Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:58
This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
58. This is that bread ] Better, this is the Bread: see on Joh 6:48. The verse is a general summing up of the whole, returning from the imagery of Flesh and Blood to the main expression of the discourse the Bread that came down from heaven and its superiority to all earthly food.
not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead ] Better, not as the Fathers did eat and died (see on Joh 6:49): ‘your’ and ‘manna’ are wanting in the best MSS. It is not in that way that the Bread comes down from heaven, nor is it such food.
eateth of ] Omit ‘of,’ as in Joh 6:54 ; Joh 6:56: ‘of’ is rightly inserted in Joh 6:26 ; Joh 6:50-51.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This is that bread … – This is the true bread that came down. The word that should not be in the translation.
Shall live for ever – Not on the earth, but in the enjoyments of a better world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
There is no more said in this verse than Joh 6:49-51; See Poole on “Joh 6:49“, and following verses to Joh 6:51. From this whole discourse it is as evident as the light, that the justification of the soul depends upon believing; and the spiritual life of the soul floweth not from love or obedience to the works of the law, but from faith in Jesus Christ: though it be true, that true faith cannot be without works, and no man without obedience in sincerity (though not in perfection) to the will of God, shall ever obtain eternal life and salvation; but this obedience is not faith, nor doth it enter into the justification of the soul, but is the certain and necessary product of that faith which justifieth, which cannot be justified as true and saving without obedience. In all this discourse here is no mention of love, or obedience, as that to which the promises of life everlasting and a joyful resurrection are so often made; but only of eating Christ; eating his flesh and drinking his blood; eating him as the bread which came down from heaven, &c.; which are phrases no way expressive of obedience to the works of the law, but of believing, Joh 6:47-49. The other texts of Scripture make it plain enough, that there can be no believing without obeying, nor any eternal life and salvation obtained without both.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
58. This is that bread, &c.asort of summing up of the whole discourse, on which let this onefurther remark sufficethat as our Lord, instead of softening downHis figurative sublimities, or even putting them in nakedphraseology, leaves the great truths of His Person and Office, andour participation of Him and it, enshrined for all time in thoseglorious forms of speech, so when we attempt to strip the truth ofthese figures, figures though they be, it goes away from us, likewater when the vessel is broken, and our wisdom lies in raising ourown spirit, and attuning our own ear, to our Lord’s chosen modes ofexpression. (It should be added that although this discourse hasnothing to do with the Sacrament of the Supper, the Sacrament haseverything to do with it, as the visible embodiment of thesefigures, and, to the believing partaker, a real, yea, and themost lively and affecting participation of His flesh and blood, andnourishment thereby of the spiritual and eternal life, here below).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
This is that bread which came down from heaven,…. That true bread, the bread of God, the bread of life, living bread; meaning himself, as in Joh 6:32;
not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: this is bread of a quite different nature from that; that was only typical bread, this true; that was the bread of angels, but this is the bread of God; that came but from the air, this from the third heaven; that men ate of, and died; but whoever eats of this, lives for ever; see Joh 6:49; as follows:
he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever;
[See comments on Joh 6:51].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This is the bread ( ). Summary and final explanation of the true manna (from verse 32 on) as being Jesus Christ himself.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “This is that bread which came down from heaven:” (houtos estin ho artos ho eks ouranou katabas) “This one is (exists as) the bread that has come down out of and away from heaven,” of which manna was a type, a shadowy likeness, but more than that manna that sustained physical life for only one day at a time, Exo 16:14-22; Joh 6:31-33; Joh 6:49-51.
2) “Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead: (ou kathos ephagon hoi pateres kai apethanon) “Not as the fathers ate and died,” Joh 6:49; Ecc 9:5; Heb 9:27.
3) “He that eateth of this bread,” (ho trogon touton ton arton) “The one who eats this bread,” from my Father in heaven, this living bread, His Son whom He has sent, Joh 6:31-32; Joh 6:57; and to whom He gave eternal life, that His Son through a sacrificial offering might give to all believers, Joh 5:26. See also Joh 1:4; Joh 14:6; 1Co 15:45.
4) “Shall live forever.” (zesei eis ton aiona) “He will live into the age,” of the new heaven, the eternal age, because of the kind and nature of life He himself has and gives to every believer, Joh 3:15-16; Joh 5:24; Joh 10:27-29; 1Jn 5:13. This life He gives to the soul, is of immortal nature, that satisfies the hunger of the soul for every believer.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
58. This is the bread which came down from heaven. He returns to the comparison between the manna and his flesh, with which he had begun; for it was necessary that he should close the sermon in this manner: “There is no reason why you should prefer Moses to me, because he fed your fathers in the wilderness; since I supply you with far more excellent food, for I bring heavenly life with me.” For — as was formerly said — the bread is said to have come down from heaven, because it has nothing earthly or corruptible in its nature, but breathes the immortality of the kingdom of God. They who were only bent on feeding the belly, did not find such virtue in the manna; for while the manna had a twofold use, the Jews, with whom Christ is now disputing, beheld in it nothing else than bodily food. But the life of the soul is not fading, but makes continual progress until the whole man is renewed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(58) This is that (better, the) bread which came down . . . i.e., of this nature, which He has expounded from Joh. 6:32 onwards. The tense is now in the past, pointing to His historic coming, because He has asserted that He is the bread. (Comp. Joh. 6:33; Joh. 6:38.)
Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead.Read, with the best MSS., not as your fathers did eat, and are dead.
The discourse ends with that which has been the text of it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4 . To be placed on record by his apostolic reporter for the instruction of his Church through all generations. Blessed be the name of the Lord our God for the holy record!
58. Your fathers did eat manna The figure of the manna, by his gainsayers first adduced, (Joh 6:31,) suggested by the bread to the five thousand, pervades all this discourse. Manna, bread, flesh, blood, Christ, are the serial terms along which the thought runs.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“This is the bread which came down from Heaven. Not as the fathers did eat and died. He who eats this bread will live for ever.”
Now that He has revealed His coming death and resurrection He can say with greater force, ‘This is the bread which came down from Heaven.’ He came down to be bread. It is as bread that He will be ground between the millstones, and undergo the heat of the oven, but then it is as the bread of life that He will meet the eternal needs of men.
‘Not such as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live for ever’. The contrast with Moses continues to the end. They must all recognise that what has come in Him is so much more than Moses could give, so much more than they could ever conceive, and so much better than they could ever have expected. It is the means of eternal life.
It is only when we recognise the supreme importance that Moses had for Israel as God’s Lawgiver and Covenant Mediator that we can appreciate how astounding these claims of Jesus were, for He is pointing out that what Moses could offer could only be secondary. It could only satisfy partially. Whilst what He had brought would have eternal efficacy. Those who partook of Him would live for ever.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 6:58. This is that bread which came down, &c. “If you attend to these important hints which I have given, you may in general know what I meant, by saying, as I have done, This is the bread that came down from heaven; a kind of bread, infinitely superior to the manna, both in its nature and efficacy; for it is to be eaten by you, not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: it is neither to be eaten the same way that your fathers did eat the manna, nor with the same effect; but he that eateth of this bread, shall live for ever: this bread shall nourish the faithful soul unto everlasting life.” See Joh 6:50. A brief analysis of this passage, respecting the bread of life, will perhaps make the whole more clear. We have heretofore observed, that it was customary with our Lord to accommodate his discourses to the occasions which gave rise to them, and to draw instructions and reflections from the objects which presented themselves. See on Mat 5:2. The tenor of the present discourse, considered in this view, will appear more beautiful. We are told, Joh 6:26 thatthe Jews followed our Lord because of the miracle of the loaves, and in expectation of further support. He reproves them on that account, Joh 6:27 and exhorts them to desire and seek that bread, which endureth to everlasting life; that divine knowledge and grace, which was the proper food of the soul, and which, being receivedby persevering faith in him, would bring them to eternal glory. They then ask him, how they should do this? and in reply he tells them plainly, Joh 6:29 by believing on him: on this they declare, that they will not believe, unless he give them some sign, some eminent miracle, Joh 6:30 and they mention Moses as having brought them manna from heaven, and intimate that they would expect no less a miracle from him, Joh 6:31. Upon this he compares himself with the mamma; shews how much he surpassed it, and continues the comparison between himself and bread, Joh 6:33. This comparison, wherein he asserts, that he was the bread which came down from heaven, offends the Jews, Joh 6:41. Christ therefore resumes the subject, and confidently asserts, Iam that bread of life, Joh 6:48 that is to say, “that spiritual food, which can bring men to everlasting life.” And this bread, says he, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world; that is, “I will die, as an atoning sacrifice, to bring men to life eternal.” As if they had not understood him all this while,though he had at first spoken to them in plain terms, and expressed the whole of his meaning by believing on him with a living faith, Joh 6:29; Joh 6:35 and made use of this figurative method in answer to their proposals,they pervert his meaning, and ask, how can this man give us flesh? Joh 6:52. In answer to which he replies, Joh 6:53. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat, &c. still meaning what he had meant all this while, in opposition to the mannathat his doctrine, for the preaching whereof he was sent down from heaven, and that grace which should be purchased for them by his death, was the most excellent food for their souls; which would be able to maintain their spiritual and eternal life, and to be to them the source and fountain of perpetual happiness, Joh 6:54-58. From this analysis we learn, that the amount of the foregoing discourse is, that Christ,the mortal, despised, and crucified Christ, who took our flesh, came down from heaven, lived and died among us, to reveal his Father’s will, and work living faith in us, is the food of our souls; the believing and obeying of whom will support our spiritual life, as food sustains the animal life: and we may hence infer what that faith is, which Christ represents as so highly necessary, and which can be no less than such a belief of the great doctrines of Christianity, as through divine grace shall influence our hearts, lives, and practice.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 6:58-59 . A concluding summary, repeating the figure from which the whole discourse arose, Joh 6:32 .
] of this nature, as explained in Joh 6:32-57 . Comp. Joh 6:50 ; not: “ this , which gives life to him who partakes of it” (Lcke); nor: “ this, i.e. my flesh and blood ” (De Wette); what follows requires in the idea of modality .
, . . .] It is the bread that came down from heaven, but not in the same way and manner that the fathers did eat heavenly bread. It is quite different in the case of this bread.
Joh 6:59 is simply an historical observation, without any further significance (Chrysostom: in order to impress us with the great guilt of the people of Capernaum). That means simply the discourse from Joh 6:41 onwards, and that what precedes down to Joh 6:40 was not spoken in the synagogue, but elsewhere, upon the first meeting with the people, Joh 6:24-25 (Ewald), would need to have been more distinctly indicated. Taking John’s words as they stand, , etc., is a more definite (according to Schenkel, indeed, mistaken) supplementary explanation of the vague . of Joh 6:25 .
, without the Art., as in Joh 18:20 : in synagogue; then follows the still more detailed designation of the locality, “ teaching in Capernaum .”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
Ver. 58. This is that bread ] Here our Saviour returns to that comparison he had made before between manna and his flesh; and so concludes as he began. A pattern for preachers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Joh 6:58 . . These characteristics, now mentioned, identify this bread from heaven as something of a different and superior nature to the manna.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
This, &c. Compare Joh 6:50, and see on Mat 16:18.
live for ever. This is the opposite of death (Joh 6:49), and is to be only by and through resurrection (verses: Joh 6:39, Joh 6:40, Joh 6:44).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Joh 6:58. , this) that is, I Myself, Joh 6:57.- , the bread) His discourse goes back to those things which were set forth in Joh 6:32, My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 6:58
Joh 6:58
This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever.-He as the bread from heaven possesses the eternal life and those who receive this life from him will never die, but with him live forever. [The food the fathers ate in the wilderness sustained temporary life for a season, but could not impart it, for it was dead food. The bread from heaven is endued with life, and therefore gives eternal life.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Joh 6:32, Joh 6:34, Joh 6:41, Joh 6:47-51
Reciprocal: Exo 16:15 – It is manna Joh 4:14 – shall never Joh 6:27 – which endureth Joh 6:50 – that Rom 10:6 – to bring Eph 4:9 – he also 1Jo 2:17 – abideth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Jesus intersperses his speech with contrasts between the literal manna in the wilderness, and the bread that he was really considering. This is done to keep their minds alive to the main thought that it was considered necessary to impress on them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 6:58. This is that bread which came down out of heaven. Here Jesus returns to the first theme. Since He has now set forth all that the true bread gives, the contrast with the manna is complete. Thisof this nature, such as I have described it to youis the bread that came down out of heaven. These last words illustrate the first clause of Joh 6:57, the living Father sent me.
Not as your fathers did eat and died: he that eateth this bread shall live for ever. The rest of the verse is in the main a forcible repetition of Joh 6:49-50.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 58. This is the bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat the manna and are dead; he who eats this bread shall live forever.
The pronoun does not mean: Such is the bread (Reuss, Keil); but This bread (Joh 6:57) is that which came down,that which the manna was not in reality; hence the two opposite consequences pointed out in what follows. Here is the final appeal: to reject it, will be to die; to accept it, will be to live.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
In conclusion, Jesus returned to His initial claim that He had come from the Father (Joh 6:29). The Jews often substituted the term "heaven" for "God" out of respect for God’s name, and Jesus did that here. This is a figure of speech called metonymy in which the speaker or writer uses the name of one thing for that of another associated with or suggested by it. The Israelites who ate the physical bread that came down from God died in the wilderness (Joh 6:30-31), but those who believe in the spiritual Bread that came down from Him will live forever.