Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:57
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
57. Not a mere repetition of the previous statement but an enlargement of it. The result of this close union is perfect life, proceeding as from the Father to the Son, so in like manner from the Son to all believers.
the living Father ] The absolutely Living One, the Fount of all life, in whom is no element of death. The expression occurs nowhere else. Comp. Mat 16:16; 2Co 6:16; Heb 7:25. For ‘hath sent’ read sent.
By the Father ] Better because of the Father, i.e. because the Father is the Living One. Similarly, ‘by Me’ should be because of Me, i.e. because he thus derives life from Me.
he that eateth me ] Instead of the Flesh and Blood we have Christ Himself; the two modes of partaking are merged in one, the more appropriate of the two being retained.
even he ] Or, he also.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I live by the Father – See the notes at Joh 5:26.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 57. So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.] From which we learn that the union between Christ and his followers shall be similar to that which subsists between God and Christ.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God is often in holy writ called the living God, not only because he hath life in himself, but because he is the fountain of life to all his creatures. Christ here declareth his Father to be the living Father upon the latter account, as he is the author and fountain of all life.
And I live by the Father, saith he. Some translate it for the Father; as indeed the preposition , joined with an accusative case, (as it is here), doth most ordinarily signify; but not always, either in profane authors, or in the dialect of Scripture, as Mar 2:4; Mar 12:24; Joh 4:41,42. It seemeth here (as in those texts) to denote not so much the final as the efficient cause; and so better translated by, than for the Father: for Christ in this text seems to be giving his hearers an account how he came to be living bread; and to be in a capacity of giving life to the world. Saith he, I live by the Father, who by an eternal generation hath communicated to me all that life which is in him; and hath also communicated to me a quickening power, as I am Mediator, and sent by the Father into the world, to give life unto the world. Now look, as I have life in myself from him who is the fountain of life, so, according to the Fathers ordination, he that eateth me, that is, by a true faith receives and closes with me, as Mediator, he shall live by me both spiritually and eternally.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
57. As the living Father hath sentmeto communicate His own life.
and I live by theFatherliterally, “because of the Father”; My lifeand His being one, but Mine that of a Son, whose it is to be”of the Father.” (See Joh 1:18;Joh 5:26).
he that eateth me, . . .shall live by meliterally, “because of Me.” So thatthough one spiritual life with Him, “the Head of everyman is Christ, as the head of Christ is God” (1Co 11:3;1Co 3:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
As the living Father hath sent me,…. Into the world, to be the Saviour of it; not by local motion, but by assumption of human nature; and not against his will, or as having superiority over him; but by joint consent and agreement: the first person in the Godhead is here styled, “the living Father”; not because he is the Father of spirits, of angels, and the souls of men; and the Father of all men by creation, and of saints by adoption; and the Father, or author of all mercies, spiritual and temporal; but because he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this character is peculiar to him: he is indeed the living God, and has life in himself, and is the fountain of life to others; but not in distinction from, and to the exclusion of the Son, or Spirit; but then none but he is the living Father, who ever did, and ever will, live as the Father of Christ:
and I live by the Father; which is to be understood of Christ, not as God, but as Mediator, and as man. As Mediator he was set up by his Father, as the head of life to the elect; and was intrusted by him with a fulness of life for them; and was sent to open the way of life unto them, and bestow it on them. As man, he had his human life from God, and was preserved and upheld in it by him; and he laid it down at his command, and at his death committed his soul or spirit to him; and which was restored unto him, and is continued with him. The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, “for the Father”, or “because of him”; and may design either that near union and conjunction of Christ with him, by virtue of which they live the same life; or else his living to the glory and honour of his Father, as he did, and does:
so he that eateth me; in a spiritual sense, by faith. The phrase of eating the Messiah was a familiar one, and well known to the Jews; though these Capernaites cavilled at it, and called it an hard saying.
“Says Rab, the Israelites shall “eat” the years of the Messiah: (the gloss on it is, the fulness which the Israelites shall have in those days:) says R. Joseph, it is certainly so; but who shall “eat him?” shall Chellek and Billek (two judges in Sodom) , “eat him?” contrary to the words of R. Hillell, who says, Israel shall have no Messiah, for , “they ate him” in the days of Hezekiah y;”
that is, they enjoyed him then; for he thought that Hezekiah was the Messiah; but that was the doctor’s mistake. The Messiah now was, and to be enjoyed and eaten by faith in a spiritual sense, and everyone that does so,
even he shall live by me: such have their life from Christ; he is their food, on which they lived; and by him they are continued, upheld, and preserved in their spiritual life, and are by him brought to the life of glory: or they live “for”, or “because of” him, as the above versions render it; they derive their life from him, and because he lives, they live also; and they live to his glory, and will do so to all eternity.
y T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2. & 99. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The living Father ( ). Nowhere else in the N.T., but see 5:26 and “the living God” (Matt 16:16; 2Cor 6:16). The Father is the source of life and so “I live because of the Father” ( ).
He that eateth me ( ). Still bolder putting of the mystical appropriation of Christ (John 6:51; John 6:53; John 6:54; John 6:56).
Because of me (‘ ). The same idea appears in 14:19: “Because I live ye shall live also.” See 11:25. Jesus Christ is our ground of hope and guarantee of immortality. Life is in Christ. There is no real difficulty in this use of with the accusative as with just before. It occurs also in 15:3. As the Father is the fount of life to Christ, so Christ is the fount of life to us. See 1Jo 4:9 where is used with the genitive (‘ ) as the intermediate agent, not the ground or reason as here.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The living Father [ ] . A phrase found nowhere else in the New Testament. On living and live, see Joh 1:4.
By the Father [ ] . Wrong. Render, because of, as Rev. Because the Father is the living One. So, because of me, instead of by me.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “As the living Father hath sent me,” (kathos apesteilen me ho zon pater) “Just as the living Father sent, mandated, or commissioned me,” Joh 3:17; Gal 4:4-5; Joh 17:25.
2) “And I live by the Father: (kago zo dia ton patera) “And I live through the Father,” and in the Father, and He in me, Joh 10:27-30; Joh 17:21-23; Joh 5:26 reads, “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,” eternal life, Joh 3:15; 1Jn 5:13.
3) “So he that eateth me,” (kai ho trogon me) “Also the one eating or who eats me,” that is, trusts or believes in Him, with abandon, with all the heart, Joh 6:47; Rom 10:8-9. Pro 3:5-6.
4) “Even he shall live by me.” (kakeinos zesei di’eme) “Even that one will live through or because of me,” with the same kind of life I received of the Father, as His only begotten, Joh 1:14; Joh 3:16; Joh 3:18; Joh 5:26; 1Co 15:22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
57. As the living Father hath sent me. Hitherto Christ has explained the manner in which we must become partakers of life. He now comes to speak of the principal cause, for the first source of life is in the Father. But he meets an objection, for it might be thought that he took away from God what belonged to him, when he made himself the cause of life. He makes himself, therefore, to be the Author of life, in such a manner, as to acknowledge that there was another who gave him what he administers to others.
Let us observe, that this discourse also is accommodated to the capacity of those to whom Christ was speaking; for it is only with respect to his flesh that he compares himself to the Father. For though the Father is the beginning of life, yet the eternal Word himself is strictly life But the eternal Divinity of Christ is not the present subject; for he exhibits himself such as he was manifested to the world, clothed with our flesh.
I also live on account of the Father. This does not apply to his Divinity simply, nor does it apply to his human nature simply and by itself, but it is a description of the Son of God manifested in the flesh. Besides, we know that it is not unusual with Christ to ascribe to the Father every thing Divine which he had in himself. It must be observed, however, that he points out here three degrees of life. In the first rank is the living Father, who is the source, but remote and hidden. Next follows the Son, who is exhibited to us as an open fountain, and by whom life flows to us. The third is, the life which we draw from him. We now perceive what is stated to amount to this, that God the Father, in whom life dwells, is at a great distance from us, and that Christ, placed between us, is the second cause of life, in order that what would otherwise be concealed in God may proceed from him to us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(57) I live by the Father . . . he shall live by me.The preposition by here is ambiguous, and it is better, therefore, to render the words, I live by reason of the Father . . . he shall live by reason of Me. For the thought of the Father as the original source of life, and as giving this principle of life to the Son, comp. Note on Joh. 5:26. He that taketh the Son into his own being, in like manner receives this principle of life from Him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“As the living Father has sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.”
Here He was not only thinking of the fact that His human life had been given to Him, and was sustained, by ‘the living Father’, the very Fountain of Life Himself, but that His resurrection would also be the Father’s work. Both His present and future life would be sustained by ‘the living Father’ Who sent Him. He had ‘life’, and would continue to have life, ‘because of the Father’. In the same way, to those who ‘eat Him’, i.e. seek to benefit by His death by coming to Him in full commitment, He Himself will give eternal life, and will raise them at the last day. They will receive their life from Him, so that He Who receives life from the living Father will sustain that life in His own.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 6:57. As the living Father hath sent me, &c. “As it is my meat and drink to do the will of the Father, who is the fountain and author of life and happiness; as I nourish and delight my mind, as man, with the punctual execution of all the orders that he gave me when he sent me into the world; so he that eateth me, he that cordially and perseveringly believes my doctrine, experiences the power of the truths which I deliver, and obeys my precepts, shall find therein perpetual nourishment and refreshment to his soul.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
Ver. 57. So he that eateth me, liveth by me ] All out of Christ then, though they seem to have the only life of it (as Nabal, 1Sa 30:6 ; “Thus shall ye say to him that liveth”), yet in true account they are no better than living carcases, walking sepulchres, of themselves. Christ is the only principle and Prince of life; and his people only are heirs together of the grace of life, 1Pe 3:7 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
57. ] The same expanded further see ch. Joh 5:26 . The two branches of the feeding on Christ are now united under the general expression, .
expresses the efficient cause . The Father is the Fountain of all Life: the Son lives in and by the Father: and all created being generally, lives ( in the lower sense ) in and by Him; but he that eateth Him shall ( eternally and in the highest sense ) live by Him.
Joh 6:58 forms the solemn conclusion of the discourse, referring back to the Bread with which it began and to its difference from the perishable food which they had extolled: and setting forth the infinite superiority of its effects over those of that sustenance.
, such is .
, past, now: because He has clearly identified it with Himself .
must = , : if (see digest) is to stand, the construction must be filled up . . . . .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
As = According as. See Joh 13:15. 1Jn 2:6; 1Jn 2:4.
live. See note on Joh 4:50.
by = through. Greek. dia. App-104. Joh 6:2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
57.] The same expanded further-see ch. Joh 5:26. The two branches of the feeding on Christ are now united under the general expression, .
expresses the efficient cause. The Father is the Fountain of all Life: the Son lives in and by the Father: and all created being generally, lives (in the lower sense) in and by Him; but he that eateth Him shall (eternally and in the highest sense) live by Him.
Joh 6:58 forms the solemn conclusion of the discourse, referring back to the Bread with which it began and to its difference from the perishable food which they had extolled:-and setting forth the infinite superiority of its effects over those of that sustenance.
, such is.
,-past, now: because He has clearly identified it with Himself.
must = , : if (see digest) is to stand, the construction must be filled up . . …
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 6:57. , hath sent Me) To this is to be referred the [corresponding clause in the Apodosis] , so also he who eateth Me, through faith. The meat of Jesus was to do the will of Him by whom He was sent, ch. Joh 4:34; the meat of the believer is, to eat Christ, and to feed on Him, by the will of the Father.-, and I) The as has its Apodosis in that clause, so also He who eateth Me.- , on account of the Father [Engl. Vers. by, not so correctly]) For I am in the Father.-) So also.- ) He who eateth Me, who live []; [this he does] through faith: Joh 6:29, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent; 35, He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me, etc.; 40, 64. In this point of view, inasmuch as the Father hath sent His Son, we eat His flesh and believe in Him.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 6:57
Joh 6:57
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father;-The Father has eternal life. He only hath immortality, and Jesus receives life from him and lives by or through him.
so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me.-As Jesus receives life from the Father and lives by him, so the disciples were to receive life from Christ and live by or from him. As Jesus made the Fathers will his will and so lived by the Father, so we make the will of Jesus our will and live by him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
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 for ever. 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? 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 flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 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. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
This sixth chapter of Johns gospel with its seventy-one verses is the longest chapter in this marvelous book telling of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.1 Someone has called Johns gospel the most wonderful book in the world, and perhaps this is its most wonderful chapter. It would have been more helpful if we could have taken the whole chapter at once, but there is so much in it that it is impossible to do this in thirty-five or forty minutes, so we have had to break it up. But I hope that this will not result in our losing sight of the setting.
Jesus had fed the multitude, and the next day people came to Him hinting that they would like to get another meal in the same way. They said, What sign do you show? Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness. We heard you did this yesterday. Are you prepared to do the same thing today? But Jesus took the occasion to show them that there was something far more important than providing food for the body. We are told, Man [does] not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). This was true even of the Son of Man who came to give His life a ransom for the world. And in this chapter He expresses the mystery of His incarnation.
The Bread of God is He who came down from heaven. In other words, He did not just begin to live when begotten in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was the preexistent Son of God who became Man for our redemption. And it is in His incarnation, that is, God and Man in the wonderful person of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is presented to us as the Bread of God. Then He speaks of something deeper, something more serious. He says, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you (v. 53). And in saying this, He used terms that must at first have been abhorrent to some of those Jews, for they knew that the law said that man was never to eat blood. But He declared, You must eat My flesh and drink My blood if you would have life, and I will raise you up in the last day. If you do not eat and drink My flesh and blood you will have no life in you at all.
This has no reference to what is called the sacrament of the Lords Supper. It had not been instituted at this time. But He referred to His sacrificial death when His blood was separated from His body and His blood shed for sinners, and men must eat His flesh and drink His blood, that is, they must appropriate the value of His atoning work in order to avail themselves of Gods salvation. Eating the flesh of the Son of God and drinking His blood are figurative expressions, and they mean laying hold of these precious truths by faith and making them our own.
Eating is appropriating faith. Have you all done that? Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ in that way? Have you trusted Him for salvation? Do you recognize that His death was for you, that the shedding of His blood was that your sins might be put away? As you contemplate that cross-an empty cross now, He who hung suspended on the nails is now seated at Gods right hand- and as you look from that empty cross to the throne of God can you say, Lord Jesus, Your blood was shed for me. I believe in You as my Savior? This is to eat His flesh and drink His blood. It is not simply a momentary thing.
It is not that just at one particular time in our lives when troubled and convicted of sin we receive Him by faith, but it is living day by day in communion with Him, appropriating all that Christ is and all that He has done. This is indeed to feed upon the living Bread. And we do that as we meditate upon the Word of God. I do not know of any other way by which we may feed upon the living Bread. Those of us who have acquainted ourselves with the Word in the times of good health find that memory will bring up the words when we are sick, and thus we feed that which we have already learned. How important then when we are able to read the Word when we are strong and well that we give ourselves to the extensive study of this Book, to meditate upon it, to build us up and nurture us, as Scripture puts it, in the words of faith and sound teaching. We need this in order to enter into and enjoy communion with our Lord.
In verse 57 He says, As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. That is communion. The Lord Jesus Christ as a Man here in this world lived in daily communion with the Father, and it is wonderful to think that He studied His Bible just as He calls upon us to search the Scriptures. We read in Psalm 16 how the blessed Lord was speaking to the Father and He said, My goodness extendeth not to thee; but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight (vv. 2-3). There He was, as Man on earth, looking up to the Father, not pleading His own merit, save on behalf of others, and yet living in daily communion with God.
The prophet Isaiah (chap. 50) gives a wonderful illustration of His living by faith. There He says in verse 2, Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. Who is speaking here? The eternal God, the Creator and Upholder of all things. But which person of the Godhead? Our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, for look at the next verses (vv. 4-6), where He speaks as Man. In verses 2-3 He speaks as God. But now we hear Him saying, The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned (v. 4).
This is the same One who said, I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering (Isa 50:3). He took the place of a learner that He should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. I like Leesers Jewish translation here which reads, That I should know how to comfort the weary with the Word. Think of it! The Lord Jesus here on earth studying the Bible day by day in order that He should know how to speak a word in season to weary souls for their own comfort and help.
Then He adds, Morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. Three times we read in Scripture of the pierced or opened ear. There is that wonderful type of the bondservant who had served out his time and was now ready to go out free. But we are told in the book of Exodus, If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free (21:5), then he was to take him to the side of the door and pierce the servants ear with an awl. Thus he became a perpetual servant. When one of his little ones would look at that ear and say, Mother, why has father such an ugly hole in his ear? She would say, Oh, dont call that ugly! That tells how much he loves you and me! You see, he was a bondman and could have gone out free, but he would not leave us, so his ears were pierced with an awl. This is a picture of our blessed Lord in glory with the print of the nails still in His hands, the scars that tell of His unchanging love for His Father and His church. Yes, He is the Servant with the pierced ear.
Then again He says in Psa 40:6, Mine ears hast thou opened, and in the New Testament that is changed to, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me (Heb 10:5). It meant this-when the Lord Jesus was one with the Father before the incarnation, He never had to take orders from anyone. He did not need the servants ear. But when He became a Man, He took the servants place and received instructions from the Father day by day. For I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me (Joh 6:38). And here in Isa 50:5 He says, The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. Oh, we get so rebellious. God begins to show what He would have us do, and we become rebellious.
It was never so with Him, for He lived in daily, hourly, momentary communion with the Father and delighted in the will of God. See what it brought Him. He says, I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting (Isa 50:6). Think of it! The One who could say, I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering (v. 3). Now He says, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. So we see Him in the two natures of God and Man. And as Man here on earth He lived in communion with the Father. And I live by the Father. So he who appropriates Him by faith day by day, even he shall live by Him. Paul expresses this when he says, I [have been] crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me (Gal 2:20a). That was eating Christ-that was making Christ his own and part of himself, as it were. Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (v. 20b).
We become in large measure like the food we eat. Someone has said, What we eat, we are. One who is really feeding on Christ will become like Him. Such a person will manifest His purity, goodness, tenderness, compassion, His kind interest in others. You take a professing Christian who is hard and bitter and critical of others, and you know he hasnt been feeding on Christ for a long time. That tells the story. You take a Christian who is drifting into worldliness and carelessness, who is becoming vain and haughty and self-centered-he has not been feeding on Christ. The Word says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Php 2:5). That is the humble mind, the lowly mind. It is the mind that thinks of others, and says, Never mind me. This is not natural to us, but it is developed in us as we feed upon our blessed Lord. And this is to be our portion forever. So He continues, This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever (Joh 6:58).
But when the people heard this, it troubled them. Many had gone with Him that far and had recognized in Him a wonderful prophet. They were asking themselves, Is not this the Messiah? They were listening to His teachings and following Him, but when He spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, when He opened up this wonderful truth of His atonement, it began to trouble them. They were looking for a great world ruler who would deliver them from the Romans and make them the first nation in the world. They were not prepared for what He talked of-dying, giving His life for the world.
When they heard this they said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? (v. 60). There are many like that today. They are willing to take Jesus as a great Teacher. They are ready to acknowledge that in His life He has given us a wonderful example, and they talk about trying to follow in His steps, but they do not own His Saviorhood. They do not want His vicarious atonement. They are not willing or ready to believe that in Jesus we have God and Man in one blessed person. They are ready to think of Him as a martyr for truth, but they are not ready to admit that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. There is no life in them, for there is no new birth unless one receives Him as the incarnate Son of God, dying on the cross for our redemption. And so today there are many who would turn away from this truth saying, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
Jesus knew what they were saying and said, Doth this offend you? Does this cause you to stumble because I have told you that I have come down from heaven and become Man? Because I tell you that I am going to die that man might be saved. Does this make you stumble? I will tell you something more-some day I am going to ascend, as Man, into heaven. You see, when men resist the truth the Lord Jesus makes it harder for them, but when they will receive the truth, then He makes it very simple.
So, now, He makes it far more difficult than before: What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? (v. 62). Oh, they would say, we cant believe that, that Jesus, as Man, should ascend up into heaven. Yet that is just what took place in Gods due time. God raised Him from the dead, and He was taken up. Four times in the first chapter of the book of Acts we get that phrase. And He sits now at the right hand of God. Some people believe that a great change took place in Christs body as He was taken up after His death. They think of Him as some strange mysterious spirit without a material human body, but you remember He Himself said, Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have (Luk 24:39). There was a physical form. He had poured out His blood for our redemption, but He is there in heaven in a body-in the same body that hung upon the cross. He is the Man Christ Jesus at Gods right hand today. When we see Him we shall look up into the face of a Man, we shall grasp the hand of a Man, but we shall recognize a nail print in that hand. He will bear it through eternity.
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? Could you believe that? But, He says, It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh proflteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (Joh 6:63). It is only as we receive His words in faith that we can lay hold of eternal truth. The flesh, unless moved upon by divine grace, will not understand. His words are foolishness unto the natural man, because they are supernaturally discerned. But these words are spirit and truth. When you open your heart to receive them, a new life is created, and you are able to take them in.
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not. He knew what was going on in the hearts of men. He knew whenever anyone made a profession that wasnt real. He knows today. The Son of God knows whether you are genuine or not. Your friends may not know. Those you are close to may not know, but He knows whether you have really put your trust in Him, the Bread of God that comes down from heaven. Let us seek to be real before Him. Let us not rely on mere profession, it will not avail in that day. There must be reality. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father (v. 65). And does that then shut anybody out? Does it make it impossible for some men to come? Does it mean then that there are some that God has decreed may come and some that may not? No. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (v. 37). All may come if they will, but apart from the drawing of the Father none would come.
Well, this seemed like strong meat for many, and we read, From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him (v. 66). They had kept company with Him up to that time. They hoped from day to day that He would put Himself at the head of the Jews, that He would lead them on to glorious victories, but now their hopes were dashed. They didnt understand His words about dying and ascending to heaven. This is not the Messiah that they were looking for. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve whom He had officially selected and asked, Will ye also go away? (v. 67). They had seen Him in prayer. They had listened to His teaching and apparently had received His Word in their hearts. They knew His power. Alas, even of them there was one who had a devil.
Will ye also go away? or, Do you desire to go away also? Are you ready to leave Me? Have I told you more than you are ready to receive? Do you want to go away? And then Peter speaks up-and we think of him as being so rash and speaking up out of place, and yet so many times he speaks up in such earnestness and faith that our hearts rejoice. How ready he was to speak out in Caesarea Philippi. And then he answered and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life (v. 68). As much as to say, There is no one that we can go to. We cant turn to the sages of old or to the scribes. They cannot give us what You have given. Thou hast the words of eternal life. Oh, hear it, dear friends! No one but Jesus can give us the knowledge of God. As you trust Him, as you receive Him and feed upon this living Bread, you shall have life eternal.
But now Jesus looks compassionately upon the Twelve, knows of the Eleven that are genuine, and knows of the one that is not real. And He says, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil [or, is sold out to Satan]? (v. 70). What privileges and opportunities they had, and yet one of them had never opened his heart to the truth. What a terrible thing! Dear friends, I wonder if there is anyone like that here today. You profess to be a Christian, and yet all through the years Jesus has never been to you a Savior from sin. You have never definitely united your soul to Him. You have never bowed before God as a repentant sinner. Oh, I beg of you, before your doom is sealed, and you have to share the fate of Judas, I beg of you, come to His feet, confessing your sin and guilt. Judas never came. Judas never received the Word. So at last he went to his own place in everlasting darkness.
He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve (v. 71). Judas was one of those who kept company with Him so intimately through the years, but he will be separated from Him for eternity. Oh, God, give us to be geuine, to feed upon the living Bread that comes down from heaven.
1 Owing to the fact that this address was given to many who were not present on earlier occasions, there is some repetition which I have thought best not to alter.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
the living: Psa 18:46, Jer 10:10, 1Th 1:9, Heb 9:14
I live: Joh 5:26, Joh 17:21
even: Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26, Joh 14:6, Joh 14:19, 1Co 15:22, 2Co 13:4, Gal 2:20, Col 3:3, Col 3:4, 1Jo 4:9
Reciprocal: Luk 20:38 – for all Joh 6:69 – the living Joh 10:36 – sent Joh 17:3 – and Jesus Rom 5:10 – we shall 1Co 15:45 – a quickening 2Co 5:15 – that they Col 3:11 – and 1Pe 2:4 – a living
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FOOD OF THE SAINTS
As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.
Joh 6:57
These words, simply and naturally, imply, first of all, the idea simply of eating. It is not, I think, amiss for us from time to time to recollect on what our convictions rest.
I. We know that it was by eating, transgressing Gods command, that man fell, and we know something of the result of that fall. To us who have the revealed truth made clear, we, when we hear of the Holy Eucharist as being the food of the saints, should be thankful. It is passing strange that so much good should come to us through eating; but if I believe the Word of God, I ought to be able to get experience enough round about me of the result eating has produced. When I hear of the Eucharist being the food of the saints, instead of being, in the first instance, tempted to doubt, I reflectthis is not then something out of harmony with what God has told me, it is not an accident, as it were, in Gods dealing with mankind, but it does represent to me Gods will and purpose carried on nowstill the old purpose.
II. And then when it speaks of the Holy Eucharist as the food it suggests that it is intended for all; it is for all, as we all need food; none can do without it. And we, if we are believers, have no real right to expect to be able to livelive, I mean, in the sight of God, without the Holy Eucharist. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. As I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me shall live by Me. It is the appointed means by which we draw into ourselves the Divine life; we are made one with Him there, and He with us. At the first institution of the Holy Eucharist, all the Apostles, as the symbol of the Church, partook of it. With the early Christians all were communicants, all took their part in breaking of bread. According to the rule of the Church of England, every parishioner should receive the Holy Communion three times a year at the least.
III. But yet again, it is called the food of the saints, and not the medicine of the saints.By calling it food and not medicine, it seems to speak of life without sickness and without pain. It might have been called the medicine of the saints. It is so in one sense; we do pray that our bodies may be made clean by His Body, and our souls washed through His most precious Blood; but I take it that when I call the Holy Eucharist the food of the saints, I do really look at it in a more inner, and more central, and more true aspect than if I call it the medicine of the saints.
IV. The Holy Eucharist is the bond of union and a cause of union.We, being partakers of one Bread, become one. And the Holy Eucharist should be regarded as being the food of the familythe chief and best means of family union, unity and love.
Bishop Edward King.
Illustration
If the Eucharist is to be the food of the family, there must be a very considerable advance in mutual accommodation, so as interchangeably to provide that now one and then another can go to partake of this holy food. It would be an advance and a blessing if all those who are employed either in domestic service, or in the great employments of our manufactories, or scattered about in our country villages, if there were a real understanding; just as they desired their fellow-servants to have their food to support their bodies, so they did really see that the Holy Eucharist is the appointed food of the saints, the food of the family; so that there should be an exceeding zeal shown by one member for another, so that all in the family, in their turn and in their way, should not be deprived of their food, without which, as believers, we have no reason to suppose that the soul can be kept from starvation.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
CHRISTS GIFT
Christ gives Himself to us to be the food of our souls. We must receive Him in His Holy Sacrament. In His Holy Sacrament He comes to us. He comes into us. He takes up His abode in the cleansed chamber of our souls, and where He is no ill can come. He that eateth Me even he shall live by Me.
I. But people have doubts about the Holy Sacrament.Look, then, at a few points in this history, and see how it is arranged so as to help our faith in the Sacrament. You will observe that Christs Apostles and all these five thousand people were far away from all supplies of food, and were, as we should say, in danger of starvation. Just in the same way any one of us who has come to Christ and been set free from his old sins, and is trying to follow Christ, is in danger of falling back into sin for want of strength to persevere. A couple of barley loaves and a few small fishes were all the food that was to be got in that wilderness. If there had been no more found for them, all those people must have fainted from starvation. Christs Apostles could not get any more for them. The people could not get any more. So it is with you. You cannot keep up your own strength. Wethat is, Christs servants and ministerswe cannot keep up your spiritual strength for you. You must each for himself receive Christ, feed on His Body and His Blood as He has commanded you. This shall be your spiritual strength; Christs Presence in your soul, which Satan will see and fear, so that that Wicked One toucheth you not.
II. People say they cannot understand it.They never will be able to understand it. The people were in a wilderness: i.e., a place which could not supply any food; a place where Christs Apostles could not get them any. Whatever food was to be got there must be miraculous. Nothing that the wilderness could produce would support life. Now, the wilderness stands for this world; it stands for this life, and all that belongs to it. Since the Fall of Man, this world and this life, have been a wilderness. Nothing that this world can produce can keep up your spiritual strength. Nothing that we can get for you out of this world can do it. It must be something from the other world, from God and Christ and Heaven, and not from here. You will observe that the Apostles themselves could not get anything out of the wilderness for the people, and what they had of their own was not enough. So neither can we either get you or give you anything of our own which will be enough to help you. But we can do as the Apostles did. And what was that? Why, we can obey our Lord, and we can give you the food He gives us to distribute; and we can tell you that the Bread from Heaven shall preserve your bodies and your souls unto Eternal Life. You cannot understand, but
(a) By faith; and
(b) By obedience,
you shall know that Christ Himself gives that spiritual food which can carry you safe and harmless through this worlds wilderness to the Heaven where there shall be no more temptation or sin or trial.
III. The food is Christ Himself.Look now, at what this means. When you were baptized you were made a member of Christ. You were, so to speak, grafted upon Him. Your spiritual life, i.e., all your power to be good or to do right, all your power to resist temptation and to shut out evil thoughtscomes to you from Christ. But how? A person may, if he likes, harden himself to Christ. He may think he can do very well alone. Christ does not force Himself upon any one. If the newly-grafted twig does not receive the sap from the tree, or if at any time it becomes diseased so that the sap does not flow into it, it will die. So with you, you must receive Christ. Just as our food gives us strength for all kinds of needs, so when you come to Holy Communion you should consider with yourself what is it that you are needing now. Whatever it is, that Christ is waiting to give you. This is what we mean when we say that Christ is all in all to the Christian. He is your life; that is, He keeps up your livingness, in whatever way it wants keeping up, at any particular time. You cannot need anythingyou cannot ask anythingbut He comes to you to give you that particular thing, be it perseverance, or strength, or warmth of love to God, or self-denial, or what not.
IV. People are far too much in the habit of thinking about Holy Communion as a special privilege for advanced Christians, and those alone.Depend upon it that Satan wins more souls by making penitents shrink back from Holy Communionpersuading them to wait until they have grown fitthan by any other device. For thereby he very often prevents their ever growing fit. Therefore, you who do truly repent you of your sins, and earnestly desire to lead a new life, draw near with faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your comfort. It is meant for you in your present state of spiritual faintness, and weakness, and exhaustion. It is meant to strengthen and revive you; and, believe me, if we could only hear the words which angels and blessed spirits utter as they see well-meaning penitents go away from the precious Body and Blood which Christ offers themour chancels would ring to the mournful cry of, Why will ye die, O House of Israel? while our Lord Himself is saying of you, They will not come to Me that they might have Life.
Illustration
As food presupposes life and requires a healthy condition of the recipient if it is to profit, so food gives internal strength. Food is not an external prop on which we lean; it is an internal sustaining power. So with Holy Communion. We feed on Christs Body and Blood that He may dwell in us. He told His Apostles that it was expedient for them that He should go away; i.e., that He should be withdrawn from their sensible recognition of Him as an external presence in order that He might, by the Holy Spirit, come to them in a better, nearer way as an internal sanctifying presence. Do we thus cherish the presence of Christ in us, the hope of glory? Do we seek to be conformed more and more to His likeness as we feed on Him? So are we to be recognised as living members of His mystical body, bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
7
In this verse the general thought pertains to the merging of three beings into one; the Father, the Son and the devoted partaker of Them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 6:57. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. He that sent the Son into the world is the living Father,the Being who is eternally and absolutely the Living One. The Son lives because the Father lives. This reception of life (see chap. Joh 5:26) is the characteristic of the Son. So, with a relation to the Son similar to the Sons relation to the Father, the believer who receives and appropriates the Son lives because the Son, who is Life, abides in him. This is the climax of the whole discourse: for even more exalted language expressive of the same truth, that the relation between Jesus and His own has its pattern in the relation between the Father and the Son, see chap. Joh 17:21; Joh 17:23.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 57. To be in communion with Jesus is to live, because Jesus has access Himself to the highest source of life, namely, God. Life passes from the Son to the believer, as it passes from the Father to the Son, (Weiss). This second transmission is at once the model (, as) and the principle (, also) of the first. The principal clause does not begin, as Chrysostom thought, with the words , I also live, but with , also he who eats me.
There are two parallel declarations: the first, bearing on the relation between God and Jesus, the second, on the relation between Jesus and the believer; each one containing two clauses: the one relating to Him who gives; the other to him who receives. Jesus is a messenger of God, fulfilling a mission here on earth; He who has given it to Him is the living Father, , the author, the primordial and absolute source of life; it is in communion with this Father that Jesus, His Son and messenger, derives unceasingly, during His earthly existence, the life, light and strength which are necessary to fulfill His mission. I live by the Father. The word , I live, does not indicate merely the fact of existence; it is at once the physical and moral life, with all their different manifestations. Every time that He acts or speaks, Jesus seeks in God what is necessary for Him for this end and receives it. It is not exact to render (with the accusative) as we have been obliged to do, by the preposition by (per patrem).
Jesus did not express Himself in this way ( with the genitive) because He did not wish to say merely that God was the force by means of which He worked. But, on the other hand, it would be still more inexact to translate: because of the Father (propter patrem; Lange, Westcott), in the sense of: with a view to the service or the glory of the Father. For the preposition with the accusative signifies, not with a view to (the purpose), but because of (the cause). Jesus means to say that, as sent by the Father, He unceasingly has from God the moral cause of His activity.
It is in the Father that He finds the source and norm of each one of His movements, from Him that He gets the vital principle of His being. The Father, in sending the Son, has secured to Him this unique relation, and the Son continues sedulously faithful to it (Joh 6:17). Thus it happens that the life of the Father is perfectly reproduced on earth: Jesus is God lived in a human life. From this results the fact described in the second part of the verse. Grammatically speaking, this second part forms but one proposition. But, logically, the first member indicating the subject: He who eats me, corresponds with the first proposition of the preceding declaration: As the Father sent me; and in the same way the predicate: He also shall live by me, corresponds with the second member of the first proposition: And as I live by the Father. The relation which Jesus sustains to the Father has its reflection, as it were, in that which the believer sustains to Jesus, and is for the believer the secret of life. The first , also, corresponds with the , as, of the beginning of the verse: it is the sign of the principal proposition. It takes the place of a , so, which was avoided because the analogy between the two relations was still not complete. For the first relation is more than the model: it is the principle, the moral reason of the second.
The latter, while being analogous to the first, exists only in virtue of the other. The second before the pronoun makes the subject prominent: , he also. The believer, by feeding on Jesus, finds in Him the same source and guaranty of life as that which Jesus Himself finds in His relation to the Father. , not strictly by me or for me, but because of me, the norm and source of his life. In each act which he performs, the believer seeks in Christ his model and his strength, as Christ does with relation to the Father; and it is thus that the life of Christ and consequently that of the Father Himself become his. A thought of unfathomable depth is contained in this saying: Jesus only has direct access to the Father, the supreme source. The life which He derives from Him, humanly elaborated and reproduced in His person, becomes thus accessible to men. As the infinite life of nature becomes capable of appropriation by man only so far as it is concentrated in a fruit or a piece of bread, so the divine life is only brought within our reach so far as it is incarnated in the Son of man.
It is thus that He is for us the bread of life. Only, as we must take the piece of bread and assimilate it to ourselves in order to obtain physical life by its means, we must, also, in order to have the higher life, incorporate into ourselves the person of the Son of man by the inward act of faith, which is the mode of spiritual manducation. By eating Him, who lives by God, we possess the life of God. The living Father lives in One, but in this One He gives Himself to all. This is not metaphysics; it is the most practical morals, as every believer well knows. Jesus therefore reveals here at once the secret of His own life and of that of His followers. Here is the mystery of salvation, which St. Paul describes as the summing up of all things in one (Eph 1:10). The Lord sought thus to make clear to the Jews what appeared to them incredible: that one man could be for all others the source of life. The formula here given by Christ is of course that of His earthly life; that of His divine life was given in Joh 6:26. It follows from these words that no other even miraculous food can give life.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
6:57 As {t} the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the {u} Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
(t) In that Christ is man, he receives that power which quickens and gives life to those that are his, from his Father: and he adds this word “the” to make a distinction between his Father and all other fathers.
(u) Christ means that although he is man, yet his flesh can give life, not by its own nature, but because his flesh lives by the Father, that is to say, sucks and draws out of the Father that power which it has to give life.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus traced the eternal life that the believer receives when he or she trusts in Jesus back through the Son to the living God (cf. Joh 5:21; Joh 5:24-27). This helps us see that eternal life is essentially God’s life that He imparts to believers. It also clarifies Jesus’ central role as the mediator of eternal life from the Father to humankind.