persons here (cf. Joh 6:22, the multitude), and of place in Joh 6:59, show that this chapter is not intended to record a continuous conversation, but to give specimens of Christs teaching as the author has come to see its meaning, of objections raised and how they were answered. Jesus claims are challenged on the ground of His lowly origin (cf. Luk 4:22, Mar 6:3). The answer takes up the thought of Joh 6:37-40. Those alone will accept such an one to whom the Father gives the grace to hear the teaching promised in the prophets (Isa 54:13). All, who will hear, shall be taught, though (Joh 6:46) the teaching is not given by direct vision, but through faith in Gods Messenger. In Joh 6:48 ff. the meaning of what has preceded is summed up. Jesus is the support of mens spiritual life. The old manna could not avert physical death, the new brings true life, over which physical death has no power. The thought is now carried to a further stage, which could hardly have had any meaning to the men of Christs own generation. The bread which He will give, His flesh, is for the life of the world, a declaration of the propitiatory character of Christs death, which clearly reflects later thought (cf. Scott, pp. 122ff.).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
6:41 {9} The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
(9) Flesh cannot perceive spiritual things, and therefore the beginning of our salvation comes from God, who changes our nature, so that we, being inspired by him, may remain to be instructed and saved by Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus’ identity as the Bread of Life 6:41-51
Jesus’ claim to be the Bread of Life that had come down from heaven was something His hearers found hard to accept. Consequently Jesus clarified what He meant further.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Some of Jesus’ hearers had known Him all His life. More of them had known Him and His family since they had moved to Capernaum where Jesus gave this discourse (Joh 6:59). His claim to have come down from heaven seemed to them to contradict what they knew about His human origins. Again they were thinking only in physical terms. It is interesting that the Israelites in the wilderness who received the manna from heaven also grumbled (Exo 15:24; Exo 17:3; Num 11:4-6). Mankind’s dissatisfaction with God’s good gifts shows the perversity of the human heart. It was Jesus’ claim to a heavenly origin that offended these people, as it had offended the people of Jerusalem (Joh 5:18).
"The Incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus was and remains the great stumbling block in Christianity for the Jews." [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. 93.]
In his Gospel John often used the term "the Jews" to represent the Jews who opposed Jesus during His ministry (cf. Joh 2:18; Joh 2:20; Joh 5:16). It became something of a technical term as he used it. It often means more than just a racial group in this Gospel.
The New Testament reveals nothing about Joseph after Jesus’ childhood. He passed off the scene then, but statements such as this one suggest that he had lived in Nazareth as Jesus was growing up. Probably Joseph died sometime before Jesus began His public ministry.