The document discusses the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand near Bethsaida, as narrated in John 6, highlighting the connection of this miracle to themes of scarcity and abundance. It emphasizes the setting, the preparations made, and significant characters like Andrew, who presented the young boy with five loaves and two fishes. The commentary explores various interpretations of the miracle, including its communal implications and the transformative effect of sharing.

1. JOHN 6 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1
Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of
the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),
BARNES, "Jesus went over - Went to the east side of the sea. The place to
which he went was Bethsaida, Luk_9:10. The account of this miracle of feeding the
five thousand is recorded also in Mat_14:13-21; Mar_6:32-44; Luk_9:10-17. John
has added a few circumstances omitted by the other evangelists.
CLARKE, "After these things - This is a sort of indefinite expression, from
which me can gather nothing relative to the time in which these things happened. It
refers no doubt to transactions in the preceding year.
Jesus went over the sea of Galilee - Or, as some translate the words, by the
side of the sea of Galilee. From Luke, Luk_9:10, we learn that this was a desert place
in the vicinity of Bethsaida. The sea of Galilee, Genesaret, and Tiberias, are the same
in the New Testament with the sea of Cinnereth in the Old. Tiberias was a city in
Galilee, situated on the western side of the lake. See on Joh_6:22 (note).
GILL, "After these things,.... After Christ's curing the man at Bethesda's pool,
and the vindication of himself for doing it or the sabbath day, and for asserting his
equality with God; near a year after these things: for these were done at the feast of
the passover, and now it was near another; and what is related here, was after the
death of John the Baptist, and when the disciples had returned from preaching in the
several cities and towns, where Christ afterwards went, and had given an account of
their success; see Mat_14:12. Quickly after the passover was ended, Christ departed
from Jerusalem, and went into Galilee, and preached in the several cities and towns
in those parts, and wrought many miracles: and after these things, in process of time,
Jesus went over the sea of Galilee; the same with the lake of Gennesaret, Luk_
5:1;
which is the sea of Tiberias; and is frequently so called by the Jewish writers (x),
who often make mention of ‫של‬ ‫ימה‬ ‫,טבריה‬ "the sea of Tiberias"; and by other writers, it
is called the lake of Tiberias (y); Pliny, who calls it the lake of Genesara (z), says,
"it was sixteen miles long, and six broad, and was beset with very pleasant towns; on
the east were Julias and Hippo, and on the south Tarichea, by which name some call
the lake, and on the west Tiberias, wholesome for the hot waters.''
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2. And these are the waters which the Jews call ‫דטבריא‬ ‫,דימוסין‬ or, ‫,חמי‬ the hot baths of
Tiberias (a); and from the city of Tiberias built by Herod, and called so in honour of
Tiberius Caesar, the sea took its name.
HENRY, "We have here an account of Christ's feeding five thousand men with
five loaves and two fishes, which miracle is in this respect remarkable, that it is the
only passage of the actions of Christ's life that is recorded by all the four evangelists.
John, who does not usually relate what had been recorded by those who wrote before
him, yet relates this, because of the reference the following discourse has to it.
Observe,
I. The place and time where and when this miracle was wrought, which are noted
for the greater evidence of the truth of the story; it is not said that it was done once
upon a time, nobody knows where, but the circumstances are specified, that the fact
might be enquired into.
1. The country that Christ was in (Joh_6:1): He went over the sea of Galilee, called
elsewhere the lake of Gennesareth, here the sea of Tiberias, from a city adjoining,
which Herod had lately enlarged and beautified, and called so in honour of Tiberius
the emperor, and probably had made his metropolis. Christ did not go directly over
cross this inland sea, but made a coasting voyage to another place on the same side.
It is not tempting God to choose to go by water, when there is convenience for it,
even to those places whither we might go by land; for Christ never tempted the Lord
his God, Mat_4:7.
CALVIN, "1.Afterwards, Jesus went. Although John was accustomed to collect
those actions and sayings of Christ, which the other three Evangelists had
omitted, yet in this passage, contrary to his custom, he repeats the history of a
miracle which they had related. But he does so for the express purpose of passing
from them to Christ’s sermon, which was delivered next day at Capernaum,
because the two things were connected; and therefore this narrative, though the
other three Evangelists have it in common with him, has this peculiarity, that it is
directed to another object, as we shall see. The other Evangelists (Matthew
14:13; Mark 6:32; Luke 9:10) state that this happened shortly after the death of
John the Baptist, by which circumstance of time they point out the cause of
Christ’s departure; for when tyrants have once imbrued their hands in the blood
of the godly, they kindle into greater cruelty, in the same manner as intemperate
drinking aggravates the thirst of drunkards. Christ therefore intended to abate
the rage of Herod by his absence. He uses the term,Sea of Galilee, as meaning the
lake of Gennesareth. When he adds that it was called the Sea of Tiberias, he
explains more fully the place to which Christ withdrew; for the whole lake did
not bear that name, but only that part of it which lay contiguous to the bank on
which Tiberias was situated.
BARCLAY 1-13, "THE LOAVES AND FISHES (John 6:1-13)
6:1-13 After these things Jesus went away across the Sea of Galilee, that is, the
Sea of Tiberias. A great crowd was following him, because they were watching
the signs which he did on those who were ill. Jesus went up into the hill and he
was sitting there with his disciples. The Passover, the Feast of the Jews, was near.
When Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw that a great crowd was coming to him, he
said to Philip: "Where are we to buy bread for these to eat?" He was testing
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3. Philip when he said this, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip
answered him: "Seven pounds worth of bread is not enough to give each of them
a little to eat." One of the disciples said to him--it was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother--"There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two little fishes. But
what use are they among so many?" Jesus said: "Make the men sit down."
There was much grass in the place. So the men sat down to the number of about
five thousand. So Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks for them, and dividing
them up among those who were reclining there. So too he gave them of the fishes,
as much as they wished. When they were satisfied, he said to the disciples:
"Collect the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing may be wasted." So
they collected them, and they filled twelve baskets with the broken pieces of the
loaves which remained over after the people had eaten.
There were times when Jesus desired to withdraw from the crowds. He was
under continuous strain and needed rest. Moreover, it was necessary that
sometimes he should get his disciples alone to lead them into a deeper
understanding of himself. In addition, he needed time for prayer. On this
particular occasion it was wise to go away before a head-on collision with the
authorities took place, for the time of the final conflict had not yet come.
From Capernaum to the other side of the Sea of Galilee was a distance of about
four miles and Jesus set sail. The people had been watching with astonishment
the things he did; it was easy to see the direction the boat was taking; and they
hastened round the top of the lake by land. The River Jordan flows into the
north end of the Sea of Galilee. Two miles up the river were the fords of Jordan.
Near the fords was a village called Bethsaida Julias, to distinguish it from the
other Bethsaida in Galilee, and it was for that place that Jesus was making (Luke
9:10). Near Bethsaida Julias, almost on the lakeside, was a little plain where the
grass always grew. It was to be the scene of a wondrous happening.
At first Jesus went up into the hill behind the plain and he was sitting there with
his disciples. Then the crowd began to appear in droves. It was nine miles round
the top of the lake and across the ford, and they had made the journey with all
speed. We are told that the Feast of the Passover was near and there would be
even bigger crowds on the roads at that time. Possibly many were on the way to
Jerusalem by that route. Many Galilaean pilgrims travelled north and crossed
the ford and went through Peraea, and then re-crossed the Jordan near Jericho.
The way was longer but it avoided the territory of the hated and dangerous
Samaritans. It is likely that the great crowd was swelled by detachments of
pilgrims on their way to the Passover Feast.
At sight of the crowd Jesus' sympathy was kindled. They were hungry and tired,
and they must be fed. Philip was the natural man to whom to turn, for he came
from Bethsaida (John 1:44) and would have local knowledge. Jesus asked him
where food could be got. Philip's answer was despairing. He said that even if
food could be got it would cost more than two hundred denarii to give this vast
crowd even a little each. A denarius was worth about 4 pence and was the
standard day's wage for a working man. Philip calculated that it would take
more than six months' wages to begin to feed a crowd like this.
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4. Then Andrew appeared on the scene. He had discovered a lad with five barley
loaves and two little fishes. Quite likely the boy had brought them as a picnic
lunch. Maybe he was out for the day, and as a boy might, had got attached
himself to the crowd. Andrew, as usual, was bringing people to Jesus.
The boy had not much to bring. Barley bread was the cheapest of all bread and
was held in contempt. There is a regulation in the Mishnah about the offering
that a woman who has committed adultery must bring. She must, of course,
bring a trespass offering. With all offerings a meat-offering was made, and the
meat-offering consisted of flour and wine and oil intermixed. Ordinarily the
flour used was made of wheat; but it was laid down that, in the case of an
offering for adultery, the flour could be barley flour, for barley is the food of
beasts and the woman's sin was the sin of a beast. Barley bread was the bread of
the very poor.
The fishes would be no bigger than sardines. Pickled fish from Galilee were
known all over the Roman Empire. In those days fresh fish was an unheard-of
luxury, for there was no means of transporting it any distance and keeping it in
an eatable condition. Small sardine-like fish swarmed in the Sea of Galilee. They
were caught and pickled and made into a kind of savoury. The boy had his little
pickled fish to help the dry barley bread down.
Jesus told the disciples to make the people sit down. He took the loaves and the
fishes and he blessed them. When he did that he was acting as father of the
family. The grace he used would be the one that was used in every home:
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, who causest to come forth bread from the
earth." The people ate and were rifled. Even the word that is used for filled
(chortazesthai, Greek #5526) is suggestive. Originally, in classical Greek, it was a
word used for feeding animals with fodder. When used of people it meant that
they were fed to repletion.
When the people had eaten their fill, Jesus bade his disciples gather up the
fragments left. Why the fragments? At Jewish feasts the regular practice was to
leave something for the servants. That which was left was called the Peah; and
no doubt the people left their usual part for those who had served them with the
meal.
Of the fragments twelve baskets were taken up. No doubt each of the disciples
had his basket (kophinos, Greek #2894). It was bottle-shaped and no Jew ever
travelled without his. Twice Juvenal (3: 14; 6: 542) talks of "the Jew with his
basket and his truss of hay." (The truss of hay was to use as a bed, for many of
the Jews lived a gypsy life.) The Jew with his inseparable basket was a notorious
figure. He carried it partly because he was characteristically acquisitive, and
partly because he needed to carry his own food if he was going to observe the
Jewish rules of cleanness and uncleanness. From the fragments each of the
disciples filled his basket. And so the hungry crowd were fed and more than fed.
THE MEANING OF A MIRACLE (John 6:1-13 continued)
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5. We will never know exactly what happened on that grassy plain near Bethsaida
Julias. We may look at it in three ways.
(a) We may regard it simply as a miracle in which Jesus multiplied loaves and
fishes. Some may find that hard to conceive of; and some may find it hard to
reconcile with the fact that that is just what Jesus refused to do at his
temptations (Matthew 4:3-4). If we can believe in the sheer miraculous character
of this miracle, then let us continue to do so. But if we are puzzled, there are two
other explanations.
(b) It may be that this was really a sacramental meal. In the rest of the chapter
the language of Jesus is exactly that of the Last Supper, when he speaks about
eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It could be that at this meal it was but a
morsel, like the sacrament, that each person received; and that the thrill and
wonder of the presence of Jesus and the reality of God turned the sacramental
crumb into something which richly nourished their hearts and souls--as happens
at every Communion Table to this day.
(c) There may be another and very lovely explanation. It is scarcely to be thought
that the crowd left on a nine-mile expedition without making any preparations at
all. If there were pilgrims with them, they would certainly possess supplies for
the way. But it may be that none would produce what he had, for he selfishly--
and very humanly--wished to keep it all for himself. It may then be that Jesus,
with that rare smile of his, produced the little store that he and his disciples had;
with sunny faith he thanked God for it and shared it out. Moved by his example,
everyone who had anything did the same; and in the end there was enough, and
more than enough, for all.
It may be that this is a miracle in which the presence of Jesus turned a crowd of
selfish men and women into a fellowship of sharers. It may be that this story
represents the biggest miracle of all--one which changed not loaves and fishes,
but men and women.
However that may be, there were certain people there without whom the miracle
would not have been possible.
(i) There was Andrew. There is a contrast between Andrew and Philip. Philip
was the man who said: "The situation is hopeless; nothing can be done." Andrew
was the man who said: "I'll see what I can do; and I'll trust Jesus to do the rest."
It was Andrew who brought that lad to Jesus, and by bringing him made the
miracle possible. No one ever knows what will come out of it when we bring
someone to Jesus. If a parent trains up his child in the knowledge and the love
and the fear of God, no man can say what mighty things that child may some day
do for God and for men. If a Sunday School teacher brings a child to Christ, no
man knows what that child may some day do for Christ and his church.
There is a tale of an old German schoolmaster who, when he entered his class of
boys in the morning, used to remove his cap and bow ceremoniously to them.
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6. One asked him why he did this. His answer was: "You never know what one of
these boys may some day become." He was right--because one of them was
Martin Luther.
Andrew did not know what he was doing when he brought that lad to Jesus that
day, but he was providing material for a miracle. We never know what
possibilities we are releasing when we bring someone to Jesus.
(ii) There was the boy. He had not much to offer but in what he had Jesus found
the materials of a miracle. There would have been one great deed fewer in
history if that boy had withheld his loaves and fishes.
Jesus needs what we can bring him. It may not be much but he needs it. It may
well be that the world is denied miracle after miracle and triumph after triumph
because we will not bring to Jesus what we have and what we are. If we would
lay ourselves on the altar of his service, there is no saying what he could do with
us and through us. We may be sorry and embarrassed that we have not more to
bring--and rightly so; but that is no reason for failing to bring what we have.
Little is always much in the hands of Christ.
PINK 1-13, "Of all the miracles performed by the Lord Jesus the feeding of the
five thousand is the only one recorded by each of the four Evangelists. This at
once intimates that there must be something about it of unusual importance, and
therefore it calls for our most diligent study. The Holy Spirit has—if we may
reverently employ such language—described this miracle in the most matter-of-
fact terms. No effort is made to emphasize the marvel of it. There is an entire
absence of such language as an uninspired pen would naturally have employed to
heighten the effect on the reader. And yet, notwithstanding the simplicity and
exceeding brevity of the narrative, it is at once evident that this incident of the
feeding of the hungry multitude was a signal example of Christ’s almighty
power. As Bishop Ryle has noted, of all the wonderful works which our Savior
did none was quite so public as this, and none other was performed before so
many witnesses. Our Lord is here seen supplying the bodily needs of a great
crowd by means of five loaves and two small fishes. Food was called into
existence which did not exist before. To borrow another thought from Bishop
Ryle: In healing the sick and in raising the dead, something was amended or
restored which already existed; but here was an absolute creation. Only one
other miracle in any wise resembles it—His first, when He made wine out of the
water. These two miracles belong to a class by themselves, and it is surely
significant, yea most suggestive, that the one reminds us of His precious blood,
while the other points to His holy body, broken for us. And here is, we believe,
the chief reason why this miracle is mentioned by all of the four Evangelists: it
shadowed forth the gift of Christ Himself. His other miracles exhibited His
power and illustrated His work, but this one in a peculiar way sets forth the
person of Christ, the Bread of Life.
Why, then, was this particular miracle singled out for special prominence?
Above, three answers have been suggested, which may be summarized thus:
First, because there was an evidential value to this miracle which excelled that of
all others. Some of our Lord’s miracles were wrought in private, or in the
6

7. presence of only a small company; others were of a nature that made it difficult,
in some cases impossible, for sceptics to examine them. But here was a miracle,
performed in the open, before a crowd of witnesses which were to be numbered
by the thousand. Second, because of the intrinsic nature of the miracle. It was a
creation of food: the calling into existence of what before had no existence.
Third, because of the typical import of the miracle. It spoke directly of the
person of Christ. To these may be added a fourth answer: The fact that this
miracle of the feeding of the hungry multitude is recorded by all the Evangelists
intimates that it has a universal application. Matthew’s mention of it suggests to
us that it forshadows Christ, in a coming day, feeding Israel’s poor—cf. Psalm
132:15. Mark’s mention of it teaches us what is the chief duty of God’s
servants—to break the Bread of Life to the starving. Luke’s mention of it
announces the sufficiency of Christ to meet the needs of all men. John’s mention
of it tells us that Christ is the Food of God’s people.
Before we consider the miracle itself we must note its setting—the manner in
which it is here introduced to us. And ere doing this we will follow our usual
custom and present an Analysis of the passage which is to be before us:—
1. Christ followed into Galilee by a great multitude, verses 1, 2.
2. Christ retires to a mountain with His disciples, verse 3.
3. Time: just before the Passover, verse 4.
4. The testing of Philip, verses 5-7.
5. The unbelief of Andrew, verses 8, 9.
6. The feeding of the multitude, verses 10, 11.
7. The gathering up of the fragments, verses 12, 13.
"After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of
Tiberias" (John 6:1).
"After these things": the reference is to what is recorded in the previous
chapter—the healing of the impotent man, the persecution by the Jews because
this had been done on the Sabbath day, their determination to kill Him because
He had made Himself equal with God, the lengthy reply made by our Lord. After
these things, the Lord left Jerusalem and Judea and "went over the sea of
Galilee." It is similar to what was before us in John 4:1-3. The Son of God would
not remain and cast precious pearls before swine. He departed from those who
despised and rejected Him. Very solemn is this, and a warning to every
unbeliever who may read these lines.
"And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he
did on them that were diseased" (John 6:2). How completely these people failed
in their discernment and appreciation of the person of Christ! They saw in Him
only a wonderful Magician who could work miracles, a clever Physician that
could heal the sick. They failed to perceive that He was the Savior of sinners and
the Messiah of Israel. They were blind to His Divine glory. And is it any
otherwise with the great multitude today? Alas, few of them see in Christ
anything more than a wonderful Teacher and a beautiful Example.
"And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he
did on them that were diseased." How sadly true to life. It is still idle curiosity
and the love of excitement which commonly gathers crowds together. And how
what we read of here is being repeated before our eyes in many quarters today.
When some professional evangelist is advertised as a ‘Faith-healer’ what crowds
of sick folk will flock to the meetings! How anxious they are for physical relief,
7

8. and yet, what little real concern they seem to have for their soul’s healing!
"And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples" (John
6:3). This may be regarded as the sequel to what we read of in verse 2, or it may
be connected with verse 1, and then verse 2 would be considered as a
parenthesis. Probably both are equally permissible. If we take verse 2 as giving
the cause why our Lord retired to the mountain with His disciples, the thought
would be that of Christ withdrawing from the unbelieving world. The miracles
drew many after Him, but only a few to Him. He knew why this great multitude
"followed him," and it is solemn to see Him withdrawing to the mountain with
His disciples. He will not company with the unbelieving world: His place is
among His own. If verse 3 be read right on after verse 1, then we view the Savior
departing from Judea, weary (cf. Mark 6:31) with the unbelief and self-
sufficiency of those in Jerusalem. "He went up into a mountain into another
atmosphere, setting forth the elevation with the Father to which He retired for
refreshment of spirit" (Malachi Taylor). Compare John 6:15 and John 7:53 to
John 8:2 for other examples in John’s Gospel.
"And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh" (John 6:4). This seems
introduced here in order to point again to the empty condition to Judaism at this
time. The Passover was nigh, but the Lamb of God who was in their midst was
not wanted by the formal religionists. Yea, it was because they were determined
to "kill him" (John 5:18), that He had withdrawn into Galilee. Well, then, may
the Holy Spirit remind us once more that the Passover had degenerated into "a
feast of the Jews." How significant is this as an introductory word to what
follows! The Passover looks back to the night when the children of Israel feasted
on the lamb; but here we see their descendants hungering! Their physical state
was the outward sign of their emptiness of soul. Later, we shall see how this verse
supplies us with one of the keys to the dispensational significance of our passage.
"When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he
saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" (John 6:5).
While the multitude did not know Christ, His heart went out in tender pity to
them. Even though an unworthy motive had drawn this crowd after Christ, He
was not indifferent to their need. Matthew, in his account, tells us "And Jesus
went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward
them" (Matthew 14:14). So also Mark (Mark 6:34). The absence of this sentence
here in John is one of the innumerable evidences of the Divine authorship of
Scripture. Not only is every word inspired, but every word is in its suited place.
The "compassion" of Christ, though noted frequently by the other Evangelists, is
never referred to by John, who dwells upon the dignity and glory of His Divine
person. Compassion is more than pity. Compassion signifies to suffer with, along
side of, another. Thus the mention of Christ’s compassion by Matthew tells us
how near the Messiah had come to His people; while the reference to it in Mark
shows how intimately the Servant of Jehovah entered into the sufferings of those
to whom He ministered. The absence of this word in John, indicates His elevation
above men. Thus we see how everything is most suitably and beautifully placed.
And how much we lose by our ungodly haste and carelessness as we fail to mark
and appreciate these lovely little touches of the Divine Artist! May Divine grace
constrain both writer and reader to handle the Holy Book more reverently, and
take more pains to acquaint ourselves with its exhaustless riches. It would be a
delight to tarry here, and notice other little details mentioned by the different
8

9. evangelists which are omitted from John’s account—such as the fact that
Matthew tells us (before the miracle was performed) that "it was evening," and
that the disciples bade their Master "send the multitude away"—but perhaps
more will be accomplished if we leave the reader to search them out for himself.
"When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great multitude come unto him,
he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he
said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do" (John 6:5, 6). In
reading the Scriptures we fail to derive from them the blessings most needed
unless we apply them to our own hearts and lives. Unlike all others, the Bible is a
living book: It is far more than a history of the past. Stript of their local and
incidental details, the sacred narratives depict characters living and incidents
transpiring today. God changes not, nor do the motives and principles of His
actions. Human nature also is the same in this twentieth century as it was in the
first. The world is the same, the Devil is the same, the trials of faith are the same.
Let, then, each Christian reader view Philip here as representing himself. Philip
was confronted with a trying situation. It was the Lord who caused him to be so
circumstanced. The Lord’s design in this was to "prove" or test him. Let us now
apply this to ourselves.
What happened to Philip is, in principle and essence, happening daily in our
lives. A trying, if not a difficult, situation confronts us; and we meet with them
constantly. They come not by accident or by chance; instead, they are each
arranged by the hand of the Lord. They are God’s testings of our faith. They are
sent to "prove" us. Let us be very simple and practical. A bill comes
unexpectedly; how are we to meet it? The morning’s mail brings us tidings which
plunge us into an unlooked-for perplexity; how are we to get out of it? A cog
slips in the household’s machinery, which threatens to wreck the daily routine;
what shall we do? An unanticipated demand is suddenly made upon us; how
shall we meet it? Now, dear friends, how do such experiences find us? Do we, like
Philip and Andrew did, look at our resources? Do we rack our minds to find
some solution? or do our first thoughts turn to the Lord Jesus, who has so often
helped us in the past? Here, right here, is the test of our faith.
O, dear reader, have we learned to spread each difficulty, as it comes along,
before God? Have we formed the habit of instinctively turning to Him? What is
your feebleness in comparison with His power! What is your emptiness in
comparison with His ocean fulness? Nothing! Then look daily to Him in simple
faith, resting on His sure promise, "My God shall supply all your need" (Phil.
4:19). Ah! you may answer, It is easy to offer such advice, but it is far from easy
to act on it. True. Yea, of yourself it is impossible. Your need, and my need, is to
ask for faith, to p/cad for grace, to cry unto God for such a sense of helplessness
that we shall lean on Christ, and on Him alone. Thus, ask and wait, and you shall
find Him as good as His word. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why
art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who
is the health of my countenance, and my God" (Ps. 43:5).
The birds without barn,
Or storehouse are fed;
From them let us learn
To trust for our bread.
His saints what is fitting
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10. Shall ne’er be denied,
So long as, ‘tis written
"The Lord will provide."
When Satan appears,
To stop up our path,
And fills us with fears,
We triumph by faith:
He cannot take from us,
Though oft he has tried,
The heart-cheering promise,
"The Lord will provide."
"Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for
them, that every one of them may take a little" (John 6:7). Let us see in Philip,
once more, a portrait of ourselves. First, what does this answer of Philip reveal?
It shows he was occupied with circumstances. He was looking on the things
which are seen—the size of the multitude—and such a look is always a barrier in
the way of faith. He made a rapid calculation of how much money it would
require to provide even a frugal meal for such a crowd; but he calculated
without Christ! His answer was the language of unbelief—"Two hundred
pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take
a little." Fancy talking of "a little’ in the presence of Infinite Power and Infinite
Grace! His unbelief was also betrayed by the very amount he specified—two
hundred pennyworth.
Nowhere in Scripture are numbers used haphazardly. Two hundred is a multiple
of twenty, and in Scripture twenty signifies a vain expectancy, a coming short of
God’s appointed time or deliverance. For example, in Genesis 31:41 we learn
how that Jacob waited twenty years to gain possession of his wives and property;
but it was not until the twenty-first that God’s appointed deliverance came.
From Judges 4:3 we learn how that Israel waited twenty years for emancipation
from Jabin’s oppression; but it was not until the twenty-first that God’s
appointed deliverance came. So in 1 Samuel 7:2 we learn how that the ark abode
in Kirjath-Jearim for twenty years, but it was in the twenty-first that God
delivered it. As, then, twenty speaks of insufficiency, a coming short of God’s
appointed deliverance, so two hundred conveys the same idea in an intensified
form. Two hundred is always found in Scripture in an evil connection. Let the
reader consult (be sure to look them up) Joshua 7:21; Judges 17:4; 1 Samuel
30:10; 2 Samuel 14:26; Revelation 9:16. So the number here in John 6:7 suitably
expressed Philip’s unbelief.
How surprising was this failure in the faith of Philip. One would have supposed
that after all the disciples had witnessed of the Lord’s wonder-working power
they had learned by this time that all fulness dwelt in Him. We should have
supposed their faith was strong and their hearts calm and confident. Ah—should
we? Would not our own God-dishonoring unbelief check such expectations?
Have we not discovered how weak our faith is! How obtuse our understanding!
How earthly our minds and hearts! In vain does the Lord look within us
sometimes for even a ray of that faith which glorifies Him. Instead of counting on
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11. the Lord, we, like Philip, are occupied with nature’s resources. Beware, then, of
condemning the unbelief of Philip, lest you be found condemning yourself too.
How often has the writer thought, after some gracious manifestation of the
Lord’s hand on his behalf, that he could trust Him for the future; that the
remembrance of His past goodness and mercy would keep him calm and
confident when the next cloud should drapen his landscape. Alas! When it came
how sadly he failed. Little did we know our treacherous heart. And little do we
know it even now. O dear reader, each of us need the upholding hand of the
Lord every step of our journey through this world that lieth in the Wicked one;
and, should that hand be for a single moment withdrawn, we should sink like
lead in the mighty waters. Ah! nothing but grace rescued us; nothing but grace
can sustain us; nothing but grace can carry us safely through. Nothing, nothing
but the distinguishing and almighty grace of a sovereign God!
"One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a
lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they
among so many?" (John 6:8, 9). Unbelief is infectious. Like Philip before him,
Andrew, too, seemed blind to the glory of Christ. "What are they among so
many?" was the utterance of the same old evil heart of unbelief which long ago
had asked, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" (Ps. 78:10). And how
the helplessness of unbelief comes out here! "That every one may take a little,"
said Philip; "What are these among so many?" asked Andrew. What mattered
the "many" when the Son of God was there! Like Philip, Andrew calculated
without Christ, and, therefore he saw only a hopeless situation. How often we
look at God through our difficulties; or, rather, we try to, for the difficulties hide
Him. Keep the eye on Him, and the difficulties will not be seen. But alas! what
self-centered, skeptical, sinful creatures we are at best! God may lavish upon us
the riches of His grace—He may have opened for us many a dry path through
the waters of difficult circumstances—He may have delivered us with His
outstretched arm in six troubles, yet, when the seventh comes along, instead of
resting on Job 5:19, we are distrustful, full of doubts and fears, just as if we had
never known Him. Such frail and depraved creatures are we that the faith we
have this hour may yield to the most dishonoring distrust in the next. This
instance of the disciples’ unbelief is recorded for our "learning"—for our
humbling and watchfulness. The same unbelief was evidenced by Israel in the
wilderness, for the human heart is the same in all ages. All of God’s wonders in
Egypt and at the Red Sea were as nothing, when the trials of the wilderness came
upon them. Their testings in "the wilderness of sin" (Ex. 16:1) only brought out
of their hearts just what this testing brought out of Philip’s and Andrew’s, and
just what similar testing brings out of ours—blindness and unbelief. The human
heart, when proved, can yield nothing else, for nothing else is there. O with what
fervency should we daily pray to our Father, "Lead us not into temptation
[trial]"!
"And Jesus said, Make the men sit down" (John 6:10). How thankful we should
be that God’s blessings are dispensed according to the riches of His grace, and
not according to the poverty of our faith. What would have happened to that
multitude if Christ had acted according to the faith of His disciples? Why, the
multitude would have gone away unfed! Ah! dear reader, God’s blessings do
come, despite all our undeserving. Christ never fails, though there is nothing but
failure in us. His arm is never withdrawn for a moment, nor is His love chilled by
11

12. our skepticism and ingratitude. To hear or read of this may encourage one who
is merely a professing Christian to continue in his careless and God-dishonoring
course; but far otherwise will it be with a real child of God. The realization of the
Lord’s unchanging goodness, His unfailing mercies—despite our backslidings—
will melt him to tears in godly sorrow.
"And Jesus said, Make the men sit down." How patient was the Lord with His
disciples. There was no harsh rebuke for either Philip or Andrew. The Lord
knoweth our frame and remembers that we are dust. "Make the men sit down"
was a further test; this time of their obedience. And a searching test it was. What
was the use of making a hungry multitude sit down when there was nothing to
feed them with? Ah! but God had spoken; Christ had given the command, and
that was enough. When He commands it is for us to obey, not to reason and
argue. Why must not Adam and Eve eat of the tree of knowledge? Simply
because God had forbidden them to. Why should Noah, in the absence of any
sign of an approaching flood, go to all the trouble of building the ark? Simply
because God had commanded him to. So, today. Why should the Christian be
baptized? Why should the women keep silence in the churches? Simply because
God has commanded these things—Acts 10:48; 1 Corinthians 14:34.
It is indeed blessed to note the response of the disciples to this command of their
Master. Their faith had failed, but their obedience did not. Where both fail,
there is grave reason to doubt if there is spiritual life dwelling in such a soul.
Their obedience evidenced the genuineness of their Christianity. "If faith is
weak, obedience is the best way in which it may be strengthened. "Then shall ye
know,’ says the prophet, ‘if ye follow on to know the Lord.’ If you have not much
light, walk up to the standard of what you have, and you are sure to have more.
This will prove that you are a genuine servant of God. Well, this is what the
disciples seemed to do here. The light of their faith was low, but they heard the
word of Jesus, ‘Make the men sit down.’ They can act if they cannot see. They
can obey His word if they cannot see that all fulness dwells in Him to meet every
difficulty. So they obey His command. The men sit down, and Jesus begins to
dispense His blessings. And thus by their act of obedience, their faith becomes
enlightened, and every want is supplied. This is always the result of walking up
to the light we have got. ‘To him that hath shall more be given.’ That light may
be feeble, it may be only a single ray irradiating the darkness of the mind;
nevertheless, it is what God has given you. Despise it not. Hide it not. Walk up to
it, and more shall be added.
"And we may notice here how all blessings come down to us through the channel
of obedience. The supply for every want had been determined beforehand in the
Savior’s mind, for ‘he himself knew what he would do’ (verse 6). Yet though this
were so, it was to flow through this medium—so intimately and inseparably is
the carrying out of all God’s purposes of grace toward us connected with
obedience to His commands. This is the prominent feature in all God’s people.
‘Obedient children’ is the term by which they are distinguished from those who
are of the world. ‘He became obedient’ was the distinguishing feature in the
character of the divine Master, and it is the mark that the Holy Spirit sets upon
all His servants. Obedience and blessing are inseparably connected in God’s
Word. ‘If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of
God.’ ‘He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
me; and he that loveth me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and
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13. will manifest myself to him’" (Dr. F. Whitfield)
"And Jesus said, Make the men to sit down." But why "sit down"? Two answers
may be returned. First, because God is a God of order. Any one who has studied
the works of God knows that. So, too, with His Word. When His people left
Egypt, they did not come forth like a disorderly mob; but in ranks of fives—see
Exodus 13:18 margin. It was the same when they crossed the Jordan and entered
Canaan—see Joshua 1:14 margin. It was so here. Mark says, "They sat down in
ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties" (John 6:40). It is so still: "Let all things be
done decently and in order" (1 Cor. 14:40). Whenever there is confusion in a
religious meeting—two or more praying at the same time, etc.—it is a sure sign
that the Holy Spirit is not in control of it. "God is not the author of confusion" (1
Cor. 14:33).
"Make the men sit down." Why? Secondly, may we not also see in this word the
illustration of an important principle pertaining to the spiritual life, namely, that
we must sit down if we would be fed—true alike for sinner and saint. The
activities of the flesh must come to an end if the Bread of life is to be received by
us. How much all of us need to ask God to teach us to be quiet and sit still. Turn
to and ponder Psalm 107:30; Isaiah 30:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; 1 Peter 3:4. In
this crazy age, when almost everybody is rushing hither and thither, when the
standard of excellency is not how well a thing is done, but how quickly, when the
Lord’s people are thoroughly infected by the same spirit of haste, this is indeed a
timely word. And let not the reader imagine that he has power of himself to
comply. We have to be "made" to "sit down"—frequently by sickness. Note the
same word in Psalm 23:2—"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures."
"Now there was much grass in the place" (John 6:10). How gracious of the Holy
Spirit to record this. Nothing, however trifling or insignificant, is unknown to
God or beneath His notice. The "much cattle" in Nineveh (Jon. 4:11) had not
been forgotten by Him. And how minutely has the Word of God recorded the
house, the situation of it, and the name and occupation of one of the Lord’s
disciples (Acts 10:5, 6)! Everything is before Him in the registry of heaven. God’s
eye is upon every circumstance connected with our life. There is nothing too little
for Him if it concerns His beloved child. God ordered nature to provide cushions
for this hungry multitude to sit upon! Mark adds that the grass was "green"
(John 6:39), which reminds us that we must rest in the "green pastures" of His
Word if our souls are to be fed.
"So the men sat down, in number about five thousand" (John 6:10). This is
another beautiful line in the picture (cf. the five loaves in verse 9), for five is ever
the number which speaks of grace, that is why it was the dominant numeral in
the Tabernacle where God manifested His grace in the midst of Israel. Five is
four (the number of the creature) plus one—God. It is God adding His blessing
and grace to the works of His hand.
"And Jesus took the loaves" (John 6:11). He did not scorn the loaves because
they were few in number, nor the fish either because they were "small." How
this tells us that God is pleased to use small and weak things! He used the tear of
a babe to move the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter. He used the shepherd-rod of
Moses to work mighty miracles in Egypt. He used David’s sling and stone to
overthrow the Philistine giant. He used a "little maid" to bring the "mighty"
Naaman to Elisha. He used a widow with a handful of meal to sustain His
prophet. He used a "little child" to teach His disciples a much needed lesson in
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14. humility. So here, He used the five loaves and two small fishes to feed this great
multitude. And, dear reader, perhaps He is ready to use you—weak,
insignificant, and ignorant though you be—and make you "mighty through God,
to the pulling down of strongholds" (2 Cor. 10:4). But mark it carefully, it was
only as these loaves and fishes were placed in the hands of Christ that they were
made efficient and sufficient!
"And Jesus took the loaves." He did not despise them and work independently of
them. He did not rain manna from heaven, but used the means which were to
hand. And surely this is another lesson that many of His people need to take to
heart today. It is true that God is not limited to means, but frequently He
employs them. When healing the bitter waters of Marah God used a tree (Ex.
15:23-25). In healing Hezekiah of his boil He employed a lump of figs (2 Kings
20:4-7). Timothy was exhorted to use a "little wine for his stomach’s sake and his
often infirmities" (1 Tim. 5:23). In view of such scriptures let us, then, beware of
going to the fanatical lengths of some who scorn all use of drugs and herbs when
sick.
"And when he had given thanks" (John 6:11). In all things Christ has left us a
perfect example. He here teaches us to acknowledge God as the Giver of every
good gift, and to own Him as the One who provides for the wants of all His
creatures. This is the least that we can do. To fail at this point is the basest
ingratitude.
"He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down"
(John 6:11). Here we are taught, again, the same lesson as the first miracle
supplied, namely, that God is pleased to use human instruments in
accomplishing the counsels of His grace, and thus give us the inestimable honor
and privilege of being "laborers together with God" (1 Cor. 3:9). Christ fed the
hungry multitude through His disciples. It was their work as truly as it was His.
His was the increase, but theirs was the distribution. God acts according to the
same principle today. Between the unsearchable riches of Christ and the hungry
multitudes there is room for consecrated service and ministry. Nor should this be
regarded as exclusively the work of pastors and evangelists. It is the happy duty
of every child of God to pass on to others that which the Lord in His grace has
first given to them. Yea, this is one of the conditions of receiving more for
ourselves. This is one of the things that Paul reminded the Hebrews of. He
declared he had many things to say unto them, and they were hard to be
interpreted because they had become dull (slothful is the meaning of the word) of
hearing, and unskilled in using the Word. Consequently, instead of teaching
others—as they ought—they needed to be taught again themselves (Heb.
5:11-13). The same truth comes out in that enigmatical utterance of our Lord
recorded in Luke 8:18: "for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and
whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to
have." The one who "hath" is the believer who makes good use of what he has
received, and in consequence more is given him; the one who "seemeth to have"
is the man who hides his light under a bushel, who makes not good use of what
he received, and from him this is "taken away." Be warned then, dear reader. If
we do not use to God’s glory what He has given us, He may withhold further
blessings from us, and take away that which we fail to make good use of.
"He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down."
One can well imagine the mingled feelings of doubt and skepticism as the twelve
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15. left the Savior’s side for the hungry multitude, with the little store in their
baskets. How doubt must have given place to amazement, and awe to adoration,
as they distributed, returned to their Master for a fresh supply, and continued
distributing, giving a portion of bread and fish to each till all were satisfied, and
more remaining at the close than at the beginning! Let us remember that Jesus
Christ is "the same yesterday and today and for ever," and that all fulness dwells
in Him. By comparing Mark 6:41 it will be found that there the Holy Spirit has
described the modus operandi of the miracle: "He looked up to heaven, and
blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave to his disciples." The word "brake" is in
the aorist tense, intimating an instantaneous act; whereas "gave" is in the
imperfect tense, denoting the continuous action of giving. "This shows that the
miraculous power was in the hands of Christ, between the breaking and the
giving" (Companion Bible).
He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down."
What a lesson is there here for the Christian servant. The apostles first received
the bread from the hands of their Master, and then "distributed" to the
multitude. It was not their hands which made the loaves increase, but His! He
provided the abundant supply, and their business was to humbly receive and
faithfully distribute. In like manner, it is not the business of the preacher to
make men value or receive the Bread of life. He can not make it soul-saving to
any one. This is not his work; for this he is not responsible. It is God who giveth
the "increase"! Nor is it the work of the preacher to create something new and
novel. His duty is to seek "bread" at the hands of his Lord, and then set it before
the people. What they do with the Bread is their responsibility! But, remember,
that we cannot give out to others, except we have first received ourselves. It is
only the full vessel that overflows!
"And likewise of the fishes as much as they would" (John 6:11). "Precious,
precious words! The supply stopped only with the demand. So, when Abraham
went up to intercede with God on behalf of the righteous in Sodom, the Lord
never ceased granting till Abraham had ceased asking. Thus also in the case of
Elisha’s oil; so long as there were empty vessels to be found in the land, it ceased
not its abundant supply (2 Kings 4:6). Likewise also here, so long as there was a
single one to supply, that supply came forth from the treasuries of the Lord
Jesus. The stream flowed on in rich abundance till all were filled. This is grace.
This is what Jesus does to all His people. He comes to the poor bankrupt
believer, and, placing in His hand a draft on the resources of heaven, says to him,
‘Write on it what thou wilt.’ Such is our precious Lord still. If we are straitened,
it is not in Him, but in ourselves. If we are poor and weak, or tried and tempted,
it is not that we cannot help ourselves—it is because we do not (‘All things are
yours’, in Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:22 A.W.P.). We have so little faith in things
unseen and eternal. We draw so little on the resources of Christ. We come not to
Him with our spiritual wants—our empty vessels—and draw from the ocean
fulness of His grace.
"‘As much as they would’. Precious, precious words. Remember them, doubting,
hesitating one, in all thy petitions for faith at the throne of grace. ‘As much as
they would.’ Remember them, tried and tempted one, in all thy pleadings for
strength to support thee on thy wilderness way. ‘As much as they would’.
Remember them, bereaved and desolate one, whose eves are red with weeping,
bending over the green sod, beneath which all thy earthly hopes are lying, and
15

16. with a rent in thine heart that shall never be healed till the morning of
resurrection—remember these words as thy wounded and desolate spirit breaks
forth in mournful accents on a Savior’s ear for help and strength. And, guilty
one, bowed down with a lifetimes load of sin, traversing the crooked bypaths of
the broad road to ruin; a wilful wanderer from thy God; as the arrow of
conviction penetrates thy soul, and as thine agonizing voice is heard crying for
mercy—remember these precious, precious words, ‘as much as they would’.
‘Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast outí" (Dr. F. Whitfield).
"When they were filled" (John 6:12). God gives with no niggardly hand. "When
they were filled"—what a contrast is this from the words of Philip, "That every
one of them may take a little’? The one was the outpouring of Divine grace, the
other the limitation of unbelief. Christ had fed them from His own inexhaustible
resources, and when He feeds His people He leaves no want behind. Christ, and
He alone, satisfies. His promise is, "He that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). Do you know, dear
reader, what it is to be "filled" from His blessed hand-filled with peace, filled
with joy, filled with the Holy Spirit!
"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost" (John 6:12) All
were filled and yet abundance remained! How wonderful and how blessed this is.
All fulness dwells in Christ, and that fulness is exhaustless. Countless sinners
have been saved and their souls satisfied, and yet the riches of grace are as
undiminished as ever. Then, too, this verse may be considered from another
angle. "Gather up the fragments." There was abundance for all, but the Lord
would have no waste. How this rebukes the wicked extravagance that we now
behold on every hand! Here, too, the Holy One has left us a perfect example.
"Gather up the fragments" is a word that comes to us all. The "fragments" we
need to watch most are the fragments of our time. How often these are wasted!
"Let nothing be lost"! "Gather them up"—your mis-spent moments, your tardy
services, your sluggish energies, your cold affections, your neglected duties.
Gather them up and use them for His glory.
"Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the
fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them
that had eaten" (John 6:13). How this confirms what we have said about giving
out to others. The loaves were augmented by division and multiplied by
subtraction! We are never impoverished, but always enriched by giving to
others. It is the liberal soul that is made fat (Prov. 11:25). We need never be
anxious that there will not be enough left for our own needs. God never allows a
generous giver to be the loser. It is miserliness which impoverishes. The disciples
had more left at the finish than they had at the beginning! They "filled twelve
baskets," thus the twelve apostles were also provided with an ample supply for
their own use too! They were the ones who were enriched by ministering to the
hungry multitude! What a blessed encouragement to God’s servants today!
In closing, let us call attention to another of the wonderful typical and
dispensational pictures which abound in this Gospel. The passage which has
been before us supplies a lovely view of the activities of God during this
dispensation. It should be carefully noted that John 6 opens with the words,
"After these things." This expression always points to the beginning of a new
series—cf. John 5:1; 7:1; 21:1; Revelation 4:1, etc. In John 4 we have two typical
chapters which respect the Gentiles—see the closing portions of chapters 15 and
16

17. 16. Hence John 5 begins with "After this." John 5 supplies us with a typical
picture of Israel—see chapter 17. Now as John 6 opens with "After these things,"
we are led to expect that the dispensational view it first supplies will respect the
Gentiles again and not the Jews. This is confirmed by the fact that the remainder
of the verse intimates that Christ had now left Judea and had once more entered
Galilee of the Gentiles. Further corroboration is found in that Philip and
Andrew figure so prominently in the incident which follows—cf. John 12:20-22
which specially links them with the Gentiles. In the remainder of the passage we
have a beautiful view of Christ and His people during the present dispensation.
Note the following lines in the picture:—
First, we behold the Lord on high and His people "seated" with Him John 4:3).
This, of course, typifies our standing; what follows contemplates our state.
Second, we are shown the basis of our blessings: "And the passover, a feast of
the Jews, was nigh" (verse 4). The Passover speaks of "Christ our passover
sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7). But note, it is not only "the passover" which is
mentioned here, but also "the passover, a feast" (note the absence of this in John
2:13!), which beautifully accords with what follows—typically, believers feeding
on Christ! But we are also told here that this "passover" was "a feast of the
Jews." This is parallel with John 4:22—"Salvation is of the Jews." It is a word to
humble us, showing our indebtedness to Israel, cf. Romans 11:18: "Thou bearest
not the root, but the root thee." Third, the people of God, those who in this
dispensation are fed, are they who "come unto Him" (verse 5)—Christ. Fourth,
Christ’s desire (verse 5) and purpose (verse 6) to feed His own. Fifth, His saints
are a people of little faith (cf. Matthew 8:26), who fail in the hour of.testing
(verses 5-9). Sixth, His people must "sit down" in order to be "fed." Seventh,
Christ ministers to His people in sovereign grace ("five loaves" and "five"
thousand men, (verses 10, 11) and gives them a satisfying portion—"They were
filled" (verse 12).
It is beautiful to observe that after the great multitude had been fed, there
"remained" twelve full baskets, which tells of the abundance of grace reserved
for Israel. This also gives meaning to, "A feast of the Jews was nigh" (verse 4).
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "After these things Jesus went over the sea of
Galilee
The reason for this journey
I.
AS REGARDS HIMSELF.
1. To avoid the fury of Herod who had just slain the Baptist.
2. That the anger of the scribes and Pharisees (Mar_6:3) might abate. In this He
teaches us to avoid all that might needlessly irritate sinners and thus confirm
them in their sin. God withdraws at times from men only that He may take from
them the occasion of sin. Going not in wrath, but in love.
II. AS REGARDS THE DISCIPLES.
1. To give them leisure and retirement. They were somewhat too full of all the
things that they had done and taught, and harassed by the continual coming and
going of the multitudes who thronged the master.
2. To train them in philanthropical as well as spiritual work. (W. Denton, M. A.)
17

18. The great multitude waiting to be fed
1. The great company flocking to Christ are the unbelieving nations of the world
with a glimmering sense of their wants—a first pang of hunger for the bread of
life.
2. The willingness of Jesus to supply bread is reproduced in the Church’s
obedience to the command “Go ye into all the world,” etc.
3. The perplexity of the disciples has a counterpart in our acknowledgment of
insufficient means and failure to propagate the gospel.
4. The miracle shows us that the world can only be fed by Jesus Christ. Let us
consider
I. THE NUMBER AND CONDITION OF THE MULTITUDES WHO ARE
STRANGERS TO THE FAITH AND HOPE OF CHRISTIANS. 700,000,000—about
two thirds of the whole race—regarded under three great divisions.
1. Brahminism, professed by 150,000,000—ancient, idolatrous, cruel, licentious.
Not a growing religion. Energetic reformers within its fold are leading the most
intelligent away from idolatry, but not to Christ.
2. Buddhism arose in the six century B.C. Its founder a philosopher, moral and
benevolent. Disgusted with Brahminism, he invented a system of pure morality,
but without a personal God and immortality. Numbers about 400,000,000.
3. Mohammedanism numbers about 80,000,000. It borrowed a little light from
revelation; abhors idolatry; acknowledges Jesus as a prophet. Its morality is low,
and its dream of a future life is tinctured with sensuality. Its history is a tissue of
impurity and cruelty.
II. OUR CONDITION AND MEANS OF FEEDING THIS GREAT MULTITUDE.
Christians not above 300,000,000 in number. From the commencement Christianity
has been promulgated
1. By foreigners visiting some gospel centre, as on the day of Pentecost, and
carrying the seeds of life to their own homes. In no country are there so many
heathen visitors as in England. Were their spiritual needs provided for here what
vast good would result! 2. By colonists and traders. Professing Christian]
Englishmen are everywhere. Would that they possessed what they profess.
3. By missions. Your duty is
(1) To pray the Lord to raise up more missionaries.
(2) To ask your self whether you could go, and to encourage others to go.
(3) To support those who do go.
(4) To keep up, by reading, etc., a living interest in their work. (W. T. Bullock, M. A.)
Christ the Refresher of mankind
I. THE MIRACLE OF THE BREAD.
1. Our Lord here appears as the Master of matter and natural laws. We are, in a
certain sense, the slaves of matter, and when we conquer Nature it is only by
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19. obeying her.
2. The miracle appears to have been recorded because it led to disbelief. Now
men say that there is too much miracle about Christ; then they said there was too
little. But if you juggle away the miracles of the Book you cannot get rid of the
miracle of the man.
3. In the fulness of Christ, as here revealed, is to be found the solution of the
pressing social problems of want and pauperism.
II. THE PARABLE OF THE BREAD. Christ’s words are works, and His acts speak.
We shall be better able to understand the refreshment which may come to us from
this parable if we read it in the light of “Give us this day our daily bread.” This means
1. Give us food sufficient, and do not spiritualize this away,
2. But let us not gird in those words with the narrow rim of the loaf. Give us
sanctifying bread. The words of Jesus are spirit and life.
3. There are many substitutes for the bread of Christ—morality, education, art;
but in these things is no abiding satisfaction.
4. There are those who speak as though there were two breads—a manly,
undogmatic, free-speaking religion for the strong man; and Christianity for the
weak man. But the time comes to the strongest when he feels that he has a
woman’s heart within him, and when in his hour of anguish he cries to God for
bread, what will it profit him to find a stone, though it be the whitest intellectual
marble. The bread for the woman and the child was the same here as for the
strong man. (Bp. Alexander.)
Christ the best Provider
I. CHRIST IS READY TO SATISFY THE WANTS OF THE BODY. Many persons do
not trust Him in earthly pursuits. Christianity for them is something “very spiritual.”
“They cannot live by prayer.” “Sermons do not satisfy hunger.” “Godliness does not
give success in trade.” The gospel and Christian experience, however, show that
Jesus is a good Provider for bodily wants.
1. He has sympathy for the needs of mankind (Joh_6:5). Although tired and weak
and engaged in the greatest affairs, yet, like a good householder, He is mindful of
the least wants of His people, and provides an evening meal. He does not forget
the hungry raven: will He forget those who He has taught to pray for their daily
bread (Deu_4:7).
2. He awakens sympathetic hearts and hands to alleviate want. Here the
disciples. The apostolic Church, in the Spirit of Christ, cared for its poor, widows,
and orphans. Rome built splendid theatres: the Spirit of Christ builds hospitals.
II. CHRIST NEVER FORGETS THE WANTS OF THE SOUL.
1. Man’s greatest want is bread for the soul—food that will be good when the
world shall pass away, that will be palatable in old age, that will strengthen in
sickness, and restore the dying.
2. The Saviour’s highest act of sovereignty is the bestowment of this spiritual
food.
3. His aim is to awaken desire for this heavenly bread by means of earthly good
things and providences. (C. Gerok, D. D.)
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20. The compassion of Christ
Christ’s mercy was not a mouth-mercy, as was that of those in St. James’ time, that
said to their necessitous neighbours, “Depart in peace, be warned,” but with what?
With a fire of words, etc. But our Saviour, out of deep commiseration, both pitied the
people and healed them on both sides, within and without. Oh, how well may He be
called a Saviour, which, in the original word, is so full of emphasis, that other
tongues can hardly find a fit word to express it by! (J. Trapp.)
Christ feeding the five thousand
I. THE ZEAL DISPLAYED BY THE PEOPLE IN FOLLOWING JESUS.
1. Although they knew He had gone into a desert place.
2. Some were doubtless actuated by curiosity, but others were anxious to profit
by His words.
3. We may blame those who came from improper motives, but their zeal should
condemn our coldness and neglect.
II. THE READINESS OF CHRIST TO PROVIDE FOR HUMAN WANT.
III. THE TRIAL OF THE DISCIPLES’ FAITH. Often in this way God opens our eyes
to our own weakness and His sufficiency.
IV. THE PREPARATION FOR THE FEAST.
1. Confusion avoided.
2. Women and children protected from rudeness.
3. Quick distribution facilitated.
V. THE NATURE AND METHOD OF THE MIRACLE.
1. The quality of the food was not changed, but its quantity was increased. Our
Lord does not pamper luxury, but satisfies hunger.
2. The people received the bread from the apostles. Thus Christ taught respect
for His ministers, because they act on His behalf.
3. The same miracle is repeated every day by a different process, and we give no
heed to it (Psa_104:14-15).
VI. The narrative teaches us a lesson of ECONOMY and FRUGALITY. The bounties
of Providence are never to be wasted; when we have more than we need, let it be
given to others. (J. N. Norton.)
Christ feeding the five thousand
We have here
I. A PICTURE OF HOPEFUL PROMISE IS THE MULTITUDE.
1. They were looking for the Messiah, and, if they did not exactly believe, they had
a large idea that Christ was He. Their notions were more or less confused; some
were influenced by gaping wonder, but all were enthusiastic to hear Christ, and
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21. disappointed His desire for rest.
2. Christ honoured this imperfect zeal. It was in some sort a seeking of the
kingdom in preference to earthly comfort, and evinced a confidence in Christ that
He never disappoints. And what He would not do for Himself, and what the devil
could not extract from Him, is instantly commanded by human need.
3. The murder of John the Baptist had something to do with His retirement.
When grace is mistreated it withdraws. What is driven away by the impiety of the
great is called forth by the confidence of the poor.
4. The self-denial of the people was commendable. They had to make a long
circuit and adventure into a desert region. The way to Christ is never smooth, but
sincere devotion follows Christ in the face of all trials.
II. A PICTURE OF FAULTY FAITH IN THE DISCIPLES.
1. According to earthly reason, Philip and Andrew were right. In the common
course of affairs the thing was impossible. But they should have known Christ
better. Their faith was overborne by looking only at human helplessness instead
of at Divine resources. Trust in God suffers from mammon on one side and
poverty on the other. The rich disregard Providence because they have plenty; the
others grumble at it and undertake to make a way of their own.
III. A PICTURE OF WONDERFUL GOODNESS IN CHRIST.
1. This has been likened to 2Ki_4:42-44. But we see at once that the one was the
work of the servant, the other that of the Master.
2. We observe the truly Messianic character of the miracle. The prerogative of
God in the absoluteness of the Godhead is to create what is from what is net. But
redemption is the taking of what is, and a developing of something additional. It
is the making of a saint out of a sinner. Like the miracle, the redeeming process is
(1) Inscrutable. The Incarnation, the operations of the Spirit, the conveyance
of spiritual aliment through the means of grace, are beyond our
comprehension.
(2) Gracious. Christ might have shown His almightiness in works of
judgment. So now.
IV. THE MATERIALS OF HAPPY ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROMISE TO FAITH
AND OBEDIENCE (Php_4:19; Psa_37:3). (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Christ feeding the five thousand
I. OUR LORD OFTEN PUTS QUESTIONS TO HIS DISCIPLES WHICH THEY
CANNOT ANSWER, AND LAYS ON THEM DUTIES WHICH THEY CANNOT
PERFORM BY THEMSELVES. His object is to prove them, and to reveal their
ignorance and weakness, that they may appeal to Him for help.
II. CHRIST IS THE GOD OF ORDER, AND NOT OF CONFUSION. His methodical
and orderly arrangement
1. Facilitated the feeding of the multitude.
2. Allowed the miracle to be clearly seen.
3. Prevented crushing.
21

22. 4. Secured that none should be overlooked.
5. Enabled the disciples to count. Note the ordiliness of Christ’s kingdom.
III. CHRIST EXHIBITS DIVINE RESERVE IN THE EXERCISE OF HIS
MIRACULOUS POWER.
1. He used existing materials.
2. Employed existing agencies.
3. Although He could have created food and satisfied hunger without any aid.
4. Apologetic significance of this.
IV. CHRIST TEACHES US TO RECOGNIZE GOD AS THE GIVER OF OUR FOOD
AND COMFORTS (Joh_6:11).
V. CHRIST TEACHES THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIM TO EXPECT AMPLE
PROVISION FOR THEIR TEMPORAL WANTS.
VI. CHRIST TEACHES US A LESSON OF ECONOMY IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY.
However little He gives there is a surplus. But whether He gives little or much, the
surplus is not to be wasted.
VII. THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MIRACLE.
1. Christ is the bread of life from heaven.
2. He fills with Himself every hungry soul who eats.
3. He gives Himself by means of His disciples.
(Family Churchman.)
The Sea of Tiberias.
Had St. John written in Galilee for Galileans he would have limited himself to the
ordinary expression; but writing out of Galilee, and for Greeks, he adds, “Which is of
Tiberias.” The city of Tiberias, built by Herod Antipas, and thus named in honour of
Tiberius, was well known to strangers. It was so called by the Greek geographer
Pausanius, while Josephus used indifferently the two names. (F. Godet,
D. D.)
The destination of our Lord
St. Luke alone mentions Bethsaida as the place near which the miracle took place. It
has been asserted that he means Bethsaida near Capernaum, and that the event
therefore took place on the western shore. But this would make St. Luke contradict
both the other evangelists and himself; for he tells us that Jesus withdrew to “a
desert place” belonging to a city called Bethsaida. Now, the mention of such a
purpose forbids us to entertain the notion that Luke is speaking of the city on the
western shore, where our Lord was always surrounded by multitudes. Josephus
speaks of a town bearing the name of Bethsaida Julias, situated at the north-east
extremity of the lake, and the expression Bethsaida of Galilee, by which St. John
(Joh_12:21) designates the native city of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, would be
unmeaning unless there were.another Bethsaida out of Galilee. This latter was in
Gaulonitis, in the tetrarchy of Philip, on the left bank of the Jordan, a little above
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23. where it falls into the Lake of Gennesareth. It was the place of Philip’s death and
splendid obsequies. (F. Godet, D. D.)
A great multitude followed Him.—Here we see how eager was the desire of the
people to hear Christ. Since all of them, forgetting themselves, took no concern about
spending the night in a desert place. So much the less excusable is our indifference
and sloth when we are so far from preferring the heavenly doctrine to the gnawings
of hunger, that the slightest interruptions immediately lead us away from meditation
on the heavenly life. So far is every one of us from being ready to follow Him to a
desert mountain that scarcely one in ten can endure to receive Him when He
presents Himself at home in the midst of comforts. But as the flesh solicits us to
attend to its convenience, we ought likewise to observe that Christ of His own accord
takes care of those who neglect themselves in order to follow Him. For He does not
wait till they are famished and cry out for hunger, but provides food for them before
they have asked it. (Calvin.)
When Jesus then lifted up His eyes and saw a great company, He said
unto Philip, “Whence shall we buy bread.”
The compassion of Jesus
I. IT WAS WITHOUT RESPECT OF PERSONS. He never raised the question as to
race or religion. If people were in trouble it made no difference to Him who or what
they were.
II. IT MEANT PRACTICAL HELP. The disciples had an interest in the multitudes
which they expressed by their advice to them to go and buy food.” That was cheap
benevolence. But Christ’s compassion never spent itself on good advice. The good
Samaritan was Himself, and His conduct is the law of Christianity.
III. IT HAD REFERENCE PARTICULARLY TO SPIRITUAL NEEDS. The miracle
was only a text for the sermon on the “Bread of life.” (Monday Club.)
Christ’s compassion
It is related of the mighty Xerxes, that as he looked upon his countless host, and
remembered how soon all, even the youngest and stoutest must be sleeping with the
dead, he gave vent to his feelings in a flood of tears. What a far nobler spectacle to
behold the Saviour of sinners, moved with compassion for the multitudes who
followed Him, with fainting steps and sorrowing in His inmost soul, that so many
whose bodily hunger Be was about to satisfy with food, would, in the end, starve their
souls by refusing the Bread of life! (J. N. Norton.)
The Church and the world
1. It was rather to the disciples than to the multitude that the events of the day
were significant. They had been taught by degrees all that was involved in
“leaving all “ to “follow Him.” From the beginning it has been essential that a man
should forsake the world. But the world may be forsaken in many ways. Some
have done so out of contempt for it; others for the sake of a wholly selfish
personal culture. But Christ now taught His disciples what was their mission to
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24. the world they had left. They had left it only that they might serve it more
effectually, and were now to love it with a new love. Discipleship involved
practical laborious service, not only to Christ, but to men.
2. There was something like embarrassment in Philip’s answer to our Lord’s
question: but before we blame him let us put ourselves in his place. It was an
unexpected appeal to limited resources. The disciples had a common purse. All
their modest requirements were provided for, but all their quiet economy was
invaded by a proposal to feed 5,000.
3. Christ intercedes with the Church for the world. His intercession is not only
with God for us all, but with us for one another.
(1) We are prone to make a life of personal edification the sum total of
discipleship, turning our backs on the problems of life, suffering and sin
around us. But while Christ is carrying upon His heart the burden of the
world He cannot delight Him- self in a companionship that seeks to be
exclusive and selfish.
(2) Again Christ would not have us think less of each other as Christians, but
there must be no for- getting of those who are without, the world and its
terrible hunger, physical and moral.
(3) Philip’s answer betrays his impatience with the apparent
unreasonableness of the question. And how often have we given the like
answer, and silenced the earnest man of large faith whom Christ has made the
mouthpiece for His question.
4. Andrew’s reply was a great advance on Philip’s. From Philip’s nonexistent two
hundred pennyworth to Andrew’s actual five loaves is certainly to make progress.
It is moving out of the negative into the positive, out of that region in which our
cynicism and despair so often tarries into the region of practical endeavour. Our
Lord takes him at his word as we find in the parallel narrative, “Bring them to
Me.” A minute ago it could have been said exactly what the five loaves were
worth, and how many men they would feed, but since the Lord’s words, all our
powers of calculation are confounded. We contemplate things in themselves
with- out seeing any touch of the Divine power upon them, and so we could never
make five loaves worth more than five loaves. We take the measure of a man—his
natural powers, education, etc., and we leave no room for another factor that may
multiply indefinitely the whole series—the living power of Christ.
5. We ought to notice that our Lord did not say, “Whence will you buy bread,”
but, “we,” you and I.
(1) Do not let us think of our Lord as throwing upon His Church dark and
difficult questions for her to solve; He is rather seeking to bring her into fuller
fellowship with Himself.
(2) We must recognize here the proffer of our Lord’s own wisdom and power for the
answering of His own question. Not only does Christ intercede with the Church for,
but works with her upon the world. (F. W.Macdonald.)
Philip and his Master
1. Observe how careful the Spirit is that we should not make a mistake about
Christ.
2. Learn that we being apt to make mistakes need that the Spirit should interpret
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25. Christ to us.
3. Our Divine Lord has a reason for everything he does.
I. HERE IS A QUESTION FOR PHILIP.
1. Put with the motive of proving him. Christ would then
(1) Try his faith and He found it very little. Philip counted pennies instead of
looking to omnipotence. Few of us can plead exemption from this failure.
(2) His love which was of better quality, for he did not ridicule the question.
(3) His sympathy. This was greater than that of those who said, “Send them
away.” God seldom uses a man who has a hard or cold heart. A man must love
people or he cannot save them.
2. Why was it put to Philip?
(1) Because he was of Bethsaida. Every man should think of the place in
which he lives. A native of a village or town should be its best evangelist.
(2) Because probably Philip was the provider as Judas was the treasurer.
Even so there are ministers, Sunday-school teachers, etc., whose official
business is to care for the souls of men.
(3) Perhaps because Philip was not quite forward as others. He was about
number six. People in this middle position want much proving. The lowest
cannot bear it; the highest do not need it.
3. The question answered its purposes. It showed Philip’s inability and weakness
of faith; but only that he might be made strong. Until Christ has emptied our
hands He cannot fill them.
4. The question was meant to prove the other disciples as well. Here is a
committee of two. I like this brotherly consultation of willing minds. Philip is
willing to begin if he has a grand start; Andrew is willing to begin with a small
capital. Philip was counting the impossible pence and could not see the actual
loaves; but Andrew could see what Philip overlooked.
II. THERE WAS NO QUESTION WITH JESUS.
1. He knew. “Ah!” says one, “I don’t know what I shall do!” Jesus knows all about
your ease and how He is going to bring you through.
2. He knew what he would do. We embarass ourselves by saying, “Something
must be done, but I do not know who is to do it!” But Jesus knows.
3. He knew how He meant to do it. When everybody else is defeated and
nonplussed He is fully prepared. He did it as one who knew what he was going to
do.
(1) Naturally. Had it been a Roman Catholic miracle the loaves would have
been thrown in the air and come down transformed. Popish miracles are
theatrical and showy.
(2) Orderly: He bade the men sit down on the grass in rows.
(3) Joyfully: He took bread and blessed it.
(4) Plentifully.
III. THERE OUGHT TO BE NO QUESTION OF A DOUBTFUL CHARACTER ANY
LONGER TO US.
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26. 1. The question that troubles many people is, “How shall I bear my present
burden?” That is sent to prove you; but it is no question with Christ, for “as thy
days so shall,” etc.
2. What is to be done with this great city? The Master knows and so shall we
when we begin to co-operate with Him.
3. What must I do to be saved? Inquire “What wouldst Thou have me to do and
this will be solved.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
.
“Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
Why this to Philip? At the beginning of all His ministry we read, “Jesus findeth
Philip, and said unto Him, Follow Me.” Then Philip findeth Nathanael, to tell the
news. But he does not say, “We have been found,” but “We have found Him,” etc. A
fairly good confession, though giving man the lead instead of God. No wonder, then,
that by and by, even at the end, Philip was but half-persuaded of our Lord’s ministry,
saying, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Philip being thus, to Philip
teaching comes well in the question set to him, and he shall say and find whether
bread and holy living comes from earth or heaven. He still thinks it must begin from
man’s side. He calculates the bread required; he gives an estimate of cost Peter comes
a little nearer with a grain or two of faith; he can get “five loaves and two fishes; but
what are they among so many?” That is a question to write up and keep before us, if
we are ever tempted to despise the day of small things. What is the missionary among
so many? or the pastor, or the Sunday-school teacher, or the district visitor? What is
the adequacy of the writer, or the speaker, or the worker? of the society, of the
corporate body, of the home word, or any influence of teaching or of help? They are
all insufficient, palpably and avowedly, in themselves; yet they may, like the loaves
here, get a sufficiency from Christ. One little agency may still become the grain of
mustard seed He sows, the little piece of leaven He puts into the lump. What is an
help among so many? What may it not be as it passes into our Saviour’s hands?
(Canon T. F. Crosse, D. C. L.)
The testing power of circumstances
I. WHAT WAS CHRIST’S OBJECT IN PUTTING THIS QUESTION TO HIS
DISCIPLES.
1. The question seemed to betray perplexity, but it was not so. He condescended
to espouse this difficulty that He might bring to light that which was working in
the disciples’ spirits. The hinge of all mysteries is not in themselves, but in their
concealment for the wise purposes of Deity. They will come out gradually and
slowly, and then we shaft see how marvellously past and future coincide with
each other. And all this is simply the exercise of faith. We must wait for God’s
demonstration.
2. Observe, how completely our Lord’s purpose was answered. Three suggestions
came from three different quarters.
(1) To throw the multitude upon their own resources, “Let them go into the
villages,” etc.
(2) That they should be supported out of the resources of the disciples, but
that the two hundred pennyworth was beyond their resources.
(3) To make the resources go as far as they might. “There is a lad here,” etc.,
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27. and then the difficulty arises, “What are these,” etc. Their proper course
would have been to leave the perplexity with omnipotence. That they believed
in our Lord’s omnipotence is certain, but though they knew it as an abstract
fact, they could not bring it to bear on the present emergency, and therefore,
they threw themselves on that which any faithless man could throw himself
upon human power in human distress. The Saviour must have asked the
question, “How is it that they have no faith?” This is the way man ever treats
God, turning to Him as a last resource only.
3. This is the course the Lord has taken from time to time to make men
understand themselves, throwing them into difficulties and leaving them to prove
what is in them by their extrication from those difficulties, as seen in the case of
Israel at the Red Sea and before Jericho.
II. THE WAY IN WHICH CHRIST PUTS THE SAME QUESTION TO US.
1. In the announcement of doctrines offensive to the natural man.
(1) That of the divinity of Christ and reason protests against it.
(2) That of the atonement and our sense of equity protests against it.
(3) That of man’s depravity and man’s pride recoils.
(4) That of man’s impotency, and the sense of self-reliance on self resources
protests. And when it comes to this, a man is brought to the test, is he willing
to put reliance upon Christ? or is he determined to trust in himself.
2. The infliction of trial. Previous to trial most men, like Peter, think they can go
through anything, but when it falls upon us, how our notes are changed! In that
way God puts the question, are you able to trust Me?
3. The successes and prosperities of life. Riches, which do not spoil a man’s
character, they simply bring out the evil that is in him. You shall look abroad
upon the face of nature, and possibly you may see in the cold time of winter, and
the chill dews of spring, the whole surface of the meadow without anything
deleterious produced upon it; and you may look at the same field when the warm
and bright sunshine of summer and autumn comes, and you find it swarming
with weeds. Why, who hath come and planted the tares amongst the wheat? No
one; they have been there all along: only in the nipping cold times of the year they
were not able to come out; but when the sun came, that which was lurking below
came to the surface. This was how it was with Hazael, and how it has been with
many a man since. (Dean Boyd.)
The arithmetic of Philip and the arithmetic of our Lord
In the reckoning of men there is always a deficit; in the reckoning of Christ there is
always a surplus. (Lange.)
Sums proved
(Children’s Sermon):—You know what puzzle questions are; they are questions to
make you wonder, and the more you wonder the more interested you become, and
the more interested you grow the better you are likely to understand the answer
when it comes. But is your teacher ever puzzled? No; he simply asks the question to
prove you, to find out how much you know. It was for this purpose that Jesus put the
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28. question to Philip, viz., to find out what kind of a scholar he had become.
I. WHAT WAS THE QUESTION? How to meet a difficulty. Philip worked it all out in
mental arithmetic, First he made a rough guess as to the number of people. Then he
remembered how much a little for each would cost. Then he worked out a sum in
proportion. “If it cost so much for one, what will it cost for five thousand?” And the
answer was two hundred pennyworth.
II. WAS THE ANSWER RIGHT? No.
1. Because it only told what wouldn’t be enough.
2. Because it wasn’t a reply to the question that Jesus had asked. Jesus did not
say, “How much money is required?” But “How are we to get bread?” If Philip
had learned his lessons properly, he would simply have said, “Thou who canst
raise the dead, Thou canst create bread.” Conclusion:
1. Do not leave Jesus out of your calculations.
2. Look the question carefully, “Whence shall we?” Philip hadn’t noticed that; but
it makes matters much simpler, for if Jesus is going to help there won’t be much
difficulty. So Philip did what he could, brought a few loaves and fishes to Jesus.
Then Jesus did what He could, blessed what Philip had brought, and the little
became enough for the many.
3. Remember the power of that we in
(1) the government of your temper;
(2) The great question, “What must I do to be saved.” (J. R.Howatt.)
Two hundred pennyworth of bread.—The air is full of projects for the
amelioration of the condition of the poor and for arranging the relations of capital
and labour. This story will afford help in these, if its suggestions are heeded. The
spectacle of the disciples wrestling with their problem is a piteous one, but it is
deplorably familiar. Note our Saviour’s wisdom. “How many loaves have ye?” A
prudent estimate of our resources is the earliest thing in demand.
I. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF OUR DEPENDENCE ON THE SAME PROVIDENCE
OF GOD WILL BE OF THE MOST VALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN TEACHING US
THE PRACTICAL WAY IN WHICH TO AID THE POOR. Put away all
superciliousness. “The rich and the poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of
them all.” There is no possible philosophy by which an opulent man can prove
himself any wiser or better than one who is reduced in income. Many a man has
toiled as industriously, and planned as shrewdly, as ever any one of us did; but
chances have been against him. Still, we are to remember that this does not prove
that we are the better men, nor that he is worse: it only proves that God is sovereign
over His creatures. That was a sober counsel for all the ages which Moses gave Israel
(see Deu_8:11-18).
II. MEN WILL COME TO MORE REAL WISDOM AND USEFULNESS IN CARING
FOR THE POOR AND THE HUNGRY WHEN THEY ACTUALLY ADMIT THAT
SOMETHING MUST BE, AND CAN BE DONE BY THEMSELVES. There is a
suggestion of great sense in the witticism of Sydney Smith: “Whenever A sees B in
trouble, he is sure to say, with due consideration, that C ought to help him.” Much of
the most available and valuable human sympathy in this world is wasted in just a
blind and suffused wishing that some plan could be made by which every relief could
be given at an extraordinary effort. What is wanted is a quiet endeavour to help one
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29. man, or one woman, or one child, as the nearest one to our hand. Mass-meetings are
valuable; great associations awake zeal and direct it; but individual effort will go
farther, and reach the case more swiftly. It is sad to think how societies multiply,
while the cry of the lowly and the poor does not grow less. You pass blanketed
puppies led by a ribbon, taken out by a hired man for their airing, three avenues from
the streets where human beings are shivering, uncovered and hungering in the cold.
Now, something might be done when each Christian admits he can do a proper part
of it.
III. IT MIGHT BE SAID HERE THAT IT WOULD NOT BE SO DIFFICULT TO FIND
FUNDS TO PURCHASE “TWO HUNDRED PENNYWORTH” OF BREAD WITH
WHICH TO FEED THE HUNGRY, IF THE RICH WOULD BE INDUSTRIOUS.
Useful occupation is the rule for the race: if any man will not work, neither let him
eat, but when he has enough to live upon, does that end his service? Might there not
be some good when a merchant has gained enough for himself to withdraw upon, if
he would just stay in business for a few years longer, devoting the gains of his gifted
experience to the Lord? It is the business of a child of God to add to the aggregate
wealth of the world by a thrifty productiveness, and then the rich people can take
care of God’s poor.
IV. MONEY FOR PROCURING FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY WOULD BE
FORTHCOMING EASILY, IF CHRISTIANS PRIZED AND PRACTISED ECONOMY
IN THE SCRIPTURAL WAY, AND DIVIDED THEIR SAVINGS IN MINISTERING
TO OTHERS. All superfluities are mere grace, and ought to be given away
unhesitatingly when poorer people are in actual distress. We do not venture to say
what our Lord would have remarked to Philip, in his perplexity at not finding out
how to procure two hundred pennyworth of bread, if the unsophisticated fisherman
had come over from Capernaum with anything like a gold-headed cane in his hand,
or with a seal-ring on his finger. The state has assumed the board and clothing of an
able-bodied man for twenty years of uselessness in prison, because he tore a jewel
out of the ear of a woman who was lavishly wearing four-thousand dollars worth of
ornaments upon her own person that day in the street. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
Christ’s thoughtfulness
The people took no thought for food. Christ doth it for them. And surely if He so far
provided for them that at a sudden motion came out after Him, can we think that He
will be wanting to those that seek Him continually, and with full purpose of heart
adhere unto Him. (J. Trapp.)
Believers must help Christ
Our Lord sought to stir up Philip’s sympathy. Come, Philip, what shall you and I do?
Whence shall we buy bread to give them to eat? I trust that our God has also given us
some communion with His dear Son in His love to the souls of men. (C.
H.Spurgeon.)
Unbelief discovered by trial
Christ had said, “Give ye them to eat.” “To try them” only, as St. John hath it. And
upon trial he found them full of dross, as appears by their answer. The disciples were
as yet very carnal, and spake as men. (J. Trapp.)
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30. Jesus knows
He knew. He always does know. “Ah,” says one, “I am sure I do not know what I shall
do.” This is sweet comfort: Jesus knows. He always knows all about it. Do not think
you can inform Him as to anything. Your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye
have need of before ye ask Him. He knew what He would do. He meant to do
something, and He knew what he was going to do. He was not in a hurry; He never is.
He does everything calmly and serenely, because He foresees what He will do. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Philip and Andrew; or, disciples may help one another
Philip says, “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient,” and Andrew says,
“Well, no, it is not, but there is a lad here with five barley loaves and two small
fishes.” I like this brotherly consultation of willing minds. Philip is willing to begin if
he has a grand start; he must see at least two hundred penny-worth of bread in hand,
and then he is ready to entertain the idea. Andrew, on the other hand, is willing to
commence with a small capital; a few loaves and fishes will enable him to start. When
saints converse together they help each other, and, perhaps, what the one does not
discover the other may. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
l
ncidental tests
God puts us in the midst of a whole apparatus of tests, that those tests may bring to
light that which is in us; for it is absolutely true that feelings may be now lurking in
us, just as there is fire lurking in the flint stone, which may remain there from the
days of creation undetected and undeveloped till the genial steel strikes upon it, and
then, when the blow of the steel brings to light the concealed, the long concealed fire,
we are amazed to find that in that cold mass there could have lurked a thing that was
so vivid and so sparkling. All this is that great teaching, that marvellous discipline of
circumstances; for after all, it is not by direct teaching, it is not by explanation that
men ever learn to know themselves; it is by the wretched and by the painful
instruction of circumstances. Is it not the fact that a man shall discover more of
himself in a short illness of perhaps a few days than be has learned of himself from
many years’ teaching previously? (Dean Boyd.)
There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes.
Lessons for ordinary persons and about little things
I. ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE LOWLY. For the insignificant, the commonplace
who make up the greater portion of mankind, there is either no gospel or it is
Christ’s.
1. For the world of wealth, power, brute violence, sceptical intellect is inflated
with its own self-importance. The haughty beauty will scarce deign to glance at
the plain neglected girl; the proud aristocrat is patronizing or contumelious to
those who are not of his own caste; the conceitedly clever will revel in his power
to wound the Inferior capacity. “This multitude that knoweth not the law is
accursed,” says religious pride. “These persons are not in society,” says
fashionable pride. “Mankind is composed of 1,000,000,000 mostly fools,” says
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31. intellectual pride.
2. See how Christ in His every word and action set His face against all this.
Despised Galilee was His country; Nazareth His home; the manger His cradle;
the Cross His bed of death; women His intimates; infants His proteges; lepers the
objects of His compassion; the depraved the recipients of His mercy. This is not
only the lesson of love, nor that Be loved as none other had loved, but that He
loved those whom none had loved before, the friend of publicans and sinners.
II. NOT LESS COMFORTING IS THE ACCEPTANCE BY CHRIST OF LITTLE
THINGS. He instantly made use of the poor lad’s barley loaves and fishes. His
symbols of the kingdom were a handful of loaves and a grain of mustard seed; the
widow’s mite receives His commendation; and those whom He will finally accept will
be those who have done little deeds of kindness. Lessons:
1. Most of us have only one talent. The world attaches importance to our
deficiency, but when God comes He will not ask how great or how small were our
endowments but only how we have used them. He who has one talent sometimes
makes ten of it; while he who has ten sometimes makes them worse than one. The
last may be first and the first last. Was it not so with those whom He chose, “Not
many rich,” etc., were called.
2. Why then should any of us be ashamed of our earthly insignificance? We have
only five barley loaves, etc., which indeed in themselves are useless, but when
given to Christ He can make them enough to feed 5,000. Take the one instance of
kind words of sympathy and encouragement. What may they not do? What may
be left undone if they are unsaid. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
The lad and the hungry multitude
(Children’s Sermon)
I. THE INTEREST A BOY CAN HAVE IN JESUS. He may have heard his parents or
acquaintances tell about the Saviour, and, boy-like, he probably made up his mind
that, when an opportunity came, he would go where He was, and look and listen.
There was evidently something about Jesus that interested little people. We know
that He loved them, and if He loved them He would be apt to talk to them in a way to
please and do them good. Children always are quick to find out those friendly to
them.
II. THE USE JESUS CAN MAKE OF EVEN A BOY. No one in this multitude, it
seems, except this lad, brought anything to eat. Whether this was a lunch his parents
put up for him, or what he brought along with him to sell, we do not know. The fact
that he had the loaves and fishes is mentioned to Christ who considered the fact of
some importance. For He called the boy to Him, and then took what he had, and
made his few loaves and fishes answer for the wants of all. Nor could any one have
been more astonished than the boy himself to see how those loaves and fishes lasted.
Christ can use children if they are willing, and sometimes they have been of great
service. He can use their gifts, whether they be the pennies which they have earned,
or some piece of handiwork they have made. None are too young to serve Jesus, and
such have often been employed by Him to accomplish good.
III. IT IS ALWAYS BEST TO KEEP IN GOOD COMPANY. This boy would have
missed a great deal if he had not gone out that day to see, Jesus. If he had given
himself up to having some fun with his comrades, he would not have been honoured
as he was by Christ. If this boy had told his mates that he was going to hear the
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32. wonderful Teacher whose fame was filling the whole country, they might have
ridiculed him, and tried to persuade him to go with them; but by bravely following
out his purpose to see and hear for himself, he not only was gratified therein but was
noticed and used by Jesus. I think that proved to be the most noteworthy day in his
life. What he heard and what happened to him at that time he could never forget, for
it probably influenced him as long as he lived. He may have become a follower of
Jesus from that day, and a preacher of the gospel to others when he grew up to be a
man. It was the turning point in his history. (M. G. Dana, D. D.)
The resource of Christ
Pythias is famous for that he was able, at his own charge, to entertain Xerxes’ whole
army, consisting of ten hundred thousand men. But he grew so poor upon it that he
wanted bread ere he died. Our Saviour fed five thousand, and his store was not a jot
diminished. (J. Trapp.)
Five barley loaves and two fishes
The mention of barley loaves gives a hint of the social condition of the multitude
which followed Jesus. Wheat is the staple grain in the East; but, like other good
things, it is apt to be absorbed by the rich. The poorer people have, therefore, to
content themselves with the coarser barley, which they grind themselves in their
stone hand-mills, and bake into a coarse kind of flat cake. The mention of fishes is
characteristic of the region. The sea of Galilee has always been famous for the
excellence of its fish supply, which is not only plentiful, but varied. Doubtless many
of the crowd who followed Jesus came from among the poor fisher-folk, who were
concerned with supplying the wants of the prosperous towns, now in ruins, which, in
the time of Jesus, kept up a fleet of small ships on the sea of Galilee. (S. S. Times.)
The barley loaves
of the Jews would seem to have been smaller than those made of wheaten bread,
rough to the taste even though nutritious, and the food of only the common people,
an emblem of His own doctrine, which the common people heard gladly, and which,
however hard to the natural man, is yet full of life for the soul. (W. Denton, M. A.)
Plenty out of Christ’s poverty
Barley bread was so coarse that even the hearty Roman soldiers were only required to
eat it by way of punishment, and fish was the commonest and cheapest kind of food;
but so Jesus lived, and His disciples. He was poor among the poorest. Not for Him
was the purple and the feast of Dives. He did not come to pamper the luxury or allure
the appetencies of idle men. Barley loaves and only two small fishes!
But it was enough for the Lord of all; and with that scant, poor food, blessed and
multiplied, He fed the hungry, and refreshed the weary, spread the table in the
wilderness, and made them sit on the green grass in the sunset, and gave them that
which to their hunger was sweet as manna, and sent them rejoicing on their way.
(Archdeacon Farrar.)
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33. Christ’s acceptance of the meanest gifts
At a flower festival, not long ago, one little, shrinking child laid on the altar-step her
tiny offering—it was but a single daisy. The little one had nothing else to give, and
with even such an offering, given in a single and with a simple heart, Christ, I think,
would have been well pleased. When Count Zinzendorf was a boy at school, he
founded amongst his schoolfellows a little guild which he called the “Order of the
Grain of Mustard Seed,” and thereafter that seedling grew into the great tree of the
Moraviar. Brotherhood whose boughs were a blessing to the world. The widow’s
miter. When they laughed at Saint Theresa when she wanted to build a great
orphanage and had but three shillings to begin with, she answered,” “With three
shillings Theresa can do nothing; but with God and her three shillings there is
nothing which Theresa cannot do.” Do not let us imagine, then, that we are too poor,
or too stupid, or too ignorant, or too obscure to do any real good in the world
wherein God has placed us. Is there a greater work in this day than the work of
education? Would you have thought that the chief impulse to that work, whereon we
now annually spend so many millions of taxation, was given by a poor illiterate
Plymouth cobbler—John Pounds? Has there been a nobler work of mercy in modern
days than the purification of prisons? Yet that was done by one whom a great modern
writer sneeringly patronised as the “dull, good man John Howard.” Is there a
grander, nobler enterprise than missions? The mission of England to India was
started by a humble, itinerant shoemaker, William Carey. These men brought to
Christ their humble efforts, their barley loaves, and in His hand, and under His
blessing, they multiplied exceedingly. “We can never hope,” you say, “to lead to such
vast results.” So they thought “We cannot tell whether this or that will prosper.” But
do you imagine that they ever dreamed that their little efforts would do so much?
And, besides, they knew that the results are nothing, the work, everything—nothing
the gift, everything the willing heart. But have you ever tried? If you bring no gift,
how can God use it? The lad must bring his barley loaves to Christ before the five
thousand can be fed. Have you ever attempted to do as he did? Have you, even in the
smallest measure, or with the least earnest desire, tried to follow John Wesley’s
golden advice: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you
can, to all the persons you can, in all the places you can, as long as ever you can.”
(Archdeacon Farrar.)
The young should be used as well as amused
The Church ought to use the young as well as instruct and amuse the young. Young
people can be made to do good; they have something they can give up, they have
something that when they see Jesus they will allow Jesus to take without a word. (T.
Green, M. A.)
Distrust of self, and trust in God
There is really nothing little with God. In His hands the feeblest and simplest
instruments are sufficient. If His blessing goes along with Our efforts, there is no
limit to the greatness of the work which they may accomplish. Take, e.g., our
endeavours to relieve the sorrows and sufferings of our fellow-creatures. What are we
in the presence of such calamities? What can we say or do to alleviate the suffering or
the sorrow? We are but too likely to shrink back in despair. But let us think of
ourselves in such cases as instruments in His hands, with whom all things are
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34. possible; let us bring what we have. God can make use of what in itself is useless.
Miserable comforters we may seem to ourselves. Yet God may send comfort through
us. Or, to take another case; this thought of the greatness of little things, what an
encouragement may it afford us in our missionary efforts I But, once more; the
principle of which I am speaking may be applied to the work which has to be carried
on in our individual souls. God does not make us holy all at once. Nor does He work
His will in us solely by His own act. He requires our co-operation; He makes use of
our efforts. But our feeble endeavours, our half-hearted prayers, our faintest
resolutions—what are they? What can they do? They seem to us nothing; and in truth
they are as nothing. But God desires them; He kindly looks on them; He blesses
them, and they are effectual through Him. It is by such endeavours, inspired and
strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that the saints of God have attained whatever degree
of holiness they have reached. We are all tempted, when we reflect on the great work
of our lives, namely, the renewing in ourselves of the image of God, to say, “What can
I do?” Our best efforts are utterly inadequate; and it is right that we should feel and
acknowledge this. But, such as they are, God requires them, as Christ demanded the
five loaves; and He can and will bless even our imperfect efforts and work His will
with them. Bring what you have, and leave it with perfect confidence in His hands.
Let us trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song; He
also is become our salvation. (P. Young, M. A.)
Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place.—It all
depends upon the season in which one comes to the north-eastern shore of the lake
of Gennesaret as to whether or not he will find much grass there. The note of time
(“now the passover was at hand”) shows that our Lord was there in the spring. At
that season the grass in that region is plentiful and green; a few months later, and it
is burned up by the heat, and the country presents a dreary aspect. It cannot be said
of many places in the Orient that there is much grass there. In England, and in the
well-watered regions of the United States, one of the chief charms of the landscape is
the soft carpet of green which covers the soil. In a characteristic Oriental scene, this
charm is lacking, The grass may straggle here and there, or at special seasons it may
show an unwonted luxuriance in certain places; but the universal carpet of green is
chiefly conspicuous by its absence. (S. S. Times.)
.
The scene on the mount
The disciples understood their instructions, and immediately arranged the vast
throng on the sloping sides of the mountain, in ranks, a hundred in number, each
rank containing fifty persons in file. The ranks, as we may easily conceive, were
placed at such convenient distances from each other, that the disciples could easily
pass between them. In this form the five thousand men were disposed of—the women
and children being, in all probability, placed by themselves in some convenient
situation. As when He created the wine at Cana, the six waterpots were set in order
preparatory to that miracle, so here His request for order was obeyed, preparatory to
the work which He was about to do. As the many thousands of Israel, in their
encampings and marches were so arranged that all alike enjoyed the full advantage of
having the tabernacle, and pillar of cloud, and brazen serpent lifted up full in their
view, so now the whole multitude, by the arrangement effected, were placed in a
position to enable every man to see and to hear Him who was the True Tabernacle,
the True Pillar of Cloud, and the True Brazen Serpent lifted up. He stands at the
bottom of that green mountain slope, and the twelve are round about Him. Receding
from the place which they occupy, fifty men are seated, each behind, but a little
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35. raised above, his companion, in file, and in close order. On the right hand there are
fifty ranks thus arranged. On the left hand there are fifty ranks. Jesus stands in the
centre, and His eye with ease ranges over the whole company, whilst His voice
distinctly reaches them. If we may suppose the sun about to set, the surrounding
mountains glowing with his departing rays, the waters of the lake still retaining the
lingering reflection of the sun’s fading beauty, we have before us a scene such as we
may believe Jesus Himself delighted to survey, and such as we may well long to see
often recurring in our fallen world—multitudes waiting for the “true bread,” and the
Lord Himself present to bestow it in rich abundance. (A. Beith, D. D.)
And Jesus took the loaves and when He had given thanks, He distributed
Feeding the multitude
I. WHATEVER WE HAVE IS THE GIFT OF GOD: money, talents, time, influence,
etc.
II. WHATSOEVER GOOD THINGS GOD HAS GIVEN US, WE MUST GIVE THEM
ALSO TO OTHERS. Nothing is given exclusively for self.
III. NO GIFT MUST BE UNDERVALUED BECAUSE IT IS SMALL. What is
insignificant to us may be made vastly useful by the blessing of God.
IV. THERE IS A HUNGRY MULTITUDE AROUND US WAITING FOR OUR GIFT.
1. Some are starving for want of peace and comfort in religion—neighbours,
friends, members of our own families.
2. Some are starving for want of a little kindly sympathy.
3. Some are starving in sickness and pain for the want of loving help and
ministry.
V. THIS GIFT MUST BE DISPENSED WITH SELF-FORGETFULNESS. It was this
forgetfulness of self that made Henry Lawrence, the gentle, godly hero of the Indian
Mutiny, the best beloved of all his soldiers. When he was dying, the General
whispered, as his last words, “let there be no fuss about me, bury me with the men.”
When another hero, Sir Ralph Abercromby, had got his death-wound, in the battle of
Aboukir, they placed a private soldier’s blanket under his head, thus causing him
much relief. He asked what it was. He was answered that “it was only a soldier’s
blanket!” He insisted on knowing to whom it belonged. They told him it belonged to
Duncan Roy, of the 42nd. “Then see that Duncan Roy has his blanket this very
night,” said the dying man; he would not, to ease his own agony, deprive a common
soldier of his comfort. (H. J. W. Buxton, M. A.)
Thankfulness and distribution
I. THE DUTY OF THANKSGIVING.
1. Christ is our example in this. He placed Himself voluntarily in a condition of
need, and when the need was supplied as here He expressed His gratitude to God.
2. Christ is the object of our thanksgiving. This miracle expresses Christ’s
continuous power to relieve human want. This is now regularly done and
consequently is over-looked. Sometimes He reduces men from affluence to
indigence in order to teach them grateful dependence on Himself.
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36. 3. This thanksgiving is due to Christ for temporal and spiritual mercies.
II. THE DUTY OF DISTRIBUTION.
1. Here also we are instructed by the example of Christ.
2. In temporal good things we must remember that we are stewards of God’s
bounty.
3. We must distribute our spiritual goods
(1) Personally.
(2) By supporting the ministry, missions, schools, etc. (S. Robins, M. A.)
The maintenance of natural and spiritual life
This miracle differs from others
1. In that it is not so open to the cavils of unbelief. The others are often explained
on the theory of Christ’s superior knowledge and skill. Here this utterly breaks
down.
2. The miracles of healing were wrought to draw the minds of men to Christ as
Creator; this to show Himself the maintainer of both the natural and spiritual life.
I. CHRIST THE PRESERVER OF MEN.
1. Of their bodies. Life can no more maintain itself than create itself.
2. Of their souls, by His Spirit.
II. CHRIST EMPLOYS MEANS IN PRESERVING MEN. He consulted His disciples,
He employed bread, He gave bread to the disciples for distribution. So
1. Physically Christ preserves men by the employment of natural resources
utilized by intelligence and industry.
2. Spiritually by means of His Word, public worship and sacraments.
III. CHRIST PRESERVES MEN SEPARATELY. There was a multitude to the
disciples, but there was no multitude to Him. He saw each in the singularity of His
own Being and need. He who gave the individual life of the millions of our race,
maintains it second by second. It is needful to remember this
1. In order that we may recognize that our individual life is His.
2. That we may recognize His hand in all our gifts.
(1) Of prosperity.
(2) Of adversity. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
Christ’s arithmetic
I. He multiplied by division, “distributed.”
II. He added by subtraction, “filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five
barley loaves.” (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
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37. Giving and receiving
The disciples grudged not of their little to give others some, and it grew on their
hands, as the widow’s oil did in the cruse. Not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive.
Nothing was ever lost by liberality. (J. Trapp.)
A constant miracle
An analogy, and, so to speak, a help to the understanding of this miracle, has been
found in that which year by year is accomplished in the field, where a single grain of
corn multiplies itself and in the end unfolds in numerous ears. And with this analogy
in view many beautiful remarks have been made; as this, that while God’s every-day
miracles had grown cheap in men’s sight by continual repetition, He had therefore
reserved something, not more wonderful, but less frequent, to arouse men’s minds to
a new admiration. Others have urged that here, as in the case of the water made
wine, Christ did but compress into a single moment all those processes which in
ordinary circumstances, the same Lord of nature, causes more slowly to succeed one
another. (Archbishop Trench.)
Christ the Lord of nature
He took a fragment of a barley loaf into His hand, and to teach His Church that His
grasp had in it the fecundity of the earth, the moisture of the flowers, the influence of
the sun, the comprehension of all times and seasons, and the excellency of all power,
as He broke it, it enlarged itself far beyond those goodly ears of wheat which Pharaoh
saw in his dream, and every crumb became an handful. (Bp. Hacker.)
Christ’s use of means
The five loaves were almost nonentities, but He nevertheless took them. Jesus
appears always to have acted on the same principle. He used what came to hand.
What man could do, man must do. As far as Nature could go, Nature must perform
her part. He came in where man and nature stopped. See how, at this moment, God
is dealing with every one of us. He has wrought for us a free and perfect salvation, by
no merit, by no act of ours. He requires in you repentance and faith. True, they both
come from Him, so did “the five loaves,” they came from Him. But you must give to
Him first a willing and free act of your own. He “takes the loaves”; and then, over and
above He feeds your soul and makes it live for ever and ever by the bread of life. You
have a little grace. A mere nothing compared to what is wanting; to what it might
have been if you had used well what God had given you. But God has given you
something. You have some good desires, convictions of sin, power to pray, and to
deny yourself, sparkles of love. Do you want this to become more? Then put what you
can into Christ’s hands constantly and the transforming and magnifying will multiply
it. You have some thoughts, feelings, powers, capacities, actions, which you can now
in a solemn way give to Jesus. Consecrate them. Do not say, “Oh, I have not got
anything worth the giving; it is of no use at all.” Give Him the little, and he qill make
it much. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christ’s economy
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38. Christ did not provide great delicacies for the people, but they who saw His amazing
power here were obliged to rest satisfied with barley bread, and fish without sauce.
(Calvin.)
Christ the Bread for the world
I. THE PREPARATION FOR THE SIGN “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may
eat?” Now, notice what a lovely glimpse we get there into the quick rising sympathy
of the Master with all forms of human necessity. Before we call He answers. But,
farther, He selects for the question Philip, a man who seems to have been what is
called—as if it were the highest praise—an “intensely practical person”; who seems to
have had little faith in anything that he could not get hold of by his senses, and who
lived upon the low level of “common sense.” “This He said to prove him.” He hoped
that the question might have shaped itself in the hearer’s mind into a promise, and
that he might have been able to say in answer, “Thou canst supply; we need not buy.”
So Christ does still. He puts problems before us too, to settle; Lakes us, as it were,
into His confidence with interrogations that try us, whether we can rise above the
level of the material and visible, or whether all our conceptions of possibilities are
bounded by these. And sometimes, even though the question at first sight seems to
evoke only such a response as it did here, it works more deeply down below
afterwards, and we are helped by the very difficulty to rise to a clear faith. Philip’s
answer is significant. He was a man of figures; he believed in what you could put into
tables and statistics. Yes! And, like a great many other people of his sort, he left out
one small element in his calculation, and that was Jesus Christ. And so his answer
went creeping along the low levels, dragging itself like a half-wounded snake, when it
might have risen on the wings of faith up into the empyrean, and soared and sung. So
learn that when we have to deal with Christ’s working—and when have we not to deal
with Christ’s working?—perhaps probabilities that can be tabulated are not
altogether the best bases upon which to rest our calculations. Learn that the audacity
of a faith that expects great things, though there be nothing visible upon which to
build, is wiser and more prudent than the creeping common sense that adheres to
facts which are shadows, and forgets that the one fact is that we have an Almighty
Helper and Friend at our sides. Still further, under these preliminaries, let us point to
the exhibition of the inadequate resource which Christ, according to the fuller
narrative in the other Evangelists, insisted upon. Christ’s preparation for making our
poor resources adequate for anything is to drive home into our hearts the
consciousness of their insufficiency. We need, first of all, to be brought to this: “All
that I have is this wretched little stock; and what is that measured against the work
that I have to do and the claims upon me?” Only when we are brought to that can His
great power pour itself into us and fill us with rejoicing and overcoming strength.
The old mystics used to say, and they said truly: “You must be emptied of yourself
before you can be filled by God.” And the first thing for any man to learn, in
preparation for receiving a mightier power than his own into his opening heart, is so
know that all his own strength is utter and absolute weakness. “What are they among
so many?” And so the last of the preparations that I will touch upon is that majestic
preparation for blessing by obedience. Sit you down where He bids you, and your
mouths will not be long empty. Do the things He tells you, and you will get the food
that you need.
II. THE SIGN ITSELF.
1. As to the first, there is here, I believe, a revelation of the law of the universe, of
Christ as being through all the ages the sustainer of the physical life of men. What
was done then once, with the suppression of certain links in the chain, is done
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39. always with the introduction of those links. It was Christ’s will that made this
provision. And I believe that the teaching of Scripture is in accords,nee with the
deepest philosophy, that the one cause of all physical phenomena is the will of a
present God, howsoever that may usually conform to the ordinary methods of
working which people generalize and call laws. The reason why anything is, and
the reason why all things change, is the energy there and then of the indwelling
God, who is in all His works, and who is the only will and power in the physical
world. And I believe, further, that Scripture teaches us that that continuous will,
which is the cause of all phenomena and the underlying subsistence on which all
things repose, is all managed and mediated by Him who from of old was named
the Word; “in whom was life, and without whom was not anything made that was
made.” Our Christ is Creator, our Christ is Sustainer, our Christ moves the stars
and feeds the sparrows.
2. And so, secondly, there is in the sign itself a symbol of Him as the true Bread
and food of the world. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us, and we feed on
the sacrifice. Let your conscience, your heart, your desires, your anticipations,
your understanding, your will, your whole being, feed on Him. He will be
cleansing, He will be love, He will be fruition, He will be hope, He will be truth,
He will be righteousness, He will be all.
3. And notice finally here, the result of this miracle as transferred to the region of
symbol. “They did all eat, and were filled”; men, women, children, both sexes, all
ages, all classes, found the food that they needed in the bread that came from
Christ’s hands. If any man wants dainties that will tickle the palates of
Epicureans, let him go somewhere else. But if he wants bread, to keep the life in
and to stay his hunger, let him go to this Christ, who is “human nature’s daily
food.” The world has scoffed for eighteen centuries at the barley bread that the
gospel provides; coarse by the side of its confectionery, but it is enough to give
life to all who eat it. And more than that; notice the inexhaustible abundance.
“They did all eat, and were filled.” Other goods and other possessions perish with
the using, but this increases with use. The more one eats, the more there is for
him to eat.
And all the world may live upon it for ever, and there will be more at the end than
there was at the beginning. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The feeding of the five thousand
What is it, what is it in us, that will ensure this taking of the supplies and bestow
them upon us? First of all, what was it in this people?
1. They would not have sat down, you may be very sure, if they had not been very
hungry. Desire draws blessing.
2. Confident expectation brings Him with all His supplies. Yes, expectation of
blessing fulfils itself in a great many regions, in a great many common things of
life. If a man expect to be successful, he will be in a great many of them. It is what
you are making up your mind to do you will do. And in the spiritual region the
measure of the expectation is the measure of the success. The expectation which
has got the essential element of faith in it is the confidence in the things unseen,
as though they were present. Expectation, yea, an expectation right in the teeth of
sense, is the sure way to bring down the blessings.
3. Well, then there is another last point, and that is: the use of the appropriate
means, which are appropriate simply because they are appointed. “Make the men
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40. sit down; and Jesus therefore took the loaves.” Well, in regard to some things in
this world, yes, some outward things, we very often do come to a point where the
only thing is to sit still and see the salvation of God; and in a very profound sense
they also work, as well as they also serve, who only stand, or sit, and wait. But I
think that this generation wants a lesson, and the Christian communities of this
generation want the lesson—sit down there and be quiet, and let His grace sink
into you, as it won’t do with you for ever fuss, fuss, fussing, and moving from this
place to the other. Why, if you go into the woods, and into a coppice, the
nightingales, and the thrushes, and the whole of the quick-eyed creatures that
rustle among the leaves there, shyly hide themselves there as long as your foot is
rustling over the leaves; no other living creature will stir. Sit down quietly, don’t
even move your eyelids, and when you have sat for awhile, still as any stone, one
after another they begin to peep out of their copses, and come out into the open,
and in an hour’s time the whole place will be alive with beauty and with
happiness. Yes, and so it is in a loftier fashion in this great kingdom of our
Master’s. The men that go hurrying through the gospel sphere see nothing of its
beauty, nothing of its delicate, recondite beauties and mysteries. You have got to
be quiet. And so go ye into a desert place and rest—sit still. That does not mean
any vacuous indolence, drowsing and dormant, but it means suppressing the
sensuous life, the life of the enemy that belongs to the outer world, in order that
the life of the spirit may rise stronger and stronger, for as the eye of the flesh
closes, the eye of the spirit opens. They are like the doors in banks, you shove one
open and the other shuts. And so to be quiet is to hear Christ speak. (A.
Maclaren, D. D.)
EBC, "JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE
In this chapter John follows the same method as in the last. He first relates the sign,
and then gives our Lord’s interpretation of it. As to the Samaritan woman, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, so now to the Galileans, Jesus manifests Himself as sent to
communicate to man life eternal. The sign by means of which He now manifests
Himself is, however, so new that many fresh aspects of His own person and work are
disclosed.[21]
The occasion for the miracle arose, as usual, quite simply. Jesus had retired to the
east side of the sea of Tiberias, probably to a spot near Bethsaida Julias, that He
might have some rest. But the people, eager to see more miracles, followed Him
round the head of the lake, and, as they went, their number was augmented by
members of a Passover caravan which was forming in the neighbourhood or was
already on the march. This inconsiderate pursuit of Jesus, instead of offending Him,
touched Him; and as He marked them toiling up the hill in groups, or one by one,
some quite spent with a long and rapid walk, mothers dragging hungry children after
them, His first thought was, What can these poor tired people get to refresh them
here? He turns therefore to Philip with the question, “Whence are we to buy bread
that these may eat?” This he said, John tells us, “to prove” or test Philip. Apparently
this disciple was a shrewd business man, quick to calculate ways and means, and
rather apt to scorn the expectations of faith. Every man must rid himself of the
defects of his qualities. And Jesus now gave Philip an opportunity to overcome his
weakness-in-strength by at last boldly confessing his inability and the Lord’s ability,-
by saying, We have neither meat nor money, but we have Thee. But Philip, like many
another, missed his opportunity, and, wholly oblivious of the resources of Jesus,
casts His eye rapidly over the crowd and estimates that “two hundred pennyworth”
[22] of bread would scarcely suffice to give each enough to stay immediate cravings.
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41. Philip’s friend Andrew as little as himself divines the intention of Jesus, and naïvely
suggests that the whole provision he can hear of in the crowd is a little boy’s five
loaves and two fishes. These helpless, meagrely furnished and meagrely conceiving
disciples, meagre in food and meagre in faith, are set in contrast to the calm faith and
infinite resource of Jesus.
The moral ground being thus prepared for the miracle in the confessed inability of
the disciples and of the crowd, Jesus takes the matter in hand. With that air of
authority and calm purpose which must have impressed the onlookers at all His
miracles, He says, “Make the men sit down.” And there where they happened to be,
and without further preparation, on a grassy spot near the left bank of the Jordan,
and just where the river flows into the lake of Galilee, with the evening sun sinking
behind the hills on the western shore and the shadows lying across the darkened
lake, the multitude break up into groups of hundreds and fifties, and seat themselves
in perfect confidence that somehow food is to be furnished. They seat themselves as
those who expect a full meal, and not a mere snack they could eat standing, though
where the full meal was to come from who could tell? This expectation must have
deepened into faith as the thousands listened to their Host giving thanks over the
scanty provision. One would fain have heard the words in which Jesus addressed the
Father, and by which He caused all to feel how near to each was infinite resource.
And then, as He proceeded to distribute the ever-multiplying food, the first awe-
struck silence of the multitude gave way to exclamations of surprise and to excited
and delighted comments. The little lad, as he watched with widening eyes his two
fishes doing the work of two thousand, would feel himself a person of consequence,
and that he had a story to tell when he went back to his home on the beach. And ever
and anon, as our Lord stood with a smile on His face enjoying the congenial scene,
the children from the nearest groups would steal to His side, to get their supplies
from His own hand.
1. Before touching upon the points in this sign emphasised by our Lord Himself, it is
perhaps legitimate to indicate one or two others. And among these it may first of all
be remarked that our Lord sometimes, as here, gives not medicine but food. He not
only heals, but prevents disease. And however valuable the one blessing is-the
blessing of being healed-the other is even greater. The weakness of starvation
exposes men to every form of disease; it is a lowered vitality which gives disease its
opportunity. In the spiritual life it is the same. The preservative against any definite
form of sin is a strong spiritual life, a healthy condition not easily fatigued in duty,
and not easily overcome by temptation. Perhaps the gospel has come to be looked
upon too exclusively as a remedial scheme, and too little as the means of maintaining
spiritual health. So marked is its efficacy in reclaiming the vicious, that its efficacy as
the sole condition of healthy human life is apt to be overlooked. Christ is needful to
us not only as sinners; He is needful to us as men. Without Him human life lacks the
element which gives reality, meaning, and zest to the whole. Even to those who have
little present sense of sin He has much to offer. A sense of sin grows with the general
growth of the Christian life; and that at first it should be small need not surprise us.
But the present absence of a profound sorrow for sin is not to bar our approach to
Christ. To the impotent man, conscious of his living death, Christ offered a life that
healed and strengthened-healed by strengthening. But equally to those who now
conversed with Him, and who, conscious of life, asked Him how they might work the
work of God, He gave the same direction, that they must believe in Him as their life.
2. Our Lord here supplied the same plain food to all.
In the crowd were men, women, and children, old and young, hard-working
peasants, shepherds from the hillside, and fishermen from the lake; as well as traders
and scribes from the towns. No doubt it elicited remark that fare so simple should be
41

42. acceptable to all. Had the feast been given by a banqueting Pharisee, a variety of
tastes would have been provided for. Here the guests were divided into groups
merely for convenience of distribution, not for distinction of tastes. There are few
things which are not more the necessity of one class of men than of another, or that
while devotedly pursued by one nation are not despised across the frontier, or that do
not become antiquated and obsolete in this century though considered essential in
the last. But among these few things is the provision Christ makes for our spiritual
well-being. It is like the supply of our deep natural desires and common appetites, in
which men resemble one another from age to age, and by which they recognise their
common humanity. All the world round, you may find wells whose water you could
not say was different from what you daily use, at any rate they quench your thirst as
well. You could not tell what country you were in nor what age by the taste of the
water from a living well. And so what God has provided for our spiritual life bears in
it no peculiarities of time or place; it addresses itself with equal power to the
European of to-day as it did to the Asiatic during our Lord’s own lifetime. Men have
settled down by hundreds and by fifties, they are grouped according to various
natures and tastes, but to all alike is this one food presented. And this, because the
want it supplies is not fictitious, but as natural and veritable a want as is indicated by
hunger or thirst.
We must beware then of looking with repugnance on what Christ calls us to, as if it
were a superfluity that may reasonably be postponed to more urgent and essential
demands; or as if He were introducing our nature to some region for which it was not
originally intended, and exciting within us spurious and fanciful desires which are
really alien to us as human beings. This is a common thought. It is a common
thought that religion is not an essential but a luxury. But in point of fact all that
Christ calls us to, perfect reconcilement with God, devoted service of His will, purity
of character,-these are the essentials for us, so that until we attain them we have not
begun to live, but are merely nibbling at the very gate of life. God, in inviting us to
these things, is not putting a strain on our nature it can never bear. He is proposing
to impart new strength and joy to our nature. He is not summoning us to a joy that is
too high for us, and that we can never rejoice in, but is recalling us to that condition
in which alone we can live with comfort and health, and in which alone we can
permanently delight. If we cannot now desire what Christ offers, if we have no
appetite for it, if all that He speaks of seems uninviting and dreary, then this is
symptomatic of a fatal loss of appetite on our part. But as Jesus would have felt a
deeper compassion for any in that crowd who were too faint to eat, or as He would
quickly have laid His healing hand on any diseased person who could not eat, so does
He still more deeply compassionate all of us who would fain eat and drink with His
people, and yet nauseate and turn from their delights as the sickly from the strong
food of the healthy.
3. But what Jesus especially emphasises in the conversation arising out of the miracle
is that the food He gives is Himself. He is the Bread of Life, the Living Bread. What is
there in Christ which constitutes Him the Bread of Life? There is, first of all, that
which He Himself constantly presses, that He is sent by the Father, that He comes
out of heaven, bringing from the Father a new source of life into the world.
When our Lord pointed out to the Galileans that the work of God was to believe in
Him, they demanded a further sign as evidence that He was God’s Messenger: “What
sign doest Thou that we may see and believe Thee? What dost Thou work? Our
fathers did eat manna in the desert; they had bread from heaven, not common barley
loaves such as we got from You yesterday. Have You any such sign as this to give? If
You are sent from God, we may surely expect you to rival Moses.”[23] To which Jesus
replies: “The bread which your fathers received did not prevent them dying; it was
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43. meant to sustain physical life, and yet even in that respect it was not perfect. God has
a better bread to give, a bread which will sustain you in spiritual life, not for a few
years but for ever” (Joh_6:49-51). “I am the living bread which came down out of
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.”
This they could not understand. They believed that the manna came from heaven.
Not the richest field of Egypt had produced it. It seemed to come direct from God’s
hand. The Israelites could neither raise it nor improve upon it. But how Jesus,
“whose father and mother we know,” whom they could trace to a definite human
origin, could say that He came from heaven they could not understand. And yet, even
while they stumbled at His claim to a superhuman origin, they felt there might be
something in it. Everyone with whom He came in contact felt there was in Him
something unaccountable. The Pharisees feared while they hated Him. Pilate could
not classify Him with any variety of offender he had met with. Why do men still
continually attempt afresh to account for Him, and to give at last a perfectly
satisfactory explanation, on ordinary principles, of all that He was and did? Why, but
because it is seen that as yet He has not been so accounted for? Men do not thus
strive to prove that Shakespeare was a mere man, or that Socrates or Epictetus was a
mere man. Alas! that is only too obvious. But to Christ men turn and turn again with
the feeling that here is something which human nature does not account for;
something different, and something more than what results from human parentage
and human environment, something which He Himself accounts for by the plain and
unflinching statement that He is “from heaven.”
For my part, I do not see that this can mean anything less than that Christ is Divine,
that in Him we have God, and in Him touch the actual Source of all life. In Him we
have the one thing within our reach which is not earth-grown, the one uncorrupted
Source of life to which we can turn from the inadequacy, impurity, and emptiness of
a sin-sick world. No pebble lies hid in this bread on which we can break our teeth; no
sweetness in the mouth turning afterwards to bitterness, but a new, uncontaminated
food, prepared independently of all defiling influences, and accessible to all. Christ is
the Bread from heaven, because in Christ God gives Himself to us, that by His life we
may live.
There is another sense in which Christ probably used the word “living.” In contrast to
the dead bread He had given them He was alive. The same law seems to hold good of
our physical and of our spiritual life. We cannot sustain physical life except by using
as food that which has been alive. The nutritive properties of the earth and the air
must have been assimilated for us by living plants and animals before we can use
them. The plant sucks sustenance out of the earth-we can live upon the plant but not
on the earth. The ox finds ample nourishment in grass; we can live on the ox but not
on the grass. And so with spiritual nutriment. Abstract truth we can make little of at
first hand; it needs to be embodied in a living form before we can live upon it. Even
God is remote and abstract, and non-Christian theism makes thin-blooded and
spectral worshippers; it is when the Word becomes flesh; when the hidden reason of
all things takes human form and steps out on the earth before us, that truth becomes
nutritive, and God our life.
4. Still more explicitly Christ says: “The bread which I will give is My flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world.” For it is in this great act of dying that He becomes
the Bread of Life. God sharing with us to the uttermost; God proving that His will is
our righteousness; God bearing our sorrows and our sins; God coming into our
human race, and becoming a part of its history-all this is seen in the cross of Christ;
but it is also seen that absolute love for men, and absolute submission to God, were
the moving forces of Christ’s life. He was obedient even unto death. This was His life,
and by the cross He made it ours. The cross subdues our hearts to Him, and gives us
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44. to feel that self-sacrifice is the true life of man.
A man in a sickly state of body has sometimes to make it matter of consideration, or
even of consultation, what he shall eat. Were anyone to take the same thought about
his spiritual condition, and seriously ponder what would bring health to his spirit,
what would rid it of distaste for what is right, and give it strength and purity to
delight in God and in all good, he would probably conclude that a clear and
influential exhibition of God’s goodness, and of the fatal effects of sin, a convincing
exhibition, an exhibition in real life, of the unutterable hatefulness of sin, and
inconceivable desirableness of God; an exhibition also which should at the same time
open for us a way from sin to God-this, the inquirer would conclude, would bring life
to the spirit. It is such an exhibition of God and of sin, and such a way out of sin to
God, as we have in Christ’s death.
5. How are we to avail ourselves of the life that is in Christ? As the Jews asked, How
can this man give us His flesh to eat? Our Lord Himself uses several terms to express
the act by which we make use of Him as the Bread of Life. “He that believeth on Me,”
“He that cometh to Me,” “He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath
eternal life.” Each of these expressions has its own significance. Belief must come
first-belief that Christ is sent to give us life; belief that it depends upon our
connection with that one Person whether we shall or shall not have life eternal. We
must also “come to Him.” The people He was addressing had followed Him for miles,
and had found Him and were speaking to Him, but they had not come to Him. To
come to Him is to approach Him in spirit and with submissive trust; it is to commit
ourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to rest in Him as our all; it is to come to Him with
open heart, accepting Him as all He claims to be; it is to meet the eye of a present,
living Christ, who knows what is in man, and to say to Him “I am Thine, Thine most
gladly, Thine for evermore.”
But most emphatically of all does our Lord say that we must “eat His flesh and drink
His blood” if we are to partake of His life. That is to say, the connection between
Christ and us must be of the closest possible kind; so close that the assimilation of
the food we eat is not too strong a figure to express it. The food we eat becomes our
blood and flesh; it becomes our life, our self. And it does so by our eating it, not by
our talking of it, not by our looking at it, and admiring its nutritive properties, but
only by eating it. And whatever process can make Christ entirely ours, and help us to
assimilate all that is in Him, this process we are to use. The flesh of Christ was given
for us; by the shedding of Christ’s blood, by the pouring out of His life upon the
cross, spiritual life was prepared for us. Cleansing from sin and restoration to God
were provided by the offering of His life in the flesh; and we eat His flesh when we
use in our own behalf the death of Christ, and take the blessings it has made possible
to us; when we accept the forgiveness of sins, enter into the love of God, and adopt as
our own the spirit of the cross. His flesh or human form was the manifestation of
God’s love for us, the visible material of His sacrifice; and we eat His flesh when we
make this our own, when we accept God’s love and adopt Christ’s sacrifice as our
guiding principle of life. We eat His flesh when we take out of His life and death the
spiritual nutriment that is actually there; when we let our nature be penetrated by the
spirit of the cross, and actually make Christ the Source and the Guide of our spiritual
life.
This figure of eating has many lessons for us. Above all, it reminds us of the poor
appetite we have for spiritual nourishment. How thoroughly by this process of eating
does the healthy body extract from its food every particle of real nutriment. By this
process the food is made to yield all that it contains of nourishing substance. But how
far is this from representing our treatment of Christ. How much is there in Him that
is fitted to yield comfort and hope, and yet to us it yields none. How much that
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45. should fill us with assurance of God’s love, yet how fearfully we live. How much to
make us admire self-sacrifice and fill us with earnest purpose to live for others, and
yet how little of this becomes in very deed our life. God sees in Him all that can make
us complete, all that can fill and gladden and suffice the soul, and yet how bare and
troubled and defeated do we live.[24]
6. The mode of distribution was also significant. Christ gives life to the world not
directly, but through His disciples. The life He gives is Himself, but He gives it
through the instrumentality of men. The bread is His. The disciples may manipulate
it as they will, but it remains five loaves only. None but He can relieve the famishing
multitude. Still not with His own hands does He feed them, but through the believing
service of the Twelve. And this He did not merely for the sake of teaching us that only
through the Church is the world supplied with the life He furnishes, but primarily
because it was the natural and fit order then, as it is the natural and fit order now,
that they who themselves believe in the power of the Lord to feed the world should be
the means of distributing what He gives. Each of the disciples received from the Lord
no more than would satisfy himself, yet held in his hand what would through the
Lord’s blessing satisfy a hundred besides. And it is a grave truth we here meet, that
every one of us who has received life from Christ has thereby in possession what may
give life to many other human souls. We may give it or we may withhold it; we may
communicate it to the famishing souls around us or we may hear unconcerned the
weary heart-faint sigh; but the Lord knows to whom He has given the bread of life,
and He gives it not solely for our own consumption but for distribution. It is not the
privilege of the more enlightened or more fervent disciple, but of all. He who receives
from the Lord what is enough for himself holds the lives of some of his fellows in his
hand.
Doubtless the faith of the disciples was severely tried when they were required to
advance each man to his separate hundred with his morsel of bread. There would be
no struggling for the first place then. But encouraged in their faith by the simple and
confident words of prayer their Master had addressed to the Father, they are
emboldened to do His bidding, and if they gave sparingly and cautiously at first, their
parsimony must soon have been rebuked and their hearts enlarged.
Theirs is also our trial. We know we should be more helpful to others; but in presence
of the sorrowful we seem to have no word of comfort; seeing this man and that
pursuing a way the end of which is death, we have yet no wise word of remonstrance,
no loving entreaty; lives are trifled away at our side, and we are conscious of no
ability to elevate and dignify; lives are worn out in crushing toil and misery, and we
feel helpless to aid. The habit grows upon us of expecting rather to get good than to
do good. We have long recognised that we are too little influenced by God’s grace,
and only at long intervals now are we ashamed of this; it has become our
acknowledged state. We have found that we are not the kind of people who are to
influence others. Looking at our slim faith, our stunted character, our slender
knowledge, we say, “What is this among so many?” These feelings are inevitable. No
man seems to have enough even for his own soul. But giving of what he has to others
he will find his own store increased. “There is that scattereth abroad and yet
increaseth,” is the law of spiritual growth.
But the thought which shines through all others as we read this narrative is the genial
tenderness of Christ. He is here seen to be considerate of our wants, mindful of our
weaknesses, quick to calculate our prospects and to provide for us, simple, practical,
earnest in His love. We see here how He withholds no good thing from us, but
considers and gives what we actually need. We see how reasonable it is that He
should require us to trust Him. To every fainting soul, to every one who has
wandered far and whose strength is gone, and round whom the shadows and chills of
45

46. night are gathering, He says through this miracle: “Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken
diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness.”[25]
[21] At the risk of omitting points of interest, I have thought it advisable to treat this
whole representation of Christ, as far as possible, within the limits of one chapter.
[22] Roughly speaking, £8.
[23] From Psa_72:16 the Rabbis gathered that the Messiah when He came would
renew the gift of manna.
[24] The figure of eating reminds us that the acceptance of Christ is an act which
each man must do for himself. No other man can eat for me. It also reminds us that
as the food we eat is distributed, without our own will or supervision, to every part of
the body, giving light to the eye and strength to the arm, making bone or skin in one
place, nerve or blood-vessel in another, so, if only we make Christ our own, the life
that is in Him suffices for all the requirements of human nature and human duty.
[25] On verses 37, 44, and 45 (Joh_6:37; Joh_6:44-45) see note at the end of this
volume.
2
and a great crowd of people followed him because
they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on
the sick.
BARNES, "Because they saw his miracles ... - They saw that he had the
power to supply their wants, and they therefore followed him. See Joh_6:26.
Compare also Mat_14:14.
CLARKE, "They saw his miracles which he did - John does not mention
these miracles; but Matthew details them, Matthew 12:2-14:13. John seems more
intent on supplying the deficiencies of the other evangelists than in writing a
connected history himself.
GILL, "And a great multitude followed him,.... From several cities and towns
in Galilee, where he had been preaching and working miracles:
because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased;
46

47. so that it was not for the sake of his doctrine, or for the good of their souls, they
followed him; but either to gratify their curiosity in seeing his miracles, or to be
healed in their bodies, as others had been.
HENRY, "We have here an account of Christ's feeding five thousand men with
five loaves and two fishes, which miracle is in this respect remarkable, that it is the
only passage of the actions of Christ's life that is recorded by all the four evangelists.
John, who does not usually relate what had been recorded by those who wrote before
him, yet relates this, because of the reference the following discourse has to it.
Observe,
I. The place and time where and when this miracle was wrought, which are noted
for the greater evidence of the truth of the story; it is not said that it was done once
upon a time, nobody knows where, but the circumstances are specified, that the fact
might be enquired into.
1. The country that Christ was in (Joh_6:1): He went over the sea of Galilee, called
elsewhere the lake of Gennesareth, here the sea of Tiberias, from a city adjoining,
which Herod had lately enlarged and beautified, and called so in honour of Tiberius
the emperor, and probably had made his metropolis. Christ did not go directly over
cross this inland sea, but made a coasting voyage to another place on the same side.
It is not tempting God to choose to go by water, when there is convenience for it,
even to those places whither we might go by land; for Christ never tempted the Lord
his God, Mat_4:7.
CALVIN, "2.And a great multitude followed him. So great ardor in following
Christ arose from this, that, having beheld his power in miracles, they were
convinced that he was some great prophet, and that he had been sent by God.
But the Evangelist here omits what the other three relate, that Christ employed a
part of the day in teaching and in healing the sick, and that, when the sun was
setting, his disciples requested him to send away the multitudes, (Matthew 14:13;
Mark 6:34; Luke 9:11;) for he reckoned it enough to give the substance of it in a
few words, that he might take this opportunity of leading us on to the remaining
statements which immediately follow.
Here we see, in the first place, how eager was the desire of the people to hear
Christ, since all of them, forgetting themselves, take no concern about spending
the night in a desert place. So much the less excusable is our indifference, or
rather our sloth, when we are so far from preferring the heavenly doctrine to the
gnawings of hunger, that the slightest interruptions immediately lead us away
from meditation on the heavenly life. Very rarely does it happen that Christ
finds us free and disengaged from the entanglements of the world. So far is every
one of us from being ready to follow him to a desert mountain, that scarcely one
in ten can endure to receive him, when he presents himself at home in the midst
of comforts. And though this disease prevails nearly throughout the whole world,
yet it is certain that no man will be fit for the kingdom of God until, laying aside
such delicacy, he learn to desire the food of the soul so earnestly that his belly
shall not hinder him.
But as the flesh solicits us to attend to its conveniences, we ought likewise to
observe that Christ, of his own accord, takes care of those who neglect
themselves in order to follow him. (118) For he does not wait till they are
47

48. famished, and cry out that they are perishing of hunger, and have nothing to eat,
but he provides food for them before they have asked it. We shall perhaps be
told that this does not always happen, for we often see that godly persons, though
they have been entirely devoted to the kingdom of God, are exhausted and
almost fainting with hunger. I reply, though Christ is pleased to try our faith and
patience in this manner, yet from heaven he beholds our wants, and is careful to
relieve them, as far as is necessary for our welfare; and when assistance is not
immediately granted, it is done for the best reason, though that reason is
concealed from us.
3
Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down
with his disciples.
CLARKE, "Went up into a mountain - This mountain must have been in the
desert of Bethsaida, in the territories of Philip, tetrarch of Galilee. Our Lord
withdrew to this place for a little rest; for he and his disciples had been so thronged
with the multitudes, continually coming and going, that they had not time to take
necessary food. See Mar_6:31.
GILL, "And Jesus went up into a mountain,.... In a desert place near
Bethsaida, Luk_9:10;
and there he sat with his disciples; partly for security from the cruelty of Herod,
having just heard of the beheading of John; and partly for privacy, that he might
have some conversation alone with his disciples, upon their return from off their
journey; as also for the sake of rest and refreshment; and according to the custom of
the Jewish doctors, which now prevailed; see Gill on Mat_5:1, he sat with his
disciples, in order to teach and instruct them.
HENRY, "3. Christ's posting himself advantageously to entertain them (Joh_6:3):
He went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples, that he might the
more conveniently be seen and heard by the multitude that crowded after him; this
was a natural pulpit, and not, like Ezra's, made for the purpose. Christ was now
driven to be a field preacher; but his word was never the worse, nor the less
acceptable, for that, to those who knew how to value it, who followed him still, not
only when he went out to a desert place, but when he went up to a mountain, though
up-hill be against heart. He sat there, as teachers do in cathedra - in the chair of
instruction. He did not sit at ease, not sit in state, yet he sat as one having authority,
sat ready to receive addresses that were made to him; whoever would might come,
and find him there. He sat with his disciples; he condescended to take them to sit
with him, to put a reputation upon them before the people, and give them an earnest
of the glory in which they should shortly sit with him. We are said to sit with him,
48

49. Eph_2:6.
JAMISON, "a mountain — somewhere in that hilly range which skirts the east
side of the lake.
CALVIN, "3.Jesus therefore went up into a mountain. Christ unquestionably
sought a place of retirement till the feast of the Passover; and therefore it is said
that he sat down on a mountain with his disciples. Such was undoubtedly the
purpose which he formed as man; but the purpose of God was different, which
he willingly obeyed. Although, therefore, he avoided the sight of men, yet he
permits himself to be led by the hand of God as into a crowded theater; for there
was a larger assembly of men in a desert mountain than in any populous city,
and greater celebrity arose from the miracle than if it had happened in the open
market-place of Tiberias We are therefore taught by this example to form our
plans in conformity to the course of events, but in such a manner that, if the
result be different from what we expected, we may not be displeased that God is
above us, and regulates everything according to his pleasure.
4
The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
BARNES, "The passover - See the notes at Mat_26:2, Mat_26:17.
A feast of the Jews - This is one of the circumstances of explanation thrown in
by John which show that he wrote for those who were unacquainted with Jewish
customs.
CLARKE, "And the passover - was nigh - This happened about ten or twelve
days before the third passover which Christ celebrated after his baptism. Calmet. For
a particular account of our Lord’s four passovers see the note on Joh_2:13.
For thirty days before the Passover there were great preparations made by the
Jews, but especially in the last nineteen days, in order to celebrate the feast with due
solemnity. Lightfoot supposes that what is here related happened within the last
fifteen days. See Calmet’s opinion above.
GILL, "And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. This was the third
passover, since our Lord's baptism, and entrance on his public ministry; see Joh_
2:13. Whether Christ went up to this feast is not certain; some think he did not; but
from what is said in Joh_7:1, it looks as if he did: how nigh it was to the feast, cannot
49

50. well be said. Thirty days before the feast, they began to talk about it; and especially in
the last fifteen days, they made preparations for it, as being at hand (b); and if there
was now so long time to it, there was time enough for Jesus to go to it.
HENRY, "4. The time when it was. The first words, After those things, do not
signify that this immediately followed what was related in the foregoing chapter, for
it was a considerable time after, and they signify no more than in process of time; but
we are told (Joh_6:4) that it was when the passover was nigh, which is here noted,
(1.) Because, perhaps, that had brought in all the apostles from their respective
expeditions, whither they were sent as itinerant preachers, that they might attend
their Master to Jerusalem, to keep the feast. (2.) Because it was a custom with the
Jews religiously to observe the approach of the passover thirty days before, with
some sort of solemnity; so long before they had it in their eye, repaired the roads,
mended bridges, if there was occasion, and discoursed of the passover and the
institution of it. (3.) Because, perhaps, the approach of the passover, when every one
knew Christ would go up to Jerusalem, and be absent for some time, made the
multitude flock the more after him and attend the more diligently on him. Note, The
prospect of losing our opportunities should quicken us to improve them with double
diligence; and, when solemn ordinances are approaching, it is good to prepare for
them by conversing with the word of Christ.
JAMISON, "passover ... was nigh — but for the reason mentioned (Joh_7:1),
Jesus kept away from it, remaining in Galilee.
5
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming
toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy
bread for these people to eat?"
CLARKE, "Saw a great company - See this miracle explained at large on Mat_
14:13 (note), etc.; Mar_6:31 (note), etc.; Luk_9:10 (note), etc. In speaking of the
passovers, and various other matters, it does not appear that John follows any strict
chronological order. From Joh_6:15, it appears that our Lord had come down from
the mountain, and fed the multitudes in a plain at the foot of it.
Saith unto Philip - This, with what follows, to the end of the seventh verse, is
not mentioned by any of the other evangelists.
Philip was probably the provider for the disciples, as Judas was the treasurer.
Whence shall we buy bread - Instead of αγορασοµεν, shall we buy, I should
read αγορασωµεν, may we buy, which is the reading of ABDEHLS, Mt. VB, and many
others. As Philip was of Bethsaida, Joh_1:44; Joh_12:21, he must have been much
better acquainted with the country in which they then were than any other of the
50

51. disciples.
GILL, "When Jesus then lift up his eyes,.... Being before engaged in close
conversation with his disciples, and looking wistly and intently on them, whilst he
was discoursing with them:
and saw a great company come unto him; who came on foot, over the bridge at
Chammath, from Capernaum, and other cities of Galilee:
he saith unto Philip; he directed his discourse to him particularly, because he was
of Bethsaida, near to which place Christ now was, and therefore might be best able to
answer the following question:
whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? This, according to the other
evangelists, must be said after Christ came from the mountain, and the people were
come to him, and he had received them kindly, and had instructed them about the
kingdom of God, and had healed the diseased among them, and expressed great
compassion for them; and after the disciples had desired him to dismiss them, that
they might go to the adjacent towns, and provide food for themselves; which Christ
would not admit of and declared it unnecessary, and then put this question, with the
following view.
HENRY, "II. The miracle itself. And here observe,
1. The notice Christ took of the crowd that attended him (Joh_6:5): He lifted up his
eyes, and saw a great company come to him, poor, mean, ordinary people, no doubt,
for such make up the multitudes, especially in such remote corners of the country;
yet Christ showed himself pleased with their attendance, and concerned for their
welfare, to teach us to condescend to those of low estate, and not to set those with the
dogs of our flock whom Christ hath set with the lambs of his. The souls of the poor
are as precious to Christ, and should be so to us, as those of the rich.
2. The enquiry he made concerning the way of providing for them. He directed
himself to Philip, who had been his disciple from the first, and had seen all his
miracles, and particularly that of his turning water into wine, and therefore it might
be expected that he should have said, “Lord, if thou wilt, it is easy to thee to feed
them all.” Those that, like Israel, have been witnesses of Christ's works, and have
shared in the benefit of them, are inexcusable if they say, Can he furnish a table in
the wilderness? Philip was of Bethsaida, in the neighbourhood of which town Christ
now was, and therefore he was most likely to help them to provision at the best hand;
and probably much of the company was known to him, and he was concerned for
them. Now Christ asked, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? (1.) He
takes it for granted that they must all eat with him. One would think that when he
had taught and healed them he had done his part; and that now they should rather
have been contriving how to treat him and his disciples, for some of the people were
probably rich, and we are sure that Christ and his disciples were poor; yet he is
solicitous to entertain them. Those that will accept Christ's spiritual gifts, instead of
paying for them, shall be paid for their acceptance of them. Christ, having fed their
souls with the bread of life, feeds their bodies also with food convenient, to show that
the Lord is for the body, and to encourage us to pray for our daily bread, and to set us
an example of compassion to the poor, Jam_2:15, Jam_2:16. (2.) His enquiry is,
Whence shall we buy bread? One would think, considering his poverty, that he
should rather have asked, Where shall we have money to buy for them? But he will
51

52. rather lay out all he has than they shall want. He will buy to give, and we must
labour, that we may give, Eph_4:28.
SBC, "The Gospel Feast
I. From the beginning the greatest rite of religion has been a feast; the partaking of
God’s bounties, in the way of nature, has been consecrated to a more immediate
communion with God Himself.
II. In order to make this feasting still more solemn, it had been usual at all times to
precede it by a direct act of religion—by a prayer, or blessing, or sacrifice, or by the
presence of a priest, which implied it. Such seems to have been the common notion
of communion with God all the world over, however gained, viz., that we arrive at the
possession of His invisible gifts by participation in His visible; that there was some
mysterious connection between the seen and the unseen; and that, by setting aside
the choicest of His earthly bounties, as a specimen and representative of the whole,
presenting it to Him for His blessing, and then taking, eating, and appropriating it,
we had the best hope of getting those unknown and indefinite gifts which human
nature needs.
III. The descriptions in the Old Testament of the perfect state of religious privilege,
viz., that of the Gospel state which was to come, are continually made under the
image of a feast—a feast of some special and choice goods of this world, corn, wine,
and the like—goods of this world chosen from the mass as a specimen of all, as types
and means of seeking, and means of obtaining, the unknown spiritual blessings
which "eye hath not seen nor ear heard." May we not regard this feast in a cold,
heartless way; keep at a distance from fear, when we should rejoice. May the spirit of
the unprofitable servant never be ours, who looked on his lord as a hard master
rather than as a gracious benefactor. May we not be of those who went, one to his
farm, another to his merchandise, when they were called to the wedding. Nor let us
be of those who come in a formal, mechanical way, as a mere matter of obligation—
without reverence, without awe, without wonder, without love. Nor let us fall into the
sin of those who complained that they have nothing to gather but the manna,
wearying of God’s gifts. But let us come in faith and hope, and let us say to ourselves,
"May this be the beginning to us of everlasting bliss."
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. v., p. 103.
CALVIN, "5.He saith to Philip. What we here read as having been said to Philip
alone, the other Evangelists tell us, was said to all. But there is no inconsistency
in this; for it is probable that Philip spoke according to the opinion entertained
by all, and, therefore, Christ replies to him in particular; just as John,
immediately afterwards, introduces Andrew as speaking, where the other
Evangelists attribute the discourse to all alike. Perceiving that they have no
conception of an extraordinary remedy, he then arouses their minds, which may
be said to be asleep, so that they may, at least, have their eyes open to behold
what shall be immediately exhibited to them. The design of all that is alleged by
the disciples is, to persuade Christ not to detain the people; and, perhaps, in this
respect they consult their private advantage, that a part of the inconvenience
may not fall upon themselves. Accordingly, Christ disregards their objections,
and proceeds in his design.
52

53. 6
He asked this only to test him, for he already had in
mind what he was going to do.
BARNES, "To prove him - To try him; to see if he had faith, or if he would show
that he believed that Jesus had power to supply them.
CLARKE, "This he said to prove him - To try his faith, and to see whether he
and the other apostles had paid proper attention to the miracles which they had
already seen him work; and to draw their attention more particularly to that which
he was now about to perform. This is an observation of the evangelist himself, who
often interweaves his own judgment with the facts he relates, which St. Matthew
rarely ever does. The other evangelists say that, previously to this miracle, he
continued to instruct and heal the multitudes till it was near the close of the day.
Mat_14:14, Mat_14:15; Mar_6:34, Mar_6:35; Luk_9:11, Luk_9:12.
GILL, "And this he said to prove him,.... Or "tempting him", trying his faith,
and not only his, but the rest of the disciples; not as ignorant of it himself, but in
order to discover it to him and them, and to prepare them for the following miracle;
and that it might appear the more illustrious and marvellous:
for he himself knew what he would do; Christ had determined to work a
miracle, and feed the large number of people that were with him, with that small
provision they had among them; and being God omniscient, he knew that he was able
to do it, and that he was determined to do it, and it would be done; but he was willing
first to try the faith of his apostles.
HENRY, "3. The design of this enquiry; it was only to try the faith of Philip, for he
himself knew what he would do, Joh_6:6. Note, (1.) Our Lord Jesus is never at a loss
in his counsels; but, how difficult soever the case is, he knows what he has to do and
what course he will take, Act_15:18. He knows the thoughts he has towards his
people (Jer_29:11) and is never at uncertainty; when we know not, he himself knows
what he will do. (2.) When Christ is pleased to puzzle his people, it is only with a
design to prove them. The question put Philip to a nonplus, yet Christ proposed it, to
try whether he would say, “Lord, if thou wilt exert thy power for them, we need not
buy bread.”
53

54. 7
Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages [35]
would not buy enough bread for each one to have a
bite!"
CLARKE, "Two hundred pennyworth - This sum, rating the denarius at 7
3/4d., would amount to 6£. 9s. 2d. of our money, and appears to have been more
than our Lord and all his disciples were worth of this world’s goods. See the notes on
Mat_18:28.
GILL, "Philip answered him,.... Very quick and short, and in a carnal and
unbelieving way:
two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them. Two hundred
pence, or "Roman denarii", which may be here meant, amount to six pounds five
shillings of our money; and this sum is mentioned, because it might be the whole
stock that was in the bag, or that Christ and his disciples had; or because this was a
round sum, much in use among the Jews; See Gill on Mar_6:37. Or this may be said
by Philip, to show how impracticable it was to provide for such a company; that
supposing they had two hundred pence to lay out in this way; though where should
they have that, he suggests? yet if they had it, as much bread as that would purchase
would not be sufficient:
that everyone of them might take a little; it would be so far from giving them a
meal, or proper refreshment, that everyone could not have a small bit to taste of, or
in the least to stay or blunt his appetite: a penny, with the Jews, would buy as much
bread as would serve ten men; so that two hundred pence would buy bread enough
for two thousand men; but here were three thousand more, besides women and
children, who could not have been provided for with such a sum of money.
HENRY, "Philip answered him,.... Very quick and short, and in a carnal and
unbelieving way:
two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them. Two hundred
pence, or "Roman denarii", which may be here meant, amount to six pounds five
shillings of our money; and this sum is mentioned, because it might be the whole
stock that was in the bag, or that Christ and his disciples had; or because this was a
round sum, much in use among the Jews; See Gill on Mar_6:37. Or this may be said
by Philip, to show how impracticable it was to provide for such a company; that
supposing they had two hundred pence to lay out in this way; though where should
they have that, he suggests? yet if they had it, as much bread as that would purchase
would not be sufficient:
that everyone of them might take a little; it would be so far from giving them a
meal, or proper refreshment, that everyone could not have a small bit to taste of, or
in the least to stay or blunt his appetite: a penny, with the Jews, would buy as much
54

55. bread as would serve ten men; so that two hundred pence would buy bread enough
for two thousand men; but here were three thousand more, besides women and
children, who could not have been provided for with such a sum of money.
CALVIN, "7.Two hundred denarii. As the denarius, according to the
computation of Budaeus, is equal to four times the value of acarolus and two
deniers of Tours, this sum amounts to thirty-five francs, or thereby. (119) If you
divide this sum among five thousand men, each hundred of them will have less
than seventeenpence sterling (120) If we now add about a thousand of women
and children, it will be found that Philip allots to each person about the sixth
part of an English penny, (121) to buy a little bread But, as usually happens in a
great crowd, he probably thought that there was a greater number of people
present; and as the disciples were poor and ill supplied with money, Andrew
intended to alarm Christ by the greatness of the sum, meaning that they were not
wealthy enough to entertain so many people.
8
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother, spoke up,
CLARKE, "Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith - The other evangelists
attribute this answer to the apostles in general. See the passages referred to above.
GILL, "One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother,.... Who also,
and his brother Peter, were of Bethsaida, as well as Philip, and was a disciple of
Christ's; he hearing what Christ said to Philip, and what answer he returned,
saith unto him; to Christ, with but little more faith than Philip, if any.
HENRY, "5. The information which Christ received from another of his disciples
concerning the provision they had. It was Andrew, here said to be Simon Peter's
brother; though he was senior to Peter in discipleship, and instrumental to bring
Peter to Christ, yet Peter afterwards so far outshone him that he is described by his
relation to Peter: he acquainted Christ with what they had at hand; and in this we
may see,
(1.) The strength of his love to those for whom he saw his Master concerned, in
that he was willing to bring out all they had, though he knew not but they might want
themselves, and any one would have said, Charity begins at home. He did not go
about to conceal it, under pretence of being a better husband of their provision than
the master was, but honestly gives in an account of all they had. There is a lad here,
55

56. paidarion - a little lad, probably one that used to follow this company, as settlers do
the camp, with provisions to sell, and the disciples had bespoken what he had for
themselves; and it was five barley-loaves, and two small fishes. Here, [1.] The
provision was coarse and ordinary; they were barley loaves. Canaan was a land of
wheat (Deu_8:8); its inhabitants were commonly fed with the finest wheat (Psa_
81:16), the kidneys of wheat (Deu_32:14); yet Christ and his disciples were glad of
barley-bread. It does not follow hence that we should tie ourselves to such coarse
fare, and place religion in it (when God brings that which is finer to our hands, let us
receive it, and be thankful); but it does follow that therefore we must not be desirous
of dainties (Psa_23:3); nor murmur if we be reduced to coarse fare, but be content
and thankful, and well reconciled to it; barley-bread is what Christ had, and better
than we deserve. Nor let us despise the mean provision of the poor, nor look upon it
with contempt, remembering how Christ was provided for. [2.] It was but short and
scanty; there were but five loaves, and those so small that one little lad carried them
all; and we find (2Ki_4:42, 2Ki_4:43) that twenty barley-loaves, with some other
provision to help out, would not dine a hundred men without a miracle. There were
but two fishes, and those small ones (duo opsaria), so small that one of them was but
a morsel, pisciculi assati. I take the fish to have been pickled, or soused, for they had
not fire to dress them with. The provision of bread was little, but that of fish was less
in proportion to it, so that many a bit of dry bread they must eat before they could
make a meal of this provision; but they were content with it. Bread is meat for our
hunger; but of those that murmured for flesh it is said, They asked meat for their
lust, Psa_78:18. Well, Andrew was willing that the people should have this, as far as
it would go. Note, A distrustful fear of wanting ourselves should not hinder us from
needful charity to others.
(2.) See here the weakness of his faith in that word, “But what are they among so
many? To offer this to such a multitude is but to mock them.” Philip and he had not
that actual consideration of the power of Christ (of which they had had such large
experience) which they should have had. Who fed the camp of Israel in the
wilderness? He that could make one man chase a thousand could make one loaf feed
a thousand.
SBC, "The services of the despised
I. The lesson I would draw from the scene is, on the one hand, the lesson of Christ’s
own gospel to poor, humble, ill-endowed, ungifted persons, and at the same time the
encouragement, the blessing, the multiplication which He gives to little things. These
ought not, I think, to be fantastic or meaningless lessons for us. For the immense
majority of us are neither rich, nor great, nor noble, but just such humble, unknown
persons; and very few among us have more than little gifts to offer. By far the most of
us have not ten talents to offer for Christ’s use, nor even five talents; we have at the
best but one talent, and perhaps not even that. Well, the world thinks everything of
this, but God thinks nothing of it. When the Master comes He will not ask how great
or how small were our endowments and capabilities, but only how we have used
them. If we have not neglected our poor talent, or even fraction of a talent, we, no
less than the most richly gifted, shall be thrilled with the words, "Well done, good—
faithful servant!" which will atone for ever for all afflictions.
II. Do not let us imagine, then, that we are too poor, too stupid, too ignorant, too
obscurely situated, to do any real good in the world where God has placed us. Christ
loves the humble and accepts the little. Take but one instance—kind words. A kind
word of praise, of sympathy, of encouragement—it would not cost you much, yet how
often does pride, or envy, or indifference prevent you from speaking it. The cup of
56

57. cold water, the barley loaves, the two farthings—how often we are too mean and too
self-absorbed to give even these. And are we not to give them because we cannot
endow hospitals, or build cathedrals, or write epics? Ah! if we be in the least sincere,
in the least earnest, let us be encouraged. The little gifts of our poverty, the small
services of our insignificance, the barley loaves of the Galilean boy on the desert
plain, the one talent of poor dull persons like ourselves, are despised by the world;
but they are accepted of, they will be infinitely rewarded by, Him without Whom no
sparrow falls, Who numbers the very hairs of our heads, Who builds the vast
continents by the toil of the coral insect, and by His grains of sand stays the raging of
the sea.
F. W. Farrar, Sunday Magazine, 1886, p. 164.
9
"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two
small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
CLARKE, "There is a lad here - Παιδαριον, a little boy, or servant, probably
one who carried the apostles’ provisions, or who came on purpose to sell his bread
and fish.
Five barley loaves - Barley scarcely bore one-third of the value of wheat in the
east: see Rev_6:6. That it was a very mean fare appears from Eze_13:19, where the
false prophetesses are said to pollute the name of God for handfuls of barley, i.e. for
the meanest reward. And Plutarch, in Apoph. p. 174, speaking concerning the flight
of Artaxerxes Mnemon, says he was reduced to such distress as to be obliged to eat
barley bread. See Kypke. From this and other circumstances we may plainly perceive
that the self-denying doctrine preached by Christ and his apostles was fully
exemplified in their own manner of living.
Two small fishes - ∆υο οψαρια. The word of οψαριον signifies whatever is eaten
with bread, to perfect the meal, or to make it easy of deglutition, or to help the
digestion. There is no word in the English language for it, which is a great defect. The
inhabitants of Scotland, and of the north and north-west of Ireland, use the word
kytshen, by which they express what ever is eaten with bread or potatoes, as flesh,
fish, butter, milk, eggs, etc., no satisfactory etymology of which word I am able to
offer. In the parallel places in the other three evangelists, instead of οψαρια, ιχθυας is
used; so that the word evidently means fish in the text of St. John: see on Joh_21:5
(note).
GILL, "There is a lad here,.... Who either belonged to Christ and his disciples,
57

58. and was employed to carry their provisions for them; which, if so, shows how meanly
Christ and his disciples lived; or he belonged to some in the multitude; or rather he
came here to sell what he had got:
which hath five barley loaves. The land of Canaan was a land of barley, as well as
wheat, Deu_8:8; this sort of grain grew there in plenty, and was in much use; the
Jews had a barley harvest, Rth_1:22, which was at the time of the passover; for on
the second day after the passover, the sheaf of the first fruits was waved before the
Lord, which was of barley; hence the Targumist on the place just cited, paraphrases it
thus;
"they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the passover, and on the day the
children of Israel began to reap the sheaf of the wave offering, which was of barley.''
And it was now about the time of the passover, as appears from Joh_6:4, and had it
been quite the time, and the barley sheaf had been waved, it might have been thought
that these loaves were made of the new barley; but though barley was in use for bread
among the Jews, as is evident, from the mention that is made of barley loaves and
cakes, 2Ki_4:42; yet it was bread of the coarsest sort, and what the meaner sort of
people ate; see Eze_4:12. Yea, barley was used for food for horses and dromedaries,
1Ki_4:28; and since therefore these loaves were, if not designed for the use of Christ
and his twelve apostles, yet for some of his followers, and which they all ate of; it is
an instance of the meanness and poverty of them: but however, they had better bread
than this, even the bread of life, which is afterwards largely treated of in this chapter,
which some of them at least ate of; and as our countryman Mr. Dod used to say,
"brown bread and the Gospel are good fare:''
and it may be further observed, that the number of these loaves were but few; there
were but "five" of them, for "five thousand" persons; and these do not seem to be very
large ones, since one lad was able to carry them; and indeed, these loaves were no
other than cakes, in which form they used to be made:
and two small fishes; there were but "two", and these "small"; it is amazing, that
five thousand persons should everyone have something of them, and enough: these
fishes seem to be what the Jews (c) call ‫,מוניני‬ and which the gloss interprets "small
fishes": and by the word which is used of them, they seem to be salted, or pickled
fishes, and such it is very probable these were; Nonnus calls them, ιχθυας οπταλεους,
"fishes which were broiled", or perhaps dried in the sun; see Luk_24:42.
But what are they among so many? everyone cannot possibly have a taste, much
less any refreshment, still less a meal.
10
Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was
58

59. plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down,
about five thousand of them.
CLARKE, "There was much grass in the place - Perhaps newly mown grass,
or hay, is meant, (so the Vulgate faenum), and this circumstance marks out more
particularly that the passover was at hand. In Palestine the grass is ready for mowing
in March; and this miracle seems to have been wrought only a few days before the
commencement of that festival: see Joh_6:4.
GILL, "Jesus said, make the men sit down,.... The Syriac version reads, "all the
men"; and the Persic version, "all the people"; men, women, and children: Christ,
without reproving his disciples for their unbelief, ordered them directly to place the
people upon the ground, and seat them in rows by hundreds and by fifties, in a rank
and company, as persons about to take a meal:
now there was much grass in the place; at the bottom of the mountain; and it
was green, as one of the evangelists observes, it being the spring of the year, and was
very commodious to sit down upon:
so the men sat down, in number about five thousand; besides women and
children, Mat_14:21, so that there was but one loaf for more than a thousand
persons.
HENRY, " The directions Christ gave the disciples to seat the guests (Joh_6:10):
“Make the men sit down, though you have nothing to set before them, and trust me
for that.” This was like sending providence to market, and going to buy without
money: Christ would thus try their obedience. Observe, (1.) The furniture of the
dining-room: there was much grass in that place, though a desert place; see how
bountiful nature is, it makes grass to grow upon the mountains, Psa_147:8. This
grass was uneaten; God gives not only enough, but more then enough. Here was this
plenty of grass where Christ was preaching; the gospel brings other blessings along
with it: Then shall the earth yield her increase, Psa_67:6. This plenty of grass made
the place the more commodious for those that must sit on the ground, and served
them for cushions, or beds (as they called what they sat on at meat, Est_1:6), and,
considering what Christ says of the grass of the field (Mat_6:29, Mat_6:30), these
beds excelled those of Ahasuerus: nature's pomp is the most glorious. (2.) The
number of the guests: About five thousand: a great entertainment, representing that
of the gospel, which is a feast for all nations (Isa_25:6), a feast for all comers.
CALVIN, "10.Make the men sit down. That the disciples were not sooner
prepared to cherish the hope which their Master held out, and did not remember
to ascribe to his power all that was proper, was a degree of stupidity worthy of
blame; but no small praise is due to their cheerful obedience in now complying
with his injunction, though they know not what is his intention, or what
advantage they will derive from what they are doing. The same readiness to obey
59

60. is manifested by the people; for, while they are uncertain about the result, they
all sit down as soon as a single word of command has been pronounced. And this
is the trial of true faith, when God commands men to walk, as it were, in
darkness. For this purpose let us learn not to be wise in ourselves, but, amidst
great confusion, still to hope for a prosperous issue, when we follow the guidance
of God, who never disappoints his own people.
11
Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and
distributed to those who were seated as much as they
wanted. He did the same with the fish.
CLARKE, "Jesus took the loaves - See the notes on Mat_14:19-21 (note). As
there were five loaves and five thousand people, so there was one loaf to every
thousand men, independently of the women and children.
GILL, "And Jesus took the loaves,.... Into his hands, as also the fishes, in order
to feed the multitude with them:
and when he had given thanks; for them, and blessed them, or implored a
blessing on them, that they might be nourishing to the bodies of men, as was his
usual manner, and which is an example to us;
he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were sat
down. The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, only read, "he distributed to
them that were sat down": but it was not by his own hands, but by the means of the
disciples, who received from him, and gave it to them; so that the sense is the same;
and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would; that is, they had as much,
both of the bread and of the fishes, distributed to them, and which they took and ate,
as they chose: in some printed copies it is read, "as much as he would", and so the
Persic version; that is, as much as Jesus would; but the former is the true reading,
and makes the miracle more illustrious.
HENRY, "7. The distribution of the provision, Joh_6:11. Observe,
(1.) It was done with thanksgiving: He gave thanks. Note, [1.] We ought to give
thanks to God for our food, for it is a mercy to have it, and we have it from the hand
of God, and must receive it with thanksgiving, 1Ti_4:4, 1Ti_4:5. And this is the
sweetness of our creature-comforts, that they will furnish us with matter, and give us
occasion, for that excellent duty of thanksgiving. [2.] Though our provision be coarse
and scanty, though we have neither plenty nor dainty, yet we must give thanks to God
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61. for what we have.
(2.) It was distributed from the hand of Christ by the hands of his disciples, Joh_
6:11. Note, [1.] All our comforts come to us originally from the hand of Christ;
whoever brings them, it is he that sends them, he distributes to those who distribute
to us. [2.] In distributing the bread of life to those that follow him, he is pleased to
make use of the ministration of his disciples; they are the servitors at Christ's table,
or rather rulers in his household, to give to every one his portion of meat in due
season.
(3.) It was done to universal satisfaction. They did not every one take a little, but all
had as much as they would; not a short allowance, but a full meal; and considering
how long they had fasted, with what an appetite they sat down, how agreeable this
miraculous food may be supposed to have been, above common food, it was not a
little that served them when they ate as much as they would and on free cost. Those
whom Christ feeds with the bread of life he does not stint, Psa_81:10. There were but
two small fishes, and yet they had of them too as much as they would. He did not
reserve them for the better sort of the guests, and put off the poor with dry bread, but
treated them all alike, for they were all alike welcome. Those who call feeding upon
fish fasting reproach the entertainment Christ here made, which was a full feast.
CALVIN, "11.After having given thanks. Christ has oftener than once instructed
us by his example that, whenever we take food, we ought to begin with prayer.
For those things which God has appointed for our use, being evidences of his
infinite goodness and fatherly love towards us, call on us to offer praise to Him;
and thanksgiving, as Paul informs us, is a kind of solemn sanctification, by
means of which the use of them begins to be pure to us, (1 Timothy 4:4.) Hence it
follows, that they who swallow them down without thinking of God, are guilty of
sacrilege, and of profaning the gifts of God. And this instruction is the more
worthy of attention, because we daily see a great part of the world feeding
themselves like brute beasts. When Christ determined that the bread given to the
disciples should grow among their hands, we are taught by it that God blesses
our labor when we are serviceable to each other.
Let us now sum up the meaning of the whole miracle. It has this in common with
the other miracles, that Christ displayed in it his Divine power in union with
beneficence, It is also a confirmation to us of that statement by which he exhorts
us to seek the kingdom of God, promising that all other things shall be added to
us, (Matthew 6:33.) For if he took care of those who were led to him only by a
sudden impulse, how would he desert us, if we seek him with a firm and steady
purpose? True, indeed, he will sometimes allow his own people, as I have said, to
suffer hunger; but he will never deprive them of his aid; and, in the meantime,
he has very good reasons for not assisting us till matters come to an extremity.
Besides, Christ plainly showed that he not only bestows spiritual life on the
world, but that his Father commanded him also to nourish the body. For
abundance of all blessings is committed to his hand, that, as a channel, he may
convey them to us; though I speak incorrectly by calling him a channel, for he is
rather the living fountain flowing from the eternal Father. Accordingly, Paul
prays that all blessings may come to us from God the Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ, in common, (1 Corinthians 1:3;) and, in another passage, he shows
that
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62. in all things we ought to give thanks to God the Father, through our Lord Jesus
Christ, (Ephesians 5:20.)
And not only does this office belong to his eternal Divinity, but even in his
human nature, and so far as he has taken upon him our flesh, (122) the Father
has appointed him to be the dispenser, that by his hands he may feed us. Now,
though we do not every day see miracles before our eyes, yet not less bountifully
does God display his power in feeding us. And indeed we do not read that, when
he wished to give a supper to his people, he used any new means; and, therefore,
it would be an inconsiderate prayer, if any one were to ask that meat and drink
might be given to him by some unusual method.
Again, Christ did not provide great delicacies for the people, but they who saw
his amazing power displayed in that supper, were obliged to rest satisfied with
barley-bread and fish without sauce. (123) And though he does not now satisfy
five thousand men with five loaves, still he does not cease to feed the whole world
in a wonderful manner. It sounds to us, no doubt, like a paradox, that
man liveth not by bread alone, but by the word which proceedeth out of the
mouth of God,
(Deuteronomy 8:3.)
For we are so strongly attached to outward means, that nothing is more difficult
than to depend on the providence of God. Hence it arises that we tremble so
much, as soon as we have not bread at hand. And if we consider every thing
aright, we shall be compelled to discern the blessing of God in all the creatures
which serve for our bodily support; (124) but use and frequency lead us to
undervalue the miracles of nature. And yet, in this respect, it is not so much our
stupidity as our malignity that hinders us; for where is the man to be found who
does not choose to wander astray in his mind, and to encompass heaven and
earth a hundred times, rather than look at God who presents himself to his view?
SBC, "This narrative falls mainly into two portions, both of which suggest for us
some important lessons. There is first the preparations for the sign, and then there is
the sign itself. Let us look at those two points in succession.
I. The preparations for the sign. Christ’s preparation in making our poor resources
adequate for anything, is to drive home into our hearts the consciousness of their
insufficiency: "What are they among so many?" When we have once gone right down
into the depths of felt impotence, and when our work has risen before us as if it were
far too great for our poor strengths, which are weaknesses, then we are brought, and
only then, into the position in which we may begin to hope that power equal to our
desire will be poured into our souls. Note also the majestic preparation for blessing
by obedience: "Make the men sit down." Sit you down when He bids you, and your
mouths will not long be empty.
II. The sign itself. (1) It is a revelation of Christ continually, through all the ages
sustaining man’s physical life, for Christ is creator, our Christ is sustainer, our Christ
moves the stars and feeds the sparrows. He opens His hand—and there is the print of
a nail in it—and satisfies the desire of every living thing. (2) There is the sign and
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63. symbol of Him as the true bread and food of the world. That is the explanation and
commentary which He Himself appends to it in the subsequent part of the chapter, in
the great discourse which is founded upon this miracle.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Feb. 25, 1886.
MACLAREN, "THE FOURTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL
This narrative of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand is introduced into
John’s Gospel with singular abruptness. We read in the first verse of the chapter:
‘After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee,’ i.e. from the western to the
eastern side. But the Evangelist does not tell us how or when He got to the western
side. ‘These things,’ which are recorded in the previous chapter, are the healing of the
impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda, the consequent outburst of Jewish hostility,
and the profound and solemn discourse of our Lord, in which He claims filial
relationship to the Father. So that we must insert between the chapters a journey
from Jerusalem to Galilee, and a lapse at all events of some months-or, if the feast
referred to in the previous chapter be, as it may be, the Passover, an interval of nearly
a year. So little care for the mere framework of events has this fourth Gospel; so
entirely would the Evangelist have us see that his reason for narrating this miracle is
mainly its spiritual lessons and the revelation which it makes of Christ as Himself the
Bread of Life.
Similarly, he has no care to tell us anything about the reasons for our Lord’s
retirement with His disciples from Galilee to the eastern bank. These we have to
learn from the other Evangelists. They give us several concurrent motives-the news
of the death of John the Baptist; and of the desire of the bloody tyrant to see Jesus,
which foreboded evil; also the return of the twelve Apostles from their trial journey,
which involved the necessity of rest for them; and, perhaps, the approach of the
Passover, which our Lord did not purpose to observe in Jerusalem because of the
Jewish hostility, and which, therefore, suggested the withdrawal to temporary
retirement.
All these reasons concurring, He and His disciples would seek for a brief space of
seclusion and repose. But the hope of securing such was vain. The people followed in
crowds so eagerly, so hastily, in such enormous numbers, that no natural or ordinary
provision for their wants could be thought of. Hence the occasion for the miracle
before us.
Now I think that this narrative, with which I wish to deal, falls mainly into two
portions, both of which suggest for us some important lessons. There is, first, the
preparations for the sign; and then there is the sign itself. Let us look at these two
points in succession.
I. First, then, the preparations for the sign.
Now it is to be observed that this is the only incident before our Lord’s last journey to
Jerusalem which is recorded by all four Evangelists; therefore the variations between
the narratives are of especial interest, and these variations are very considerable. We
find, for instance, that in John’s account the question as to how the bread was to be
provided came from Christ; in the other Evangelists’ accounts that question is
discussed first amongst the Apostles privately. We find from John’s narrative that the
question was suggested even before the multitudes had come to Jesus. We find in the
Synoptic Gospels that it arose at the close of a long day of teaching and of healing.
Now it is possible that this diversity of time may be the solution of the diversity of the
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64. person proposing. That is to say, it is quite legitimate to conclude that John’s account
takes up the incident at an earlier period than the other Evangelists do, and that the
full order of events was this; that, privately, at the beginning of the day, whilst the
people were yet flocking to our Lord, He, to one of the disciples alone, suggests the
question, ‘Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?’ and that the answer, ‘Two
hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient that every one of them may take a
little,’ explains for us the suggestion of the same amount at a subsequent part of the
day, by the Apostles when they asked our Lord the question, ‘Shall we go and buy two
hundred pennyworth of bread that these may eat?’
Be that as it may, we may pause for a moment upon this question of our Lord’s,
‘Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?’
Now notice what a lovely glimpse we get there into the quick-rising sympathy of the
Saviour with all forms of human necessity. He had gone away to snatch a brief
moment of rest. The rest is denied Him; the hurrying crowds come pressing with
their vulgar curiosity-for it was nothing better-after Him. No movement of
impatience passes across His mind; no reluctance as He turns away from the
vanishing prospect of a quiet afternoon with His friends. He looks upon them, and
the first thought is a quick, instinctive movement of a divine and yet most human
sympathy. The question rises in His mind of how He was to provide for them; they
were not hungry yet; they had not thought where their bread was to come from. But
He cared for the careless, and His heart was prophetic of their necessities, and quick
to determine ‘what He should do’ to supply them. So is it ever. Before we call, He
answers. Thy mercy, O loving Christ! needs no more than the sight of human
necessities, or even the anticipation of them, swiftly to bestir itself for their
satisfaction and their supply.
But, farther, He selects for the question Philip, a man who seems to have been what
is called-as if it were the highest praise-an ‘intensely practical person’; who seems to
have had little faith in anything that he could not get hold of by his senses, and who
lived upon the low level of ‘common sense.’ He always lays stress upon ‘seeing.’ His
answer to Nathanael when he said, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ was,
‘Come and see.’ A very good answer, and yet one that relies only on the external
manifestation of Christ to the senses. Then, on another occasion, he breaks in upon
the lofty spiritualities of our Lord’s final discourse to His disciples, with the
malapropos request, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.’ And so here, to
the man who believed in his eyesight, and did not easily apprehend much else, Jesus
puts this question, ‘Where is the bread to come from for all these people? This He
said to prove him.’ He hoped that the question might have shaped itself in the
hearer’s mind into a promise, and that he might have been able to say in answer,
‘Thou canst supply; we need not buy.’
So Christ does still. He puts problems before us, too, to settle; takes us, as it were,
into His confidence with interrogations that try us, whether we can rise above the
level of the material and visible, or whether all our conceptions of possibilities are
bounded by these. And sometimes, even though the question at first sight seems to
evoke only such a response as it did here, it works more deeply down below
afterwards, and we are helped by the very difficulty to rise to a clear faith.
Philip’s answer is very significant. ‘Two hundred pennyworth of bread are not
sufficient.’ He casts his eye over the multitude, he makes a rough, rapid calculation,
one does not exactly see the data on which it was based; and he comes to the
conclusion, ‘Two hundred pennyworth’ (in our English money some L. 7 or L. 8
worth) would give them each a morsel. And no doubt he thought himself very
practical. He was a man of figures; he believed in what could be put into tables and
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65. statistics. Yes; and like a great many other people of his sort, he left out one small
element in his calculation, and that was Jesus Christ, and so his answer went
creeping along the low levels, dragging itself like a half-wounded snake, when it
might have risen on the wings of faith into the empyrean, and soared and sung.
So learn that when we have to deal with Christ’s working-and when have we not to
deal with Christ’s working?-perhaps probabilities that can be tabulated are not
altogether the best bases upon which to rest our calculations. Learn that the audacity
of a faith that expects great things, though there be nothing visible upon which to
build, is wiser and more prudent than the creeping common-sense that adheres to
facts which are shadows, and forgets that the chief fact is that we have an Almighty
Helper and Friend at our sides.
Still further, among these preliminaries, let us point to the exhibition of the
inadequate resources which Christ, according to the fuller narrative in the other
Evangelists, desired to know. ‘There is a little lad here with five barley loaves’-one per
thousand-’and two small fishes’-insufficient in quantity and very, very common in
quality, for barley bread was the food of the poorest. ‘But what are they among so
many?’ And Christ says, ‘Bring them to Me.’
Christ’s preparation for making our poor resources adequate for anything is to drive
home into our hearts the consciousness of their insufficiency. We need, first of all, to
be brought to this, ‘All that I have is this wretched little stock; and what is that
measured against the work that I have to do, and the claims upon me?’ Only when we
are brought to that can His great power pour itself into us and fill us with rejoicing
and overcoming strength. The old mystics used to say, and they said truly: ‘You must
be emptied of yourself before you can be filled by God.’ And the first thing for any
man to learn, in preparation for receiving a mightier power than his own into his
opening heart, is to know that all his own strength is utter and absolute weakness.
‘What are they among so many?’ When we have once gone right down into the depths
of felt impotence, and when our work has risen before us, as if it were far too great
for our poor strengths which are weaknesses, then we are brought, and only then,
into the position in which we may begin to hope that power equal to our desire will
be poured into our souls.
And so the last of the preparations that I will touch upon is that majestic preparation
for blessing by obedience. ‘And Jesus said, Make the men sit down.’ And there they
sat themselves, as Mark puts it in his picturesque way, like so many garden plots-the
rectangular oblongs in a garden in which pot-herbs are grown-on the green grass,
below the blue sky, by the side of the quiet lake. Cannot you fancy how some of them
seated themselves with a scoff, and some with a quiet smile of incredulity; and some
half sheepishly and reluctantly; and some in mute expectancy; and some in foolish
wonder; and yet all of them with a partial obedience? And says John in the true
translation: ‘So the men sat down, therefore Jesus took the loaves.’ Sit you down
where He bids you, and your mouths will not be long empty. Do the things He tells
you, and you will get the food that you need. Our business is to obey and to wait, and
His business is, when we are seated, to open His hand and let the mercy drop. So
much for the preparations for this great miracle.
II. Now, in the next place, a word as to the sign itself.
I take two lessons, and two only, out of it. I see in it, first, a revelation of Christ, as
continually through all the ages sustaining men’s physical life. And I see in it, second,
a symbol of Christ as Himself the Bread of Life.
As to the first, there is here, I believe, a revelation of the law of the universe, of Christ
as being through all the ages the Sustainer of the physical life of men. What was done
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66. then once, with the suppression of certain links in the chain, is done always, with the
introduction of those links. The miraculous moment in the narrative is not described
to us. We do not know where or when there came in the supernatural power which
multiplied the loaves-probably as they passed from the hand of the Master. But be
that as it may, it was Christ’s will that made the provision which fed all these five
thousand. And I believe that the teaching of Scripture is in accordance with the
deepest philosophy, that the one cause of all physical phenomena is the will of a
present God; howsoever that may usually conform to the ordinary method of
working which people generalise and call laws. The reason why anything is, and the
reason why all things change, is the energy there and then of the indwelling God who
is in all His works, and who is the only Will and Power in the physical world.
And I believe, further, that Scripture teaches us that that continuous will, which is
the cause of all phenomena and the underlying subsistence on which all things
repose, is all managed and mediated by Him who from of old was named the Word;
‘in whom was life, and without whom was not anything made that was made.’ Our
Christ is Creator, our Christ is Sustainer, our Christ moves the stars and feeds the
sparrows. He was ‘before all things, and in Him all things consist.’ He opens His
hand-and there is the print of a nail in it-and ‘satisfies the desire of every living
thing.’
So learn how to think of second causes, and see in this story a transient
manifestation, in unusual form, of an eternal and permanent fact. Jesus took the
loaves and distributed to them that were set down.
And so, secondly, the miracle is a sign-a symbol of Him as the true Bread and Food of
the world. That is the explanation and commentary which He Himself appends to it
in the subsequent part of the chapter, in the great discourse which is founded upon
this miracle.
‘I am the Bread of Life.’ There is a triple statement by our Lord upon this subject in
the remaining portion of the chapter. He says, ‘I am the Bread of Life.’ My
personality is that which not only sustains life when it is given, but gives life to them
that feed upon it. But more than that, ‘the bread which I will give,’ pointing to some
future ‘giving’ beyond the present moment, and therefore something more than His
life and example, ‘is My flesh, which’-in some as yet unexplained way-’I give for the
life of the world.’ And that there may be no misunderstanding, there is a third,
deeper, more mysterious statement still: ‘My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is
drink indeed.’ Repulsive and paradoxical, but in its very offensiveness and paradox,
proclaiming that it covers a mighty truth, and the truth, brother, is this, the one Food
that gives life to will, affections, conscience, understanding, to the whole spirit of a
man, is that great Sacrifice of the Incarnate Lord who gave upon the Cross His flesh,
and on the Cross shed His blood, for the life of the world that was ‘dead in trespasses
and sins.’ Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us, and we feed on the sacrifice. Let
your conscience, your heart, your desires, your anticipations, your understanding,
your will, your whole being feed on Him. He will be cleansing, He will be love, He will
be fruition, He will be hope, He will be truth, He will be righteousness, He will be all.
Feed upon Him by that faith which is the true eating of the true Bread, and your
souls shall live.
And notice finally here, the result of this miracle as transferred to the region of
symbol. ‘They did all eat and were filled’; men, women, children, both sexes, all ages,
all classes, found the food that they needed in the bread that came from Christ’s
hands. If any man wants dainties that will tickle the palates of Epicureans, let him go
somewhere else. But if he wants bread, to keep the life in and to stay his hunger, let
him go to this Christ who is ‘human nature’s daily food.’
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67. The world has scoffed for nineteen centuries at the barley bread that the Gospel
provides; coarse by the side of its confectionery, but it is enough to give life to all who
eat it. It goes straight to the primal necessities of human nature. It does not coddle a
class, or pander to unwholesome, diseased, or fastidious appetites. It is the food of
the world, and not of a section. All men can relish it, all men need it. It is offered to
them all.
And more than that; notice the inexhaustible abundance. ‘They did all eat, and were
filled.’ And then they took up-not ‘of the fragments,’ as our Bible gives it, conveying
the idea of the crumbs that littered the grass after the repast was over, but of the
‘broken pieces’-the portions that came from Christ’s hands-twelve baskets full, an
immensely greater quantity than they had to start with. ‘The gift doth stretch itself as
‘tis received.’ Other goods and other possessions perish with the using, but this
increases with use. The more one eats, the more there is for him to eat. And all the
world may live upon it for ever, and there will be more at the end than there was at
the beginning.
Brethren, why do ye ‘spend your money for that which is not bread’? There is no
answer worthy of a rational soul, no answer that will stand either the light of
conscience or the clearer light of the Day of Judgment. I come to you now, and
although my poor words may be but like the barley bread and the two fishes-nothing
amongst all this gathered audience-I come with Christ in my hands, and I say to you,
‘Eat, and your souls shall live.’ He will spread a table for you in the wilderness, and
take you to sit at last at His table in His Kingdom.
12
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his
disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let
nothing be wasted."
BARNES, "Gather up the fragments - This command is omitted by the other
evangelists. It shows the care of Jesus that there should be no waste. Though he had
power to provide any quantity of food, yet he has here taught us that the bounties of
Providence are not to be squandered. In all things the Saviour set us an example of
frugality, though he had an infinite supply at his disposal; he was himself
economical, though he was Lord of all. If he was thus saving, it becomes us
dependent creatures not to waste the bounties of a beneficent Providence. And it
especially becomes the rich not to squander the bounties of Providence. They often
feel that they are rich. They have enough. They have no fear of want, and they do not
feel the necessity of studying economy. Yet let them remember that what they have is
the gift of God - just as certainly as the loaves and fishes created by the Saviour were
his gift. It is not given them to waste, nor to spend in riot, nor to be the means of
injuring their health or of shortening life. It is given to sustain life, to excite gratitude,
to fit for the active service of God. Everything should be applied to its appropriate
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68. end, and nothing should be squandered or lost.
CLARKE, "Gather up the fragments - “Great will be the punishment of those
who waste the crumbs of food, scatter seed, and neglect the law.” Synops Sohar.
Among the Jews the ‫פאה‬ peah, or residue after a meal, was the property of the
servitors.
GILL, "When they were filled,.... Had not only eaten, but had made a full meal,
and were thoroughly satisfied, having eaten as much as they could, or chose to eat:
he said unto his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain,
that nothing be lost; this he said, partly that the truth, reality, and greatness of the
miracle might be clearly discerned; and partly, to teach frugality, that, in the midst of
abundance, care be taken that nothing be lost of the good things which God gives;
and which may be useful to other persons, or at another time.
HENRY, " The care that was taken of the broken meat. (1.) The orders Christ gave
concerning it (Joh_6:12): When they were filled, and every man had within him a
sensible witness to the truth of the miracle, Christ said to the disciples, the servants
he employed, Gather up the fragments. Note, We must always take care that we
make no waste of any of God's good creatures; for the grant we have of them, though
large and full, is with this proviso, wilful waste only excepted. It is just with God to
bring us to the want of that which we make waste of. The Jews were very careful not
to lose any bread, nor let it fall to the ground, to be trodden upon. Qui panem
contemnit in gravem incidit paupertatem - He who despises bread falls into the
depths of poverty, was a saying among them. Though Christ could command
supplies whenever he pleased, yet he would have the fragments gathered up. When
we are filled we must remember that others want, and we may want. Those that
would have wherewith to be charitable must be provident. Had this broken meat
been left upon the grass, the beasts and fowls would have gathered it up; but that
which is fit to be meat for men is wasted and lost if it be thrown to the brute-
creatures. Christ did not order the broken meat to be gathered up till all were filled;
we must not begin to hoard and lay up till all is laid out that ought to be, for that is
withholding more than is meet. Mr. Baxter notes here, “How much less should we
lose God's word, or helps, or our time, or such greater mercies!”
MACLAREN, "‘FRAGMENTS’ OR ‘BROKEN PIECES’
The Revised Version correctly makes a very slight, but a very significant change in
the words of this verse. Instead of ‘fragments’ it reads ‘broken pieces.’ The change
seems very small, but the effect of it is considerable. It helps our picture of the scene
by correcting a very common misapprehension as to what it was which the Apostles
are bid to gather up. The general notion, I suppose, is that the ‘fragments’ are the
crumbs that fell from each man’s hands, as he ate, and the picture before the
imagination of the ordinary reader is that of the Apostles’ carefully collecting the
debris of the meal from the grass where it had dropped. But the true notion is that
the ‘broken pieces which remain over’ are the unused portions into which our Lord’s
miracle-working hand had broken the bread, and the true picture is that of the
Apostles carefully putting away in store for future use the abundant provision which
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69. their Lord had made, beyond the needs of the hungry thousands. And that
conception of the command teaches far more beautiful and deeper lessons than the
other.
For if the common translation and notion be correct, all that is taught us, or at least
what is principally taught us, is the duty of thrift and careful economy; whereas the
other shows more clearly that what is taught us is that Jesus Christ always gets ready
for His people something over and above the exact limits of their bare need at the
moment, that He prepares for His poor and hungry dependants in royal fashion,
leaving ever a wide margin of difference between what would be just enough to keep
the life in them, and His liberal housekeeping. Further, we are taught a lesson of wise
husbandry and economy in the use of that overplus of grace which Christ ministers,
and are instructed that the laws of prudent thrift have as honoured a place in the
management of spiritual as of temporal wealth. ‘Gather up,’ says our Lord, ‘the pieces
which I broke, the large provision which I made for possible wants. My gifts are in
excess of the requirements of the moment. Take care of them till you need them.’
That is a worthier interpretation of His command than one which merely sees in it an
exhortation to thrifty taking care of the crumbs that fell from the lips of the hungry
eaters.
Looking at this command, then, with this slight alteration of rendering, and
consequent widening of scope, we may briefly try to gather up the lessons which it
obviously suggests.
I. We have that thought, to which I have already referred, as more
strikingly brought out by the slight alteration of translation, which, by
the use of ‘broken pieces,’ suggests the connection with Christ’s breaking
the loaves and fishes.
We are taught to think of the large surplus in Christ’s gifts over and above our need.
Our Lord has Himself given us a commentary upon this miracle. All Christ’s miracles
are parables, for all teach us, on the level of natural and outward things, lessons that
are true in regard to the spiritual world; but this one is especially symbolical, as
indeed are all these recorded in John’s Gospel. And here we have Christ, on the day
after the miracle, commenting upon it in His long and profound discourse upon the
Bread of Life, which plainly intimates that He meant His office of feeding the hungry
crowds, with bread supernaturally increased by the touch of His hand, to be but a
picture and a guide which might lead to the apprehension of the higher view of
Himself as the ‘bread of God which came down from heaven,’ feeding and ‘giving life
to the world’ by His broken body and shed blood.
So that we are not inventing a fanciful interpretation of an incident not meant to have
any meaning deeper than shows on the surface, when we say that the abundance far
beyond what the eaters could make use of at the moment really represented the large
surplus of inexhaustible resources and unused grace which is treasured for us all in
Christ Jesus. Whom He feeds He feasts. His gifts answer our need, and over-answer
it, for He is ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above that which we ask or think,’ and
neither our conceptions, nor our petitions, nor our present powers of receiving, are
the real limits of the illimitable grace that is laid up for us in Christ, and which,
potentially, we have each of us in our hands whenever we lay our hands on Him.
Oh, dear friends! what you and I have ever had and felt of Christ’s power, sweetness,
preciousness, and love is as nothing compared with the infinite depths of all those
which lie in Him. The sea fills the little creeks along its shore, but it rolls in
unfathomed depths, boundless to the horizon away out there in the mid-Atlantic.
And all the present experience of all Christian people, of what Christ is, is like the
experience of the first settlers in some great undiscovered continent; who timidly
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70. plant a little fringe of population round its edge and grow their scanty crops there,
whilst the great prairies of miles and miles, with all their wealth and fertility, are
lying untrodden and unknown in the heart of the untraversed continent. The most
powerful telescope leaves nebulae unresolved, which, though they seem but a dim
dust of light, are all ablaze with mighty suns. The ‘goodness’ which He has ‘wrought
before the sons of men for them that fear’ Him is, as the Psalmist adoringly exclaims,
wondrously ‘great,’ but still greater is that which the same verse of the Psalm
celebrates-the goodness which He has ‘laid up for them that fear Him.’ The gold
which is actually coined and passing from hand to hand, is but a fraction, a mere
scale, as it were, off the surface of the great uncoined mass of bullion that lies stored
in the vaults there. Christ is a great deal more than any man, or than all men, have
yet found Him to be. ‘Gather up the broken pieces’; and see that nothing of that
infinite preciousness of His be lost by us.
II. Then there is another very simple lesson which I draw. This command
suggests for us Christ’s thrift (if I may use the word) in the employment
of His miraculous power.
Surely they might have said: ‘If thou canst multiply five loaves into all this
abundance, why should we be trudging about, each with a basket on his back full of
bread, when we have with us He whose word can make it for us at any moment?’ Yes,
but a law which characterises all the miraculous, in both the Old and the New
Testament, and which broadly distinguishes Christ’s miracles from all the false
miracles of false religions is this, that the miraculous is pared down to the smallest
possible amount, that not one hairsbreadth beyond the necessity shall be done by
miracle; that whatever men can do they shall do; that their work shall stop as late,
and begin again as soon as possible. Thus, though Christ was going to raise Lazarus,
men’s hands had to roll away the stone; and when Christ had raised Lazarus, men’s
hands had to loose the napkins from his face. And though Christ was able to say to
the daughter of Jairus, ‘Talitha cumi!’ (damsel, arise!) His next word was: ‘Give her
something to eat.’ Where the miraculous was needed it was used, and not a
hairsbreadth beyond absolute necessity did it extend.
And so here Christ multiplies the bread, and yet each of the Apostles has to take a
basket, probably some kind of woven wicker-work article which they would carry for
holding their little necessaries in their peregrinations; each Apostle has to take his
basket, and perhaps emptying it of some of his humble apparel, to fill it with these
bits of bread; for Christ was not going to work miracles where men’s thrift and
prudence could be employed.
Nor does He do so now. We live by faith, and our dependence on Him can never be
too absolute. Only laziness sometimes dresses itself in the garb and speaks with the
tongue of faith, and pretends to be truthful when it is only slothful. ‘Why criest thou
unto Me?’ said God to Moses, ‘speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.’
True faith sets us to work. It is not to be perverted into idle and false depending upon
Him to work for us, when by the use of our own ten fingers and our own brains,
guided and strengthened by His working in us, we can do the work that is set before
us.
III. Still further, there is another lesson here. Not only does the
injunction show us Christ’s thrift in the employment of the supernatural,
but it teaches us our duty of thrift and care in the use of the spiritual
grace bestowed upon us.
These men had given to them this miraculously made bread; but they had to exercise
ordinary thrift in the preservation of the supernatural gift. Christ has been given to
you by the most stupendous miracle that ever was or can be wrought, and if you are
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71. Christian people, you have the Spirit of Christ given to you, to dwell in your hearts, to
make you wise and fair, gentle and strong, and altogether Christlike. But you have to
take care of these gifts. You have to exercise the common virtues of economy and
thrift in your use of the divine gifts as in your use of the common things of daily life.
You have to use wisely and not waste the Bread of God that came down from heaven,
or that Bread of God will not feed you. You have to provide the basket in which to
carry the unexhausted residue of the divine gift, or you may stand hungry in the very
midst of plenty, and whilst within arm’s length of you there is bread enough and to
spare to feed the whole world.
The lesson of my text, which is most eminently brought out if we adopt the
translation which I have referred to at the beginning of these remarks, is, then, just
this: Christian men, be watchful stewards of that great gift of a living Christ, the food
of your souls, that has been by miracle bestowed upon you. Such gathering together
for future need of the unused residue of grace may be accomplished by three ways.
First, there must be a diligent use of the grace given. See that you use to the very full,
in the measure of your present power of absorbing and your present need, the gift
bestowed upon you. Be sure that you take in as much of Christ as you can contain
before you begin to think of what to do with the overplus. If we are not careful to take
what we can, and to use what we need, of Christ, there is little chance of our being
faithful stewards of the surplus. The water in a mill-stream runs over the trough in
great abundance when the wheel is not working, and one reason why so many
Christians seem to have so much more given to them in Christ than they need is
because they are doing no work to use up the gift.
A second essential to such stewardship is the careful guarding of the grace given from
whatever would injure it. Let not worldliness, business, cares of the world, the
sorrows of life, its joys, duties, anxieties or pleasures-let not these so come into your
hearts that they will elbow Christ out of your hearts, and dull your appetite for the
true Bread that came down from heaven.
And lastly, not only by use and by careful guarding, but also by earnest desire for
larger gifts of the Christ who is large beyond all measure, shall we receive more and
more of His sweetness and His preciousness into our hearts, and of His beauty and
glory into our transfigured characters. The basket that we carry, this recipient heart
of ours, is elastic. It can stretch to hold any amount that you like to put into it. The
desire for more of Christ’s grace will stretch its capacity, and as its capacity increases
the inflowing gift greatens, and a larger Christ fills the larger room of my poor heart.
So the lesson is taught us of our prudence in the care and use of the grace bestowed
on us, and we are bidden to cherish a happy confidence in the inexhaustible
resources of Christ, and the continual gift in the future of even larger measures of
grace, which are all ours already, given to us at the first reception of Him into our
hearts, and only needing our faithfulness to be growingly ours in experience as they
are ours from the first in germ.
IV. Finally, a solemn warning is implied in this command, and its reason
‘that nothing be lost.’
Then there is a possibility of losing the gift that is freely given to us. We may waste
the bread, and so, sometime or other when we are hungry, awake to the
consciousness that it has dropped out of our slack hands. The abundance of Christ’s
grace may, so far as you are profited or enriched by it, be like the unclaimed millions
of money which nobody asks for and that is of use to no living soul. You may be
paupers while all God’s riches in glory are at your disposal, and starving while
baskets full of bread broken for us by Christ lie unused at our sides. Some of us have
never tasted the sweetness or been fed by the nutritiousness of that Bread of God
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72. which came down from heaven. And more marvellous still, there may be some of us,
who having come to Christ hungry and been fed by Him, have ceased to care for the
pure nourishment and taste for the manna, and are turning again with gross appetite
to the husks in the swine’s trough. Negligent Christians! worldly Christians! you who
care more for money and other dainties and delights which perish with the using-
backsliding Christians, who once hungered and thirsted for more of Christ, and now
have no longing for Him-awake to the danger in which you stand of letting all your
spiritual wealth slip through your fingers; behold the treasures, yet unreached,
within your grasp, and seek to garner and realise them. Gather up the broken pieces
which remain over, lest everything be lost.
SBC, "The Revised Version correctly makes a very slight but a very significant change
in the words of this verse. Instead of "fragments," it reads, "broken pieces." The
general notion, I suppose, is that the fragments are the crumbs that fell from each
man’s hands as he ate, and the picture before the imagination of the ordinary reader
is that of the Apostles carefully collecting the debris of the meal from the grass where
it had dropped. But the true notion is, that the "broken pieces which remain over" are
the unused portions into which our Lord’s miracle-working hands had broken the
bread, and the true picture is that of the Apostles carefully putting away in store for
future use the abundant provision which their Lord had made, beyond the needs of
the hungry thousands. And that conception of the command, teaches far more
beautiful and deeper lessons than the other.
I. We gather first that thought to which I have already referred as more strikingly
brought out by the slight alteration of translation. We are taught to think of the large
surplus in Christ’s gifts over and above our need. Whom He feeds He feasts. His gifts
answer our need, and over—answer it, for He is able to do exceeding abundantly
above that which we ask or think; and neither our conceptions, nor our petitions, nor
our present powers of receiving, are the real limits of the illimitable grace that is laid
up for us in Christ, and which, potentially, we have each of us in our hands whenever
we lay our hands on Him.
II. This command suggests for us Christ’s thrift (if I may use the word) in the
employment of this miraculous power. A law which characterises all the miraculous
in both the Old and the New Testaments, and which broadly distinguishes Christ’s
miracles from all the false miracles of false religions, is this, that the miraculous is
pared down to the smallest possible amount, that not one hairsbreadth beyond the
necessity shall be done by miracle.
III. Not only does the injunction show us Christ’s thrift in the employment of the
supernatural, but it teaches us our duty of thrift and care in the use of the spiritual
grace bestowed upon us. You have to use wisely, and not waste, the Bread of God that
came down from heaven, or that Bread of God will not feed you.
IV. Finally, a solemn warning is implied in this command, and its reason that nothing
be lost. Then, there is a possibility of losing the gift that is freely given to us. We may
waste the bread, and so, some time or other when we are hungry, awake to the
consciousness that it has dropped out of our slack hands.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Dec. 24th, 1885.
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73. 13
So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with
the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those
who had eaten.
"It’s very significant that there were 12 baskets of leftovers. This was an object lesson
for the disciples so that they should never doubt the power of Jesus. But there’s
another reason why there were 12 baskets of bread. Let me go back to the showbread
for a moment. According to Leviticus 24:5-9, the priests put 12 loaves of fresh bread
in the temple each Sabbath day. When the people saw the 12 baskets of bread they
would have thought about the bread of presence at this point. I’m sure their eyes got
big and they probably started talking among themselves. I wonder if some of them
made the connection that God was present with them through the living showbread.
GILL, "Therefore they gathered them together,.... The several broken bits of
bread, which lay about upon the grass, which the people had left, after they had been
sufficiently refreshed:
and filled twelve baskets; every disciple had a basket filled:
with the fragments of the five barley loaves; and it may be of the fishes also:
which remained over and above unto them that had eaten; such a
marvellous increase was there, through the power of Christ going along with them;
insomuch that they multiplied to such a degree, either in the hands of the
distributors, or of the eaters.
HENRY, "The observance of these orders (Joh_6:13): They filled twelve baskets
with the fragments, which was an evidence not only of the truth of the miracle, that
they were fed, not with fancy, but with real food (witness those remains), but of the
greatness of it; they were not only filled, but there was all this over and above. See
how large the divine bounty is; it not only fills the cup, but makes it run over; bread
enough, and to spare, in our Father's house. The fragments filled twelve baskets, one
for each disciple; they were thus repaid with interest for their willingness to part with
what they had for public service; see 2Ch_31:10. The Jews lay it as a law upon
themselves, when they have eaten a meal, to be sure to leave a piece of bread upon
the table, upon which the blessing after meat may rest; for it is a curse upon the
wicked man (Job_20:21) that there shall none of his meat be left.
CALVIN, "13.And filled twelve baskets. When four thousand men were fed by
seven loaves, Matthew relates that the number of baskets filled with fragments
was exactly the same with the number of the loaves, (Matthew 15:37.) Since,
therefore, a smaller quantity is sufficient for a greater number of men, and since
the quantity left is nearly double, hence we see more clearly of what value is that
blessing of God, against the sight of which we deliberately shut our eyes. We
ought also to observe, in passing, that though Christ commands them to fill the
baskets for illustrating the miracle, yet he likewise exhorts his disciples to
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74. frugality, when he says, Gather the fragments which are left, that nothing may
be lost; for the increase of the bounty of God ought not to be an excitement to
luxury. Let those, therefore, who have abundance, remember that they will one
day render an account of their immoderate wealth, if they do not carefully and
faithfully apply their superfluity to purposes which are good, and of which God
approves.
14
After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus
did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet
who is to come into the world."
BARNES, "That Prophet ... - The Messiah. The power to work the miracle, and
the benevolence manifested in it, showed that he was the long-expected Messiah.
CLARKE, "This is of a truth that prophet - Spoken of, Deu_18:15, viz. the
Messiah. How near were these people at this time to the kingdom of heaven!
GILL, "Then those men,.... The five thousand men, who had been fed with the
loaves and fishes:
when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did; in feeding so many of them,
with so small a quantity of food; in multiplying the provision in such a prodigious
manner, that after they had eaten to the full, so many baskets of fragments were
taken up:
said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world;
meaning that prophet, that Moses spoke of, in Deu_18:15; for the ancient Jews
understood this passage of the Messiah, though the modern ones apply it to others;
See Gill on Act_3:22. And these men concluded that Jesus was that prophet, or the
true Messiah, from the miracle he wrought; in which he appeared, not only to be like
to Moses, but greater than he.
HENRY, "III. Here is the influence which this miracle had upon the people who
tasted of the benefit of it (Joh_6:14): They said, This is of a truth that prophet. Note,
1. Even the vulgar Jews with great assurance expected the Messiah to come into the
world, and to be a great prophet, They speak here with assurance of his coming. The
Pharisees despised them as not knowing the law; but, it should seem, they knew
more of him that is the end of the law than the Pharisees did. 2. The miracles which
Christ wrought did clearly demonstrate that he was the Messiah promised, a teacher
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75. come from God, the great prophet, and could not but convince the amazed spectators
that this was he that should come. There were many who were convinced he was that
prophet that should come into the world who yet did not cordially receive his
doctrine, for they did not continue in it. Such a wretched incoherence and
inconsistency there is between the faculties of the corrupt unsanctified soul, that it is
possible for men to acknowledge that Christ is that prophet, and yet to turn a deaf ear
to him.
JAMISON, "Joh_6:14-21. Jesus walks on the sea.
(Also see on Mar_6:45-56).
that prophet — (See on Joh_1:21).
CALVIN, "14.Those men, therefore. The miracle appears to have been attended
by some advantage, that they acknowledge the author of it to be the Messiah; for
Christ had no other object in view. But immediately they apply to a different and
improper purpose the knowledge which they have obtained concerning Christ.
And it is a fault extremely common among men, to corrupt and pervert his truth
by their falsehoods, as soon as he has revealed himself to them; and even when
they appear to have entered into the right path, they immediately fall away.
BARCLAY, "THE RESPONSE OF THE MOB (John 6:14-15)
6:14-15 So when the men had seen the sign which he had done, they said: "Truly,
this is the prophet who is to come into the world." So Jesus, aware that they were
going to come and seize him to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain
alone.
Here we have the reaction of the mob. The Jews were waiting for the prophet
whom they believed Moses had promised to them. "The Lord your God will raise
up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren--him you
shall heed" (Deuteronomy 18:15). In that moment at Bethsaida Julias they were
willing to accept Jesus as that prophet and to carry him to power on a wave of
popular acclaim. But it was not so very long before another mob was
clamouring: "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Why was it at that moment that the
mob acclaimed Jesus?
For one thing, they were eager to support Jesus when he gave them what they
wanted. He had healed them and fed them; and they would thereupon have
made him their leader. There is such a thing as a bought loyalty. There is such a
thing as cupboard love. Dr. Johnson, in one of his more cynical moments, defined
gratitude as "a lively sense of favours still to come."
The attitude of that mob disgusts us. But are we so very different? When we
want comfort in sorrow, when we want strength in difficulty, when we want
peace in turmoil, when we want help in face of depression, there is no one so
wonderful as Jesus and we talk to him and walk with him and open our hearts to
him. But when he comes to us with some stern demand for sacrifice, with some
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76. challenge to effort, with the offer of some cross, we will have nothing to do with
him. When we examine our hearts, it may be that we wig find that we too love
Jesus for what we can get out of him.
For another thing, they wished to use him for their own purposes and to mould
him to their own dreams. They were waiting for the Messiah; but they visualized
him in their own way. They looked for a Messiah who would be king and
conqueror, who would set his foot upon the eagle's neck and drive the Romans
from the land. They had seen what Jesus could do; and the thought in their
minds was: "This man has power, marvellous power. If we can harness him and
his power to our dreams, things will begin to happen." If they had been honest,
they would have had to admit that they wished to make use of him.
Again, are we so very different? When we appeal to Christ, is it for strength to
go on with our own schemes and ideas or is it for humility and obedience to
accept his plans and wishes? Is our prayer: "Lord, give me strength to do what
you want me to do" or is it in reality: "Lord, give me strength to do what I want
to do"?
That crowd of Jews would have followed Jesus at that moment because he was
giving them what they wanted and they wished to use him for their own
purposes. That attitude still lingers. We would like Christ's gifts without his
Cross; we would like to use him instead of allowing him to use us.
PINK, "
We begin with our customary Analysis of the passage which is to be before us:—
1. The Response of the people to the miracle of the loaves: verses 14, 15.
2. The Retirement of Christ to the mount: verse 15.
3. The Disciples in the storm: verses 16-19.
4. The Coming of Christ to them: verses 20, 21.
5. The people follow Christ to Capernaum: verses 22-25.
6. Christ exposes their motive: verse 26.
7. Christ presses their spiritual need upon them: verse 27.
The opening verses of the passage before us contain the sequel to what is
described in the first thirteen verses of John 6. There we read of the Lord
ministering, in wondrous grace, to a great multitude of hungry people. They had
no real appreciation of His blessed person, but had been attracted by idle
curiosity and the love of the sensational—"because they saw his miracles which
he did on them that were diseased" (verse 2). Nevertheless, the Son of God, in
tenderest pity, had supplied their need by means of the loaves and the fishes.
What effects, then, did this have upon them?
Christ had manifested His Divine power. There was no gainsaying that. The
crowd were impressed, for we are told, "Then those men, when they had seen the
miracle which Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet which should come
into the world" (John 6:14). The title "that prophet" has already been before us
in John 1:21. The reference is to Deuteronomy 18:15, where we read that,
through Moses God declared, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a
prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall
hearken." These men, then, seemed ready to receive the Lord as their Messiah.
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77. And yet how little they realized and recognized what was due Him as "that
prophet"—the Son of God incarnate. Instead of falling down before Him as
undone sinners, crying for mercy; instead of prostrating themselves at His feet,
in reverent worship; instead of owning Him as the Blessed One, worthy of their
hearts’ adoration, they would "take him by force to make him a king" (John
6:15); and this, no doubt, for their own ends, thinking that He would lead them
in a successful revolt against the hated Romans. How empty, then, were their
words! How little were their consciences searched or their hearts exercised! How
blind they still were to the Light! Had their hearts been opened, the light had
shone in, revealing their wretchedness; and then, they would have taken their
place as lost and needy sinners. It is the same today.
Many there are who regard our Lord as a Prophet (a wonderful Teacher), who
have never seen their need of Him as a Refuge from the wrath to come—a doom
they so thoroughly deserve. Let us not be misled, then, by this seeming honoring
of Christ by those who eulogize His precepts, but who despise His Cross. It is no
more a proof that they are saved who, today, own Christ as a greater than
Buddha or Mohammed, than this declaration by these men of old—"This is of a
truth that prophet which should come into the world," evidenced that they had
"passed from death unto life."
"When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force"
(John 6:15). This is very solemn. Christ was not deceived by their fair speech.
Their words sounded very commendable and laudatory, no doubt, but the Christ
of God was, and is, the Reader of hearts. He knew what lay behind their words.
He discerned the spirit that prompted them. "Jesus therefore perceived" is
parallel with John 2:24, 25: "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them,
because he knew all, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew
what was in man." "Jesus therefore perceived" is a word that brings before us
His Deity. The remainder of verse 15 is profoundly significant and suggestive.
"When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to
make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone" (John 6:15).
These Jews had owned Him (with their lips) as Prophet, and they were ready to
crown Him as their King, but there is another office that comes in between these.
Christ could not be their King until He had first officiated as Priest, offering
Himself as a Sacrifice for sin! Hence the doctrinal significance of "He departed
again into a mountain himself alone," for in His priestly work He is
unattended—cf. Leviticus 16:17!
But there was also a moral and dispensational reason why Christ "departed"
when these Jews would use force to make Him a King. He needed not to be made
"a king," for He was born such (Matthew 2:2); nor would He receive the
kingdom at their hand. This has been brought out beautifully by Mr. J. B. Bellet
in his notes on John’s Gospel:—"The Lord would not take the kingdom from
zeal like this. This could not be the source of the kingdom of the Son of Man. The
‘beasts’ may take their kingdoms from the winds striving upon the great sea, but
Jesus cannot (Dan. 7:2, 25). This was not, in His ear, the shouting of the people
bringing in the headstone of the corner (Zech. 4:7); nor the symbol of His People
made willing in the day of His power (Ps. 110:3). This would have been an
appointment to the throne of Israel on scarcely better principles than those on
which Saul had been appointed of old. His kingdom would have been the fruit of
their revolted heart. But that could not be. And besides this, ere the Lord could
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78. take His seat on Mount Zion, He must ascend the solitary mount; and ere the
people could enter the kingdom, they must go down to the stormy sea. And these
things we see reflected here as in a glass."
It should be noted that Matthew tells us how Christ "went up into a mountain
apart to pray" (Matthew 14:23); so, too, Mark (Mark 6:46). The absence of this
word in John is in beautiful accord with the character and theme of this fourth
Gospel, and supplies us with another of those countless proofs for the Divine and
verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. In this Gospel we never see Christ praying
(John 17 is intercession, giving us a sample of His priestly ministry on our behalf
in heaven: note particularly verses 4 and 5, which indicate that the intercession
recorded in the verses that follow was anticipatory of Christ’s return to the
Father!), for John’s special design is to exhibit the Divine glories of the Savior.
"And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, And
entered into a ship" (John 6:16, 17). Matthew explains the reason for this: "And
straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before
him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away" (Matthew 14:22).
The Lord desired to be alone, so He caused the disciples to go on ahead of Him.
It would seem, too, that He purposed to teach them another lesson on faith. This
will appear in the sequel.
"And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was
now dark, and Jesus was not come to them" (John 6:17). What we have here,
and in the verses that follow, speaks unmistakably to us. It describes the
conditions through which we must pass as we journey to our Home above.
Though not of the world, we are necessarily in it: that world made up of the
wicked, who are like "the troubled sea." The world in which we live, dear
reader, is the world that rejected and still rejects the Christ of God. It is the
world which "lieth in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19), the friendship of which is
enmity with God (James 4:4). It is a world devoid of spiritual light; a world over
which hangs the shadow of death. Peter declares the world is "a dark place" (2
Pet. 1:19). It is dark because "the light of the world" is absent.
"It was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them." Sometimes Christ
withholds the light of His countenance even from His own. Job cried, "when I
waited for light, there came darkness" (Job 30:26). But, thank God, it is
recorded, "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness" (Ps. 112:4). Let
us remember that the darkness is not created by Satan, but by God (Isa. 45:7).
And He has a wise and good reason for it. Sometimes He withholds the light
from His people that they may discover "the treasures of darkness" (Isa. 45:3).
"Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of the great wind that
blew" (John 6:17, 18). This tested the faith and patience of the disciples. The
longer they waited the worse things became. It looked as though Christ was
neglectful of them. It seemed as though He had forgotten to be gracious. Perhaps
they were saying, If the Master had been here, this storm would not have come
up. Had He been with them, even though asleep on a pillow, His presence would
have cheered them. But He was not there; and the darkness was about them, and
the angry waves all around them—fit emblems of the opposition of the world
against the believer’s course. It was a real test of their faith and patience.
And similarly does God often test us today. Frequently our circumstances are
dark, and conditions are all against us. We cry to the Lord, but He "does not
come." But let us remind ourselves, that God is never in a hurry. However much
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79. the petulance of unbelief may seek to hasten His hand, He waits His own good
time. Omnipotence can afford to wait, for it is always sure of success. And
because omnipotence is combined with infinite wisdom and love, we may be
certain that God not only does everything in the right way, but also at the best
time: "And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and
therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a
God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him" (Isa. 30:18).
Sometimes the Lord "waits" until it is eventide before He appears in His
delivering grace and power. The darkness becomes more gloomy, and still He
waits. Yes, but He waits "to be gracious." But why? Could He not be gracious
without this waiting, and the painful suspense such waiting usually brings to us?
Surely; but one reason for the delay is, that His hand may be the more evident;
and another reason is, that His hand may be the more appreciated, when He does
intervene. Some times the darkness becomes even more gloomy, well-nigh
unbearable; and still He waits. And again, we wonder, Why? All is it not that all
our hopes may be disappointed; that our plans may be frustrated, till we reach
our wit’s end (Ps. 107:27)! And, then, just as we had given up hope, He breaks
forth unexpectedly, and we are startled, as were these disciples on the
stormlashed sea.
"So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see
Jesus walking on the sea" (John 6:19). These lines will, doubtless, be read by
more than one saint who is in a tight place. For you, too, the night is fearfully
dark, and the breakers of adverse circumstances look as though they would
completely swamp you. O tried and troubled one, read the blessed sequel of John
6:17, 18. It contains a word of cheer for you, if your faith lays hold of it. Notice
that the disciples did not give up in despair—they continued "rowing" (verse
19)! And ultimately the Lord came to their side and delivered them from the
angry tempest. So, dear saint, whatever may be the path appointed by the Lord,
however difficult and distasteful, continue therein, and in His own good time the
Lord will deliver you. Again we say, Notice that the disciples continued their
"rowing." It was all they could do, and it was all that was required of them. In a
little while the Lord appeared, and they were at the land. Oh may God grant
both writer and reader perseverance in the path of duty. Tempted and
discouraged one, remember Isaiah 30:18 (look it up and memorize it) and
continue rowing!
There is another thing, a blessed truth, which is well calculated to sustain us in
the interval before the deliverance comes; and it will if the heart appropriates its
blessedness. While the storm-tossed disciples were pulling at the oars and
making little or no progress, the Lord was on high—not below, but above
them—master of the situation. And, as Matthew tells us, He was "praying." And
on high He is now thus engaged on our behalf. Remember this, O troubled one,
your great High Priest who is "touched with the feeling of your infirmities" is
above, ever living to intercede. His prayers undergird you, so that you cannot
sink. Mark adds a word that is even more precious—"And he saw them toiling in
rowing" (John 6:48). Christ was not indifferent to their peril. His eye was upon
them. And even though it was "dark" (John 6:17) He saw them. No darkness
could hide those disciples from Him. And this, too, speaks to us. We may be
"toiling in rowing" (the Greek word means "fatigued"), weary of the buffeting
from the unfriendly winds and waves, but there is One above who is not
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80. unconcerned, who sees and knows our painful lot, and who, even now, is
preparing to come to our side. Turn your eyes away from your frail barque,
away from the surrounding tempest, and "look off unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of faith" (Heb. 12:1).
"So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see
Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid"
(John 6:19). This shows how little faith was in exercise. Matthew tells us, "And
when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled" (Matthew
14:26). Think of it, "troubled" and "afraid" of Jesus! Does some one say, That
was because the night was dark and the waves boisterous, consequently it was
easy to mistake the Savior for an apparition? Moreover, the sight they beheld
was altogether unprecedented: never before had they seen one walking on the
water! But if we turn to Mark’s record we shall find that it was not dimness of
physical sight which caused the disciples to mistake their Master for a spectre,
but dullness of spiritual vision: "They considered not the miracle of the loaves:
for their heart was hardened." Their fears had mastered them. They were not
expecting deliverance. They had already forgotten that exercise of Divine grace
and power which they had witnessed only a few short hours before. And how
accurately (and tragically) do they portray us—so quickly do we forget the
Lord’s mercies and deliverances in the past, so little do we really expect Him to
answer our prayers of the present.
"But he saith unto them, "It is I; be not afraid" (John 6:20). This is parallel in
thought with what we had before us in verse 10. The scepticism of Philip and the
unbelief of Andrew did not prevent the outflow of Divine mercy. So here, even
the hardness of heart of these disciples did not quench their Lord’s love for
them. O how deeply thankful we ought to be that "He hath not dealt with us
after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities" (Ps. 103:10). From
beginning to end He deals with us in wondrous, fathomless, sovereign grace. "It
is I," He says. He first directs their gaze to Himself. "Be not afraid," was a word
to calm their hearts. And this is His unchanging order. Our fears can only be
dispelled by looking in faith to and having our hearts occupied with Him. Look
around, and we shall be disheartened. Look within, and we shall be discouraged.
But look unto Him, and our fears will vanish.
"Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at
the land whither they went" (John 6:21). Now that He had revealed Himself to
them; now that He had graciously uttered the heart-calming "Be not afraid";
now that He had (as Matthew and Mark tell us) spoken that well-known word
"Be of good cheer": they "willingly’ received him into the ship." Christ does not
force Himself upon us: He waits to be "received." It is the welcome of our hearts
that He desires. And is it not just because this is so often withheld, that He is so
slow in coming to our relief—i.e. "manifesting himself" to us (John 14:21)! How
blessed to note that as soon as He entered the ship, the end of the voyage was
reached for them. In applying to ourselves the second half of this twenty-first
verse, we must not understand it to signify that when Christ has "manifested’’
Himself unto us that the winds will cease to blow or that the adverse "sea" will
now befriend us; far from it. But it means that the heart will now have found a
Haven of rest: our fears will be quieted; we shall be occupied not with the
tempest, but with the Master of it. Such are some of the precious spiritual lessons
which we may take to ourselves from this passage.
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81. "The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw
that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were
entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his
disciples were gone away alone; (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias
nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given
thanks:) When.the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his
disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus"
(John 6:22-24). The multitude, whose hearts were set on making the Miracle-
worker their "king," apparently collected early in the morning to carry their
purpose into effect. But on seeking for Jesus, He was nowhere to be found. This
must have perplexed them. They knew that on the previous evening there was
only one boat on their side of the sea, and they had seen the disciples depart in
this, alone. Where, then, was the Master? Evidently, He who had miraculously
multiplied five loaves and two fishes so as to constitute an abundant meal for
more than five thousand people, must also in some miraculous manner have
transported Himself across the sea. So, availing themselves of the boats which
had just arrived from Tiberias, they crossed over to Capernaum, in the hope of
finding the Lord Jesus there; for they knew that this city had, for some time,
been His chief place of residence. Nor was their expectation disappointed.
"And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat
of the loaves, and were filled" (John 6:25, 26). There was, perhaps, nothing
wrong in their question, "Rabbi, when camest thou hither?" But to have
answered it would not have profited them, and that was what the Lord sought.
He, therefore, at once showed them that He was acquainted with their motives,
and knew full well what had brought them thither. Outwardly at least, these
people appeared ready to honor Him. They had followed Him across the sea of
Galilee, and sought Him out again. But He read their hearts. He knew the
inward springs of their conduct, and was not to be deceived. It was the Son of
God evidencing His Deity again. He knew it was temporal, not spiritual blessing,
that they sought. When He tells them, "Ye seek me, not because ye saw the
miracles (or "signs") but because ye did eat of the loaves," His evident meaning
is that they realized not the spiritual significance of those "signs." Had they done
so, they would have prostrated themselves before Him in worship. And let us
remember that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever."
Christ still reads the human heart. No secrets can be withheld from Him. He
knows why different ones put on religious garments when it suits their
purpose—why, at times, some are so loud in their religious pretensions—why thy
profess to be Christians. Hypocrisy is very sinful, but its folly and uselessness are
equally great.
"Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you" (John 6:27). The
expression used here by Christ is a relative and comparative one: His meaning is,
Labor for the latter rather than for the former. The word "labor" is very
expressive. It signifies that men should be in deadly earnest over spiritual things;
that they should spare no pains to obtain that which their souls so imperatively
need. It is used figuratively, and signifies making salvation the object of intense
desire. O that men would give the same diligence to secure that which is
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82. imperative, as they put forth to gain the things of time and sense. That to which
Christ bids men direct their thoughts and energies is "meat which endureth"—
abideth would be better: it is one of the characteristic words of this Gospel.
When our Lord says, "Labor... for that meat (satisfying portion) which endureth
unto everlasting life," He was not inculcating salvation by works. This is very
clear from His next words—"which the Son of man shall give unto you." But He
was affirming that which needs to be pressed on the half-hearted and those who
are occupied with material things. It is difficult to preserve the balance of truth.
On the one hand, we are so anxious to insist that salvation is by grace alone, that
we are in danger of failing to uphold the sinner’s responsibility to seek the Lord
with all his heart. Again; in pressing the total depravity of the natural man, his
deadness in trespasses and sins, we are apt to neglect our duty of calling on him
to repent and believe the Gospel. This word of Christ’s, "Labor . . . for the meat
which endureth" is parallel (in substance) with "Strive to enter in at the strait
gate" (Luke 13:24), and "every one presseth into the kingdom of God" (Luke
16:16). "For him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:27). What is meant by
Christ being "sealed" by God the Father? First, notice it is as "Son of man" that
He is here said to be "sealed." That is, it was as the Son of God, but incarnate.
There are two prime thoughts connected with "sealing:" identification, and
attestation or ratification. In Revelation 7 we read of God’s angel "sealing"
twelve thousand from each of the tribes of Israel. The sealing there consists of
placing a mark on their foreheads, and it is for the purpose of identification: to
distinguish and separate them from the mass of apostate Israel. Again, in Esther
8:8 we read, "Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king’s name, and
seal it with the king’s ring: for the writing which is written in the king’s name,
and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse." Here the thought is
entirely different. The king’s "seal" there speaks of authority. His seal was
added for the purpose of confirmation and ratification. These, we doubt not, are
the principle thoughts we are to associate with the "sealing" of Christ.
The historical reference is to the time when Christ was baptized—Acts 10:38.
When the Lord Jesus, in marvellous condescension, had identified Himself with
the believing remnant in Israel, taking His place in that which spoke of death,
the Father there singled Him out by "anointing" or "sealing" Him with the Holy
Spirit. This was accompanied by His audible voice, saying, "This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Thus was the Christ, now about to enter upon
His mediatorial work, publicly identified and accredited by God. The Father
testified to the perfections of His incarnate Son, and communicated official
authority, by "sealing" Him with the Holy Spirit. This declaration of Christ here
in verse 27 anticipated the question or challenge which we find in verse 52, "How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?" The sufficient answer, already given, was
"for him hath God the Father sealed." So, too, it anticipated and answered the
question of verse 30: "What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe
thee?" Just as princes of the realm are often authorized by the king to act in
governmental and diplomatic affairs on his behalf, and carry credentials that
bear the king’s seal to confirm their authority before those to whom they are
sent, so Christ gave proof of His heavenly authority by His miracles: "God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power" (Acts 10:38).
It is blessed to know that we, too, have been "sealed": Ephesians 1:13. Believers
are "sealed" as those who are approved of God But observe, carefully, that it is
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83. in Christ we are thus distinguished. "In whom also after that ye believed, ye
were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Christ was "sealed" because of
His own intrinsic perfections; we, because of our identification and union with
Him! "Accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6) gives us the same thought. Mark,
though, it is not said (as commonly misunderstood) that the Holy Spirit seals us,
but that the Holy Spirit Himself is God’s "Seal" upon us—the distinguishing
sign of identification, for sinners do not have the Holy Spirit (Jude 19).
15
Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make
him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by
himself.
BARNES, "When Jesus perceived ... - They were satisfied by the miracle that
he was the Messiah. They supposed that the Messiah was to be a temporal prince.
They saw that Jesus was retiring, unambitious, and indisposed to assume the ensigns
of office. They thought, therefore, that they would proclaim him as the long-expected
king, and constrain him to assume the character and titles of an earthly prince. Men
often attempt to dictate to God, and suppose that they understand what is right
better than he does. They are fond of pomp and power, but Jesus sought retirement,
and evinced profound humility. Though he had claims to the honor and gratitude of
the nation, yet he sought it not in this way; nor did it evince a proper spirit in his
followers when they sought to advance him to a place of external splendor and regal
authority.
CLARKE, "Take him by force, to make him a king - The Jews had often
suffered by famine in those times in which their enemies were permitted to prevail
over them; but, finding that Jesus had such power as to multiply a few loaves to feed
thousands, they took it for granted that while he was at their head no evil could
possibly happen to them, and therefore were determined immediately to proclaim
him king, and rid themselves at once of Herod and the Romans. Our Lord perceiving
this, either by some words which they had dropped, or by his penetration of their
hearts, retired before the project had been fully formed, or could be put into
execution. It was not till a considerable time afterwards that even the disciples fully
understood that his kingdom was not of this world.
Into a mountain - That on which he was with his disciples previously to his
working this miracle: see Joh_6:3.
St. Matthew, Mat_14:22, Mat_14:23, and Mark, Mar_6:45, Mar_6:46, say that,
before this, Jesus constrained his disciples to embark in the vessel, and go along the
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84. sea coast towards Capernaum, or Bethsaida - see here Joh_6:17, and the note on
Mar_6:45 (note); and that, after they were gone, he dismissed the multitudes,
having, no doubt, given them such advices as the nature of the case required; after
which he went into the mountain to pray.
Worldly wisdom would have said, “Declare thyself king: yield to the desires of the
people: this will be the readiest way of converting the Jews.” No. Jesus must die for
the sin of the world. - No man’s heart can be turned to God by outward pomp or
splendor - no saving change can be brought about by any might or any power, but by
the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Zec_4:6.
GILL, "When Jesus therefore perceived,.... As being the omniscient God, who
knew their hearts, and the secret thoughts and purposes of them; or, as man,
understood by their words and gestures:
that they would come and take him by force, and make him a king; that
they had "determined", as the Arabic version renders it; or "had it in their mind", as
the Persic; to gather about him as one man, and seize him in a violent manner,
whether he would or not; and proclaim him the King Messiah; place him at the head
of them, to deliver the nation from the Roman yoke, and set up a temporal kingdom,
in which they might hope for great secular advantages: and they might the rather be
induced to take such a step, since, by this miracle, they could not doubt of his being
able to support such an army of men, and to succeed in the enterprise; for he that
could do this, what was it he could not do? but,
he departed again into a mountain, himself alone; he left the company
directly, upon this resolution of theirs, and even took not his disciples with him, who
were in the same way of thinking about a temporal kingdom, as the people, and
might encourage them in this undertaking: the mountain Christ went into, very
probably was the same he went up to before; the reasons of his departure, were to
prevent the attempt; to show that his kingdom was not of this world; to teach his
followers to forsake the honours and riches of this world, for his sake; and to let them
know, that those who sought only for a temporal redeemer, were unworthy of his
presence: and also he went away alone, for the sake of secret retirement, and private
prayer; and it may be chiefly, that he prayed that God would open the minds of these
men, and particularly the disciples; that they might be convinced of their mistaken
notions of him as a temporal prince: some copies add, "and he prayed there"; the
Syriac, Ethiopic, and Persic versions leave out the word "again"; and the latter,
contrary to all others, renders it, "Christ departed from the mountain alone".
HENRY, "Here is, I. Christ's retirement from the multitude.
1. Observe what induced him to retire; because he perceived that those who
acknowledged him to be that prophet that should come into the world would come,
and take him by force, to make him a king, Joh_6:15. Now here we have an instance,
(1.) Of the irregular zeal of some of Christ's followers; nothing would serve but they
would make him a king. Now, [1.] This was an act of zeal for the honour of Christ,
and against the contempt which the ruling part of the Jewish church put upon him.
They were concerned to see so great a benefactor to the world so little esteemed in it;
and therefore, since royal titles are counted the most illustrious, they would make
him a king, knowing that the Messiah was to be a king; and if a prophet, like Moses,
then a sovereign prince and lawgiver, like him; and, if they cannot set him up upon
the holy hill of Zion, a mountain in Galilee shall serve for the present. Those whom
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85. Christ has feasted with the royal dainties of heaven should, in return for his favour,
make him their king, and set him upon the throne in their souls: let him that has fed
us rule us. But, [2.] It was an irregular zeal; for First, It was grounded upon a
mistake concerning the nature of Christ's kingdom, as if it were to be of this world,
and he must appear with outward pomp, a crown on his head, and an army at his
foot; such a king as this they would make him, which was as great a disparagement to
his glory as it would be to lacquer gold or paint a ruby. Right notions of Christ's
kingdom would keep us to right methods for advancing it. Secondly, It was excited by
the love of the flesh; they would make him their king who could feed them so
plentifully without their toil, and save them from the curse of eating their bread in
the sweat of their face. Thirdly, It was intended to carry on a secular design; they
hoped this might be a fair opportunity of shaking off the Roman yoke, of which they
were weary. If they had one to head them who could victual an army cheaper than
another could provide for a family, they were sure of the sinews of the war, and could
not fail of success, and the recovery of their ancient liberties. Thus is religion often
prostituted to a secular interest, and Christ is served only to serve a turn, Rom_
16:18. Vix quaritur Jesus properter Jesusm, sed propter aliud - Jesus is usually
sought after for something else, not for his own sake. - Augustine. Nay, Fourthly, It
was a tumultuous, seditious attempt, and a disturbance of the public peace; it would
make the country a seat of war, and expose it to the resentments of the Roman
power. Fifthly, It was contrary to the mind of our Lord Jesus himself; for they would
take him by force, whether he would or no. Note, Those who force honours upon
Christ which he has not required at their hands displease him, and do him the
greatest dishonour. Those that say I am of Christ, in opposition to those that are of
Apollos and Cephas (so making Christ the head of a party), take him by force, to
make him a king, contrary to his own mind.
(2.) Here is an instance of the humility and self-denial of the Lord Jesus, that,
when they would have made him a king, he departed; so far was he from
countenancing the design that he effectually quashed it. Herein he has left a
testimony, [1.] Against ambition and affectation of worldly honour, to which he was
perfectly mortified, and has taught us to be so. Had they come to take him by force
and make him a prisoner, he could not have been more industrious to abscond than
he was when they would make him a king. Let us not then covet to be the idols of the
crowd, nor be desirous of vainglory. [2.] Against faction and sedition, treason and
rebellion, and whatever tends to disturb the peace of kings and provinces. By this it
appears that he was no enemy to Caesar, nor would have his followers be so, but the
quiet in the land; that he would have his ministers decline every thing that looks like
sedition, or looks towards it, and improve their interest only for their work's sake.
2. Observe whither he retired: He departed again into a mountain, eis to oros - into
the mountain, the mountain where he had preached (Joh_6:3), whence he came
down into the plain, to feed the people, and then returned to it alone, to be private.
Christ, though so useful in the places of concourse, yet chose sometimes to be alone,
to teach us to sequester ourselves from the world now and then, for the more free
converse with God and our own souls; and never less alone, says the serious
Christian, than when alone. Public services must not jostle out private devotions.
JAMISON, "departed ... to a mountain himself alone — (1) to rest, which
He came to this “desert place” on purpose to do before the miracle of the loaves, but
could not for the multitude that followed Him (see Mar_6:31); and (2) “to pray”
(Mat_14:23; Mar_6:46). But from His mountain-top He kept watching the ship (see
on Joh_6:18), and doubtless prayed both for them, and with a view to the new
manifestation which He was to give them of His glory.
85

86. CALVIN, "15.To make him a king. When those men intended to give to Christ
the title and honor of king, there was some ground for what they did. But they
erred egregiously in taking upon themselves the liberty of making a king; for
Scripture ascribes this as peculiar to God alone, as it is said,
I have appointed my king on my holy hill of Zion,
(Psalms 2:6.)
Again, what sort of kingdom do they contrive for him? An earthly one, which is
utterly inconsistent with his person. Hence let us learn how dangerous it is, in the
things of God, to neglect His word, and to contrive anything of our own opinion;
for there is nothing which the foolish subtlety of our understanding does not
corrupt. And what avails the pretense of zeal, when by our disorderly worship
we offer a greater insult to God than if a person were expressly and deliberately
to make an attack on his glory?
We know how furious were the efforts of adversaries to extinguish the glory of
Christ. That violence, indeed, reached its extreme point when he was crucified.
But by means of his crucifixion salvation was obtained for the world, (126) and
Christ himself obtained a splendid triumph over death and Satan. If he had
permitted himself to be now made a king, his spiritual kingdom would have been
ruined, the Gospel would have been stamped with everlasting infamy, and the
hope of salvation would have been utterly destroyed. Modes of worship regulated
according to our own fancy, and honors rashly contrived by men, have no other
advantage than this, that they rob God of his true honor, and pour upon him
nothing but reproach.
And take him by force. We must also observe the phrase, take by force They
wished to take Christ by force, the Evangelist says; that is, with impetuous
violence they wishedto make him a king, though against his will. If we desire,
therefore, that he should approve of the honor which we confer upon him, we
ought always to consider what he requires. And, indeed, they who venture to
offer to God honors invented by themselves are chargeable with using some sort
of force and violence towards him; for obedience is the foundation of true
worship. Let us also learn from it with what reverence we ought to abide by the
pure and simple word of God; for as soon as we turn aside in the smallest degree,
the truth is poisoned by our leaven, so that it is no longer like itself. They learned
from the word of God that he who was promised to be the Redeemer would be a
king; but out of their own head they contrive an earthly kingdom, and they
assign to him a kingdom contrary to the word of God. Thus, whenever we mix up
our own opinions with the word of God, faith degenerates into frivolous
conjectures. Let believers, therefore, cultivate habitual modesty, lest Satan hurry
them into an ardor of inconsiderate and rash zeal, (127) so that, like the Giants,
they shall rush violently against God, who is never worshipped aright but when
we receive him as he presents himself to us.
It is astonishing that five thousand men should have been seized with such
86

87. daring presumption, that they did not hesitate, by making a new king, to
provoke against themselves Pilate’s army and the vast power (128) of the Roman
empire; and it is certain that they would never have gone so far, if they had not,
relying on the predictions of the Prophets, hoped that God would be on their
side, and, consequently, that they would overcome. But still they went wrong in
contriving a kingdom of which the Prophets had never spoken. So far are they
from having the hand of God favorable to aid their undertaking that, on the
contrary, Christ withdraws. That was also the reason why wretched men under
Popery wandered so long in gross darkness — while God was, as it were,
absent — because they had dared to pollute the whole of his worship by their
foolish inventions. (129)
16
When evening came, his disciples went down to the
lake,
GILL, "And when even was now come,.... The last of the evenings, when night
was coming on; for the first of the evenings took place before they sat down to eat,
when the above miracle was wrought; see Mat_14:15.
His disciples went down unto the sea; of Galilee, or Tiberias, to the sea side;
and this was by the order, and even constraint of Christ, who would have them go
before him, that he might be clear of the multitude, and have an opportunity for
solitary prayer, See Gill on Mat_14:22, Mar_6:45.
HENRY, "II. Here is the disciples' distress at sea. They that go down to the sea in
ships, these see the works of the Lord, for he raiseth the stormy wind, Psa_107:23,
Psa_107:24. Apply this to these disciples.
1. Here is their going down to the sea in a ship (Joh_6:16, Joh_6:17): When even
was come, and they had done their day's work, it was time to look homeward, and
therefore they went aboard, and set sail for Capernaum. This they did by particular
direction from their Master, with design (as it should seem) to get them out of the
way of the temptation of countenancing those that would have made him a king.
2. Here is the stormy wind arising and fulfilling the word of God. They were
Christ's disciples, and were now in the way of their duty, and Christ was now in the
mount praying for them; and yet they were in this distress. The perils and afflictions
of this present time may very well consist with our interest in Christ and his
intercession. They had lately been feasted at Christ's table; but after the sun-shine of
comfort expect a storm. (1.) It was now dark; this made the storm the more
dangerous and uncomfortable. Sometimes the people of God are in trouble, and
cannot see their way out; in the dark concerning the cause of their trouble,
concerning the design and tendency of it, and what the issue will be. (2.) Jesus was
not come to them. When they were in that storm (Mat_8:23, etc.) Jesus was with
them; but now their beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. The absence of
87

88. Christ is the great aggravation of the troubles of Christians. (3.) The sea arose by
reason of a great wind. It was calm and fair when they put to sea (they were not so
presumptuous as to launch out in a storm), but it arose when they were at sea. In
times of tranquillity we must prepare for trouble, for it may arise when we little think
of it. Let it comfort good people, when they happen to be in storms at sea, that the
disciples of Christ were so; and let the promises of a gracious God balance the threats
of an angry sea. Though in a storm, and in the dark, they are no worse off than
Christ's disciples were. Clouds and darkness sometimes surround the children of the
light, and of the day.
JAMISON, "when even was come — (See on Mar_6:35).
entered into a ship — “constrained” to do so by their Master (Mat_14:22; Mar_
6:45), in order to put an end to the misdirected excitement in His favor (Joh_6:15),
into which the disciples themselves may have been somewhat drawn. The word
“constrained” implies reluctance on their part, perhaps from unwillingness to part
with their Master and embark at night, leaving Him alone on the mountain.
went — rather, “were proceeding.”
toward Capernaum — Mark says (Mar_6:45), “unto Bethsaida,” meaning
“Bethsaida of Galilee” (Joh_12:21), on the west side of the lake. The place they left
was of the same name (see on Mar_6:32).
Jesus was not come to them — They probably lingered in hopes of His still
joining them, and so let the darkness come on.
CALVIN, "16.His disciples went down. Christ undoubtedly intended to conceal
himself until the crowd should disperse. We know how difficult it is to allay a
popular tumult. Now, if they had openly attempted to do what they had
intended, it would have been no easy matter afterwards to wipe off the stain
which had once been fixed upon him. Meanwhile, he spent all that time in
prayer, as the other Evangelists (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46) relate; probably,
that God the Father might repress that folly of the people. (130) As to his
crossing the lake in a miraculous manner, it is intended to profit his disciples by
again confirming their faith. The advantage extended still farther; for next day
all the people would easily see that he had not been brought thither by a boat or
ship, (131) but that he had come by his own power; for they blockaded the shore
from which he had to set out, and would scarcely have been drawn away from it,
if they had not seen the disciples cross to a different place.
BARCLAY, "A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TIME OF TROUBLE (John
6:16-21)
6:16-21 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, and, when they
had embarked upon a boat, they started across the sea to Capernaum. By this
time darkness had come on, and Jesus had not yet come to them; and the sea was
roused because a great wind was blowing. So, when they had rowed between
three and four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and coming near the
boat, and they were afraid. But he said to them: "It is I don't be afraid." So they
wished to take him on board the boat; and immediately the boat reached the
land for which they were making.
88

89. This is one of the most wonderful stories in the Fourth Gospel, and it is all the
more wonderful when we press behind the meaning of the Greek to find that it
really describes not some extraordinary miracle, but a simple incident in which
John found, in a way he never forgot, what Jesus was like.
Let us reconstruct the story. After the feeding of the five thousand and the
attempt to make him king, Jesus slipped away to the hills alone. The day wore
on. It came to the time which the Jews described as "the second evening," the
time between the twilight and the dark. Jesus had still not arrived. We must not
think that the disciples were forgetful or discourteous in leaving Jesus behind,
for, as Mark tells the story, Jesus sent them on ahead (Mark 6:45), while he
persuaded the crowds to go home. Doubtless it was his intention to walk round
the head of the lake while they rowed across and to rejoin them in Capernaum.
The disciples set sail. The wind got up, as it can in the narrow, land-locked lake;
and the waters were whipped to foam. It was Passover time, and that was the
time of the full moon (John 6:4). Up on the hillside Jesus had prayed and
communed with God; as he set out the silver moon made the scene almost like
daylight; and down on the lake below he could see the boat and the rowers
toiling at the oars, making heavy weather of it. So he came down.
We must remember two facts. At the north end the lake was no more than four
miles across; and John tens us that the disciples had rowed between three and
four miles; that is to say, they were very nearly at their journey's end. It is
natural to suppose that in the wind they hugged the shore of the lake, seeking
what shelter they might find. That is the first fact and now we come to the
second. They saw Jesus, as the King James Version and Revised Standard
Version have it, walking on the sea. The Greek is epi (Greek #1909) tes (Greek #
3588) thalasses (Greek #2281) which is precisely the phrase used in John 21:1,
where it means--it has never been questioned--that Jesus was walking on the
seashore. That is what the phrase means in our passage, too.
Jesus was walking epi tes thalasses, by the seashore. The toiling disciples looked
up, and suddenly saw him. It was all so unexpected, they had been bent so long
over their oars, that they were alarmed because they thought it was a spirit they
were seeing. Then across the waters came that well-loved voice--"It is I don't be
afraid." They wanted him to come on board; the Greek most naturally means
that their wish was not fulfilled. Why? Remember the breadth of the lake was
four miles and they hid rowed about that distance. The simple reason was that,
before they could take Jesus on board, the boat grounded on the shingle, and
they were there.
Here is just the kind of story that a fisherman like John would have loved and
remembered. Every time he thought of it he would feel that night again, the grey
silver of the moonlight, the rough oar against his hand, the flapping sail, the
shriek of the wind, the sound of the surging water, the astonishingly unexpected
appearance of Jesus, the sound of his voice across the waves and the crunch of
the boat as it reached the Galilaean side.
89

90. As he remembered, John saw wonders which are still there for us.
(i) He saw that Jesus watches. Up on the hill Jesus had been watching them. He
had not forgotten. He was not too busy with God to think of them. John suddenly
realized that all the time they had pulled at the oars Jesus' loving look was on
them.
When we are up against it Jesus watches. He does not make things easy for us.
He lets us fight our own battles. Like a parent watching his son put up a splendid
effort in some athletic contest, he is proud of us; or,. like a parent watching his
son let the side down, he is sad. Life is lived with the loving eye of Jesus upon us.
(ii) He saw that Jesus comes. Down from the hillside Jesus came to enable the
disciples make the last pull that would reach safety.
He does not watch us with serene detachment; when strength is failing he comes
with strength for the last effort which leads to victory.
(iii) He saw that Jesus helps. He watches, he comes and he helps. It is the wonder
of the Christian life that there is nothing that we are left to do alone. Margaret
Avery tells how there was a teacher in a little country school who had told this
story to her children, and she must have told it well. Some short time afterwards
there was a blizzard of wind and snow. When school finished, the teacher was
helping the children home. Sometimes she had practically to drag them through
the drifts. When they were all very nearly exhausted with the struggle, she
overheard a little boy say, half to himself: "We could be doing with that chap
Jesus here now." We could always be doing with Jesus and we never need to do
without him.
(iv) He saw that Jesus brings us to the haven. It seemed to John, as he
remembered it, that, as soon as Jesus arrived, the keel of the boat grated on the
shingle and they were there. As the Psalmist had it: "Then they were glad
because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven" (Psalms
107:30). Somehow in the presence of Jesus the longest journey is shorter and the
hardest battle easier.
One of the loveliest things in the Fourth Gospel is that John, the old fisherman
turned evangelist, found all the wealth of Christ in the memory of a fisherman's
story.
17
where they got into a boat and set off across the lake
for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had
90

91. not yet joined them.
CLARKE, "Toward Capernaum - St. Mark says, Mar_6:45, that our Lord
commanded them to go along to Bethsaida; and in the course of the history we find
they got neither to Bethsaida nor Capernaum, but landed in the country of
Genesaret: Mat_14:34. Our Lord seems to have desired them to go either to
Bethsaida or Capernaum, which were only a very few miles distant, and on the same
side of the sea. The reason why they could reach neither was the storm which the
evangelists say rose at the time, and the wind being contrary: the storm being
probably excited by the prince of the power of the air. Capernaum lay at the northern
part of this sea, and they went along the Galilean or western coast, probably
expecting Christ to come to them, on which account they might keep in close by the
land. But there are great difficulties in fixing the places mentioned by the evangelists.
By some writers Bethsaida and Capernaum are placed on opposite sides of this lake:
by others on the same side. Sometimes when our translation speaks of passing over
the sea, etc., a coasting voyage only is meant, as we find the disciples landing on the
same side from which they had departed: see the note on Joh_6:22.
GILL, "And entered into a ship,.... In which they came, and was waiting for
them; or into another:
and went over the sea towards Capernaum; steered their course from
Bethsaida, where they took shipping over the sea of Galilee; at least over one part of
it, a creek or bay of it, as they intended, towards the city of Capernaum, which lay
over against Bethsaida:
and it was now dark; quite night, which made their voyage more uncomfortable,
especially as it afterwards was tempestuous: but the worst of all was,
and Jesus was not come to them; as they expected, and therefore were obliged
to set sail and go without him.
SBC, "Note here—
I. Christ’s thoughts about His disciples. (1) He leaves men, whether the world in
general or His own people in particular, for a time in fear and danger. The text
records an isolated act, but it is an act in the government of the Unchanging One. The
principle of that act runs through all His administration. (2) His delay is not a proof
of neglect. He yearns over a sinning, suffering world, and regards His own with more
than a mother’s love. His delights were with the children of men before His abode
was among them. The visions which godly patriarchs saw were glimpses of His
countenance, as He bowed His heavens in longing anticipation before the fulness of
time. (3) Never and nowhere do they who wait upon the Lord wait in vain. Although
to weary watchers the time seemed long, the coming was sure. He took our nature
and dwelt among us. He followed these frightened Galileans over the troubled
waters, and found them in the dark. Faithful is He that promised; He also will do it.
To them that look for Him He will yet come, dispelling by His presence a thicker
91

92. darkness, and calming a more terrible tempest by His word.
II. The disciples’ thoughts about Christ. The storm and darkness made their hearts
grieve; and all the more surely, therefore, did these hearts turn and point toward the
mountaintop where Jesus, the Daysman, stood laying His hand upon God. They
think not, they say not, If the moon should rise—if the gale should moderate—if the
harbour were at hand; but if Jesus were here. Such single-eyed, artless truthfulness is
sweet to His taste. The example of these Galileans is shown here as in a glass, that
every mourner may thereby be encouraged to long for the presence of the Lord.
When a deeper sea is heaving underneath and a thicker darkness closing round you,
let your heart go out in truthful, fond desire to the Intercessor who trod then upon
the mountain, and stands now on the steps of heaven’s throne. He cannot withstand
your appeal; He will come and will not tarry. Over these waters He will walk until He
reach you. When Jesus has come, you are at the land. The moment that the Master
comes, the disciples are at home.
W. ARNOT, Roots and Fruits of the Christian Life, p. 268.
CALVIN, "17.It was now dark. John passes by many circumstances which the
other Evangelists introduce; such as, that for several hours they struggled with a
contrary wind; for it is probable that the storm arose immediately after the night
began to come on; and they tell us that Christ did not appear to his disciples till
about the fourth watch of the night, (Matthew 14:28; Mark 6:48.) Those who
conjecture that they were still about the middle of the lake when Christ appeared
to them, because John says that they had then advanced about twenty-five or
thirty furlongs, are led into a mistake by supposing that they had sailed to the
farther or opposite bank; for Bethsaida, near which town, Luke tells us, the
miracle was performed, (Luke 9:10,) and Capernaum, which the ship reached,
(John 6:16,) were situated on the same coast.
Pliny, in his fifth book, states that this lake was six miles in breadth, and sixteen
in length. Josephus (in the third book of the Wars of the Jews) assigns to it one
hundred furlongs in length, and forty in breadth; (132) and as eight furlongs
make one mile, we may easily infer how little the one description differs from the
other. So far as relates to the present sailing, my opinion is, that they did not go
over so great a space by direct sailing, but through being driven about by the
tempest. (133) However that may be, the Evangelist intended to show that, when
Christ presented himself to them, they were in the utmost danger. It may be
thought strange that the disciples should be tormented in this manner, while
others had nothing to disturb them in sailing; but in this manner the Lord often
makes his people fall into alarming dangers, that they may more plainly and
familiarly recognize him in their deliverance.
18
A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew
92

93. rough.
GILL, "And the sea arose,.... Swelled, and was tumultuous and raging; the waves
mounted up, and tossed the ship to and fro:
by reason of a great wind that blew; which agitated the waters of the sea, and
lifted up the waves; which storm seems to have arose after they had set sail, and were
got into the midst of the sea.
JAMISON, "sea arose, etc. — and they were “now in the midst of it” (Mat_
14:24). Mark adds the graphic and touching particular, “He saw them toiling in
rowing” (Mar_6:48), putting forth all their strength to buffet the waves and bear on
against a head wind, but to little effect. He saw this from His mountain-top, and
through the darkness of the night, for His heart was all with them; yet would He not
go to their relief till His own time came.
19
When they had rowed three or three and a half miles,
[36] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on
the water; and they were terrified.
CLARKE, "Had rowed - Their vessel was a small one only, something of the
boat kind: as to sails, if they had any, they could not now venture to carry them,
because of the storm.
Five and twenty or thirty furlongs - Between three and four miles. The sea of
Tiberias, on which they now were, was, according to Josephus, War, book iii. chap.
25, forty furlongs, or five miles in breadth; and one hundred and forty furlongs, or
eighteen miles, in length. Pliny, lib. v. chap. 15, makes it about six miles broad, and
sixteen long.
They see Jesus - See the notes on Mat_14:25, etc.
GILL, "So when they had rowed,.... For the wind being contrary, they could not
make use of their sails, but betook themselves to their oars, and by that means got
about five and twenty, or thirty furlongs; which were three or four miles, or
little more than a league; no further had they got, though they had been rowing from
93

94. the time it was dark, to the fourth watch, which was after three o'clock in the
morning; all this while they had been tossed in the sea;
they saw Jesus walking on the sea; See Gill on Mat_14:25, See Gill on Mat_
14:26, See Gill on Mat_14:29.
And drawing nigh unto the ship; though Mark says, he "would have passed by
them", Mar_6:48; that is, he seemed as if he would, but his intention was to come to
them, and save them from perishing, as he did:
and they were afraid; that he was a spirit, some nocturnal apparition, or demon,
in an human form; See Gill on Mat_14:26.
JAMISON, "they see Jesus — “about the fourth watch of the night” (Mat_
14:25; Mar_6:48), or between three and six in the morning.
walking on the sea — What Job (Job_9:8) celebrates as the distinguishing
prerogative of God, “WHO ALONE spreadeth out the heavens, and TREADETH
UPON THE WAVES OF THE SEA” - What AGUR challenges as God’s
unapproachable prerogative, to “GATHER THE WIND IN HIS FISTS, and BIND
THE WATERS IN A GARMENT” (Pro_30:4) - lo! this is here done in flesh, by “THE
SON OF MAN.”
drawing nigh to the ship — yet as though He “would have passed by them,”
Mar_6:48 (compare Luk_24:28; Gen_18:3, Gen_18:5; Gen_32:24-26).
they were afraid — “cried out for fear” (Mat_14:26), “supposing it had been a
spirit” (Mar_6:49). He would appear to them at first like a dark moving speck upon
the waters; then as a human figure, but - in the dark tempestuous sky, and not
dreaming that it could be their Lord - they take it for a spirit. (How often thus we
miscall our chiefest mercies - not only thinking them distant when they are near, but
thinking the best the worst!)
CALVIN, "19.They were terrified. The other Evangelists explain the cause of
that fear to have been, that they thought that it was an apparition, (Matthew
14:26; Mark 6:49.) Now it is impossible not to be seized with consternation and
dread, when an apparition is presented before our eyes; for we conclude that it is
either some imposture of Satan, or some bad omen which God sends us. Besides,
John here holds out to us, as in a mirror, what kind of knowledge of Christ we
may obtain without the word, and what advantage may be reaped from that
knowledge. For if he present a simple demonstration of his divinity, we
immediately fall into our imaginations, and every person forms an idol for
himself instead of Christ. After we have thus wandered in our understanding,
this is immediately followed by trembling and a confused terror of heart. But
when he begins to speak, we then obtain from his voice clear and solid
knowledge, and then also joy and delightful peace dawn upon our minds. For
there is great weight in these words:
SBC, "The pathway of the King. We have here:
I. The struggling toilers. The solemn law under which we live demands persistent
effort and imposes continual antagonism upon us. There is no reason why we should
regard that as an evil, or think ourselves hardly used because we are not fair-weather
sailors. The end of life is to make men; the meaning of all events is to mould
94

95. character. Anything that makes me stronger is a blessing; anything that develops my
morale is the highest good that can come to me.
II. The approaching Christ. We do not know at what hour in the fourth watch the
Master came. But probably it was towards daybreak. Toiling had endured for a night.
It would be in accordance with the symbolism that joy and help should come with the
morning. If we look for a moment at the miraculous fact, apart from the symbolism,
we have here a revelation of Christ as the Lord of the material universe, a kingdom
wider in its range and profounder in its authority than that which the shouting crowd
had sought to force upon Him. We have here a wonderful picture, which is true for all
ages, of the mighty Christ to Whose gentle footfall the unquiet surges are as a marble
pavement, and who draws near in the purposes of His love, unhindered by
antagonism, and using even the opposing forces as the path for His triumphant
progress.
III. The terror and the recognition. Do not we, like the disciples, often mistake the
coming of the Master, and tremble before Him when we ought to be glad? Let no
absorption in cares and duties, let no unchildlike murmurings, let no selfish
abandonment to sorrow, blind you to the Lord that always comes near human hearts
if they will only look and see.
IV. The end of the tempest and of the voyage. It is not always true—it is very seldom
true—that when Christ comes on board opposition ends and the purpose is achieved.
But it is always true that when Christ comes on board a new spirit comes into the
men who have Him for their companion, and are conscious that they have. It makes
their work easy, and makes them more than conquerors over what yet remains.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, March 11th, 1886.
MACLAREN, "THE FIFTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL
There are none of our Lord’s parables recorded in this Gospel, but all the miracles
which it narrates are parables. Moral and religious truth is communicated by the
outward event, as in the parable it is communicated by the story. The mere visible
fact becomes more than semi-transparent. The analogy between the spiritual and the
natural world which men instinctively apprehend, of which the poet and the orator
and the religious teacher have always made abundant use, and which it has
sometimes been attempted, unsuccessfully as I think, to elevate to the rank of a
scientific truth, underlies the whole series of these miracles. It is the principal if not
the only key to the meaning of this one before us.
The symbolism which regards life under the guise of a voyage, and its troubles and
difficulties under the metaphor of storm and tempest, is especially natural to nations
that take kindly to the water, like us Englishmen. I do not know that there is any
instance, either in the Old or in the New Testament, of the use of that to us very
familiar metaphor; but the emblem of the sea as the symbol of trouble, unrest,
rebellious power, is very familiar to the writers of the Old Testament. And the picture
of the divine path as in the waters, and of the divine prerogative as being to ‘tread
upon the heights of the sea,’ as Job has it, is by no means unknown. So the natural
symbolism, and the Old Testament use of the expressions, blend together, as I think,
in suggesting the one point of view from which this miracle is to be regarded.
It is found in two of the other Evangelists, and the condensed account of it which we
have in this Gospel, by its omission of Peter’s walking on the water, and of some
95

96. other smaller but graphic details that the other Evangelists give us, serves to sharpen
the symbolical meaning of the whole story, and to bring that as its great purpose and
signification into prominence.
We shall, I think, then, best gain the lessons intended to be drawn if we simply follow
the points of the narrative in their order as they stand here.
I. We have here, first of all, then, the struggling toilers.
The other Evangelists tell us that after the feeding of the five thousand our Lord
‘constrained’ His disciples to get into the ship, and to pass over to the other side. The
language implies unwillingness, to some extent, on their part, and the exercise of
authority upon His. Our Evangelist, who does not mention the constraint, supplies us
with the reason for it. The preceding miracle had worked up the excitement of the
mob to a very dangerous point. Crowds are always the same, and this crowd thought,
as any other crowd anywhere and in any age would have done, that the prophet that
could make bread at will was the kind of prophet whom they wanted. So they
determined to take Him by force, and make Him a king; and Christ, seeing the
danger, and not desiring that His Kingdom should be furthered by such unclean
hands and gross motives, determined to withdraw Himself into the loneliness of the
bordering hills. It was wise to divide the little group; it would distract attention; it
might lead some of the people, as we know it did lead them, to follow the boat when
they found it was gone. It would save the Apostles from being affected by the coarse,
smoky enthusiasm of the crowd. It would save them from revealing the place of His
retirement. It might enable Him to steal away more securely unobserved; so they are
sent across to the other side of the lake, some five or six miles. An hour or two might
have done it, but for some unknown reason they seem to have lingered. Perhaps they
had no special call for haste. The Paschal moon, nearly full, would be shining down
upon the waters; their hearts and minds would be busy with the miracle which they
had just seen. And so they may have drifted along, not caring much when they
reached their destination. But suddenly one of the gusts of wind which are frequently
found upon mountain lakes, especially towards nightfall, rose and soon became a
gale with which they could not battle. Our Evangelist does not tell us how long it
lasted, but we get a note of time from St. Mark, who says it was ‘about the fourth
watch of the night’; that is between the hours of three and six in the morning of the
subsequent day. So that for some seven or eight hours at least they had been tugging
at the useless oars, or sitting shivering, wet and weary, in the boat.
Is it not the history of the Church in a nutshell? Is it not the symbol of life for us all?
The solemn law under which we live demands persistent effort, and imposes
continual antagonism upon us; there is no reason why we should regard that as evil,
or think ourselves hardly used, because we are not fair-weather sailors. The end of
life is to make men; the meaning of all events is to mould character. Anything that
makes me stronger is a blessing, anything that develops my morale is the highest
good that can come to me. If therefore antagonism mould in me
‘The wrestling thews that throw the world,’
and give me good, strong muscles, and put tan and colour into my cheek, I need not
mind the cold and the wet, nor care for the whistling of the wind in my face, nor the
dash of the spray over the bows. Summer sailing in fair weather, amidst land-locked
bays, in blue seas, and under calm skies, may be all very well for triflers, but
‘Blown seas and storming showers’
are better if the purpose of the voyage be to brace us and call out our powers.
And so be thankful if, when the boat is crossing the mouth of some glen that opens
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97. upon the lake, a sudden gust smites the sheets and sends you to the helm, and takes
all your effort to keep you from sinking. Do not murmur, or think that God’s
Providence is strange, because many and many a time when ‘it is dark, and Jesus is
not yet come to us,’ the storm of wind comes down upon the lake and threatens to
drive us from our course. Let us rather recognise Him as the Lord who, in love and
kindness, sends all the different kinds of weather which, according to the old
proverb, make up the full-summed year.
And then notice how, in this first picture of our text, the symbolism so naturally
lends itself to spiritual meanings, not only in regard to the tempest that caught the
unthinking voyagers, but also in regard to other points; such as the darkness amidst
which they had to fight the tempest, and the absence of the Master. Once before, they
had been caught in a similar storm on the lake, but it was daylight then, and Jesus
was with them, and that made all the difference. This time it was night, and they
looked up in vain to the green Eastern hills, and wondered where in their folds He
was lurking, so far from their help. Mark gives us one sweet touch when he tells us
that Christ on the hillside there saw them toiling in rowing, but they did not see Him.
No doubt they felt themselves deserted, and sent many a wistful glance of longing
towards the shore where He was. Hard thoughts of Him may have been in some of
their minds. ‘Master, carest Thou not?’ would be springing to some of their lips with
more apparent reason than in the other storm on the lake. But His calm and loving
gaze looked down pitying on all their fear and toil. The darkness did not hide from
Him, nor His own security on the steadfast land make Him forget, nor his
communion with the Father so absorb Him as to exclude thoughts of them.
It is a parable and a prophecy of the perpetual relation between the absent Lord and
the toiling Church. He is on the mountain while we are on the sea. The stable eternity
of the Heavens holds Him; we are tossed on the restless mutability of time, over
which we toil at His command. He is there interceding for us. Whilst He prays He
beholds, and He beholds that He may help us by His prayer. The solitary crew were
not so solitary as they thought. That little dancing speck on the waters, which held so
much blind love and so much fear and trouble, was in His sight, as on the calm
mountain-top He communed with God. No wonder that weary hearts and lonely
ones, groping amidst the darkness, and fighting with the tempests and the sorrows of
lift, have ever found in our story a symbol that comes to them with a prophecy of
hope and an assurance of help, and have rejoiced to know that they on the sea are
beheld of the Christ in the sky, and that ‘the darkness hideth not from’ His loving eye.
II. And now turn to the next stage of the story before us. We have the
approaching Christ.
‘When they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs,’ and so were just
about the middle of the lake, ‘they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh
unto the ship.’ They were about half-way across the lake. We do not know at what
hour in the fourth watch the Master came. But probably it was towards daybreak.
Toiling had endured for a night. It would be in accordance with the symbolism that
joy and help should come with the morning.
If we look for a moment at the miraculous fact, apart from the symbolism, we have a
revelation here of Christ as the Lord of the material universe, a kingdom wider in its
range and profounder in its authority than that which that shouting crowd had
sought to force upon Him. His will consolidated the yielding wave, or sustained His
material body on the tossing surges. Whether we suppose the miracle as wrought on
the one or the other, makes no difference to its value as a manifestation of the glory
of Christ, and of His power over the physical order of things. In the latter case there
would, perhaps, be a hint of a power residing in His material frame, of which we
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98. possibly have other phases, as in the Transfiguration, which may be a prophecy of
what lordship over nature is possible to a sinless manhood. However that may be, we
have here a wonderful picture which is true for all ages of the mighty Christ, to whose
gentle footfall the unquiet surges are as a marble pavement; and who draws near in
the purposes of His love, unhindered by antagonism, and using even opposing forces
as the path for His triumphant progress. Two lessons may be drawn from this. One is
that in His marvellous providence Christ uses all the tumults and unrest, the
opposition and tempests which surround the ship that bears His followers, as the
means of achieving His purposes. We stand before a mystery to which we have no key
when we think of these two certain facts; first, the Omnipotent redeeming will of God
in Christ; and, second, the human antagonism which is able to rear itself against that.
And we stand in the presence of another mystery, most blessed, and yet which we
cannot unthread, when we think, as we most assuredly may, that in some mysterious
fashion He works His purposes by the very antagonism to His purposes, making even
head-winds fill the sails, and planting His foot on the white crests of the angry and
changeful billows. How often in the world’s history has this scene repeated itself, and
by a divine irony the enemies have become the helpers of Christ’s cause, and what
they plotted for destruction has turned out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel!
‘He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and with the residue thereof He girdeth
Himself.’
Another lesson for our individual lives is this, that Christ, in His sweetness and His
gentle sustaining help, comes near to us all across the sea of sorrow and trouble. A
more tender, a more gracious sense of His nearness to us is ever granted to us in the
time of our darkness and our grief than is possible to us in the sunny hours of joy. It
is always the stormy sea that Christ comes across, to draw near to us; and they who
have never experienced the tempest have yet to learn the inmost sweetness of His
presence. When it is night, and it is dark, at the hour which is the keystone of night’s
black arch, Christ comes to us, striding across the stormy waters. Sorrow brings Him
near to us. Do you see that sorrow does not drive you away from Him!
III. Then, still further, we note in the story before us the terror and the
recognition.
St. John does not tell us why they were afraid. There is no need to tell us. They see,
possibly in the chill uncertain light of the grey dawn breaking over the Eastern hills, a
Thing coming to them across the water there. They had fought gallantly with the
storm, but this questionable shape freezes their heart’s blood, and a cry, that is
audible above even the howling of the wind and the dash of the waves, gives sign of
the superstitious terror that crept round the hearts of those commonplace, rude men.
I do not dwell upon the fact that the average man, if he fancies that anything from
out of the Unseen is near him, shrinks in fear. I do not ask you whether that is not a
sign and indication of the deep conviction that lies in men’s souls, of a discord
between themselves and the unseen world; but I ask you if we do not often mistake
the coming Master, and tremble before Him when we ought to be glad?
We are often so absorbed with our work, so busy tugging at the oar, so anxiously
watching the set of current, so engaged in keeping the helm right, that we have no
time and no eyes to look across the ocean and see who it is that is coming to us
through all the hurly-burly. Our tears fill our eyes, and weave a veil between us and
the Master. And when we do see that there is Something there, we are often afraid of
it, and shrink from it. And sometimes when a gentle whisper of consolation, or some
light air, as it were, of consciousness of His presence, breathes through our souls, we
think that it is only a phantasm of our own making, and that the coming Christ is
nothing more than the play of our thoughts and imaginations.
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99. Oh, brethren, let no absorption in cares and duties, let no unchildlike murmurings,
let no selfish abandonment to sorrow, blind you to the Lord who always comes near
troubled hearts, if they will only look and see! Let no reluctance to entertain religious
ideas, no fear of contact with the Unseen, no shrinking from the thought of Christ as
a Kill-joy keep you from seeing Him as He draws near to you in your troubles. And let
no sly, mocking Mephistopheles of doubt, nor any poisonous air, blowing off the foul
and stagnant marshes of present materialism, make you fancy that the living Reality,
treading on the flood there, is a dream or a fancy or the projection of your own
imagination on to the void of space. He is real, whatever may be phenomenal and
surface. The storm is not so real as the Christ, the waves not so substantial as He who
stands upon them. They will pass and quieten, He will abide for ever. Lift up your
hearts and be glad, because the Lord comes to you across the waters, and hearken to
His voice: ‘It is I! Be not afraid.’
The encouragement not to fear follows the proclamation, ‘It is I!’ What a thrill of glad
confidence must have poured itself into their hearts, when once they rose to the
height of that wondrous fact!
‘Well roars the storm to those who hear A deeper voice across the storm.’
There is no fear in the consciousness of His presence. It is His old word: ‘Be not
afraid!’ And He breathes it whithersoever He comes; for His coming is the
banishment of danger and the exorcism of dread. So that if only you and I, in the
midst of all storm and terror, can say ‘It is the Lord,’ then we may catch up the grand
triumphant chorus of the old psalm, and say: ‘Though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, yet I will not fear.’
The Lord is with us; the everlasting Christ is our Helper, our Refuge, and our
Strength.
IV. So, lastly, we have here in this story the end of the tempest and of the
voyage.
Our Evangelist does not record, as the others do, that the storm ceased upon Christ’s
being welcomed into the little boat. The other Evangelists do not record, as he does,
the completion of the voyage. ‘Immediately the ship was at the land whither they
went.’ The two things are cause and effect. I do not suppose, as many do, that a
subordinate miracle is to be seen in that last clause of our text, or that the
‘immediately’ is to be taken as if it meant that without one moment’s delay, or
interval, the voyage was completed; but only, which I think is all that is needful, that
the falling of the tempest and the calming of the waters which followed upon the
Master’s entrance into the vessel made the remainder of the voyage comparatively
brief and swift.
It is not always true, it is very seldom true, that when Christ comes on board
opposition ends, and the haven is reached. But it is always true that when Christ
comes on board a new spirit enters into the men who have Him for their companion,
and are conscious that they have. It makes their work easy, and makes them ‘more
than conquerors’ over what yet remains. With what a different spirit the weary men
would bend their backs to the oars once more when they had the Master on board,
and with what a different spirit you and I will set ourselves to our work if we are sure
of His presence. The worst of trouble is gone when Christ shares it with us. There is a
wonderful charm to stay His rough wind in the assurance that in all our affliction He
is afflicted. If we feel that we are following in His footsteps, we feel that He stands
between us and the blast, a refuge from the storm and a covert from the tempest. And
if still, as no doubt will be the case, we have our share of trouble and storm and
sorrow and difficulty, yet the worst of the gale will be passed, and though a long swell
may still heave, the terror and the danger will have gone with the night, and hope and
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100. courage and gladness revive as the morning’s sun breaks over the still unquiet waves,
and shows us our Master with us and the white walls of the port glinting in the level
beams.
Friends, life is a voyage, anyhow, with plenty of storm and danger and difficulty and
weariness and exposure and anxiety and dread and sorrow, for every soul of man. But
if you will take Christ on board, it will be a very different thing from what it will be if
you cross the wan waters alone. Without Him you will make shipwreck of yourselves;
with Him your voyage may seem perilous and be tempestuous, but He will ‘make the
storm a calm,’ and will bring you to the haven of your desire.
20
But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid."
GILL, "But he saith to them, it is I, be not afraid. See Gill on Mat_14:27.
JAMISON, "It is I; be not afraid — Matthew (Mat_14:27) and Mark (Mar_
6:50) give before these exhilarating words, that to them well-known one, “Be of good
cheer!”
CALVIN, "20.It is I: be not terrified We learn from them that it is in Christ’s
presence alone that we have abundant grounds of confidence, so as to be calm
and at ease. But this belongs exclusively to the disciples of Christ; for we shall
afterwards see that wicked men were struck down by the same words, It is I,
(John 18:6.) The reason of the distinction is, that he is sent as a Judge to the
reprobate and unbelievers for their destruction; and, therefore, they cannot bear
his presence without being immediately overwhelmed. But believers, who know
that he is given to them to make propitiation, as soon as they hear his name,
which is a sure pledge to them both of the love of God and of their salvation, take
courage as if they had been raised from death to life, calmly look at the clear sky,
dwell quietly on earth, and, victorious over every calamity, take him for their
shield against all dangers. Nor does he only comfort and encourage them by his
word, but actually removes also the cause of the terror by allaying the tempest.
21
Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and
immediately the boat reached the shore where they
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101. were heading.
BARNES, "Joh_6:21
Immediately - Quickly. Before a long time. How far they were from the land we
know not, but there is no evidence that there was a miracle in the case. The word
translated “immediately” does not of necessity imply that there was no interval of
time, but that there was not a long interval. Thus, in Mat_13:5, in the parable of the
sower, “and immediately (the same word in Greek) they sprung up,” etc., Mar_4:17;
Mat_24:29; 3Jo_1:14.
CLARKE, "Immediately the ship was at the land - How far they were from
the place at which they landed, when our Lord came to them, we know not. But the
evangelist seems to speak of their sudden arrival there as extraordinary and
miraculous.
GILL, "Then they willingly received him into the ship,.... When they knew
who he was; and especially he was the more welcome, as they were in distress; and he
able, as they well knew, to help them:
and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went; which was
done, as Nonnus observes, by a divine motion; for not only the wind ceased, but
another miracle was wrought; the ship was in an instant at the place whither they
intended to go
JAMISON, "willingly received him into the ship — their first fears being
now converted into wonder and delight.
and immediately the ship was at the land — This additional miracle, for as
such it is manifestly related, is recorded here alone. Yet all that is meant seems to be
that as the storm was suddenly calmed, so the little bark - propelled by the secret
power of the Lord of Nature now sailing in it - glided through the now unruffled
waters, and while they were wrapt in wonder at what had happened, not heeding
their rapid motion, was found at port, to their still further surprise.
22
The next day the crowd that had stayed on the
opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat
had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with
his disciples, but that they had gone away alone.
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102. BARNES, "The people which stood on the other side of the sea - That is,
on the east side, or on the same side with Jesus. The country was called the region
beyond or on, the other side of the sea, because the writer and the people lived on the
west side.
Jesus went not with his disciples - He had gone into a mountain to pray
alone, Joh_6:15. Compare Mar_6:46.
CLARKE, "The people which stood on the other side - ᅡ̣ηκως περαν της
θαλασσης, Standing by the sea side. The people were not on the other side, i.e. in
Perea, as our version states, but on that side where Bethsaida lay: see the notes on
Mat_14:25, Mat_14:34, and on Mar_6:45. The Greek word, περαν, says Bishop
Pearce, seems to signify in Scripture sometimes on the side of, and sometimes on this
side of: see Jos_5:1 and 1 Maccabees 9:34. The Hebrew word ‫אבר‬ abar, signifies by
the side: Exo_28:26, and is translated on this side in Deu_4:29. It has the same
meaning in the Septuagint, Deu_1:5; Deu_3:8; Deu_4:46. περαν, says Vorstius, is the
same with παρα, near to. This is evidently the meaning of the word in Mat_4:15; as it
appears, from what is said of the land of Zabulon and Nepthali, that by περαν is not
meant beyond, but by the side of; because those two tribes inhabited the western side
of Jordan, which was the side lying nearest to Judea and Galilee: see on Mat_19:1
(note).
GILL, "The day following,.... The day after that, in which the miracle of feeding
live thousand men with five loaves and two fishes was done: the morning after the
disciples had had such a bad voyage:
when the people which stood on the other side of the sea; from that in
which the disciples now were, being landed at Capernaum; that is, they stood on that
side, or shore, where they took shipping, near Bethsaida and Tiberias: here, after
they were dismissed by Christ, they stood all night, waiting for boats to carry them
over; or rather, knowing that Christ was not gone with his disciples, they continued,
hoping to meet with him in the morning, and enjoy some more advantage by him: for
they
saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his
disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into
the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; from whence they
concluded, that since there was only that boat, and Jesus did not go into it, but that
the disciples went off without him, that he must be therefore somewhere on shore,
and not far off, and they hoped to find him in the morning; wherefore it was very
surprising to them, when they found him at Capernaum, when, and how he got there.
102

103. JAMISON 22-24, "Joh_6:22-71. Jesus followed by the multitudes to Capernaum,
discourses to them in the synagogue of the bread of life - Effect of this on two classes
of the disciples.
These verses are a little involved, from the Evangelist’s desire to mention every
circumstance, however minute, that might call up the scene as vividly to the reader as
it stood before his own view.
The day following — the miracle of the loaves, and the stormy night; the day on
which they landed at Capernaum.
the people which stood on the other side of the sea — not the whole
multitude that had been fed, but only such of them as remained over night about the
shore, that is, on the east side of the lake; for we are supposed to have come, with
Jesus and His disciples in the ship, to the west side, to Capernaum.
saw that there was none other boat there, etc. — The meaning is, the people
had observed that there had been only one boat on the east side where they were;
namely, the one in which the disciples had crossed at night to the other, the west
side, and they had also observed that Jesus had not gone on board that boat, but His
disciples had put off without Him:
CALVIN, "22.Next day. Here the Evangelist relates circumstances from which
the multitude might conclude that Christ had gone across by divine power.
There had been but one ship; they see it go away without Christ; next day, ships
come from other places, by which they are conveyed to Capernaum; and there
they find Christ. It follows that he must have been conveyed across in a
miraculous manner. There is an intricacy and apparent confusion
( ἀνακόλουθον) in the words, but still the meaning of them is plain enough; for,
in the 22nd verse, John says that there had been but one ship, and that all saw it
leave the shore and that place, and that it had not Christ as a passenger; and, in
the 23rd verse, he adds that ships came from Tiberias, by which the multitude
passed over, which had remained on the shore, blockading, as it were, every
outlet, that Christ might not escape.
BARCLAY, "THE MISTAKEN SEARCH (John 6:22-27)
6:22-27 On the next day, the crowd which was still standing on the far side of the
sea, saw that there had been only one boat, and that Jesus had not gone into the
boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had gone away alone. But some
boats from Tiberias put in near the place where they had eaten the bread, after
the Lord had given thanks. So when they saw that Jesus was not there, nor his
disciples either, they embarked on the boats, and came to Capernaum, looking
for Jesus. When they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said to
him: "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered: "This is the truth I tell
you--you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of
the loaves until your stomachs were filled. Do not work for the food which
perishes, but work for the food which lasts, and which gives eternal life, that
food which the Son of Man will give you; for the Father--God--has set his seal
upon him."
The crowd had lingered on the far side of the lake. In the time of Jesus people
did not need to keep office-hours. They had time to wait until he came back to
103

104. them. They waited because having seen that there was only one boat and that the
disciples had gone off in it without Jesus, they deduced that he must still be
somewhere near at hand. After they had waited for some time, they began to
realize that he was not coming back. Into the bay came some little boats from
Tiberias. No doubt they had taken shelter from the storm of the night. The
waiting people embarked on them and made the crossing of the lake back to
Capernaum.
Discovering to their surprise that Jesus was already there, they asked him when
he had arrived. To that question Jesus simply did not reply. This was no time to
talk of things like that; life was too short for pleasant gossip about journeys. He
went straight to the heart of the matter. "You have seen," he said, "wonderful
things. You have seen how God's grace enabled a crowd to be fed. Your thoughts
ought to have been turned to the God who did these things; but instead all that
you are thinking about is bread." It is as if Jesus said: "You cannot think about
your souls for thinking of your stomachs."
"Men," as Chrysostom said, "are nailed to the things of this life." Here were
people whose eyes never lifted beyond the ramparts of the world to the eternities
beyond. Once Napoleon and an acquaintance were talking of life. It was dark;
they walked to the window and looked out. There in the sky were distant stars,
little more than pin-points of light. Napoleon, who had sharp eyes while his
friend was dim-sighted, pointed to the sky: "Do you see these stars?" he asked.
"No," his friend answered. "I can't see them." "That," said Napoleon, "is the
difference between you and me." The man who is earthbound is living half a life.
It is the man with vision, who looks at the horizon and sees the stars, who is truly
alive.
Jesus put his command in one sentence. "Don't work for the food which perishes
but for that which lasts for ever and gives eternal life." Long ago a prophet
called Isaiah had asked: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread? and your labour for that which does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2). There
are two kinds of hunger. There is physical hunger which physical food can
satisfy; but there is a spiritual hunger which that food can never satisfy. A man
may be as rich as Croesus and still have an incompleteness in his life.
In the years just after A.D. 60 the luxury of Roman society was unparalleled. It
was at this time that they served feasts of peacocks' brains and nightingales'
tongues; that they cultivated the odd habit of taking emetics between courses so
that the next might taste better; that meals costing thousands of pounds were
commonplace. It was at this time that Pliny tells of a Roman lady who was
married in a robe so richly jewelled and gilded that it cost the equivalent of
432,000 British pounds. There was a reason for all this, and the reason was a
deep dissatisfaction with life, a hunger that nothing could satisfy. They would try
anything for a new thrill, because they were both appallingly rich and
appallingly hungry. As Matthew Arnold wrote:
"In his cool hall with haggard eyes,
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105. The Roman noble lay;
He drove abroad in furious guise
Along the Appian Way;
He made a feast, drank fierce and fast;
He crowned his hair with flowers;
No easier nor no quicker passed
The impracticable hours."
Jesus' point was that all that these Jews were interested in was physical
satisfaction. They had received an unexpectedly free and lavish meal; and they
wanted more. But there are other hungers which can be satisfied only by him.
There is the hunger for truth--in him alone is the truth of God. There is the
hunger for life--in him alone is life more abundant. There is the hunger for love--
in him alone is the love that outlasts sin and death. Christ alone can satisfy the
hunger of the human heart and soul.
Why is this so? There is a wealth of meaning in the phrase: "God has set his seal
upon him." H. B. Tristram in Eastern Customs in Bible Lands has a most
interesting section on seals in the ancient world. It was not the signature, but the
seal that authenticated. In commercial and political documents it was the seal,
imprinted with the signet ring, which made the document valid; it was the seal
which authenticated a will; it was the seal on the mouth of a sack or a crate that
guaranteed the contents. Tristram tells how on his own eastern journeys, when
he made an agreement with his muleteers and his porters, they set the impression
of their seal upon it to show that it was binding. Seals were made of pottery or
metal or jewels. In the British Museum there are the seals of most of the Assyrian
kings. The seal was fixed on clay and the clay attached to the document.
The Rabbis had a saying: "The seal of God is truth." "One day," says the
Talmud, "the great synagogue (the assembly of the Jewish experts in the law)
were weeping, praying and fasting together, when a little scroll fell from the
firmament among them. They opened it and on it was only one word, Emeth
(Hebrew #571), which means truth. 'That,' said the Rabbi, 'is the seal of God.'"
Emeth (Hebrew #571) is spelled with three Hebrew letters ('-M-T): aleph, which
is the first letter of the alphabet; min, the middle letter, and tau, the last. The
truth of God is the beginning, the middle and the end of life.
That is why Jesus can satisfy the eternal hunger. He is sealed by God, he is God's
truth incarnate and it is God alone who can truly satisfy the hunger of the soul
which he created.
BI 22-40, "The day following
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106. Jesus the Bread of Life
I.
OUR LORD’S AVOWAL OF HIS DIVINE NATURE AND HIS HEAVENLY ERRAND.
More than thirty times in this one discourse does He use the personal pronouns “Me”
and “I,” in such connections as that it would be blasphemy if He were anything less
than really God. The Jews saw this (Joh_6:41-42), the disciples also (Joh_6:66).
II. THE SPECIAL DOCTRINE OF THE GOSPEL WHICH ALWAYS SEARCHES THE
HEARTS OF MEN. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is what universally tests pride
the most severely. In this discourse our Lord intentionally sifts His hearers. He
avows with startling suddenness the most extreme views of human helplessness
without vicarious redemption. Then He puts the plaintive question, “Will ye also go
away?”
III. THE PARAMOUNT NECESSITY OF AN ATONEMENT FOR HUMAN SINS.
“Without shedding of blood is no remission.” So striking are these utterances of
Christ, that there can be no mistaking them. They cannot possibly be discharged of
their meaning by any notion of mere pattern-setting on His part. Bread is not
example, and blood is not conduct, and eating is not imitation.
IV. LET US BE SATISFIED WITH THE EXPLANATION FURNISHED US HERE OF
THAT SENSE OF CRAVING AND RESTLESSNESS WHICH MANY FEEL UNDER
THE APPEALS OF THE GOSPEL. The soul hungers after Christ. The sound of
feeding awakes deeper pangs. Every living thing must eat or die. (C. S.Robinson, D.
D.)
Jesus the Bread of Life
I. THE SELFISHNESS OF MEN REGARDING JESUS CHRIST (Joh_6:22-24). The
people before us, having “come to Capernaum seeking Jesus,” desired Him only for a
temporal benefit. This is like many in our day. They go to church, pretend to be
religious, make a show of piety, because it is fashionable, profitable for trade, or a
convenient method of getting “bread” without toil. The pious fraud is a more
dangerous enemy to Christianity than outspoken infidelity.
II. MEN’S SELFISHNESS IN RELIGION REBUKED (Joh_6:25-27).
1. By having the shallowness of their pretensions exposed (Joh_6:26). How keen-
cutting these words are! And so it is everywhere in the Bible—hypocrisy is
condemned with severity. Any one who would speak for Jesus must not be afraid
to rebuke the pretender.
2. Presentation of the true motive (Joh_6:27). We must be sincere in seeking
Christ as the Saviour of the soul—i.e., “everlasting life” must be with us a deeper
consideration than the life of the body. To give this eternal life, or righteousness,
unto the world was the purpose of Jesus’ coming here: “For Him hath God the
Father sealed”—i.e., set apart and given authority to perform the high office of
imparting to all believers the Bread of Life. To secure this, salvation must be our
only motive.
III. BELIEF IN CHRIST MAN’S SUPREME WORK (Joh_6:28-29). It is in the
human heart to think of salvation as a matter of “works” (Joh_6:28). The Scriptures
everywhere declare that to be saved—i.e., “to work the works of God,” we must
believe on the Son of God (Joh_6:29). Man’s good works exclude this belief. But true
belief or faith, includes good works Eph_2:8-10; Jas_2:26). Both Jesus and Paul
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107. declare that faith saves the soul. James explains the kind of faith that saves.
IV. MAN’S UNWILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT JESUS (verses 30, 31). From the miracle
of the loaves, the multitude would gladly have received Him as a king; but, being
informed that they must believe on Him as a Saviour, they demanded more evidence
(verses 30, 31), intimating that Moses, in giving the manna for long years, was
greater than Jesus, who only furnished one meal. So men are always willing to exalt
Christ as a great personage, but are reluctant to receive Him as their Redeemer. Yet
He must be this or nothing.
V. JESUS URGES THIS HIGH CLAIM (verses 32, 33). He admits of no comparison.
Moses did not give the manna (verse 32); manna did not secure life (verse 49); Jesus
was the Bread from heaven which conferred eternal life (verses 35, 41, 48, 50, 51).
His atonement secured the Holy Spirit, who works regeneration, to experience which
is to enter into life. This is what Christ means in verse 51.
VI. THE CONDITIONS OF OUR SECURING JESUS AS OUR LIFE (verses 34-36).
1. The Divine condition. The Holy Spirit must convict, enlighten, draw (verses 37,
45).
2. The human condition. Man must come of His own free will (verses 35, 36, 53).
VII. JESUS THE EXECUTOR OF THE FATHER’S WILL (verses 37-40). This will
was to secure eternal life to all believers. Those who do not take Jesus as the source
of their life perish through unbelief. All who do are kept in perfect safety. This is
God’s will, and Christ is able to execute it. (A. H. Moment.)
Jesus the Bread of Life
I. A TRUE MIRACLE MAY FAIL TO PRODUCE ANY RELIGION, in which case it
fails of its chief purpose. This one simply stimulated an appetite for loaves and fishes,
without stimulating gratitude for those already given.
II. THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN GREAT MANIFESTATIONS OF POWER IS TO
TURN ATTENTION TO THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST (chap. 5:36). The works
of God in creation and government have no greater end than this. We do not please
God by admiring His work in nature, in being awed by miracles; but in being led by
the gift of daily bread to faith in Him who is the Bread of Life.
III. A WONDERFUL PYRAMID OF PROMISES POINTS THE SINNER TO A
PERSONAL SAVIOUR (Joh_6:35; Joh 6:37).
IV. THE PERSONAL FAITH IN CHRIST DETERMINES THE CHARACTER OF
OUR PERSONAL RESURRECTION. Four times in this chapter Christ repeats this,
or a similar refrain: “I will raise him up at the last day.” Whether we share the
resurrection of shame and everlasting contempt spoken of by Daniel, or that which
causes us to shine as the brightness of the firmament, will depend on our faith in
Christ now. (Monday Club.)
.
The meat that endureth
I. CHRIST’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN HEART is seen in exposing the false
motives of those who followed Him. So now He reads all secret thoughts (1Sa_16:7).
The folly of hypocrisy is as great as its sinfulness. It is not hard to deceive the wisest
of men; but it is impossible to deceive Christ (Rev_1:14; Joh_21:17).
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108. II. WHAT CHRIST FORBIDS. Labour for the meat that perisheth.
1. Our Lord did not mean to encourage idleness. Labour was the lot of Adam in
his innocence, and of Christ Himself.
2. Our Lord rebuked excessive attention to the body to the neglect of the soul.
One thing is needful (Mat_6:33).
III. WHAT CHRIST ADVISES. Labour for this meat that endureth.
1. How are we to labour? In the use of the appointed means. Bible study, prayer,
struggling against sin, etc.
2. Labour like this is uncommon. In prosecuting it we shall have little
encouragement from men, but much from Christ (Mat_11:12).
IV. WHAT A PROMISE CHRIST HOLDS OUT (Joh_6:27). Whatever we need,
Christ is willing to bestow. He has been sent for the very purpose. (Bishop Ryle.)
Tiberias—A city of Galilee, in the most beautiful part of it, on the western shore of
the lake. It was named by Herod Antipas, in honour of the Emperor Tiberius. It was
the capital of the province, from its origin until the reign of Herod Agrippa
II. Many of its inhabitants were Greeks and Romans, and hence foreign customs
prevailed. Our Lord, who spent much of His time in Galilee, appears never to have
visited this city—probably because Herod, the murderer of John the Baptist, chiefly
resided in it. After the dissolution of the State, it was for several centuries the seat of
a renowned Jewish school, and one of the four sacred cities, Here the Mishna was
compiled (A.D. 190) by the Rabbi Judah Hakkodesh, and the Masorah originated in
a great measure at Tiberius. Coins of the city are still extant of the times of Tiberius,
Trajan, and Hadrian. The ancient name has survived in that of the modern Tubarieh,
which occupies the original site. Near it are the warm baths, which the Roman
writers reckoned among the greatest curiosities in the world. The population at
present is between 8,000 and 4,000, and the town is the most mean and miserable in
all Palestine—a picture of disgusting filth and frightful wretchedness. (W. H. Van
Doren, D. D.)
23
Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place
where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord
had given thanks.
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109. BARNES, "There came other boats - After the disciples had departed. This is
added because, from what follows, it appears that they supposed that he had entered
one of those boats and gone to Capernaum after his disciples had departed.
From Tiberias - This town stood on the western borders of the lake, not far from
where the miracle had been performed. It was so called in honor of the Emperor
Tiberius. It was built by Herod Antipas, and was made by him the capital of Galilee.
The city afterward became a celebrated seat of Jewish learning. It is now called
Tabaria, and is a considerable place. It is occupied chiefly by Turks, and is very hot
and unhealthy. Mr. Fisk, an American missionary, was at Tiberius (Tabaria) in 1823.
The old town is surrounded by a wall, but within it is very ruinous, and the plain for a
mile or two south is strewed with ruins. The Jordan, where it issues from the lake,
was so shallow that cattle and asses forded it easily. Mr. Fisk was shown a house
called the house of Peter, which is used as the Greek Catholic church, and is the only
church in the place. The number of Christian families is 30 or 40, all Greek Catholics.
There were two sects of Jews, each of whom had a synagogue.
The Jewish population was estimated at about 1,000. On the 1st of January, 1837,
Tiberius was destroyed by an earthquake. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol.
ii. pp. 76, 77) says of this city: “Ever since the destruction of Jerusalem, it has been
chiefly celebrated in connection with the Jews, and was for a long time the chief seat
of rabbinical learning. It is still one of their four holy cities. Among the Christians it
also early rose to distinction, and the old church, built upon the spot where our Lord
gave his last charge to Peter, is a choice bit of ecclesiastical antiquity. The present city
is situated on the shore, at the northeast corner of this small plain. The walls inclose
an irregular parallelogram, about 100 rods from north to south, and in width not
more than 40. They were strengthened by ten round towers on the west, five on the
north, and eight on the south. There were also two or three towers along the shore to
protect the city from attack by sea. Not much more than one-half of this small area is
occupied by buildings of any kind, and the north end, which is a rocky hill, has
nothing but the ruins of the old palace.
The earthquake of 1837 prostrated a large part of the walls, and they have not yet
been repaired, and perhaps never will be. There is no town in Syria so utterly filthy as
Tiberius, or so little to be desired as a residence. Being 600 feet below the level of the
ocean, and overhung on the west by a high mountain, which effectually shuts off the
Mediterranean breezes, it is fearfully hot in summer. The last time I was encamped at
the Baths the thermometer stood at 100ø at midnight, and a steam went up from the
surface of the lake as from some huge, smouldering volcano. Of course it swarms
with all sorts of vermin. What can induce human beings to settle down in such a
place? And yet some 2,000 of our race make it their chosen abode. They are chiefly
Jews, attracted hither either to cleanse their leprous bodies in her baths, or to purify
their unclean spirits by contact with her traditionary and ceremonial holiness.”
CLARKE, "There came other boats - After Jesus and his disciples had
departed.
From Tiberias - Herod Antipas built this city near the lake of Genesaret, in the
best parts of Galilee, and called it Tiberias, in honor of Tiberius, the Roman emperor:
see Jos. Ant. book xviii. chap. 2. sect. 3.
GILL, "Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias,.... A city by the sea
side, built by Herod, and called so in honour of Tiberius Caesar; though the Jews give
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110. a different etymology of it; they say, it is the same with Rakkath, Jos_19:35, and that
it was a fortified place from the days of Joshua, and that on one side, ‫חומתה‬ ‫,ימה‬ "the
sea was its wall" (d): and so Jonathan the Targumist on Deu_3:17 says, that Tiberias
was near the sea of salt: this place became famous for many of the wise men that
lived here; here was a famous university, and here the Misna and Jerusalem Talmud
were written; and here the sanhedrim sat, after it removed from Jerusalem:
nigh unto the place where they did eat bread; where the day before they had
been fed in so miraculous a manner: the meaning is, either that Tiberias was near to
the place where the miracle was wrought, or the boats from Tiberias came near that
place, and both were true: so that these men that were waiting by the sea side, had an
opportunity of going over in these boats in quest of Christ, to whom they were now
become greatly attached, by feeding them in so wonderful a manner:
after that the Lord had given thanks; which clause is added to show, that the
multiplication of the bread, and the refreshment the men had by it, were owing to the
power of Christ, and his blessing it; though this is wanting in Beza's most ancient
copy, and in some others.
HENRY, "In these verses we have,
I. The careful enquiry which the people made after Christ, Joh_6:23, Joh_6:24.
They saw the disciples go to sea; they saw Christ retire to the mountain, probably
with an intimation that he desired to be private for some time; but, their hearts being
set upon making him a king, they way-laid his return, and the day following, the hot
fit of their zeal still continuing,
1. They were much at a loss for him. He was gone, and they knew not what was
become of him. They saw there was no boat there but that in which the disciples went
off, Providence so ordering it for the confirming of the miracle of his walking on the
sea, for there was no boat for him to go in. They observed also that Jesus did not go
with his disciples, but that they went off alone, and left him among them on their side
of the water. Note, Those that would find Christ must diligently observe all his
motions, and learn to understand the tokens of his presence and absence, that they
may steer accordingly.
2. They were very industrious in seeking him. They searched the places
thereabouts, and when they saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples (neither
he nor any one that could give tidings of him), they resolved to search elsewhere.
Note, Those that would find Christ must accomplish a diligent search, must seek till
they find, must go from sea to sea, to seek the word of God, rather than live without
it; and those whom Christ has feasted with the bread of life should have their souls
carried out in earnest desires towards him. Much would have more, in communion
with Christ. Now, (1.) They resolved to go to Capernaum in quest of him. There were
his head-quarters, where he usually resided. Thither his disciples were gone; and
they knew he would not be long absent from them. Those that would find Christ must
go forth by the footsteps of the flock. (2.) Providence favoured them with an
opportunity of going thither by sea, which was the speediest way; for there came
other boats from Tiberias, which lay further off upon the same shore, nigh, though
not so nigh to the place where they did eat bread, in which they might soon make a
trip to Capernaum, and probably the boats were bound for that port. Note, Those
that in sincerity seek Christ, and seek opportunities of converse with him, are
commonly owned and assisted by Providence in those pursuits. The evangelist,
having occasion to mention their eating the multiplied bread, adds, After that the
Lord had given thanks, Joh_6:11. So much were the disciples affected with their
110

111. Master's giving thanks that they could never forget the impressions made upon them
by it, but took a pleasure in remembering the gracious words that then proceeded out
of his mouth. This was the grace and beauty of that meal, and made it remarkable;
their hearts burned within them.
JAMISON, "Howbeit, etc. — “Howbeit,” adds the Evangelist, in a lively
parenthesis, “there came other boats from Tiberias” (which lay near the southwest
coast of the lake), whose passengers were part of the multitude that had followed
Jesus to the east side, and been miraculously fed; these boats were fastened
somewhere (says the Evangelist)
nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had
given thanks — thus he refers to the glorious “miracle of the loaves” - and now they
were put in requisition to convey the people back again to the west side. For when
“the people saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took
shipping [in these boats] and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.”
CALVIN, "23.Near the place where they had eaten bread. The meaning of the
words is doubtful; for they may be explained, either that Tiberias was near the
place where Christ had fed them with five loaves, or that the ships reached the
shore which was near and below that place. I approve more highly of the latter
exposition; for Bethsaida, near which Luke states that the miracle was
performed, is half-way between Tiberias and Capernaum. Accordingly, when
ships came down from that place, which was farther up the lake, they sailed
along that shore on which the multitude were standing; and there can be no
doubt that they came to land for the purpose of taking in passengers.
After that the Lord had given thanks. When John again mentions that Christ
gave thanks, it is not a superfluous repetition; for he means that Christ obtained
by prayer that those few loaves were sufficient for feeding so many people; and
as we are cold and indolent in prayer, he presses upon us the same thing a second
time.
24
Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his
disciples were there, they got into the boats and went
to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
BARNES, "Took shipping - Went into the boats.
Came to Capernaum - This was the ordinary place of the residence of Jesus, and
111

112. they therefore expected to find him there.
CLARKE, "They also took shipping - That is, as many of them as could get
accommodated with boats took them and thus got to Capernaum; but many others
doubtless went thither on foot, as it is not at all likely that five or six thousand
persons could get boats enow to carry them.
GILL, "When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there,.... At the
sea side, at the usual place of taking boat; and having reason to think he was not on
that side of the lake, but was gone from thence:
neither his disciples; when they found that there were neither of them there, but
both were gone, and considering that it was to no purpose for them to stay there:
they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus; they might
observe, that the disciples steered their course towards this place; and they knew that
was a place of general resort with Christ and his disciples; therefore they took boat
and came directly thither, and sought for him in the synagogue, it being on a day in
which the people used to go thither; and where Christ, as often as he had
opportunity, attended.
HENRY, "3. They laid hold of the opportunity that offered itself, and they also
took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. They did not defer, in
hopes to see him again on this side the water; but their convictions being strong, and
their desires warm, they followed him presently. Good motions are often crushed,
and come to nothing, for want of being prosecuted in time. They came to Capernaum,
and, for aught that appears, these unsound hypocritical followers of Christ had a
calm and pleasant passage, while his sincere disciples had a rough and stormy one.
It is not strange if it fare worst with the best men in this evil world. They came,
seeking Jesus. Note, Those that would find Christ, and find comfort in him, must be
willing to take pains, and, as here, to compass sea and land to seek and serve him
who came from heaven to earth to seek and save us.
JAMISON, "the people which stood on the other side of the sea — not the
whole multitude that had been fed, but only such of them as remained over night
about the shore, that is, on the east side of the lake; for we are supposed to have
come, with Jesus and His disciples in the ship, to the west side, to Capernaum.
saw that there was none other boat there, etc. — The meaning is, the people
had observed that there had been only one boat on the east side where they were;
namely, the one in which the disciples had crossed at night to the other, the west
side, and they had also observed that Jesus had not gone on board that boat, but His
disciples had put off without Him:
25
When they found him on the other side of the lake,
112

113. they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
CLARKE, "On the other side of the sea - That is, on the sea coast, to the
northward of it, where Capernaum lies in the land of Genesaret: but see the note, on
Joh_6:17, Joh_6:22. It was in one of the synagogues of Capernaum that he delivered
the following discourse: see Joh_6:59.
GILL, "And when they had found him on the other side of the sea,.... At
Capernaum, and in the synagogue there; see Joh_6:59.
They said unto him, Rabbi; or "master", a name now much in use with the Jewish
doctors, and by which they delighted to be called; and these men being convinced by
the miracle, that Christ was that prophet that should come, honour him with this
title, saying,
when camest thou hither? since he did not go with his disciples, and there was no
other boat that went off the night before, but that in which they went; and they came
over in the first that came out that morning, and he did not come in any of them; and
therefore it was amazing to them, both when and how he came, since they could not
devise how he should get there by shipping, and also how he should so soon get there
on foot.
HENRY, "II. The success of this enquiry: They found him on the other side of the
sea, Joh_6:25. Note, Christ will be found of those that seek him, first or last; and it is
worth while to cross a sea, nay, to go from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends
of the earth, to seek Christ, if we may but find him at last. These people appeared
afterwards to be unsound, and not actuated by any good principle, and yet were thus
zealous. Note, Hypocrites may be very forward in their attendance on God's
ordinances. If men have no more to show for their love to Christ than their running
after sermons and prayers, and their pangs of affection to good preaching, they have
reason to suspect themselves no better than this eager crowd. But though these
people were no better principled, and Christ knew it, yet he was willing to be found of
them, and admitted them into fellowship with him. If we could know the hearts of
hypocrites, yet, while their profession is plausible, we must not exclude them from
our communion, much less when we do not know their hearts.
JAMISON, "when they had found him on the other side — at Capernaum.
they said, etc. — astonished at His being there, and wondering how He could
have accomplished it, whether by land or water, and when He came; for being quite
unaware of His having walked upon the sea and landed with the disciples in the ship,
they could not see how, unless He had traveled all night round the head of the lake
alone, He could have reached Capernaum, and even then, how He could have arrived
before themselves.
CALVIN, "25.On the other side of the sea. We have already said that
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114. Capernaum was not situated on the opposite shore; for Tiberias is situated on
that part of the lake where it is broadest, Bethsaida follows next, and
Capernaum lies near the lowest part, not far from where the river Jordan issues
from the lake. Now, when John places it on the other side of the lake itself, we
must not understand him as if its position were directly across, but because, at
the lower extremity, the lake made a large winding, and, on account of the bay
that intervened, it was impossible to go by land without a very circuitous
journey. The Evangelist therefore says, on the other side of the sea, adopting the
mode of expression used by the common people, because the only direct and
ordinary mode of conveyance was by a boat.
26
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking
for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but
because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
BARNES, "Ye seek me, not because ... - The miracles which Jesus performed
were proofs that he came from God. To seek him because they had seen them, and
were convinced by them that he was the Messiah, would have been proper; but to
follow him simply because their wants were supplied was mere selfishness of a gross
kind. Yet, alas! many seek religion from no better motive than this. They suppose
that it will add to their earthly happiness, or they seek only to escape from suffering
or from the convictions of conscience, or they seek for heaven only as a place of
enjoyment, and regard religion as valuable only for this. All this is mere selfishness.
Religion does not forbid our regarding our own happiness, or seeking it in any proper
way; but when this is the only or the prevailing motive, it is evident that we have
never yet sought God aright. We are aiming at the loaves and fishes, and not at the
honor of God and the good of his kingdom; and if this is the only or the main motive
of our entering the church, we cannot be Christians.
CLARKE, "Ye seek me, not because ye saw, etc. - Though the miracle of the
loaves was one of the most astonishing that ever was wrought upon earth; and
though this people had, by the testimony of all their senses, the most convincing
proof of its reality; yet we find many of them paid little attention to it, and regarded
the omnipotent hand of God in it no farther than it went to satisfy the demands of
their appetite! Most men are willing to receive temporal good from the hands of God;
but there are few, very few, who are willing to receive spiritual blessings.
GILL, "Jesus answered them and said,.... Not by replying to their question, or
114

115. giving a direct answer to that, which he could have done, by telling them that he
walked upon the water, and found his disciples in great distress, and delivered them,
and came early that morning with them to the land of Gennesaret, and so to
Capernaum: but not willing to gratify their curiosity; and knowing from what
principles, and with what views they sought after him, and followed him; and willing
to let them know that he knew them, being the searcher of hearts, and to reprove
them for them, thus addressed them:
verily, verily, I say unto you; this is a certain truth, and was full well known to
Christ, and what their own consciences must attest:
ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles; of feeding so large a number with
so small a quantity of food, and of healing them that needed it, Luk_9:11. Not but
that they did regard the miracles of Christ, and concluded from thence he must be
that prophet that was to come, and were for taking him by force, and proclaiming
him king; but then they had a greater respect to their own worldly interest, and their
carnal appetites, than to these, as follows:
but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled; they regarded their own
bellies more than the honour and glory of Christ, and even than the good of their
immortal souls, and the spiritual and eternal salvation of them: and it is to be feared
that this is the case of too many who make a profession of religion; their view being
their own worldly advantages, and not the spiritual and everlasting good of their
souls, and the real interest of a Redeemer: hence the following advice.
HENRY, "1. He discovers the corrupt principle they acted from in following him
(Joh_6:26): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I that search the heart, and know what is
in man, I the Amen, the faithful witness, Rev_3:14, Rev_3:15. You seek me; that is
well, but it is not from a good principle.” Christ knows not only what we do, but why
we do it. These followed Christ, (1.) Not for his doctrine's sake: Not because you saw
the miracles. The miracles were the great confirmation of his doctrine; Nicodemus
sought for him for the sake of them (Joh_3:2), and argued from the power of his
works to the truth of his word; but these were so stupid and mindless that they never
considered this. But, (2.) It was for their own bellies' sake: Because you did eat of the
loaves, and were filled; not because he taught them, but because he fed them. He
had given them, [1.] A full meal's meat: They did eat, and were filled; and some of
them perhaps were so poor that they had not known of a long time before now what
it was to have enough, to eat and leave. [2.] A dainty meal's meat; it is probable that,
as the miraculous wine was the best wine, so was the miraculous food more than
usually pleasant. [3.] A cheap meal's meat, that cost them nothing; no reckoning was
brought in. Note, Many follow Christ for loaves, and not for love. Thus those do who
aim at secular advantage in their profession of religion, and follow it because by this
craft they get their preferments. Quantis profuit nobis haec fabula de Christo - This
fable respecting Christ, what a gainful concern we have made of it! said one of the
popes. These people complimented Christ with Rabbi, and showed him great respect,
yet he told them thus faithfully of their hypocrisy; his ministers must hence learn not
to flatter those that flatter them, nor to be bribed by fair words to cry peace to all that
cry rabbi to them, but to give faithful reproofs where there is cause for them.
JAMISON, "Ye seek me, etc. — Jesus does not put them through their
difficulty, says nothing of His treading on the waves of the sea, nor even notices their
question, but takes advantage of the favorable moment for pointing out to them how
forward, flippant, and superficial were their views, and how low their desires. “Ye
115

116. seek Me not because ye saw the miracles” - literally, “the signs,” that is, supernatural
tokens of a higher presence, and a divine commission, “but because ye did eat of the
loaves and were filled.” From this He proceeds at once to that other Bread, just as,
with the woman of Samaria, to that other Water (Joh_4:9-15). We should have
supposed all that follows to have been delivered by the wayside, or wherever they
happened first to meet. But from Joh_6:59 we gather that they had probably met
about the door of the synagogue - “for that was the day in which they assembled in
their synagogues” [Lightfoot] - and that on being asked, at the close of the service, if
He had any word of exhortation to the people, He had taken the two breads, the
perishing and the living bread, for the subject of His profound and extraordinary
discourse.
CALVIN, "26.Jesus answered them. Christ does not reply to the question put to
him, which would have been fitted to show to them his power in having come
thither by a miracle. (134) But, on the contrary, he chides them for throwing
themselves forward without consideration; for they were not acquainted with the
true and proper reason of what he did, because they sought in Christ something
else than Christ himself. The fault which he complains of in them is, that they
seek Christ for the sake of the belly and not of the miracles And yet it cannot be
denied that they looked to the miracle; nay more, the Evangelist has already told
us that they were excited by the miracles to follow Christ. But because they
abused the miracles for an improper purpose, he justly reproaches them with
having a greater regard to the belly than to miracles. His meaning was, that they
did not profit by the works of God as they ought to have done; for the true way
of profiting would have been to acknowledge Christ as the Messiah in such a
manner as to surrender themselves to be taught and governed by him, and,
under his guidance, to aspire to the heavenly kingdom of God. On the contrary,
they expect nothing greater from him than to live happily and at ease in this
world. This is to rob Christ of his chief power; for the reason why he was given
by the Father and revealed himself to men is, that he may form them anew after
the image of God by giving them his Holy Spirit, and that he may conduct them
to eternal life by clothing them with his righteousness.
It is of great importance, therefore, what we keep in view in the miracles of
Christ; for he who does not aspire to the kingdom of God, but rests satisfied with
the conveniences of the present life, seeks nothing else than to fill his belly. In
like manner, there are many persons in the present day who would gladly
embrace the gospel, if it were free from the bitterness of the cross, and if it
brought nothing but carnal pleasures. Nay,we see many who make a Christian
profession, that they may live in greater gaiety and with less restraint. Some
through the expectation of gain, others through fear, and others for the sake of
those whom they wish to please, profess to be the disciples of Christ. In seeking
Christ, therefore, the chief point is, to despise the world and
seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
(Matthew 6:33.)
Besides, as men very generally impose on themselves, and persuade themselves
that they are seeking Christ in the best manner, while they debase the whole of
his power, for this reason Christ, in his usual manner, doubles the word verily,
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117. as if by the oath he intended to bring to light the vice which lurks under our
hypocrisy.
27
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that
endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give
you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of
approval."
BARNES, "Labour not - This does not mean that we are to make no effort for
the supply of our wants (compare 1Ti_5:1; 2Th_3:10), but that we are not to manifest
anxiety, we are not to make this the main or supreme object of our desire. See the
notes at Mat_6:25.
The meat that perisheth - The food for the supply of your natural needs. It
perishes. The strength you derive from it is soon exhausted, and your wasted powers
need to be reinvigorated.
That meat which endureth - The supply of your spiritual wants; that which
supports, and nourishes, and strengthens the soul; the doctrines of the gospel, that
are to a weak and guilty soul what needful food is to the weary and decaying body.
To everlasting life - The strength derived from the doctrines of the gospel is not
exhausted. It endures without wasting away. It nourishes the soul to everlasting life.
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall run and not be
weary, and shall walk and not faint,” Isa_40:31.
Him hath God the Father sealed - To seal is to confirm or approve as ours.
This is done when we set our seal to a compact, or deed, or testament, by which we
ratify it as our act. So God the Father, by the miracles which had been performed by
Jesus, had shown that he had sent him, that he approved his doctrines, and ratified
his works. The miracles were to his doctrine what a seal is to a written instrument.
See the notes at Joh_3:33.
CLARKE, "Labor not for the meat - That is, for that only, but also for the
bread, etc. Our Lord wills every man to be active and diligent in that employment in
which providence has placed him; but it is his will also that that employment, and all
the concerns of life, should be subservient to the interest of his soul.
But for that meat, etc. - He who labors not, in the work of his salvation, is never
likely to enter into the kingdom of God. Though our labor cannot purchase it, either
in whole or in part, yet it is the way in which God chooses to give salvation; and he
that will have heaven must strive for it. Every thing that can be possessed, except the
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118. salvation of God, is a perishing thing: this is its essential character: it can last to us
no longer than the body lasts. But, when the earth and its produce are burnt up, this
bread of Christ, his grace and salvation, will be found remaining unto eternal life.
This is the portion after which an immortal spirit should seek.
Him hath God the Father sealed - By this expression, our Lord points out the
commission which, as the Messiah, he received from the Father, to be prophet and
priest to an ignorant, sinful world. As a person who wishes to communicate his mind
to another who is at a distance writes a letter, seals it with his own seal, and sends it
directed to the person for whom it was written, so Christ, who lay in the bosom of the
Father, came to interpret the Divine will to man, bearing the image, superscription,
and seal of God, in the immaculate holiness of his nature, unsullied truth of his
doctrine, and in the astonishing evidence of his miracles. But he came also as a
priest, to make an atonement for sin; and the bread which nourishes unto eternal life,
he tells us, Joh_6:51, is his body, which he gives for the life of the world; and to this
sacrifice of himself, the words, him hath God the Father sealed, seem especially to
relate. It certainly was a custom, among nations contiguous to Judea, to set a seal
upon the victim which was deemed proper for sacrifice. The following account of the
method of providing white bulls among the Egyptians, for sacrifices to their god
Apis, taken from Herodotus, Euterpe, b. ii. p. 117, casts much light upon this place.
“They sacrifice white bulls to Apis; and for that reason make the following trial. If
they find one black hair upon him, they consider him as unclean: that they may know
this with certainty, the priest appointed for this purpose views every part of the
animal, both standing and lying on the ground. After this, he draws out his tongue, to
see if he be clean by certain signs: in the last place, he looks upon the hairs of his tail,
that he may be sure they are as by nature they should be. If, after this search, the bull
is found unblemished, he signifies it by tying a label to his horns; then, having
applied wax, he seals it with his ring, and they lead him away: for it is death to
sacrifice one of these animals, unless he have been marked with such a seal.
The Jews could not be unacquainted with the rites and ceremonies of the Egyptian
worship; and it is possible that such precautions as these were in use among
themselves, especially as they were so strictly enjoined to have their sacrifices
without Spot, and without blemish. Infinite justice found Jesus Christ to be without
spot or blemish, and therefore sealed, pointed out and accepted him, as a proper
sacrifice and atonement for the sin of the whole world. Collate with this passage,
Heb_7:26-28; Eph_5:27; 2Pe_3:14; and especially Heb_9:13, Heb_9:14 : For if the
blood of Bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth - how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself Without Spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works! The
rabbins talk much of the seal of God, which they suppose to be ‫אמת‬ emeth, or truth;
and that this is a representation of the unoriginated and endless perfections of God.
This doctrine is just; but their method of proving it is not so satisfactory. Aleph ‫,א‬ say
they, is the first letter of the alphabet; mem ‫מ‬ the middle; and tau ‫ת‬ the last: these
three letters make ‫אמת‬ emeth, Truth, because God is the first - there was none before
him; he is the middle - none mingles with him; and he is the last - there can be none
after him. Hieros. Sanhed. fol. 18. See also 1Pe_1:18, 1Pe_1:19.
GILL, "Labour not for the meat which perisheth,.... Meaning either food for
the body, which is perishing; its virtue is perishing; man cannot live by it alone, nor
does it last long; its substance is perishing; it is received into the stomach, and there
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119. digested; it goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught; and that which it
supports, for a while, is perishing; and both the one, and the other, shall be
destroyed; even meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: now, though it becomes
men to work for their bread, to provide it for themselves and families; yet they
should not be anxiously solicitous about it, or labour only for that, and prefer it to
spiritual food: or else food for the mind is meant, and that either in a sensual way, as
sinful lust and pleasures, the honours of this world, and the riches of it; which are
sweet morsels, though bread of deceit, to carnal minds, and which they labour hard
for: or, in a religious way, as superstition, will worship, external works of
righteousness, in order to please God, and obtain eternal life and salvation; which to
labour for in such a way, is to spend money for that which is not bread, and labour
for that which profiteth not; and in each of these ways were these Jews labouring for
perishing food, from which Christ dissuades them:
but for that which endureth unto everlasting life; either the grace of Christ,
which, as meat, is quickening and refreshing, strengthening and supporting, and
which causes nourishment and growth, and by virtue of which work is done; and this
springs up unto everlasting life, and is inseparably connected with it; and particularly
the blessings of grace, such as sanctification, adoption, pardon, and justification: or
the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, which are refreshing, and strengthening, and by
which the saints are nourished up unto everlasting life; or rather the flesh of Christ
eaten, in a spiritual sense, by faith, of which Christ so largely discourses in the
following part of the chapter:
which the son of man shall give unto you; meaning either everlasting life,
which is in Christ's gift, and is a free grace gift of his; or else the meat which endures
unto it: for though it is to be laboured for, not so as to prepare it, or to purchase it,
but by asking for it in prayer, and by attending on ordinances, and exercising faith on
Christ; yet it is his gift, and he gives it freely; grace, and the blessings of it, are freely
given by him, and so are the Gospel and its ordinances; and also his own flesh, which
is first given by him, by way of sacrifice, in the room and stead of his people, and for
the life of them, Joh_6:51; and then it is given unto them to feed upon spiritually by
faith, and which is here designed:
for him hath God the Father sealed; designated and appointed to be the
Saviour, and Redeemer of his people, and has sent, authorized, and commissioned
him as such; and has made him known, and approved of him, by the descent of the
Spirit on him, and by a voice from heaven, declaring him his beloved Son; and has
confirmed him to be the Messiah by the miraculous works he gave him to finish; for
all which several uses seals are, as to distinguish one thing from another, to render
anything authentic, to point it out, or to confirm it.
HENRY, "2. He directs them to better principles (Joh_6:27): Labour for that
meat which endures to everlasting life. With the woman of Samaria he had
discoursed of spiritual things under the similitude of water; here he speaks of them
under the similitude of meat, taking occasion from the loaves they had eaten. His
design is,
(1.) To moderate our worldly pursuits: Labour not for the meat that perishes. This
does not forbid honest labour for food convenient, 2Th_3:12. But we must not make
the things of this world our chief care and concern. Note, [1.] The things of the world
are meat that perishes. Worldly wealth, honour, and pleasure, are meat; they feed
the fancy (and many times this is all) and fill the belly. These are things which mean
hunger after as meat, and glut themselves with, and which a carnal heart, as long as
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120. they last, may make a shift to live upon; but they perish, are of a perishing nature,
wither of themselves, and are exposed to a thousand accidents; those that have the
largest share of them are not sure to have them while they live, but are sure to leave
them and lose them when they die. [2.] It is therefore folly for us inordinately to
labour after them. First, We must not labour in religion, nor work the works thereof,
for this perishing meat, with an eye to this; we must not make our religion
subservient to a worldly interest, nor aim at secular advantages in sacred exercises.
Secondly, We must not at all labour for this meat; that is, we must not make these
perishing things our chief good, nor make our care and pains about them our chief
business; not seek those things first and most, Pro_23:4, Pro_23:5.
(2.) To quicken and excite our gracious pursuits: “Bestow your pains to better
purpose, and labour for that meat which belongs to the soul,” of which he shows,
[1.] That it is unspeakably desirable: It is meat which endures to everlasting life;
it is a happiness which will last as long as we must, which not only itself endures
eternally, but will nourish us up to everlasting life. The blessings of the new covenant
are our preparative for eternal life, our preservative to it, and the pledge and earnest
of it.
[2.] It is undoubtedly attainable. Shall all the treasures of the world be ransacked,
and all the fruits of the earth gathered together, to furnish us with provisions that
will last to eternity? No, The sea saith, It is not in me, among all the treasures hidden
in the sand. It cannot be gotten for gold; but it is that which the Son of man shall
give; hēn dōsei, either which meat, or which life, the Son of man shall give. Observe
here, First, Who gives this meat: the Son of man, the great householder and master
of the stores, who is entrusted with the administration of the kingdom of God among
men, and the dispensation of the gifts, graces, and comforts of that kingdom, and has
power to give eternal life, with all the means of it and preparatives for it. We are told
to labour for it, as if it were to be got by our own industry, and sold upon that
valuable consideration, as the heathen said, Dii laboribus omnia vendunt - The gods
sell all advantages to the industrious. But when we have laboured ever so much for
it, we have not merited it as our hire, but the Son of man gives it. And what more free
than gift? It is an encouragement that he who has the giving of it is the Son of man,
for then we may hope the sons of men that seek it, and labour for it, shall not fail to
have it. Secondly, What authority he has to give it; for him has God the Father
sealed, touton gar ho Patēr esphragisen ho Theos - for him the Father has sealed
(proved and evidenced) to be God; so some read it; he has declared him to be the Son
of God with power. He has sealed him, that is, has given him full authority to deal
between God and man, as God's ambassador to man and man's intercessor with
God, and has proved his commission by miracles. Having given him authority, he
has given us assurance of it; having entrusted him with unlimited powers, he has
satisfied us with undoubted proofs of them; so that as he might go on with
confidence in his undertaking for us, so may we in our resignations to him. God the
Father scaled him with the Spirit that rested on him, by the voice from heaven, by
the testimony he bore to him in signs and wonders. Divine revelation is perfected in
him, in him the vision and prophecy is sealed up (Dan_9:24), to him all believers
seal that he is true (Joh_3:33), and in him they are all sealed, 2Co_1:22.
JAMISON, "which the Son of man — taking that title of Himself which
denoted His incarnate life.
shall give unto you — in the sense of Joh_6:51.
him hath God the Father sealed — marked out and authenticated for that
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121. transcendent office, to impart to the world the bread of an everlasting life, and this in
the character of “the Son of man.”
CALVIN, "27.Labour for food, not that which perisheth. He shows to what
object our desires ought to be directed, namely, to eternal life; but because, in
proportion as our understandings are gross, we are always devoted to earthly
things, for this reason he corrects that disease which is natural to us, before he
points out what we ought to do. The simple doctrine would have been, “Labour
to have the incorruptible food;” but, knowing that the senses of men are held
bound by earthly cares, he first enjoins them to be loosed and freed from those
cords, that they may rise to heaven. Not that he forbids his followers to labor
that they may procure daily food; but he shows that the heavenly life ought to be
preferred to this earthly life, because the godly have no other reason for living
here than that, being sojourners in the world, they may travel rapidly towards
their heavenly country.
Next, we ought to see what is the present question; for, since the power of Christ
is debased by those who are devoted to the belly and to earthly things, he argues
what we ought to seek in him, and why we ought to seek it. He employs
metaphors adapted to the circumstances in which his sermon was delivered. If
food had not been mentioned, he would have said, without a figure, “You ought
to lay aside anxiety about the world, and strive to obtain the heavenly life.” But
as those men were running to their fodder like cattle, without looking to
anything better, (135) Christ presents his sermon in a metaphorical dress, and
gives the name of food to everything that belongs to newness of life. We know
that our souls are fed by the doctrine of the gospel, when it is efficacious in us by
the power of the Spirit; and, therefore, as faith is the life of the soul, all that
nourishes and promotes faith is compared tofood
Which endureth to eternal life. This kind of food he calls incorruptible, and says
that it endureth to eternal life, in order to inform us that our souls are not fed for
a day, but are nourished in the expectation of a blessed immortality; because the
Lord
commences the work of our salvation, that he may perform it till the day of
Christ, (Philippians 1:6.)
For this reason we must receive the gifts of the Spirit, that they may be earnests
and pledges of eternal life. For, though the reprobate, after having tasted this
food, frequently reject it, so that it is not permanent in them, yet believing souls
feel that enduring power, when they are made partakers of the power of the Holy
Spirit in his gifts, which is not of short duration, but, on the contrary, never fails.
It is a frivolous exercise of ingenuity to infer, as some do, from the word labor or
work, that we merit eternal life by our works; for Christ metaphorically exhorts
men, as we have said, to apply their minds earnestly to meditation on the
heavenly life, instead of cleaving to the world, as they are wont to do; and Christ
himself removes every doubt, when he declares that it is he who giveth the food;
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122. for what we obtain by his gift no man procures by his own industry. There is
undoubtedly some appearance of contradiction in these words; but we may easily
reconcile these two statements, that the spiritual food of the soul is the free gift of
Christ, and that we must strive with all the affections of our heart to become
partakers of so great a blessing.
For him hath God the Father sealed. He confirms the preceding statement, by
saying that he was appointed to us for that purpose by the Father. The ancient
writers have misinterpreted and tortured this passage, by maintaining that
Christ is said to be sealed, because he is the stamp and lively image of the Father.
For he does not here enter into abstruse discussions about his eternal essence,
but explains what he has been commissioned and enjoined to do, what is his
office in relation to us, and what we ought to seek and expect from him. By an
appropriate metaphor, he alludes to an ancient custom; for theysealed with
signets what they intended to sanction by their authority. Thus Christ — that it
may not appear as if he claimed anything of himself, or by private authority
(136) — declares that this office was enjoined on him by the Father, and that this
decree of the Father was manifested, as if a seal had been engraven on him. It
may be summed up thus: As it is not every person who has the ability or the
right (137) to feed souls with incorruptible food, Christ appears in public, and,
while he promises that he will be the Author of so great a blessing, he likewise
adds that he is approved by God, and that he has been sent to men with this
mark, which is, as it were, God’s seal or signet (138)
Hence it follows that the desire of those who shall present their souls to Christ, to
be fed by him, will not be disappointed. Let us know, therefore, that life is
exhibited to us in Christ, in order that each of us may aspire to it, not at random,
but with certainty of success. We are, at the same time, taught that all who
bestow this praise on any other than Christ are guilty of falsehood before God.
Hence it is evident that the Papists, in every part of their doctrine, are altogether
liars; for as often as they invent any means of salvation in the room of Christ, so
often do they — by erasing, as it were, the impression which has been made —
spoil and deface, with wicked presumption and base treachery, this seal of God,
which alone is authentic. That we may not fall into so dreadful a condemnation,
let us learn to keep pure and entire for Christ all that the Father has given to
him.
INTERVARSITY, "These folk had to work hard for their daily bread, so when
they found a miraculous source of food this was good news. But Jesus tries to
redirect their attention: Do not work for food that spoils (v. 27). Sure, they have
to work for a living, but what is their deeper vocation? Their focus is on physical
food, which is temporal. Like the manna in the wilderness, it does not last long.
But more profoundly, the life it nourishes is also all too brief. Our physical lives
of flesh and blood are given by God, and they are significant, but they are not the
whole story; this life is transitory. There is a food that endures to eternal life (v.
27); it does not rot but instead nourishes real life, divine life, life that continues
on forever. Jesus is repeating what he told the Samaritan woman: "Indeed, the
water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"
(4:14). What do we really hunger and thirst for (cf. Mt 5:6)? What is "blue
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123. chip"--of highest value--in our lives (cf. Ward 1994: 23-29)? Are we like this
crowd?
Jesus says the crowd is to work . . . for food that endures, but he also says that
this is food which the Son of Man will give you (v. 27). So it is both work and gift,
concepts that have often been thought to be in opposition to one another. The
Son of Man will give this food by giving his own life and also by providing a
means by which we may share in that life, as he explains later. Thus, the
reference to the Son of Man in this passage (cf. 6:53, 62) is part of the pattern in
this Gospel in which Son of Man refers to the Messiah from heaven who brings
God's life and judgment, especially through the cross (cf. comment on 3:13).
Verse 27 in the NIV does not represent the word because (gar), which is
important for understanding the reason Jesus, the Son of Man, can give eternal
life: the Son of Man will give you [food that endures to eternal life] because on
him God has placed his seal of approval. It is not clear what in particular the
Father's seal of approval refers to. Has placed his seal is in the aorist
(esphragisen), so it could refer to some particular event, such as the incarnation
or the baptism (1:33-34). It is similar to the references to the Father's bearing
witness to the Son (5:32, 37; 8:18). It means that Jesus is, as it were, the
authorized dealer. Constantly Jesus is reminding us, as spelled out in his keynote
address (5:19-30), that he is utterly dependent on the Father. This thought is
vital for understanding everything about Jesus, not least his role in giving eternal
life (cf. 6:57). It is the Father, the source of all, who has given Jesus the life that
he offers here (cf. 5:21, 26).
28
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the
works God requires?"
BARNES, "John 6:28-59
Whether this conference was with the Capernaites, in whose synagogue Christ now
was, or with those who came from the other side of the sea, is not certain nor
material; however, it is an instance of Christ's condescension that he gave them leave
to ask him questions, and did not resent the interruption as an affront, no, not from
his common hearers, though not his immediate followers. Those that would be apt to
teach must be swift to hear, and study to answer. It is the wisdom of teachers, when
they are asked even impertinent unprofitable questions, thence to take occasion to
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124. answer in that which is profitable, that the question may be rejected, but not the
request. Now,
I. Christ having told them that they must work for the meat he spoke of, must
labour for it, they enquire what work they must do, and he answers them, Joh_6:28,
Joh_6:29. 1. Their enquiry was pertinent enough (Joh_6:28): What shall we do,
that we may work the works of God? Some understand it as a pert question: “What
works of God can we do more and better than those we do in obedience to the law of
Moses?” But I rather take it as a humble serious question, showing them to be, at
least for the present, in a good mind, and willing to know and do their duty; and I
imagine that those who asked this question, How and What (Joh_6:30), and made
the request (Joh_6:34), were not the same persons with those that murmured (Joh_
6:41, Joh_6:42), and strove (Joh_6:52), for those are expressly called the Jews, who
came out of Judea (for those were strictly called Jews) to cavil, whereas these were of
Galilee, and came to be taught. This question here intimates that they were convinced
that those who would obtain this everlasting meat, (1.) Must aim to do something
great. Those who look high in their expectations, and hope to enjoy the glory of God,
must aim high in those endeavours, and study to do the works of God, works which
he requires and will accept, works of God, distinguished from the works of worldly
men in their worldly pursuits. It is not enough to speak the words of God, but we
must do the works of God. (2.) Must be willing to do any thing: What shall we do?
Lord, I am ready to do whatever thou shalt appoint, though ever so displeasing to
flesh and blood, Act_9:6. 2. Christ's answer was plain enough (Joh_6:29): This is the
work of God that ye believe. Note, (1.) The work of faith is the work of God. They
enquire after the works of God (in the plural number), being careful about many
things; but Christ directs them to one work, which includes all, the one thing
needful: that you believe, which supersedes all the works of the ceremonial law; the
work which is necessary to the acceptance of all the other works, and which produces
them, for without faith you cannot please God. It is God's work, for it is of his
working in us, it subjects the soul to his working on us, and quickens the soul in
working for him, (2.) That faith is the work of God which closes with Christ, and
relies upon him. It is to believe on him as one whom God hath sent, as God's
commissioner in the great affair of peace between God and man, and as such to rest
upon him, and resign ourselves to him. See Joh_14:1.
CLARKE, "That we might work the works of God? - That is, Divine works,
or such as God can approve.
GILL, "Then said they unto him,.... Understanding by what he said, that they
must labour and work, though not for perishing food, yet for durable food; and as
they imagined, in order to obtain eternal life by working:
what shall we do that we might work the works of God? Such as are
agreeable to his will, are acceptable to him, and well pleasing in his sight: they seem
to intimate, as if they desired to know whether there were any other works of this
kind, than what Moses had directed them to, or than they had done; and if there
were, they suggest they would gladly do them; for this was the general cast and
complexion of this people; they were seeking for righteousness, and life not by faith,
but, as it were, by the works of the law.
HENRY, "Whether this conference was with the Capernaites, in whose synagogue
Christ now was, or with those who came from the other side of the sea, is not certain
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125. nor material; however, it is an instance of Christ's condescension that he gave them
leave to ask him questions, and did not resent the interruption as an affront, no, not
from his common hearers, though not his immediate followers. Those that would be
apt to teach must be swift to hear, and study to answer. It is the wisdom of teachers,
when they are asked even impertinent unprofitable questions, thence to take
occasion to answer in that which is profitable, that the question may be rejected, but
not the request. Now,
I. Christ having told them that they must work for the meat he spoke of, must
labour for it, they enquire what work they must do, and he answers them, Joh_6:28,
Joh_6:29. 1. Their enquiry was pertinent enough (Joh_6:28): What shall we do,
that we may work the works of God? Some understand it as a pert question: “What
works of God can we do more and better than those we do in obedience to the law of
Moses?” But I rather take it as a humble serious question, showing them to be, at
least for the present, in a good mind, and willing to know and do their duty; and I
imagine that those who asked this question, How and What (Joh_6:30), and made
the request (Joh_6:34), were not the same persons with those that murmured (Joh_
6:41, Joh_6:42), and strove (Joh_6:52), for those are expressly called the Jews, who
came out of Judea (for those were strictly called Jews) to cavil, whereas these were of
Galilee, and came to be taught. This question here intimates that they were convinced
that those who would obtain this everlasting meat, (1.) Must aim to do something
great. Those who look high in their expectations, and hope to enjoy the glory of God,
must aim high in those endeavours, and study to do the works of God, works which
he requires and will accept, works of God, distinguished from the works of worldly
men in their worldly pursuits. It is not enough to speak the words of God, but we
must do the works of God. (2.) Must be willing to do any thing: What shall we do?
Lord, I am ready to do whatever thou shalt appoint, though ever so displeasing to
flesh and blood, Act_9:6. 2. Christ's answer was plain enough (Joh_6:29): This is the
work of God that ye believe. Note, (1.) The work of faith is the work of God. They
enquire after the works of God (in the plural number), being careful about many
things; but Christ directs them to one work, which includes all, the one thing
needful: that you believe, which supersedes all the works of the ceremonial law; the
work which is necessary to the acceptance of all the other works, and which produces
them, for without faith you cannot please God. It is God's work, for it is of his
working in us, it subjects the soul to his working on us, and quickens the soul in
working for him, (2.) That faith is the work of God which closes with Christ, and
relies upon him. It is to believe on him as one whom God hath sent, as God's
commissioner in the great affair of peace between God and man, and as such to rest
upon him, and resign ourselves to him. See Joh_14:1.
JAMISON, "What shall we do ... the works of God — such works as God will
approve. Different answers may be given to such a question, according to the spirit
which prompts the inquiry. (See Hos_6:6-8; Luk_3:12-14). Here our Lord, knowing
whom He had to deal with, shapes His reply accordingly.
CALVIN, "28. What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? The
multitude understood well enough that Christ had exhorted them to aim at
something higher than the conveniences of the present life, and that they ought
not to confine their attention to the earth, since God calls them to more valuable
blessings. But, in putting this question, they are partly mistaken by not
understanding the kind of labor; for they do not consider that God bestows upon
us, by the hand of the Son, all that is necessary for spiritual life. First, they ask
what they ought to do; and next, when they use the expression, the works of God,
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126. they do not understand what they say, and talk without any definite object. (139)
In this manner they manifest their ignorance of the grace of God. And yet they
appear here to murmur disdainfully against Christ, as if he were accusing them
groundlessly. “Dost thou suppose,” say they, “that we have no solicitude about
eternal life? Why, then, dost thou enjoin us to do what is beyond our power?” By
the works of God we must understand those which God demands, and of which
he approves.
BARCLAY, "THE ONLY TRUE WORK (John 6:28-29)
6:28-29 They said to him: "What are we to do to work the works of God?" Jesus
answered: "This is the work of God, to believe in him whom he has sent."
When Jesus spoke about the works of God, the Jews immediately thought in
terms of "good" works. It was their conviction that a man by living a good life
could earn the favour of God. They held that men could be divided into three
classes--those who were good, those who were bad and those who were in
between, who, by doing one more good work, could be transferred to the
category of the good. So when the Jews asked Jesus about the work of God they
expected him to lay down lists of things to do. But that is not what Jesus says at
all.
His answer is extremely compressed and we must expand it and see what lies
behind it. He said that God's work was to believe in him whom he had sent. Paul
would have put it this way--the one work that God desires from man is faith.
Now what does faith mean? It means being in such a relationship with God that
we are his friends, not terrified of him any more but knowing him as our Father
and our friend and giving him the trust and the obedience and the submission
which naturally arise from this new relationship. How does believing in Jesus tie
up with that? It is only because Jesus came to tell us that God is our Father and
loves us and wants nothing more than to forgive, that the old distance and
enmity are taken away and the new relationship with him made possible.
But that new relationship issues in a certain kind of life. Now we know what God
is like, our lives must answer to that knowledge. That answer will be in three
directions, each of which corresponds to what Jesus told us of God.
(i) God is love. Therefore in our lives there must be love and service of others
corresponding to the love and the service of God, and forgiveness of others
corresponding to his forgiveness of God.
(ii) God is holiness. Therefore in our lives there must be purity corresponding to
the holiness of God.
(iii) God is wisdom. Therefore in our lives there must be complete submission
and trust corresponding to the wisdom of God.
The essence of the Christian life is a new relationship to God, a relationship
offered by him and made possible by the revelation which Jesus gave us of him, a
relationship which issues in that service, purity and trust which are the reflection
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127. of God. This is the work which God wishes us and enables us to perform.
INTERVARSITY, "The crowd next asks, What must we do to do the works God
requires? (v. 28). This is an incredible question. How many Christians today
reach the height of this question? For how many of us is this a burning question?
How would we answer this question? Many would think of God's work as acting
morally or doing evangelism or apologetics or even worship. As important as all
of these are, Jesus goes to the heart of the matter, to the source from which all of
these vital aspects of eternal life flow--belief in the one sent by God. Without this
faith none of these activities benefit us. Our primary work is being receptive to
God. All our actions and plans are dependent on the most important action--
union with God in Christ by the Spirit. Ultimately it is not a matter of our
working for God, but a matter of God's living his life and doing his work
through us as we trust him and align ourselves with him by his grace (see
comment on 20:27-29).
So this question by the crowd shows that they have gained some understanding
since the conversation began in verse 25. They appear to be trying to get on
board with Jesus' teaching, for they are talking about the work of God. But they
are still missing the main point: they do not pick up on Jesus' revelation of
himself and of his role in giving them the food that endures to eternal life.
Instead of looking to the giver and the gift, they look to their own role.
Somewhere in the midst of trying to please God it is easy to lose sight of, and lose
trust in, God's own sovereign graciousness. Jesus' reply to their question sharply
refocuses their attention on trust in God and his grace--The work of God is this:
to believe in the one he has sent (v. 29). Once again Jesus describes himself by
referring to the Father who sent him. Everything the crowd has said and done
has failed to focus on the central figure, Jesus himself. Jesus, the Good Shepherd,
has finally gotten them to face in the right direction. It is not many works that
God requires but one work. And that work is to believe, to trust in Jesus as the
one sent from God, as God's unique Son who offers God's grace. Jesus' work is
to reveal the Father (cf. 4:34), and our work is to receive that revelation and
align our lives with it.
Once again we see the overwhelming grace of God and his amazing patience with
our dullness and stupidity. Just as he worked through the Samaritan woman's
misunderstandings to bring her to faith, so here he works with an unpromising
situation to get the people to see what is right before their eyes. This is great good
news for all of us, for we are also quite dull at times. We too can have stiff necks.
Fortunately, as John Shea has said, God has a stiffer neck! We can take great
comfort in his patience and the picture we see in this account of his working in
all human hearts. We can be assured that God is trying to break through to the
heart of every person we come in contact with, and he may want to use us in the
process.
While there is much comfort in what we see here in Jesus' dealings with the
crowd, we should not take false comfort. The folk in this crowd will end up
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128. rejecting Jesus. Indeed, almost all of Jesus' disciples will reject him by the end of
the chapter, at least for the present. God's patience is forever, but we can reject
him and reject the gift of life he offers. Jesus' presence not only brings the offer
of eschatological blessing, but also includes the threat of eschatological danger.
The stakes are high for us and everyone we meet.
Many Christians, as John Wesley said, have just enough religion to be miserable.
They are like this crowd, missing God's gift of life in his Son. They are not
experiencing abiding life, which will be described in this chapter. We, like this
crowd, need God's help to understand who Jesus is and what he offers us. We
also need help to appropriate this gift of divine life.Jesus Reveals the Source of
Life (6:30-40) Jesus has finally succeeded in directing the people's attention to
himself and to the necessity of faith in him. Now that their attention is fixed, he
reveals himself to them as the bread of life. Jesus speaks of a bread superior to
the bread that was provided for Israel in the desert, and the crowd says it wants
to receive this bread (vv. 30-34). Jesus then grants their request by revealing that
he himself is that bread (vv. 35-40). He speaks of the role of the divine call and
the human response in people's coming to faith, thereby challenging them to
believe in him, if indeed God is their God.
Jesus focused their attention on the importance of believing in the one sent by
God (6:29). As good Jews they are already aware of how important such faith is.
This is quite in keeping with their loyalty to Moses as the one sent from God
(5:45; 9:28-29). But they realize that Jesus is talking not about Moses, but about
himself (6:27). So they ask, What miraculous sign then will you give that we may
see it and believe you? What will you do? (v. 30). These are amazing questions,
for this crowd is actually willing to entertain the possibility that Jesus is in the
same league as Moses. The Samaritan woman was willing to consider the
possibility that Jesus is greater than Jacob, and in this faith she was brought
closer to him. This crowd seems to have a similar willingness, but the results will
not be as good.
The NIV, and the interpretation of most commentators, understands these
questions as a request for a sign, with the assumption that the crowd goes on to
suggest something along the lines of Moses' provision of bread in the desert (v.
31). But this is strange since they have, in fact, just been given bread in the
desert. It could be that they are extremely dense or that they are suggesting
Jesus' feeding was inferior to Moses'. Yet they had seen in this last sign reason to
make him king (6:15), so the questions in verse 30 are puzzling. Indeed, a
number of scholars suspect that they are evidence of a patchwork of more than
one source.
However, a more satisfactory interpretation is found when we take the verbs in
the sentence, which are in the present tense, as referring to the present rather
than the future: "What sign therefore are you doing, that we may see and believe
you? What work are you doing?" The crowd is not asking for another sign to be
given, but rather they want an interpretation of the feeding that has just
occurred. Verse 31 then follows quite naturally, for the feeding reminds them of
what happened through Moses in the desert. The quote from Scripture cited by
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129. the crowd is not an exact quote of a particular verse. It is a summary of several
passages, including Exodus 16:4, Nehemiah 9:15 and Psalm 78:24-25. Given the
fact that some Jews viewed Moses as a king (see comment on 6:15), the questions
in verse 31 would seem to be the crowd's way of seeking confirmation from Jesus
that their interpretation of the miracle was correct. They are suggesting that
Jesus should allow them to get on with the coronation.
PINK 28-40, "Below we give an Analysis of the passage which is to be before
us:—
1. The Inquiry of the legalistic heart: verse 28.
2. The Divine answer thereto: verse 29.
3. The Scepticism of the natural heart: verses 30, 31.
4. Christ the true Bread: verses 32-34.
5. Christ the Satisfier of man’s heart: verse 35.
6. The Unbelief of those who had seen: verse 36.
7. Christ’s Submission to the Father’s will: verses 37-40.
It is both important and instructive to observe the connection between John 5
and John 6: the latter is, doctrinally, the sequel to the former. There is both a
comparison and a contrast in the way Christ is presented to us in these two
chapters. In both we see Him as the Source of life, Divine life, spiritual life,
eternal life. But, speaking of what is characteristic in John 5, we have life
communicated by Christ, whereas in John 6 we have salvation received by us.
Let us amplify this a little.
John 5 opens with a typical illustration of Christ imparting life to an impotent
soul: a man, helpless through an infirmity which he had had for thirty-eight
years, is made whole. This miracle Christ makes the basis of a discourse in which
He presented His Divine glories. In verse 21 we read, "As the Father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them: even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." The
same line of thought continues through to the end of verse 26. Thus, Christ there
presents Himself in full Godhead title, as the Source and Dispenser of life,
sovereignly imparted to whom He pleases. The one upon whom this Divine life is
bestowed, as illustrated by the case of the impotent man, is regarded as entirely
passive; he is called into life by the all-mighty, creating voice of the Son of God
(verse 25). There is nothing in the sinner’s case but the powerlessness of death
until the deep silence is broken by the word of the Divine Quickener. His voice
makes itself heard in the soul, hitherto dead, but no longer dead as it hears His
voice. But nothing is said of any searchings of heart, any exercises of conscience,
any sense of need, any felt desire after Christ. It is simply Christ, in Divine
sufficiency, speaking to spiritually dead souls, empowering them (by sovereign
"quickening") to hear.
In John 6 Christ is presented in quite another character, and in keeping with
this, so is the sinner too. Here our Lord is viewed not in His essential glories, but
as the Son incarnate. Here He is contemplated as "the Son of man" (verses 27,
53), and therefore, as in the place of humiliation, "come down from heaven"
(verses 33, 38, 51, etc.). As such, Christ is made known as the Object of desire,
and as the One who can meet the sinner’s need. In John 5 it was Christ who
sought out the "great multitude" of impotent folk (verses 3, 6), and when Christ
presented Himself to the man who had an infirmity thirty and eight years, he
evidenced no desire for the Savior. He acted as one who had no heart whatever
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130. for the Son of God. As such he accurately portrayed the dead soul when it is first
quickened by Christ. But in John 6 the contrast is very noticeable. Here the
"great multitude" followed him (verses 2, 24, 25), with an evident desire for
Him—we speak not now of the unworthy motive that prompted that desire, but
the desire itself as illustrative of a truth. It is this contrast which indicates the
importance of noting the relation of John 5 and 6. As said in our opening
sentences, the latter is the sequel to the former. We mean that the order in the
contents of the two chapters, so far as their contents are typical and illustrative,
set forth the doctrinal order of truth. They give us the two sides: the Divine and
the human; and here, as ever, the Divine comes first. In ,John 5 we have the
quickening power of Christ, as exercised according to His sovereign prerogative;
in John 6 we have illustrated the effects of this in a soul already quickened. In
the one, Christ approaches the dead soul; in the other, the dead soul, now
quickened, seeks Christ!
In developing this illustration of the truth in John 6, the Holy Spirit has followed
the same order as in John 5. Here, too, Christ works a miracle, on those who
typically portray the doctrinal characters which are in view. These are sinners
already "quickened," but not yet saved; for, unlike quickening, there is a human
side to salvation, as well as a Divine. The prominent thing brought before us in
the first section of John 6 is a hungry multitude. And how forcibly and how
accurately they illustrate the condition of a soul just quickened, is obvious. As
soon as the Divine life has been imparted, there is a stirring within; there is a
sense of need awakened. It is the life turning toward its Source, just as water
ever seeks its own level. The illustration is Divinely apt, for there are few things
of which we are more conscious than when we are assailed by the pangs of
hunger. But not so with a dead man, for he is unconscious; or with a paralyzed
man, for he is incapable of feeling. So it is spiritually. The one who is dead in
trespasses and sins, and paralyzed by depravity, has no hunger for God. But how
different with one who has been Divinely "quickened"! The first effect of
quickening is that the one quickened awakes to consciousness: the Divine life
within gives capacity to discern his sinfulness and his need of Christ.
Mark, too, what follows in the second section of John 6. The same line of truth is
pursued further. Here we see the disciples in darkness, in the midst of a storm,
rowing towards the Place of Consolation. What a vivid illustration does this
supply of the experiences of the newly quickened and so awakened soul! It tells
of the painful experiences through which he passes ere the Haven of Rest is
reached. Not yet is he really saved; not yet does he understand the workings of
Divine grace within him. All he is conscious of is his sense of deep need. And it is
then that Satan’s fiendish onslaughts are usually the fiercest. Into what a storm
is he now plunged! But the Devil is not permitted to completely overwhelm the
soul, any more than he was the disciples in the illustration. When God’s
appointed time arrives, Christ draws nigh and says, "I am: be not afraid." He
stands revealed before the one who was seeking Him, and then is He "willingly
received into the ship"—He is gladly embraced by faith, and received into the
heart! Then the storm is over, the desired haven is reached, for the next thing we
see is Christ and the disciples at "Capernaum" (place of consolation). Thus, in
the feeding of the hungry multitude, and in the delivering of the disciples from
the storm-tossed sea, we have a most blessed and wonderful illustration of Christ
meeting and satisfying the conscious need of the soul previously quickened.
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131. It will thus be seen that all of this is but introductory to the great theme unfolded
in the middle section of John 6. Just as the healing of the impotent man at the
beginning of John 5 introduced and prepared the way for the discourse that
followed, so it is in John 6. Here the prominent truth is Christ in the place of
humiliation, which He had voluntarily entered as man, "come down from
heaven"; and thus as "the bread of life" presenting Himself as the Object who
alone can supply the need of which the quickened and awakened soul is so
conscious.[1]
"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of
God?" (John 6:28). This question appears to be the language of men temporarily
impressed and aroused, but still in the dark concerning the way to Heaven. They
felt, perhaps, that they were on the wrong road, that something was required of
them, but what that something was they knew not. They supposed they had to do
some work; but what works they were ignorant. It was the old self-righteousness
of the natural man, who is ever occupied with his own doings. The carnal mind is
flattered when it is consciously doing something for God. For his doings man
deems himself entitled to reward. He imagines that salvation is due him, because
he has earned it. Thus does he reckon the reward "not of grace, but of debt."
Man seeks to bring God into the humbling position of debtor to him. How
unbelief and pride degrade the Almighty! How they rob Him of His glory!
"What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" It seems almost
incredible that these men should have asked such a question. Only a moment
before, Christ had said to them "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give
unto you" (verse 27). But the carnal mind, which is enmity against God, is
unable to rise to the thought of a gift. Or, rather, the carnal heart is unwilling to
come down to the place of a beggar and a pauper, and receive everything for
nothing. The sinner wants to do something to earn it. It was thus with the woman
at the well: until Divine grace completed its work within her, she knew not the
"gift of God" (John 4:10). It was the same with the rich young ruler: "Good
Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). It was the same
with the stricken Jews on the day of Pentecost: "Men and brethren, what shall
we do?" (Acts 2:37). It was the same with the Philippian jailer: "Sirs, what must
I do to be " saved? (Acts 16:30). So it was with the prodigal son—"Make me as
one of thy hired servants" (one who works for what he receives) was his thought
(Luke 15:19). Ah! dear friends, God and man are ever the same wherever you
find them!
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on
him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). In what lovely patient grace did the Lord
make reply! In blessed simplicity of language, He stated that the one thing that
God requires of sinners is that they believe on the One whom He has sent into the
world to meet their deepest need. "This is the work of God" means, this is what
God requires. It is not the works of the law, nor the bringing of an offering to
His temple altar; but faith in Christ. Christ is the Savior appointed by God, and
faith in Him is that which God approves, and without which nothing else can be
acceptable in His sight. Paul answered the question of the Philippian jailer as the
Lord before him had done—"What must I do to be saved?": "Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" was the reply (Acts 16:31). But again
we say, Man had rather do than "believe." And why is this? Because it panders
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132. to his pride: because it repudiates his utter ruin, inasmuch as it is a denial that
he is "without strength" (Rom. 5:6): because it provides for him a platform on
which he can boast and glory. Nevertheless, the one and only "work" which God
will accept is faith in His Son.
But, perhaps some one will raise the question, Is it possible that I can ever enter
heaven without good works? Answer: No; you cannot enter heaven without a
good character. But those good works and that character of yours must be
without a flaw. They must be as holy as God, or you can never enter His
presence. But how may I secure such a character as that? Surely that is utterly
impossible! No, it is not. But how then? By a series of strivings after holiness?
No; that is doing again. Do nothing. Only believe. Accept the Work already
done—the finished work of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. This is what God asks
of you—give up your own doings and receive that of My beloved Son. But are
you ready to do this? Are you willing to abandon your own doings, your own
righteousness, and to accept His? You will not till you are thoroughly convinced
that all your doings are faulty, that all your efforts fall far short of God’s
demands, that all your own righteousness is tarnished with sin, yea, is as "filthy
rags." What man will renounce his own work in order to trust to that of another,
unless he be first convinced that his own is worthless? What man will repose for
safety in another till he be convinced that there is no safety in trusting to
himself? It is impossible. Man cannot do this of himself: it takes the work of
God." It is the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and that alone, which brings
the sinner to renounce his own works and lay hold on the Lord Jesus for
salvation.
O dear reader, we would solemnly press this upon you. Is the finished work of
Christ the only rock on which your soul is resting for eternal life, or are you still
secretly trusting to your own doings for salvation? If so, you will be eternally
lost, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it—"He that believeth not shall be
damned." Your own doings, even if they were such as you wish them to be, could
never save you. Your prayers, your tears, your sorrowings for sin, your alms-
givings, your church-goings, your efforts at holiness of life—what are they all but
doings of your own, and if they were all perfect they could not save you. Why?
Because it is written, "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight." Salvation is not a thing to be earned by a religious life, but is a free
gift received by faith—Romans 6:23.
"They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see,
and believe thee? What dost thou work?" (John 6:30). How this exhibits the
works of unbelief! How difficult it is, yea impossible, for the natural man, of
himself, to accept Christ and His finished work by "simple" faith! Truly, nothing
but the Spirit of God can enable a man to do it. The Lord had said, "Believe."
They replied, "Show us a sign." Give us something we can see along with it. Man
must either see or feel before he will believe. "We do not mean to say that
salvation is not by believing on Christ, but we want some evidence first. We will
believe if we can have some evidence on which to believe. Oh, perfect picture of
the natural heart! I come to a man—one who has probably for years been
making a profession of religion—and I say to him, ‘Have you got eternal life
dwelling in you? Do you know that you are a saved man, that you have passed
from death unto life?’ The reply is, ‘No, I am not sure of it.’ Then you do not
believe on the Lord Jesus. You have not accepted the finished work of Christ as
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133. yours. He replies, ‘Yes, I do believe on Christ.’ Then remember what He has
said, ‘He that believeth hath everlasting life.’ He does not hope to have it. He is
not uncertain about it. ‘He hath it,’ says the Son of God. The man answers,
‘Well, I would believe this if I could only feel better. If I could only see in myself
some evidences of a change, then I could believe it, and be as certain of it as you
are.’ So said these people to the Lord—give us some evidence that we may see
and believe. Do you not see that you are thus making salvation depend on the
evidences of the Spirit’s work within you, instead of the finished work of the
Lord Jesus for you? You say, I would believe if I could only feel better—if I
could only see a change. God says, Believe first, then you shall feel—then you
shall see. God reverses your order, and you must reverse it too, if you would ever
have peace with God. Believe, and you will then have in your heart a motive for a
holy life, and not only so, you will walk in liberty, and peace, and joy" (Dr. F.
Whitfield).
"They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see,
and believe thee? What dost thou work?" The force of that is this: You have
asked us to receive you as the One sent of God. What sign, then do you show;
where are your credentials to authorize your mission? And this was asked, be it
remembered, on the morning following the feeding of the five thousand! It seems
unthinkable. Only a few hours before they had witnessed a miracle, which in
some respects, was the most remarkable our Lord had performed, and from
which they had themselves benefitted. And yet, does not our own sad history
testify that this is true to life? Men are surrounded by innumerable evidences for
the existence of God: they carry a hundred demonstrations of it in their own
persons, and yet how often do they ask, What proof have we that there is a God?
So, too, with believers. We enjoy countless tokens of His love and faithfulness; we
have witnessed His delivering hand again and again, and yet when some fresh
trial comes upon us—something which completely upsets our plans, the removal,
perchance, of some earthly object around which we had entwined our heart’s
affections—we ask, Does God really care? And, maybe, we are sufficiently
callous to ask for another "sign" in proof that He does!
"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread
from heaven to eat" (John 6:31). Here they drew a disparaging contrast between
Christ and Moses. It was the further workings of their unbelief. The force of
their objection was this: What proof have we that Thou art greater than Moses?
They sought to deprecate the miracle they had witnessed on the previous day by
comparing Moses and the manna. It was as though they had said, ‘If you would
have us believe on you as the Sent One of God, you must show us greater works.
You have fed five thousand but once, whereas in Moses’ day, our fathers ate
bread for forty years!’ It is striking to note how they harped back to their
"fathers." The woman at the well did the same thing (see John 4:12). And is it
not so now? The experiences of "the fathers", what they believed and taught, is
still with many the final court of appeal.
"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread
from heaven to eat." Their speech betrayed them, as is evident from their use of
the word "manna." The late Malachi Taylor pointed out how this was "a name
always used by their father, of wilfulness, persistently ignoring Jehovah’s word
‘bread’, and now uttered by them, because it was so written. It is notable that
they of old never called it anything at all but ‘manna’ (meaning ‘What is this?’),
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134. except when they despised it (Num. 21:5); and then they called it ‘light bread.’
And Jehovah named it ‘manna’ in Numbers 11:7 when the mixed multitude fell a
lusting for the flesh-pots of Egypt. What lessons for us as to our thoughts of
Christ, the Bread of God! In Psalm 78:24, where God is recounting the evil ways
of Israel through the wilderness, He calls it ‘manna’; but in Psalm 105:40, where
all His mercies pass in review, calling for praise, it is called ‘bread’. Again we
say, What lessons for us!"
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not
the bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven"
(John 6:32). With good reason might our blessed Lord have turned away from
His insulting challengers. Well might He have left them to themselves. But as
another has said, "Grace in Him was active. Their souls’ interests He had at
heart" (C.E.S.). And so, in wondrous condescension, He speaks to them of the
Father’s "Gift", who alone could meet their deep need, and satisfy their souls.
And has He not often dealt thus with thee, dear reader? Cannot you say with the
Psalmist, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities" (Ps. 103:10)? Instead of turning away in disgust at our
ingratitude and unbelief, He has continued to care for us and minister to us. O
how thankful ought we to be for that precious promise, and the daily fulfillment
of it in our lives, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not
that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven."
The error of the Jews here should be a warning to us. They thought Moses gave
them the manna. But it was God and not Moses. He was only the humble
instrument. They ought to have looked through the instrument to God. But the
eye rested, where it is ever so prone to rest—on the human medium. The Lord
here leads them to look beyond the human instrument to God—"Moses gave you
not that bread... but my Father," etc. O what creatures of sense we are. We live
so much in the outward and visible, as almost to forget there is anything beyond.
All that we gaze upon here is but the avenue to what eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard. All the temporal gifts and blessings we receive are but the finger of the
Father beckoning us within the inner shrine. He is saying to us, ‘If My works be
so beautiful, if My gifts be so precious, if My footprints be so glorious, what must
I be?’ Thus should we ever look through nature, to nature’s God. Thus shall we
enjoy God’s gifts, when they lead us up to Him; and then shall we not make idols
of them, and so run the risk of their removal. Everything in nature and in
providence is but the "Moses" between us and God. Let us not be like the Jews
of old, so taken up with Moses as to forget the "greater than Moses," whence
they all proceed.
"For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life
unto the world" (John 6:33). The Father’s provision for a dying world was to
send from heaven His only begotten Son. There is another suggestive contrast
here, yea, a double one. The manna had no power to ward off death—the
generation of Israel that ate it in the wilderness died! How, then, could it be the
"true bread"? No; Christ is the "true bread," for He bestows "life." But again:
the manna was only for Israel. No other people in the desert (the Amorites, for
instance) partook of the manna; for it fell only in Israel’s camp. But the true
Bread "giveth life unto the world." The "world" here does not include the whole
human race, for Christ does not bestow "life" on every descendant of Adam. It is
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135. not here said that the true Bread offereth "life unto the world," but He "giveth
life." It is the "world" of believers who are here in view. The Lord, then,
designedly employs a word that reached beyond the limits of Israel, and took in
elect Gentiles too!
"For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life
unto the world." Three different expressions are used by our Lord in this
passage, each having a slightly varied meaning; the three together, serving to
bring out the fulness and blessedness of this title. In verse 32 He speaks of
Himself as the "true bread from heaven": "true" speaks of that which is real,
genuine, satisfying; "from heaven" tells of its celestial and spiritual character. In
verse 33 He speaks of Himself as "the bread of God," which denotes that He is
Divine, eternal. Then, in verse 35 He says, "I am the bread of life": the One who
imparts, nourishes and sustains life.
"Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread" (John 6:34). This
was but the outcome of a fleeting impression which had been made by His words.
It reminds us very much of the language of the woman at the well, "Sir, give me
this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (John 4:15), and those
who recall our comments on that verse will remember the motive that prompted
her. The words of these men but served to make their rejection of Him more
manifest and decisive when they fully grasped His meaning: verse 36 proves this
conclusively"But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not."
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). The Lord places
Himself before us under the figure of bread. The emblem is beautifully
significant, and like all others used in Scripture calls for prolonged and careful
meditation. First, bread is a necessary food. Unlike many other articles of diet
which are more or less luxuries, this is essential to our very existence. Bread is
the food we cannot dispense with. There are other things placed upon our tables
that we can do without, but not so with bread. Let us learn the lesson well.
Without Christ we shall perish. There is no spiritual life or health apart from the
Bread of God.
Second, bread is a Food that is suited to all. There are some people who cannot
eat sweets; others are unable to digest meats. But all eat bread. The physical
body may retain its life for a time without bread, but it will be sickly, and soon
sink into the grave. Bread, then is adapted to all. It is the food of both king and
artisan. So it is with Christ. It meets the need of all alike; He is able to satisfy
every class of sinners—rich or poor, cultured or illiterate.
Third, bread is a daily food. There are some articles of food which we eat but
occasionally; others only when they are in season. But bread is something we
need every day of our lives. It is so spiritually. If the Christian fails to feed on
Christ daily, if he substitutes the husks of religious forms and ceremonies,
religious books, religious excitement, the glare and glitter of modem Christianity,
he will be weak and sickly. It is failure at this very point which is mainly
responsible for the feebleness of so many of the Lord’s people.
Fourth, bread is a satisfying food. We quickly fire of other articles of diet, but
not so with this. Bread is a staple and standard article, which we must use all our
lives. And does not the analogy hold good again spiritually? How often have we
turned aside to other things, only to find them but husks! None but the Bread of
life can satisfy.
Fifth, let us note the process through which bread passes before it becomes food.
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136. It springs up—the blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear. Then it is cut down,
winnowed, and ground into flour, and finally subjected to the fiery process of the
oven. Thus, and only thus, did it become fit to sustain life. Believer in Christ,
such was the experiences of the Bread of God. He was "bruised for our
iniquities." He was subjected to the fierce fires of God’s holy wrath, as He took
our place in judgment. O how wonderful—God forbid that we should ever lose
our sense of wonderment over it. The Holy One of God, was "made a curse for
us." "It pleased the Lord to bruise him." And this in order that He might be the
Bread of life to us! Let us then feed upon Him. Let us draw from His infinite
fulness. Let us ever press forward unto a more intimate fellowship with Him.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). In
verse 33 Christ had spoken of giving life to "the world"—the world of believers,
the sum total of the saved. Now He speaks of, the individual—"he that cometh to
me... he that believeth. A similar order is to be observed in verse 37—note the
"all" is followed by "him." There is, no doubt, a shade of difference between
"believing on" Christ, and "coming to" Him. To "believe on" Christ is to receive
God’s testimony concerning His Son, and to rest on Him alone for salvation. To
"come to" Him—which is really the effect of the former—is for the heart to go
out to Him in loving confidence. The two acts are carefully distinguished in
Hebrews 11:6: "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is: and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him." I must know who the physician is, and believe in his ability, before I
shall go to him to be cured.
But what are we to understand by "shall never hunger" and "shall never
thirst"? Does the Christian never "hunger" or "thirst"? Surely; then, how are
we to harmonize his experience with this positive declaration of the Savior? Ah!
He speaks here according to the fulness and satisfaction there is in Himself, and
not according to our imperfect apprehension and appreciation of Him. If we are
straitened it is in ourselves, not in Him. If we do "hunger" and "thirst," it is not
because He is unable, and not because He is unwilling, to satisfy our hunger and
quench our thirst, but because we are of "little faith" and fail to draw daily from
His fulness.
"But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not" (John 6:36).
Even the sight of Christ in the flesh, and the beholding of His wondrous miracles,
did not bring men to believe on Him. O the depravity of the human heart! "Ye
also have seen me, and believe not." This shows how valueless was their request:
"Lord, evermore give us this bread" (verse 34). It is unspeakably solemn. They
trusted in Moses (John 9:28), they had rejoiced for a season in John the Baptist’s
light (John 5:35); they could quote the Scriptures (John 6:31), and yet they
believed not on Christ! It is difficult to say how far a man may go, and yet come
short of the one thing needful. These men were not worse than many others, but
their unbelief was manifested and declared; consequently, Christ addresses them
accordingly. This, indeed, would be the result in every case, were we left to our
own thoughts of Christ. Be warned then, dear reader, and make sure that yours
is a saving faith.
"But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not." Was, then, the
incarnation a failure? Was His mission fruitless? That could not be. There can
be no failure with God, though there is much failure in all of us to understand
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137. His purpose. Christ was not in anywise discouraged or disheartened at the
apparent failure of His mission. His next word shows that very conclusively, and
to it we turn.
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me" (John 6:37). Here the Lord
speaks of a definite company which have been given to Him by the Father. Nor is
this the only place where He makes mention of this people. In John 17 He refers
to their seven times over. In verse 2 He says, "As thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." So
again in verse 6 He says, "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world: Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." And
again in verse 9 He declares, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
hast given me; for they are thine." See also verses 11, 12, 24. Whom those are
that the Father gave to Christ we are told in Ephesians 1:4—"According as he
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world." Those given to Christ
were God’s elect, singled out for this marvellous honor before the foundation of
the world: "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation" (2 Thess.
2:13). But let us notice the exact connection in our passage wherein Christ refers
to the elect.
In verse 36 we find our Lord saying to those who had no heart for Him, "ye also
have seen me, and believe not." Was He, then, disheartened? Far from it. And
why not? Ah! mark how the Son of God, here the lowly Servant of Jehovah,
encourages Himself. He immediately adds, "All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me." What a lesson is this for every under shepherd. Here is the true
haven of rest for the heart of every Christ worker. Your message may be slighted
by the crowd, and as you see how many there are who "believe not" it may
appear that your labor is in vain. Nevertheless "the foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. 2:19). The
eternal purpose of the Almighty cannot fail; the sovereign will of the Lord Most
High cannot be frustrated. All, every one, that the Father gave to the Son before
the foundation of the world "shall come to him." The Devil himself cannot keep
one of them away. So take heart fellow-worker. You may seem to be sowing the
Seed at random, but God will see to it that part of it falls onto ground which He
has prepared. The realization of the invincibility of the eternal counsels of God
will give you a calmness, a poise, a courage, a perseverance which nothing else
can. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not
in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58).
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." But while this is very blessed,
it is solemnly tragic and deeply humbling. How humiliating for us, that in the
presence of incarnate life and love in the person of the Lord of glory, no one
would have come to Him, none would have benefitted by His mission, had there
not been those who were given to Him by the Father, and on whose coming He
could, therefore, reckon. Man’s depravity is so entire, his enmity so great, that in
every instance, his will would have resisted and rejected Christ, had not the
Father determined that His Son should have some as the trophies of His victory
and the reward of His coming down from heaven. Alas that our deadness to such
love should have called forth such sighs as seem to breathe in these very words of
Christ!
"And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Let us not
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138. miss (as is so commonly done) the connection between this clause and the one
which precedes it. "Him that cometh to me" is explained by "all that the Father
giveth me." None would come to Him unless the Father had first predestinated
that they should, for it is only "as many as were ordained to eternal life" that
believe (Acts 13:48). Each one that the Father had given to Christ in eternity
past, "cometh" to Him in time—comes as a lost sinner to be saved; comes having
nothing, that he may receive everything.
The last clause "I will in no wise cast out" assures the eternal preservation of
everyone that truly cometh to Christ. These words of the Savior do not signify
(as generally supposed) that He promises to reject none who really come to Him,
though that is true; but they declare that under no imaginable circumstances will
He ever expel any one that has come. Peter came to Him and was saved. Later, he
denied his Master with an oath. But did Christ "cast him out"? Nay, verily. And
can we find a more extreme case? If Peter was not "cast out," no Christian ever
was, or ever will be. Praise the Lord!
"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me" (John 6:38). This is most instructive. The force of it is this: Those whom
the Father had given the Son—all of them—would come to Him. It was no longer
the Son in His essential glory, quickening whom He would, as in verse 21, but the
Son incarnate, the "Son of man" (John 6:27), receiving those the Father "drew"
to Him (John 6:44)! "Therefore be it who it might, He would in no wise cast him
out: enemy, scoffer, Jew or Gentile, they would not come if the Father had not
sent them" (J.N.D.). Christ was here to do the Father’s will. Thus does Christ
assure His own that He will save to the end all whom the Father had given Him.
"For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me." How greatly does this enhance the value of the precious words at the
close of the preceding verse, when we see that our coming to Christ is not
attributed to man’s fickle will, but as the effect of the Father’s drawing to the
Savior each one given to Him in the counsels of that Father’s love before the
foundation of the world! So, too, the reception of them is not merely because of
Christ’s compassion for the lost, but as the obedient Servant of the Father’s will,
He welcomes each one brought to Him—brought by the unseen drawings of the
Father’s love. Thus our security rests not upon anything in us or from us, but
upon the Father’s choice and the Son’s obedient love!
"And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day" (John
6:39). How blessedly this, too, explains the closing words of verse 37! Eternal
predestination guarantees eternal preservation. The "last day" is, of course, the
last day of the Christian dispensation. Then it shall appear that He hath not lost
a single one whom the Father gave to Him. Then shall He say, "Behold I and the
children which God hath given me" (Heb. 2:13).
"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last
day" (John 6:40). Christ had just spoken of the Father’s counsels. He had
disclosed the fact that the success of His ministry depended not on man’s will—
for that was known to be, in every case, so perverse as to reject the Savior—but
on the drawing power of the Father. But here He leaves, as it were, the door wide
open to any one any where who is disposed to enter: "that every one which seeth
the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life." Yet it is instructive to
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139. note the order of the two verbs here: "believing" on Christ is the result of
"seeing" Him. He must first be revealed by the Spirit before He will be received
by the sinner. Thus did our Lord disclose to these men that a far deeper and
infinitely more important work had been entrusted to Him than that of satisfying
Israel’s poor with material bread—not less a change than that of raising up at
the last day all that had been given to Him by the Father, without losing so much
as one.
MACLAREN, "HOW TO WORK THE WORK OF GOD
The feeding of the five thousand was the most ‘popular’ of Christ’s miracles. The
Evangelist tells us, with something between a smile and a sigh, that ‘when the people
saw it, they said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world,’ and
they were so delighted with Him and with it, that they wanted to get up an
insurrection on the spot, and make a King of Him. I wonder if there are any of that
sort of people left. If two men were to come into Manchester to-morrow morning,
and one of them were to offer material good, and the other wisdom and peace of
heart, which of them, do you think, would have the larger following? We need not
cast a stone at the unblushing, frank admiration that these men had for a Prophet
who could feed them, for that is exactly the sort of prophet that a great number of us
would like best if they spoke out.
So Jesus Christ had to escape from the inconvenient enthusiasm of these mistaken
admirers of His; and they followed Him in their eagerness, but were met with words
which lift them into another region and damp their zeal. He tries to turn away their
thoughts from the miracle to a far loftier gift. He contrasts the trouble which they
willingly took in order to get a meal with their indifference as to obtaining the true
bread from heaven, and He bids them work for it just as they had shown themselves
ready to work for the other.
They put to Him this question of my text, so strangely blending as it does right and
wrong, ‘You have bid us work; tell us how to work? What must we do that we may
work the works of God?’ Christ answers, in words that illuminate their confusions
and clear the whole matter, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom
He hath sent.’
I. Faith, then, is a work.
You know that the commonplace of evangelical teaching opposes faith to works; and
the opposition is perfectly correct, if it be rightly understood. But I have a strong
impression that a great deal of our preaching goes clean over the heads of our
hearers, because we take for granted, and they fancy that they understand, the
meaning of terms because the terms themselves are so familiar. And I believe that
many people go to churches and chapels all their lives long, and hear this doctrine
dinned into them, that they are to be saved by faith, and not by works, and never
approach a definite understanding of what it means.
So let me just for a moment try to clear up the terms of this apparently paradoxical
statement that faith is a work. What do we mean by faith? What do you mean by
saying that you have faith in your friend, in your wife, in your husband, in your
guide? You simply mean, and we mean, that you trust the person, grasping him by
the act of trust. On trust the whole fabric of human society depends, as well as in
another aspect of the same expression does the whole fabric of Manchester
commerce. Faith, confidence, the leaning of myself on one discerned to be true,
trusty, strong, sufficient for the purpose in hand, whatever it may be-that, and
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140. nothing more mysterious, nothing further away from daily life and the common
emotions which knit us to one another, is, as I take it, what the New Testament
means when it insists upon faith.
Ah, we all exercise it. You put it forth in certain low levels and directions. ‘The heart
of her husband doth safely trust in her,’ is the short summary of the happy lives of
many, I have no doubt, of my present hearers. Have you none of that confidence to
spare for God? Is it all meant to be poured out upon weak, fallible, changeful
creatures like ourselves, and none of it to rise to the One in whom absolute
confidence may eternally be fixed?
But then, of course, as we may see by the exercise of the same emotion in regard to
one Another, the under side (as I have been accustomed to say to you) of this
confidence in God or Christ is diffidence of myself. There is no real exercise of
confidence which does not involve, as an essential part of itself, the going out from
myself in order that I may lay all the weight and the responsibility of the matter in
hand upon Him in whom I trust. And so Christian faith is compounded of these two
elements, or rather, it has these two sides which correspond to one another. The
same figure is convex or concave according as you look at it from one side or another.
If you look at faith from one side, it rises towards God; if from the other, it hollows
itself out into a great emptiness. And so the under side of faith is distrust; and he that
puts his confidence in God thereby goes out of himself, and declares that in himself
there is nothing to rest upon.
Now that two-sided confidence and diffidence, trust and distrust, which are one, is
truly a work. It is not an easy one either; it is the exercise of our own inmost nature.
It is an effort of will. It has to be done by coercing ourselves. It has to be maintained
in the face of many temptations and difficulties. The contrast between faith and work
is between an inward act and a crowd of outward performances. But the faith which
knits me to God is my act, and I am responsible for it.
But yet it is not a work, just because it is a ceasing from my own works, and going out
from myself that He may enter in. Only remember, when we say, ‘Not by works of
righteousness, but by the faith of Christ,’ we are but proclaiming that the inward man
must exercise that act of self-abnegation and confession of its own impotence, and
ceasing from all reliance on anything which it does, whereby, and whereby alone, it
can be knit to God. ‘Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which
endureth unto eternal life . . . . This is the work of God, that ye believe.’ You are
responsible for doing that, or for not doing it.
II. Secondly, faith, and not a multitude of separate acts, is what pleases
God.
Mark the difference between the form of the question and that of the answer. The
people say, ‘What are we to do that we may work the works of God?’ Christ answers
in the singular: ‘This is the work.’ They thought of a great variety of observances and
deeds. He gathers them all up into one. They thought of a pile, and that the higher it
rose the more likely they were to be accepted. He unified the requirement, and He
brought it all down to this one act, in which all other acts are included, and on which
alone the whole weight of a man’s salvation is to rest. ‘What shall we do that we
might work the works of God?’ is a question asked in all sorts of ways, by the hearts
of men all round about us; and what a babble of answers comes! The priest says,
‘Rites and ceremonies.’ The thinker says, ‘Culture, education.’ The moralist says, ‘Do
this, that, and the other thing,’ and enumerates a whole series of separate acts. Jesus
Christ says, ‘One thing is needful . . . . This is the work of God.’ He brushes away the
sacerdotal answer and the answer of the mere moralist, and He says, ‘No! Not do; but
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141. trust.’ In so far as that is act, it is the only act that you need.
That is evidently reasonable. The man is more than his work; motive is more
important than action; character is deeper than conduct. God is pleased, not by what
men do, but by what men are. We must be first, and then we shall do. And it is
obviously reasonable, because we can find analogies to the requirement in all other
relations of life. What would you care for a child that scrupulously obeyed, and did
not love or trust? What would a prince think of a subject who was ostentatious in acts
of loyalty, and all the while was plotting and nurturing treason in his heart?
If doing separate acts of righteousness be the way to work the works of God, then no
man has ever done them. For it is a plain fact that every man falls below his own
conscience-which conscience is less scrupulous than the divine law. The worst of us
knows a great deal more than the best of us does; and our lives, universally, are, at
the best, lives of partial effort after unreached attainments of obedience and of virtue.
But, even supposing that we could perform, far more completely than we do, the
requirements of our own consciences, and conform to the evident duties of our
position and relations, do you think that without faith we should be therein working
the works of God? Suppose a man were able fully to realise his own ideal of goodness,
without any confidence in God underlying all his acts; do you think that these would
be acts that would please God? It seems to me that, however lovely and worthy of
admiration, looked at with human eyes only, many lives are, which have nobly and
resolutely fought against evil, and struggled after good, if they have lacked the
crowning grace of doing this for God’s sake, they lack, I was going to say, almost
everything; I will not say that, but I will say that they lack that which makes them
acceptable, well-pleasing to Him. The poorest, the most imperfect realisation of our
duty and ideal of conduct which has in it a love towards God and a faith in Him that
would fain do better if it could, is a nobler thing, I venture to say, in the eyes of
Heaven-which are the truth-seeing eyes-than the noblest achievements of an
untrusting soul. It does not seem to me that to say so is bigotry or narrowness or
anything else but the plain deduction from this, that a man’s relation to God is the
deepest thing about him, and that if that be right, other things will come right, and if
that be wrong nothing is as right as it might be.
Here we have Jesus Christ laying the foundation for the doctrine which is often said
to be Pauline, as if that meant something else than coming from Jesus Christ. We
often hear people say, ‘Oh, your evangelical teaching of justification by faith, and all
that, comes out of Paul’s Epistles, not out of Christ’s teaching, nor out of John’s
Gospel.’ Well, there is a difference, which it is blindness not to recognise, between the
seeds of teaching in our Lord’s words, and the flowers and fruit of these seeds, which
we get in the more systematised and developed teaching of the Epistles. I frankly
admit that, and I should expect it, with my belief as to who Christ is, and who Paul is.
But in that saying, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath
sent,’ is the germ of everything that Paul has taught us about the works of the law
being of no avail, and faith being alone and unfailing in its power of uniting men to
God, and bringing them into the possession of eternal life. The saying stands in
John’s Gospel, and so Paul and John alike received, though in different fashions, and
wrought out on different lines of subsequent teaching, the germinal impulse from
these words of the Master. Let us hear no more about salvation by faith being a
Pauline addition to Christ’s Gospel, for the lips of Christ Himself have declared ‘this
is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’
III. Thirdly, this faith is the productive parent of all separate works of
God.
The teaching that I have been trying to enforce has, I know, been so presented as to
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142. make a pillow for indolence, and to be closely allied to immorality. It has been so
presented, but it has not been so presented half as often as its enemies would have us
believe. For I know of but very few, and those by no means the most prominent and
powerful of the preachers of the great doctrine of salvation by faith, who have not
added, as its greatest teacher did: ‘Let ours also be careful to maintain good works for
necessary uses.’ But the true teaching is not that trust is a substitute for work, but
that it is the foundation of work. The Gospel is, first of all, Trust; then, set yourselves
to do the works of faith. It works by love, it is the opening of the heart to the entrance
of the life of Christ, and, of course, when that life comes in, it will act in the man in a
manner appropriate to its origin and source, and he that by faith has been joined to
Jesus Christ, and has opened his heart to receive into that heart the life of Christ,
will, as a matter of course, bring forth, in the measure of his faith, the fruits of
righteousness.
We are surely not despising fruits and flowers when we insist upon the root from
which they shall come. A man may take separate acts of partial goodness, as you see
children in the springtime sticking daisies on the spikes of a thorn-twig picked from
the hedges. But these will die. The basis of all righteousness is faith, and the
manifestation of faith is practical righteousness. ‘Show Me thy faith by thy works’ is
Christ’s teaching quite as much as it is the teaching of His sturdy servant James. And
so, dear friends, we are going the shortest way to enrich lives with all the beauties of
possible human perfection when we say, ‘Begin at the beginning. The longest way
round is the shortest way home; trust Him with all your hearts first, and that will
effloresce into “whatsoever things are lovely and whatever things are of good report.”
‘ In the beautiful metaphor of the Apostle Peter, in his second Epistle, Faith is the
damsel who leads in the chorus of consequent graces; and we are exhorted to ‘add to
our faith virtue,’ and all the others that unfold themselves in harmonious sequence
from that one central source.
If I had time I should be glad to turn for a moment to the light which such
considerations cast upon subjects that are largely occupying the attention of the
Christian Church to-day. I should like to insist that, before you talk much about
applied Christianity, you should be very sure that in men there is a Christianity to
apply. I venture to profess my own humble belief that in ninety-nine cases out of a
hundred, Christian ministers and churches will do no more for the social, political,
and intellectual and moral advancement of men and the elevation of the people by
sticking to their own work and preaching this Gospel-’This is the work of God, that ye
believe on Him whom He hath sent.’
IV. Lastly, this faith secures the bread of life.
The bread of life is the starting-point of the whole conversation. In the widest
possible sense it is whatsoever truly stills the hunger of the immortal soul. In a
deeper sense it is the person of Jesus Christ Himself, for He not only says that He will
give, but that He is the Bread of Life. And, in the deepest sense of all, it is His flesh
broken for us in His sacrifice on the Cross. That bread is a gift. So the paradox results
which stands in our text-work for the bread which God will give. If it be a gift, that
fact determines what sort of work must be done in order to possess it. If it be a gift,
then the only work is to accept it. If it be a gift, then we are out of the region of quid
pro quo; and have not to bring, as Chinese do, great strings of copper cash that, all
added up together, do not amount to a shilling, in order to buy what God will bestow
upon us. If it be a gift, then to trust the Giver and to accept the gift is the only
condition that is possible.
It is not a condition that God has invented and arbitrarily imposed. The necessity of
it is lodged deep in the very nature of the case. Air cannot get to the lungs of a mouse
142

143. in an air-pump. Light cannot come into a room where all the shutters are up and the
keyhole stopped. If a man chooses to perch himself on some little stool of his own,
with glass legs to it, and to take away his hand from the conductor, no electricity will
come to him. If I choose to lock my lips, Jesus Christ does not prise open my
clenched teeth to put the bread of life into my unwilling mouth. If we ask, we get; if
we take, we get.
And so the paradox comes, that we work for a gift, with a work which is not work
because it is a departure from myself. It is the same blessed paradox which the
prophet spoke when he said, ‘Buy . . . without money and without price.’ Oh! what a
burden of hopeless effort and weary toil-like that of the man that had to roll the stone
up the hill, which ever slipped back again-is lifted from our shoulders by such a word
as this that I have been poorly trying to speak about now! ‘Thou art careful and
troubled about many things,’ poor soul! trying to be good; trying to fight yourself,
and the world, and the devil. Try the other plan, and listen to Him saying, ‘Give up
self-imposed effort in thine own strength. Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken
for you.’
SBC, "Difficulties respecting Justification by Faith
I. It is an important rule to seek for the most exact language on any subject in those
writings which treat of it generally and directly, rather than in those where it is
spoken of by the way, the notice of it arising out of some other matter which was the
writer’s particular subject at the time. And, according to this view, we should expect
to gain the clearest view of this question of justification from St. Paul’s Epistle to the
Romans, because the very object of that Epistle is to give a clear notion of that very
point, as the foundation of Christianity; and, so far as we know, there was nothing in
the particular circumstances of those to whom it was written which makes it more
applicable to them than to others. It would seem, therefore, to explain St. Paul’s
language in other Epistles where he may touch upon the same subject incidentally, by
his language upon it in the Epistle to the Romans, where he has written upon it
expressly.
II. Now, it cannot be denied that the faith on which St. Paul lays so much stress, in
the Epistle to the Romans, is opposed to the works of the law in this sense—that he
who would be justified by the law says to God, "Thou hast commanded certain
things, and I have done them, therefore I have earned my wages;" whereas he who
would be justified by faith says rather, "Thou hast commanded certain things, and I
have not done them, therefore I have earned no wages, but only displeasure, only I
throw myself on Thee as on a God who forgavest sin." The essence, then, of
justification by works is a reliance on what we have done for ourselves; that of
justification by faith is a reliance on what God has done and will do for us.
III. But the difficulty lies beyond. If we look to our holiness of life for assurance, is
not that to build upon the quicksand? Or if, without looking to ourselves, we look
only to Christ, and hope and believe while we are full of sin, and look to be redeemed
from death because Christ has died, although we have never risen with Him again to
a new life of holiness—is not this to make Christ the minister of sin, and to hope
where God says there is no hope? We must see, therefore, how it may be possible to
seize the truth of each of these views, and yet escape their error.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 263.
143

144. 29
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe
in the one he has sent."
I love the answer Jesus gives in verse 29: “The work of God is this: to believe in the
one he has sent.” If you insist on working, here’s your job description: BELIEVE IN
THE ONE HE HAS SENT.
BARNES, "This is the work of God - This is the thing that will be acceptable to
God, or which you are to do in order to be saved. Jesus did not tell them they had
nothing to do, or that they were to sit down and wait, but that there was a work to
perform, and that was a duty that was imperative. It was to believe on the Messiah.
This is the work which sinners are to do; and doing this they will be saved, for Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, Rom_10:4.
CLARKE, "This is the work of God, that ye believe - There is nothing you
can be employed in more acceptable to God than in yielding to the evidence set
before you, and acknowledging me as your Messiah and the Savior of a lost world.
GILL, "Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God,.... The
main and principal one, and which is well pleasing in his sight; and without which it
is impossible to please him; and without which no work whatever is a good work; and
this is of the operation of God, which he himself works in men; it is not of
themselves, it is the pure gift of God:
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent; there are other works which are
well pleasing to God, when rightly performed, but faith is the chief work, and others
are only acceptable when done in the faith of Christ. This, as a principle, is purely
God's work; as it is an act, or as it is exercised under the influence of divine grace, it
is man's act: "that ye believe"; the object of it is Christ, as sent by the Father, as the
Mediator between God and men, as appointed by him to be the Saviour and
Redeemer; and believing in Christ, is believing in God that sent him. The Jews reduce
all the six hundred and thirteen precepts of the law, for so many they say there are, to
this one, "the just shall live by his faith", Hab_2:4. (e).
HENRY, " Christ's answer was plain enough (Joh_6:29): This is the work of God
that ye believe. Note, (1.) The work of faith is the work of God. They enquire after the
works of God (in the plural number), being careful about many things; but Christ
directs them to one work, which includes all, the one thing needful: that you believe,
which supersedes all the works of the ceremonial law; the work which is necessary to
the acceptance of all the other works, and which produces them, for without faith you
cannot please God. It is God's work, for it is of his working in us, it subjects the soul
144

145. to his working on us, and quickens the soul in working for him, (2.) That faith is the
work of God which closes with Christ, and relies upon him. It is to believe on him as
one whom God hath sent, as God's commissioner in the great affair of peace between
God and man, and as such to rest upon him, and resign ourselves to him. See Joh_
14:1.
JAMISON, "This is the work of God — That lies at the threshold of all
acceptable obedience, being not only the prerequisite to it, but the proper spring of
it - in that sense, the work of works, emphatically “the work of God.”
CALVIN, "29.The work of God is this. They had spoken of works Christ
reminds them of one work, that is, faith; by which he means that all that men
undertake withoutfaith is vain and useless, but thatfaith alone is sufficient,
because this alone does God require from us, that we believe For there is here an
implied contrast between faith and the works and efforts of men; as if he had
said, Men toil to no purpose, when they endeavor to please God without faith,
because, by running, as it were, out of the course, they do not advance towards
the goal. This is a remarkable passage, showing that, though men torment
themselves wretchedly throughout their whole life, still they lose their pains, if
they have notfaith in Christ as the rule of their life. Those who infer from this
passage that faith is the gift of God are mistaken; for Christ does not now show
what God produces in us, but what he wishes and requires from us.
But we may think it strange that God approves of nothing but faith alone; for the
love of our neighbor ought not to be despised, and the other exercises of religion
do not lose their place and honor. So then, though faith may hold the highest
rank, still other works are not superfluous. The reply is easy; for faith does not
exclude either the love of our neighbor or any other good work, because it
contains them all within itself. Faith is called the only work of God, because by
means of it we possess Christ, and thus become the sons of God, so that he
governs us by his Spirit. So then, because Christ does not separate faith from its
fruits, we need not wonder if he make it to be the first and the last. (140)
That you believe in him whom he hath sent. What is the import of the word
believe, we have explained under the Third Chapter. It ought always to be
remembered that, in order to have a full perception of the power of faith, we
must understand what Christ is, in whom we believe, and why he was given to us
by the Father. It is idle sophistry, under the pretext of this passage, to maintain
that we are justified by works, if faith justifies, because it is likewise called a
work First, it is plain enough that Christ does not speak with strict accuracy,
when he calls faith a work, just as Paul makes a comparison between the law of
faith and the law of works, (Romans 3:27.) Secondly, when we affirm that men
are not justified by works, we mean works by the merit of which men may obtain
favor with God. Now faith brings nothing to God, but, on the contrary, places
man before God as empty and poor, that he may be filled with Christ and with
his grace. It is, therefore, if we may be allowed the expression, a passive work, to
which no reward can be paid, and it bestows on man no other righteousness than
that which he receives from Christ.
145

146. 30
So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will
you give that we may see it and believe you? What
will you do?
BARNES, "II. Christ having told them that the Son of man would give them this
meat, they enquire concerning him, and he answers their enquiry.
1. Their enquiry is after a sign (Joh_6:30): What sign showest thou? Thus far they
were right, that, since he required them to give him credit, he should produce his
credentials, and make it out by miracle that he was sent of God. Moses having
confirmed his mission by signs, it was requisite that Christ, who came to set aside the
ceremonial law, should in like manner confirm his: “What dost thou work? What
doest thou drive at? What lasting characters of a divine power does thou design to
leave upon thy doctrine?” But herein they missed it,
(1.) That they overlooked the many miracles which they had seen wrought by him,
and which amounted to an abundant proof of his divine mission. Is this a time of day
to ask, “What sign showest thou?” especially at Capernaum, the staple of miracles,
where he had done so many mighty works, signs so significant of his office and
undertaking? Were not these very persons but the other day miraculously fed by
him? None so blind as they that will not see; for they may be so blind as to question
whether it be day or no, when the sun shines in their faces.
CLARKE, "What sign - Τι σηµειον, What miracle; so the word is evidently used,
Joh_2:11, Joh_2:23, and in many other places.
That we may see, and believe thee - That, having seen the miracle, we may
believe thee to be the promised Messiah. They had already seen the miracle of the
five loaves, and did not believe; and it was impossible for them to see any thing more
descriptive of unlimited power and goodness. Even miracles themselves are lost on
persons whose hearts are fixed on the perishing things of the world, and whose
minds are filled with prejudice against the truth.
GILL, "They said therefore unto him,.... Seeing he proposed believing in him as
the grand work of God to be done, and what is most acceptable in his sight:
what sign showest thou then, that we may see and believe thee? The people
of the Jews were always requiring signs and wonders, and when they had one and
another shown them, they still sought for more, and were never satisfied; see Mat_
146

147. 12:39. These men had lately seen various signs and miracles of Christ, as healing the
sick, and feeding live thousand of them, and more, with five loaves, and two fishes;
and though, for the time present, these had some influence upon them, and they
were ready to believe he was that prophet; yet now, at least some of them, begin to
retract, and signify, that unless some other, and greater signs were shown, they
should not believe in him as the Messiah:
what dost thou work? more than others, or Moses. They seem to make light of the
miracle of the loaves, or at least require some greater sign and miracle, to engage
their belief in him as the Messiah; and as they were lovers of their bellies, and
expected dainties in the times of the Messiah, they seem to move for, and desire
miracles of that kind to be wrought; and which sense the following words confirm.
HENRY, "II. Christ having told them that the Son of man would give them this
meat, they enquire concerning him, and he answers their enquiry.
1. Their enquiry is after a sign (Joh_6:30): What sign showest thou? Thus far they
were right, that, since he required them to give him credit, he should produce his
credentials, and make it out by miracle that he was sent of God. Moses having
confirmed his mission by signs, it was requisite that Christ, who came to set aside the
ceremonial law, should in like manner confirm his: “What dost thou work? What
doest thou drive at? What lasting characters of a divine power does thou design to
leave upon thy doctrine?” But herein they missed it,
(1.) That they overlooked the many miracles which they had seen wrought by him,
and which amounted to an abundant proof of his divine mission. Is this a time of day
to ask, “What sign showest thou?” especially at Capernaum, the staple of miracles,
where he had done so many mighty works, signs so significant of his office and
undertaking? Were not these very persons but the other day miraculously fed by
him? None so blind as they that will not see; for they may be so blind as to question
whether it be day or no, when the sun shines in their faces.
JAMISON, "What sign showest thou, etc. — But how could they ask “a sign,”
when many of them scarce a day before had witnessed such a “sign” as had never till
then been vouchsafed to men; when after witnessing it, they could hardly be
restrained from making Him a king; when they followed Him from the one side of the
lake to the other; and when, in the opening words of this very discourse, He had
chided them for seeking Him, “not because they saw the signs,” but for the loaves?
The truth seems to be that they were confounded by the novel claims which our Lord
had just advanced. In proposing to make Him a king, it was for far other purposes
than dispensing to the world the bread of an everlasting life; and when He seemed to
raise His claims even higher still, by representing it as the grand “work of God,” that
they should believe on Himself as His Sent One, they saw very clearly that He was
making a demand upon them beyond anything they were prepared to accord to Him,
and beyond all that man had ever before made. Hence their question, “What dost
Thou work?”
CALVIN, "30.What sign doest thou? This wickedness abundantly proves how
truly it is said elsewhere, This wicked generation seeketh a sign, (Matthew
12:39.) They had been at first drawn to Christ by the admiration of his miracles
or signs, and afterwards, through amazement at a new sign, they acknowledged
Christ to be the Messiah, and, with that conviction, wished to make him a king;
147

148. but now they demand a sign from him, as if he were a man unknown to them.
Whence came such sudden forgetfulness, but because they are ungrateful to God,
and, through their own malice, are blind to his power, which is before their eyes?
Nor can it be doubted that they treat disdainfully all the miracles which they had
already beheld, because Christ does not comply with their wishes, and because
they do not find him to be what they imagined him to be. If he had given them
expectation of earthly happiness, he would have been highly applauded by them;
they would undoubtedly have hailed him as a Prophet, and the Messiah, and the
Son of God; but now, because he blames them for being too much addicted to the
flesh, they think that they ought not to listen to him any more. And in the present
day, how many are there who resemble them! At first, because they promise to
themselves that Christ will flatter their vices, they eagerly embrace the gospel,
and call for no proof of it; but when they are called to deny the flesh and to bear
the cross, then do they begin to renounce Christ and ask whence the gospel came.
In short, as soon as Christ does not grant their prayers, he is no longer their
Master.
BARCLAY, "THE DEMAND FOR A SIGN (John 6:30-34)
6:30-34 They said to him: "What sign are you going to perform that we may see
it and believe in you? What is your work? Our fathers ate the manna in the
wilderness. As it stands written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus
said to them: "This is the truth I tell you--Moses did not give you bread from
heaven, but my Father gives you the real bread from heaven. The bread of God
is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." They said to
him: "Sir, always give us that bread."
Here the argument becomes specifically Jewish in its expression and assumptions
and allusions. Jesus had just made a great claim. The true work of God was to
believe in him. "Very well," said the Jews, "this is in effect a claim to be the
Messiah. Prove it."
Their minds were still on the feeding of the crowd and inevitably that turned
their thoughts to the manna in the wilderness. They could hardly help connecting
the two things. The manna had always been regarded as the bread of God
(Psalms 78:24; Exodus 16:15); and there was a strong rabbinic belief that when
the Messiah came he would again give the manna. The giving of the manna was
held to be the supreme work in the life of Moses and the Messiah was bound to
surpass it. "As was the first redeemer so was the final redeemer; as the first
redeemer caused the manna to fall from heaven, even so shall the second
redeemer cause the manna to fall." "Ye shall not find the manna in this age, but
ye shall find it in the age that is to come." "For whom has the manna been
prepared? For the righteous in the age that is coming. Everyone who believes is
worthy and eateth of it." It was the belief that a pot of the manna had been
hidden in the ark in the first temple, and that, when the temple was destroyed,
Jeremiah had hidden it away and would produce it again when the Messiah
came. In other words, the Jews were challenging Jesus to produce bread from
God in order to substantiate his claims. They did not regard the bread which had
fed the five thousand as bread from God; it had begun in earthly loaves and
issued in earthly loaves. The manna, they held, was a different thing and a real
148

149. test.
Jesus' answer was twofold. First, he reminded them that it was not Moses who
had given them the manna; it was God. Second, he told them that the manna was
not really the bread of God; it was only the symbol of the bread of God. The
bread of God was he who came down from heaven and gave men not simply
satisfaction from physical hunger, but life. Jesus was claiming that the only real
satisfaction was in him.
31
Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is
written: `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'
[37]"
BARNES, "Our fathers - The Jews who were led by Moses through the
wilderness.
Did eat manna - This was the name given by the Jews to the food which was
furnished to them by God in their journey. It means literally, “What is this?” and was
the question which they asked when they first saw it, Exo_16:14-15. It was small like
frost, and of the size of coriander-seed, and had a sweetish taste like honey. It fell in
great quantities, and was regarded by the Jews as proof of a continued miracle during
forty years, and was incontestable evidence of the interposition of God in favor of
their fathers. The manna which is sold in the shops of druggists is a different
substance from this. It is obtained from the bark of certain trees in Armenia, Georgia,
Persia, and Arabia. It is procured, as resin is, by making an incision in the bark, and
it flows out or distils from the tree.
As it is written - The substance of this is written in Psa_78:24-25.
He gave them - This was regarded as a miraculous interference in their behalf,
and an attestation of the divine mission of Moses, and hence they said familiarly that
Moses gave it to them.
Bread from heaven - The word “heaven,” in the Scriptures, denotes often the
region of the air, the atmosphere, or that region in which the clouds are. See Mat_
16:3; “The sky (heaven) is red and lowering.” Also Mat_3:16; Luk_4:15; Luk_5:18.
The Jews, as appears from their writings (see Lightfoot), expected that the Messiah
would provide his followers with plenty of delicious food; and as Moses had provided
for the Jews in the wilderness, so they supposed that Christ would make provision
for the temporal wants of his friends. This was the sign, probably, which they were
now desirous of seeing.
CLARKE, "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert - Their argument
149

150. seems to run thus: Thou hast, we grant, fed five thousand men with five loaves and
two small fishes; but what is this in comparison of what Moses did in the desert, who
for forty years fed more than a million of persons with bread from heaven: do
something like this, and then we will believe in thee, as we have believed in Moses.
GILL, "Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness,.... Which was a sort of
food prepared by angels in the air, and rained down from thence about the tents of
the Israelites; it was a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground; it
was like a coriander seed, and the colour of it was the colour of bdellium: it was so
called, either from ‫,מנה‬ "to prepare", because it was prepared, and got ready for the
Israelites; or from the first words that were spoken upon sight of it, ‫הו‬ ‫,מן‬ "what is it?"
for they knew not what it was: and this the Jewish fathers fed upon all the while they
were in the wilderness, till they came to Canaan's land, and they only; it was food
peculiar to them: "our fathers did eat"; and so the Jews (f) observe on those words in
Exo_16:35,
""and the children of Israel did eat manna forty years"; the children of Israel, ‫ולא‬
‫,אחרא‬ "not another". And the children of Israel saw, and said, what is it? and not the
rest of the mixed multitude.''
Now these Jews object this miracle to Christ, and intimate, that he indeed had fed
five thousand of them with barley loaves, and fishes, for one meal; but their fathers,
in the times of Moses, to the number of six hundred thousand, and more, were fed,
and that with manna, very sweet and delightful food, and for the space of forty years;
even all the white they were in the wilderness: and therefore, unless he wrought as
great a miracle, or a greater than this, and that of the like kind, they should not think
fit to relinquish Moses, and follow him; and in proof of what they said, they produce
Scripture,
as it is written in Psa_78:24, or rather in Exo_16:15; and perhaps both places may
be respected:
he gave them bread from heaven to eat; they leave out the word Lord, being
willing it should be understood of Moses, to whom they ascribed it, as appears from
the following words of Christ, who denies that Moses gave it; and add the phrase
"from heaven", to set forth the excellent nature of it, which is taken from Exo_16:4,
where the manna, as here, is called "bread from heaven".
HENRY, "(2.) That they preferred the miraculous feeding of Israel in the
wilderness before all the miracles Christ wrought (Joh_6:31): Our fathers did eat
manna in the desert; and, to strengthen the objection, they quote a scripture for it:
He gave them bread from heaven (taken from Psa_78:24), he gave them of the corn
of heaven. What a good use might be made of this story to which they here refer! It
was a memorable instance of God's power and goodness, often mentioned to the
glory of God (Neh_9:20, Neh_9:21), yet see how these people perverted it, and made
an ill use of it. [1.] Christ reproved them for their fondness of the miraculous bread,
and bade them not set their hearts upon meat which perisheth; “Why,” say they,
“meat for the belly was the great good thing that God gave to our fathers in the
desert; and why should not we then labour for that meat? If God made much of them,
why should not we be for those that will make much of us?” [2.] Christ had fed five
thousand men with five loaves, and had given them that as one sign to prove him
150

151. sent of God; but, under colour of magnifying the miracles of Moses, they tacitly
undervalue this miracle of Christ, and evade the evidence of it. “Christ fed his
thousands; but Moses his hundreds of thousands; Christ fed them but once, and then
reproved those who followed him in hope to be still fed, and put them off with a
discourse of spiritual food; but Moses fed his followers forty years, and miracles were
not their rarities, but their daily bread: Christ fed them with bread out of the earth,
barley-bread, and fishes out of the sea; but Moses fed Israel with bread from heaven,
angel's food.” Thus big did these Jews talk of the manna which their fathers did eat;
but their fathers had slighted it as much as they did now the barley-loaves, and called
light bread, Num_21:5. Thus apt are we to slight and overlook the appearances of
God's power and grace in our own times, while we pretend to admire the wonders of
which our fathers told us. Suppose this miracle of Christ was outdone by that of
Moses, yet there were other instances in which Christ's miracles outshone his; and,
besides, all true miracles prove a divine doctrine, though not equally illustrious in the
circumstances, which were ever diversified according as the occasion did require. As
much as the manna excelled the barley-loaves, so much, and much more, did the
doctrine of Christ excel the law of Moses, and his heavenly institutions the carnal
ordinances of that dispensation.
2. Here is Christ's reply to this enquiry, wherein,
(1.) He rectifies their mistake concerning the typical manna. It was true that their
fathers did eat manna in the desert. But, [1.] It was not Moses that gave it to them,
nor were they obliged to him for it; he was but the instrument, and therefore they
must look beyond him to God. We do not find that Moses did so much as pray to God
for the manna; and he spoke unadvisedly when he said, Must we fetch water out of
the rock? Moses gave them not either that bread or that water. [2.] It was not given
them, as they imagined, from heaven, from the highest heavens, but only from the
clouds, and therefore not so much superior to that which had its rise from the earth
as they thought. Because the scripture saith, He gave them bread from heaven, it
does not follow that it was heavenly bread, or was intended to be the nourishment of
souls. Misunderstanding scripture language occasions many mistakes in the things of
God.
(2.) He informs them concerning the true manna, of which that was a type: But my
Father giveth you the true bread from heaven; that which is truly and properly the
bread from heaven, of which the manna was but a shadow and figure, is now given,
not to your fathers, who are dead and gone, but to you of this present age, for whom
the better things were reserved: he is now giving you that bread from heaven,
which is truly so called. As much as the throne of God's glory is above the clouds of
the air, so much does the spiritual bread of the everlasting gospel excel the manna.
In calling God his Father, he proclaims himself greater than Moses; for Moses was
faithful but as a servant, Christ as a Son, Heb_3:5, Heb_3:6.
III. Christ, having replied to their enquiries, takes further occasion from their
objection concerning the manna to discourse of himself under the similitude of
bread, and of believing under the similitude of eating and drinking; to which,
together with his putting both together in the eating of his flesh and drinking of his
blood, and with the remarks made upon it by the hearers, the rest of this conference
may be reduced.
JAMISON, "Our fathers did eat manna, etc. — insinuating the inferiority of
Christ’s miracle of the loaves to those of Moses: “When Moses claimed the confidence
of the fathers, ‘he gave them bread from heaven to eat’ - not for a few thousands, but
for millions, and not once only, but daily throughout their wilderness journey.”
151

152. CALVIN, "31.Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. Thus we see that Christ
put his finger on the sore, when he told them that they came like brute beasts to
fill their belly; for they discover this gross disposition, when they demand a
Messiah by whom they are to be fed. And as to the magnificent terms in which
they extol the grace of God in themanna, they do this cunningly, in order to bury
the doctrine of Christ, by which he condemned them for immoderate desire of
corruptible food; for they contrast with it the magnificent title bestowed on the
manna, when it is called heavenly bread But when the Holy Spirit bestows on the
manna the honorable appellation of the bread of heaven, (Psalms 78:24,) it is not
with this intention, as if God fed his people, like a herd of swine, and gave them
nothing more valuable; and, therefore, they are without excuse, when they
wickedly reject the spiritual food of the soul, which God now offers to them.
32
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not
Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but
it is my Father who gives you the true bread from
heaven.
BARNES, "Moses gave you not that bread from heaven - This might be
translated, “Moses gave you not the bread of heaven.” The word “that,” which makes
some difference in the sense, is not necessary to express the meaning of the original.
It does not appear that Jesus intended to call in question the fact that their fathers
were fed by the instrumentality of Moses, but to state that he did not give them the
true bread that was adapted to the wants of the soul. He fed the Body, although his
food did not keep the body alive Joh_6:49 but he did not give that which would
preserve the soul from death. God gave, in his Son Jesus, the true bread from heaven
which was fitted to man, and of far more value than any supply of their temporal
wants. He tells them, therefore, that they are not to seek from him any such supply of
their temporal wants as they had supposed. A better gift had been furnished in his
being given for the life of the world.
My father giveth you - In the gospel; in the gift of his Son.
The true bread - The trite or real support which is needed to keep the soul from
death. It is not false, deceitful, or perishing. Christ is called bread, because, as bread
supports life, so his doctrine supports, preserves, and saves the soul from death. He
is the true support, not only in opposition to the mere supply of temporal wants such
as Moses furnished, but also in opposition to all false religion which deceives and
destroys the soul.
152

153. CLARKE, "Moses gave you not that bread from heaven - Our Lord refutes
the argument of the Jews, by proving:
1. That it was not Moses, but God, who gave the manna.
2. That this bread was not the true bread, but was merely a type of it.
3. That God had given them now a bread infinitely more excellent.
4. That himself is that heavenly nourishment of which he spake, and who was
typified by the manna in the desert.
To show that himself was the true bread from heaven, he proves two things:
1. That his doctrine was the true nourishment of the soul, and that those who
were to be put in possession of the blessings promised in it must come to God
by faith.
2. That he would give his body for the life of the world: that as bread is the staff
that supports the natural life of man, so the salvation procured by his death
should be that by which the bodies and souls of believers should be preserved
unto life eternal.
GILL, "Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you,.... It is
truth, and may be depended on, whether it will be believed or not:
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; in which Christ denies that that
bread, or manna, did come from heaven; that is, from the highest heavens, only from
the air, and was not such celestial bread he after speaks of, and which came down
from the heaven of heavens: and moreover, he denies that Moses gave them that
bread; it was the Lord that gave them it, as is expressly said in the passage referred
to, in the above citation. Moses had no hand in it; he did not so much as pray for it,
much less procure it, or prepare it: it was promised and prepared by God, and rained
by him, and who directed to the gathering and use of it. This stands opposed to a
notion of the Jews, that the manna was given by means of Moses, for his sake, and on
account of his merits: for they say (g),
"there arose up three good providers, or pastors for Israel, and they are these, Moses,
and Aaron, and Miriam; and three good gifts were given by their means, and they are
these, the well, the cloud, and the manna; the well by the merits of Miriam; the pillar
of cloud by the merits of Aaron; ‫משה‬ ‫בזכות‬ ‫,מן‬ "the manna, by the merits of Moses".''
This our Lord denies; and affirms,
but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven: he not only gave the
manna to the Jewish fathers, and not Moses; but he also gives that bread which the
manna was typical of, by which he means himself; who may be compared to bread,
because of the original of it, or the matter of it, of which it is made, wheat, he is called
a corn of wheat, Joh_12:24; and from its preparation for food, being threshed, and
winnowed, and ground, and kneaded, and baked; all which may express the
sufferings and death of Christ, by which he becomes fit food for faith; and from its
being the main part of human sustenance, and from its nourishing and strengthening
nature, and from its being a means of maintaining and supporting life: and he may be
called the "true" bread, because he is the truth and substance of the types of him; the
153

154. unleavened bread, eaten at the passover, was typical of him, as he was free from sin
in nature and life; and from all error in doctrine; and so was the showbread a type of
his intercession, and set forth the continuance of it, its efficacy and acceptance, of
which the priests only shared; and so were the meat offerings in the sacrifices, which
were offered up day by day: and particularly the manna, the bread from heaven, the
Jews were now speaking of: Christ was the truth of that type; that was but shadowy
bread, Christ is the true bread, or the antitype of it in its name; whether it be derived
from "manah", to prepare, Christ being the bread of life, and salvation of God,
prepared in the council and covenant of grace, and by his sufferings and death before
the face of all people; or from the words "man hu", what is it? Christ being as little
known by carnal men, as the manna was at first to the Israelites: and in its nature,
kind, form, and quality; it was round in form, which might be expressive of the
perfections of Christ, and particularly his eternity, being without beginning or end; it
was white in colour, which may denote the purity and innocence of him; it was sweet
in taste, as he, his fruits, his word, and ordinances, are to them that are born again; it
was small in quantity, which may set forth the meanness of Christ in his state of
humiliation: it was also typical of Christ in its usefulness; it was sufficient to supply a,
great multitude, and that for many years, as the fulness of grace in Christ is sufficient
for the whole family in heaven, and in earth, in time, and to all eternity; the Israelites
all shared in it, and had all an equal portion of it; so all the people of God have an
interest in Christ, and equally participate of the blessings of his grace, and shall enjoy
the same eternal life and glory by him: one has neither more nor less than another;
Christ is all in all, and made alike all things to them: and he may be called the bread
"from heaven"; because he came from thence, not by change of place, but by
assumption of nature, even from the highest heavens, the third heaven, from whence
the manna came not: he is the Lord from heaven, and is such bread as has a virtue
and tendency in it to nourish men for heaven, and is truly of a heavenly nature: and
this is Christ's Father's gift, and is of pure grace, without any consideration of works
and merits in men. Philo the Jew says (h), the heavenly food of the soul, which is
called "manna", the divine word distributes alike to all that ask.
HENRY, "1. Christ having spoken of himself as the great gift of God, and the true
bread (Joh_6:32), largely explains and confirms this, that we may rightly know him.
(1.) He here shows that he is the true bread; this he repeats again and again, Joh_
6:33, Joh_6:35, Joh_6:48-51. Observe, [1.] That Christ is bread is that to the soul
which bread is to the body, nourishes and supports the spiritual life (is the staff of it)
as bread does the bodily life; it is the staff of life. The doctrines of the gospel
concerning Christ - that he is the mediator between God and man, that he is our
peace, our righteousness, our Redeemer; by these things do men live. Our bodies
could better live without food than our souls without Christ. Bread-corn is bruised
(Isa_28:28), so was Christ; he was born at Bethlehem, the house of bread, and
typified by the show-bread. [2.] That he is the bread of God (Joh_6:33), divine
bread; it is he that is of God (Joh_6:46), bread which my Father gives (Joh_6:32),
which he has made to be the food of our souls; the bread of God's family, his
children's bread. The Levitical sacrifices are called the bread of God (Lev_21:21,
Lev_21:22), and Christ is the great sacrifice; Christ, in his word and ordinances, the
feast upon the sacrifice. [3.] That he is the bread of life (Joh_6:35, and again, Joh_
6:48), that bread of life, alluding to the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden,
which was to Adam the seal of that part of the covenant, Do this and live, of which he
might eat and live. Christ is the bread of life, for he is the fruit of the tree of life.
First, He is the living bread (so he explains himself, Joh_6:51): I am the living
bread. Bread is itself a dead thing, and nourishes not but by the help of the faculties
154

155. of a living body; but Christ is himself living bread, and nourishes by his own power.
Manna was a dead thing; if kept but one night, it putrefied and bred worms; but
Christ is ever living, everlasting bread, that never moulds, nor waxes old. The
doctrine of Christ crucified is now as strengthening and comforting to a believer as
ever it was, and his mediation still of as much value and efficacy as ever. Secondly,
He gives life unto the world (Joh_6:33), spiritual and eternal life; the life of the soul
in union and communion with God here, and in the vision and fruition of him
hereafter; a life that includes in it all happiness. The manna did only reserve and
support life, did not preserve and perpetuate life, much less restore it; but Christ
gives life to those that were dead in sin. The manna was ordained only for the life of
the Israelites, but Christ is given for the life of the world; none are excluded from the
benefit of this bread, but such as exclude themselves. Christ came to put life into the
minds of men, principles productive of acceptable performances. [4.] That he is the
JAMISON, "Moses gave you not, etc. — “It was not Moses that gave you the
manna, and even it was but from the lower heavens; ‘but My Father giveth you the
true bread,’ and that ‘from heaven.’”
CALVIN, "32.Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses gave you not bread from
heaven. Christ appears to contradict what was quoted from the psalm, but he
speaks only by comparison. The manna ‫מן‬ is called the bread of heaven, but it is
for the nourishment of the body; but the bread which ought truly and properly
to be reckoned heavenly, is that which gives spiritual nourishment to the soul.
Christ therefore makes a contrast here between the world and heaven, because
we ought not to seek the incorruptible life but in the kingdom of heaven. In this
passage, truth is not contrasted with shadows, as is often done elsewhere; but
Christ considers what is thetrue life of man, or, in other words, what it is that
makes him different from brute beasts, and excellent among the creatures.
My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. When he adds these words,
the meaning is,” The manna which Moses gave to your fathers did not bringThe manna which Moses gave to your fathers did not bringThe manna which Moses gave to your fathers did not bringThe manna which Moses gave to your fathers did not bring
heavenly life, but now heavenly life is truly exhibited to you.heavenly life, but now heavenly life is truly exhibited to you.heavenly life, but now heavenly life is truly exhibited to you.heavenly life, but now heavenly life is truly exhibited to you.” True, it is the FatherTrue, it is the FatherTrue, it is the FatherTrue, it is the Father
whom he calls the giver of this bread, but he means that it is given by his own hand.whom he calls the giver of this bread, but he means that it is given by his own hand.whom he calls the giver of this bread, but he means that it is given by his own hand.whom he calls the giver of this bread, but he means that it is given by his own hand.
Thus the contrast relates, not to Moses and God, but to Moses and Christ. Now,Thus the contrast relates, not to Moses and God, but to Moses and Christ. Now,Thus the contrast relates, not to Moses and God, but to Moses and Christ. Now,Thus the contrast relates, not to Moses and God, but to Moses and Christ. Now,
Christ represents his Father rather than himself as the Author of this gift, in orderChrist represents his Father rather than himself as the Author of this gift, in orderChrist represents his Father rather than himself as the Author of this gift, in orderChrist represents his Father rather than himself as the Author of this gift, in order
to procure for himself deeper reverence; as if he had said,to procure for himself deeper reverence; as if he had said,to procure for himself deeper reverence; as if he had said,to procure for himself deeper reverence; as if he had said, “Acknowledge me to beAcknowledge me to beAcknowledge me to beAcknowledge me to be
the minister of God, by whose hands he wishes to feed you to eternal life.the minister of God, by whose hands he wishes to feed you to eternal life.the minister of God, by whose hands he wishes to feed you to eternal life.the minister of God, by whose hands he wishes to feed you to eternal life.” But,But,But,But,
again, this appears to be inconsistent with the doctrine of Paul, who calls theagain, this appears to be inconsistent with the doctrine of Paul, who calls theagain, this appears to be inconsistent with the doctrine of Paul, who calls theagain, this appears to be inconsistent with the doctrine of Paul, who calls the
mannamannamannamanna — spiritual food, (1 Corinthians 10:3.) I reply, Christ speaks according to
the capacity of those with whom he has to deal, and this is not uncommon in
Scripture. We see how variously Paul speaks about circumcision. When he writes
about the ordinance, he calls it the seal of faith, (Romans 4:11;) but when he has
to contend with false apostles, he calls it rather a seal of cursing, and that by
taking it with the qualities which they ascribed to it, and according to their
opinion. (143) Let us consider what was the objection made against Christ,
namely, that he did not prove himself to be the Messiah, if he did not supply his
155

156. followers with bodily food. Accordingly, he does not inquire what it was that was
prefigured by the manna, but maintains that the bread with which Moses fed
their bellies was not true bread.
INTERVARSITY, "Jesus' response (v.INTERVARSITY, "Jesus' response (v.INTERVARSITY, "Jesus' response (v.INTERVARSITY, "Jesus' response (v. 32323232) follows a pattern familiar in rabbinic) follows a pattern familiar in rabbinic) follows a pattern familiar in rabbinic) follows a pattern familiar in rabbinic
teaching styles (Borgenteaching styles (Borgenteaching styles (Borgenteaching styles (Borgen 1965:611965:611965:611965:61----67676767). Jesus corrects what he understands to be their). Jesus corrects what he understands to be their). Jesus corrects what he understands to be their). Jesus corrects what he understands to be their
interpretation of the Scripture just cited. He who gave them bread was not Mosesinterpretation of the Scripture just cited. He who gave them bread was not Mosesinterpretation of the Scripture just cited. He who gave them bread was not Mosesinterpretation of the Scripture just cited. He who gave them bread was not Moses
but my Father, and the giving of the true bread was not past (has given) but presentbut my Father, and the giving of the true bread was not past (has given) but presentbut my Father, and the giving of the true bread was not past (has given) but presentbut my Father, and the giving of the true bread was not past (has given) but present
(gives). The claims implied in these changes are astonishing. He is not claiming to(gives). The claims implied in these changes are astonishing. He is not claiming to(gives). The claims implied in these changes are astonishing. He is not claiming to(gives). The claims implied in these changes are astonishing. He is not claiming to
be a giver of bread like Moses. Rather, he focuses their attention of the real giver,be a giver of bread like Moses. Rather, he focuses their attention of the real giver,be a giver of bread like Moses. Rather, he focuses their attention of the real giver,be a giver of bread like Moses. Rather, he focuses their attention of the real giver,
God. But he identifies God as my Father, thus making himself and his relationshipGod. But he identifies God as my Father, thus making himself and his relationshipGod. But he identifies God as my Father, thus making himself and his relationshipGod. But he identifies God as my Father, thus making himself and his relationship
with God the defining expression of God. Such an enormous claim is then backedwith God the defining expression of God. Such an enormous claim is then backedwith God the defining expression of God. Such an enormous claim is then backedwith God the defining expression of God. Such an enormous claim is then backed
up with the focus on the present: his Father is giving them bread. This bread is theup with the focus on the present: his Father is giving them bread. This bread is theup with the focus on the present: his Father is giving them bread. This bread is theup with the focus on the present: his Father is giving them bread. This bread is the
true bread from heaven (v.true bread from heaven (v.true bread from heaven (v.true bread from heaven (v. 32323232), the real bread that is the source and standard of all), the real bread that is the source and standard of all), the real bread that is the source and standard of all), the real bread that is the source and standard of all
else that can be called "bread from heaven." God is the one who always provideselse that can be called "bread from heaven." God is the one who always provideselse that can be called "bread from heaven." God is the one who always provideselse that can be called "bread from heaven." God is the one who always provides
bread, but now in the person and ministry of Jesus, the Father is doing a uniquebread, but now in the person and ministry of Jesus, the Father is doing a uniquebread, but now in the person and ministry of Jesus, the Father is doing a uniquebread, but now in the person and ministry of Jesus, the Father is doing a unique
work. Jesus is far more than the giver of bread like Moses was; he is the bread itself,work. Jesus is far more than the giver of bread like Moses was; he is the bread itself,work. Jesus is far more than the giver of bread like Moses was; he is the bread itself,work. Jesus is far more than the giver of bread like Moses was; he is the bread itself,
as he is about to make clear.as he is about to make clear.as he is about to make clear.as he is about to make clear.
This style of interpreting Scripture is very typical of the way Christians in the NewThis style of interpreting Scripture is very typical of the way Christians in the NewThis style of interpreting Scripture is very typical of the way Christians in the NewThis style of interpreting Scripture is very typical of the way Christians in the New
Testament understand the Old Testament (see comment onTestament understand the Old Testament (see comment onTestament understand the Old Testament (see comment onTestament understand the Old Testament (see comment on 2:222:222:222:22). Jesus is the). Jesus is the). Jesus is the). Jesus is the
interpretive key. As the Word and Wisdom of God, he is the fount of all revelationinterpretive key. As the Word and Wisdom of God, he is the fount of all revelationinterpretive key. As the Word and Wisdom of God, he is the fount of all revelationinterpretive key. As the Word and Wisdom of God, he is the fount of all revelation
to begin with. It all points to him and coheres in him. This way of interpretingto begin with. It all points to him and coheres in him. This way of interpretingto begin with. It all points to him and coheres in him. This way of interpretingto begin with. It all points to him and coheres in him. This way of interpreting
Scripture differs from many modern forms of interpretation, but is notScripture differs from many modern forms of interpretation, but is notScripture differs from many modern forms of interpretation, but is notScripture differs from many modern forms of interpretation, but is not
incompatible with them. Unless we interpret the Scriptures in the same way that theincompatible with them. Unless we interpret the Scriptures in the same way that theincompatible with them. Unless we interpret the Scriptures in the same way that theincompatible with them. Unless we interpret the Scriptures in the same way that the
authors of the New Testament did, we will miss the great organic beauty of theauthors of the New Testament did, we will miss the great organic beauty of theauthors of the New Testament did, we will miss the great organic beauty of theauthors of the New Testament did, we will miss the great organic beauty of the
revelation and its coherent truth.revelation and its coherent truth.revelation and its coherent truth.revelation and its coherent truth.
Jesus continues by explaining (gar, translated for) more about this bread his FatherJesus continues by explaining (gar, translated for) more about this bread his FatherJesus continues by explaining (gar, translated for) more about this bread his FatherJesus continues by explaining (gar, translated for) more about this bread his Father
is giving them (v.is giving them (v.is giving them (v.is giving them (v. 33333333). The language used here is subtle. It could refer to a person). The language used here is subtle. It could refer to a person). The language used here is subtle. It could refer to a person). The language used here is subtle. It could refer to a person
coming from heaven, as the NIV takes it: he who comes down from heaven. Or thecoming from heaven, as the NIV takes it: he who comes down from heaven. Or thecoming from heaven, as the NIV takes it: he who comes down from heaven. Or thecoming from heaven, as the NIV takes it: he who comes down from heaven. Or the
reference could be more general: the bread of God is "that which" comes downreference could be more general: the bread of God is "that which" comes downreference could be more general: the bread of God is "that which" comes downreference could be more general: the bread of God is "that which" comes down
from heaven. Jesus is, of course, referring to himself, as he makes clear in the nextfrom heaven. Jesus is, of course, referring to himself, as he makes clear in the nextfrom heaven. Jesus is, of course, referring to himself, as he makes clear in the nextfrom heaven. Jesus is, of course, referring to himself, as he makes clear in the next
section. But the crowd hears it in the more general sense, and they say, from now onsection. But the crowd hears it in the more general sense, and they say, from now onsection. But the crowd hears it in the more general sense, and they say, from now onsection. But the crowd hears it in the more general sense, and they say, from now on
156

157. give us this bread (v.give us this bread (v.give us this bread (v.give us this bread (v. 34343434). The phrase from now on translates pantote, which simply). The phrase from now on translates pantote, which simply). The phrase from now on translates pantote, which simply). The phrase from now on translates pantote, which simply
means "always." The crowd wants an unending supply of this bread, perhaps like themeans "always." The crowd wants an unending supply of this bread, perhaps like themeans "always." The crowd wants an unending supply of this bread, perhaps like themeans "always." The crowd wants an unending supply of this bread, perhaps like the
Samaritan woman wanted a continuous supply of water so she would not have to goSamaritan woman wanted a continuous supply of water so she would not have to goSamaritan woman wanted a continuous supply of water so she would not have to goSamaritan woman wanted a continuous supply of water so she would not have to go
to the well again (to the well again (to the well again (to the well again (4:154:154:154:15). Once the crowd realizes he is referring to himself, however,). Once the crowd realizes he is referring to himself, however,). Once the crowd realizes he is referring to himself, however,). Once the crowd realizes he is referring to himself, however,
they become far less receptive (they become far less receptive (they become far less receptive (they become far less receptive (6:416:416:416:41)!)!)!)!
Jesus continues to correct their thinking about Moses and the bread as he explainsJesus continues to correct their thinking about Moses and the bread as he explainsJesus continues to correct their thinking about Moses and the bread as he explainsJesus continues to correct their thinking about Moses and the bread as he explains
that this bread of God gives life to the world (v.that this bread of God gives life to the world (v.that this bread of God gives life to the world (v.that this bread of God gives life to the world (v. 33333333). The scope of God's concern is). The scope of God's concern is). The scope of God's concern is). The scope of God's concern is
not just Israel, as it was in the wilderness, but the whole of the world (cf.not just Israel, as it was in the wilderness, but the whole of the world (cf.not just Israel, as it was in the wilderness, but the whole of the world (cf.not just Israel, as it was in the wilderness, but the whole of the world (cf. 3:163:163:163:16). And). And). And). And
the need is not just for sustenance, but for life itself. The world, apart from God, isthe need is not just for sustenance, but for life itself. The world, apart from God, isthe need is not just for sustenance, but for life itself. The world, apart from God, isthe need is not just for sustenance, but for life itself. The world, apart from God, is
dead. Our need is extreme and radical. We need a new birth (cf.dead. Our need is extreme and radical. We need a new birth (cf.dead. Our need is extreme and radical. We need a new birth (cf.dead. Our need is extreme and radical. We need a new birth (cf. 3:33:33:33:3), for apart from), for apart from), for apart from), for apart from
Christ we have no real life and are under God's wrath (cf.Christ we have no real life and are under God's wrath (cf.Christ we have no real life and are under God's wrath (cf.Christ we have no real life and are under God's wrath (cf. 3:363:363:363:36). By telling this). By telling this). By telling this). By telling this
Jewish crowd that the Father gives you this bread and then saying that it gives life toJewish crowd that the Father gives you this bread and then saying that it gives life toJewish crowd that the Father gives you this bread and then saying that it gives life toJewish crowd that the Father gives you this bread and then saying that it gives life to
the world, Jesus includes this Jewish crowd in "the world." Salvation in Jesus doesthe world, Jesus includes this Jewish crowd in "the world." Salvation in Jesus doesthe world, Jesus includes this Jewish crowd in "the world." Salvation in Jesus doesthe world, Jesus includes this Jewish crowd in "the world." Salvation in Jesus does
indeed come from the Jews (indeed come from the Jews (indeed come from the Jews (indeed come from the Jews (4:224:224:224:22), but it is also for the Jews. Recent "two), but it is also for the Jews. Recent "two), but it is also for the Jews. Recent "two), but it is also for the Jews. Recent "two----covenantcovenantcovenantcovenant
theology," which asserts that God saves Jews through his covenant with them aparttheology," which asserts that God saves Jews through his covenant with them aparttheology," which asserts that God saves Jews through his covenant with them aparttheology," which asserts that God saves Jews through his covenant with them apart
from Jesus the Christ, is not in accord with the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.from Jesus the Christ, is not in accord with the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.from Jesus the Christ, is not in accord with the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.from Jesus the Christ, is not in accord with the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.
POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND
Jesus is the bread that satisfies (JohnJesus is the bread that satisfies (JohnJesus is the bread that satisfies (JohnJesus is the bread that satisfies (John 6:326:326:326:32----33333333))))
The next day when the people found Jesus they wanted another free meal onThe next day when the people found Jesus they wanted another free meal onThe next day when the people found Jesus they wanted another free meal onThe next day when the people found Jesus they wanted another free meal on
wheels. If He did it once, can He do it twice? Go ahead and show us! The rabbiswheels. If He did it once, can He do it twice? Go ahead and show us! The rabbiswheels. If He did it once, can He do it twice? Go ahead and show us! The rabbiswheels. If He did it once, can He do it twice? Go ahead and show us! The rabbis
had taught that when the Messiah came He would duplicate the miracle of givinghad taught that when the Messiah came He would duplicate the miracle of givinghad taught that when the Messiah came He would duplicate the miracle of givinghad taught that when the Messiah came He would duplicate the miracle of giving
the manna. The Midrash Rabba taught,the manna. The Midrash Rabba taught,the manna. The Midrash Rabba taught,the manna. The Midrash Rabba taught, ““““What did the first redeemer do? HeWhat did the first redeemer do? HeWhat did the first redeemer do? HeWhat did the first redeemer do? He
brought down the manna. The last redeemer will also bring down manna.brought down the manna. The last redeemer will also bring down manna.brought down the manna. The last redeemer will also bring down manna.brought down the manna. The last redeemer will also bring down manna.””””
Jesus knew they were out to manipulate Him, so He offered themJesus knew they were out to manipulate Him, so He offered themJesus knew they were out to manipulate Him, so He offered themJesus knew they were out to manipulate Him, so He offered them ““““food whichfood whichfood whichfood which
endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him theendures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him theendures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him theendures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the
Father, even God, has set His sealFather, even God, has set His sealFather, even God, has set His sealFather, even God, has set His seal”””” (v.(v.(v.(v. 27272727). They then insisted on another). They then insisted on another). They then insisted on another). They then insisted on another ““““signsignsignsign”””” totototo
prove His credentials.prove His credentials.prove His credentials.prove His credentials. ““““Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written,Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written,Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written,Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written,
‘‘‘‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eatHe gave them bread out of heaven to eatHe gave them bread out of heaven to eatHe gave them bread out of heaven to eat’ ”’ ”’ ”’ ” (v.(v.(v.(v. 31313131). Jesus spoke of the fact that He). Jesus spoke of the fact that He). Jesus spoke of the fact that He). Jesus spoke of the fact that He
was Godwas Godwas Godwas God’’’’s gift to men and that God desired men to believe in Him. They said theys gift to men and that God desired men to believe in Him. They said theys gift to men and that God desired men to believe in Him. They said theys gift to men and that God desired men to believe in Him. They said they
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158. would believe in Him if He could do what Moses did and feed them again.would believe in Him if He could do what Moses did and feed them again.would believe in Him if He could do what Moses did and feed them again.would believe in Him if He could do what Moses did and feed them again.
Who gave the manna? Not Moses, God. Moreover, the manna was not true breadWho gave the manna? Not Moses, God. Moreover, the manna was not true breadWho gave the manna? Not Moses, God. Moreover, the manna was not true breadWho gave the manna? Not Moses, God. Moreover, the manna was not true bread
from the true heaven. It was earthly bread from a visible sky that God provided.from the true heaven. It was earthly bread from a visible sky that God provided.from the true heaven. It was earthly bread from a visible sky that God provided.from the true heaven. It was earthly bread from a visible sky that God provided.
Jesus then said to them,Jesus then said to them,Jesus then said to them,Jesus then said to them, ““““Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given youTruly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given youTruly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given youTruly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you
the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out ofthe bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out ofthe bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out ofthe bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of
heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and givesheaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and givesheaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and givesheaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives
life to the worldlife to the worldlife to the worldlife to the world”””” (vv.(vv.(vv.(vv. 32323232----33333333).).).).
Their immediate response was to ask Him to give them more of this bread. JesusTheir immediate response was to ask Him to give them more of this bread. JesusTheir immediate response was to ask Him to give them more of this bread. JesusTheir immediate response was to ask Him to give them more of this bread. Jesus
then clarifies the kind of bread He is offering which is true bread that alone satisfiesthen clarifies the kind of bread He is offering which is true bread that alone satisfiesthen clarifies the kind of bread He is offering which is true bread that alone satisfiesthen clarifies the kind of bread He is offering which is true bread that alone satisfies
the genuine hunger of the human soul.the genuine hunger of the human soul.the genuine hunger of the human soul.the genuine hunger of the human soul.
Jesus said to them,Jesus said to them,Jesus said to them,Jesus said to them, ““““I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, andI am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, andI am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, andI am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and
he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, andhe who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, andhe who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, andhe who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and
yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one whoyet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one whoyet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one whoyet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who
comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not tocomes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not tocomes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not tocomes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to
do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sentdo My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sentdo My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sentdo My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent
Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes inFor this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes inFor this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes inFor this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in
Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last dayHim will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last dayHim will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last dayHim will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day”””” (vv.(vv.(vv.(vv. 35353535----40404040).).).).
That was one piece of bread that was hard for the crowd to swallow. They wantedThat was one piece of bread that was hard for the crowd to swallow. They wantedThat was one piece of bread that was hard for the crowd to swallow. They wantedThat was one piece of bread that was hard for the crowd to swallow. They wanted
fish now, not eternal life.fish now, not eternal life.fish now, not eternal life.fish now, not eternal life.
““““I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven,I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven,I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven,I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven,”””” Jesus said. He was claimingJesus said. He was claimingJesus said. He was claimingJesus said. He was claiming
that He alone could meet the essential needs of our lives.that He alone could meet the essential needs of our lives.that He alone could meet the essential needs of our lives.that He alone could meet the essential needs of our lives. ““““I am the bread of life.I am the bread of life.I am the bread of life.I am the bread of life.””””
In chapter four He said He was theIn chapter four He said He was theIn chapter four He said He was theIn chapter four He said He was the ““““living water;living water;living water;living water;”””” now He is the living bread.now He is the living bread.now He is the living bread.now He is the living bread.
This is the first of the sevenThis is the first of the sevenThis is the first of the sevenThis is the first of the seven ““““IIII----amamamam”””” sayings in the gospel of John. In seven passagessayings in the gospel of John. In seven passagessayings in the gospel of John. In seven passagessayings in the gospel of John. In seven passages
Jesus provides a clear predicate noun to describe Himself in these solemnJesus provides a clear predicate noun to describe Himself in these solemnJesus provides a clear predicate noun to describe Himself in these solemnJesus provides a clear predicate noun to describe Himself in these solemn
pronouncements.pronouncements.pronouncements.pronouncements.
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159. · I am the bread of life (· I am the bread of life (· I am the bread of life (· I am the bread of life (6:356:356:356:35; cf. vv.; cf. vv.; cf. vv.; cf. vv. 41414141,,,, 48484848,,,, 51515151))))
· I am the light of the world (· I am the light of the world (· I am the light of the world (· I am the light of the world (8:128:128:128:12; cf. vv.; cf. vv.; cf. vv.; cf. vv. 18181818,,,, 23232323))))
· I am the gate for the sheep (· I am the gate for the sheep (· I am the gate for the sheep (· I am the gate for the sheep (10:710:710:710:7,,,, 9999))))
· I am the good shepherd (· I am the good shepherd (· I am the good shepherd (· I am the good shepherd (10:1110:1110:1110:11,,,, 14141414))))
· I am the resurrection and the life (· I am the resurrection and the life (· I am the resurrection and the life (· I am the resurrection and the life (11:2511:2511:2511:25))))
· I am the way and the truth and the life (· I am the way and the truth and the life (· I am the way and the truth and the life (· I am the way and the truth and the life (14:614:614:614:6))))
· I am the true vine (· I am the true vine (· I am the true vine (· I am the true vine (15:115:115:115:1,,,, 5555))))
The great multitude of people desired heavenly bread as the rabbis had interpreted.The great multitude of people desired heavenly bread as the rabbis had interpreted.The great multitude of people desired heavenly bread as the rabbis had interpreted.The great multitude of people desired heavenly bread as the rabbis had interpreted.
Jesus is the precious gift of eternal life.Jesus is the precious gift of eternal life.Jesus is the precious gift of eternal life.Jesus is the precious gift of eternal life. ““““I am the bread of lifeI am the bread of lifeI am the bread of lifeI am the bread of life”””” (v.(v.(v.(v. 48484848).).).). ““““I am theI am theI am theI am the
living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will liveliving bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will liveliving bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will liveliving 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 fleshforever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My fleshforever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My fleshforever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh”””” (v.(v.(v.(v.
51515151).).).).
Just as the water Jesus offers quenches all thirst, so the bread He offers banishes allJust as the water Jesus offers quenches all thirst, so the bread He offers banishes allJust as the water Jesus offers quenches all thirst, so the bread He offers banishes allJust as the water Jesus offers quenches all thirst, so the bread He offers banishes all
hunger.hunger.hunger.hunger.
Since God is truly the source of true heavenly bread, and since God has sent Jesus,Since God is truly the source of true heavenly bread, and since God has sent Jesus,Since God is truly the source of true heavenly bread, and since God has sent Jesus,Since God is truly the source of true heavenly bread, and since God has sent Jesus,
therefore the bread of God is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one whotherefore the bread of God is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one whotherefore the bread of God is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one whotherefore the bread of God is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who
comes down from heaven.comes down from heaven.comes down from heaven.comes down from heaven.
The Jewish people understood that Christ was saying He was of divine origin.The Jewish people understood that Christ was saying He was of divine origin.The Jewish people understood that Christ was saying He was of divine origin.The Jewish people understood that Christ was saying He was of divine origin. ““““I amI amI amI am
the bread which came down from heaven.the bread which came down from heaven.the bread which came down from heaven.the bread which came down from heaven.”””” HisHisHisHis ““““I amI amI amI am”””” is a solemnly emphaticis a solemnly emphaticis a solemnly emphaticis a solemnly emphatic
statement. Jesus took the name of God at the burning bush and linked it with thestatement. Jesus took the name of God at the burning bush and linked it with thestatement. Jesus took the name of God at the burning bush and linked it with thestatement. Jesus took the name of God at the burning bush and linked it with the
symbol of perfect sustenance for human life. No one but Jesus Christ can make thatsymbol of perfect sustenance for human life. No one but Jesus Christ can make thatsymbol of perfect sustenance for human life. No one but Jesus Christ can make thatsymbol of perfect sustenance for human life. No one but Jesus Christ can make that
claim. He is identifying Himself with the Jehovah or LORD in the Old Testament.claim. He is identifying Himself with the Jehovah or LORD in the Old Testament.claim. He is identifying Himself with the Jehovah or LORD in the Old Testament.claim. He is identifying Himself with the Jehovah or LORD in the Old Testament.
He is demonstrating absolute deity. He is saying,He is demonstrating absolute deity. He is saying,He is demonstrating absolute deity. He is saying,He is demonstrating absolute deity. He is saying, ““““I am what every sinner needs,I am what every sinner needs,I am what every sinner needs,I am what every sinner needs,
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160. and without what I provide he will perish eternally. I am alone that which can satisfyand without what I provide he will perish eternally. I am alone that which can satisfyand without what I provide he will perish eternally. I am alone that which can satisfyand without what I provide he will perish eternally. I am alone that which can satisfy
the soul and bring eternal life.the soul and bring eternal life.the soul and bring eternal life.the soul and bring eternal life.” “” “” “” “Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and areYour fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and areYour fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and areYour fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are
dead.dead.dead.dead.”””” In contrast,In contrast,In contrast,In contrast, ““““I am the living bread which came down from heaven.I am the living bread which came down from heaven.I am the living bread which came down from heaven.I am the living bread which came down from heaven.”””” TheTheTheThe
inference is that we should feed upon Him and grow. He alone is what is necessaryinference is that we should feed upon Him and grow. He alone is what is necessaryinference is that we should feed upon Him and grow. He alone is what is necessaryinference is that we should feed upon Him and grow. He alone is what is necessary
for our spiritual life.for our spiritual life.for our spiritual life.for our spiritual life.
JesusJesusJesusJesus’’’’ words are strong and emphatic. He leaves no room for the spiritual hungerwords are strong and emphatic. He leaves no room for the spiritual hungerwords are strong and emphatic. He leaves no room for the spiritual hungerwords are strong and emphatic. He leaves no room for the spiritual hunger
and thirst after receiving Christ. Jesus said,and thirst after receiving Christ. Jesus said,and thirst after receiving Christ. Jesus said,and thirst after receiving Christ. Jesus said, ““““I am the bread of life; he who comes toI am the bread of life; he who comes toI am the bread of life; he who comes toI am the bread of life; he who comes to
Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirstMe will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirstMe will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirstMe will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst”””” (v.(v.(v.(v. 35353535). The double). The double). The double). The double
negative is strong,negative is strong,negative is strong,negative is strong, ““““shall never, never thirst.shall never, never thirst.shall never, never thirst.shall never, never thirst.”””” That does not exclude the reality forThat does not exclude the reality forThat does not exclude the reality forThat does not exclude the reality for
spiritual things, but it rules out for ever the possibility of that unsatisfied hunger forspiritual things, but it rules out for ever the possibility of that unsatisfied hunger forspiritual things, but it rules out for ever the possibility of that unsatisfied hunger forspiritual things, but it rules out for ever the possibility of that unsatisfied hunger for
those who abide in Christ. Since Jesus is the bread of life men are invited to come tothose who abide in Christ. Since Jesus is the bread of life men are invited to come tothose who abide in Christ. Since Jesus is the bread of life men are invited to come tothose who abide in Christ. Since Jesus is the bread of life men are invited to come to
Him, and to feast on Him. To eat the bread is to believe on Him.Him, and to feast on Him. To eat the bread is to believe on Him.Him, and to feast on Him. To eat the bread is to believe on Him.Him, and to feast on Him. To eat the bread is to believe on Him.
Eternal lifeEternal lifeEternal lifeEternal life
Eternal life is the life of God. It is without end because He is without end. It is HisEternal life is the life of God. It is without end because He is without end. It is HisEternal life is the life of God. It is without end because He is without end. It is HisEternal life is the life of God. It is without end because He is without end. It is His
kind of life. Nothing will ever separate the believer from God once we receive it bykind of life. Nothing will ever separate the believer from God once we receive it bykind of life. Nothing will ever separate the believer from God once we receive it bykind of life. Nothing will ever separate the believer from God once we receive it by
faith in Christ. When we are saved we enter into a lifefaith in Christ. When we are saved we enter into a lifefaith in Christ. When we are saved we enter into a lifefaith in Christ. When we are saved we enter into a life----transforming, vital uniontransforming, vital uniontransforming, vital uniontransforming, vital union
with Christ. This new life Christ gives us is His life and we go on receiving it inwith Christ. This new life Christ gives us is His life and we go on receiving it inwith Christ. This new life Christ gives us is His life and we go on receiving it inwith Christ. This new life Christ gives us is His life and we go on receiving it in
increased abundance from the moment we are regenerated throughout eternity. Weincreased abundance from the moment we are regenerated throughout eternity. Weincreased abundance from the moment we are regenerated throughout eternity. Weincreased abundance from the moment we are regenerated throughout eternity. We
are filled withare filled withare filled withare filled with ““““all the fullness of God.all the fullness of God.all the fullness of God.all the fullness of God.”””” According to EphesiansAccording to EphesiansAccording to EphesiansAccording to Ephesians 3:193:193:193:19,,,, ““““GodGodGodGod
promises to enlarge our spiritual capacities until the full life of the infinite Christ ispromises to enlarge our spiritual capacities until the full life of the infinite Christ ispromises to enlarge our spiritual capacities until the full life of the infinite Christ ispromises to enlarge our spiritual capacities until the full life of the infinite Christ is
reproduced in us.reproduced in us.reproduced in us.reproduced in us.”””” As we feed upon Christ, we receive strength for daily living. OurAs we feed upon Christ, we receive strength for daily living. OurAs we feed upon Christ, we receive strength for daily living. OurAs we feed upon Christ, we receive strength for daily living. Our
daily life is to be lived in Christdaily life is to be lived in Christdaily life is to be lived in Christdaily life is to be lived in Christ’’’’s power after we receive Him as our Savior.s power after we receive Him as our Savior.s power after we receive Him as our Savior.s power after we receive Him as our Savior.
Jesus said,Jesus said,Jesus said,Jesus said, ““““All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comesAll that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comesAll that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comesAll that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes
to Me I will certainly not cast outto Me I will certainly not cast outto Me I will certainly not cast outto Me I will certainly not cast out”””” (v.(v.(v.(v. 37373737). The verb used here is "cast out" (Gk.). The verb used here is "cast out" (Gk.). The verb used here is "cast out" (Gk.). The verb used here is "cast out" (Gk.
ekballo), and it refers regularly to something that is already "in" (seeekballo), and it refers regularly to something that is already "in" (seeekballo), and it refers regularly to something that is already "in" (seeekballo), and it refers regularly to something that is already "in" (see 2:152:152:152:15;;;; 9:359:359:359:35;;;;
12:3112:3112:3112:31). Therefore the idea is not about Jesus). Therefore the idea is not about Jesus). Therefore the idea is not about Jesus). Therefore the idea is not about Jesus’’’’ welcoming people, but about Jesuswelcoming people, but about Jesuswelcoming people, but about Jesuswelcoming people, but about Jesus’’’’
keeping people whom the Father has given into His care. Johnkeeping people whom the Father has given into His care. Johnkeeping people whom the Father has given into His care. Johnkeeping people whom the Father has given into His care. John 6:376:376:376:37b is about theb is about theb is about theb is about the
protecting, nurturing capacity of Jesus for believers. Jesus adds,protecting, nurturing capacity of Jesus for believers. Jesus adds,protecting, nurturing capacity of Jesus for believers. Jesus adds,protecting, nurturing capacity of Jesus for believers. Jesus adds, ““““For I have comeFor I have comeFor I have comeFor I have come
down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Medown from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Medown from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Medown from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me”””” (v.(v.(v.(v. 38383838).).).).
Jesus will never lose a single one of those who have come to Him (cf.Jesus will never lose a single one of those who have come to Him (cf.Jesus will never lose a single one of those who have come to Him (cf.Jesus will never lose a single one of those who have come to Him (cf. 10:110:110:110:1----18181818).).).).
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161. Later He said,Later He said,Later He said,Later He said, ““““My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and noMy Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and noMy Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and noMy Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no
one is able to snatch them out of the Fatherone is able to snatch them out of the Fatherone is able to snatch them out of the Fatherone is able to snatch them out of the Father’’’’s hands hands hands hand”””” ((((10:2910:2910:2910:29; cf.; cf.; cf.; cf. 17:217:217:217:2,,,, 4444,,,, 6666,,,, 9999).).).).
The emphasis Jesus is making is that all those who have come into Jesus andThe emphasis Jesus is making is that all those who have come into Jesus andThe emphasis Jesus is making is that all those who have come into Jesus andThe emphasis Jesus is making is that all those who have come into Jesus and
believed will never be lost. God the Father gives divine bread, and whoever eats ofbelieved will never be lost. God the Father gives divine bread, and whoever eats ofbelieved will never be lost. God the Father gives divine bread, and whoever eats ofbelieved will never be lost. God the Father gives divine bread, and whoever eats of
it will live forever.it will live forever.it will live forever.it will live forever. ““““For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds theFor this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds theFor this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds theFor this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the
Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on theSon and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on theSon and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on theSon and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the
last daylast daylast daylast day”””” (v.(v.(v.(v. 40404040).).).).
Jesus will not lose a single one the Father gives Him.Jesus will not lose a single one the Father gives Him.Jesus will not lose a single one the Father gives Him.Jesus will not lose a single one the Father gives Him. ““““No one can come to MeNo one can come to MeNo one can come to MeNo one can come to Me
unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last dayunless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last dayunless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last dayunless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day””””
(v.(v.(v.(v. 44444444). Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins we cannot come to Him). Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins we cannot come to Him). Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins we cannot come to Him). Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins we cannot come to Him
unless the Father draws us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change our heartsunless the Father draws us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change our heartsunless the Father draws us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change our heartsunless the Father draws us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts
and bring about spiritual birth so we can come to Him. The Father draws us to theand bring about spiritual birth so we can come to Him. The Father draws us to theand bring about spiritual birth so we can come to Him. The Father draws us to theand bring about spiritual birth so we can come to Him. The Father draws us to the
Son in order to be saved. When man fell every part of his being was affected. NoSon in order to be saved. When man fell every part of his being was affected. NoSon in order to be saved. When man fell every part of his being was affected. NoSon in order to be saved. When man fell every part of his being was affected. No
one can influence God in any manner, or merit a right relationship with Him. Weone can influence God in any manner, or merit a right relationship with Him. Weone can influence God in any manner, or merit a right relationship with Him. Weone can influence God in any manner, or merit a right relationship with Him. We
are all slaves to sin, estranged from God. Our only hope is in God. We need Hisare all slaves to sin, estranged from God. Our only hope is in God. We need Hisare all slaves to sin, estranged from God. Our only hope is in God. We need Hisare all slaves to sin, estranged from God. Our only hope is in God. We need His
help. Unless He takes the initiative we can never be saved. The unregenerate sinnerhelp. Unless He takes the initiative we can never be saved. The unregenerate sinnerhelp. Unless He takes the initiative we can never be saved. The unregenerate sinnerhelp. Unless He takes the initiative we can never be saved. The unregenerate sinner
is so depraved that unless he receives an unchanged heart and mind he will neveris so depraved that unless he receives an unchanged heart and mind he will neveris so depraved that unless he receives an unchanged heart and mind he will neveris so depraved that unless he receives an unchanged heart and mind he will never
come to a saving relationship with Christ. The change of heart is absolutelycome to a saving relationship with Christ. The change of heart is absolutelycome to a saving relationship with Christ. The change of heart is absolutelycome to a saving relationship with Christ. The change of heart is absolutely
necessary and only God can bring it about. It is, therefore, by the Holy Spirit'snecessary and only God can bring it about. It is, therefore, by the Holy Spirit'snecessary and only God can bring it about. It is, therefore, by the Holy Spirit'snecessary and only God can bring it about. It is, therefore, by the Holy Spirit's
"drawing" that anyone ever comes to Christ for salvation. "It is the power of the"drawing" that anyone ever comes to Christ for salvation. "It is the power of the"drawing" that anyone ever comes to Christ for salvation. "It is the power of the"drawing" that anyone ever comes to Christ for salvation. "It is the power of the
Holy Spirit awakening within him a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy SpiritHoly Spirit awakening within him a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy SpiritHoly Spirit awakening within him a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy SpiritHoly Spirit awakening within him a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy Spirit
overcoming the pride of the natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as anovercoming the pride of the natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as anovercoming the pride of the natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as anovercoming the pride of the natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as an
emptyemptyemptyempty----handed beggar. It is the Holy Spirit creating within him a hunger for thehanded beggar. It is the Holy Spirit creating within him a hunger for thehanded beggar. It is the Holy Spirit creating within him a hunger for thehanded beggar. It is the Holy Spirit creating within him a hunger for the
bread of life,bread of life,bread of life,bread of life,”””” writes A. W. Pink.writes A. W. Pink.writes A. W. Pink.writes A. W. Pink.
No individual can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. This is one of theNo individual can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. This is one of theNo individual can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. This is one of theNo individual can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. This is one of the
great doctrines of salvation by grace through faith. God takes the initiative ingreat doctrines of salvation by grace through faith. God takes the initiative ingreat doctrines of salvation by grace through faith. God takes the initiative ingreat doctrines of salvation by grace through faith. God takes the initiative in
salvation and draws us to Himself in order to save us. Men like to feel independentsalvation and draws us to Himself in order to save us. Men like to feel independentsalvation and draws us to Himself in order to save us. Men like to feel independentsalvation and draws us to Himself in order to save us. Men like to feel independent
but they are not in spiritual matters. They think that they come to Jesus entirely ofbut they are not in spiritual matters. They think that they come to Jesus entirely ofbut they are not in spiritual matters. They think that they come to Jesus entirely ofbut they are not in spiritual matters. They think that they come to Jesus entirely of
their own volition. Jesus assures us that this is an utter impossibility. No man, notheir own volition. Jesus assures us that this is an utter impossibility. No man, notheir own volition. Jesus assures us that this is an utter impossibility. No man, notheir own volition. Jesus assures us that this is an utter impossibility. No man, no
matter how good or bad he thinks himself to be, can come unless the Father drawsmatter how good or bad he thinks himself to be, can come unless the Father drawsmatter how good or bad he thinks himself to be, can come unless the Father drawsmatter how good or bad he thinks himself to be, can come unless the Father draws
161

162. him. The impossibility is clearly stated by Jesus here. Jesus even refers to the Fatherhim. The impossibility is clearly stated by Jesus here. Jesus even refers to the Fatherhim. The impossibility is clearly stated by Jesus here. Jesus even refers to the Fatherhim. The impossibility is clearly stated by Jesus here. Jesus even refers to the Father
as sending Him.as sending Him.as sending Him.as sending Him.
It is important to keep clearly in mind that in the Gospel of John the approach ofIt is important to keep clearly in mind that in the Gospel of John the approach ofIt is important to keep clearly in mind that in the Gospel of John the approach ofIt is important to keep clearly in mind that in the Gospel of John the approach of
the soul to God or Christ is not initiated by man himself, but by a movement ofthe soul to God or Christ is not initiated by man himself, but by a movement ofthe soul to God or Christ is not initiated by man himself, but by a movement ofthe soul to God or Christ is not initiated by man himself, but by a movement of
Divine grace. God brings men to Himself although they prefer sin. Always theDivine grace. God brings men to Himself although they prefer sin. Always theDivine grace. God brings men to Himself although they prefer sin. Always theDivine grace. God brings men to Himself although they prefer sin. Always the
drawing power is triumphant. Calvin speaks ofdrawing power is triumphant. Calvin speaks ofdrawing power is triumphant. Calvin speaks ofdrawing power is triumphant. Calvin speaks of ““““an effectual movement of the Holyan effectual movement of the Holyan effectual movement of the Holyan effectual movement of the Holy
Spirit, turning men from being unwilling and reluctant into willing.Spirit, turning men from being unwilling and reluctant into willing.Spirit, turning men from being unwilling and reluctant into willing.Spirit, turning men from being unwilling and reluctant into willing.”””” Godet said,Godet said,Godet said,Godet said,
““““the God who sends Jesus for souls, on the other hand, draws souls to Jesus. Thethe God who sends Jesus for souls, on the other hand, draws souls to Jesus. Thethe God who sends Jesus for souls, on the other hand, draws souls to Jesus. Thethe God who sends Jesus for souls, on the other hand, draws souls to Jesus. The
two divine works, external and internal, answer to and complete each other. Thetwo divine works, external and internal, answer to and complete each other. Thetwo divine works, external and internal, answer to and complete each other. Thetwo divine works, external and internal, answer to and complete each other. The
happy moment when they meet in the heart, and in which the will is thus gained, ishappy moment when they meet in the heart, and in which the will is thus gained, ishappy moment when they meet in the heart, and in which the will is thus gained, ishappy moment when they meet in the heart, and in which the will is thus gained, is
that of the gift on Godthat of the gift on Godthat of the gift on Godthat of the gift on God’’’’s part, of faith on mans part, of faith on mans part, of faith on mans part, of faith on man’’’’s part.s part.s part.s part.”””” In reality faith is also fromIn reality faith is also fromIn reality faith is also fromIn reality faith is also from
God.God.God.God.
Since Jesus is the true breadSince Jesus is the true breadSince Jesus is the true breadSince Jesus is the true bread————the individual who is spiritually hungry mustthe individual who is spiritually hungry mustthe individual who is spiritually hungry mustthe individual who is spiritually hungry must
consume this bread.consume this bread.consume this bread.consume this bread.
33333333
For the bread of God is he who comes down fromFor the bread of God is he who comes down fromFor the bread of God is he who comes down fromFor the bread of God is he who comes down from
heaven and gives life to the world."heaven and gives life to the world."heaven and gives life to the world."heaven and gives life to the world."
BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "The bread of God - The means of support which God furnishes. That
which, in his view, is needful for man.
Is he ... - Is the Messiah who has come from heaven.
And giveth life ... - See the notes at Joh_1:4.
GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,.... In
the way and manner just now mentioned: and which clearly points out Christ
himself, who may be called "the bread of God"; to distinguish him from common
bread, and to show the excellency of him, and that he is of God's providing and
giving, and which he would have his children feed upon:
162

163. and giveth life unto the world; a spiritual life, which he is the author, supporter,
and maintainer of; and eternal life, which he gives a right unto and meetness for, and
nourishes up unto; and this not to a few only, or to the Israelites only, but to the
Gentiles also, and even to the whole world of God's elect: not indeed to every
individual in the world, for all are not quickened now, not shall inherit eternal life
hereafter; but to all the people of God, in all parts of the world, and in all ages of
time; of such extensive virtue and efficacy is Christ, the bread of God, in which he
appears greatly superior to that manna the Jews instance in.
HENRY, "HENRY, "HENRY, "HENRY, "That he is the bread which came down from heaven; this is often repeated
here, Joh_6:33, Joh_6:50, Joh_6:51, Joh_6:58. This denotes, First, The divinity of Christ's
person. As God, he had a being in heaven, whence he came to take our nature upon him: I
came down from heaven, whence we may infer his antiquity, he was in the beginning with
God; his ability, for heaven is the firmament of power; and his authority, he came with a
divine commission. Secondly, The divine original of all that good which flows to us through
him. He comes, not only katabas - that came down (Joh_6:51), but katabainōi - that comes
down; he is descending, denoting a constant communication of light, life, and love, from God
to believers through Christ, as the manna descended daily; see Eph_1:3. Omnia desuper - All
things from above. [5.] That he is that bread of which the manna was a type and figure (Joh_
6:58), that bread, the true bread, Joh_6:32. As the rock that they drank of was Christ, so was
the manna they ate of spiritual bread, 1Co_10:3, 1Co_10:4. Manna was given to Israel; so
Christ to the spiritual Israel. There was manna enough for them all; so in Christ a fulness of
grace for all believers; he that gathers much of this manna will have none to spare when he
comes to use it; and he that gathers little, when his grace comes to be perfected in glory, shall
find that he has no lack. Manna was to be gathered in the morning; and those that would find
Christ must seek him early. Manna was sweet, and, as the author of the Wisdom of Solomon
tells us (Wisd. 16:20), was agreeable to every palate; and to those that believe Christ is
precious. Israel lived upon manna till they came to Canaan; and Christ is our life. There was a
memorial of the manna preserved in the ark; so of Christ in the Lord's supper, as the food of
souls.
JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "For the bread of God is he, etc. — This verse is perhaps best left
in its own transparent grandeur - holding up the Bread Itself as divine, spiritual, and
eternal; its ordained Fountain and essential Substance, “Him who came down from
heaven to give it” (that Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us, 1Jo_1:2); and its designed objects, “the world.”
CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "33333333.For the bread of God. Christ reasons negatively from the definition.For the bread of God. Christ reasons negatively from the definition.For the bread of God. Christ reasons negatively from the definition.For the bread of God. Christ reasons negatively from the definition
163

164. to the thing defined, in this manner:to the thing defined, in this manner:to the thing defined, in this manner:to the thing defined, in this manner: “The heavenly bread is that which hath comeThe heavenly bread is that which hath comeThe heavenly bread is that which hath comeThe heavenly bread is that which hath come
down from heaven to give life to the world In the manna there was nothing of thisdown from heaven to give life to the world In the manna there was nothing of thisdown from heaven to give life to the world In the manna there was nothing of thisdown from heaven to give life to the world In the manna there was nothing of this
sort; and, therefore, the manna was not the heavenly bread.sort; and, therefore, the manna was not the heavenly bread.sort; and, therefore, the manna was not the heavenly bread.sort; and, therefore, the manna was not the heavenly bread. ” But, at the same time,But, at the same time,But, at the same time,But, at the same time,
he confirms what he formerly said, namely, that he is sent by the Father, in orderhe confirms what he formerly said, namely, that he is sent by the Father, in orderhe confirms what he formerly said, namely, that he is sent by the Father, in orderhe confirms what he formerly said, namely, that he is sent by the Father, in order
that he may feed men in a manner far more excellent than Moses. True, the mannathat he may feed men in a manner far more excellent than Moses. True, the mannathat he may feed men in a manner far more excellent than Moses. True, the mannathat he may feed men in a manner far more excellent than Moses. True, the manna
came down from the visible heaven, that is, from the clouds; but not from thecame down from the visible heaven, that is, from the clouds; but not from thecame down from the visible heaven, that is, from the clouds; but not from thecame down from the visible heaven, that is, from the clouds; but not from the
eternal kingdom of God, from which life flows to us. And the Jews, whom Christeternal kingdom of God, from which life flows to us. And the Jews, whom Christeternal kingdom of God, from which life flows to us. And the Jews, whom Christeternal kingdom of God, from which life flows to us. And the Jews, whom Christ
addresses, looked no higher than that the bellies of their fathers were well stuffedaddresses, looked no higher than that the bellies of their fathers were well stuffedaddresses, looked no higher than that the bellies of their fathers were well stuffedaddresses, looked no higher than that the bellies of their fathers were well stuffed
and fattened in the wilderness.and fattened in the wilderness.and fattened in the wilderness.and fattened in the wilderness.
What he formerly called the bread of heaven, he now calls the bread of God; notWhat he formerly called the bread of heaven, he now calls the bread of God; notWhat he formerly called the bread of heaven, he now calls the bread of God; notWhat he formerly called the bread of heaven, he now calls the bread of God; not
that the bread which supports us in the present life comes from any other than God,that the bread which supports us in the present life comes from any other than God,that the bread which supports us in the present life comes from any other than God,that the bread which supports us in the present life comes from any other than God,
but because that alone can be reckonedthe bread of God (but because that alone can be reckonedthe bread of God (but because that alone can be reckonedthe bread of God (but because that alone can be reckonedthe bread of God (144144144144) which quickens) which quickens) which quickens) which quickens
souls to a blessed immortality. This passage teaches that the whole world is dead tosouls to a blessed immortality. This passage teaches that the whole world is dead tosouls to a blessed immortality. This passage teaches that the whole world is dead tosouls to a blessed immortality. This passage teaches that the whole world is dead to
God, except so far as Christ quickens it, because life will be found nowhere elseGod, except so far as Christ quickens it, because life will be found nowhere elseGod, except so far as Christ quickens it, because life will be found nowhere elseGod, except so far as Christ quickens it, because life will be found nowhere else
than in him.than in him.than in him.than in him.
Which hath come down from heaven. In the coming down from heaven two thingsWhich hath come down from heaven. In the coming down from heaven two thingsWhich hath come down from heaven. In the coming down from heaven two thingsWhich hath come down from heaven. In the coming down from heaven two things
are worthy of observation; first, that we have a Divine life in Christ, because he hasare worthy of observation; first, that we have a Divine life in Christ, because he hasare worthy of observation; first, that we have a Divine life in Christ, because he hasare worthy of observation; first, that we have a Divine life in Christ, because he has
come from God to be the Author of life to us; secondly, that the heavenly life iscome from God to be the Author of life to us; secondly, that the heavenly life iscome from God to be the Author of life to us; secondly, that the heavenly life iscome from God to be the Author of life to us; secondly, that the heavenly life is
near us,near us,near us,near us,
so that we do not need to fly above the clouds or to cross the sea,so that we do not need to fly above the clouds or to cross the sea,so that we do not need to fly above the clouds or to cross the sea,so that we do not need to fly above the clouds or to cross the sea,
(Deuteronomy(Deuteronomy(Deuteronomy(Deuteronomy 30:1230:1230:1230:12; Romans; Romans; Romans; Romans 10:610:610:610:6;);););)
for the reason why Christ descended to us was, that no man could ascend above.for the reason why Christ descended to us was, that no man could ascend above.for the reason why Christ descended to us was, that no man could ascend above.for the reason why Christ descended to us was, that no man could ascend above.
34343434
"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread.""Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread.""Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread.""Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
164

165. BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "Lord, evermore give us this bread - Either meaning, “Let the
miracle of the manna be renewed, and continue among us for ever:” or, “Let that
bread of which thou hast spoken, become our constant nourishment.” The Jews
expected that, when the Messiah should come, he would give them all manner of
delicacies, and, among the rest, manna, wine, and spicy oil. From the following
extract, we may see where Mohammed got his Paradise. “Many affirm, says Rab.
Mayemon, that the hope of Israel is this: That the Messiah shall come and raise the
dead; and they shall be gathered together in the garden of Eden, and shall eat and
drink and satiate themselves all the days of the world. There the houses shall be all
builded with precious stones; the beds shall be made of silk; and the rivers shall flow
with wine and spicy oil. He made manna to descend for them, in which was all
manner of tastes; and every Israelite found in it what his palate was chiefly pleased
with. If he desired fat in it, he had it. In it, the young man tasted bread, the old man
honey, and the children oil. So shall it be in the world to come, (i.e. the days of the
Messiah.) He shall give Israel peace, and they shall sit down in the garden of Eden,
and all nations shall behold their condition; as it is said, My servants shall eat, but ye
shall be hungry, etc., Isa_65:13.” See Lightfoot.
CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "Then said they unto him,.... At least some of them:
Lord, evermore give us this bread; that is so divine and heavenly, and has such
a quickening virtue in it: these words are said by them either seriously, and to be
understood of bread for their bodies, of which they imagined Christ was speaking;
and so sprung from ignorance of his sense; and from sensuality in them who followed
him for the loaves; and from a covetous disposition, being desirous of being supplied
with such excellent food without charge; and from idleness, to save labour and pains
in working for it; and from a vain desire of the continuance of this earthly life, being
willing to live for ever, and therefore would have this bread evermore; and from a
gross opinion of plenty and delicacy of corporeal food in the times of the Messiah;
See Gill on Luk_14:15; or else these words are spoken ironically, by way of derision,
as if there was no such bread; and if there was, that Christ could not give it. However,
the words may be improved, when considered as a petition coming from, and
suitable to, a sensible and enlightened soul: for such who are sensible of their
famishing condition by nature, and of their need of Christ, the bread of life, and
whose taste is changed, and have tasted how good this bread is, will earnestly desire
always to be supplied with it, and to live upon it; for nothing is more grateful to
them, and more nourishing and satisfying to their souls; they are never weary of it; it
is always new and delightful to them, and they always stand in need of it, and wait in
the use of means and ordinances for it; and this has always an abiding, lasting, virtue
in it, to feed their souls, and nourish them up to everlasting life. Josephus (i) says of
the "manna", which was a type of this bread, that there was such a divine quality in it,
that whoever tasted of it needed nothing else: and the Jews also say (k), that
"in the manna were all kinds of tastes, and everyone of the Israelites tasted all that he
desired; for so it is written in Deu_2:7, "these forty years the Lord thy God hath been
with thee, thou hast lacked nothing", or "not wanted anything"; what is anything?
165

166. when he desired to eat anything, and said with his mouth, O that I had fat to eat,
immediately there was in his mouth the taste of fat.--Young men tasted the taste of
bread, old men the taste of honey, and children the taste of oil.''
Yea, they say (l),
"whoever desired flesh, he tasted it, and whoever desired fish, he tasted it, and
whoever desired fowl, chicken, pheasant, or pea hen, so he tasted whatever he
desired.''
And to this agrees what is said in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, 16:20,21:
"Thou feddest thine own people with angels' food, and didst send them from heaven
bread, prepared without their labour, able to content every man's delight, and
agreeing to every taste; for thy sustenance (or manna) declared thy sweetness unto
thy children, and serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man's
liking.''
All which must be understood of that pleasure, satisfaction, and contentment which
they had in it; for it was a very uncommon case to eat it, and live upon it as their
common food for forty years together: and no doubt but that there was something
remarkable in suiting it to their appetites, or giving them appetites suitable to that, to
feed upon it, and relish it for so long a time: twice indeed in that length of time we
read they complained of it, saying, that they had nothing but this manna before their
eyes, and their souls loathed it as light bread, Num_11:6, and lusted after the flesh,
and the fish they had eaten in Egypt. And so it is with some professors of Christ, and
his Gospel; for there is a mixed multitude among them, as there was among the
Israelites, who disrelish the preaching of Christ, and the truths of the Gospel
respecting his person, blood, and righteousness, and salvation by him; they cannot
bear to have these things frequently inculcated and insisted upon; their souls are
ready to loath them as light bread, and want to have something else set before them,
more suitable to their carnal appetites: but to such who are true believers in Christ,
who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, Christ, the true manna, and bread of God,
is all things to them; nor do they desire any other: they taste everything that is
delightful, and find everything that is nourishing in him.
GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "Then said they unto him,.... At least some of them:
Lord, evermore give us this bread; that is so divine and heavenly, and has such
a quickening virtue in it: these words are said by them either seriously, and to be
understood of bread for their bodies, of which they imagined Christ was speaking;
and so sprung from ignorance of his sense; and from sensuality in them who followed
him for the loaves; and from a covetous disposition, being desirous of being supplied
with such excellent food without charge; and from idleness, to save labour and pains
in working for it; and from a vain desire of the continuance of this earthly life, being
willing to live for ever, and therefore would have this bread evermore; and from a
gross opinion of plenty and delicacy of corporeal food in the times of the Messiah;
See Gill on Luk_14:15; or else these words are spoken ironically, by way of derision,
as if there was no such bread; and if there was, that Christ could not give it. However,
the words may be improved, when considered as a petition coming from, and
suitable to, a sensible and enlightened soul: for such who are sensible of their
166

167. famishing condition by nature, and of their need of Christ, the bread of life, and
whose taste is changed, and have tasted how good this bread is, will earnestly desire
always to be supplied with it, and to live upon it; for nothing is more grateful to
them, and more nourishing and satisfying to their souls; they are never weary of it; it
is always new and delightful to them, and they always stand in need of it, and wait in
the use of means and ordinances for it; and this has always an abiding, lasting, virtue
in it, to feed their souls, and nourish them up to everlasting life. Josephus (i) says of
the "manna", which was a type of this bread, that there was such a divine quality in it,
that whoever tasted of it needed nothing else: and the Jews also say (k), that
"in the manna were all kinds of tastes, and everyone of the Israelites tasted all that he
desired; for so it is written in Deu_2:7, "these forty years the Lord thy God hath been
with thee, thou hast lacked nothing", or "not wanted anything"; what is anything?
when he desired to eat anything, and said with his mouth, O that I had fat to eat,
immediately there was in his mouth the taste of fat.--Young men tasted the taste of
bread, old men the taste of honey, and children the taste of oil.''
Yea, they say (l),
"whoever desired flesh, he tasted it, and whoever desired fish, he tasted it, and
whoever desired fowl, chicken, pheasant, or pea hen, so he tasted whatever he
desired.''
And to this agrees what is said in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, 16:20,21:
"Thou feddest thine own people with angels' food, and didst send them from heaven
bread, prepared without their labour, able to content every man's delight, and
agreeing to every taste; for thy sustenance (or manna) declared thy sweetness unto
thy children, and serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man's
liking.''
All which must be understood of that pleasure, satisfaction, and contentment which
they had in it; for it was a very uncommon case to eat it, and live upon it as their
common food for forty years together: and no doubt but that there was something
remarkable in suiting it to their appetites, or giving them appetites suitable to that, to
feed upon it, and relish it for so long a time: twice indeed in that length of time we
read they complained of it, saying, that they had nothing but this manna before their
eyes, and their souls loathed it as light bread, Num_11:6, and lusted after the flesh,
and the fish they had eaten in Egypt. And so it is with some professors of Christ, and
his Gospel; for there is a mixed multitude among them, as there was among the
Israelites, who disrelish the preaching of Christ, and the truths of the Gospel
respecting his person, blood, and righteousness, and salvation by him; they cannot
bear to have these things frequently inculcated and insisted upon; their souls are
ready to loath them as light bread, and want to have something else set before them,
more suitable to their carnal appetites: but to such who are true believers in Christ,
who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, Christ, the true manna, and bread of God,
is all things to them; nor do they desire any other: they taste everything that is
delightful, and find everything that is nourishing in him.
JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "Lord, evermore give us this bread — speaking now with a
certain reverence (as at Joh_6:25), the perpetuity of the manna floating perhaps in
their minds, and much like the Samaritan woman, when her eyes were but half
167

168. opened, “Sir, give Me this water,” etc. (Joh_4:15).
CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "34343434.Give us always this bread. There is no doubt that they speak.Give us always this bread. There is no doubt that they speak.Give us always this bread. There is no doubt that they speak.Give us always this bread. There is no doubt that they speak
ironically, to accuse Christ of vain boasting, when he said that he was able to giveironically, to accuse Christ of vain boasting, when he said that he was able to giveironically, to accuse Christ of vain boasting, when he said that he was able to giveironically, to accuse Christ of vain boasting, when he said that he was able to give
the bread of life. Thus wretched men, while they reject the promises of God, are notthe bread of life. Thus wretched men, while they reject the promises of God, are notthe bread of life. Thus wretched men, while they reject the promises of God, are notthe bread of life. Thus wretched men, while they reject the promises of God, are not
satisfied with this evil alone, but put Christ in their room, as if he were chargeablesatisfied with this evil alone, but put Christ in their room, as if he were chargeablesatisfied with this evil alone, but put Christ in their room, as if he were chargeablesatisfied with this evil alone, but put Christ in their room, as if he were chargeable
with their unbelief.with their unbelief.with their unbelief.with their unbelief.
35353535
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He whoThen Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He whoThen Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He whoThen Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who
comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believescomes to me will never go hungry, and he who believescomes to me will never go hungry, and he who believescomes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes
in me will never be thirsty.in me will never be thirsty.in me will never be thirsty.in me will never be thirsty.
BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "I am the bread of life - I am the support of spiritual life; or my
doctrines will give life and peace to the soul.
Shall never hunger - See the notes at Joh_4:14.
CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "I am the bread of life - That is, the bread which gives life, and
preserves from death.
He that cometh to me - The person who receives my doctrine, and believes in
me as the great atoning sacrifice, shall be perfectly satisfied, and never more feel
misery of mind. All the guilt of his sins shall be blotted out, and his soul shall be
purified unto God; and, being enabled to love him with all his heart, he shall rest,
fully, supremely, and finally happy, in his God.
GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life,.... Christ is so called,
because he gives life to dead sinners: men in a state of nature are dead in trespasses
and sins; and whatever they feed upon tends to death; Christ, the true bread, only
gives life, which is conveyed by the word, and made effectual by the Spirit: and
168

169. because he supports and maintains the life he gives; it is not in the power of a
believer to support the spiritual life he has; nor can he live on anything short of
Christ; and there is enough in Christ for him to live upon: and because he quickens,
and makes the saints lively in the exercise of grace, and discharge of duty, and renews
their spiritual strength, and secures for them eternal life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger; not corporeally to hear him preach,
or preached, or merely to his ordinances, to baptism, or the Lord's table; but so as to
believe in him, feed, and live upon him, as the next clause explains it:
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst; and which is owing, not to the
power and will of man, but to divine teachings, and the powerful drawings of the
efficacious grace of God; see Joh_6:44. Now of such it is said, that they shall never
hunger and thirst; which is true of them in this life, though not to be understood as
there were no sinful desires in them; much less, that there are no spiritual
hungerings and thirstings after they are come to Christ; but that they shall not desire
any other food but Christ; they shall be satisfied with him; nor shall they hereafter be
in a starving and famishing condition, or want any good thing: and in the other world
there will be no desires after that which is sinful, nor indeed after outward
ordinances, in order to enjoy communion with God in them, as now, for they will
then be needless; nor shall they have any uneasy desires after Christ, and his grace,
and the enjoyment of him, since he will be all in all to them.
HENRY, "HENRY, "HENRY, "HENRY, "2. Here is Christ's reply to this enquiry, wherein,
(1.) He rectifies their mistake concerning the typical manna. It was true that their
fathers did eat manna in the desert. But, [1.] It was not Moses that gave it to them,
nor were they obliged to him for it; he was but the instrument, and therefore they
must look beyond him to God. We do not find that Moses did so much as pray to God
for the manna; and he spoke unadvisedly when he said, Must we fetch water out of
the rock? Moses gave them not either that bread or that water. [2.] It was not given
them, as they imagined, from heaven, from the highest heavens, but only from the
clouds, and therefore not so much superior to that which had its rise from the earth
as they thought. Because the scripture saith, He gave them bread from heaven, it
does not follow that it was heavenly bread, or was intended to be the nourishment of
souls. Misunderstanding scripture language occasions many mistakes in the things of
God.
(2.) He informs them concerning the true manna, of which that was a type: But my
Father giveth you the true bread from heaven; that which is truly and properly the
bread from heaven, of which the manna was but a shadow and figure, is now given,
not to your fathers, who are dead and gone, but to you of this present age, for whom
the better things were reserved: he is now giving you that bread from heaven,
which is truly so called. As much as the throne of God's glory is above the clouds of
the air, so much does the spiritual bread of the everlasting gospel excel the manna.
In calling God his Father, he proclaims himself greater than Moses; for Moses was
faithful but as a servant, Christ as a Son, Heb_3:5, Heb_3:6.
JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "I am the bread of life — Henceforth the discourse is all in the first
person, “I,” “Me,” which occur in one form or other, as Stier reckons, thirty-five
times.
he that cometh to me — to obtain what the soul craves, and as the only all-
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170. sufficient and ordained source of supply.
hunger ... thirst — shall have conscious and abiding satisfaction.
SBC, "SBC, "SBC, "SBC, "I. The conversation of our Lord was well fitted to damp the zeal of those
worldly-minded ones whose only object was to use His aid in resisting the Roman
power. He had never sought to make partisans. He would simply encourage the faith
which would lead them, whose hearts were honest, from things temporal up to things
spiritual. He shows that there is not only provided for us spiritual food—food for the
soul; Christ, not only is the giver of it, but yet more, the spiritual food is Himself.
II. It was impossible for those who heard our Lord at the time of His uttering these
solemn words to understand their full import. But thus much they could understand,
that having had proof that our Lord could give miraculous food, and that in some
way or other He would confer it upon those who should abide with Him, it was their
duty to have acknowledged Him, to have said, "We believe and are sure that Thou art
Christ, the Son of the Living God, and we will stay with Thee to be instructed further
in the mysteries of that kingdom of which Thou art the King."
III. And when the kingdom of God was established, when our Lord had
commissioned His Apostles and successors, what He did mean was fully known. To
us, then, it is given to know that by union with Him we are united to God; and He
thus is the support of the soul—to know that there is Bread from heaven, that Christ
is that Bread; nay, further, that the Bread, the sustenance, with which He supplies us,
is His Body and Blood, no longer visibly present, but sacramentally received by faith
in the holy ordinance called on that very account the "Sacrament of His Body and
Blood."
IV. By our Lord’s command to gather up the fragments we are taught that it is sinful
to waste any of the good things with which God may at any time bless us, and that it
is our duty, when our souls are strengthened and refreshed by the Bread of Life, to
take care that none of the superabundant grace be lost in us, but that we may abound
more and more in works and labours of love.
W. F. Hook, Sermons on the Miracles, vol. i., p. 321.
CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "35353535.I am the bread of life. First, he shows that the bread, which they.I am the bread of life. First, he shows that the bread, which they.I am the bread of life. First, he shows that the bread, which they.I am the bread of life. First, he shows that the bread, which they
asked in mockery, is before their eyes; and, next, he reproves them. He begins withasked in mockery, is before their eyes; and, next, he reproves them. He begins withasked in mockery, is before their eyes; and, next, he reproves them. He begins withasked in mockery, is before their eyes; and, next, he reproves them. He begins with
doctrine, to make it more evident that they were guilty of ingratitude. There are twodoctrine, to make it more evident that they were guilty of ingratitude. There are twodoctrine, to make it more evident that they were guilty of ingratitude. There are twodoctrine, to make it more evident that they were guilty of ingratitude. There are two
parts of the doctrine; for he shows whence we ought to seek life, and how we mayparts of the doctrine; for he shows whence we ought to seek life, and how we mayparts of the doctrine; for he shows whence we ought to seek life, and how we mayparts of the doctrine; for he shows whence we ought to seek life, and how we may
enjoy it. We know what gave occasion to Christ to use those metaphors; it wasenjoy it. We know what gave occasion to Christ to use those metaphors; it wasenjoy it. We know what gave occasion to Christ to use those metaphors; it wasenjoy it. We know what gave occasion to Christ to use those metaphors; it was
because manna and daily food had been mentioned. But still this figure is betterbecause manna and daily food had been mentioned. But still this figure is betterbecause manna and daily food had been mentioned. But still this figure is betterbecause manna and daily food had been mentioned. But still this figure is better
adapted to teach ignorant persons than a simple style. When we eat bread for theadapted to teach ignorant persons than a simple style. When we eat bread for theadapted to teach ignorant persons than a simple style. When we eat bread for theadapted to teach ignorant persons than a simple style. When we eat bread for the
nourishment of the body, we see more clearly not only our own weakness, but alsonourishment of the body, we see more clearly not only our own weakness, but alsonourishment of the body, we see more clearly not only our own weakness, but alsonourishment of the body, we see more clearly not only our own weakness, but also
the power of divine grace, than if, without, bread, God were to impart a secretthe power of divine grace, than if, without, bread, God were to impart a secretthe power of divine grace, than if, without, bread, God were to impart a secretthe power of divine grace, than if, without, bread, God were to impart a secret
power to nourish the body itself. Thus, the analogy which is traced between thepower to nourish the body itself. Thus, the analogy which is traced between thepower to nourish the body itself. Thus, the analogy which is traced between thepower to nourish the body itself. Thus, the analogy which is traced between the
body and the soul, enables us to perceive more clearly the grace of Christ. For whenbody and the soul, enables us to perceive more clearly the grace of Christ. For whenbody and the soul, enables us to perceive more clearly the grace of Christ. For whenbody and the soul, enables us to perceive more clearly the grace of Christ. For when
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171. we learn that Christis the bread by which our souls must be fed, this penetrateswe learn that Christis the bread by which our souls must be fed, this penetrateswe learn that Christis the bread by which our souls must be fed, this penetrateswe learn that Christis the bread by which our souls must be fed, this penetrates
more deeply into our hearts than if Christ simply said that he is our lifemore deeply into our hearts than if Christ simply said that he is our lifemore deeply into our hearts than if Christ simply said that he is our lifemore deeply into our hearts than if Christ simply said that he is our life
It ought to be observed, however, that the word bread does not express theIt ought to be observed, however, that the word bread does not express theIt ought to be observed, however, that the word bread does not express theIt ought to be observed, however, that the word bread does not express the
quickening power of Christ so fully as we feel it; for bread does not commence life,quickening power of Christ so fully as we feel it; for bread does not commence life,quickening power of Christ so fully as we feel it; for bread does not commence life,quickening power of Christ so fully as we feel it; for bread does not commence life,
but nourishes and upholds that life which we already possess. But, through thebut nourishes and upholds that life which we already possess. But, through thebut nourishes and upholds that life which we already possess. But, through thebut nourishes and upholds that life which we already possess. But, through the
kindness of Christ, we not only continue to possess life, but have the beginning ofkindness of Christ, we not only continue to possess life, but have the beginning ofkindness of Christ, we not only continue to possess life, but have the beginning ofkindness of Christ, we not only continue to possess life, but have the beginning of
life, and therefore the comparison is partly inappropriate; but there is nolife, and therefore the comparison is partly inappropriate; but there is nolife, and therefore the comparison is partly inappropriate; but there is nolife, and therefore the comparison is partly inappropriate; but there is no
inconsistency in this, for Christ adapts his style to the circumstances of the discourseinconsistency in this, for Christ adapts his style to the circumstances of the discourseinconsistency in this, for Christ adapts his style to the circumstances of the discourseinconsistency in this, for Christ adapts his style to the circumstances of the discourse
which he formerly delivered. Now the question had been raised, Which of the twowhich he formerly delivered. Now the question had been raised, Which of the twowhich he formerly delivered. Now the question had been raised, Which of the twowhich he formerly delivered. Now the question had been raised, Which of the two
was more eminent in feeding men, Moses or Christ himself? This is also the reasonwas more eminent in feeding men, Moses or Christ himself? This is also the reasonwas more eminent in feeding men, Moses or Christ himself? This is also the reasonwas more eminent in feeding men, Moses or Christ himself? This is also the reason
why he calls it bread only, for it was only the manna that they objected to him, and,why he calls it bread only, for it was only the manna that they objected to him, and,why he calls it bread only, for it was only the manna that they objected to him, and,why he calls it bread only, for it was only the manna that they objected to him, and,
therefore, he reckoned it enough to contrast with it a different kind of bread Thetherefore, he reckoned it enough to contrast with it a different kind of bread Thetherefore, he reckoned it enough to contrast with it a different kind of bread Thetherefore, he reckoned it enough to contrast with it a different kind of bread The
simple doctrine is,simple doctrine is,simple doctrine is,simple doctrine is, “Our souls do not live by an intrinsic power, so to speak, that is,Our souls do not live by an intrinsic power, so to speak, that is,Our souls do not live by an intrinsic power, so to speak, that is,Our souls do not live by an intrinsic power, so to speak, that is,
by a power which they have naturally in themselves, (by a power which they have naturally in themselves, (by a power which they have naturally in themselves, (by a power which they have naturally in themselves, (145145145145) but borrowlife from) but borrowlife from) but borrowlife from) but borrowlife from
Christ.Christ.Christ.Christ.”
He who cometh to me. He now defines the way of taking this food; it is when weHe who cometh to me. He now defines the way of taking this food; it is when weHe who cometh to me. He now defines the way of taking this food; it is when weHe who cometh to me. He now defines the way of taking this food; it is when we
receive Christ by faith. For it is of no avail to unbelievers that Christ is the bread ofreceive Christ by faith. For it is of no avail to unbelievers that Christ is the bread ofreceive Christ by faith. For it is of no avail to unbelievers that Christ is the bread ofreceive Christ by faith. For it is of no avail to unbelievers that Christ is the bread of
life, because they remain always empty; but then does Christ become our bread,life, because they remain always empty; but then does Christ become our bread,life, because they remain always empty; but then does Christ become our bread,life, because they remain always empty; but then does Christ become our bread,
when we come to him as hungry persons, that he may fill us. To come to Christ andwhen we come to him as hungry persons, that he may fill us. To come to Christ andwhen we come to him as hungry persons, that he may fill us. To come to Christ andwhen we come to him as hungry persons, that he may fill us. To come to Christ and
to believe mean, in this passage, the same thing; but the former word is intended toto believe mean, in this passage, the same thing; but the former word is intended toto believe mean, in this passage, the same thing; but the former word is intended toto believe mean, in this passage, the same thing; but the former word is intended to
express the effect of faith, namely, that it is in consequence of being driven by theexpress the effect of faith, namely, that it is in consequence of being driven by theexpress the effect of faith, namely, that it is in consequence of being driven by theexpress the effect of faith, namely, that it is in consequence of being driven by the
feeling of our hunger that we fly to Christ to seek life.feeling of our hunger that we fly to Christ to seek life.feeling of our hunger that we fly to Christ to seek life.feeling of our hunger that we fly to Christ to seek life.
Those who infer from this passage that to eat Christ isfaith, and nothing else,Those who infer from this passage that to eat Christ isfaith, and nothing else,Those who infer from this passage that to eat Christ isfaith, and nothing else,Those who infer from this passage that to eat Christ isfaith, and nothing else,
reason inconclusively. I readily acknowledge that there is no other way in which wereason inconclusively. I readily acknowledge that there is no other way in which wereason inconclusively. I readily acknowledge that there is no other way in which wereason inconclusively. I readily acknowledge that there is no other way in which we
eat Christ than by believing; but the eating is the effect and fruit of faith rather thaneat Christ than by believing; but the eating is the effect and fruit of faith rather thaneat Christ than by believing; but the eating is the effect and fruit of faith rather thaneat Christ than by believing; but the eating is the effect and fruit of faith rather than
faith itself. For faith does not look at Christ only as at a distance, but embraces him,faith itself. For faith does not look at Christ only as at a distance, but embraces him,faith itself. For faith does not look at Christ only as at a distance, but embraces him,faith itself. For faith does not look at Christ only as at a distance, but embraces him,
that he may become ours and may dwell in us. It causes us to be incorporated withthat he may become ours and may dwell in us. It causes us to be incorporated withthat he may become ours and may dwell in us. It causes us to be incorporated withthat he may become ours and may dwell in us. It causes us to be incorporated with
him, to have life in common with him, and, in short, to become one with him, (Johnhim, to have life in common with him, and, in short, to become one with him, (Johnhim, to have life in common with him, and, in short, to become one with him, (Johnhim, to have life in common with him, and, in short, to become one with him, (John
17:2117:2117:2117:21.) It is therefore true that by faith alone we eat Christ, provided we also.) It is therefore true that by faith alone we eat Christ, provided we also.) It is therefore true that by faith alone we eat Christ, provided we also.) It is therefore true that by faith alone we eat Christ, provided we also
understand in what manner faith unites us to him.understand in what manner faith unites us to him.understand in what manner faith unites us to him.understand in what manner faith unites us to him.
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172. Shall never thirst. This appears to be added without any good reason; for the officeShall never thirst. This appears to be added without any good reason; for the officeShall never thirst. This appears to be added without any good reason; for the officeShall never thirst. This appears to be added without any good reason; for the office
of bread is not to quench thirst, but to allay hunger. Christ therefore attributes toof bread is not to quench thirst, but to allay hunger. Christ therefore attributes toof bread is not to quench thirst, but to allay hunger. Christ therefore attributes toof bread is not to quench thirst, but to allay hunger. Christ therefore attributes to
bread more than its nature allows. I have already said, that he employs the wordbread more than its nature allows. I have already said, that he employs the wordbread more than its nature allows. I have already said, that he employs the wordbread more than its nature allows. I have already said, that he employs the word
bread alone because it was required by the comparison between the manna and thebread alone because it was required by the comparison between the manna and thebread alone because it was required by the comparison between the manna and thebread alone because it was required by the comparison between the manna and the
heavenly power of Christ, by which our souls are sustained in life. At the same time,heavenly power of Christ, by which our souls are sustained in life. At the same time,heavenly power of Christ, by which our souls are sustained in life. At the same time,heavenly power of Christ, by which our souls are sustained in life. At the same time,
by the word bread, he means in general all that nourishes us, and that according toby the word bread, he means in general all that nourishes us, and that according toby the word bread, he means in general all that nourishes us, and that according toby the word bread, he means in general all that nourishes us, and that according to
the ordinary custom of his nation. For the Hebrews, by the figure of speech calledthe ordinary custom of his nation. For the Hebrews, by the figure of speech calledthe ordinary custom of his nation. For the Hebrews, by the figure of speech calledthe ordinary custom of his nation. For the Hebrews, by the figure of speech called
synecdoche, use the word bread for dinner or supper; and when we ask from Godsynecdoche, use the word bread for dinner or supper; and when we ask from Godsynecdoche, use the word bread for dinner or supper; and when we ask from Godsynecdoche, use the word bread for dinner or supper; and when we ask from God
our daily bread, (Matthewour daily bread, (Matthewour daily bread, (Matthewour daily bread, (Matthew 6:116:116:116:11,) we include drink and all the other parts of life.,) we include drink and all the other parts of life.,) we include drink and all the other parts of life.,) we include drink and all the other parts of life.
The meaning therefore is,The meaning therefore is,The meaning therefore is,The meaning therefore is, “Whoever shall betake himself to Christ, to have lifeWhoever shall betake himself to Christ, to have lifeWhoever shall betake himself to Christ, to have lifeWhoever shall betake himself to Christ, to have life
from him, will want nothing, but will have in abundance all that contributes tofrom him, will want nothing, but will have in abundance all that contributes tofrom him, will want nothing, but will have in abundance all that contributes tofrom him, will want nothing, but will have in abundance all that contributes to
sustain life.sustain life.sustain life.sustain life.”
BARCLAY, "THE BREAD OF LIFE (JohnBARCLAY, "THE BREAD OF LIFE (JohnBARCLAY, "THE BREAD OF LIFE (JohnBARCLAY, "THE BREAD OF LIFE (John 6:356:356:356:35----40404040))))
6:356:356:356:35----40404040 Jesus said to them: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will neverJesus said to them: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will neverJesus said to them: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will neverJesus said to them: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never
hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst any more. But I tell you, thoughhunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst any more. But I tell you, thoughhunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst any more. But I tell you, thoughhunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst any more. But I tell you, though
you have seen me, yet you do not believe in me. All that the Father gives me willyou have seen me, yet you do not believe in me. All that the Father gives me willyou have seen me, yet you do not believe in me. All that the Father gives me willyou have seen me, yet you do not believe in me. All that the Father gives me will
come to me, because I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the willcome to me, because I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the willcome to me, because I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the willcome to me, because I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will
of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent meof him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent meof him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent meof him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me--------that I should lose none ofthat I should lose none ofthat I should lose none ofthat I should lose none of
those he gave to me, but that I should raise them all up on the last day. This is thethose he gave to me, but that I should raise them all up on the last day. This is thethose he gave to me, but that I should raise them all up on the last day. This is thethose he gave to me, but that I should raise them all up on the last day. This is the
will of my Father, that everyone who believes on the Son, when he sees him, shouldwill of my Father, that everyone who believes on the Son, when he sees him, shouldwill of my Father, that everyone who believes on the Son, when he sees him, shouldwill of my Father, that everyone who believes on the Son, when he sees him, should
have everlasting life. And I will raise him up on the last day."have everlasting life. And I will raise him up on the last day."have everlasting life. And I will raise him up on the last day."have everlasting life. And I will raise him up on the last day."
This is one of the great passages of the Fourth Gospel, and indeed of the NewThis is one of the great passages of the Fourth Gospel, and indeed of the NewThis is one of the great passages of the Fourth Gospel, and indeed of the NewThis is one of the great passages of the Fourth Gospel, and indeed of the New
Testament. In it there are two great lines of thought that we must try to analyse.Testament. In it there are two great lines of thought that we must try to analyse.Testament. In it there are two great lines of thought that we must try to analyse.Testament. In it there are two great lines of thought that we must try to analyse.
First, what did Jesus mean when he said: "I am the bread of life"? It is not enough toFirst, what did Jesus mean when he said: "I am the bread of life"? It is not enough toFirst, what did Jesus mean when he said: "I am the bread of life"? It is not enough toFirst, what did Jesus mean when he said: "I am the bread of life"? It is not enough to
regard this as simply a beautiful and poetical phrase. Let us analyse it step by step:regard this as simply a beautiful and poetical phrase. Let us analyse it step by step:regard this as simply a beautiful and poetical phrase. Let us analyse it step by step:regard this as simply a beautiful and poetical phrase. Let us analyse it step by step:
(i) Bread sustains life. It is that without which life cannot go on. (ii) But what is life?(i) Bread sustains life. It is that without which life cannot go on. (ii) But what is life?(i) Bread sustains life. It is that without which life cannot go on. (ii) But what is life?(i) Bread sustains life. It is that without which life cannot go on. (ii) But what is life?
Clearly by life is meant something far more than mere physical existence. What isClearly by life is meant something far more than mere physical existence. What isClearly by life is meant something far more than mere physical existence. What isClearly by life is meant something far more than mere physical existence. What is
this new spiritual meaning of life? (iii) Real life is the new relationship with God,this new spiritual meaning of life? (iii) Real life is the new relationship with God,this new spiritual meaning of life? (iii) Real life is the new relationship with God,this new spiritual meaning of life? (iii) Real life is the new relationship with God,
that relationship of trust and obedience and love of which we have already thought.that relationship of trust and obedience and love of which we have already thought.that relationship of trust and obedience and love of which we have already thought.that relationship of trust and obedience and love of which we have already thought.
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173. (iv) That relationship is made possible only by Jesus Christ. Apart from him no one(iv) That relationship is made possible only by Jesus Christ. Apart from him no one(iv) That relationship is made possible only by Jesus Christ. Apart from him no one(iv) That relationship is made possible only by Jesus Christ. Apart from him no one
can enter into it. (v) That is to say, without Jesus there may be existence, but notcan enter into it. (v) That is to say, without Jesus there may be existence, but notcan enter into it. (v) That is to say, without Jesus there may be existence, but notcan enter into it. (v) That is to say, without Jesus there may be existence, but not
life. (vi) Therefore, if Jesus is the essential of life, he may be described as the breadlife. (vi) Therefore, if Jesus is the essential of life, he may be described as the breadlife. (vi) Therefore, if Jesus is the essential of life, he may be described as the breadlife. (vi) Therefore, if Jesus is the essential of life, he may be described as the bread
of life. The hunger of the human situation is ended when we know Christ andof life. The hunger of the human situation is ended when we know Christ andof life. The hunger of the human situation is ended when we know Christ andof life. The hunger of the human situation is ended when we know Christ and
through him know God. The restless soul is at rest; the hungry heart is satisfied.through him know God. The restless soul is at rest; the hungry heart is satisfied.through him know God. The restless soul is at rest; the hungry heart is satisfied.through him know God. The restless soul is at rest; the hungry heart is satisfied.
Second, this passage opens out to us the stages of the Christian life. (i) We seeSecond, this passage opens out to us the stages of the Christian life. (i) We seeSecond, this passage opens out to us the stages of the Christian life. (i) We seeSecond, this passage opens out to us the stages of the Christian life. (i) We see
Jesus. We see him in the pages of the New Testament, in the teaching of the church,Jesus. We see him in the pages of the New Testament, in the teaching of the church,Jesus. We see him in the pages of the New Testament, in the teaching of the church,Jesus. We see him in the pages of the New Testament, in the teaching of the church,
sometimes even face to face. (ii) Having seen him, we come to him. We regard himsometimes even face to face. (ii) Having seen him, we come to him. We regard himsometimes even face to face. (ii) Having seen him, we come to him. We regard himsometimes even face to face. (ii) Having seen him, we come to him. We regard him
not as some distant hero and pattern, not as a figure in a book, but as someonenot as some distant hero and pattern, not as a figure in a book, but as someonenot as some distant hero and pattern, not as a figure in a book, but as someonenot as some distant hero and pattern, not as a figure in a book, but as someone
accessible. (iii) We believe in him. That is to say, we accept him as the finalaccessible. (iii) We believe in him. That is to say, we accept him as the finalaccessible. (iii) We believe in him. That is to say, we accept him as the finalaccessible. (iii) We believe in him. That is to say, we accept him as the final
authority on God, on man, on life. That means that our coming is not a matter ofauthority on God, on man, on life. That means that our coming is not a matter ofauthority on God, on man, on life. That means that our coming is not a matter ofauthority on God, on man, on life. That means that our coming is not a matter of
mere interest, nor a meeting on equal terms; it is essentially a submission. (iv) Thismere interest, nor a meeting on equal terms; it is essentially a submission. (iv) Thismere interest, nor a meeting on equal terms; it is essentially a submission. (iv) Thismere interest, nor a meeting on equal terms; it is essentially a submission. (iv) This
process gives us life. That is to say, it puts us into a new and lovely relationship withprocess gives us life. That is to say, it puts us into a new and lovely relationship withprocess gives us life. That is to say, it puts us into a new and lovely relationship withprocess gives us life. That is to say, it puts us into a new and lovely relationship with
God, wherein he becomes an intimate friend; we are now at home with the oneGod, wherein he becomes an intimate friend; we are now at home with the oneGod, wherein he becomes an intimate friend; we are now at home with the oneGod, wherein he becomes an intimate friend; we are now at home with the one
whom we feared or never knew. (v) The possibility of this is free and universal. Thewhom we feared or never knew. (v) The possibility of this is free and universal. Thewhom we feared or never knew. (v) The possibility of this is free and universal. Thewhom we feared or never knew. (v) The possibility of this is free and universal. The
invitation is to all men. The bread of life is ours for the taking. (vi) The only way toinvitation is to all men. The bread of life is ours for the taking. (vi) The only way toinvitation is to all men. The bread of life is ours for the taking. (vi) The only way toinvitation is to all men. The bread of life is ours for the taking. (vi) The only way to
that new relationship is through Jesus. Without him it never would have beenthat new relationship is through Jesus. Without him it never would have beenthat new relationship is through Jesus. Without him it never would have beenthat new relationship is through Jesus. Without him it never would have been
possible; and apart from him it is still impossible. No searching of the human mindpossible; and apart from him it is still impossible. No searching of the human mindpossible; and apart from him it is still impossible. No searching of the human mindpossible; and apart from him it is still impossible. No searching of the human mind
or longing of the human heart can fully find God apart from Jesus. (vii) At the backor longing of the human heart can fully find God apart from Jesus. (vii) At the backor longing of the human heart can fully find God apart from Jesus. (vii) At the backor longing of the human heart can fully find God apart from Jesus. (vii) At the back
of the whole process is God. It is those whom God has given him who come toof the whole process is God. It is those whom God has given him who come toof the whole process is God. It is those whom God has given him who come toof the whole process is God. It is those whom God has given him who come to
Christ. God not only provides the goal; he moves in the human heart to awakenChrist. God not only provides the goal; he moves in the human heart to awakenChrist. God not only provides the goal; he moves in the human heart to awakenChrist. God not only provides the goal; he moves in the human heart to awaken
desire for him; and he works in the human heart to take away the rebellion and thedesire for him; and he works in the human heart to take away the rebellion and thedesire for him; and he works in the human heart to take away the rebellion and thedesire for him; and he works in the human heart to take away the rebellion and the
pride which would hinder the great submission. We could never even have soughtpride which would hinder the great submission. We could never even have soughtpride which would hinder the great submission. We could never even have soughtpride which would hinder the great submission. We could never even have sought
him unless he had already found us. (vii) There remains that stubborn somethinghim unless he had already found us. (vii) There remains that stubborn somethinghim unless he had already found us. (vii) There remains that stubborn somethinghim unless he had already found us. (vii) There remains that stubborn something
which enables us to refuse the offer of God. In the last analysis, the one thing whichwhich enables us to refuse the offer of God. In the last analysis, the one thing whichwhich enables us to refuse the offer of God. In the last analysis, the one thing whichwhich enables us to refuse the offer of God. In the last analysis, the one thing which
defeats God is the defiance of the human heart. Life is there for the takingdefeats God is the defiance of the human heart. Life is there for the takingdefeats God is the defiance of the human heart. Life is there for the takingdefeats God is the defiance of the human heart. Life is there for the taking--------or theor theor theor the
refusing.refusing.refusing.refusing.
When we take, two things happen.When we take, two things happen.When we take, two things happen.When we take, two things happen.
First, into life enters new satisfaction. The hunger and the thirst are gone. TheFirst, into life enters new satisfaction. The hunger and the thirst are gone. TheFirst, into life enters new satisfaction. The hunger and the thirst are gone. TheFirst, into life enters new satisfaction. The hunger and the thirst are gone. The
human heart finds what it was searching for and life ceases to be mere existence andhuman heart finds what it was searching for and life ceases to be mere existence andhuman heart finds what it was searching for and life ceases to be mere existence andhuman heart finds what it was searching for and life ceases to be mere existence and
173

174. becomes a thing at once of thrill and of peace.becomes a thing at once of thrill and of peace.becomes a thing at once of thrill and of peace.becomes a thing at once of thrill and of peace.
Second, even beyond life we are safe. Even on the last day when all things end weSecond, even beyond life we are safe. Even on the last day when all things end weSecond, even beyond life we are safe. Even on the last day when all things end weSecond, even beyond life we are safe. Even on the last day when all things end we
are still secure. As a great commentator said: "Christ brings us to the haven beyondare still secure. As a great commentator said: "Christ brings us to the haven beyondare still secure. As a great commentator said: "Christ brings us to the haven beyondare still secure. As a great commentator said: "Christ brings us to the haven beyond
which there is no danger."which there is no danger."which there is no danger."which there is no danger."
The offer of Christ is life in time and life in eternity. That is the greatness and gloryThe offer of Christ is life in time and life in eternity. That is the greatness and gloryThe offer of Christ is life in time and life in eternity. That is the greatness and gloryThe offer of Christ is life in time and life in eternity. That is the greatness and glory
of which we cheat ourselves when we refuse his invitation.of which we cheat ourselves when we refuse his invitation.of which we cheat ourselves when we refuse his invitation.of which we cheat ourselves when we refuse his invitation.
The pronoun “I” tells us that the statement comes from within and is very personal.
The word “am” relates concrete information in the present tense, not I “was” in the
past, or I “might be” in the future, but I am…right here, right now. These metaphors
of the Messiah are rich in meaning and are very comforting and yet there’s more to
them than what meets the eye.
R.C. Sproul points out that the Greek word rendered “I am” normally uses one verb
form. When Jesus said, “I am” He does something very extraordinary – He takes two
verbs and puts them together. While it may sound a bit redundant, the literal meaning
is this: “I am, I am…” or “I, even I, am…” Still more amazing is that this is the precise
way Exodus 3:14 is translated in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the
Old Testament, where we read, “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.” Every
time Jesus uses one of the “I AM” metaphors, He is emphatically stating that He is
Yahweh, the great “I AM” of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
These phrases are much more than just figures of speech. They are claims of deity
that landed Jesus in trouble when He uttered them. After saying, “I am the bread of
life,” many of his followers bailed on Him. After claiming, “I am the light of the
world,” the Pharisees mocked Him. When he stated, “I am the good shepherd,” the
crowds denounced Him. And after shouting, “I am the resurrection and the life,” the
case against Jesus was clinched and the chief priests began the process that led to His
execution.
174

175. Bread Background
Bread was the most important part of the meal. In our culture, when we go to a
restaurant we generally focus on what kind of entr‫י‬e we’re going to order, and the
basket of bread on the table is usually secondary (unless you’re at the Olive Garden!).
In Jesus’ day, meat was simply a side dish, and bread represented the major part of
the meal. When Jesus says that He is the bread of life, He’s saying that He’s the most
important part of life.
Everyone had access to bread. Poorer people used barley to make bread while the
wealthier used wheat, but most everyone had the means to make or buy bread. By
using this metaphor, Jesus is saying that He is available to everyone.
Bread was the means of fellowship. In that culture, when you broke bread with
someone, you were friends for life. Jesus likewise offers a friendship with us that will
never end
Bread symbolizes God’s presence. Bethlehem means the “house of Bread,” and the
temple was continually filled with the showbread (Numbers 4:7). This can be
interpreted as “show up bread” or in Hebrew terms, “face bread.” This bread was a
heavenly symbol of God Himself, and a reminder to His people that every time they
eat bread, they should think of Him. Interestingly, if a person would see a scrap of
bread on the road, he would pick it up and put it on a tree branch for the birds to eat.
Bread was never to be trampled under foot in the common dust because it carries
with it an element of mystery and sacredness.
INTERVARSITY "Jesus grants the crowd's request to receive this bread (vv. 35-40).
This request for bread from heaven is met by a revelation similar to that received by
the woman of Samaria: when she requested the water, Jesus responded by revealing
himself to her. As always, Jesus' revelation of himself means a revelation of his
relationship with the Father. Here the revelation of the relation of the Father and the
Son is centered on the work of redemption, developing further what was revealed in
the keynote address (5:19-30).
Jesus claims, I am the bread of life (v. 35). Seven times in John the phrase I am is used
with a predicate, including the passages on bread of life (6:35, 51); the light of the
world (8:12; 9:5); the gate (10:7, 9); the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14); the resurrection
175

176. and the life (11:25); the way, the truth and the life (14:6); and the true vine (15:1, 5).
"The predicate is not an essential definition or description of Jesus in himself; it is
more a description of what he is in relation to man" (Brown 1966:534). In these
sayings Jesus' own identity and the salvation he offers are brought together (cf.
Witherington 1995:158). It is in union with him that believers receive his salvation.
He is claiming to be that which one needs in order to have life and continue to live.
What he said earlier about the one sent from God (v. 29) and the bread coming down
from heaven (v. 33) is now clearly identified with himself. Here is the revelation of the
significance of the feeding of the five thousand: it was a sign of who Jesus is--the fount
of life (5:26) who gives life (5:21).
Jesus as bread is a very rich image in which we can see connections with God's Word.
We are not to "live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of
the LORD" (Deut 8:3). The idea of the Torah as bread was common in Jewish
thinking. At times it is combined with the Wisdom motif, as when Wisdom says,
"Those who eat me will hunger for more, and those who drink me will thirst for more"
(Sirach 24:21). This Wisdom is identified as "the book of the covenant of the Most
High God, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the
congregations of Jacob" (Sirach 24:23). Jesus' claim (Jn 6:35) thus makes his teaching
superior to the Torah. Jesus later makes this point more explicit: "The words I have
spoken to you are spirit and they are life" (6:63).
Jesus, the bread of life, promises, He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he
who believes in me will never be thirsty (v. 35). He expands the promise he made to
the Samaritan woman (4:10, 13-14), vowing to satisfy not just thirst but hunger. He
makes this promise not privately to an individual, but openly to a crowd. What is
required of us is that we come to him and believe. Jesus had chastised the Jewish
opponents for refusing to come to him and receive life (5:40), but now he is talking to
a crowd that has indeed come to him, even at the cost of some effort (6:22-25). So
something more than coming to Jesus is needed, and that something more, as our
verse indicates, is faith. But even this is not the whole story, since we have already
seen people professing to believe in him who do not do so in truth (2:23-25).
176

177. What, then, is needed in order to come to Jesus and actually receive what he offers?
In this central section of chapter 6 we have one of the major teachings on why some
receive and some do not. There are two sides to this mystery--the divine and the
human. On the human side, 6:35 says we need to come and believe, and later it is said
we must hear and learn from the Father (v. 45). But behind the human is the divine
(v. 45). Those who come and receive have been given to Jesus by his Father (v. 37);
they have been drawn by the Father (v. 44). The divine will is fundamental, for "no
one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him" (6:65; literally, "it is granted
him by the Father").
Thus, the will of the Father is fundamental. Jesus has asserted this to be true in his
own life (5:19), and he repeats this in 6:38. What is true for Jesus is also true for his
disciples. It is God's gracious action in our lives that saves us from beginning to end.
God's choice has been fundamental from the beginning, starting with the act of
creation itself and continuing through the acts of redemption from the Fall through
the call of Abraham, Jacob/Israel and so forth. The biblical teaching is not, however,
mere determinism. For example, Jesus has chosen the Twelve, but one of them was "a
devil" (Jn 6:70).
Along with the revelation of God's sovereignty is the revelation of his desire that all
be saved (1 Tim 2:4). He is the savior of all, though only those who receive him
benefit from that salvation (cf. 1 Tim 4:10). Indeed, we have one of the universal
invitations in chapter 7: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink" (Jn 7:37).
It is a mystery how salvation can be open to all yet dependent on the will of God.
Several explanations have been offered over the centuries (cf. Browne 1998: 401-42),
but they all seem to collapse one side of the mystery or the other. In practical terms,
this dual teaching of Scripture leads us to two responses. The first is a life of praise
and joy in the revelation of a gracious heavenly Father who is utterly good and
completely for us. The second is a life of real effort, taking seriously our Lord's call to
enter the narrow gate (Mt 7:13) and to persevere to the end (Mt 10:22; Mt 24:13 par.
Mk 13:13 par. Lk 21:19). We heed the warnings in Hebrews about drifting, hardness
177

178. of heart and rebellion (Heb 2:1-4; 3:7--4:13; 5:11--6:20; 10:26-39; 12:14-29), and we
obey the risen Lord's call in Revelation to be one who conquers (Rev 2--3).
These two responses are not separate from one another, because we can only do our
part by relying on God's grace. We work out our salvation because he is at work
within us "to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Phil 2:12-13). Without
Christ abiding in us we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). All is of grace. It is not so much a
matter of just living for him, but a matter of living from him as we abide in him.
After revealing the truth about himself Jesus proceeds to reveal to this crowd the
truth about themselves: But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not
believe (v. 36). They saw his sign (v. 26), but it did not function as a sign for them.
They saw him with their physical eyes, but they did not have the faith that sees the
revelation of the Father in what Jesus was doing. Therefore, they do not qualify for
the benefits Jesus has just spelled out (v. 35). By revealing their condition to them
Jesus is exercising the judgment that is part of his job description (5:22). The light
comes and reveals not only God's presence but also the state of the human heart.
Jesus goes on to explain why they do not believe. The Father is the God who wills
salvation, and Jesus is the agent of that will (vv. 37-40). Jesus begins with God's grace,
that is, his act of giving: All that the Father gives me will come to me (v. 37). We just
heard of the Father as the one giving them true bread from heaven (v. 32), and now
the Father gives disciples to Jesus (cf. 17:2, 6, 9, 24). We are the Father's gift to his
Son (cf. Loyd 1936:89)! Again the Father is seen to be the source of all. In one sense
believers come to the Father through the Son (cf. 14:6), but in another sense they
were already the Father's before they became disciples of Jesus. At this point we are
at the edge of a great mystery, peering into the ineffable realms of eternity. Here we
have a clear affirmation of divine sovereignty. If this text were all we had in this
Gospel on this topic, then we would be confronted with pure and simple determinism.
We have already noted, however, that the teaching in John's Gospel is more complex
than that.
This text also affirms that no one who is to come to the Son will fail to do so. Yet
178

179. deeper comfort is conveyed when Jesus adds, and whoever comes to me I will never
drive away (v. 37). The combination of all in the first part of the verse and will never
drive away in the second part of the verse (very emphatic in the Greek; cf. Wallace
1996:468) has made this text the source of great comfort to many believers. Some,
however, have misused it, as though a someone's one-time decision for Jesus
guarantees a ticket into heaven, assuring salvation no matter how ungodly a life one
then lives. We are not to sin that grace may abound (Rom 6:1)! Salvation is a matter
of sharing in God's life through an intimate relationship with him. The one who has
such a relationship will not live a life characterized by contempt and rebellion, even
though we all have pockets of resistance as we live out the war between flesh and
Spirit (Gal 5). Our assurance is not in our decision to follow Jesus, but in the
graciousness and faithfulness of the Father and the Son who hold fast to those who
are of God.
But how do I know whether or not I am one of those who are of God? Any number of
people have been driven to despair by this question. The teaching of the Bible on
assurance is many sided, but at the end of the day it comes down to trusting God for
our salvation. Since we know he wills all to be saved we can be sure that we are
included. The only way for that salvation to be effectual in a person's life is by God's
grace. So we trust him for that grace, and we live our lives accordingly. In this way our
assurance is complete because our confidence is entirely in him. Our job is to receive,
trusting him for both the ability to receive and the obedience that is part of the life of
salvation. The Christian life is both a resting in God and a supreme effort.
The reason Jesus will not drive away any that the Father gives him is because he has
not come to do his own will but the will of him who sent him (v. 38). Jesus' complete
obedience is fundamental to his relationship with the Father. In this he is the model
of true discipleship.
He then expands further his message of assurance: And this is the will of him who sent
me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day
(v. 39). Not only will he not drive them away, but nothing else will be able to tear
them from him. The security is complete. As Paul says, nothing can separate us from
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180. the love of God (Rom 8:35-39). Neither an evil impulse from within God (as if such a
thing existed) nor evil forces from within or without ourselves can thwart God's
gracious gift of eternal life in the Son.
This gift is already experienced in this life, but is not for this life only. Jesus adds a
reference to the believer's resurrection, another indication that Jesus is expanding on
his keynote address (5:27-29). Jesus concludes this section by combining both the
present and the future aspects of salvation: For my Father's will is that everyone who
looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at
the last day (v. 40). In this one statement the major themes of this section are brought
together--the Father's will, human seeing and believing and the gift of eternal life.
Here is the antinomy of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. If we only had
verse 40, then the teaching of this Gospel regarding salvation would be based in
human decision. When we put the determinism of verse 37 alongside the decisionism
of verse 40 we see the two parts of the antinomy, both of which are brought together
in Jesus. Our response to him reveals the truth about ourselves in relation to God and
thus whether or not we share in God's eternal life.Jesus Challenges the Jews to
Believe in Him (6:41-51) This crowd, now called the Jews (v. 41), fails to respond with
faith in Jesus. Jesus does not reject them, but he challenges them to stop grumbling
and believe in him. He repeats his claims but now clearly refers to himself as the
bread of life (v. 48). He also continues his teaching about the divine will, clarifying the
relation between the will of the Father and the human response of faith. This section
of his dialogue concludes with Jesus' deepening the scandal by saying that this bread is
his flesh.
The description of the people grumbling recalls the response the children of Israel in
the wilderness had to the Lord's salvation (Ex 15--17; Num 14--17; 21:4-5; Deut 1:27;
Ps 106:25; Sirach 46:7). Now they grumble because of Jesus' claim to be the bread of
life. As with Nathaniel (1:46), their problem is with where Jesus is from. They know
Joseph and Jesus' mother (6:42), and they judge Jesus' claims on the basis of what
they think they already know. It seems they believe that a being who has come from
heaven would not have earthly parents. This helps highlight the central claim Jesus is
180

181. making, his divine origin (6:33, 38, 41, 50-51, 58), and also the fact that the divine has
come amongst us within humanity. Here, in the incarnation, is the supreme example
of matter as spirit-bearing.Jesus calls upon them to stop grumbling (v. 43), to not
repeat the pattern of their ancestors but instead to respond in faith. It is, in effect, a
call to repent. But the only way they could stop grumbling would be to become
receptive of his teaching about himself. This they are incapable of doing.
Jesus says that by their response they are judging themselves. Their rejection of him
reveals their relationship with God, for no one can come to me unless the Father who
sent me draws him (v. 43). In putting it this way Jesus indicates that he and the
believer have the same origin, the Father. The Father sent the Son and the Father
draws the believer. Earlier he said all that the Father gives me will come to me (v. 37).
Now he restates that teaching from the point of view of his Father's work in the
believer.
By repeating his promise to raise the believer at the last day (v. 44; cf. v. 39) Jesus is
claiming to be the one who fulfills the promises of resurrection in the age to come.
This future hope is combined in this discourse with a present fulfillment, for Jesus will
shortly say that those who eat the bread of heaven will not die but will live forever (vv.
50-51).
Jesus confirms and explains his teaching about the role of the Father with a quote
from Isaiah 54:13--It is written in the Prophets: "They will all be taught by God" (v.
45). Isaiah 54 speaks of God's future restoration of Jerusalem to intimacy with
himself. By applying this text to his own ministry, Jesus is claiming that the
eschatological blessings of the last day are already being experienced in his ministry;
God's promise to Jerusalem is being fulfilled now. Those who know Jesus' real
identity understand how this is so, for they realize that those hearing Jesus are
themselves being taught by God! But the point Jesus makes is different. He is
explaining the way the Father draws people. He does so by teaching, as the rest of the
verse makes clear: Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to
me. To listen and to learn require humility, a key characteristic of disciples in this
Gospel. The one who listens to God and learns will be taught by God and be drawn to
181

182. Jesus, for Jesus is the one who speaks God's word and manifests his presence. Here
we have a very profound reflection on the mystery of the roles of the divine and the
human in a person's coming to faith. Indeed, faith itself includes receptive openness
to God. Thus, the drawing by God and the reception of the person are intimately
interwoven (cf. Bultmann 1971:231-32).
Jesus' claim that everyone who listens and learns from God will come to him is both a
comfort and a challenge. It is comforting because it says no one who is really open to
God will be left out. But it is also a challenge because it is another one of Jesus' claims
to unique, supreme authority. God has indeed not left himself without a witness.
General revelation has made something of the truth about himself known, and
certainly the Scriptures have done so more clearly. But all such knowledge of God is
partial and finds its fulfillment and point of reference in Jesus. All revelation before
or outside of Jesus leads one to come to him. When a Jew or Muslim or Buddhist or
other religious person who has really learned from God sees Jesus in truth (not as he
is too often revealed by Christians' poor witness) they will recognize in him the
fullness of what they have already learned. Thus, we once again find in this Gospel the
scandal of the Christian claims of Jesus' exclusive supremacy.
Jesus' supreme authority is further established in the next verse when he explains that
no one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the
Father (v. 46). Jesus' shift from hearing God to seeing him is probably significant. The
Old Testament is saturated with references to people who have heard God, but it is
more ambiguous about those who have received a vision of God (see comment on
1:18). The emphasis in this Gospel is that no one has seen God (1:18; 5:37; cf. 1 Jn
4:12), yet those who have seen Jesus have seen the Father (14:8-9). Thus, John again
denies the claims of the mystics (cf. comments on 1:18 and 3:13). So the exalted
claims about Jesus are matched by the claims John makes for the believers. He claims
they have eternal life (v. 47), which goes beyond what the rabbis or the mystics
claimed for themselves. The believer not only encounters God but actually comes to
share in his life, a thought that will be developed in the Jesus' farewell discourse
(13:31--17:26).
182

183. 36363636
But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do notBut as I told you, you have seen me and still you do notBut as I told you, you have seen me and still you do notBut as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not
believe.believe.believe.believe.
BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "But I said unto you - This he said, not in so many words, but in
substance, in Joh_6:26. Though they saw him, and had full proof of his divine
mission, yet they did not believe. Jesus then proceeds to state that, although they did
not believe on him, yet his work would not be in vain, for others would come to him
and be saved.
GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "But I said unto you,.... The substance of what follows in Joh_6:26 though
the Persic and Ethiopic versions render it, "I say unto you"; and so refers not to
anything before said, but to what he was about to say:
that ye also have seen me, and believe not; that is, they had not only seen him
in person, which many kings, prophets, and righteous men had desired, but not
enjoyed, yet nevertheless believed; but they had seen his miracles, and had shared in
the advantages of them, being healed, and fed corporeally by him, and yet believed
not in him as the spiritual Saviour and Redeemer of their souls; nor did they come to
him in a spiritual way, for eternal life and salvation.
JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "But ... ye have seen me, and believe not — seen Him not in His
mere bodily presence, but in all the majesty of His life, His teaching, His works.
CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "36363636.But I have told you. He now reproves them for wickedly rejecting the.But I have told you. He now reproves them for wickedly rejecting the.But I have told you. He now reproves them for wickedly rejecting the.But I have told you. He now reproves them for wickedly rejecting the
gift of God, which is offered to them. Now, that man is chargeable with wickedgift of God, which is offered to them. Now, that man is chargeable with wickedgift of God, which is offered to them. Now, that man is chargeable with wickedgift of God, which is offered to them. Now, that man is chargeable with wicked
contempt of God, who rejects what he knows that God has given him. If Christ hadcontempt of God, who rejects what he knows that God has given him. If Christ hadcontempt of God, who rejects what he knows that God has given him. If Christ hadcontempt of God, who rejects what he knows that God has given him. If Christ had
not made known his power, and plainly showed that he came from God, the plea ofnot made known his power, and plainly showed that he came from God, the plea ofnot made known his power, and plainly showed that he came from God, the plea ofnot made known his power, and plainly showed that he came from God, the plea of
ignorance might have alleviated their guilt; but when they reject the doctrine of himignorance might have alleviated their guilt; but when they reject the doctrine of himignorance might have alleviated their guilt; but when they reject the doctrine of himignorance might have alleviated their guilt; but when they reject the doctrine of him
whom they formerly acknowledged to be the Lordwhom they formerly acknowledged to be the Lordwhom they formerly acknowledged to be the Lordwhom they formerly acknowledged to be the Lord’s Messiah, it is extreme baseness.s Messiah, it is extreme baseness.s Messiah, it is extreme baseness.s Messiah, it is extreme baseness.
It is no doubt true, that men never resist God purposely, so as to reflect that theyIt is no doubt true, that men never resist God purposely, so as to reflect that theyIt is no doubt true, that men never resist God purposely, so as to reflect that theyIt is no doubt true, that men never resist God purposely, so as to reflect that they
have to do with God; and to this applies the saying of Paul,have to do with God; and to this applies the saying of Paul,have to do with God; and to this applies the saying of Paul,have to do with God; and to this applies the saying of Paul,
183

184. They would never have crucified the Lord of glory, if they had known himThey would never have crucified the Lord of glory, if they had known himThey would never have crucified the Lord of glory, if they had known himThey would never have crucified the Lord of glory, if they had known him
((((1111 CorinthiansCorinthiansCorinthiansCorinthians 2:82:82:82:8.).).).)
But unbelievers, because they willingly shut their eyes against the light are justlyBut unbelievers, because they willingly shut their eyes against the light are justlyBut unbelievers, because they willingly shut their eyes against the light are justlyBut unbelievers, because they willingly shut their eyes against the light are justly
said to see that which immediately vanishes from their sight, because Satan darkenssaid to see that which immediately vanishes from their sight, because Satan darkenssaid to see that which immediately vanishes from their sight, because Satan darkenssaid to see that which immediately vanishes from their sight, because Satan darkens
their understandings. This, at least, is beyond all controversy, that when he said thattheir understandings. This, at least, is beyond all controversy, that when he said thattheir understandings. This, at least, is beyond all controversy, that when he said thattheir understandings. This, at least, is beyond all controversy, that when he said that
they saw, we must not understand him to mean his bodily appearance, but ratherthey saw, we must not understand him to mean his bodily appearance, but ratherthey saw, we must not understand him to mean his bodily appearance, but ratherthey saw, we must not understand him to mean his bodily appearance, but rather
that he describes their voluntary blindness, because they might have known what hethat he describes their voluntary blindness, because they might have known what hethat he describes their voluntary blindness, because they might have known what hethat he describes their voluntary blindness, because they might have known what he
was, if their malice had not prevented them.was, if their malice had not prevented them.was, if their malice had not prevented them.was, if their malice had not prevented them.
SBC, "SBC, "SBC, "SBC, "The Reason of Faith
I. Look first at two kinds of faith which are universally practised; for if faith is, in the
nature of things, absurd or unintelligent, we shall be as likely to discover the fact here
as anywhere. And we may discover, possibly, that the very persons who discard faith,
as an offence to intelligence, are not even able to do the commonest acts of
intelligence without it. (1) We begin, then, with the case of sight, or perception by
sight. In our very seeing we see by faith, and without the faith we should only take in
impressions to remain as lost things in the brain. Hence, perhaps, the word
perception, a through-taking, because we have taken hold of objects through
distances, and so have bridged the gulf between us and reality. Is, then, sight itself
unintelligent because it includes an act of faith? Or, if we believe in realities, and have
them by believing, would it be wiser to let alone realities, and live in figures and
phantasms painted on the retina of our eyes? (2) But there is another kind of faith,
less subtle than this, which also is universally practised, and admitted universally to
be intelligent. It is that kind of faith which, after sensation is past or perception is
completed, assigns truth to the things seen, and takes them to be sound historic
verities. Thus, after Christ had been seen in all the facts of His life, it became a
distinct question what to make of the fact—whether, possibly, there was any mistake
in the senses, or any sleight-of-hand by which they were imposed upon. If God were
to burn Himself into souls by lenses bigger than worlds, all you could say would be
that so much impression is made, which impression is no historic verity to the mind,
till the mind assents on its part, and concludes itself upon the impression. Then the
impression becomes to it a real and historic fact, a sentence of credit passed. (3) We
now come to the Christian, or third kind of faith. First, we complete an act of
perception only by a kind of sense-faith, moving from ourselves, and not from the
objects perceived. Next, we pass on to the historic verity, the moral genuineness, of
what we see; and our act of credit, so passed, is also a kind of faith moving from us,
and is something over and above all the impressions we have received. A third faith
remains, that is just as intelligent, and, in fact, is only more intelligent than the
others, because it carries their results forward into the true uses. This distinctively is
the Christian faith, the faith of salvation, the believing unto life eternal. It is the act of
trust by which one being, a sinner, commits himself to another being, a Saviour. It is
the faith of a transaction.
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185. II. Note some of the lessons this subject yields. (1) The mistake is here corrected of
those who are continually assuming that the Gospel is a theory, something to be
thought out—not a new premiss of fact communicated by God, by men to be received
in all the threefold gradations of faith. (2) We discover that the requirement of faith,
as a condition of salvation, is not arbitrary, as many appear to suppose, but is only a
declaration of the fact, before existing, that without faith there can be no deliverance
from sin. (3) We perceive, in our subject, that mere impressions can never amount to
faith. (4) Finally, it is very plain that what is now most wanted in the Christian world
is more faith.
H. Bushnell, The New Life, p. 44.
37373737
All that the Father gives me will come to me, andAll that the Father gives me will come to me, andAll that the Father gives me will come to me, andAll that the Father gives me will come to me, and
whoever comes to me I will never drive away.whoever comes to me I will never drive away.whoever comes to me I will never drive away.whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "All - The original word is in the neuter gender, but it is used,
doubtless, for the masculine, or perhaps refers to his people considered as a mass or
body, and means that every individual that the Father had given him should come to
him.
The Father giveth me - We here learn that those who come to Christ, and who
will be saved, are given to him by God.
1. God promised him that he should see of the travail of his soul - that is, “the
fruit of his wearisome toil” (Lowth), and should be satisfied, Isa_53:11.
2. All men are sinners, and none have any claim to mercy, and he may therefore
bestow salvation on whom he pleases.
3. All people of themselves are disposed to reject the gospel, Joh_5:40.
4. God enables those who do believe to do it. He draws them to Him by His Word
and Spirit; “He opens their hearts to understand the Scriptures Act_16:14; and
He grants to them repentance, Act_11:18; 2Ti_2:25.
5. All those who become Christians may therefore be said to be given to Jesus as
the reward of his sufferings, for his death was the price by which they were
redeemed. Paul says Eph_1:4-5 that, “he hath chosen us in him (that is, in
Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”
Shall come to me - This is an expression denoting that they would believe on
him. To come to one implies our need of help, our confidence that he can aid us, and
our readiness to trust to him. The sinner comes to Jesus feeling that he is poor, and
needy, and wretched, and casts himself on his mercy, believing that he alone can save
him. This expression also proves that men are not compelled to believe on Christ.
Though they who believe are given to him, and though his Spirit works in them faith
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186. and repentance, yet they are made willing in the day of his power, Psa_110:3. No man
is compelled to go to heaven against his will, and no man is compelled to go to hell
against his will. The Spirit of God inclines the will of one, and he comes freely as a
moral agent. The other chooses the way to death; and, though God is constantly
using means to save him, yet he prefers the path that leads down to woe.
Him that cometh - Everyone that comes - that is, everyone that comes in a
proper mariner, feeling that he is a lost and ruined sinner. This invitation is wide,
and full, and free. It shows the unbounded mercy of God; and it shows, also, that the
reason, and the only reason, why men are not saved, is that they will not come to
Christ. Of any sinner it may be said that if he had been willing to come to Christ he
might have come and been saved. As he chooses not to come, he cannot blame God
because he saves others who are willing, no matter from what cause, and who thus
are made partakers of everlasting life.
In no wise - In no manner, or at no time. The original is simply, “I will not cast
out.”
Cast out - Reject, or refuse to save. This expression does not refer to the doctrine
of perseverance of the saints, but to the fact that Jesus will not reject or refuse any
sinner who comes to him.
CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "All that the Father giveth me - The neuter gender, παν, is probably
used here for the masculine, πας.
Shall come to me - All that are drawn by the Father, Joh_6:44, i.e. all those who
are influenced by his Spirit, and yield to those influences: for as many as are Led (not
driven or dragged) by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God, Rom_8:14. God
sent his prophets to proclaim his salvation to this people; and he accompanied their
preaching with the influence of his Spirit. Those who yielded were saved: those who
did not yield to these drawings were lost. This Spirit still continued to work and to
allure; but the people being uncircumcised both in heart and ears, they always
resisted the Holy Ghost; as their fathers did, so did they; Act_7:51. And though
Christ would have gathered them together, as a hen would her chickens under her
wings, yet they would not. See the note on Mat_23:37. Those who come at the call of
God, he is represented here as giving to Christ, because it is through his blood alone
that they can be saved. God, by his Spirit, convinces of sin, righteousness, and
judgment; those who acknowledge their iniquity, and their need of salvation, he gives
to Christ, i.e. points out unto them the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world. Our Lord may here also refer to the calling of the Gentiles; for these,
according to the ancient promise, Psa_2:8, were given to Christ: and they, on the
preaching of the Gospel, gladly came unto him. See ample proofs of this in the Acts of
the Apostles.
I will in no wise cast out - The words are exceedingly emphatical - ου µη εκβαλω
εξω, I will by no means thrust out of doors; excellently rendered by Matthew of
Erberg in his Italian Bible - Io non cacciaro fuori, I will not chase him out of the
house. Our blessed Lord alludes to the case of a person in deep distress and poverty,
who comes to a nobleman’s house, in order to get relief: the person appears; and the
owner, far from treating the poor man with asperity, welcomes, receives him kindly,
and supplies his wants. So does Jesus. Newer did he reject the suit of a penitent,
however grievous his crimes might have been. He is come to the house of mercy; he
is lying at the threshold: the servants bid him come in - he obeys, and stands
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187. trembling, waiting for the appearing of the Master, doubtful whether he is to be
received or rejected: the Master appears, and not only grants his suit, but receives
him into the number of his family: he alleges his unfitness, his unworthiness, his
guilt, his crimes, his ingratitude: no matter, all shall be blotted out through the blood
of the Lamb, and he be put among the children, and on none of these accounts shall
he be put out of the house. The Gentiles shall be as welcome as the Jews; and the
invitation to them be as free, as full, and as hearty: they shall become his adopted
children, and never be cast out, as the Jews have been. O thou God of love! how able
and Willing art thou to save the vilest of the vile, who come unto thee! Thou art not
the God of the Jews only, thou art also the God of the Gentiles. Rejoice, therefore, ye
Gentiles, with his people.
GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "All that the Father giveth me,.... The "all" design not the apostles only,
who were given to Christ as such; for these did not all, in a spiritual manner, come to
him, and believe in him; one of them was a devil, and the son of perdition; much less
every individual of mankind: these are, in some sense, given to Christ to subserve
some ends of his mediatorial kingdom, and are subject to his power and control, but
do not come to him, and believe in him: but the whole body of the elect are here
meant, who, when they were chosen by God the Father, were given and put into the
hands of Christ, as his seed, his spouse, his sheep, his portion, and inheritance, and
to be saved by him with an everlasting salvation; which is an instance of love and care
on the Father's part, to give them to Christ; and of grace and condescension in him to
receive them, and take the care of them; and of distinguishing goodness to them: and
though Christ here expresses this act of his Father's in the present tense, "giveth",
perhaps to signify the continuance and unchangeableness of it; yet he delivers it in
the past tense, in Joh_6:39, "hath given"; and so all the Oriental versions render it
here. And it certainly respects an act of God, antecedent to coming to Christ, and
believing in him, which is a fruit and effect of electing love, as is clear from what
follows:
shall come unto me; such who are given to Christ in eternal election, and in the
everlasting covenant of grace, shall, and do, in time, come to Christ, and believe in
him to the saving of their souls; which is not to be ascribed to, any power and will in
them, but to the power and grace of God. It is not here said, that such who are given
to Christ have a "power" to come to him, or "may" come if they will, but they shall
come; efficacious grace will bring them to Christ, as poor perishing sinners, to
venture on him for life and salvation:
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out; such who come to
Christ in a spiritual manner, and are brought to believe in him truly and really, he not
only receives kindly, but keeps and preserves them by his power, and will not cast
them out, or thrust them from him into perdition: the words are very strongly and
emphatically expressed in the original, "I will not, not, or never, never, cast out
without"; or cast out of doors. Christ will never cast them out of his affections; nor
out of his arms; nor out of that family that is named of him; nor out of, and from his
church, which is his body, and of which they are members; nor out of a state of
justification and salvation; and therefore they shall never perish, but have everlasting
life. The three glorious doctrines of grace, of eternal election, efficacious grace in
conversion, and the final perseverance of the saints, are clearly contained in these
words.
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188. JAMISONJAMISONJAMISONJAMISON 37373737----40404040, ", ", ", "All that, etc. — This comprehensive and very grand passage is
expressed with a peculiar artistic precision. The opening general statement (Joh_
6:37) consists of two members: (1) “ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME SHALL
COME TO ME” - that is, “Though ye, as I told you, have no faith in Me, My errand
into the world shall in no wise be defeated; for all that the Father giveth Me shall
infallibly come to Me.” Observe, what is given Him by the Father is expressed in the
singular number and neuter gender - literally, “everything”; while those who come to
Him are put in the masculine gender and singular number - “every one.” The whole
mass, so to speak, is gifted by the Father to the Son as a unity, which the Son evolves,
one by one, in the execution of His trust. So Joh_17:2, “that He should give eternal
life to all that which Thou hast given Him” [Bengel]. This “shall” expresses the
glorious certainty of it, the Father being pledged to see to it that the gift be no empty
mockery. (2) “AND HIM THAT COMETH TO ME I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT.”
As the former was the divine, this is just the human side of the same thing. True, the
“coming” ones of the second clause are just the “given” ones of the first. But had our
Lord merely said, “When those that have been given Me of My Father shall come to
Me, I will receive them” - besides being very flat, the impression conveyed would
have been quite different, sounding as if there were no other laws in operation, in the
movement of sinners to Christ, but such as are wholly divine and inscrutable to us;
whereas, though He does speak of it as a sublime certainty which men’s refusals
cannot frustrate, He speaks of that certainty as taking effect only by men’s voluntary
advances to Him and acceptance of Him - “Him that cometh to Me,” “whosoever
will,” throwing the door wide open. Only it is not the simply willing, but the actually
coming, whom He will not cast out; for the word here employed usually denotes
arrival, as distinguished from the ordinary word, which rather expresses the act of
coming (see Joh_8:42, Greek), [Webster and Wilkinson]. “In no wise” is an emphatic
negative, to meet the fears of the timid (as in Rev_21:27, to meet the presumption of
the hardened). These, then, being the two members of the general opening
statement, what follows is meant to take in both,
CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "37373737.All that the Father giveth me. That their unbelief may not detract.All that the Father giveth me. That their unbelief may not detract.All that the Father giveth me. That their unbelief may not detract.All that the Father giveth me. That their unbelief may not detract
anything from his doctrine, he says, that the cause of so great obstinacy is, that theyanything from his doctrine, he says, that the cause of so great obstinacy is, that theyanything from his doctrine, he says, that the cause of so great obstinacy is, that theyanything from his doctrine, he says, that the cause of so great obstinacy is, that they
are reprobate, and do not belong to the flock of God. His intention, therefore, inare reprobate, and do not belong to the flock of God. His intention, therefore, inare reprobate, and do not belong to the flock of God. His intention, therefore, inare reprobate, and do not belong to the flock of God. His intention, therefore, in
distinguishing here between the elect and the reprobate is, that the authority of hisdistinguishing here between the elect and the reprobate is, that the authority of hisdistinguishing here between the elect and the reprobate is, that the authority of hisdistinguishing here between the elect and the reprobate is, that the authority of his
doctrine may remain unimpaired, though there are many who do not believe it. For,doctrine may remain unimpaired, though there are many who do not believe it. For,doctrine may remain unimpaired, though there are many who do not believe it. For,doctrine may remain unimpaired, though there are many who do not believe it. For,
on the one hand, ungodly men calumniate and utterly despise the word of God,on the one hand, ungodly men calumniate and utterly despise the word of God,on the one hand, ungodly men calumniate and utterly despise the word of God,on the one hand, ungodly men calumniate and utterly despise the word of God,
because they are not moved by reverence for it; and, on the other hand, many weakbecause they are not moved by reverence for it; and, on the other hand, many weakbecause they are not moved by reverence for it; and, on the other hand, many weakbecause they are not moved by reverence for it; and, on the other hand, many weak
and ignorant persons entertain doubts whether that which is rejected by a great partand ignorant persons entertain doubts whether that which is rejected by a great partand ignorant persons entertain doubts whether that which is rejected by a great partand ignorant persons entertain doubts whether that which is rejected by a great part
of the world be actually the word of God. Christ meets this offense, when heof the world be actually the word of God. Christ meets this offense, when heof the world be actually the word of God. Christ meets this offense, when heof the world be actually the word of God. Christ meets this offense, when he
affirms, that all those who do not believe are not his own, and that we need notaffirms, that all those who do not believe are not his own, and that we need notaffirms, that all those who do not believe are not his own, and that we need notaffirms, that all those who do not believe are not his own, and that we need not
wonder if such persons have no relish for the word of God, but that it is embracedwonder if such persons have no relish for the word of God, but that it is embracedwonder if such persons have no relish for the word of God, but that it is embracedwonder if such persons have no relish for the word of God, but that it is embraced
by all the children of God. In the first place, he says, that all whom the Father givethby all the children of God. In the first place, he says, that all whom the Father givethby all the children of God. In the first place, he says, that all whom the Father givethby all the children of God. In the first place, he says, that all whom the Father giveth
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189. him come to him; by which words he means, that faith is not a thing which dependshim come to him; by which words he means, that faith is not a thing which dependshim come to him; by which words he means, that faith is not a thing which dependshim come to him; by which words he means, that faith is not a thing which depends
on the will of men, so that this man and that man indiscriminately and at randomon the will of men, so that this man and that man indiscriminately and at randomon the will of men, so that this man and that man indiscriminately and at randomon the will of men, so that this man and that man indiscriminately and at random
believe, but that God elects those whom he hands over, as it were, to his Son; forbelieve, but that God elects those whom he hands over, as it were, to his Son; forbelieve, but that God elects those whom he hands over, as it were, to his Son; forbelieve, but that God elects those whom he hands over, as it were, to his Son; for
when he says, that whatever is given cometh, we infer from it, that all do not come.when he says, that whatever is given cometh, we infer from it, that all do not come.when he says, that whatever is given cometh, we infer from it, that all do not come.when he says, that whatever is given cometh, we infer from it, that all do not come.
Again, we infer, that God works in his elect by such an efficacy of the Holy Spirit,Again, we infer, that God works in his elect by such an efficacy of the Holy Spirit,Again, we infer, that God works in his elect by such an efficacy of the Holy Spirit,Again, we infer, that God works in his elect by such an efficacy of the Holy Spirit,
that not one of them falls away; for the word give has the same meaning as if Christthat not one of them falls away; for the word give has the same meaning as if Christthat not one of them falls away; for the word give has the same meaning as if Christthat not one of them falls away; for the word give has the same meaning as if Christ
had said,had said,had said,had said, “Those whom the Father hath chosen he regenerates, and gives to me,Those whom the Father hath chosen he regenerates, and gives to me,Those whom the Father hath chosen he regenerates, and gives to me,Those whom the Father hath chosen he regenerates, and gives to me,
that they may obey the Gospel.that they may obey the Gospel.that they may obey the Gospel.that they may obey the Gospel.”
And him that cometh to me I will not cast out. This is added for the consolation ofAnd him that cometh to me I will not cast out. This is added for the consolation ofAnd him that cometh to me I will not cast out. This is added for the consolation ofAnd him that cometh to me I will not cast out. This is added for the consolation of
the godly, that they may be fully persuaded that they have free access to Christ bythe godly, that they may be fully persuaded that they have free access to Christ bythe godly, that they may be fully persuaded that they have free access to Christ bythe godly, that they may be fully persuaded that they have free access to Christ by
faith, and that, as soon as they have placed themselves under his protection andfaith, and that, as soon as they have placed themselves under his protection andfaith, and that, as soon as they have placed themselves under his protection andfaith, and that, as soon as they have placed themselves under his protection and
safeguard, they will be graciously received by him. Hence it follows, that thesafeguard, they will be graciously received by him. Hence it follows, that thesafeguard, they will be graciously received by him. Hence it follows, that thesafeguard, they will be graciously received by him. Hence it follows, that the
doctrine of the Gospel will be salutary to all believers, because no man becomes adoctrine of the Gospel will be salutary to all believers, because no man becomes adoctrine of the Gospel will be salutary to all believers, because no man becomes adoctrine of the Gospel will be salutary to all believers, because no man becomes a
disciple of Christ who does not, on the other hand, feel and experience him to be adisciple of Christ who does not, on the other hand, feel and experience him to be adisciple of Christ who does not, on the other hand, feel and experience him to be adisciple of Christ who does not, on the other hand, feel and experience him to be a
good and faithful teacher.good and faithful teacher.good and faithful teacher.good and faithful teacher.
GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "ChristGREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "ChristGREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "ChristGREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "Christ’’’’s Doctrine of Elections Doctrine of Elections Doctrine of Elections Doctrine of Election
All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to meAll that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to meAll that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to meAll that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.————Joh_Joh_Joh_Joh_6:376:376:376:37....
1111. After claiming to be the Bread of Life, and condemning the Jews. After claiming to be the Bread of Life, and condemning the Jews. After claiming to be the Bread of Life, and condemning the Jews. After claiming to be the Bread of Life, and condemning the Jews’’’’ attitudeattitudeattitudeattitude
towards Himself, Jesus announced His assurance that notwithstanding theirtowards Himself, Jesus announced His assurance that notwithstanding theirtowards Himself, Jesus announced His assurance that notwithstanding theirtowards Himself, Jesus announced His assurance that notwithstanding their
unbelief all that the Father gave Him would come to Him, and then immediatelyunbelief all that the Father gave Him would come to Him, and then immediatelyunbelief all that the Father gave Him would come to Him, and then immediatelyunbelief all that the Father gave Him would come to Him, and then immediately
uttered the gracious words which have given confidence and courage to alluttered the gracious words which have given confidence and courage to alluttered the gracious words which have given confidence and courage to alluttered the gracious words which have given confidence and courage to all
approaching Him through the centuries,approaching Him through the centuries,approaching Him through the centuries,approaching Him through the centuries, ““““Him that cometh to me I will in no wiseHim that cometh to me I will in no wiseHim that cometh to me I will in no wiseHim that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out.cast out.cast out.cast out.”””” In this twofold declaration the Lord revealed two aspects of one greatIn this twofold declaration the Lord revealed two aspects of one greatIn this twofold declaration the Lord revealed two aspects of one greatIn this twofold declaration the Lord revealed two aspects of one great
effect, the heavenly and the earthly. The heavenly takes in the whole result,effect, the heavenly and the earthly. The heavenly takes in the whole result,effect, the heavenly and the earthly. The heavenly takes in the whole result,effect, the heavenly and the earthly. The heavenly takes in the whole result, ““““AllAllAllAll
that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.”””” The earthly declares theThe earthly declares theThe earthly declares theThe earthly declares the
individual responsibility, and utters the word creating confidence,individual responsibility, and utters the word creating confidence,individual responsibility, and utters the word creating confidence,individual responsibility, and utters the word creating confidence, ““““Him thatHim thatHim thatHim that
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190. cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.””””
2222. The tone in which the words are spoken supplies another element in the picture.. The tone in which the words are spoken supplies another element in the picture.. The tone in which the words are spoken supplies another element in the picture.. The tone in which the words are spoken supplies another element in the picture.
Jesus seems to pause after saying,Jesus seems to pause after saying,Jesus seems to pause after saying,Jesus seems to pause after saying, ““““Ye have seen me, and yet believe not.Ye have seen me, and yet believe not.Ye have seen me, and yet believe not.Ye have seen me, and yet believe not.”””” It is aIt is aIt is aIt is a
sorrowful fact, and it is very mysterious. Here are His own people rejecting Him, orsorrowful fact, and it is very mysterious. Here are His own people rejecting Him, orsorrowful fact, and it is very mysterious. Here are His own people rejecting Him, orsorrowful fact, and it is very mysterious. Here are His own people rejecting Him, or
at any rate coming to Him in such a wrong fashion that He has to discourage them.at any rate coming to Him in such a wrong fashion that He has to discourage them.at any rate coming to Him in such a wrong fashion that He has to discourage them.at any rate coming to Him in such a wrong fashion that He has to discourage them.
It looks as though GodIt looks as though GodIt looks as though GodIt looks as though God’’’’s plan of salvation were not working out right. Is it going tos plan of salvation were not working out right. Is it going tos plan of salvation were not working out right. Is it going tos plan of salvation were not working out right. Is it going to
fail at the outset? Such questions must crowd into the Saviourfail at the outset? Such questions must crowd into the Saviourfail at the outset? Such questions must crowd into the Saviourfail at the outset? Such questions must crowd into the Saviour’’’’s mind, as He facess mind, as He facess mind, as He facess mind, as He faces
the fact that these people will not accept Him. But they are not allowed to cloud Histhe fact that these people will not accept Him. But they are not allowed to cloud Histhe fact that these people will not accept Him. But they are not allowed to cloud Histhe fact that these people will not accept Him. But they are not allowed to cloud His
faith for an instant. At once the Son acquiesces in the Fatherfaith for an instant. At once the Son acquiesces in the Fatherfaith for an instant. At once the Son acquiesces in the Fatherfaith for an instant. At once the Son acquiesces in the Father’’’’s plan. It is all right; its plan. It is all right; its plan. It is all right; its plan. It is all right; it
cannot fail.cannot fail.cannot fail.cannot fail. ““““All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.”””” Nobody willNobody willNobody willNobody will
be lost whom the Father designed to save.be lost whom the Father designed to save.be lost whom the Father designed to save.be lost whom the Father designed to save. ““““Him that cometh to me I will in no wiseHim that cometh to me I will in no wiseHim that cometh to me I will in no wiseHim that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out.cast out.cast out.cast out.”””” I am doing My part correctly. So all must be well.I am doing My part correctly. So all must be well.I am doing My part correctly. So all must be well.I am doing My part correctly. So all must be well.
The CommanderThe CommanderThe CommanderThe Commander----inininin----Chief at the base of operations decides upon the plan ofChief at the base of operations decides upon the plan ofChief at the base of operations decides upon the plan ofChief at the base of operations decides upon the plan of
campaign, and entrusts its execution to another General who never doubts thecampaign, and entrusts its execution to another General who never doubts thecampaign, and entrusts its execution to another General who never doubts thecampaign, and entrusts its execution to another General who never doubts the
strategy though it does not appear successful immediately, and never doubts Hisstrategy though it does not appear successful immediately, and never doubts Hisstrategy though it does not appear successful immediately, and never doubts Hisstrategy though it does not appear successful immediately, and never doubts His
own perfect fulfilment of the plan.own perfect fulfilment of the plan.own perfect fulfilment of the plan.own perfect fulfilment of the plan.1111 [Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.]
Mark well this passage,Mark well this passage,Mark well this passage,Mark well this passage, ““““I will in no wise cast him out.I will in no wise cast him out.I will in no wise cast him out.I will in no wise cast him out.”””” Our Saviour doth plainlyOur Saviour doth plainlyOur Saviour doth plainlyOur Saviour doth plainly
import that there neither is nor can be devisedimport that there neither is nor can be devisedimport that there neither is nor can be devisedimport that there neither is nor can be devised————no, not by God Himselfno, not by God Himselfno, not by God Himselfno, not by God Himself————any oneany oneany oneany one
consideration whatsoever which might occasion Him to put off or say nay to anyconsideration whatsoever which might occasion Him to put off or say nay to anyconsideration whatsoever which might occasion Him to put off or say nay to anyconsideration whatsoever which might occasion Him to put off or say nay to any
person that doth come. No consideration in the world, I say, can so aggravate aperson that doth come. No consideration in the world, I say, can so aggravate aperson that doth come. No consideration in the world, I say, can so aggravate aperson that doth come. No consideration in the world, I say, can so aggravate a
manmanmanman’’’’s condition, could he make it as bad as the devils themselves, yet, if there be as condition, could he make it as bad as the devils themselves, yet, if there be as condition, could he make it as bad as the devils themselves, yet, if there be as condition, could he make it as bad as the devils themselves, yet, if there be a
coming to Christ, there can be no consideration in the highest pitch of sinfulness forcoming to Christ, there can be no consideration in the highest pitch of sinfulness forcoming to Christ, there can be no consideration in the highest pitch of sinfulness forcoming to Christ, there can be no consideration in the highest pitch of sinfulness for
Christ to reject, or put by, a person coming to Him. For you must know, beloved,Christ to reject, or put by, a person coming to Him. For you must know, beloved,Christ to reject, or put by, a person coming to Him. For you must know, beloved,Christ to reject, or put by, a person coming to Him. For you must know, beloved,
Christ is well acquainted with all the objections the heart of man (nay, the devil)Christ is well acquainted with all the objections the heart of man (nay, the devil)Christ is well acquainted with all the objections the heart of man (nay, the devil)Christ is well acquainted with all the objections the heart of man (nay, the devil)
can object against the freeness of His grace and life by Him. To save labour,can object against the freeness of His grace and life by Him. To save labour,can object against the freeness of His grace and life by Him. To save labour,can object against the freeness of His grace and life by Him. To save labour,
therefore, in this one passage (I will in no wise cast out) Christ at once answers alltherefore, in this one passage (I will in no wise cast out) Christ at once answers alltherefore, in this one passage (I will in no wise cast out) Christ at once answers alltherefore, in this one passage (I will in no wise cast out) Christ at once answers all
the objections that could be made. And I dare be bold to maintain, in the name andthe objections that could be made. And I dare be bold to maintain, in the name andthe objections that could be made. And I dare be bold to maintain, in the name andthe objections that could be made. And I dare be bold to maintain, in the name and
stead of Christ, let a person but say and lay down this for granted, that come hestead of Christ, let a person but say and lay down this for granted, that come hestead of Christ, let a person but say and lay down this for granted, that come hestead of Christ, let a person but say and lay down this for granted, that come he
wouldwouldwouldwould————that he would have Christ rather than his life,that he would have Christ rather than his life,that he would have Christ rather than his life,that he would have Christ rather than his life,————let this be granted for alet this be granted for alet this be granted for alet this be granted for a
truth, I will be bold with Christ out of this passage to answer ten thousandtruth, I will be bold with Christ out of this passage to answer ten thousandtruth, I will be bold with Christ out of this passage to answer ten thousandtruth, I will be bold with Christ out of this passage to answer ten thousand
190

191. objections, even fully to the silencing of every objection that can be made;objections, even fully to the silencing of every objection that can be made;objections, even fully to the silencing of every objection that can be made;objections, even fully to the silencing of every objection that can be made; ““““I will inI will inI will inI will in
no wise cast him outno wise cast him outno wise cast him outno wise cast him out””””; I will in no wise, that is, I will upon no consideration that can; I will in no wise, that is, I will upon no consideration that can; I will in no wise, that is, I will upon no consideration that can; I will in no wise, that is, I will upon no consideration that can
be imagined or conceived.be imagined or conceived.be imagined or conceived.be imagined or conceived.2222 [Note: Tobias Crisp.][Note: Tobias Crisp.][Note: Tobias Crisp.][Note: Tobias Crisp.]
IIII
The FatherThe FatherThe FatherThe Father’’’’s Parts Parts Parts Part
““““All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.””””
At once the question suggests itself, Who are given by the Father to the Son? TheAt once the question suggests itself, Who are given by the Father to the Son? TheAt once the question suggests itself, Who are given by the Father to the Son? TheAt once the question suggests itself, Who are given by the Father to the Son? The
context supplies an answer. The charge brought by Jesus against these Jews is,context supplies an answer. The charge brought by Jesus against these Jews is,context supplies an answer. The charge brought by Jesus against these Jews is,context supplies an answer. The charge brought by Jesus against these Jews is, ““““YeYeYeYe
see and believe not.see and believe not.see and believe not.see and believe not.”””” He has declared already,He has declared already,He has declared already,He has declared already, ““““This is the work of God, that yeThis is the work of God, that yeThis is the work of God, that yeThis is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent.believe on him whom he hath sent.believe on him whom he hath sent.believe on him whom he hath sent.”””” It seems evident, therefore, thatIt seems evident, therefore, thatIt seems evident, therefore, thatIt seems evident, therefore, that ““““that whichthat whichthat whichthat which
the Father giveththe Father giveththe Father giveththe Father giveth”””” includes all who believe on the Son. That may include everybody.includes all who believe on the Son. That may include everybody.includes all who believe on the Son. That may include everybody.includes all who believe on the Son. That may include everybody.
““““Whosoever willWhosoever willWhosoever willWhosoever will”””” may believe. But to believe is the essential condition. Thereforemay believe. But to believe is the essential condition. Thereforemay believe. But to believe is the essential condition. Thereforemay believe. But to believe is the essential condition. Therefore
the great truth of our text is that all who believe are saved. It sounds athe great truth of our text is that all who believe are saved. It sounds athe great truth of our text is that all who believe are saved. It sounds athe great truth of our text is that all who believe are saved. It sounds a
commonplace: but consider what it means. Take a few cases. A is a denizen of thecommonplace: but consider what it means. Take a few cases. A is a denizen of thecommonplace: but consider what it means. Take a few cases. A is a denizen of thecommonplace: but consider what it means. Take a few cases. A is a denizen of the
slums, poor in pocket and in education; B is a University professor, of high moralslums, poor in pocket and in education; B is a University professor, of high moralslums, poor in pocket and in education; B is a University professor, of high moralslums, poor in pocket and in education; B is a University professor, of high moral
instincts and intellectual attainments; C is a Roman Catholic scientist; D is ainstincts and intellectual attainments; C is a Roman Catholic scientist; D is ainstincts and intellectual attainments; C is a Roman Catholic scientist; D is ainstincts and intellectual attainments; C is a Roman Catholic scientist; D is a
cannibal on a mission station on the Congo. Now suppose each of these convictedcannibal on a mission station on the Congo. Now suppose each of these convictedcannibal on a mission station on the Congo. Now suppose each of these convictedcannibal on a mission station on the Congo. Now suppose each of these convicted
of sin and desiring to trust Jesus. Their circumstances vary enormously. Coming toof sin and desiring to trust Jesus. Their circumstances vary enormously. Coming toof sin and desiring to trust Jesus. Their circumstances vary enormously. Coming toof sin and desiring to trust Jesus. Their circumstances vary enormously. Coming to
Christ and reaching Him mean very different experiences. A never uttered a prayerChrist and reaching Him mean very different experiences. A never uttered a prayerChrist and reaching Him mean very different experiences. A never uttered a prayerChrist and reaching Him mean very different experiences. A never uttered a prayer
in his life, and scarcely understands any article of the Christian creed; B hasin his life, and scarcely understands any article of the Christian creed; B hasin his life, and scarcely understands any article of the Christian creed; B hasin his life, and scarcely understands any article of the Christian creed; B has
considered the creed carefully and critically, and has been accustomed to reverentconsidered the creed carefully and critically, and has been accustomed to reverentconsidered the creed carefully and critically, and has been accustomed to reverentconsidered the creed carefully and critically, and has been accustomed to reverent
worship; C has to accept dogmas on the authority of the Church, though his reasonworship; C has to accept dogmas on the authority of the Church, though his reasonworship; C has to accept dogmas on the authority of the Church, though his reasonworship; C has to accept dogmas on the authority of the Church, though his reason
may contradict them; D has dim conceptions of God and is governed by savagemay contradict them; D has dim conceptions of God and is governed by savagemay contradict them; D has dim conceptions of God and is governed by savagemay contradict them; D has dim conceptions of God and is governed by savage
instincts which cannot be eradicated in a brief time. Does it seem at all likely thatinstincts which cannot be eradicated in a brief time. Does it seem at all likely thatinstincts which cannot be eradicated in a brief time. Does it seem at all likely thatinstincts which cannot be eradicated in a brief time. Does it seem at all likely that
four men placed in such different circumstances should ever succeed in finding Godfour men placed in such different circumstances should ever succeed in finding Godfour men placed in such different circumstances should ever succeed in finding Godfour men placed in such different circumstances should ever succeed in finding God
in Christ? Jesus says they shall.in Christ? Jesus says they shall.in Christ? Jesus says they shall.in Christ? Jesus says they shall. ““““All that which the Father giveth me shall comeAll that which the Father giveth me shall comeAll that which the Father giveth me shall comeAll that which the Father giveth me shall come
unto me.unto me.unto me.unto me.”””” No lack of knowledge, no spirit of caution, no church dogma, no savageNo lack of knowledge, no spirit of caution, no church dogma, no savageNo lack of knowledge, no spirit of caution, no church dogma, no savageNo lack of knowledge, no spirit of caution, no church dogma, no savage
instinct shall hide the face of God in Christ or keep a seeking soul from the Saviour.instinct shall hide the face of God in Christ or keep a seeking soul from the Saviour.instinct shall hide the face of God in Christ or keep a seeking soul from the Saviour.instinct shall hide the face of God in Christ or keep a seeking soul from the Saviour.
Coming from East and West and North and South, the guiding star shall gatherComing from East and West and North and South, the guiding star shall gatherComing from East and West and North and South, the guiding star shall gatherComing from East and West and North and South, the guiding star shall gather
191

192. them all at the feet of the Son of God.them all at the feet of the Son of God.them all at the feet of the Son of God.them all at the feet of the Son of God.
The Christian doctrine of election used to be freely preached; but it was sometimesThe Christian doctrine of election used to be freely preached; but it was sometimesThe Christian doctrine of election used to be freely preached; but it was sometimesThe Christian doctrine of election used to be freely preached; but it was sometimes
mismismismis----stated, and therefore it was misunderstood. So it fell into disuse. Now it seemsstated, and therefore it was misunderstood. So it fell into disuse. Now it seemsstated, and therefore it was misunderstood. So it fell into disuse. Now it seemsstated, and therefore it was misunderstood. So it fell into disuse. Now it seems
to be too much neglected. If it means what some people think it meansto be too much neglected. If it means what some people think it meansto be too much neglected. If it means what some people think it meansto be too much neglected. If it means what some people think it means————that Godthat Godthat Godthat God
elected a certain number of individuals without reference to their moral fitness forelected a certain number of individuals without reference to their moral fitness forelected a certain number of individuals without reference to their moral fitness forelected a certain number of individuals without reference to their moral fitness for
salvation and consigned all the rest of mankind to eternal perditionsalvation and consigned all the rest of mankind to eternal perditionsalvation and consigned all the rest of mankind to eternal perditionsalvation and consigned all the rest of mankind to eternal perdition————I do notI do notI do notI do not
wonder it is neglected. Such teaching conflicts with our knowledge of God and haswonder it is neglected. Such teaching conflicts with our knowledge of God and haswonder it is neglected. Such teaching conflicts with our knowledge of God and haswonder it is neglected. Such teaching conflicts with our knowledge of God and has
no shred of evidence in the Scriptures. Its true meaning is given in this verse. Godno shred of evidence in the Scriptures. Its true meaning is given in this verse. Godno shred of evidence in the Scriptures. Its true meaning is given in this verse. Godno shred of evidence in the Scriptures. Its true meaning is given in this verse. God
has elected for salvation not this or that individual, but all people who believe inhas elected for salvation not this or that individual, but all people who believe inhas elected for salvation not this or that individual, but all people who believe inhas elected for salvation not this or that individual, but all people who believe in
His Son whom He hath sent. This may be all. God wants it to be all. All who believeHis Son whom He hath sent. This may be all. God wants it to be all. All who believeHis Son whom He hath sent. This may be all. God wants it to be all. All who believeHis Son whom He hath sent. This may be all. God wants it to be all. All who believe
are saved. That is, God elects, not the individuals, but the means, and guaranteesare saved. That is, God elects, not the individuals, but the means, and guaranteesare saved. That is, God elects, not the individuals, but the means, and guaranteesare saved. That is, God elects, not the individuals, but the means, and guarantees
that all who use the means shall be saved.that all who use the means shall be saved.that all who use the means shall be saved.that all who use the means shall be saved.1111 [Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.]
As to this matter of election, I would to God that some who object to it had as muchAs to this matter of election, I would to God that some who object to it had as muchAs to this matter of election, I would to God that some who object to it had as muchAs to this matter of election, I would to God that some who object to it had as much
common sense in this matter as they have in the daily actions of ordinary life. I askcommon sense in this matter as they have in the daily actions of ordinary life. I askcommon sense in this matter as they have in the daily actions of ordinary life. I askcommon sense in this matter as they have in the daily actions of ordinary life. I ask
for no higher degree of common sense. Let me assume that a purse has been lost infor no higher degree of common sense. Let me assume that a purse has been lost infor no higher degree of common sense. Let me assume that a purse has been lost infor no higher degree of common sense. Let me assume that a purse has been lost in
the street adjoining our place of meeting; the purse contains a thousand guineas;the street adjoining our place of meeting; the purse contains a thousand guineas;the street adjoining our place of meeting; the purse contains a thousand guineas;the street adjoining our place of meeting; the purse contains a thousand guineas;
whoever finds that purse may keep it.whoever finds that purse may keep it.whoever finds that purse may keep it.whoever finds that purse may keep it. ““““Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!”””” we say,we say,we say,we say, ““““well, only one can find it;well, only one can find it;well, only one can find it;well, only one can find it;
therefore what is the good of a thousand seeking it? Only one can have it; and if Itherefore what is the good of a thousand seeking it? Only one can have it; and if Itherefore what is the good of a thousand seeking it? Only one can have it; and if Itherefore what is the good of a thousand seeking it? Only one can have it; and if I
am elected to be the man, it will come in my way.am elected to be the man, it will come in my way.am elected to be the man, it will come in my way.am elected to be the man, it will come in my way.”””” I never heard people reasoningI never heard people reasoningI never heard people reasoningI never heard people reasoning
so with regard to an affair of that kind. Though only one may have it, ten thousandso with regard to an affair of that kind. Though only one may have it, ten thousandso with regard to an affair of that kind. Though only one may have it, ten thousandso with regard to an affair of that kind. Though only one may have it, ten thousand
will strive for it if they know the conditions. There is a prize to be given in thewill strive for it if they know the conditions. There is a prize to be given in thewill strive for it if they know the conditions. There is a prize to be given in thewill strive for it if they know the conditions. There is a prize to be given in the
school. It is one prize; there are five hundred scholars in the school. The boys say,school. It is one prize; there are five hundred scholars in the school. The boys say,school. It is one prize; there are five hundred scholars in the school. The boys say,school. It is one prize; there are five hundred scholars in the school. The boys say,
““““Well, only one of us can get it, why should five hundred of us be toiling and faggingWell, only one of us can get it, why should five hundred of us be toiling and faggingWell, only one of us can get it, why should five hundred of us be toiling and faggingWell, only one of us can get it, why should five hundred of us be toiling and fagging
for it?for it?for it?for it?”””” Another boy says,Another boy says,Another boy says,Another boy says, ““““I know if I am to have the prize, I will get it; so I shallI know if I am to have the prize, I will get it; so I shallI know if I am to have the prize, I will get it; so I shallI know if I am to have the prize, I will get it; so I shall
read no books, and make no preparation.read no books, and make no preparation.read no books, and make no preparation.read no books, and make no preparation.”””” You would not allow a boy to reason so.You would not allow a boy to reason so.You would not allow a boy to reason so.You would not allow a boy to reason so.
Yet there are men who say this,Yet there are men who say this,Yet there are men who say this,Yet there are men who say this, ““““If we are called to heaven, weIf we are called to heaven, weIf we are called to heaven, weIf we are called to heaven, we’’’’ll get to heaven; ifll get to heaven; ifll get to heaven; ifll get to heaven; if
we are elected to be saved, we need not make any effort about it.we are elected to be saved, we need not make any effort about it.we are elected to be saved, we need not make any effort about it.we are elected to be saved, we need not make any effort about it.”””” Thou wicked andThou wicked andThou wicked andThou wicked and
slothful servant; out of thine own mouth I condemn thee; the whole action of thyslothful servant; out of thine own mouth I condemn thee; the whole action of thyslothful servant; out of thine own mouth I condemn thee; the whole action of thyslothful servant; out of thine own mouth I condemn thee; the whole action of thy
evil life shall be thy answer on the day of judgment, and thou shalt be condemned toevil life shall be thy answer on the day of judgment, and thou shalt be condemned toevil life shall be thy answer on the day of judgment, and thou shalt be condemned toevil life shall be thy answer on the day of judgment, and thou shalt be condemned to
an ignominious silence because of a selfan ignominious silence because of a selfan ignominious silence because of a selfan ignominious silence because of a self----accusing conscience.accusing conscience.accusing conscience.accusing conscience.1111 [Note: J. Parker.][Note: J. Parker.][Note: J. Parker.][Note: J. Parker.]
192

193. I am thankful to believe that my final salvation does not depend wholly on myself. IfI am thankful to believe that my final salvation does not depend wholly on myself. IfI am thankful to believe that my final salvation does not depend wholly on myself. IfI am thankful to believe that my final salvation does not depend wholly on myself. If
it did, it would be at stake to the very last! Salvation involves so much. It includesit did, it would be at stake to the very last! Salvation involves so much. It includesit did, it would be at stake to the very last! Salvation involves so much. It includesit did, it would be at stake to the very last! Salvation involves so much. It includes
deliverance from sin, development of character, fitness to dwell with God. Mandeliverance from sin, development of character, fitness to dwell with God. Mandeliverance from sin, development of character, fitness to dwell with God. Mandeliverance from sin, development of character, fitness to dwell with God. Man’’’’ssss
faith is often such a frail thing. It were a poor refuge, if there were no Divinefaith is often such a frail thing. It were a poor refuge, if there were no Divinefaith is often such a frail thing. It were a poor refuge, if there were no Divinefaith is often such a frail thing. It were a poor refuge, if there were no Divine
purpose to support it. It becomes a sure defence if God says,purpose to support it. It becomes a sure defence if God says,purpose to support it. It becomes a sure defence if God says,purpose to support it. It becomes a sure defence if God says, ““““I pledge that manI pledge that manI pledge that manI pledge that man’’’’ssss
deliverance.deliverance.deliverance.deliverance.”””” Here is a man battling with a rough sea. A belt is flung to him. WhatHere is a man battling with a rough sea. A belt is flung to him. WhatHere is a man battling with a rough sea. A belt is flung to him. WhatHere is a man battling with a rough sea. A belt is flung to him. What
hope of deliverance can he have by clinging to a few pounds of cork? This hope,hope of deliverance can he have by clinging to a few pounds of cork? This hope,hope of deliverance can he have by clinging to a few pounds of cork? This hope,hope of deliverance can he have by clinging to a few pounds of cork? This hope,
that there are fifty strong arms pulling him through the surf to the shore. Do notthat there are fifty strong arms pulling him through the surf to the shore. Do notthat there are fifty strong arms pulling him through the surf to the shore. Do notthat there are fifty strong arms pulling him through the surf to the shore. Do not
push the simile too far. The Christian life is not simply clinging to a belt; it is a dailypush the simile too far. The Christian life is not simply clinging to a belt; it is a dailypush the simile too far. The Christian life is not simply clinging to a belt; it is a dailypush the simile too far. The Christian life is not simply clinging to a belt; it is a daily
conflict with temptation. But it is gloriously true that faith in Christ transfers theconflict with temptation. But it is gloriously true that faith in Christ transfers theconflict with temptation. But it is gloriously true that faith in Christ transfers theconflict with temptation. But it is gloriously true that faith in Christ transfers the
responsibility of salvation to the Saviour, and makes deliverance certain. Though Iresponsibility of salvation to the Saviour, and makes deliverance certain. Though Iresponsibility of salvation to the Saviour, and makes deliverance certain. Though Iresponsibility of salvation to the Saviour, and makes deliverance certain. Though I
grasp the hand of Christ I might lose it in a moment of doubt or weakness, or whengrasp the hand of Christ I might lose it in a moment of doubt or weakness, or whengrasp the hand of Christ I might lose it in a moment of doubt or weakness, or whengrasp the hand of Christ I might lose it in a moment of doubt or weakness, or when
my feet enter the chill waters of the river of death. Thanks be unto God for themy feet enter the chill waters of the river of death. Thanks be unto God for themy feet enter the chill waters of the river of death. Thanks be unto God for themy feet enter the chill waters of the river of death. Thanks be unto God for the
assurance that if I clasp the hand of Christ He grips mine, and none can pluck meassurance that if I clasp the hand of Christ He grips mine, and none can pluck meassurance that if I clasp the hand of Christ He grips mine, and none can pluck meassurance that if I clasp the hand of Christ He grips mine, and none can pluck me
out of that strong clasp. It is my sheet anchor amidst the storms of life and theout of that strong clasp. It is my sheet anchor amidst the storms of life and theout of that strong clasp. It is my sheet anchor amidst the storms of life and theout of that strong clasp. It is my sheet anchor amidst the storms of life and the
floods of death.floods of death.floods of death.floods of death.2222 [Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.][Note: J. E. Roberts.]
Because I seek Thee not, oh seek Thou me!Because I seek Thee not, oh seek Thou me!Because I seek Thee not, oh seek Thou me!Because I seek Thee not, oh seek Thou me!
Because my lips are dumb, oh hear the cryBecause my lips are dumb, oh hear the cryBecause my lips are dumb, oh hear the cryBecause my lips are dumb, oh hear the cry
I do not utter as Thou passest by,I do not utter as Thou passest by,I do not utter as Thou passest by,I do not utter as Thou passest by,
And from my lifeAnd from my lifeAnd from my lifeAnd from my life----long bondage set me free!long bondage set me free!long bondage set me free!long bondage set me free!
Because content I perish, far from Thee,Because content I perish, far from Thee,Because content I perish, far from Thee,Because content I perish, far from Thee,
Oh seize me, snatch me from my fate, and tryOh seize me, snatch me from my fate, and tryOh seize me, snatch me from my fate, and tryOh seize me, snatch me from my fate, and try
My soul in Thy consuming fire! Draw nighMy soul in Thy consuming fire! Draw nighMy soul in Thy consuming fire! Draw nighMy soul in Thy consuming fire! Draw nigh
193

194. And let me, blinded, Thy salvation see.And let me, blinded, Thy salvation see.And let me, blinded, Thy salvation see.And let me, blinded, Thy salvation see.
If I were pouring at Thy feet my tears,If I were pouring at Thy feet my tears,If I were pouring at Thy feet my tears,If I were pouring at Thy feet my tears,
If I were clamouring to see Thy face,If I were clamouring to see Thy face,If I were clamouring to see Thy face,If I were clamouring to see Thy face,
I should not need Thee, Lord, as now I need,I should not need Thee, Lord, as now I need,I should not need Thee, Lord, as now I need,I should not need Thee, Lord, as now I need,
Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,
Nor dreads the outer darkness of this placeNor dreads the outer darkness of this placeNor dreads the outer darkness of this placeNor dreads the outer darkness of this place————
Because I seek not, pray not, give Thou heed!Because I seek not, pray not, give Thou heed!Because I seek not, pray not, give Thou heed!Because I seek not, pray not, give Thou heed!1111 [Note: Louise Chandler Moulton.][Note: Louise Chandler Moulton.][Note: Louise Chandler Moulton.][Note: Louise Chandler Moulton.]
IIIIIIII
ManManManMan’’’’s Parts Parts Parts Part
““““Him that cometh to me.Him that cometh to me.Him that cometh to me.Him that cometh to me.””””
1111.... ““““ComingComingComingComing”””” is the only way of salvation. If there could have been any other way,is the only way of salvation. If there could have been any other way,is the only way of salvation. If there could have been any other way,is the only way of salvation. If there could have been any other way,
this one would never have been opened. It is not conceivable that God would havethis one would never have been opened. It is not conceivable that God would havethis one would never have been opened. It is not conceivable that God would havethis one would never have been opened. It is not conceivable that God would have
given His onlygiven His onlygiven His onlygiven His only----begotten and wellbegotten and wellbegotten and wellbegotten and well----beloved Son to die upon the cross of Calvary inbeloved Son to die upon the cross of Calvary inbeloved Son to die upon the cross of Calvary inbeloved Son to die upon the cross of Calvary in
order to save sinners if there had been any other way of saving them that wouldorder to save sinners if there had been any other way of saving them that wouldorder to save sinners if there had been any other way of saving them that wouldorder to save sinners if there had been any other way of saving them that would
have been as consistent with the principles of infallible justice. If men could havehave been as consistent with the principles of infallible justice. If men could havehave been as consistent with the principles of infallible justice. If men could havehave been as consistent with the principles of infallible justice. If men could have
entered into everlasting life without passing along the path stained and consecratedentered into everlasting life without passing along the path stained and consecratedentered into everlasting life without passing along the path stained and consecratedentered into everlasting life without passing along the path stained and consecrated
by the blood of Jesus, surely that blood would never have beenby the blood of Jesus, surely that blood would never have beenby the blood of Jesus, surely that blood would never have beenby the blood of Jesus, surely that blood would never have been ““““shed for many forshed for many forshed for many forshed for many for
the remission of sins.the remission of sins.the remission of sins.the remission of sins.”””” The very fact that this new and living way has been openedThe very fact that this new and living way has been openedThe very fact that this new and living way has been openedThe very fact that this new and living way has been opened
proves that there is no other, for God would never have provided it unless it hadproves that there is no other, for God would never have provided it unless it hadproves that there is no other, for God would never have provided it unless it hadproves that there is no other, for God would never have provided it unless it had
been absolutely necessary.been absolutely necessary.been absolutely necessary.been absolutely necessary.
194

195. 2222. But what is. But what is. But what is. But what is ““““comingcomingcomingcoming””””? The people He was addressing had followed Him for? The people He was addressing had followed Him for? The people He was addressing had followed Him for? The people He was addressing had followed Him for
miles, and had found Him and were speaking to Him, but they had notmiles, and had found Him and were speaking to Him, but they had notmiles, and had found Him and were speaking to Him, but they had notmiles, and had found Him and were speaking to Him, but they had not ““““comecomecomecome”””” totototo
Him. To come to Him is to approach Him in spirit, and with submissive trust; it is toHim. To come to Him is to approach Him in spirit, and with submissive trust; it is toHim. To come to Him is to approach Him in spirit, and with submissive trust; it is toHim. To come to Him is to approach Him in spirit, and with submissive trust; it is to
commit ourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to rest in Him as our all; it is to come tocommit ourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to rest in Him as our all; it is to come tocommit ourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to rest in Him as our all; it is to come tocommit ourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to rest in Him as our all; it is to come to
Him with open heart, accepting Him as He claims to be; it is to meet the eye of aHim with open heart, accepting Him as He claims to be; it is to meet the eye of aHim with open heart, accepting Him as He claims to be; it is to meet the eye of aHim with open heart, accepting Him as He claims to be; it is to meet the eye of a
present, living Christ, who knows what is in man, and to say to Him,present, living Christ, who knows what is in man, and to say to Him,present, living Christ, who knows what is in man, and to say to Him,present, living Christ, who knows what is in man, and to say to Him, ““““I am Thine,I am Thine,I am Thine,I am Thine,
Thine most gladly, Thine for evermore.Thine most gladly, Thine for evermore.Thine most gladly, Thine for evermore.Thine most gladly, Thine for evermore.””””
An Irish boy was asked what was meant by saving faith.An Irish boy was asked what was meant by saving faith.An Irish boy was asked what was meant by saving faith.An Irish boy was asked what was meant by saving faith. ““““Grasping Christ with theGrasping Christ with theGrasping Christ with theGrasping Christ with the
heart,heart,heart,heart,”””” said he. The truest answer possible. And faith is only another word forsaid he. The truest answer possible. And faith is only another word forsaid he. The truest answer possible. And faith is only another word forsaid he. The truest answer possible. And faith is only another word for
coming. The man who grasps Christ with the heart,coming. The man who grasps Christ with the heart,coming. The man who grasps Christ with the heart,coming. The man who grasps Christ with the heart, ““““comes.comes.comes.comes.””””1111 [Note: R. D.[Note: R. D.[Note: R. D.[Note: R. D.
Dickinson.]Dickinson.]Dickinson.]Dickinson.]
3333. The one essential in coming is the desire to come. Christ pledges His gift to. The one essential in coming is the desire to come. Christ pledges His gift to. The one essential in coming is the desire to come. Christ pledges His gift to. The one essential in coming is the desire to come. Christ pledges His gift to
readiness of heart. As to the open eye the light pours in, and to the listening ear thereadiness of heart. As to the open eye the light pours in, and to the listening ear thereadiness of heart. As to the open eye the light pours in, and to the listening ear thereadiness of heart. As to the open eye the light pours in, and to the listening ear the
music enters, so to the longing heart Christ gives the pardon and the purity and themusic enters, so to the longing heart Christ gives the pardon and the purity and themusic enters, so to the longing heart Christ gives the pardon and the purity and themusic enters, so to the longing heart Christ gives the pardon and the purity and the
peace which, though it has not shaped its need into those words, are in reality thepeace which, though it has not shaped its need into those words, are in reality thepeace which, though it has not shaped its need into those words, are in reality thepeace which, though it has not shaped its need into those words, are in reality the
gifts for which it yearns. The value of a photographic plate consists not in what it is,gifts for which it yearns. The value of a photographic plate consists not in what it is,gifts for which it yearns. The value of a photographic plate consists not in what it is,gifts for which it yearns. The value of a photographic plate consists not in what it is,
but in its readiness to receive the impression when the shutter of the camera isbut in its readiness to receive the impression when the shutter of the camera isbut in its readiness to receive the impression when the shutter of the camera isbut in its readiness to receive the impression when the shutter of the camera is
opened and the light streams in. If a mere piece of common glass were there insteadopened and the light streams in. If a mere piece of common glass were there insteadopened and the light streams in. If a mere piece of common glass were there insteadopened and the light streams in. If a mere piece of common glass were there instead
of the plate, the light might shine on it for ever and no impression would be made; itof the plate, the light might shine on it for ever and no impression would be made; itof the plate, the light might shine on it for ever and no impression would be made; itof the plate, the light might shine on it for ever and no impression would be made; it
is the prepared plate that receives the impression which the light conveys. So, too, itis the prepared plate that receives the impression which the light conveys. So, too, itis the prepared plate that receives the impression which the light conveys. So, too, itis the prepared plate that receives the impression which the light conveys. So, too, it
is the prepared soul that receives the gift of Christ. The one thing that the Saviouris the prepared soul that receives the gift of Christ. The one thing that the Saviouris the prepared soul that receives the gift of Christ. The one thing that the Saviouris the prepared soul that receives the gift of Christ. The one thing that the Saviour
asks for is readiness, willingness, some movement of the life towards Him; if there isasks for is readiness, willingness, some movement of the life towards Him; if there isasks for is readiness, willingness, some movement of the life towards Him; if there isasks for is readiness, willingness, some movement of the life towards Him; if there is
that within us we need not fear that Christ, who is light, will fail to bring Histhat within us we need not fear that Christ, who is light, will fail to bring Histhat within us we need not fear that Christ, who is light, will fail to bring Histhat within us we need not fear that Christ, who is light, will fail to bring His
blessing to us or to leave His mark on us. Everything is possible to us if we are openblessing to us or to leave His mark on us. Everything is possible to us if we are openblessing to us or to leave His mark on us. Everything is possible to us if we are openblessing to us or to leave His mark on us. Everything is possible to us if we are open
to the influence of God. What is it that we want Christ to do for us? Is it to cleanseto the influence of God. What is it that we want Christ to do for us? Is it to cleanseto the influence of God. What is it that we want Christ to do for us? Is it to cleanseto the influence of God. What is it that we want Christ to do for us? Is it to cleanse
away our sin? He points us to His cross. Do we want rest from an accusingaway our sin? He points us to His cross. Do we want rest from an accusingaway our sin? He points us to His cross. Do we want rest from an accusingaway our sin? He points us to His cross. Do we want rest from an accusing
conscience and from the weary load of loneliness?conscience and from the weary load of loneliness?conscience and from the weary load of loneliness?conscience and from the weary load of loneliness? ““““Come unto me,Come unto me,Come unto me,Come unto me,”””” He says,He says,He says,He says, ““““andandandand
I will give you rest.I will give you rest.I will give you rest.I will give you rest.”””” Is what is deepest in us still unsatisfied, although we have beenIs what is deepest in us still unsatisfied, although we have beenIs what is deepest in us still unsatisfied, although we have beenIs what is deepest in us still unsatisfied, although we have been
seeking many fountains and drinking from many cups?seeking many fountains and drinking from many cups?seeking many fountains and drinking from many cups?seeking many fountains and drinking from many cups? ““““He that believeth on meHe that believeth on meHe that believeth on meHe that believeth on me
shall never thirst.shall never thirst.shall never thirst.shall never thirst.””””
195

196. At one critical time during this period of soulAt one critical time during this period of soulAt one critical time during this period of soulAt one critical time during this period of soul----conflict he stated in one of hisconflict he stated in one of hisconflict he stated in one of hisconflict he stated in one of his
addresses that the question,addresses that the question,addresses that the question,addresses that the question, ““““Believe ye that I am able to do this?Believe ye that I am able to do this?Believe ye that I am able to do this?Believe ye that I am able to do this?”””” was made awas made awas made awas made a
word of life to him. He writes:word of life to him. He writes:word of life to him. He writes:word of life to him. He writes: ““““I was very near death; I was almost despairing. TheI was very near death; I was almost despairing. TheI was very near death; I was almost despairing. TheI was very near death; I was almost despairing. The
only thing that kept my head above water was the promise,only thing that kept my head above water was the promise,only thing that kept my head above water was the promise,only thing that kept my head above water was the promise, ‘‘‘‘Him that cometh to meHim that cometh to meHim that cometh to meHim that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.’’’’ I repeated it again and again, and prayed very earnestly,I repeated it again and again, and prayed very earnestly,I repeated it again and again, and prayed very earnestly,I repeated it again and again, and prayed very earnestly,
when the word came to me with such power, and with such a rebuke,when the word came to me with such power, and with such a rebuke,when the word came to me with such power, and with such a rebuke,when the word came to me with such power, and with such a rebuke, ‘‘‘‘Believe yeBelieve yeBelieve yeBelieve ye
that I am able to do this?that I am able to do this?that I am able to do this?that I am able to do this?’’’’ He was able, and I believed Him, and He did it.He was able, and I believed Him, and He did it.He was able, and I believed Him, and He did it.He was able, and I believed Him, and He did it.””””1111 [Note:[Note:[Note:[Note:
K. MoodyK. MoodyK. MoodyK. Moody----Stuart, Brownlow North,Stuart, Brownlow North,Stuart, Brownlow North,Stuart, Brownlow North, 41414141.].].].]
((((1111) Unfitness is no barrier to coming.) Unfitness is no barrier to coming.) Unfitness is no barrier to coming.) Unfitness is no barrier to coming.————It is strange how people are inclined to waitIt is strange how people are inclined to waitIt is strange how people are inclined to waitIt is strange how people are inclined to wait
a little, to try to prepare themselves for Christ! They know how unlike Him theya little, to try to prepare themselves for Christ! They know how unlike Him theya little, to try to prepare themselves for Christ! They know how unlike Him theya little, to try to prepare themselves for Christ! They know how unlike Him they
are, and how unfit they are for His presence and service; so, as a youth who waitsare, and how unfit they are for His presence and service; so, as a youth who waitsare, and how unfit they are for His presence and service; so, as a youth who waitsare, and how unfit they are for His presence and service; so, as a youth who waits
awhile to prepare himself for some important examination, or as a soldier waitsawhile to prepare himself for some important examination, or as a soldier waitsawhile to prepare himself for some important examination, or as a soldier waitsawhile to prepare himself for some important examination, or as a soldier waits
awhile to perfect himself in drill for some promotionawhile to perfect himself in drill for some promotionawhile to perfect himself in drill for some promotionawhile to perfect himself in drill for some promotion————so they think they can wait.so they think they can wait.so they think they can wait.so they think they can wait.
But their waiting never changes their nature or renews their heart. For their case isBut their waiting never changes their nature or renews their heart. For their case isBut their waiting never changes their nature or renews their heart. For their case isBut their waiting never changes their nature or renews their heart. For their case is
rather like that of those who suffer from a malignant disease. No amount of waitingrather like that of those who suffer from a malignant disease. No amount of waitingrather like that of those who suffer from a malignant disease. No amount of waitingrather like that of those who suffer from a malignant disease. No amount of waiting
or even of attention to the outward signs of the disease is of any avail, and the timeor even of attention to the outward signs of the disease is of any avail, and the timeor even of attention to the outward signs of the disease is of any avail, and the timeor even of attention to the outward signs of the disease is of any avail, and the time
spent over that but increases the danger; for the disorder is within, the whole systemspent over that but increases the danger; for the disorder is within, the whole systemspent over that but increases the danger; for the disorder is within, the whole systemspent over that but increases the danger; for the disorder is within, the whole system
is poisoned and needs renewing, and it is to save their life that they at once putis poisoned and needs renewing, and it is to save their life that they at once putis poisoned and needs renewing, and it is to save their life that they at once putis poisoned and needs renewing, and it is to save their life that they at once put
themselves in the hands of a qualified physician. Christ Jesus is the qualifiedthemselves in the hands of a qualified physician. Christ Jesus is the qualifiedthemselves in the hands of a qualified physician. Christ Jesus is the qualifiedthemselves in the hands of a qualified physician. Christ Jesus is the qualified
physician, and His blood is aphysician, and His blood is aphysician, and His blood is aphysician, and His blood is a ““““full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, andfull, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, andfull, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, andfull, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and
satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.””””
I have heard of a cavalier who lost his life because he stopped to curl his hair whenI have heard of a cavalier who lost his life because he stopped to curl his hair whenI have heard of a cavalier who lost his life because he stopped to curl his hair whenI have heard of a cavalier who lost his life because he stopped to curl his hair when
CromwellCromwellCromwellCromwell’’’’s soldiers were after him. Some of you may laugh at the mans soldiers were after him. Some of you may laugh at the mans soldiers were after him. Some of you may laugh at the mans soldiers were after him. Some of you may laugh at the man’’’’ssss
foolishness; but that is all that your talk about fitness is. What is all your fitness butfoolishness; but that is all that your talk about fitness is. What is all your fitness butfoolishness; but that is all that your talk about fitness is. What is all your fitness butfoolishness; but that is all that your talk about fitness is. What is all your fitness but
the curling of your hair when you are in imminent danger of losing your soul? Yourthe curling of your hair when you are in imminent danger of losing your soul? Yourthe curling of your hair when you are in imminent danger of losing your soul? Yourthe curling of your hair when you are in imminent danger of losing your soul? Your
fitness is nothing to Christ. Remember the hymnfitness is nothing to Christ. Remember the hymnfitness is nothing to Christ. Remember the hymnfitness is nothing to Christ. Remember the hymn————
Let not conscience make you linger,Let not conscience make you linger,Let not conscience make you linger,Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;Nor of fitness fondly dream;Nor of fitness fondly dream;Nor of fitness fondly dream;
196

197. All the fitness He requirethAll the fitness He requirethAll the fitness He requirethAll the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.Is to feel your need of Him.Is to feel your need of Him.Is to feel your need of Him.2222 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.][Note: C. H. Spurgeon.][Note: C. H. Spurgeon.][Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]
((((2222) Emptiness and not fulness is required.) Emptiness and not fulness is required.) Emptiness and not fulness is required.) Emptiness and not fulness is required.————Before a building is erected it isBefore a building is erected it isBefore a building is erected it isBefore a building is erected it is
necessary to excavate for a foundation, which involves the removal of much thatnecessary to excavate for a foundation, which involves the removal of much thatnecessary to excavate for a foundation, which involves the removal of much thatnecessary to excavate for a foundation, which involves the removal of much that
seems important. And it is literally true that Christ wants not our fulness but ourseems important. And it is literally true that Christ wants not our fulness but ourseems important. And it is literally true that Christ wants not our fulness but ourseems important. And it is literally true that Christ wants not our fulness but our
emptiness, that He mayemptiness, that He mayemptiness, that He mayemptiness, that He may ““““build us up in our most holy faith.build us up in our most holy faith.build us up in our most holy faith.build us up in our most holy faith.”””” We think ourselvesWe think ourselvesWe think ourselvesWe think ourselves
full, and are reluctant to part with anything; whereas we arefull, and are reluctant to part with anything; whereas we arefull, and are reluctant to part with anything; whereas we arefull, and are reluctant to part with anything; whereas we are ““““poorpoorpoorpoor””””————destitute ofdestitute ofdestitute ofdestitute of
everything that is necessary to appear before God with; we areeverything that is necessary to appear before God with; we areeverything that is necessary to appear before God with; we areeverything that is necessary to appear before God with; we are ““““wretched,wretched,wretched,wretched,”””” beingbeingbeingbeing
altogether out of harmony with the eternal joys of heaven; and we arealtogether out of harmony with the eternal joys of heaven; and we arealtogether out of harmony with the eternal joys of heaven; and we arealtogether out of harmony with the eternal joys of heaven; and we are ““““blindblindblindblind”””” totototo
our actual condition, to our own welfare, and even to the salvation so freelyour actual condition, to our own welfare, and even to the salvation so freelyour actual condition, to our own welfare, and even to the salvation so freelyour actual condition, to our own welfare, and even to the salvation so freely
provided and so fully revealed by Christ our Saviour, till the eyes of ourprovided and so fully revealed by Christ our Saviour, till the eyes of ourprovided and so fully revealed by Christ our Saviour, till the eyes of ourprovided and so fully revealed by Christ our Saviour, till the eyes of our
understanding are opened, and we are led to see and desire the many things weunderstanding are opened, and we are led to see and desire the many things weunderstanding are opened, and we are led to see and desire the many things weunderstanding are opened, and we are led to see and desire the many things we
need. And the faith that saves is that which takes us out of ourselves, where there isneed. And the faith that saves is that which takes us out of ourselves, where there isneed. And the faith that saves is that which takes us out of ourselves, where there isneed. And the faith that saves is that which takes us out of ourselves, where there is
nothing, to Christ, where there is fulness for all we neednothing, to Christ, where there is fulness for all we neednothing, to Christ, where there is fulness for all we neednothing, to Christ, where there is fulness for all we need————purity, peace, and joy,purity, peace, and joy,purity, peace, and joy,purity, peace, and joy,
““““without money and without price.without money and without price.without money and without price.without money and without price.””””
From all thou holdest precious, for one hourFrom all thou holdest precious, for one hourFrom all thou holdest precious, for one hourFrom all thou holdest precious, for one hour
Arise and come away,Arise and come away,Arise and come away,Arise and come away,
And let the calling Voice be heard in power;And let the calling Voice be heard in power;And let the calling Voice be heard in power;And let the calling Voice be heard in power;
Desert thyself toDesert thyself toDesert thyself toDesert thyself to----day;day;day;day;
If with thy Lord for once thou turn aside,If with thy Lord for once thou turn aside,If with thy Lord for once thou turn aside,If with thy Lord for once thou turn aside,
With Him thouWith Him thouWith Him thouWith Him thou’’’’lt fain abide.lt fain abide.lt fain abide.lt fain abide.1111 [Note: J. E. A. Brown.][Note: J. E. A. Brown.][Note: J. E. A. Brown.][Note: J. E. A. Brown.]
4444. The coming is a personal coming to a personal Saviour.. The coming is a personal coming to a personal Saviour.. The coming is a personal coming to a personal Saviour.. The coming is a personal coming to a personal Saviour.————How personal the textHow personal the textHow personal the textHow personal the text
is concerning both the one coming and the One to whom he is to come:is concerning both the one coming and the One to whom he is to come:is concerning both the one coming and the One to whom he is to come:is concerning both the one coming and the One to whom he is to come: ““““him thathim thathim thathim that
cometh to me.cometh to me.cometh to me.cometh to me.”””” That is the long and the short of the whole matter, its Alpha andThat is the long and the short of the whole matter, its Alpha andThat is the long and the short of the whole matter, its Alpha andThat is the long and the short of the whole matter, its Alpha and
197

198. Omega, its beginning and its end; there must be a personal coming to the personalOmega, its beginning and its end; there must be a personal coming to the personalOmega, its beginning and its end; there must be a personal coming to the personalOmega, its beginning and its end; there must be a personal coming to the personal
Christ. It will not suffice for us to come to ChristChrist. It will not suffice for us to come to ChristChrist. It will not suffice for us to come to ChristChrist. It will not suffice for us to come to Christ’’’’s doctrines. We must, of course,s doctrines. We must, of course,s doctrines. We must, of course,s doctrines. We must, of course,
believe what He taught; but believing His teaching will not save us unless we comebelieve what He taught; but believing His teaching will not save us unless we comebelieve what He taught; but believing His teaching will not save us unless we comebelieve what He taught; but believing His teaching will not save us unless we come
to Him. It will not be enough merely to come to Christto Him. It will not be enough merely to come to Christto Him. It will not be enough merely to come to Christto Him. It will not be enough merely to come to Christ’’’’s precepts, and to try tos precepts, and to try tos precepts, and to try tos precepts, and to try to
practise them,practise them,practise them,practise them,————an utterly impossible task for our own unaided strength; we mustan utterly impossible task for our own unaided strength; we mustan utterly impossible task for our own unaided strength; we mustan utterly impossible task for our own unaided strength; we must
first come to Christ, and then, when we trust in Him for salvation, His graciousfirst come to Christ, and then, when we trust in Him for salvation, His graciousfirst come to Christ, and then, when we trust in Him for salvation, His graciousfirst come to Christ, and then, when we trust in Him for salvation, His gracious
Spirit willSpirit willSpirit willSpirit will ““““take of the things of Christ, and shew them untotake of the things of Christ, and shew them untotake of the things of Christ, and shew them untotake of the things of Christ, and shew them unto”””” us.us.us.us.
In simple trust like theirs who heardIn simple trust like theirs who heardIn simple trust like theirs who heardIn simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian seaBeside the Syrian seaBeside the Syrian seaBeside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,The gracious calling of the Lord,The gracious calling of the Lord,The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a wordLet us, like them, without a wordLet us, like them, without a wordLet us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.Rise up and follow Thee.Rise up and follow Thee.Rise up and follow Thee.2222 [Note: Whittier.][Note: Whittier.][Note: Whittier.][Note: Whittier.]
IIIIIIIIIIII
ChristChristChristChrist’’’’s Parts Parts Parts Part
““““I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.I will in no wise cast out.””””
1111. Christ. Christ. Christ. Christ’’’’s accessibility.s accessibility.s accessibility.s accessibility.————““““Jesus never slept in a walled townJesus never slept in a walled townJesus never slept in a walled townJesus never slept in a walled town”””” is the striking remarkis the striking remarkis the striking remarkis the striking remark
of a literary writer. There never lived so open a man, so accessible always to all.of a literary writer. There never lived so open a man, so accessible always to all.of a literary writer. There never lived so open a man, so accessible always to all.of a literary writer. There never lived so open a man, so accessible always to all.
Sitting at the well of Sychar, and talking freely to the first comer; receivingSitting at the well of Sychar, and talking freely to the first comer; receivingSitting at the well of Sychar, and talking freely to the first comer; receivingSitting at the well of Sychar, and talking freely to the first comer; receiving
Nicodemus by night; listening to the SyroNicodemus by night; listening to the SyroNicodemus by night; listening to the SyroNicodemus by night; listening to the Syro----PhPhPhPhnician mother, who breaks through Hisnician mother, who breaks through Hisnician mother, who breaks through Hisnician mother, who breaks through His
concealment; preaching to the five thousand, who disturb His retirement,concealment; preaching to the five thousand, who disturb His retirement,concealment; preaching to the five thousand, who disturb His retirement,concealment; preaching to the five thousand, who disturb His retirement,————He isHe isHe isHe is
the property of every man that wants Him, and leaves us an example to follow Histhe property of every man that wants Him, and leaves us an example to follow Histhe property of every man that wants Him, and leaves us an example to follow Histhe property of every man that wants Him, and leaves us an example to follow His
steps.steps.steps.steps.
2222. Christ. Christ. Christ. Christ’’’’s longing for response.s longing for response.s longing for response.s longing for response.————““““I once knew a mother,I once knew a mother,I once knew a mother,I once knew a mother,”””” says Canon Duncan,says Canon Duncan,says Canon Duncan,says Canon Duncan,
198

199. ““““who had a son who suffered from paralysis of the brain. Yet, how she loved andwho had a son who suffered from paralysis of the brain. Yet, how she loved andwho had a son who suffered from paralysis of the brain. Yet, how she loved andwho had a son who suffered from paralysis of the brain. Yet, how she loved and
cared for him! But the cause of her great grief was this; she said:cared for him! But the cause of her great grief was this; she said:cared for him! But the cause of her great grief was this; she said:cared for him! But the cause of her great grief was this; she said: ‘‘‘‘I have nursed himI have nursed himI have nursed himI have nursed him
from childhood, cleansed, fed, and clothed him, watched over him and supplied hisfrom childhood, cleansed, fed, and clothed him, watched over him and supplied hisfrom childhood, cleansed, fed, and clothed him, watched over him and supplied hisfrom childhood, cleansed, fed, and clothed him, watched over him and supplied his
every want, tried to please him, and to teach him little things, and now, though inevery want, tried to please him, and to teach him little things, and now, though inevery want, tried to please him, and to teach him little things, and now, though inevery want, tried to please him, and to teach him little things, and now, though in
years he is a man, yet he does not even know me, and shows no return of my love,years he is a man, yet he does not even know me, and shows no return of my love,years he is a man, yet he does not even know me, and shows no return of my love,years he is a man, yet he does not even know me, and shows no return of my love,
but just lies there to eat and drink and sleep! And I feel that I cannot go on; I ambut just lies there to eat and drink and sleep! And I feel that I cannot go on; I ambut just lies there to eat and drink and sleep! And I feel that I cannot go on; I ambut just lies there to eat and drink and sleep! And I feel that I cannot go on; I am
just longing for some recognitionjust longing for some recognitionjust longing for some recognitionjust longing for some recognition————some response to my lifelong love and care!some response to my lifelong love and care!some response to my lifelong love and care!some response to my lifelong love and care!””””
How many are there, though not afflicted like that son, who nevertheless treat theirHow many are there, though not afflicted like that son, who nevertheless treat theirHow many are there, though not afflicted like that son, who nevertheless treat theirHow many are there, though not afflicted like that son, who nevertheless treat their
God and Saviour much the same! He sacrificed His very life for them; fed, clothed,God and Saviour much the same! He sacrificed His very life for them; fed, clothed,God and Saviour much the same! He sacrificed His very life for them; fed, clothed,God and Saviour much the same! He sacrificed His very life for them; fed, clothed,
and cared for them day by day; and has called them by His providence, by His word,and cared for them day by day; and has called them by His providence, by His word,and cared for them day by day; and has called them by His providence, by His word,and cared for them day by day; and has called them by His providence, by His word,
and by every token of love, and yet they give no response.and by every token of love, and yet they give no response.and by every token of love, and yet they give no response.and by every token of love, and yet they give no response.
He utters this word Himself, that, however long men may neglect it, however long itHe utters this word Himself, that, however long men may neglect it, however long itHe utters this word Himself, that, however long men may neglect it, however long itHe utters this word Himself, that, however long men may neglect it, however long it
may be that they see and hear, and yet believe Him not, when they do finally come,may be that they see and hear, and yet believe Him not, when they do finally come,may be that they see and hear, and yet believe Him not, when they do finally come,may be that they see and hear, and yet believe Him not, when they do finally come,
He cannot, and will not, and must not cast them away.He cannot, and will not, and must not cast them away.He cannot, and will not, and must not cast them away.He cannot, and will not, and must not cast them away.1111 [Note: Schleiermacher.][Note: Schleiermacher.][Note: Schleiermacher.][Note: Schleiermacher.]
It is the greatness of Thy love, dear Lord, that we would celebrateIt is the greatness of Thy love, dear Lord, that we would celebrateIt is the greatness of Thy love, dear Lord, that we would celebrateIt is the greatness of Thy love, dear Lord, that we would celebrate
With sevenfold powers.With sevenfold powers.With sevenfold powers.With sevenfold powers.
Our love at best is cold and poor, at best unseemly for Thy state,Our love at best is cold and poor, at best unseemly for Thy state,Our love at best is cold and poor, at best unseemly for Thy state,Our love at best is cold and poor, at best unseemly for Thy state,
This best of ours.This best of ours.This best of ours.This best of ours.
Creatures that die, we yet are such as Thine own hands deigned to create:Creatures that die, we yet are such as Thine own hands deigned to create:Creatures that die, we yet are such as Thine own hands deigned to create:Creatures that die, we yet are such as Thine own hands deigned to create:
We frail as flowers,We frail as flowers,We frail as flowers,We frail as flowers,
We bitter bondslaves ransomed at a price incomparably greatWe bitter bondslaves ransomed at a price incomparably greatWe bitter bondslaves ransomed at a price incomparably greatWe bitter bondslaves ransomed at a price incomparably great
To grace HeavenTo grace HeavenTo grace HeavenTo grace Heaven’’’’s bowers.s bowers.s bowers.s bowers.
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200. Thou callest:Thou callest:Thou callest:Thou callest: ““““Come at onceCome at onceCome at onceCome at once””””————and still Thou callest us:and still Thou callest us:and still Thou callest us:and still Thou callest us: ““““Come late, thoCome late, thoCome late, thoCome late, tho’’’’ latelatelatelate””””————
(The moments fly)(The moments fly)(The moments fly)(The moments fly)————
““““Come, every one that thirsteth, comeCome, every one that thirsteth, comeCome, every one that thirsteth, comeCome, every one that thirsteth, come————Come prove Me, knocking at My gateCome prove Me, knocking at My gateCome prove Me, knocking at My gateCome prove Me, knocking at My gate””””————
(Some souls draw nigh!)(Some souls draw nigh!)(Some souls draw nigh!)(Some souls draw nigh!)————
““““Come thou who waiting seekest MeCome thou who waiting seekest MeCome thou who waiting seekest MeCome thou who waiting seekest Me————Come thou for whom I seek and waitCome thou for whom I seek and waitCome thou for whom I seek and waitCome thou for whom I seek and wait””””————
(Why will we die?)(Why will we die?)(Why will we die?)(Why will we die?)————
““““Come and repent: come and amend: come joy the joys unsatiateCome and repent: come and amend: come joy the joys unsatiateCome and repent: come and amend: come joy the joys unsatiateCome and repent: come and amend: come joy the joys unsatiate””””————
————(Christ passeth by(Christ passeth by(Christ passeth by(Christ passeth by …………))))————
Lord, pass not byLord, pass not byLord, pass not byLord, pass not by————I comeI comeI comeI come————and Iand Iand Iand I————and I. Amen.and I. Amen.and I. Amen.and I. Amen.1111 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti,[Note: Christina G. Rossetti,[Note: Christina G. Rossetti,[Note: Christina G. Rossetti,
Poems,Poems,Poems,Poems, 164164164164.].].].]
3333. The certainty of Christ. The certainty of Christ. The certainty of Christ. The certainty of Christ’’’’s welcome.s welcome.s welcome.s welcome.————Every one who will come to Christ is sure ofEvery one who will come to Christ is sure ofEvery one who will come to Christ is sure ofEvery one who will come to Christ is sure of
a welcome. That is the emphatic message of the text. The words used by our Lorda welcome. That is the emphatic message of the text. The words used by our Lorda welcome. That is the emphatic message of the text. The words used by our Lorda welcome. That is the emphatic message of the text. The words used by our Lord
are the strongest possible. Sweetly familiar as the music of the English version is, itare the strongest possible. Sweetly familiar as the music of the English version is, itare the strongest possible. Sweetly familiar as the music of the English version is, itare the strongest possible. Sweetly familiar as the music of the English version is, it
scarcely represents their double emphasis. Literally they read,scarcely represents their double emphasis. Literally they read,scarcely represents their double emphasis. Literally they read,scarcely represents their double emphasis. Literally they read, ““““Him that cometh toHim that cometh toHim that cometh toHim that cometh to
me I will not, not cast out.me I will not, not cast out.me I will not, not cast out.me I will not, not cast out.”””” That is to say, to use a modern phrase, there is not theThat is to say, to use a modern phrase, there is not theThat is to say, to use a modern phrase, there is not theThat is to say, to use a modern phrase, there is not the
slightest fear of his being cast out. A heart burdened with a spiritual need will neverslightest fear of his being cast out. A heart burdened with a spiritual need will neverslightest fear of his being cast out. A heart burdened with a spiritual need will neverslightest fear of his being cast out. A heart burdened with a spiritual need will never
be repelled; a man panting with a spiritual desire may be absolutely certain thatbe repelled; a man panting with a spiritual desire may be absolutely certain thatbe repelled; a man panting with a spiritual desire may be absolutely certain thatbe repelled; a man panting with a spiritual desire may be absolutely certain that
when he comes to Christ he will be welcome.when he comes to Christ he will be welcome.when he comes to Christ he will be welcome.when he comes to Christ he will be welcome. ““““Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!”””” cries Bunyan,cries Bunyan,cries Bunyan,cries Bunyan, ““““the comfort thatthe comfort thatthe comfort thatthe comfort that
I have had from this wordI have had from this wordI have had from this wordI have had from this word ‘‘‘‘in no wise,in no wise,in no wise,in no wise,’’’’ as who should say, by no means, for no thing,as who should say, by no means, for no thing,as who should say, by no means, for no thing,as who should say, by no means, for no thing,
whatever he hath done But Satan would greatly labour to pull this promise fromwhatever he hath done But Satan would greatly labour to pull this promise fromwhatever he hath done But Satan would greatly labour to pull this promise fromwhatever he hath done But Satan would greatly labour to pull this promise from
me, telling me that Christ did not mean me. But I should answer him againme, telling me that Christ did not mean me. But I should answer him againme, telling me that Christ did not mean me. But I should answer him againme, telling me that Christ did not mean me. But I should answer him again————Satan,Satan,Satan,Satan,
here is, in this word, no such exception, but him that comes, him, any himhere is, in this word, no such exception, but him that comes, him, any himhere is, in this word, no such exception, but him that comes, him, any himhere is, in this word, no such exception, but him that comes, him, any him————‘‘‘‘himhimhimhim
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ ”’ ”’ ”’ ” Bunyan was right. The welcome is forBunyan was right. The welcome is forBunyan was right. The welcome is forBunyan was right. The welcome is for
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201. all, without any reserve or any exception, or any condition, save that of willingnessall, without any reserve or any exception, or any condition, save that of willingnessall, without any reserve or any exception, or any condition, save that of willingnessall, without any reserve or any exception, or any condition, save that of willingness
to come.to come.to come.to come.
Of other ten adults at this time admitted, one was specially noteworthy. She wasOf other ten adults at this time admitted, one was specially noteworthy. She wasOf other ten adults at this time admitted, one was specially noteworthy. She wasOf other ten adults at this time admitted, one was specially noteworthy. She was
about twentyabout twentyabout twentyabout twenty----five, and the Elders objected because her marriage had not beenfive, and the Elders objected because her marriage had not beenfive, and the Elders objected because her marriage had not beenfive, and the Elders objected because her marriage had not been
according to the Christian usage on Aniwa. She left us weeping deeply. I was writingaccording to the Christian usage on Aniwa. She left us weeping deeply. I was writingaccording to the Christian usage on Aniwa. She left us weeping deeply. I was writingaccording to the Christian usage on Aniwa. She left us weeping deeply. I was writing
late at night in the cool evening air, as was my wont in that oppressive tropicallate at night in the cool evening air, as was my wont in that oppressive tropicallate at night in the cool evening air, as was my wont in that oppressive tropicallate at night in the cool evening air, as was my wont in that oppressive tropical
clime, and a knock was heard at my door. I called outclime, and a knock was heard at my door. I called outclime, and a knock was heard at my door. I called outclime, and a knock was heard at my door. I called out————
““““Akai era?Akai era?Akai era?Akai era?”””” (= Who is there?)(= Who is there?)(= Who is there?)(= Who is there?)
A voice softly answered,A voice softly answered,A voice softly answered,A voice softly answered,————““““Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with me!Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with me!Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with me!Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with me!””””
This was the rejected candidate, and I at once opened the door.This was the rejected candidate, and I at once opened the door.This was the rejected candidate, and I at once opened the door.This was the rejected candidate, and I at once opened the door.
““““Oh, Missi,Oh, Missi,Oh, Missi,Oh, Missi,”””” she began,she began,she began,she began, ““““I cannot sleep, I cannot eat; my soul is in pain. Am I to beI cannot sleep, I cannot eat; my soul is in pain. Am I to beI cannot sleep, I cannot eat; my soul is in pain. Am I to beI cannot sleep, I cannot eat; my soul is in pain. Am I to be
shut out from Jesus? Some of those at the Lordshut out from Jesus? Some of those at the Lordshut out from Jesus? Some of those at the Lordshut out from Jesus? Some of those at the Lord’’’’s Table committed murder. Theys Table committed murder. Theys Table committed murder. Theys Table committed murder. They
repented, and have been saved. My heart is very bad; yet I never did any of thoserepented, and have been saved. My heart is very bad; yet I never did any of thoserepented, and have been saved. My heart is very bad; yet I never did any of thoserepented, and have been saved. My heart is very bad; yet I never did any of those
crimes of Heathenism; and I know that it is my joy to try and please my Saviourcrimes of Heathenism; and I know that it is my joy to try and please my Saviourcrimes of Heathenism; and I know that it is my joy to try and please my Saviourcrimes of Heathenism; and I know that it is my joy to try and please my Saviour
Jesus. How is it that I only am to be shut out from Jesus?Jesus. How is it that I only am to be shut out from Jesus?Jesus. How is it that I only am to be shut out from Jesus?Jesus. How is it that I only am to be shut out from Jesus?””””
I tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all very eagerly. ThenI tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all very eagerly. ThenI tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all very eagerly. ThenI tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all very eagerly. Then
she looked up at me and saidshe looked up at me and saidshe looked up at me and saidshe looked up at me and said————
““““Missi, you and the Elders may think it right to keep me back from showing my loveMissi, you and the Elders may think it right to keep me back from showing my loveMissi, you and the Elders may think it right to keep me back from showing my loveMissi, you and the Elders may think it right to keep me back from showing my love
to Jesus at the Lordto Jesus at the Lordto Jesus at the Lordto Jesus at the Lord’’’’s Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus has receiveds Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus has receiveds Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus has receiveds Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus has received
me; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to Glory and presentme; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to Glory and presentme; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to Glory and presentme; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to Glory and present
me to the Father.me to the Father.me to the Father.me to the Father.””””
Her look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and submit herHer look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and submit herHer look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and submit herHer look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and submit her
appeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them with convincingappeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them with convincingappeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them with convincingappeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them with convincing
effect. She was baptized and admitted along with other nine. And that Communioneffect. She was baptized and admitted along with other nine. And that Communioneffect. She was baptized and admitted along with other nine. And that Communioneffect. She was baptized and admitted along with other nine. And that Communion
Day will be long remembered by many souls on Aniwa.Day will be long remembered by many souls on Aniwa.Day will be long remembered by many souls on Aniwa.Day will be long remembered by many souls on Aniwa.1111 [Note: John G. Paton, ii.[Note: John G. Paton, ii.[Note: John G. Paton, ii.[Note: John G. Paton, ii.
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202. 282282282282.].].].]
4444. The fulness and freeness of Christ. The fulness and freeness of Christ. The fulness and freeness of Christ. The fulness and freeness of Christ’’’’s welcome.s welcome.s welcome.s welcome.————A man may have been guilty ofA man may have been guilty ofA man may have been guilty ofA man may have been guilty of
an atrocious sin, too black for mention; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be castan atrocious sin, too black for mention; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be castan atrocious sin, too black for mention; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be castan atrocious sin, too black for mention; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be cast
out. To that atrocious sin he may have added many others, till the condemning list isout. To that atrocious sin he may have added many others, till the condemning list isout. To that atrocious sin he may have added many others, till the condemning list isout. To that atrocious sin he may have added many others, till the condemning list is
full and long; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be cast out. He may havefull and long; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be cast out. He may havefull and long; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be cast out. He may havefull and long; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be cast out. He may have
hardened his neck against the remonstrances of prudence, and the entreaties ofhardened his neck against the remonstrances of prudence, and the entreaties ofhardened his neck against the remonstrances of prudence, and the entreaties ofhardened his neck against the remonstrances of prudence, and the entreaties of
mercy; he may have sinned deeply and wilfully; but if he comes to Christ he shallmercy; he may have sinned deeply and wilfully; but if he comes to Christ he shallmercy; he may have sinned deeply and wilfully; but if he comes to Christ he shallmercy; he may have sinned deeply and wilfully; but if he comes to Christ he shall
not be cast out. He may have made himself as black as night, as black as hell; yet, ifnot be cast out. He may have made himself as black as night, as black as hell; yet, ifnot be cast out. He may have made himself as black as night, as black as hell; yet, ifnot be cast out. He may have made himself as black as night, as black as hell; yet, if
he shall come to Christ, the Lord will not cast him out.he shall come to Christ, the Lord will not cast him out.he shall come to Christ, the Lord will not cast him out.he shall come to Christ, the Lord will not cast him out.
This is the Charter of ChristianityThis is the Charter of ChristianityThis is the Charter of ChristianityThis is the Charter of Christianity————that there lives no sinner too bad for Jesus tothat there lives no sinner too bad for Jesus tothat there lives no sinner too bad for Jesus tothat there lives no sinner too bad for Jesus to
save. A year ago I met a doctor possessed of far more than ordinary gifts in dealingsave. A year ago I met a doctor possessed of far more than ordinary gifts in dealingsave. A year ago I met a doctor possessed of far more than ordinary gifts in dealingsave. A year ago I met a doctor possessed of far more than ordinary gifts in dealing
with one of our most fatal diseases. From all parts of the country men and womenwith one of our most fatal diseases. From all parts of the country men and womenwith one of our most fatal diseases. From all parts of the country men and womenwith one of our most fatal diseases. From all parts of the country men and women
whose lives have been despaired of by their own physicians have journeyed to thiswhose lives have been despaired of by their own physicians have journeyed to thiswhose lives have been despaired of by their own physicians have journeyed to thiswhose lives have been despaired of by their own physicians have journeyed to this
manmanmanman’’’’s consultings consultings consultings consulting----room, and have placed their last hope of recovery in hisroom, and have placed their last hope of recovery in hisroom, and have placed their last hope of recovery in hisroom, and have placed their last hope of recovery in his
mysterious powers. And he described to me the pathos of his work. For again andmysterious powers. And he described to me the pathos of his work. For again andmysterious powers. And he described to me the pathos of his work. For again andmysterious powers. And he described to me the pathos of his work. For again and
again he has to face a body of anxious patients who are waiting from his lips theiragain he has to face a body of anxious patients who are waiting from his lips theiragain he has to face a body of anxious patients who are waiting from his lips theiragain he has to face a body of anxious patients who are waiting from his lips their
sentence of life or of death; and, while he is able to restore many to perfect health,sentence of life or of death; and, while he is able to restore many to perfect health,sentence of life or of death; and, while he is able to restore many to perfect health,sentence of life or of death; and, while he is able to restore many to perfect health,
he knows that he will find others for whom he can do nothing. Such is the lot ofhe knows that he will find others for whom he can do nothing. Such is the lot ofhe knows that he will find others for whom he can do nothing. Such is the lot ofhe knows that he will find others for whom he can do nothing. Such is the lot of
every physician but One. There is One to whom no case is hopeless; who never yetevery physician but One. There is One to whom no case is hopeless; who never yetevery physician but One. There is One to whom no case is hopeless; who never yetevery physician but One. There is One to whom no case is hopeless; who never yet
sent patient away unhealed.sent patient away unhealed.sent patient away unhealed.sent patient away unhealed. ““““Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.””””1111
[Note: H. Bisseker, Sunday Evenings in Methodism,[Note: H. Bisseker, Sunday Evenings in Methodism,[Note: H. Bisseker, Sunday Evenings in Methodism,[Note: H. Bisseker, Sunday Evenings in Methodism, 153153153153.].].].]
Lord, dost Thou me inviteLord, dost Thou me inviteLord, dost Thou me inviteLord, dost Thou me invite
To sit in whiteTo sit in whiteTo sit in whiteTo sit in white
At the great Feast which for Thy friends is spread?At the great Feast which for Thy friends is spread?At the great Feast which for Thy friends is spread?At the great Feast which for Thy friends is spread?
I could not be so bold,I could not be so bold,I could not be so bold,I could not be so bold,
In raiment poor and old;In raiment poor and old;In raiment poor and old;In raiment poor and old;
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203. Rather without Thy gates would stand unfed.Rather without Thy gates would stand unfed.Rather without Thy gates would stand unfed.Rather without Thy gates would stand unfed.
Thy messenger mistookThy messenger mistookThy messenger mistookThy messenger mistook
My hungry look,My hungry look,My hungry look,My hungry look,
As claiming seat at table of the pure;As claiming seat at table of the pure;As claiming seat at table of the pure;As claiming seat at table of the pure;
I am too wise to dareI am too wise to dareI am too wise to dareI am too wise to dare
My worthless presence there,My worthless presence there,My worthless presence there,My worthless presence there,
Nor could my spirit that clear light endure.Nor could my spirit that clear light endure.Nor could my spirit that clear light endure.Nor could my spirit that clear light endure.
HedgeHedgeHedgeHedge----rows for me instead,rows for me instead,rows for me instead,rows for me instead,
Their berries redTheir berries redTheir berries redTheir berries red
Enough of sweetness for my lips contain;Enough of sweetness for my lips contain;Enough of sweetness for my lips contain;Enough of sweetness for my lips contain;
The glowThe glowThe glowThe glow----worm is my lampworm is my lampworm is my lampworm is my lamp
’’’’Mid herbage damp;Mid herbage damp;Mid herbage damp;Mid herbage damp;
To tread Thy bright courts would be only pain.To tread Thy bright courts would be only pain.To tread Thy bright courts would be only pain.To tread Thy bright courts would be only pain.
203

204. Yet still He calleth meYet still He calleth meYet still He calleth meYet still He calleth me————
““““Come, for I wait for thee,Come, for I wait for thee,Come, for I wait for thee,Come, for I wait for thee,
It is the lost and hungry that I need;It is the lost and hungry that I need;It is the lost and hungry that I need;It is the lost and hungry that I need;
Not luxury and pride,Not luxury and pride,Not luxury and pride,Not luxury and pride,
Already satisfied,Already satisfied,Already satisfied,Already satisfied,
The humble and the poor My feast shall feed.The humble and the poor My feast shall feed.The humble and the poor My feast shall feed.The humble and the poor My feast shall feed.””””2222 [Note: J. E. A. Brown.][Note: J. E. A. Brown.][Note: J. E. A. Brown.][Note: J. E. A. Brown.]
38383838
For I have come down from heaven not to do my willFor I have come down from heaven not to do my willFor I have come down from heaven not to do my willFor I have come down from heaven not to do my will
but to do the will of him who sent me.but to do the will of him who sent me.but to do the will of him who sent me.but to do the will of him who sent me.
BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "For I came down ... - This verse shows that he came for a specific
purpose, which he states in the next verse, and means that, as he came to do his
Father’s will, he would be faithful to the trust. Though his hearers should reject him,
yet the will of God would be accomplished in the salvation of some who should come
to Him.
Mine own will - See notes at Joh_5:30.
CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "Not to do mine own will - I am come, not to act according to
human motives, passions, or prejudices; but according to infinite wisdom, goodness,
and mercy. Jewish passions and prejudices would reject publicans and sinners as
those alluded to, and shut the gate of heaven against the Gentiles; but God’s mercy
receives them, and I am come to manifest that mercy to men.
GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "For I came down from heaven,.... by change of place, or local motion; for
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205. Christ is the immense, infinite, and omnipresent God, and cannot be said properly to
move from place to place; for he fills all places, even heaven and earth, with his
presence, and was in heaven as the Son of God, at the same time he was here on earth
as the son of man: wherefore this must be understood in a manner becoming his
proper deity, his divine sonship, and personality: this descent was by the assumption
of the human nature into union with his divine person, which was an instance of
amazing grace and condescension. The Jew (m) objects to this, and says,
"if this respects the descent of the soul, the soul of every man descended from thence;
but if it respects the body, the rest of the evangelists contradict his words,
particularly Luke, when he says, Luk_2:7 that his mother brought him forth at
Bethlehem.''
But this descent regards neither his soul nor body, but his divine person, which
always was in heaven, and not any local descent of that; but, as before observed, an
assumption of human nature, which he took of the virgin on earth; and so there is no
contradiction between the evangelists; nor is descent from heaven unsuitable to
Christ as a divine person, since it is ascribed to God, Gen_11:7; and if God may be
said to go down from heaven by some display of his power, and intimation of his
presence, Christ may be said to descend from heaven by that marvellous work of his,
taking upon him our nature, and walking up and down on earth in the form of a
servant; and which was done with this view, as he says,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me; that is, not to do
his own will, as separate from his Father's, and much less as contrary to it; otherwise
he did come to do his own will, which, as God, was the same with his Father's, he
being one with him in nature, and so in power and will; and though his will, as man,
was distinct from his Father's, yet not repugnant, but resigned unto it: and this will
he came to do, was to preach the Gospel, fulfil the law, work miracles, and obtain the
eternal redemption and salvation of his people. What the above Jewish writer (n)
objects to this part of the text is of very little moment: whose words are;
"moreover, what he says, "not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me",
shows, that he that sent, is not one and the same with him that is sent, seeing the will
of him that is sent, is not as the will of him that sends.''
It is readily granted that they are not one and the same person; they are two distinct
persons, which sending, and being sent, do clearly show; but then they are one in
nature, though distinct in person, and they agree in will and work. Christ came not to
do any will of his own different from that of his Father's; nor do these words imply a
difference of wills in them, much less a contrariety in them, but rather the sameness
of them.
HENRY, "HENRY, "HENRY, "HENRY, "(2.) He here shows what his undertaking was, and what his errand into the
world. Laying aside the metaphor, he speaks plainly, and speaks no proverb, giving us an
account of his business among men, Joh_6:38-40.
[1.] He assures us, in general, that he came from heaven upon his Father's business (Joh_
6:38), not do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. He came from heaven, which
bespeaks him an intelligent active being, who voluntarily descended to this lower world, a
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206. long journey, and a great step downward, considering the glories of the world he came from
and the calamities of the world he came to; we may well ask with wonder, “What moved him
to such an expedition?” Here he tells that he came to do, not his own will, but the will of his
Father; not that he had any will that stood in competition with the will of his Father, but
those to whom he spoke suspected he might. “No,” saith he, “my own will is not the spring I
act fRom. nor the rule I go by, but I am come to do the will of him that sent me.” That is,
First, Christ did not come into the world as a private person, that acts for himself only, but
under a public character, to act for others as an ambassador, or plenipotentiary, authorized
by a public commission; he came into the world as God's great agent and the world's great
physician. It was not any private business that brought him hither, but he came to settle
affairs between parties no less considerable than the great Creator and the whole creation.
Secondly, Christ, when he was in the world, did not carry on any private design, nor had any
separate interest at all, distinct from theirs for whom he acted. The scope of his whole life was
to glorify God and do good to men. He therefore never consulted his own ease, safety, or
quiet; but, when he was to lay down his life, though he had a human nature which startled at
it, he set aside the consideration of that, and resolved his will as man into the will of God: Not
as I will, but as thou wilt.
[2.] He acquaints us, in particular, with that will of the Father which he came to do; he here
declares the decree, the instructions he was to pursue.
First, The private instructions given to Christ, that he should be sure to save all the chosen
remnant; and this is the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son (Joh_6:38):
“This is the Father's will, who hath sent me; this is the charge I am entrusted with, that of all
whom he hath given me I should lose none.” Note, 1. There is a certain number of the
children of men given by the Father to Jesus Christ, to be his care, and so to be to him for a
name and a praise; given him for an inheritance, for a possession. Let him do all that for
them which their case requires; teach them, and heal them, pay their debt, and plead their
cause, prepare them for, and preserve them to, eternal life, and then let him make his best of
them. The Father might dispose of them as he pleased: as creatures, their lives and beings
were derived from him; as sinners, their lives and beings were forfeited to him. He might
have sold them for the satisfaction of his justice, and delivered them to the tormentors; but
he pitched upon them to be the monuments of his mercy, and delivered them to the Saviour.
Those whom God chose to be the objects of his special love he lodged as a trust in the hands
of Christ. 2. Jesus Christ has undertaken that he will lose none of those that were thus given
him of the Father. The many sons whom he was to bring to glory shall all be forth-coming,
and none of them missing, Mat_18:14. None of them shall be lost, for want of a sufficient
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207. grace to sanctify them. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear
the blame for ever, Gen_43:9. 3. Christ's undertaking for those that are given him extends to
the resurrection of their bodies. I will raise it up again at the last day, which supposes all that
goes before, but this is to crown and complete the undertaking. The body is a part of the man,
and therefore a part of Christ's purchase and charge; it pertains to the promises, and
therefore it shall not be lost. The undertaking is not only that he shall lose none, no person,
but that he shall lose nothing, no part of the person, and therefore not the body. Christ's
undertaking will never be accomplished till the resurrection, when the souls and bodies of the
saints shall be re-united and gathered to Christ, that he may present them to the Father:
Behold I, and the children that thou has given me, Heb_2:13; 2Ti_1:12. 4. The spring and
original of all this is the sovereign will of God, the counsels of his will, according to which he
works all this. This was the commandment he gave to his Son, when he sent him into the
world, and to which the Son always had an eye.
Secondly, The public instructions which were to be given to the children of men, in what
way, and upon what terms, they might obtain salvation by Christ; and this is the covenant of
grace between God and man. Who the particular persons were that were given to Christ is a
secret: The Lord knows them that are his, we do not, nor is it fit we should; but, though their
names are concealed, their characters are published. An offer is made of life and happiness
upon gospel terms, that by it those that were given to Christ might be brought to him, and
others left inexcusable (Joh_6:40): “This is the will, the revealed will, of him that sent me, the
method agreed upon, upon which to proceed with the children of men, that every one, Jew or
Gentile, that sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him
up.” This is gospel indeed, good news. Is it now reviving to hear this? 1. That eternal life may
be had, if it be not our own fault; that whereas, upon the sin of the first Adam, the way of the
tree of life was blocked up, by the grace of the second Adam it is laid upon again. The crown
of glory is set before us as the prize of our high calling, which we may run for and obtain. 2.
Every one may have it. This gospel is to be preached, this offer made, to all, and none can say,
“It belongs not to me,” Rev_22:17. 3. This everlasting life is sure to all those who believe in
Christ, and to them only. He that sees the Son, and believes on him, shall be saved. Some
understand this seeing as a limitation of this condition of salvation to those only that have the
revelation of Christ and his grace made to them. Every one that has the opportunity of being
acquainted with Christ, and improves this so well as to believe in him, shall have everlasting
life, so that none shall be condemned for unbelief (however they maybe for other sins) but
those who have had the gospel preached to them, who, like these Jews here (Joh_6:36), have
seen, and yet have not believed; have known Christ, and yet not trusted in him. But I rather
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208. understand seeing here to mean the same thing with believing, for it is theōrōn, which
signifies not so much the sight of the eye (as Joh_6:36, heōrakate me - ye have seen me) as
the contemplation of the mind. Every one that sees the Son, that is, believes on him, sees him
with an eye of faith, by which we come to be duly acquainted and affected with the doctrine of
the gospel concerning him. It is to look upon him, as the stung Israelites upon the brazen
serpent. It is not a blind faith that Christ requires, that we should be willing to have our eyes
put out, and then follow him, but that we should see him, and see what ground we go upon in
our faith. It is then right when it is not taken up upon hearsay (believing as the church
believes), but is the result of a due consideration of, and insight into, the motives of
credibility: Now mine eye sees thee. We have heard him ourselves. 4. Those who believe in
Jesus Christ, in order to their having everlasting life, shall be raised up by his power at the last
day. He had it in charge as his Father's will (Joh_6:39), and here he solemnly makes it his own
undertaking: I will raise him up, which signifies not only the return of the body to life, but the
putting of the whole man into a full possession of the eternal life promised.
JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "JAMISON, "For I came down from heaven not to do Mine own will — to
play an independent part.
but — in respect to both the foregoing things, the divine and the human side of
salvation.
the will of Him that sent Me — What this twofold will of Him that sent Him is,
we are next sublimely told (Joh_6:39, Joh_6:40):
CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "CALVIN, "8888.For I came down from heaven. This is a confirmation of the preceding.For I came down from heaven. This is a confirmation of the preceding.For I came down from heaven. This is a confirmation of the preceding.For I came down from heaven. This is a confirmation of the preceding
statement, that we do not seek Christ in vain. For faith is a work of God, by whichstatement, that we do not seek Christ in vain. For faith is a work of God, by whichstatement, that we do not seek Christ in vain. For faith is a work of God, by whichstatement, that we do not seek Christ in vain. For faith is a work of God, by which
he shows that we are his people, and appoints his Son to be the protector of ourhe shows that we are his people, and appoints his Son to be the protector of ourhe shows that we are his people, and appoints his Son to be the protector of ourhe shows that we are his people, and appoints his Son to be the protector of our
salvation. Now the Son has no other design than to fulfill the commands of hissalvation. Now the Son has no other design than to fulfill the commands of hissalvation. Now the Son has no other design than to fulfill the commands of hissalvation. Now the Son has no other design than to fulfill the commands of his
Father. Consequently, he will never reject those whom his Father hath sent. Hence,Father. Consequently, he will never reject those whom his Father hath sent. Hence,Father. Consequently, he will never reject those whom his Father hath sent. Hence,Father. Consequently, he will never reject those whom his Father hath sent. Hence,
finally, it follows, that faith will never be useless. As to the distinction which Christfinally, it follows, that faith will never be useless. As to the distinction which Christfinally, it follows, that faith will never be useless. As to the distinction which Christfinally, it follows, that faith will never be useless. As to the distinction which Christ
makes between his own will and the will of the Father, in this respect, hemakes between his own will and the will of the Father, in this respect, hemakes between his own will and the will of the Father, in this respect, hemakes between his own will and the will of the Father, in this respect, he
accommodates himself to his hearers, because, as the mind of man is prone toaccommodates himself to his hearers, because, as the mind of man is prone toaccommodates himself to his hearers, because, as the mind of man is prone toaccommodates himself to his hearers, because, as the mind of man is prone to
distrust, we are wont to contrive some diversity which produces hesitation. To cutdistrust, we are wont to contrive some diversity which produces hesitation. To cutdistrust, we are wont to contrive some diversity which produces hesitation. To cutdistrust, we are wont to contrive some diversity which produces hesitation. To cut
off every pretense for those wicked imaginations, Christ declares, that he has beenoff every pretense for those wicked imaginations, Christ declares, that he has beenoff every pretense for those wicked imaginations, Christ declares, that he has beenoff every pretense for those wicked imaginations, Christ declares, that he has been
manifested to the world, in order that he may actually ratify what the Father hathmanifested to the world, in order that he may actually ratify what the Father hathmanifested to the world, in order that he may actually ratify what the Father hathmanifested to the world, in order that he may actually ratify what the Father hath
decreed concerning our salvation.decreed concerning our salvation.decreed concerning our salvation.decreed concerning our salvation.
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209. 39393939
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall loseAnd this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall loseAnd this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall loseAnd this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose
none of all that he has given me, but raise them up atnone of all that he has given me, but raise them up atnone of all that he has given me, but raise them up atnone of all that he has given me, but raise them up at
the last day.the last day.the last day.the last day.
BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "BARNES, "FatherFatherFatherFather’s wills wills wills will ---- His purpose; desire; intention. As this is the Father’s will, and
Jesus came to execute his will, we have the highest security that it will be done. God’s will is
always right, and he has power to execute it. Jesus was always faithful, and all power was
given to him in heaven and on earth, and he will therefore most certainly accomplish the will
of God.
Of all whichOf all whichOf all whichOf all which ---- That is, of every one who believes on him, or of all who become Christians.
See Joh_6:37.
I should lose nothingI should lose nothingI should lose nothingI should lose nothing ---- Literally, “I should not destroy.” He affirms here that he will keep
it to life eternal; that, thought the Christian will die, and his body return to corruption, yet he
will not be destroyed. The Redeemer will watch over him, though in his grave, and keep him
to the resurrection of the just. This is affirmed of all who are given to him by the Father; or,
as in the next verse, “Everyone that believeth on him shall have everlasting life.”
At the last dayAt the last dayAt the last dayAt the last day ---- At the day of judgment. The Jews supposed that the righteous would be
raised up at the appearing of the Messiah. See Lightfoot. Jesus directs them to a future
resurrection, and declares to them that they will be raised at the last day - the day of
judgment. It is also supposed and affirmed by some Jewish writers that they did not believe
that the wicked would be raised. Hence, to speak of being raised up in the last day was the
same as to say that one was righteous, or it was spoken of as the special privilege of the
righteous. In accordance with this, Paul says, “If by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead,” Phi_3:11.
CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "CLARKE, "I should lose nothingI should lose nothingI should lose nothingI should lose nothing ---- It is the will of God that every soul who believes
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210. should continue in the faith, and have a resurrection unto life eternal. But he wills this
continuance in salvation, without purposing to force the persons so to continue. God may will
a thing to be, without willing that it shall be. Judas was given to Christ by the Father, Joh_
17:12. The Father willed that this Judas should continue in the faith, and have a resurrection
unto life eternal: but Judas sinned and perished. Now it is evident that God willed that Judas
might be saved, without willing that he must be saved infallibly and unconditionally. When a
man is a worker together with the grace of God, he is saved; when he receives that grace of
God in vain, he is lost - not through a lack of will or mercy in God, but through lack of his co-
operation with Divine grace. God saves no man as a stock or a stone, but as a reasonable
being and free agent. “That which thou hast heard, thou mayest hold fast, and persevere in, if
thou wilt,” Says St. Augustin. In eo quod audieras, et tenueras, perseverares, si velles. De
Correct. & Grat. c. 7. See Calmet.
Raise it up again at the last dayRaise it up again at the last dayRaise it up again at the last dayRaise it up again at the last day ---- The Jews believed that the wicked should have no
resurrection; and that the principle that led to the resurrection of the body, in the righteous,
was the indwelling Spirit of God. This is positively asserted in the Shir Hashirim Rabba. See
Schoettgen.
GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "GILL, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent meAnd this is the Father's will which hath sent meAnd this is the Father's will which hath sent meAnd this is the Father's will which hath sent me,.... This explains both who he was
that sent him; the Father of him, and of his people; whose sending of him does not suppose
any change of place, or inequality between them, or disrespect unto him, or compulsion of
him, but agreement between them, and love to the persons on whose account he was sent;
and also what is the will he came to do, and is what was declared by him to Christ, when he
gave the elect to him: for this expresses his secret will in the council and covenant of grace,
that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothingthat of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothingthat of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothingthat of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing; that is, that of all the elect which
were given to Christ by his Father, in eternal election, he should not lose anyone of them, not
the meanest among them, nor anything of theirs, their grace, or glory, or anything belonging
to them, either to their souls or bodies, and particularly the latter;
but should raise it up again at the last daybut should raise it up again at the last daybut should raise it up again at the last daybut should raise it up again at the last day; even every part of their bodies, and every dust
belonging to them; their bodies being given to Christ, and redeemed by his blood, as well as
their souls: so the Jews (o), speaking of the resurrection, and making mention of that passage
in Num_23:10, "who shall count the dust of Jacob?" add,
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211. "and he (i.e. God) shall order it all, ‫כלום‬ ‫יתאביד‬ ‫,ולא‬ "and not anything shall be lost", but
all shall rise again; for, lo, it is said, Dan_12:2, "and many of them that sleep in the
dust", &c.''
HENRY, "The giving of the chosen remnant to Christ is spoken of (Joh_6:39) as a
thing done; he hath given them. Here it is spoken of as a thing in the doing; he
giveth them; because, when the first begotten was brought into the world, it should
seem, there was a renewal of the grant; see Heb_10:5, etc. God was now about to give
him the heathen for his inheritance (Psa_2:8), to put him in possession of the
desolate heritages (Isa_49:8), to divide him a portion with the great, Isa_53:12.
And though the Jews, who saw him, believed not on him, yet these (saith he) shall
come to me; the other sheep, which are not of this fold, shall be brought, Joh_10:15,
Joh_10:16. See Act_13:45-48. (b.) The effect of it secured: They shall come to me.
This is not in the nature of a promise, but a prediction, that as many as were in the
counsel of God ordained to life shall be brought to life by being brought to Christ.
They are scattered, are mingled among the nations, yet none of them shall be
forgotten; not a grain of God's corn shall be lost, as is promised, Amo_9:9. They are
by nature alienated from Christ, and averse to him, and yet they shall come. As God's
omniscience is engaged for the finding of them all out, so is his omnipotence for the
bringing of them all in. Not, They shall be driven, to me, but, They shall come freely,
shall be made willing.
JAMISON, "And this — in the first place.
is the will of Him that sent me, that of all — everything.
which He hath given Me — (taking up the identical words of Joh_6:37).
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day — The
meaning is not, of course, that He is charged to keep the objects entrusted to Him as
He received them, so as they should merely suffer nothing in His hands. For as they
were just “perishing” sinners of Adam’s family, to let “nothing” of such “be lost,” but
“raise them up at the last day,” must involve, first, giving His flesh for them (Joh_
6:51), that they “might not perish, but have everlasting life”; and then, after “keeping
them from falling,” raising their sleeping dust in incorruption and glory, and
presenting them, body and soul, perfect and entire, wanting nothing, to Him who
gave them to Him, saying, “Behold I and the children which God hath given Me.” So
much for the first will of Him that sent Him, the divine side of man’s salvation,
whose every stage and movement is inscrutable to us, but infallibly certain.
CALVIN, "39.And this is the will of the Father. He now testifies, that this is the
design of the Father, that believers may find salvation secured in Christ; from
which again it follows, that all who do not profit by the doctrine of the Gospel
are reprobate. Wherefore, if we see that it turns to the ruin of many, we have no
reason to despond, because those men willingly draw down the evil on
themselves. Let us rest satisfied with this, that the Gospel will always have power
to gather the elect to salvation.
That I should lose none of it. That is, “That I should not suffer it to be taken
from me or perish;” by which he means, that he is not the guardian of our
salvation for a single day, or for a few days, but that he will take care of it to the
end, so that he will conduct us, as it were, from the commencement to the
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212. termination of our course; and therefore he mentions the last resurrection. This
promise is highly necessary for us, who miserably groan under so great weakness
of the flesh, of which every one of us is sufficiently aware; and at every moment,
indeed, the salvation of the whole world might be ruined, were it not that
believers, supported by the hand of Christ, advance boldly to the day of
resurrection. Let this, therefore, be fixed in our minds, that Christ has stretched
out his hand to us, that he may not desert us in the midst of the course, but that,
relying on his goodness, we may boldly raise our eyes to the last day.
There is also another reason why he mentions the resurrection. It is because, so
long as our life is hidden, (Colossians 3:3,) we are like dead men. For in what
respect do believers differ from wicked men, but that, overwhelmed with
afflictions, and like sheep destined for the slaughter, (Romans 8:36,) they have
always one foot in the grave, and, indeed, are not far from being continually
swallowed up by death? Thus there remains no other support of our faith and
patience but this, that we keep out of view the condition of the present life, and
apply our minds and our senses to the last day, and pass through the
obstructions of the world, until the fruit of our faith at length appear.
40
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the
Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day."
BARNES, "Every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him - It was
not sufficient to see him and hear him, but it was necessary, also, to believe on him.
Many of the Jews had seen him, but few believed on him. Jesus had said in the
previous verse that all that the Father had given him should be saved. But he never
left a doctrine so that men must misunderstand it. Lest it should be supposed that if
a man was given to him this was all that was needful, and lest anyone should say, “If I
am to be saved I shall be, and my efforts will be useless,” he states here that it is
necessary that a man should believe on him. This would be the evidence that he was
given to God, and this would be evidence conclusive that he would be saved. If this
explanation of the Saviour had always been attended to, the doctrine of election
would not have been abused as it has been. Sinners would not sit down in unconcern,
saying that if they are given to Christ all will be well. They would have arisen like the
prodigal, and would have gone to God; and, having believed on the Saviour, they
would then have had evidence that they were given to him - the evidence resulting
from an humble, penitent, believing heart - and then they might rejoice in the
assurance that Jesus would lose none that were given to him, but would raise it up at
the last day. All the doctrines of Jesus, as he preached them, are safe, and pure, and
consistent; as men preach them, they are, unhappily, often inconsistent and open to
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213. objection, and are either fitted to produce despair on the one hand, or presumptuous
self-confidence on the ether. Jesus teaches men to strive to enter heaven, as if they
could do the work themselves; and yet to depend on the help of God, and give the
glory to him, as if he had done it all.
CLARKE, "This is the will of him that sent me - Lest they should take a
wrong meaning out of his words, as many have done since, he tells them that, far
from any person being excluded from his mercy, it was the will of God that every one
who saw him might believe and be saved. The power, without which they could not
believe, he freely gave them; but the use of that power was their own. God gives the
grace of repentance and faith to every man; but he neither repents nor believes for
any man. Each must repent for his own sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus, through
the grace given, or perish.
GILL, "And this is the will of him that sent me,.... The Vulgate Latin adds, "of
my Father"; and all the Oriental versions read only, "and this is the will of my
Father"; this is his declared, his revealed will in the Gospel, which the sons of men
are made acquainted with, as the other was his secret will, which was only known to
the Son till he discovered it.
That everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him; who so sees him
as to believe in him; for this is not to be understood of a corporeal sight of Christ, or
of a mere speculative knowledge of him, or historical faith in him; for it is not so to
see him, as merely to believe what he is, the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour of
the world, or what he says, but to trust in him for righteousness, life, and happiness.
Men are by nature blind, their eyes are shut to all that is spiritually good; it is the
Spirit of God that opens blind eyes, and illuminates the understanding: and in his
light men see not only themselves, their sin, and want of righteousness, and their lost
state and condition, but Christ, and a beauty, glory, and excellency in him, ability and
willingness to save, a suitableness in him for them, and a fulness of all grace; they see
righteousness, peace, pardon, cleansing, wisdom, strength, grace, life, and salvation,
and go out of themselves to him for all: and such a sight, though it may be but
glimmering, is saving, and is self-abasing, soul rejoicing, surprising, and
transforming; is attended with certainty, reality, and evidence, and is a foretaste of
glory; for it is the will of God, and not man, of a gracious Father, of an unchangeable
and eternal being, whose will cannot be resisted, and made void, that such
may have everlasting life; which will be a life of glory, and will consist in
possessing glory both in soul and body; in beholding glory, the glory of one another,
the glory of angels, the glory of divine truths, and mysterious providences, the glory
of the divine perfections, and of the Lord Jesus Christ; and it will be a life of
perfection, of perfect knowledge, holiness, obedience, love, peace, and joy; a life free
from all the miseries and inconveniences of this, both in a natural and spiritual
sense; a life of pleasure, and which will last for ever: to which Christ adds,
and I will raise him up at the last day; Christ will be the efficient cause, as well
as he is the exemplar, the earnest, and first fruits of the resurrection of the dead; he
will indeed raise all the dead by his power, but the saints particularly, by virtue of
union to him, as the members of his body, and in the first place; and the very same
shall rise, and with the same numerical body, that were given to him, and believe in
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214. him: and this will be at the last of the last days, at the end of all things; and is
mentioned to show, that length of time will not hinder the resurrection of the dead,
and in opposition to a Jewish notion, that the resurrection of the dead would be at
the Messiah's coming: it will be at his second coming, but was not to be at his first;
there was indeed then a resurrection of some particular persons, but not a general
one of all the saints: that the Jews expect the resurrection of the dead when the
Messiah comes, appears from their Targums, Talmuds, and other writers; so the
Targumist on Hos_14:8,
"They shall be gathered from their captivity, they shall sit under the shadow of their
Messiah, "and the dead shall live", and good shall be multiplied in the land.''
And in the Talmud (p) it is said,
"the holy blessed God will quicken the righteous, and they shall not return to their
dust.''
The gloss upon it is,
"the holy blessed God will quicken them "in the days of" the Messiah.''
And so the land of the living is said to be,
"the land, whose dead live first in the days of the Messiah (q).''
And hence R. Jeremiah desired to he buried with his clothes and shoes on, and staff
in his hand, that when the Messiah came, he might be ready (r) with which agree
others of the more modern writers; so Kimchi on Isa_66:5.
"They shall live at the resurrection of the dead, in the days of the Messiah.''
And the same writer on Jer_23:20 observes it is said,
""ye" shall consider, and not "they" shall consider; which intimates the "resurrection
of the dead in the days of the Messiah".''
And says Aben Ezra on Dan_12:2,
"The righteous which die in captivity shall live, when the Redeemer comes;''
though some of their writers differ in this point, and will not allow the days of the
Messiah, and the resurrection of the dead, to be one and the same (s).
CALVIN, "40.And this is the will of him who sent me. He had said that the
Father had committed to him the protection of our salvation; and now he
likewise describes the manner in which it is accomplished. The way to obtain
salvation, therefore, is to obey the Gospel of Christ. This point he had, indeed,
glanced at a little before but now he expresses more fully what he had spoken
somewhat obscurely. And if it is the will of God that those whom he has elected
shall be saved, and if in this manner he ratifies and executes his eternal decree,
whoever he be that is not satisfied with Christ, but indulges in curious inquiries
about eternal predestination, such a person, as far as lies in his power, desires to
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215. be saved contrary to the purpose of God. The election of God is in itself hidden
and secret; the Lord manifests it by calling, that is, when he bestows on us this
blessing of calling us (146)
They are madmen, therefore, who seek their own salvation or that of others in
the whirlpool of predestination, not keeping the way of salvation which is
exhibited to them. Nay more, by this foolish speculation, they endeavor to
overturn the force and effect of predestination; for if God has elected us to this
end, that we may believe, take away faith, and election will be imperfect. But we
have no right to break through the order and succession of the beginning and the
end, since God, by his purpose, hath decreed and determined that it shall
proceed unbroken. (147) Besides, as the election of God, by an indissoluble bond,
draws his calling along with it, so when God has effectually called us to faith in
Christ, let this have as much weight with us as if he had engraven his seal to
ratify his decree concerning our salvation. For the testimony of the Holy Spirit is
nothing else than the sealing of our adoption, (Romans 8:15.) To every man,
therefore, his faith is a sufficient attestation of the eternal predestination of God,
so that it would be a shocking sacrilege (148) to carry the inquiry farther; for
that man offers an aggravated insult to the Holy Spirit, who refuses to assent to
his simple testimony.
Whosoever seeth the Son, and believeth in him. He uses the words, see and
believe, in contrast with what he had formerly said; for he had reproached the
Jews with not believing, even though they saw, (verse 36.) But now, speaking of
the sons of God, with the feeling which they have of the power of God in Christ,
he joins the obedience of faith. Moreover, these words show that faith proceeds
from the knowledge of Christ; not that it desires anything beyond the simple
word of God, but because, if we trust in Christ, we must perceive what he is, and
what he brings to us.
41
At this the Jews began to grumble about him because
he said, "I am the bread that came down from
heaven."
CLARKE, "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.
215

216. GILL, "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".
HENRY, "(2.) But, when they understood that by this bread of life Jesus meant
himself, then they despised it. Whether they were the same persons that had prayed
for it (Joh_6:34), or some others of the company, does not appear; it seems to be
some others, for they are called Jews. Now it is said (Joh_6:41), They murmured at
him. This comes in immediately after that solemn declaration which Christ had made
of God's will and his own undertaking concerning man's salvation (Joh_6:39, Joh_
6:40), which certainly were some of the most weighty and gracious words that ever
proceeded out of the mouth of our Lord Jesus, the most faithful, and best worthy of
all acceptation. One would think that, like Israel in Egypt, when they heard that God
had thus visited them, they should have bowed their heads and worshipped; but on
the contrary, instead of closing with the offer made them, they murmured, quarrelled
with what Christ said, and, though they did not openly oppose and contradict it, yet
they privately whispered among themselves in contempt of it, and instilled into one
another's minds prejudices against it. Many that will not professedly contradict the
doctrine of Christ (their cavils are so weak and groundless that they are either
ashamed to own them or afraid to have them silenced), yet say in their hearts that
they do not like it. Now, [1.] That which offended them was Christ's asserting his
origin to be from heaven, Joh_6:41, Joh_6:42. How is it that he saith, I came down
from heaven? They had heard of angels coming down from heaven, but never of a
man, overlooking the proofs he had given them of his being more than a man. [2.]
That which they thought justified them herein was that they knew his extraction on
earth: Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? They
took it amiss that he should say that he came down from heaven, when he was one of
them. They speak slightly of his blessed name, Jesus: Is not this Jesus. They take it
for granted that Joseph was really his father, though he was only reputed to be so.
Note, Mistakes concerning the person of Christ, as if he were a mere man, conceived
and born by ordinary generation, occasion the offence that is taken at his doctrine
and offices. Those who set him on a level with the other sons of men, whose father
and mother we know, no wonder if they derogate from the honour of his satisfaction
and the mysteries of his undertaking, and, like the Jews here, murmur at his promise
to raise us up at the last day.
JAMISON, "Jews murmured — muttered, not in our Lord’s hearing, but He
knew it (Joh_6:43; Joh_2:25).
he said, I am the bread, etc. — Missing the sense and glory of this, and having
no relish for such sublimities, they harp upon the “Bread from heaven.” “What can
this mean? Do we not know all about Him - where, when, and of whom He was born?
And yet He says He came down from heaven!”
216

217. CALVIN, "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,
(Philippians 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.
BARCLAY, "THE FAILURE OF THE JEWS (John 6:41-51 a)
6:41-51a So the Jews kept murmuring about him, because he said: "I am the
bread which came down from heaven." They kept saying: "Is this not Jesus, the
son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say: 'I have
come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered: "Stop murmuring to each other. No
one can come to me except the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise
him up on the last day. It stands written in the prophets: 'And all will be taught
by God.' Everyone who has listened and learned from my Father comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God--he has seen the
Father. This is the truth I tell you--he who believes has eternal life. I am the
bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died. This is the
bread of life which comes down from heaven that a man may eat of him and not
die. I am the bread of life which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this
bread he will live forever."
217

218. This passage shows the reasons why the Jews rejected Jesus, and in rejecting
him, rejected eternal life.
(i) They judged things by human values and by external standards. Their
reaction in face of the claim of Jesus was to produce the fact that he was a
carpenter's son and that they had seen him grow up in Nazareth. They were
unable to understand how one who was a tradesman and who came from a poor
home could possibly be a special messenger from God.
T. E. Lawrence was a close personal friend of Thomas Hardy, the poet. In the
days when Lawrence was serving as an aircraftman in the Royal Air Force he
sometimes used to visit Hardy and his wife in his aircraftman's uniform. On one
occasion his visit coincided with a visit of the Mayoress of Dorchester. She was
bitterly affronted that she had to submit to meeting a common aircraftman, for
she had no idea who he was. In French she said to Mrs. Hardy that never in all
her born days had she had to sit down to tea with a private soldier. No one said
anything: then Lawrence said in perfect French: "I beg your pardon, Madame,
but can I be of any use as an interpreter? Mrs. Hardy knows no French." A
snobbish and discourteous woman had made a shattering mistake because she
judged by externals.
That is what the Jews did with Jesus. We must have a care that we never neglect
a message from God because we despise or do not care for the messenger. A man
would hardly refuse a cheque for 1,000 British pounds because it happened to be
enclosed in an envelope which did not conform to the most aristocratic standards
of notepaper. God has many messengers. His greatest message came through a
Galilaean carpenter, and for that very reason the Jews disregarded it.
(ii) The Jews argued with each other. They were so taken up with their private
arguments that it never struck them to refer the decision to God. They were
exceedingly eager to let everyone know what they thought about the matter; but
not in the least anxious to know what God thought. It might well be that
sometimes in a court or committee, when every man is desirous of pushing his
opinion down his neighbour's throat, we would be better to be quiet and ask God
what he thinks and what he wants us to do. After all it does not matter so very
much what we think; but what God thinks matters intensely; and we so seldom
take steps to find it out.
(iii) The Jews listened, but they did not learn. There are different kinds of
listening. There is the listening of criticism; there is the listening of resentment;
there is the listening of superiority; there is the listening of indifference; there is
the listening of the man who listens only because for the moment he cannot get
the chance to speak. The only listening that is worth while is that which hears
and learns; and that is the only way to listen to God.
(iv) The Jews resisted the drawing of God. Only those accept Jesus whom God
draws to him. The word which John uses for to draw is helkuein (Greek #1670).
The word used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew when Jeremiah hears God
say as the King James Version has it: "With loving-kindness have I drawn thee"
218

219. (Jeremiah 31:3). The interesting thing about the word is that it almost always
implies some kind of resistance. It is the word for drawing a heavily laden net to
the shore (John 21:6; John 21:11). It is used of Paul and Silas being dragged
before the magistrates in Philippi (Acts 16:19). It is the word for drawing a
sword from the belt or from its scabbard (John 18:10). Always there is this idea
of resistance. God can draw men, but man's resistance can defeat God's pull.
Jesus is the bread of life; which means that he is the essential for life; therefore to
refuse the invitation and command of Jesus is to miss life and to die. The Rabbis
had a saying: "The generation in the wilderness have no part in the life to
come." In the old story in Numbers the people who cravenly refused to brave the
dangers of the promised land after the report of the scouts, were condemned to
wander in the wilderness until they died. Because they would not accept the
guidance of God they were for ever shut out from the promised land. The Rabbis
believed that the fathers who died in the wilderness not only missed the promised
land, but also missed the life to come. To refuse the offer of Jesus is to miss life in
this world and in the world to come; whereas to accept his offer is to find real life
in this world and glory in the world to come.
"The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came
down from heaven" (John 6:41). "In John ‘the Jews’ are always distinguished
from the multitude. They are the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea. It would,
perhaps, be easier to understand this Gospel, if the words were rendered ‘those
of Judea’, which is the true sense" (J.N.D.). These Jews were "murmuring," and
it is a significant thing that the same word is used here as in the Septuagint (the
first Gentile translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) of Israel murmuring in
the wilderness. In few things does the depravity of the human heart reveal itself
so plainly and so frequently as in murmuring against God. It is a sin which few,
if any, are preserved from.
The Jews were murmuring against Christ. They were murmuring against Him
because He had said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." This was
a saying that of. fended them. And why should that cause them to murmur?
They were, of course, completely blind to Christ’s Divine glory, and so were
ignorant that this very One whom some of them had seen grow up before their
eyes in the humble home of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, and the One that
some of them, perhaps, had seen working at the carpenter’s bench, should make
a claim which they quickly perceived avowed His Deity. It was the pride of the
human heart disdaining to be indebted to One who had lain aside His glory, and
had taken upon Him the form of a servant. They refused to be beholden to One.
so lowly. Moreover, they were far too self-satisfied and self-righteous to see any
need for One to come down from heaven to them, much less for that One to die
upon the Cross to meet their need and thus become their Savior. Their case, as
they thought, was by no means so desperate as that. The truth is, they had no
hunger for "the bread which came down from heaven."
219

220. STEDMAN, "Once while I was teaching a church seminar on prophecy, a young
man came up out of the audience and stood beside me on the platform. Then, to
the amazement of all, he leaned over to the microphone and announced that he
was the prophet Elijah, returned from heaven. I was a bit startled, to say the
least. The young man was absolutely serious about his claim, and he told the
group that God had instructed him to take over the meeting and teach us the
truth about prophetic Scripture.
My reaction, of course, as well as the reaction of every other person in that room,
was to disregard this young man's claims. We recognized that he was a troubled
and disturbed young man who needed help. With the assistance of a couple of
our elders, the man was talked into leaving the platform and the seminar
continued without incident.
I think that experience gives me an inkling of what the crowd at the synagogue at
Capernaum must have felt when Jesus announced that He Himself was the
"bread" which had come down from heaven. Maybe some were puzzled and
startled. Others, perhaps, might have thought that Jesus was disturbed or even
crazy. You might think that the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 would be
proof enough of His claims--but remember that the people discounted that
miracle and wanted another sign. They wanted to set the terms of the miracle:
They demanded manna from heaven.
You can easily imagine their reaction: They must have turned to each other with
cynical, disbelieving looks on their faces, and said, "What is He talking about?
Come on! We know this guy! We know where He came from! He didn't come
down from heaven! He's Joseph and Mary's kid from over in the next town!"
They immediately forgot all the wonderful things they had seen Jesus do and say.
They forgot the healings. They forgot the miracle of loaves and fishes they had
seen just the previous day. Most of all, they had forgotten His penetrating
wisdom, His words of grace.
To them, Jesus was once again just an ordinary man.
Many people today react this way to Jesus. Many nonbelievers today are willing
to concede that Jesus was a significant figure, an insightful teacher--but nothing
more than an ordinary man.
Why were the people in Capernaum so quick to discount His claims? Because
their facts were incomplete? Yes, in part. But even more importantly, because
they were not looking for the evidence. We don't know whether these people
knew about the circumstances of Jesus' birth--the announcements of the angels,
the visit of the wise men, the great star that shone over the city of Bethlehem. But
if they did know about the wonders that accompanied His birth, they had
forgotten all about them.
They knew that Jesus had grown up in Nazareth, and it is clear that Jesus had a
fairly normal boyhood. There are various apocryphal "gospels" which tell
bizarre and assuredly false stories about the many miracles Jesus supposedly did
220

221. as a boy. These "gospels" have such names as "The First Gospel of the Infancy
of Jesus" or "Thomas's Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus." Some ancient religious
cults, such as the Gnostics, accepted these writings as Scripture. But if the boy
Jesus had really done all the fanciful miracles described in those so-called
"gospels," He would have been the sensation of the nation as an adolescent and
in His twenties, and this crowd in Capernaum would not have doubted His
claims.
In truth, there is no reliable account of any miracle of Jesus prior to the miracle
of Cana, which He performed when He was about thirty years old. And that is
why these people doubt His claim to have come from heaven. It is clear from
their reaction that Jesus grew up in Nazareth just like anyone else. That's all
they knew. They didn't know the whole story, just as many people today don't
know the whole story about Jesus. They refuse to examine the evidence, they
refuse to listen to the eyewitness accounts of what Jesus did and said, and then--
armed with an arsenal of ignorance--they feel smugly justified in rejecting Him.
So there was an air of incredulity as Jesus announced Himself to be the "bread
of life."
PINK 41-59, "The following is submitted as an Analysis of the passage which is
to be before us:
1. The murmuring of the Jews: verses 41, 42.
2. Christ’s rebuke: verses 43-45.
3. The glory of Christ: verse 46.
4. Christ, the Life-giver: verses 47-51.
5. The criticism of the Jews: verse 52.
6. Christ’s solemn reply: verse 53.
7. The results of feeding on Christ: verses 54-59.
The first thirteen verses of John 6 describe the feeding of the multitude, and in
verses 14 and 15 we are shown what effect that miracle had upon the crowd.
From verse 16 to the end of verse 21 we have the well-known incident of the
disciples in the storm, and the Lord walking on the sea and coming to their
deliverance. In verses 22 to 25 we see the people following Christ to Capernaum,
and in verses 26 to 40 we learn of the conversation which took place between
them and our Lord—most probably in the open air. At verse 41 there is a break
in the chapter, and a new company is introduced, namely, "the Jews"; and from
verse 59 it is clear that they were in the synagogue. In this Gospel "the Jews" are
ever viewed as antagonistic to the Savior—see our notes on verse 15. Here they
are represented as "murmuring" because the Lord had said, "I am the bread
which came down from heaven." This does not prove that they had heard His
words which are recorded in verse 33. Note it does not say in verse 41 that the
Lord had said this "unto them": contrast verses 29, 32, 35! Most probably, the
words He had spoken to "the people" of verse 24—words which are recorded in
the verses which follow, to the end of verse 40—had been reported to "the Jews."
Hence, verses 41 to 59 describe the conversation between Christ and the Jews in
the Capernaum synagogue, as the preceding verses narrate what passed between
the Savior and the Galileans. The Holy Spirit has placed the.two conversations
side by side, because of the similarity of their themes.
"The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came
221

222. down from heaven" (John 6:41). "In John ‘the Jews’ are always distinguished
from the multitude. They are the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea. It would,
perhaps, be easier to understand this Gospel, if the words were rendered ‘those
of Judea’, which is the true sense" (J.N.D.). These Jews were "murmuring," and
it is a significant thing that the same word is used here as in the Septuagint (the
first Gentile translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) of Israel murmuring in
the wilderness. In few things does the depravity of the human heart reveal itself
so plainly and so frequently as in murmuring against God. It is a sin which few,
if any, are preserved from.
The Jews were murmuring against Christ. They were murmuring against Him
because He had said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." This was
a saying that of. fended them. And why should that cause them to murmur?
They were, of course, completely blind to Christ’s Divine glory, and so were
ignorant that this very One whom some of them had seen grow up before their
eyes in the humble home of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, and the One that
some of them, perhaps, had seen working at the carpenter’s bench, should make
a claim which they quickly perceived avowed His Deity. It was the pride of the
human heart disdaining to be indebted to One who had lain aside His glory, and
had taken upon Him the form of a servant. They refused to be beholden to One.
so lowly. Moreover, they were far too self-satisfied and self-righteous to see any
need for One to come down from heaven to them, much less for that One to die
upon the Cross to meet their need and thus become their Savior. Their case, as
they thought, was by no means so desperate as that. The truth is, they had no
hunger for "the bread which came down from heaven." What light this casts on
the state of the world today! How it serves to explain the common treatment
which the Lord of glory still receives at the hands of men! Pride, the wicked
pride of the self-righteous heart, is responsible for unbelief. Men despise and
reject the Savior because they feel not their deep need of Him. Feeding upon the
husks which are fit food only for swine, they have no appetite for the true Bread.
And when the claims of Christ are really pressed upon them they still
"murmur"!
"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?" (John 6:42). This
shows that these Jews understood Christ’s words "I am the bread which came
down from heaven" as signifying that He was of Divine origin; and in this they
were quite right. None but He could truthfully make the claim. This declaration
of Christ meant that He had personally existed in heaven before He appeared
among men, and, as His forerunner testified, "He that cometh from above is
above all" (John 3:31): above all, because the first man and all his family are of
the earth, earthy; but "the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:47).
And for the Lord to become Man required the miracle of the virgin birth: a
supernatural Being could only enter this world in a supernatural manner. But
these Jews were in total ignorance of Christ’s superhuman origin. They
supposed Him to be the natural son of Joseph and Mary. His "father and
mother," said they, "we know." But they did not. His Father, they knew not of,
nor could they, unless the Father revealed Himself unto them. And it is so still. It
is one thing to receive, intellectually, as a religious dogma, that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God; it is altogether another to know Him as such for myself. Flesh
and blood cannot reveal this to me (Matthew 16:17).
222

223. "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" (John 6:43, 44). This word is very solemn
coming just at this point, and it is necessary to note carefully its exact connection.
It was a word which at once exposed the moral condition and explained the cause
of the "murmuring" of these Jews. Great care must be taken to observe what
Christ did not say, and precisely what He did say. He did not say, "No man can
come to me, except the Father hath given him to me," true as that certainly is.
But He spoke here so as to address their human responsibility. It was not
designed as a word to repel, but to humble. It was not closing the door in their
face, but showed how alone that door could be entered. It was not intended as an
intimation that there was no possible hope for them, rather was it a pointing out
the direction in which hope lay. Had Saul of Tarsus then been among the
number who heard these searching words of Christ, they would have applied in
full force in his own case and condition; and yet it became manifest,
subsequently, that he was a vessel of mercy, given to the Son by the Father
before the foundation of the world. And it is quite possible that some of these
very Jews, then murmuring, were among the number who, at Pentecost, were
drawn by the Father to believe on the Son. The Lord’s language was carefully
chosen, and left room for that. John 7:5 tells us that the Lord’s own brethren
(according to the flesh) did not believe on Him at first, and yet, later, they ranked
among His disciples, as is clear from Acts 1:14. Let us be careful, then, not to
read into this 44th verse what is not there.
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him"
(John 6:44). These words of Christ make manifest the depths of human
depravity. They expose the inveterate stubbornness of the human will. They
explain the "murmuring" of these Jews. In answering them thus, the obvious
meaning of the Savior’s words was this: By your murmuring you make it evident
that you have not come to Me, that you are not disposed to come to Me; and with
your present self-righteousness, you never will come to Me. Before you come to
Me you must be converted and become as little children. And before that can
take place, you must be the subjects of Divine operation. One has only to reflect
on the condition of the natural man in order to see the indubitable truth of this.
Salvation is most exactly suited to the sinner’s needs, but it is not at all suited to
his natural inclinations. The Gospel is too spiritual for his carnal mind: too
humbling for his pride: too exacting for his rebellious will: too lofty for his
darkened understanding: too holy for his earthbound desires.
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." How
can one who has a high conceit of himself and his religious performances admit
that all his righteousnesses are as filthy rags? How can one who prides himself
on his morality and his religiousness, own himself as lost, undone, and justly
condemned? How can one who sees so little amiss in himself, who is blind to the
fact that from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot there is no soundness
in him (Isa. 1:6), earnestly seek the great Physician? No man with an unchanged
heart and mind will ever embrace God’s salvation. The inability here, then, is a
moral one. Just as when Christ also said, "how can ye, being evil, speak good
things?" (Matthew 12:34). And again, "How can ye believe, which receive honor
one of another?" (John 5:44). And again, "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the
world cannot receive" (John 14:17). Water will not flow uphill, nor will the
223

224. natural man act contrary to his corrupt nature. An evil tree cannot bring forth
good fruit, and equally impossible is it for a heart that loves the darkness to also
love the light.
The depravity of man is, from the human side, the only thing which will explain
the general rejection of the Gospel. The only satisfactory answer to the questions,
Why is not Christ cordially received by all to whom He is presented? Why do the
majority of men despise and reject Him? is man is a fallen creature, a depraved
being who loves sin and hates holiness. So, too, the only satisfactory answer
which can be given to the questions, Why is the Gospel cordially received by any
man? Why is it not obstinately rejected by all? is, In the case of those who
believe, God has, by His supernatural influence, counteracted against the human
depravity; in other words, the Father has "drawn" to the Son.
The condition of the natural man is altogether beyond human repair. To talk
about exerting the will is to ignore the state of the man behind the will. Man’s
will has not escaped the general wreckage of his nature. When man fell, every
part of his being was affected. Just as truly as the sinner’s heart is estranged
from God and his understanding darkened, so is his will enslaved by sin. To
predicate the freedom of the will is to deny that man is totally depraved. To say
that man has the power within himself to either reject or accept Christ, is to
repudiate the fact that he is the captive of the Devil. It is to say there is at least
one good thing in the flesh. It is to flatly contradict this word of the Son of
God—"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
him."
Man’s only hope lies outside of himself, in Divine help. And this is what we
meant above when we said that this word of Christ was not intended to close the
door of hope, but pointed out the direction in which hope lay. If it be true that I
cannot get away from myself; if it be true that my whole being is depraved, and
therefore at enmity with God; if it be true that I am powerless to reverse the
tendency of my nature, what then can I do? Why, acknowledge my helplessness,
and cry for help. What should a man do who falls down and breaks his hip? He
cannot rise: should he, then, lie there in his misery and perish? Not if he has any
desire for relief. He will lift up his voice and summon assistance. And if these
murmuring Jews had believed what Christ told them about their helplessness,
this is what they had done. And if the unsaved today would only believe God
when He says that the sinner is lost, he, too, would call for a Deliverer. If I
cannot come to Christ except the Father "draws" me, then my responsibility is to
beg the Father to "draw" me.
In what, we may inquire, does this "drawing" consist? It certainly has reference
to something more than the invitation of the Gospel. The word used is a strong
one, signifiying, the putting forth of power and obliging the object seized to
respond. The same word is found in John 18:10; John 21:6, 11. If the reader
consults these passages he will find that it means far more than "to attract."
Impel would give the true force of it here in John 6:44.
As said above, the unregenerate sinner is so depraved that with an unchanged
heart and mind he will never come to Christ. And the change which is absolutely
essential is one which God alone can produce. It is, therefore, by Divine
"drawing" that any one comes to Christ. What is this "drawing"? We answer, It
is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the self-righteousness of the sinner,
and convicting him of his lost condition. It is the Holy Spirit awakening within
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225. him a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the pride of the
natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as an empty-handed beggar. It
is the Holy Spirit creating within him an hunger for the bread of life.
"It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God" (John 6:45).
Our Lord confirms what He had just said by an appeal to the Scriptures. The
reference is to Isaiah 54:13: "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord."
This serves to explain, in part at least, the meaning of "draw." Those drawn are
they who are "taught of God." And who are these, so highly favored? The
quotation from Isaiah 54 tells us: they are God’s "children"; His own, His elect.
Notice carefully how our Lord quoted Isaiah 54:13. He simply said, "And they
shall be all taught of God." This helps us to define the "all" in other passages,
like John 12:32: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me." The
"all" does not mean all of humanity, but all of God’s children, all His elect.
"Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh
unto me" (John 6:45). This also throws light on the "drawing" of the previous
verse. Those drawn are they who have "heard" and "learned of the Father."
That is to say, God has given them an ear to hear and a heart to perceive. It is
parallel with what we get in 1 Corinthians 1:23, 24: "But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness: But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and
the wisdom of God." "Called" here refers to the effectual and irresistible call of
God. It is a call which is heard with the inward ear. It is a call which is instinct
with Divine power, drawing its object to Christ Himself.
"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen
the Father" (John 6:46). This is very important. It guards against a false
inference. It was spoken to prevent His hearers (and us today) from supposing
that some direct communication from the Father is necessary before a sinner can
be saved. Christ had just affirmed that only those come to Him who had heard
and learned of the Father. But this does not mean that such characters hear His
audible voice or are directly spoken to by Him. Only the Savior was [and is] in
immediate communication with the Father. We hear and learn from the Father
only through His written Word! So much then for the primary significance of
this verse according to its local application. But there is far more in it than what
we have just sought to bring out.
"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen
the Father." How this displays the glory of Christ, bringing out, as it does, the
infinite distance there is between the incarnate Son and all men on earth. No
man had seen the Father; but the One speaking had, and He had because He is
"of (not "the Father" but) God." He is a member of the Godhead, Himself very
God of very God. And because He had "seen the Father," He was fully qualified
to speak of Him, to reveal Him—see John 1:18. And who else could "declare" the
Father? How else could the light of the Father’s love and grace have shined into
our hearts, but through and by Christ, His Son?
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life"
(John 6:47). Christ still pursues the line of truth begun in verse 44. This forty-
seventh verse is not an invitation to sinners, but a doctrinal declaration
concerning saints. In verse 44 He had stated what was essential from the Divine
side if a sinner come to Christ: he must be "drawn" by the Father. In verse 45
He defined, in part, what this "drawing" consists of: it is hearing and learning of
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226. the Father. Then, having guarded against a false inference from His words in
verse 45, the Savior now says, "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
Believing is not the cause of a sinner obtaining Divine life, rather is it the effect of
it. The fact that a man believes, is the evidence that he already has Divine life
within him. True, the sinner ought to believe. Such is his bounden duty. And in
addressing sinners from the standpoint of human responsibility, it is perfectly
proper to say ‘Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have eternal
life.’ Nevertheless, the fact remains that no unregenerate sinner ever did or ever
will believe. The unregenerate sinner ought to love God, and love Him with all
his heart. He is commanded to. But he does not, and will not, until Divine grace
gives him a new heart. So he ought to believe, but he will not till he has been
quickened into newness of life. Therefore, we say that when any man does
believe, is found believing, it is proof positive that he is already in possession of
eternal life. "He that believeth on me hath (already has) eternal life": cf. John
3:36; 5:24; 1 John 5:1, etc.
"I am that bread of life" (John 6:48). This is the first of the seven "I am" titles of
Christ found in this Gospel, and found nowhere else. The others are, "I am the
light of the world" (John 8:12); "I am the door" (John 10:9); "I am the good
shepherd" (John 10:11); "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25); "I
am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6); "I am the true vine" (15:l).
They all look back to that memorable occasion when God appeared to Moses at
the burning bush, and bade him go down into Egypt, communicate with His
people, interview Pharaoh, and command him to let the children of God go forth
into the wilderness to worship Jehovah. And when Moses asked, Who shall I say
hath sent me?, the answer was, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I
AM hath sent me unto you" (Ex. 3:14). Here in John, we have a sevenfold filling
out of the "I am"—I am the bread of life, etc. Christ’s employment of these titles
at once identifies Him with the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and unequivocally
demonstrates His absolute Deity.
"I am that bread of life." Blessed, precious words are these. ‘I am that which
every sinner needs, and without which he will surely perish. I am that which
alone can satisfy the soul and fill the aching void in the unregenerate heart. I am
that because, just as wheat is ground into flour and then subjected to the action
of fire to fit it for human use, so I, too, have come down all the way from heaven
to earth, have passed through the sufferings of death, and am now presented in
the Gospel to all that hunger for 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"
(John 6:49, 50). This is an amplification of verse 48. There He had said, "I am
that bread of life"; here He describes one of the characteristic qualities of this
"life." The Lord draws a contrast between Himself as the Bread of life and the
manna which Israel ate in the wilderness; and also between the effects on those
who ate the one and those who should eat the other. The fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, but they died. The manna simply ministered to a temporal need.
It fed their bodies, but was not able to immortalize them. But those who eat the
true bread, shall not die. Those who appropriate Christ to themselves, those who
satisfy their hearts by feeding on Him, shall live forever. Not, of course, on earth,
but with Him in heaven.
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof,
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227. and not die" (John 6:50). It is obvious that Christ gives the word "die" a
different meaning here from what it bears in the previous verse. There He had
said that they, who of old ate manna in the wilderness, "are dead": natural
death, physical dissolution being in view. But here He says that a man may eat of
the bread which cometh down from heaven, and "not die": that is, not die
spiritually and eternally, not suffer the "second death." Should any object to this
interpretation which gives a different meaning to the word "death" as it occurs
in two consecutive verses, we would remind him that in a single verse the word is
found twice, but with a different meaning: "Let the dead bury their dead" (Luke
9:60).
This is one of the many, many verses of Scripture which affirms the eternal
security of the believer. The life which God imparts in sovereign grace to the
poor sinner, is—not a life that may be forfeited; for, "the gifts and calling of God
are without repentance" (Rom. 11:29.) It is not a life which is perishable, for it is
"hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3.) It is not a life which ends when our earthly
pilgrimage is over, for it is "eternal life." Ah! what has the world to offer in
comparison with this? Do the worldling’s fondest dreams of happiness embrace
the element of unending continuity? No, indeed; that is the one thing lacking, the
want of which spoils all the rest!
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51). How evident
it is then that Christ is here addressing these Jews on the ground, not of God’s
secret counsels, but, of their human responsibility. It is true that none will come
to Him save as they are "drawn" by the Father; but this does not mean that the
Father refuses to "draw" any poor sinner that really desires Christ. Yea, that
very desire for Christ is the proof the Father has commenced to "draw." And
how Divinely simple is the way in which Christ is received—"If any man [no
matter who he be] eat of this bread he shall live forever." The figure of "eating"
is very suggestive, and one deserving of careful meditation.
In the first place, eating is a necessary act if I am to derive that advantage from
bread which it is intended to convey, namely, bodily nourishment. I may look at
bread and admire it; I may philosophize about bread and analyze it; I may talk
about bread and eulogize its quality; I may handle bread and be assured of its
excellency—but unless I eat it, I shall not be nourished by it. All of this is equally
true with the spiritual bread, Christ. Knowing the truth, speculating about it,
talking about it, contending for it, will do me no good. I must receive it into my
heart.
In the second place, eating is responding to a felt need. That need is hunger,
unmistakably evident, acutely felt. And when one is really hungry he asks no
questions, he makes no demurs, he raises no quibbles, but gladly and promptly
partakes of that which is set before him. So it is, again, spiritually. Once a sinner
is awakened to his lost condition; once he is truly conscious of his deep, deep
need, once he becomes aware of the fact that without Christ he will perish
eternally; then, whatever intellectual difficulties may have previously troubled
him, however much he may have procrastinated in the past, now he will need no
urging, but promptly and gladly will he receive Christ as his own.
In the third place, eating implies an act of appropriation. The table may be
spread, and loaded down with delicacies, and a liberal portion may have been
placed on my plate, but not until I commence to eat do I make that food my own.
Then, that food which previously was without me, is taken inside, assimilated,
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228. and becomes a part of me, supplying health and strength. So it is spiritually.
Christ may be presented to me in all His attractiveness, I may respect His
wonderful personality, I may admire His perfect life, I may be touched by His
unselfishness and tenderness, I may be moved to tears at the sight of Him dying
on the cruel Tree; but, not until I appropriate Him, not until I receive Him as
mine, shall I be saved. Then, He who before was outside, will indwell me. Now, in
very truth, shall I know Him as the bread of life, ministering daily to my
spiritual health and strength.
In the fourth place, eating is an intensely personal act: it is something which no
one else can do for me. There is no such thing as eating by proxy. If I am to be
nourished, I must, myself, eat. Standing by and watching others eat will not
supply my needs. So, dear reader, no one can believe in Christ for you. The
preacher cannot; your loved ones cannot. And you may have witnessed others
receiving Christ as theirs; you may later hear their ringing testimonies; you may
be struck by the unmistakable change wrought in their lives; but, unless you
have "eaten" the Bread of life, unless you have personally received Christ as
yours, it has all availed you nothing. "If any man eat of this bread, he shall live
forever." Divinely simple and yet wonderfully full is this figure of eating.
"And the bread that I will give is my flesh" (John 6:51). Exceedingly solemn and
exceedingly precious is this. To "give" His "flesh" was to offer Himself as a
sacrifice, it was to voluntarily lay down His life. Here, then, Christ presents
Himself, not only as One who came down from heaven, but as One who had
come here to die. And not unto we reach this point do we come to the heart of the
Gospel. As an awakened sinner beholds the person of Christ, as he reads the
record of His perfect life down here, he will exclaim, "Woe is me; I am undone."
Every line in the lovely picture which the Holy Spirit has given us in the four
Gospels only condemns me, for it shows me how unlike I am to the Holy One of
God. I admire His ways: I marvel at His perfections. I wish that I could be like
Him. But, alas, I am altogether unlike Him. If Christ be the One that the Father
delights in, then verily, He can never delight in me; for His ways and mine are as
far apart as the east is from the west. O what is to become of me, wretched man
that I am! Ah! dear reader, what had become of every one of us if Christ had
only glorified the Father by a brief sojourn here as the perfect Son of man?
What hope had there been if, with garments white and glistening. and face
radiant with a glory surpassing that of the midday sun, He had ascended from
the Mount of Transfiguration, leaving this earth forever? There is only one
answer: the door of hope had been fast closed against every member of Adam’s
fallen and guilty race. But blessed be His name, wonderful as was His descent
from heaven, wonderful as was that humble birth in Bethlehem’s lowly manger,
wonderful as was the flawless life that He lived here for thirty-three years as He
tabernacled among men; yet, that was not all, that was not the most wonderful.
Read this fifty-first verse of John 6 again: "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." Ah!
it is only in a slain Christ that poor sinners can find that which meets their dire
and solemn need. And His "flesh" He gave in voluntary and vicarious sacrifice
"for the life of the world": not merely for the Jews, but for elect sinners of the
Gentiles too. His meritorious life was substituted for our forfeited life. Surely this
will move our hearts to fervent praise. Surely this will cause us to bow before
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229. Him in adoring worship.
"The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us
his flesh to eat?" (John 6:52). "It is difficult, or rather impossible, to say what
was the precise state of mind which this question indicated on the part of those
who proposed it. It is not unlikely that it expressed different sentiments in
different individuals. With some it probably was a contemptuous expression of
utter incredulity, grounded on the alleged obvious absurdity of the statement
made: q.d., ‘The man is mad; can any absurdity exceed this? We are to live for
ever by eating the flesh of a living man!’ With others, who thought that neither
our Lord’s words nor works were like those of a madman, the question probably
was equivalent to a statement—‘These words must have a meaning different
from their literal signification, but what can that meaning be?’
"These ‘strivings’ of the Jews about the meaning of our Lord’s words were
‘among themselves’. None of them seemed to have stated their sentiments to our
Lord, but He was perfectly aware of what was going on among them. He does
not, however, proceed to explain His former statements. They were not ready for
such an explication. It would have been worse than lost on them. Instead of
illustrating His statement, He reiterated it. He in no degree explains away what
had seemed strange, absurd, incredible, or unintelligible. On the contrary, He
becomes, if possible, more paradoxical and enigmatical than ever, in order that
His statement might be more firmly rooted in their memory, and that they might
the more earnestly inquire, ‘What can these mysterious words mean?’ He tells
them that, strange and unintelligible, and incredible, and absurd, as His
statements might appear, He had said nothing but what was indubitably true,
and incalculably important" (Dr. John Brown).
"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" (John 6:53). This
verse and the two that follow contain an amplification of what He had said in
verse 51. He was shortly to offer Himself as a Substitutionary victim, an
expiatory sacrifice, in the room of and in order to secure the salvation, of both
Jews and Gentiles. And this sacrificial death must be appropriated, received into
the heart by faith, if men are to be saved thereby. Except men "eat the flesh" and
"drink the blood" of Christ, they have "no life" in them. For a man to have "no
life" in him means that he continues in spiritual death: in that state of
condemnation, moral pollution, and hopeless wretchedness into which sin has
brought him.
Observe that it is as Son of man He here speaks of Himself. How could He have
suffered death if He had not become incarnate? And the incarnation was in
order to His death. How this links together the mysteries of Bethlehem and
Calvary; the incarnation and the Cross! And, as we have said, the one was in
order to the other. He came from heaven to earth in order to die: "but now once
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself" (Heb. 9:26).
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death" (Heb. 2:9). "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his
blood, ye have no life in you." Difficult as this language first appears, it is really
blessedly simple. It is not a dead Christ which the sinner is to feed upon, but on
the death of One who is now alive forever more. His death is mine, when
appropriated by faith; and thus appropriated, it becomes life in me. The figure
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230. of "eating" looks back, perhaps, to Genesis 3. Man died (spiritually) by "eating"
(of the forbidden fruit) and he is made alive (spiritually) by an act of eating!
"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will
raise him up at the last day" (John 6:54). Notice the change in the tense of the
verb. In the previous verse it is, "Except ye eat"; here it is "whoso eateth." In the
former, the verb is in the aorist tense, implying a single act, an act done once for
all. In the latter, the verb is in the perfect tense, denoting that which is
continuous and characteristic. Verse 53 defines the difference between one who
is lost and one who is saved. In order to be saved, I must "eat" the flesh and
"drink" the blood of the Son of man; that is, I must appropriate Him, make Him
mine by an act of faith. This act of receiving Christ is done once for all. I cannot
receive Him a second time, for He never leaves me! But, having received Him to
the saving of my soul, I now feed on Him constantly, daily, as the Food of my
soul. Exodus 12 supplies us with an illustration. First, the Israelite was to apply
the shed blood of the slain lamb. Then, as protected by that blood, he was to feed
on the lamb itself.
"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will
raise him up at the last day." This confirms our interpretation of the previous
verse. If we compare it with verse 47 it will be seen at once the "eating" is
equivalent to "believing." Note, too, that the tense of the verbs is the same: verse
47 "believeth," verse 54 "eateth." And observe how each of these are evidences
of eternal life, already in possession of the one thus engaged: "He that believeth
on me hath eternal life"; "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath
eternal life."
This passage in John 6 is a favorite one with Ritualists, who understand it to
refer to the Lord’s Supper. But this is certainly a mistake, and that for the
following reasons. First, the Lord’s Supper had not been instituted when Christ
delivered this discourse. Second, Christ was here addressing Himself to un-
believers, and the Lord’s Supper is for saints, not unregenerate sinners. Third,
the eating and drinking here spoken of are in order to salvation; but eating and
drinking at the Lord’s table are for those who have been saved.
"For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John 6:55). The
connection between this and the previous verse is obvious. It is brought in, no
doubt, to prevent a false inference being drawn from the preceding words.
Christ had thrown the emphasis on the "eating." Except a man ate His flesh, he
had no life in him. But now our Lord brings out the truth that there is nothing
meritorious in the act of eating; that is to say, there is no mystical power in faith
itself. The nourishing power is in the food eaten; and the potency of faith lies in
its Object.
"For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Here Christ throws
the emphasis on what it is which must be "eaten." It is true in the natural realm.
It is not the mere eating of anything which will nourish us. If a man eat a
poisonous substance he will be killed; if he eat that which is innutritious he will
starve. Equally so is it spiritually. "There are many strong believers in hell, and
on the road to hell; but they are those who believed a lie, and not the truth as it is
in Christ Jesus" (Dr. J. Brown). It is Christ who alone can save: Christ as
crucified, but now alive for evermore.
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him"
(John 6:56). In this, and the following verse, Christ proceeds to state some of the
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231. blessed effects of eating. The first effect is that the saved sinner is brought into
vital union with Christ, and enjoys the most intimate fellowship with Him. The
word "dwelleth" is commonly translated "abideth.’ It always has reference to
communion. But mark the tense of the verb: it is only the one who "eateth" and
"drinketh" constantly that abides in unbroken fellowship with Christ.
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."
This language clearly implies, though it does not specifically mention the fact,
that Christ would rise from the dead, for only as risen could He dwell in the
believer, and the believer in Him. It is, then, with Christ risen, that they who feed
on Him as slain, are identified—so marvelously identified, that Scripture here,
for the first time, speaks of union with our blessed Lord.
"As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me" (John 6:57). How evident it is, again, that Christ is here
speaking of Himself as the Mediator, and not according to His essential Being: it
is Christ not in Godhead glory, but as the Son incarnate, come down from
heaven. "I live by the Father" means He lived His life in dependence upon the
Father. This is what He stressed in replying to Satan’s first assault in the
temptation. When the Devil said, "If thou be the Son of God, command," etc., he
was not (as commonly supposed) casting doubt on the Deity of Christ, but asking
Him to make a wrong use of it. "If" must be understood as "since," same as in
John 14:2; Colossians 3:1, etc. The force of what the Tempter said is this: Since
you are the Son of God, exercise your Divine prerogatives, use your Divine
power and supply your bodily need. But this ignored the fact that the Son had
taken upon Him the "form of a servant" and had entered (voluntarily) the place
of subjection. Therefore, it is of this the Savior reminds him in His reply—"Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God." How beautifully this illustrates what Christ says here, "I live by the
Father"! Let us then seek grace to heed its closing sentence: "so he that eateth
me, even he shall live by me." Just as the incarnate Son, when on earth, lived in
humble dependence on the Father, so now the believer is to live his daily life in
humble dependence on Christ.
"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" (John 6:58).
There is an important point in this verse which is lost to the English reader. Two
different words for eating are here employed by Christ. "Your fathers did eat
(ephazon) manna"; "he that eateth (trogon) of this bread shall live forever." The
verb "phago" means "to eat, consume, eat up." "Trogo signifies to feed upon,
rather than the mere act of eating. The first, Christ used when referring to Israel
eating the manna in the wilderness: the second was employed when referring to
believers feeding on Himself. The one is a carnal eating, the other a spiritual; the
one ends in death, the other ministers life. The Israelites in the wilderness saw
nothing more than an objective article of food. And they were like many today,
who see nothing more in Christianity than the objective side, and know nothing
of the spiritual and experiential! How many there be who are occupied with the
externals of religion—outward performances, etc. How few really feed upon
Christ. They admire Him objectively, but receive Him not into their hearts.
BI 41-51, "The Jews then murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread which
came down from heaven
231

232. Weighty truths
I.
THAT CHRIST’S 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. Christ’s teaching and example they admire, but His blood they cannot
away with.
II. MAN’S 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 CHRIST’S HEAVENLY ORIGIN (Joh_6:41-43).
1. The mystery propounded. The difficulty was not that the Messiah’s 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 MAN’S 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 man’s 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 Father’s drawing interferes pot with human freedom.
In naming it “drawing” and a “teaching” Christ makes it a moral suasion.
232

233. 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 hearer’s 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
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234. 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.)
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235. 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. MAN’S 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
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236. 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. MAN’S 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
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237. only hurts Satan’s 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 FATHER’S 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 God’s 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 man’s 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 God’s 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 Father’s
doing—“With lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
4. Rejoice in this love those of you who have come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
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238. Things to be remembered
I. We must never suppose that the doctrine of this verse TAKES AWAY MAN’S
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
God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility now, we need not doubt that it will be all
plain at the last day.
II. Nor does Christ’s 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 Father’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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
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239. 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.).
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240. 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 one’s 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
FATHER’S 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
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241. (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 sinner’s 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
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242. brings it to his mind.
3. The Christian’s 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 God’s 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 Spirit’s 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 blacksmith’s 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
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243. 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 God’s Word.
(3) The Lord’s 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 God’s teaching is designed to make us feel
our need of Christ. (Preacher’s Analyst.)
42
They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I
came down from heaven'?"
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244. GILL, "And they said, is not this Jesus the son of Joseph?.... From
murmuring they go to mocking and scoffing at his parentage and descent, and object
this to his coming down from heaven; and intend by it to upbraid him with the
meanness of his birth, being the son of Joseph, a poor carpenter; and suggest, that it
was great arrogance in him to claim an heavenly original, and to ascribe such things
to himself, that he was the bread of God, and the bread of life, and came from
heaven:
whose father and mother we know? for Capernaum and Nazareth were not at a
great distance from each other; so that Joseph and Mary might be personally known
by the inhabitants of Capernaum, and they might be intimately acquainted with
them.
How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? they could not tell
how to reconcile these things, not knowing either his miraculous conception and
incarnation, nor his divine sonship; otherwise his being made of a woman, or born of
a virgin on earth, is consistent with his being the Lord from heaven.
PINK
"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?" (John 6:42). This
shows that these Jews understood Christ’s words "I am the bread which came
down from heaven" as signifying that He was of Divine origin; and in this they
were quite right. None but He could truthfully make the claim. This declaration
of Christ meant that He had personally existed in heaven before He appeared
among men, and, as His forerunner testified, "He that cometh from above is
above all" (John 3:31): above all, because the first man and all his family are of
the earth, earthy; but "the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:47).
And for the Lord to become Man required the miracle of the virgin birth: a
supernatural Being could only enter this world in a supernatural manner. But
these Jews were in total ignorance of Christ’s superhuman origin. They
supposed Him to be the natural son of Joseph and Mary. His "father and
mother," said they, "we know." But they did not. His Father, they knew not of,
nor could they, unless the Father revealed Himself unto them. And it is so still. It
is one thing to receive, intellectually, as a religious dogma, that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God; it is altogether another to know Him as such for myself. Flesh
and blood cannot reveal this to me (Matthew 16:17).
Their real problem was that they had grown too familiar with Him: “Is this not Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came
down from heaven?’” Some of us are in danger of doing the same thing. Maybe you
grew up in a church, you know a few Bible stories, you know what happened at
Christmas and at Easter, and you think you have Jesus all figured out. Be careful that
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245. you don’t allow what you know about Him to keep you from actually knowing Him.
43
"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered.
GILL, "Jesus therefore answered and said unto them,.... Either overhearing
what they said, or knowing, as God, their secret murmurs, and private cavils among
themselves, thus addressed them,
murmur not among yourselves: meaning neither about his descent from
heaven, nor about coming to him, and believing in him; for it follows,
JAMISON, "Murmur not ... No man — that is, Be not either startled or
stumbled at these sayings; for it needs divine teaching to understand them, divine
drawing to submit to them.
CALVIN, "43.Murmur not among yourselves. He throws back on them the
blame of the murmuring, as if he had said, “My doctrine contains no ground of
offense, but because you are reprobate, it irritates your envenomed breasts, and
the reason why you do not relish it is, that you have a vitiated taste.”
PINK
"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" (John 6:43, 44). This word is very solemn
coming just at this point, and it is necessary to note carefully its exact connection.
It was a word which at once exposed the moral condition and explained the cause
of the "murmuring" of these Jews. Great care must be taken to observe what
Christ did not say, and precisely what He did say. He did not say, "No man can
come to me, except the Father hath given him to me," true as that certainly is.
But He spoke here so as to address their human responsibility. It was not
designed as a word to repel, but to humble. It was not closing the door in their
245

246. face, but showed how alone that door could be entered. It was not intended as an
intimation that there was no possible hope for them, rather was it a pointing out
the direction in which hope lay. Had Saul of Tarsus then been among the
number who heard these searching words of Christ, they would have applied in
full force in his own case and condition; and yet it became manifest,
subsequently, that he was a vessel of mercy, given to the Son by the Father
before the foundation of the world. And it is quite possible that some of these
very Jews, then murmuring, were among the number who, at Pentecost, were
drawn by the Father to believe on the Son. The Lord’s language was carefully
chosen, and left room for that. John 7:5 tells us that the Lord’s own brethren
(according to the flesh) did not believe on Him at first, and yet, later, they ranked
among His disciples, as is clear from Acts 1:14. Let us be careful, then, not to
read into this 44th verse what is not there.
44
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent
me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
BARNES, "written in the prophets — in Isa_54:13; Jer_31:33, Jer_31:34;
other similar passages may also have been in view. Our Lord thus falls back upon
Scripture authority for this seemingly hard saying.
all taught of God — not by external revelation merely, but by internal
illumination, corresponding to the “drawing” of Joh_6:44.
Every man therefore, etc. — that is, who hath been thus efficaciously taught of
Him.
cometh unto me — with absolute certainty, yet in the sense above given of
“drawing”; that is, “As none can come to Me but as divinely drawn, so none thus
drawn shall fail to come.”
CLARKE, "Except the Father - draw him - But how is a man drawn? St.
Augustin answers from the poet, Trahit sua quemque voluptas; a man is attracted by
that which he delights in. Show green herbage to a sheep, he is drawn by it: show
nuts to a child, and he is drawn by them. They run wherever the person runs who
shows these things: they run after him, but they are not forced to follow; they run,
through the desire they feel to get the things they delight in. So God draws man: he
shows him his wants - he shows the Savior whom he has provided for him: the man
246

247. feels himself a lost sinner; and, through the desire which he finds to escape hell, and
get to heaven, he comes unto Christ, that he may be justified by his blood. Unless
God thus draw, no man will ever come to Christ; because none could, without this
drawing, ever feel the need of a Savior. See August. Tract. 26, in Joan. and Calmet.
Drawing, or alluring, not dragging is here to be understood. “He,” say the rabbins,
“who desires to cleave to the holy and blessed God, God lays hold of him, and will not
cast him off.” Synops. Sohar. p. 87. The best Greek writers use the verb in the same
sense of alluring, inciting, etc.
GILL, "No man can come to me,.... That is, by faith, as in Joh_6:35; for
otherwise they could corporeally come to him, but not spiritually; because they had
neither power nor will of themselves; being dead in trespasses and sins, and
impotent to everything that is spiritual: and whilst men are in a state of
unregeneracy, blindness, and darkness, they see no need of coming to Christ, nor
anything in him worth coming for; they are prejudiced against him, and their hearts
are set on other things; and besides, coming to Christ and believing in Christ being
the same thing, it is certain faith is not of a man's self, it is the gift of God, and the
operation of his Spirit; and therefore efficacious grace must be exerted to enable a
soul to come to Christ; which is expressed in the following words,
except the Father which hath sent me, draw him: which is not to be
understood of moral persuasion, or a being persuaded and prevailed upon to come to
Christ by the consideration of the mighty works which God had done to justify that
he was the true Messiah, but of the internal and powerful influence of the grace of
God; for this act of drawing is something distinct from, and superior to, both
doctrine and miracles. The Capernaites had heard the doctrine of Christ, which was
taught with authority, and had seen his miracles, which were full proofs of his being
the Messiah, and yet believed not, but murmured at his person and parentage. This
gave occasion to Christ to observe to them, that something more than these was
necessary to their coming to him, or savingly believing in him; even the powerful and
efficacious grace of the Father in drawing: and if it be considered what men in
conversion are drawn off "from" and "to", from their beloved lusts and darling
righteousness; to look unto, and rely upon Christ alone for salvation; from that which
was before so very agreeable, to that which, previous to this work, was so very
disagreeable; to what else can this be ascribed, but to unfrustrable and insuperable
grace? but though this act of drawing is an act of power, yet not of force; God in
drawing of unwilling, makes willing in the day of his power: he enlightens the
understanding, bends the will, gives an heart of flesh, sweetly allures by the power of
his grace, and engages the soul to come to Christ, and give up itself to him; he draws
with the bands of love. Drawing, though it supposes power and influence, yet not
always coaction and force: music draws the ear, love the heart, and pleasure the
mind. "Trahit sua quemque voluptas", says the poet. The Jews have a saying (t), that
the proselytes, in the days of the Messiah, shall be all of them, ‫גרורים‬ ‫,גרים‬ "proselytes
drawn": that is, such as shall freely and voluntarily become proselytes, as those who
are drawn by the Father are.
And I will raise him at the last day; See Gill on Joh_6:40; compare with this
verse Joh_6:40.
HENRY, "(1.) He shows what it is to believe in Christ. [1.] To believe in Christ is
to come to Christ. He that comes to me is the same with him that believes in me
247

248. (Joh_6:35), and again (Joh_6:37): He that comes unto me; so Joh_6:44, Joh_6:45.
Repentance towards God is coming to him (Jer_3:22) as our chief good and highest
end; and so faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ is coming to him as our prince and
Saviour, and our way to the Father. It denotes the out-goings of our affection towards
him, for these are the motions of the soul, and actions agreeable; it is to come off
from all those things that stand in opposition to him or competition with him, and to
come up to those terms upon which life and salvation are offered to us through him.
When he was here on earth it was more that barely coming where he was; so it is now
more than coming to his word and ordinances. [2.] It is to feed upon Christ (Joh_
6:51): If any man eat of this bread. The former denotes applying ourselves to Christ;
this denotes applying Christ to ourselves, with appetite and delight, that we may
receive life, and strength, and comfort from him. To feed on him as the Israelites on
the manna, having quitted the fleshpots of Egypt, and not depending on the labour of
their hands (to eat of that), but living purely on the bread given them from heaven.
JAMISON, "can come to me — in the sense of Joh_6:35.
except the Father which hath sent me — that is, the Father as the Sender of
Me and to carry out the design of My mission.
draw him — by an internal and efficacious operation; though by all the means of
rational conviction, and in a way altogether consonant to their moral nature (Son_
1:4; Jer_31:3; Hos_11:3, Hos_11:4).
raise him up, etc. — (See on Joh_6:54).
SBC, "These words have often been supposed to mean that no one can become a
Christian unless an irresistible influence is put forth by God for his conversion. I
think, if you look at the words of the text in their connection, and in relation to the
circumstances in which they were written, you will see that Jesus is not here speaking
either of an eternal "going" or of an irresistible "drawing."
I. What had drawn these crowds across the lake, away from their homes and their
occupations? They cared merely for the material benefits which Christ’s miracles
conferred. They had eaten of the loaves and were filled. They were not following the
drawing of the Father; they were merely drawn by the loaves and fishes. This was not
the kind of coming Christ cared for. The crowds had come to Capernaum; they had
not come to the Saviour.
II. To learn of the Father’s teaching is to yield to the Father’s drawing. So that the
whole process here indicated is divisible in thought into three stages. First, there is
the beginning; the Father teacheth—draweth. But not all whom the Father teaches
listen as yet to His teaching—not all whom the Father draws yield as yet to His
drawing. Hence, secondly, there is the middle point of separation: a man hears and
learns of the Father; he accepts the teaching of the inward voice; he yields himself up
to the inward drawing. Then, thirdly, there is the result; the man who thus submits to
the Divine teaching and drawing cometh unto Christ; he recognises in Christ one
whom the Father has sent to meet the needs and longings which the Father Himself
has awakened.
III. Never imagine that there may be a secret decree of God, shutting you out from
salvation. "God willeth all men to be saved." Yield to the Father’s drawing. By His
providence, His Holy Word, His Gospel, His Spirit, He has often appealed to you. He
has made you conscious of your need. He has made you think of your future. He has
given you glimpses of a higher life which it is possible for you to live. Yield, then, to
His drawing, and come to Christ as your Teacher, your Exemplar, your Redeemer,
248

249. and your King.
T. C. Finlayson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 280.
References: Joh_6:44.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 182. Joh_6:47.—Ibid.,
vol. xxviii., No. 1642. Joh_6:48.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 201. Joh_
6:48, Joh_6:49.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 110. Joh_6:48-54.—Ibid., vol. i.,
p. 110; vol. ix., p. 201. Joh_6:52.—G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons,
p. 52; Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 232. Joh_6:52-63.—Christian
World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 31; B. Jowett, Church of England Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 10.
I. When our Lord spoke of Himself as the Bread from heaven, the Jews murmured at
Him, and said, "Is not this Jesus, whose father and mother we know? How is it, then,
that He saith, I came down from heaven?" Then it was that Jesus spoke the words of
my text. All such murmurings and disputations would not bring them any nearer to
Him or to the truth. If they would listen to the still small voice which was trying to
make itself heard in their deepest nature, then the words of Jesus would attract
them; but so long as they drowned the inward voice by mere disputations, these
words of Jesus would be only likely to repel them. Yielding to the drawing of the
world, they might murmur and discuss and dispute, but they would only be drawn
away from Him; they could not really come to Him, unless they yielded to the
drawing of the Father.
II. Where, then, is there in this any hint of an exclusive election, or of an irresistible
grace? On the contrary, does not Jesus here quote from the prophets a wide,
inclusive word: "They shall be all taught of God"? And is He not here virtually
blaming those who do not believe in Him because they are not learning of the Father?
The fact is, that we all stand between two drawings—the drawing of the flesh and the
drawing of the Spirit. And what the text says is, that no man can come to Christ
except as drawn by the Father. This, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter: yield
to the Father’s drawing, and come to Christ as your Teacher, your Exemplar, your
Redeemer, and your King.
J. C. Finlayson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 280.
CALVIN, "44.No man can come to me, unless the Father, who hath sent me,
draw him. He does not merely accuse them of wickedness, but likewise reminds
them, that it is a peculiar gift of God to embrace the doctrine which is exhibited
by him; which he does, that their unbelief may not disturb weak minds. For
many are so foolish that, in the things of God, they depend on the opinions of
men; in consequence of which, they entertain suspicions about the Gospel, as
soon as they see that it is not received by the world. Unbelievers, on the other
hand, flattering themselves in their obstinacy, have the hardihood to condemn
the Gospel because it does not please them. On the contrary, therefore, Christ
declares that the doctrine of the Gospel, though it is preached to all without
exception, cannot be embraced by all, but that a new understanding and a new
perception are requisite; and, therefore, that faith does not depend on the will of
men, but that it is God who gives it.
249

250. Unless the Father draw him. To come to Christ being here used metaphorically
for believing, the Evangelist, in order to carry out the metaphor in the apposite
clause, says that those persons are drawn whose understandings God enlightens,
and whose hearts he bends and forms to the obedience of Christ. The statement
amounts to this, that we ought not to wonder if many refuse to embrace the
Gospel; because no man will ever of himself be able to come to Christ, but God
must first approach him by his Spirit; and hence it follows that all are not
drawn, but that God bestows this grace on those whom he has elected. True,
indeed, as to the kind of drawing, it is not violent, so as to compel men by
external force; but still it is a powerful impulse of the Holy Spirit, which makes
men willing who formerly were unwilling and reluctant. It is a false and profane
assertion, therefore, that none are drawn but those who are willing to be drawn,
(153) as if man made himself obedient to God by his own efforts; for the
willingness with which men follow God is what they already have from himself,
who has formed their hearts to obey him.
STEDMAN Notice how patiently our Lord repeats himself. Again and again He
tries to break through the confusion, the murkiness, the willfulness of the
people's hearts. But Jesus also says a very remarkable thing in these verses: He
says there must be an inner enlightenment of the Father. Belief is not based
merely on hearing the facts about Jesus or hearing the story of His life.
No figure in history has been so widely portrayed in film, in drama, in story, or
in books as Jesus. But hearing about Him is not enough. The inner eyes of the
soul must be opened and flooded with light in order for us to truly grasp the
implications of His life for our lives. The inner ears of our souls must be opened
so we can hear and understand that everything Jesus did and said personally
involves us.
I once met a woman from Sacramento, California, who was raised in a
nonreligious family and had never gone to church. As a high school student in
the 1960s, she was invited by a friend to attend the first Billy Graham crusade in
Sacramento. She decided to go--just out of curiosity. She sat there, determined
not to be influenced by Dr. Graham. She listened to the choir, to the testimonies
and the special music, all the while promising herself not to be "manipulated"
into responding to the invitation to receive Christ.
"I was sure he was psychologically preparing the audience to respond to an
invitation," she told me. "I knew I could withstand any kind of manipulation
because I knew exactly what he was doing. But then Billy Graham gave the
invitation--and suddenly I felt I just had to respond! I jumped out of my seat and
250

251. went down the aisle immediately. I was embarrassed as I looked around and saw
I was the very first person to respond! But I'm so glad I did respond."
This woman was born again that night. Why? Because she was drawn to Jesus
by the Father.
We think we choose Jesus, but He Himself said to His own disciples, "You did
not choose me, but I chose you."1 We think that our choices determine our
destiny, but the truth is that our choices are the result of God's attraction and
compulsion, His movement of our souls toward Him.
If you look back to the moment when you first chose Jesus as your Lord and
Savior, it probably seemed to be a natural event, centered on your own will and
desire. But the Scriptures reveal so much more about our humanity that we
ourselves understand. The Scriptures show us that God must draw us to
Himself--otherwise we would never come. No one would respond if they were not
"drawn" of the Father. And this word for "drawn," in the original Greek, is a
very strong word. Every time it is used in Scripture, it means to be "compelled"
or "dragged along."
In verse 45, Jesus quotes Isaiah 54:13 and calls this being "taught of God." It is a
process whereby our understanding is opened. It may happen suddenly or
slowly. It may happen very painfully. It not only happens to nonbelievers in
order to draw them to the point of faith and conversion. It also happens to
Christians who need to be continually taught of God. Many have had the
experience (and perhaps you know from your own experience) of hearing some
truth again and again for years, but never really understanding and
internalizing that truth until something suddenly opened their eyes and showed
them what it meant.
In each of our lives there come many times, many points of decision, where we
must consciously renew our commitment to God, where we must willingly hand
back the reins of our life after we have been trying to go our own way. At that
point, we are choosing God--and yet, our act of choosing Him is nothing more
than a response to His teaching and His leading in our lives because He has
already chosen us.
PINK
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John
251

252. 6:44). These words of Christ make manifest the depths of human depravity. They
expose the inveterate stubbornness of the human will. They explain the
"murmuring" of these Jews. In answering them thus, the obvious meaning of the
Savior’s words was this: By your murmuring you make it evident that you have
not come to Me, that you are not disposed to come to Me; and with your present
self-righteousness, you never will come to Me. Before you come to Me you must
be converted and become as little children. And before that can take place, you
must be the subjects of Divine operation. One has only to reflect on the condition
of the natural man in order to see the indubitable truth of this. Salvation is most
exactly suited to the sinner’s needs, but it is not at all suited to his natural
inclinations. The Gospel is too spiritual for his carnal mind: too humbling for his
pride: too exacting for his rebellious will: too lofty for his darkened
understanding: too holy for his earthbound desires.
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." How
can one who has a high conceit of himself and his religious performances admit
that all his righteousnesses are as filthy rags? How can one who prides himself
on his morality and his religiousness, own himself as lost, undone, and justly
condemned? How can one who sees so little amiss in himself, who is blind to the
fact that from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot there is no soundness
in him (Isa. 1:6), earnestly seek the great Physician? No man with an unchanged
heart and mind will ever embrace God’s salvation. The inability here, then, is a
moral one. Just as when Christ also said, "how can ye, being evil, speak good
things?" (Matthew 12:34). And again, "How can ye believe, which receive honor
one of another?" (John 5:44). And again, "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the
world cannot receive" (John 14:17). Water will not flow uphill, nor will the
natural man act contrary to his corrupt nature. An evil tree cannot bring forth
good fruit, and equally impossible is it for a heart that loves the darkness to also
love the light.
The depravity of man is, from the human side, the only thing which will explain
the general rejection of the Gospel. The only satisfactory answer to the questions,
Why is not Christ cordially received by all to whom He is presented? Why do the
majority of men despise and reject Him? is man is a fallen creature, a depraved
being who loves sin and hates holiness. So, too, the only satisfactory answer
which can be given to the questions, Why is the Gospel cordially received by any
man? Why is it not obstinately rejected by all? is, In the case of those who
believe, God has, by His supernatural influence, counteracted against the human
depravity; in other words, the Father has "drawn" to the Son.
The condition of the natural man is altogether beyond human repair. To talk
about exerting the will is to ignore the state of the man behind the will. Man’s
will has not escaped the general wreckage of his nature. When man fell, every
part of his being was affected. Just as truly as the sinner’s heart is estranged
from God and his understanding darkened, so is his will enslaved by sin. To
predicate the freedom of the will is to deny that man is totally depraved. To say
that man has the power within himself to either reject or accept Christ, is to
repudiate the fact that he is the captive of the Devil. It is to say there is at least
one good thing in the flesh. It is to flatly contradict this word of the Son of
252

253. God—"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
him."
Man’s only hope lies outside of himself, in Divine help. And this is what we
meant above when we said that this word of Christ was not intended to close the
door of hope, but pointed out the direction in which hope lay. If it be true that I
cannot get away from myself; if it be true that my whole being is depraved, and
therefore at enmity with God; if it be true that I am powerless to reverse the
tendency of my nature, what then can I do? Why, acknowledge my helplessness,
and cry for help. What should a man do who falls down and breaks his hip? He
cannot rise: should he, then, lie there in his misery and perish? Not if he has any
desire for relief. He will lift up his voice and summon assistance. And if these
murmuring Jews had believed what Christ told them about their helplessness,
this is what they had done. And if the unsaved today would only believe God
when He says that the sinner is lost, he, too, would call for a Deliverer. If I
cannot come to Christ except the Father "draws" me, then my responsibility is to
beg the Father to "draw" me.
In what, we may inquire, does this "drawing" consist? It certainly has reference
to something more than the invitation of the Gospel. The word used is a strong
one, signifiying, the putting forth of power and obliging the object seized to
respond. The same word is found in John 18:10; John 21:6, 11. If the reader
consults these passages he will find that it means far more than "to attract."
Impel would give the true force of it here in John 6:44.
As said above, the unregenerate sinner is so depraved that with an unchanged
heart and mind he will never come to Christ. And the change which is absolutely
essential is one which God alone can produce. It is, therefore, by Divine
"drawing" that any one comes to Christ. What is this "drawing"? We answer, It
is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the self-righteousness of the sinner,
and convicting him of his lost condition. It is the Holy Spirit awakening within
him a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the pride of the
natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as an empty-handed beggar. It
is the Holy Spirit creating within him an hunger for the bread of life.
"It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God" (John 6:45).
Our Lord confirms what He had just said by an appeal to the Scriptures. The
reference is to Isaiah 54:13: "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord."
This serves to explain, in part at least, the meaning of "draw." Those drawn are
they who are "taught of God." And who are these, so highly favored? The
quotation from Isaiah 54 tells us: they are God’s "children"; His own, His elect.
Notice carefully how our Lord quoted Isaiah 54:13. He simply said, "And they
shall be all taught of God." This helps us to define the "all" in other passages,
like John 12:32: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me." The
"all" does not mean all of humanity, but all of God’s children, all His elect.
253

254. 45
It is written in the Prophets: `They will all be taught
by God.' [38] Everyone who listens to the Father and
learns from him comes to me.
BARNES, "In the prophets - Isa_54:13. A similar sentiment is found in Mic_
4:1-4, and Jer_31:34; but by the prophets, here, is meant the book of the prophets,
and it is probable that Jesus had reference only to the place in Isaiah, as this was the
usual way of quoting the prophets.
Shall be all taught of God - This explains the preceding verse. It is by the
teaching of his Word and Spirit that men are drawn to God. This shows that it is not
compulsory, and that there is no obstacle in the way but a strong voluntary ignorance
and unwillingness.
CLARKE, "It is written in the prophets - Isa_54:13; Jer_31:34.
They shall be all taught of God - This explains the preceding verse. God
teaches a man to know himself, that, finding his need of salvation, he may flee to lay
hold on the hope which his heavenly Father has set before him in the Gospel. God
draws men by his love, and by showing them what his love has done for them. Fear
repels, but love attracts. He who is ever preaching the terrors of the law, and
representing God as a vindictive judge, will never bring sinners to him. They are
afraid of this terrible God: but they love him, who so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have
everlasting life.
GILL, "It is written in the prophets,.... In the book of the prophets, as the
Ethiopic version renders it: the Jews divided the books of the Old Testament into
three parts, the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa; now in that division which
was called the Prophets, are the following words: or in one of the prophets, namely,
in Isa_54:13; so the Syriac version reads, "in the prophet"; though some think
reference is had to more prophets, and more passages than one, as besides the above
mentioned, Jer_31:34 Mic_4:2;
and they shall be all taught of God; by his Spirit to know themselves, and Jesus
Christ; that is, all that are ordained to eternal life; all that are given to Christ, and are
chosen in him; all the children of Zion, and who are the children of God; these are all,
sooner or later, in a special manner, taught of God: and which does not intend mere
external instructions, and objective teachings by the ministry of the word, for many
are so taught, who never come to Christ; but special teachings, such as are attended
254

255. with the energy of divine grace, and the power of the Spirit of God, who guides into
all truth, savingly and spiritually: for this is to be understood of their being taught in
the Gospel of Christ, and not in the law, as the Targum paraphrases it,
"all thy children shall learn in the law of the Lord.''
And that this prophecy refers to Gospel times, is clear from the citation and
application of the first verse of it, to the church in the times of the apostles, Gal_4:27.
The Jews themselves acknowledge the prophecy belongs to the times of the Messiah,
to which they expressly apply (u) the words in Isa_54:5, "thy Maker is thy husband",
&c. And one of their modern commentators allows (w), that this very passage, "all thy
children shall be taught of God", refers, ‫,לעתיד‬ "to the time to come"; that is, to the
times of the Messiah: in this citation, those words, "thy children", are left out, to
show that the words are not to be restrained to the people of the Jews, as they might
seem by that clause, and to whom the Jews would limit them: for so they say (x),
"they are truly taught of God from whom prophecy comes, which does not to all the
world, but to Israel only, of whom it is written, "and all thy children are taught of
God".''
But our Lord, by these words, instructs us, and would have us observe, that all that
the Father hath given him, whether Jews or Gentiles, of whom he had been speaking
in the preceding verses, should be taught of God; and so taught, as to be drawn and
brought to him, and believe in him, and have everlasting life: wherefore he infers
from hence, that every man, whether a Jew or a Gentile, that is taught of God, will
come to him in a spiritual way, and trust in him for eternal life and happiness, as
follows:
every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father,
cometh unto me; everyone that has heard the voice of the Father's love, grace, and
mercy in the Gospel, and has learned of him the way of peace, life, and salvation by
Christ, under the influence of his grace, comes unto Christ; being encouraged by the
declarations and promises of grace he has heard and learned, and ventures his soul
on Christ, and commits it to him; trusting and relying on his person, blood,
righteousness, and sacrifice, for justification, pardon, atonement, acceptance with
God, and eternal life.
JAMISON, "written in the prophets — in Isa_54:13; Jer_31:33, Jer_31:34;
other similar passages may also have been in view. Our Lord thus falls back upon
Scripture authority for this seemingly hard saying.
all taught of God — not by external revelation merely, but by internal
illumination, corresponding to the “drawing” of Joh_6:44.
Every man therefore, etc. — that is, who hath been thus efficaciously taught of
Him.
cometh unto me — with absolute certainty, yet in the sense above given of
“drawing”; that is, “As none can come to Me but as divinely drawn, so none thus
drawn shall fail to come.”
CALVIN, "45.It is written in the Prophets. Christ confirms by the testimony of
Isaiah what he said, that no man can come to him, unless he be drawn by the
255

256. Father He uses the wordprophets in the plural number, because all their
prophecies had been collected into one volume, so that all the prophets might
justly be accounted one book. The passage which is here quoted is to be found in
Isaiah 54:13, where, speaking of the restoration of the Church, he promises to
her, sons taught by the instruction of God Hence it may easily be inferred, that
the Church cannot be restored in any other way than by God undertaking the
office of a Teacher, and bringing believers to himself. The way of teaching, of
which the prophet speaks, does not consist merely in the external voice, but
likewise in the secret operation of the Holy Spirit. In short, this teaching of God
is the inward illumination of the heart.
And they shall be all taught by God. As to the word all, it must be limited to the
elect, who alone are the true children of the Church. Now it is not difficult to see
in what manner Christ applies this prediction to the present subject. Isaiah
shows that then only is the Church truly edified, when she has her children
taught by God Christ, therefore, justly concludes that men have not eyes to
behold the light of life, until God has opened them. But at the same time, he
fastens on the general phrase,all; because he argues from it, that all who are
taught by God are effectually drawn, so as to come; and to this relates what he
immediately adds,
Whosoever therefore hath heard my Father. The amount of what is said is, that
all who do not believe are reprobate and doomed to destruction; because all the
sons of the Church and heirs of life are made by God to be his obedient disciples.
Hence it follows, that there is not one of all the elect of God who shall not be a
partaker of faith in Christ. (154) Again, as Christ formerly affirmed that men
are not fitted for believing, until they have been drawn, so he now declares that
the grace of Christ, by which they are drawn, is efficacious, so that they
necessarily believe.
These two clauses utterly overturn the whole power of free will, of which the
Papists dream. For if it be only when the Father has drawn us that we begin to
come to Christ, there is not in us any commencement of faith, or any preparation
for it. On the other hand, if all come whom the Father hath taught, He gives to
them not only the choice of believing, but faith itself. When, therefore, we
willingly yield to the guidance of the Spirit, this is a part, and, as it were, a
sealing of grace; because God would not draw us, if He were only to stretch out
his hand, and leave our will in a state of suspense. But in strict propriety of
language He is said to draw us, when He extends the power of his Spirit to the
full effect of faith. They are said to hear God, who willingly assent to God
speaking to them within, because the Holy Spirit reigns in their hearts.
Cometh to me. He shows the inseparable connection that exists between him and
the Father. For the meaning is, that it is impossible that any who are God’s
disciples shall not obey Christ, and that they who reject Christ refuse to betaught
by God; because the only wisdom that all the elect learn in the school of God is,
to come to Christ; for the Father, who sent him, cannot deny himself.
256

257. PINK
"Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh
unto me" (John 6:45). This also throws light on the "drawing" of the previous
verse. Those drawn are they who have "heard" and "learned of the Father."
That is to say, God has given them an ear to hear and a heart to perceive. It is
parallel with what we get in 1 Corinthians 1:23, 24: "But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness: But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and
the wisdom of God." "Called" here refers to the effectual and irresistible call of
God. It is a call which is heard with the inward ear. It is a call which is instinct
with Divine power, drawing its object to Christ Himself.
46
No one has seen the Father except the one who is
from God; only he has seen the Father.
BARNES, "Not that any man hath seen the Father - Jesus added this,
evidently, to guard against mistake. He had said that all who came to him were
taught of God. The teacher was commonly seen and heard by the pupil; but, lest it
should be supposed that he meant to say that a man to come to him must see and
hear God, visibly and audibly, he adds that he did not intend to affirm this. It was
still true that no man had seen God at any time. They were not, therefore, to expect to
see God, and his words were not to be perverted as if he meant to teach that.
Save he which is of God - Jesus here evidently refers to himself as the Son of
God. He had just said that no man had seen the Father. When he affirms that he has
seen the Father, it implies that he is more than man. He is the only-begotten Son who
is in the bosom of the Father, Joh_1:18; the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, Heb_1:3; God over all, blessed forever, Rom_9:5. By his being
of God is meant that he is the only-begotten Son of God, and sent as the Messiah into
the world.
Hath seen - Hath intimately known or perceived him. He knows his nature,
character, plans. This is a claim to knowledge superior to what man possesses, and it
cannot be understood except by supposing that Jesus is equal with God.
CLARKE, "Not that any man hath seen the Father - He does not teach men
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258. by appearing personally before them, or by any other outward voice than that of his
word and messengers; but he teaches by his Spirit. This teaching from God implies:
1. That they shall have proper instruction.
2. That they shall comprehend it; for, when God teaches, there is no delay in
learning. And,
3. That this teaching should be by the influence of the Holy Ghost upon their
minds.
He which is of God - That is, Christ alone: neither Moses nor any of the
prophets had ever seen God: Jesus, who lay in the bosom of the Father, He saw and
revealed him, Joh_1:18.
GILL, "Not that any man hath seen the Father,.... This is said, lest it should be
thought from the above words, that our Lord meant that men should be so taught of
God, as that they should visibly see the Father, and vocally hear his voice, and be
personally instructed by him; for his voice is not heard, nor his shape seen; see Joh_
1:18;
save he which is of God; who is begotten of him, and of the same nature and
perfections with him, though a distinct person from him, and who was always with
him, and lay in his bosom:
he hath seen the Father; has perfect knowledge of him, personal communion
with him; has seen the perfections and glory of his person, and the thoughts,
purposes, and counsels of his heart, his whole mind, and will, and all the grace,
goodness, and mercy which is in him, and has declared it; see Joh_1:18.
JAMISON, "Not that any man hath seen, etc. — Lest they should confound
that “hearing and learning of the Father,” to which believers are admitted by divine
teaching, with His own immediate access to Him, He here throws in a parenthetical
explanation; stating, as explicitly as words could do it, how totally different the two
cases were, and that only He who is “from God” hath this naked, immediate access to
the Father. (See Joh_1:18).
CALVIN, "46.Not that any man hath seen the Father. As he has hitherto
magnified the grace of his Father, so now he earnestly directs believers to himself
alone. For both must be joined together; that no knowledge of Christ can be
obtained, until the Father enlighten by his Spirit those who are by nature blind;
and yet that it is in vain to seek God, unless Christ go before; for the majesty of
God is so lofty, that the senses of men cannot reach him. Nay, more, all that
knowledge of God which men may think that they have attained out of Christ
will be a deadly abyss. When he says that he alone hath known the Father, he
means that it is an office which belongs peculiarly to himself, to manifest God to
men, who would otherwise have been concealed.
PINK
"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen
258

259. the Father" (John 6:46). This is very important. It guards against a false
inference. It was spoken to prevent His hearers (and us today) from supposing
that some direct communication from the Father is necessary before a sinner can
be saved. Christ had just affirmed that only those come to Him who had heard
and learned of the Father. But this does not mean that such characters hear His
audible voice or are directly spoken to by Him. Only the Savior was [and is] in
immediate communication with the Father. We hear and learn from the Father
only through His written Word! So much then for the primary significance of
this verse according to its local application. But there is far more in it than what
we have just sought to bring out.
"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen
the Father." How this displays the glory of Christ, bringing out, as it does, the
infinite distance there is between the incarnate Son and all men on earth. No
man had seen the Father; but the One speaking had, and He had because He is
"of (not "the Father" but) God." He is a member of the Godhead, Himself very
God of very God. And because He had "seen the Father," He was fully qualified
to speak of Him, to reveal Him—see John 1:18. And who else could "declare" the
Father? How else could the light of the Father’s love and grace have shined into
our hearts, but through and by Christ, His Son?
STEDMAN, "Some years ago, I was driving through a small town in the South
and I saw a large billboard on the front lawn of a church. The billboard
proclaimed in huge letters, "This church is the only authorized spokesman for
Jesus Christ on earth." I don't recall what kind of church it was, but I vividly
remember being impressed and astounded by the arrogance of that claim! After
all, this church was taking upon itself a role that Jesus said was His alone: The
role of speaking for and revealing God!
"No one has seen the Father," Jesus declares in verse 46, "except the one who is
from God: only he has seen the Father." Jesus is emphatic and unambiguous on
this point: There is only one authorized spokesman for the God, and that is
Jesus. We must believe in Him because He is the only mediator between God and
man.
Then in verse 47 Jesus adds these wonderful words: "I tell you the truth, he who
believes has everlasting life." Here we see a two-step process by which God
brings us to Himself. Having been drawn, says Jesus, we must believe. Sometimes
He draws us through painful experiences, through hurt, loss, and
disappointment. But He also draws us through joys, through
unexpected blessings and pleasures, through the still, small voice of the Holy
Spirit.
259

260. Some are drawn through the process of years, while others are spiritually
awakened suddenly and dramatically, like Paul on the Damascus Road. It is all
in the control of God, but once we have been awakened, our responsibility is to
respond and believe. And we must not just believe once, not just commit
ourselves once, we must keep on believing and continually commit ourselves to
His Lordship, continually feasting on the bread of life.
47
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting
life.
CLARKE, "Hath everlasting life - He is entitled to this, on his believing me to be
the Messiah, and trusting in me alone for salvation. Our blessed Lord recapitulates
here what he had said in the preceding discourse. The person who is saved is,
1. drawn by the Father;
2. hears his instructions;
3. accepts the salvation offered;
4. is given to Christ Jesus, that he may be justified by faith;
5. is nourished by the bread of life;
6. perseveres in the faith;
7. is not lost, but is raised up at the last day; and
8. is made a partaker of eternal life.
GILL, "Verily, verily, I say unto you,.... This is a certain truth, and to be
depended on:
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life; not only he may have it, as in
Joh_6:40, and shall have it, but he has it; he has it in Christ, his head and
representative; he has it in the covenant of grace; he has it in faith and hope; he has a
right unto it, and a meetness for it; he has the earnest of it, the grace and Spirit of
God; and he has the beginning and foretastes of it in his soul, and shall certainly
enjoy it.
HENRY, "[2.] They shall never die, not die eternally; for, First, He that believes on
Christ has everlasting life (Joh_6:47); he has the assurance of it, the grant of it, the
earnest of it; he has it in the promise and first-fruits. Union with Christ and
260

261. communion with God in Christ are everlasting life begun. Secondly, Whereas they
that did eat manna died, Christ is such bread as a man may eat of and never die,
Joh_6:49, Joh_6:50. Observe here, 1. The insufficiency of the typical manna: Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. There may be much good use
made of the death of our fathers; their graves speak to us, and their monuments are
our memorials, particularly of this, that the greatest plenty of the most dainty food
will neither prolong the thread of life nor avert the stroke of death. Those that did eat
manna, angel's food, died like other men. There could be nothing amiss in their diet,
to shorten their days, nor could their deaths be hastened by the toils and fatigues of
life (for they neither sowed nor reaped), and yet they died. (1.) Many of them died by
the immediate strokes of God's vengeance for their unbelief and murmurings; for,
though they did eat that spiritual meat, yet with many of them God was not well-
pleased, but they were overthrown in the wilderness, 1Co_10:3-5. Their eating
manna was no security to them from the wrath of God, as believing in Christ is to us.
(2.) The rest of them died in a course of nature, and their carcases fell, under a divine
sentence, in that wilderness where they did eat manna. In that very age when
miracles were daily bread was the life of man reduced to the stint it now stands at, as
appears, Psa_90:10. Let them not then boast so much of manna. 2. The all-
sufficiency of the true manna, of which the other was a type: This is the bread that
cometh down from heaven, that truly divine and heavenly food, that a man may eat
thereof and not die; that is, not fall under the wrath of God, which is killing to the
soul; not die the second death; no, nor the first death finally and irrecoverably. Not
die, that is, not perish, not come short of the heavenly Canaan, as the Israelites did of
the earthly, for want of faith, though they had manna. This is further explained by
that promise in the next words: If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever,
Joh_6:51. This is the meaning of this never dying: though he go down to death, he
shall pass through it to that world where there shall be no more death. To live for
ever is not to be for ever (the damned in hell shall be for ever, the soul of man was
made for an endless state), but to be happy for ever. And because the body must
needs die, and be as water spilt upon the ground, Christ here undertakes for the
gathering of that up too (as before, Joh_6:44, I will raise him up at the last day);
and even that shall live for ever.
CALVIN, "47.He who believeth in me. This is an explanation of the former
statement. For we are taught by these words that it is when we believe in Christ
that God is made known to us; for then do we begin to see, as in a mirror, or as
in a bright and lively image, God who was formerly invisible. Accursed then be
every thing that is declared to us concerning God, if it do not lead us to Christ.
What it is to believe in Christ I have already explained; for we must not imagine
a confused and empty faith, which deprives Christ of his power, as the Papists
do, who believe in Christ just as far as they think fit. For the reason why we
obtain life by faith is, that we know that all the parts of our life are contained in
Christ.
The inference which some draw from this passage — that to believe in Christ is
the same thing as to eat Christ, or his flesh — is not well founded. For these two
things differ from each other as former and latter; and in like manner, to come
to Christ and to drink him, for coming to him is first in order. I acknowledge
that Christ is not eaten but by faith; but the reason is, because we receive him by
faith, that he may dwell in us, and that we may be made partakers of him, and
thus may be one with him. To eat him, therefore, is an effect or work of faith.
261

262. PINK
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life"
(John 6:47). Christ still pursues the line of truth begun in verse 44. This forty-
seventh verse is not an invitation to sinners, but a doctrinal declaration
concerning saints. In verse 44 He had stated what was essential from the Divine
side if a sinner come to Christ: he must be "drawn" by the Father. In verse 45
He defined, in part, what this "drawing" consists of: it is hearing and learning of
the Father. Then, having guarded against a false inference from His words in
verse 45, the Savior now says, "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
Believing is not the cause of a sinner obtaining Divine life, rather is it the effect of
it. The fact that a man believes, is the evidence that he already has Divine life
within him. True, the sinner ought to believe. Such is his bounden duty. And in
addressing sinners from the standpoint of human responsibility, it is perfectly
proper to say ‘Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have eternal
life.’ Nevertheless, the fact remains that no unregenerate sinner ever did or ever
will believe. The unregenerate sinner ought to love God, and love Him with all
his heart. He is commanded to. But he does not, and will not, until Divine grace
gives him a new heart. So he ought to believe, but he will not till he has been
quickened into newness of life. Therefore, we say that when any man does
believe, is found believing, it is proof positive that he is already in possession of
eternal life. "He that believeth on me hath (already has) eternal life": cf. John
3:36; 5:24; 1 John 5:1, etc.
WIL POUNDS
APPROPRIATING THE TRUE BREAD OF HEAVEN
This living bread has to be eaten. Jesus explains:
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread
which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I 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” (vv. 47-51).
Jesus emphasizes in verse fifty that this “eating” is a singular event, a decision to
believe and appropriate the gift of eternal life. Jesus is the living bread that came
down through His incarnation, and the sinner must eat this bread which is the
decisive moment he believes. It is a once for all decision. “Eat” refers to
appropriating Christ. It is believing on Him as your Savior. Any person who
takes this decisive action will live forever.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My
flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last
262

263. day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh
and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me,
and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of
Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and
died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (vv. 53-58).
Referring to His incarnation, Jesus said He is the living bread that came down
from heaven, and it is His blood that we drink. He is referring to His death.
“Jesus is flesh offered in sacrifice.” Jesus is giving Himself for the world. He
offers Himself up as a sacrifice (10:11, 15; 11:51-52; 15:13; 17:19; 18:14). His
“gift” is a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice that will atone for the sins of the world.
Earlier Jesus was described as the “Lamb of God” that takes away the sin of the
world. Our salvation depends on the sacrificial death of Jesus. That is the living
bread.
We have hope because Jesus Christ died for our sin. “In His resurrection we now
have life. In His righteousness, through His death, we are now reckoned
righteous in the sight of a holy and loving God,” notes Boice.
When we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we assimilate by faith the great
provision God has made for us in the death of Christ. He is not referring to
“sacraments,” but to those who see Him and believe in Him. Jesus uses a
powerful and vivid metaphor to denote coming to Him, and believing in Him (cf.
v. 35) It is appropriating Him by faith. His death is mine the moment I believe on
Him. It becomes life to me. I make Him mine forever by an act of faith. I cannot
receive Him a second time because He never leaves me.
Have you eaten?
A. W. Pink made several practical applications of this figure of speech.
Eating is necessary if we are to take advantage of the bread freely offered. Unless
I eat the bread will not nourish me. I may examine it, study it, smell it, read up
on it, but it is useless unless I eat it. I will not be nourished unless I eat it. All the
knowledge in the world about Jesus Christ will avail me nothing until I “eat”
Him. Knowing the truth about Him, speculating and arguing about it, talking
about it will do you and me no good until we believe on Christ.
When we eat we respond to a hunger. When we are really hungry we don’t
grumble and complain, we eat. When the Holy Spirit awakens our spiritual need
we feast on Christ. Without the bread of heaven Jesus offers we perish eternally.
When the Holy Spirit creates the hunger within us we promptly and gladly
receive Him.
Eating means appropriation. I do not assimilate the bread into my body until I
eat. I must make the food my own. When it becomes a part of me through the
digestive process I gain strength. Christ may be beautiful, attractive, and
appealing to me, but until I humble myself and receive Him as mine, I am still
without spiritual life He gives. “Not until I appropriate Him, not until I receive
Him as mine, shall I be saved. Then, He who before was outside, will indwell
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264. me.” Only then can I know Him as the bread of life, nourishing my soul.
Eating is a personal act. It is something no one else can do for me. Watching
others eat a nourishing meal will not do anything for me. No one can receive
Jesus Christ for you and me. It is a personal act. “Unless you have ‘eaten’ the
Bread of life, unless you have personally received Christ as yours, it has all
availed you nothing.” Jesus said, “If any man eat this bread, he shall live
forever.”
“There are many strong believers in hell, and on the road to hell; but they are
those who believe a lie, and not the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.” Christ
crucified, who is now alive for evermore is the only one who can save you. “And
there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has
been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
If you are only eating physical food you will only prolong your earthly life and
die. However, when you eat the bread of life you obtain the bread of God and
you will never die spiritually. In verse fifty Jesus emphasized the once-for-all
action of receiving Christ. I eat His flesh and drink His blood when I believe that
His death is the perfect sacrifice for my sins. I believe in His vicarious
substitutionary atonement for my sins. In that moment He saves me for all
eternity. In that moment that I believe what Jesus did for me I spiritually eat His
flesh and drink His blood. In that moment God give us eternal life and we are
regenerated spiritually.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves” (v. 53). Christ is
referring to His vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice of Himself for us that we
receive by faith. To have “no life” in Christ is to continue in spiritual death. To
believe on Him is the means of receiving eternal life.
Jesus said you must feed upon Him. We eat Him by believing on Him,
committing our lives to Him, taking Him into ourselves so that He becomes a
part of you and you of Him. We eat and drink Christ when we say, “Lord Jesus,
I want You as my Savior. I realize that You died for me on the cross and I want
Your death to stand in for my death. I give myself to You. Receive me as Your
follower.” Faith in Christ means to commit yourself to Christ.
OUR DAILY BREAD
When we appropriate Jesus Christ by faith as our Savior He gives us assurance
that He will raise us up at the last day (v. 54). “He who eats My flesh and drinks
My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” When you
trusted in Christ God placed His eternal life within you and will keep you until
the last day. But Jesus is also emphasizing that this heavenly bread “makes that
life of the age to come their heritage to be enjoyed by anticipation here and now.
The true sustenance and refreshment of our spiritual life are to be found only in
Him who died that we might live.” We feed on Him by faith in the reading and
the hearing of the Word of God. “Just as the incarnate Son, when on earth, lived
in humble dependence on the Father, so now the believer is to live his daily life in
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265. total humble dependence on Christ.”
The marvelous thing about the life in Christ is that He is great enough and
glorious enough so that you will never exhaust Him in this life or in the next. He
knows you and what you need and how to meet it. There is power in the name of
Jesus Christ. It is His life that sustains us in our most difficult journeys through
life. We come to Him when we are tired, weary and exhausted and He gives us
our daily strength. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). You don’t’ get that strength in human teachers.
Christ alone gives us this daily supply. Come feed upon Christ in His great glory.
Is Christ as real to you spiritually as something you can taste or handle? Is He as
much a part of you as that which you eat? How few Christians really feed upon
Christ. He is the only One who can make us grow spiritually. We eat and feast
upon Him by faith. It is a spiritual appropriation of all Jesus Christ is and has
accomplished for us through His death and resurrection.
How do we eat and drink Christ daily?
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” When you
believe on Christ as your Savior, it is the beginning of a whole new life that
brings about a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ which is to grow by
feeding upon Him every day. Give us “today” and do it “daily” stresses the idea
of repeated requests. He can give us “our daily bread” because He is “the bread
of life.” He invites us to come daily with our most important needs. Do you pray
daily, “Lord, give me the spiritual bread that comes down from heaven and
satisfies my soul”?
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (v. 56).
There is no mystical power, or something meritorious in the act of eating. The
nourishing spiritual power is in the food eaten. Jesus uses vivid language that
reveals a faith-union by which a mutual indwelling, a "coinherence," of Jesus
and His people is established. It reminds us of Romans six where Paul speaks of
our co death, coburial, coresurrection with Christ. Such is our intimate position
with Christ. John repeatedly expressed this experience by use of the verb meno,
“abide,” “remain,” or “dwell” (15:4). The apostle Paul says the same thing when
he uses the phrases “in Christ” or “Christ in me.” In 1 John 2:24 the apostle
John tells us believing in Christ and keeping Jesus’ commandments are two
things which cannot be separated. “There is no true faith without obedience, no
true obedience without faith.” John places a great emphasis on this mutual
indwelling of Christ and the believer in 13:31-16:33.
The saved sinner is brought into a vital union with Christ whereby we can enjoy
the most intimate fellowship with Him. It is only the one who “eats” and
“drinks” constantly that abides in unbroken fellowship with Christ. We feed
upon the risen Christ.
The true bread of life feeds our souls eternally. He gives us “supernatural food”
(1 Cor. 10:3). It always points to Christ. Every time we remember that Christ
died for us we feed on Him in our heart by faith with thanksgiving. Jesus stresses
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266. the continuous appropriation of His flesh and blood. To eat and drink for a
Jewish person was to share in and partake of the privileges of friendship. It is
our responsibility to daily eat, appropriate the spiritual food Jesus provides
through His sacrifice on the cross. He has made a perfect daily provision for our
every spiritual need. He invites us to come daily and feast upon His marvelous
provision.
How do I “eat” my daily bread?
You can’t appropriate Christ daily until you get to know Him daily. You have to
get into the Scriptures that tell about Him. Has Jesus Christ become your daily
bread? We feed ourselves on Christ daily by cherishing and obeying His Word.
His words are spiritual, life-giving food.
Read the Gospels out loud to yourself. Read it repeatedly. Read it with emphasis
and feeling. Pause and think about what you just read. Pray over what you have
read. Ask the Holy Spirit to make your mind receptive to the word of God. Pay
close attention to words. Never miss the significant ones. Use your dictionary if
you do not know what it means. Trace the meaning of the key words with the
marginal references and your concordance. Talk the words through; think the
words through. If you are extroverted talk out loud to yourself. Compare one
word with another. Look it up in another place in the Scriptures so you can
begin to see the meaning of the passage. Go back and read the passage over and
over and over until the focus of your concentration is upon Christ and the
Scriptures. Become so familiar with the passage you can “see” it in your mind’s
eye. Use your sanctified imagination and make Jesus Christ preeminent in your
mind and heart. Don’t forget to yield to Him and do what you know is the right
thing to do.
We need to meditate often on the meaning of His death and resurrection for us.
We need to get into His Word daily and find Christ in it. Check out the “Christ
in the Old Testament” series on this website which are short studies on the
person and work of Christ. “Walking with the Giants” and “Selah” are also
good starters.
Develop an intimate, personal, communication with Jesus on a daily basis. Learn
to talk to him through out the day. Draw from His person by abiding in Him.
The very life I live now I live by faith in Christ. It is His life in me. The apostle
Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul
was feasting on Christ.
How is your spiritual appetite? Do you find yourself grumbling and complaining
or feasting on Christ? Do you find yourself grumbling in a spiritual desert of
your own making? To what extent are you feeding on Christ? We “eat” His flesh
and “drink” His blood by meditating on Him, by dwelling on His Word, and by
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267. resting our faith on Him.
If you need help in becoming a Christian here is A Free Gift for You.
Title: John 6:32-59 Jesus is the Bread of Life
Series: The I AM sayings of Jesus
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 1998. Anyone is free to use this material and
distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without
the author's written consent. Scripture quotations from the New American
Standard Bible (c) NASB." Used by permission. The Lockman Foundation.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He served as
a missionary for 25 years in Ecuador and Honduras, and has pastored in
Panama, Ecuador and the U. S. He had a daily expository Bible teaching
ministry head in over 100 countries for over ten years. He continues to seek
opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann
have three grown daughters.
48
I am the bread of life.
BARNES, "I am that bread of life - My doctrines and the benefits of my
mediation are that real support of spiritual life of which the manna in the wilderness
was the faint emblem. See Joh_6:32-33.
CLARKE, "I am that bread of life - I alone afford, by my doctrine and Spirit,
that nourishment by which the soul is saved unto life eternal.
GILL, "I am that bread of life. See Gill on Joh_6:35.
HENRY, "That he is the bread of life (Joh_6:35, and again, Joh_6:48), that
bread of life, alluding to the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden, which was
to Adam the seal of that part of the covenant, Do this and live, of which he might eat
and live. Christ is the bread of life, for he is the fruit of the tree of life. First, He is the
living bread (so he explains himself, Joh_6:51): I am the living bread. Bread is itself
a dead thing, and nourishes not but by the help of the faculties of a living body; but
Christ is himself living bread, and nourishes by his own power. Manna was a dead
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268. thing; if kept but one night, it putrefied and bred worms; but Christ is ever living,
everlasting bread, that never moulds, nor waxes old. The doctrine of Christ crucified
is now as strengthening and comforting to a believer as ever it was, and his mediation
still of as much value and efficacy as ever. Secondly, He gives life unto the world
(Joh_6:33), spiritual and eternal life; the life of the soul in union and communion
with God here, and in the vision and fruition of him hereafter; a life that includes in it
all happiness. The manna did only reserve and support life, did not preserve and
perpetuate life, much less restore it; but Christ gives life to those that were dead in
sin. The manna was ordained only for the life of the Israelites, but Christ is given for
the life of the world; none are excluded from the benefit of this bread, but such as
exclude themselves. Christ came to put life into the minds of men, principles
productive of acceptable performances. [4.] That he is the bread which came down
from heaven; this is often repeated here, Joh_6:33, Joh_6:50, Joh_6:51, Joh_6:58.
This denotes, First, The divinity of Christ's person. As God, he had a being in heaven,
whence he came to take our nature upon him: I came down from heaven, whence we
may infer his antiquity, he was in the beginning with God; his ability, for heaven is
the firmament of power; and his authority, he came with a divine commission.
Secondly, The divine original of all that good which flows to us through him. He
comes, not only katabas - that came down (Joh_6:51), but katabainōi - that comes
down; he is descending, denoting a constant communication of light, life, and love,
from God to believers through Christ, as the manna descended daily; see Eph_1:3.
Omnia desuper - All things from above. [5.] That he is that bread of which the
manna was a type and figure (Joh_6:58), that bread, the true bread, Joh_6:32. As
the rock that they drank of was Christ, so was the manna they ate of spiritual bread,
1Co_10:3, 1Co_10:4. Manna was given to Israel; so Christ to the spiritual Israel.
There was manna enough for them all; so in Christ a fulness of grace for all believers;
he that gathers much of this manna will have none to spare when he comes to use it;
and he that gathers little, when his grace comes to be perfected in glory, shall find
that he has no lack. Manna was to be gathered in the morning; and those that would
find Christ must seek him early. Manna was sweet, and, as the author of the Wisdom
of Solomon tells us (Wisd. 16:20), was agreeable to every palate; and to those that
believe Christ is precious. Israel lived upon manna till they came to Canaan; and
Christ is our life. There was a memorial of the manna preserved in the ark; so of
Christ in the Lord's supper, as the food of souls.
(2.) He here shows what his undertaking was, and what his errand into the world.
Laying aside the metaphor, he speaks plainly, and speaks no proverb, giving us an
account of his business among men, Joh_6:38-40.
JAMISON, "I am the bread of life — “As he that believeth in Me hath
everlasting life, so I am Myself the everlasting Sustenance of that life.” (Repeated
from Joh_6:35).
CALVIN, "48.I am the bread of life Besides what he formerly said, that he is the
life-giving bread, by which our souls are nourished, in order to explain it more
fully, he likewise repeats the contrast between this bread and the ancient manna,
together with a comparison of the men.
PINK
"I am that bread of life" (John 6:48). This is the first of the seven "I am" titles of
Christ found in this Gospel, and found nowhere else. The others are, "I am the
light of the world" (John 8:12); "I am the door" (John 10:9); "I am the good
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269. shepherd" (John 10:11); "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25); "I
am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6); "I am the true vine" (15:l).
They all look back to that memorable occasion when God appeared to Moses at
the burning bush, and bade him go down into Egypt, communicate with His
people, interview Pharaoh, and command him to let the children of God go forth
into the wilderness to worship Jehovah. And when Moses asked, Who shall I say
hath sent me?, the answer was, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I
AM hath sent me unto you" (Ex. 3:14). Here in John, we have a sevenfold filling
out of the "I am"—I am the bread of life, etc. Christ’s employment of these titles
at once identifies Him with the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and unequivocally
demonstrates His absolute Deity.
"I am that bread of life." Blessed, precious words are these. ‘I am that which
every sinner needs, and without which he will surely perish. I am that which
alone can satisfy the soul and fill the aching void in the unregenerate heart. I am
that because, just as wheat is ground into flour and then subjected to the action
of fire to fit it for human use, so I, too, have come down all the way from heaven
to earth, have passed through the sufferings of death, and am now presented in
the Gospel to all that hunger for life.’
STEDMAN "The problem with these people, says Jesus, is that they were
focused on the symbol of manna in the wilderness rather than on the reality of
Jesus, the living bread from heaven. Although the manna kept the people alive
physically, it could do nothing for them eternally, because it was only a symbol of
the living bread that was to come.
Many people today make the same mistake as these people in Capernaum: They
trust in symbols rather than the reality. They trust the fact that they were
baptized, that they joined a church, that they were confirmed in some religious
ceremony. Jesus says these symbols have no power to bring life--only the reality,
Jesus Himself, can bring life.
He follows this statement with a remarkable claim regarding life--and death. He
says that if someone dies apart from Him, that person experiences eternal
separation from God, true eternal death. But for the person who has come to
Jesus, physical death is merely the gateway to eternal life!
Perhaps this is one reason why God has never allowed human science to truly
prevent death. Scientists have discovered cures for many diseases and perfected
techniques for extending life, and the average lifespan today is much longer than
it was centuries or even decades ago. But even with all our amazing medical
technology, the death rate remains exactly what it has always been: 100 percent.
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270. No one gets out of this life alive! And I think God intends it to remain that way.
He is teaching us something through the fact that all people eventually die. He is
teaching us that we must all come to terms with our mortality. We must all make
a decision as to what our lives are going to mean. Everyone is "taught by God,"
and death itself is part of that teaching.
When I was a young man in my late teens and early twenties, I couldn't believe I
would ever get old. When I looked at the feeble old people around me, with their
gray hair and their failing eyesight and their arthritic joints, I thought to myself.
"I have so many years ahead of me, I just can't believe that will ever happen to
me!" But it has.
What bothers me is that when I go to a restaurant, I always get the senior citizen
discount without even asking for it! Why? Because people can tell just by looking
at me that I'm getting old! This old body of mine is headed for death and
corruption.
Physical death is a symbol that God wants to use to teach us an important truth
about the human spirit: The spirit in man is headed for death and corruption,
too--unless the Lord of Life intervenes. The Lord of Life is Jesus, the bread from
heaven. Only those who receive His life can overcome the effect of death upon
the spirit and soul of man.
Notice, too, that it is here, in this passage, that Jesus first hints at the terrible
price to be paid for eternal life. In order for us to have life, the Son of God will
have to die. He says in verse 51, "If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever.
This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
INTERVARSITY, "esus now concludes this section of his teaching by returning
to the story of God's provision of manna in the wilderness (vv. 48-50; cf. vv.
32-35). He repeats his claim to be the bread of life and draws out the significance
of the word life. This bread he speaks of is a food that keeps one from dying, in
contrast to the manna eaten by the wilderness generation, who nevertheless died.
Obviously, any food keeps one from dying for a period of time; it sustains life.
Jesus, however, is talking about food that is much more powerful than regular
food, for the one who eats this bread will live forever (v. 51). It is God's own life
that is shared through this bread.
What sort of bread could give eternal life? Jesus' teaching comes to a head as he
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271. declares, This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (v. 51).
The Word that became flesh (1:14) now says he will give his flesh for the life of
the world, so that the world may have life. Giving of life to the world (v. 33)
requires that he give his flesh. This giving is in the future, so it refers to more
than his teaching. It is also on behalf of (hyper) the life of the world, which
suggests sacrifice (see comment on 10:11). Christ's death is indeed a sacrifice on
behalf of his flock (10:11, 15), the Jewish people (11:50-51), the nations (11:52)
and his disciples (17:19; cf. Beasley-Murray 1987:94).
This crowd has now received the interpretation of the sign as they had requested
(6:30). Earlier the Jews had asked for a sign to legitimate Jesus' action in the
temple, and he had spoken of the temple of his body and of his death and
resurrection (2:18-21). Now this crowd has received teaching about the manna of
his flesh and about how the divine gift of eternal life will be given through the
Messiah's death. Here is a cryptic saying indeed! His reference to his flesh only
heightens the scandal, as we see in the next scene.Jesus Deepens the Scandal: Eat
My Flesh, Drink My Blood (6:52-59) When Jesus mentions his flesh, the tension
in the crowd increases. The people are not just grumbling (v. 41); they are
arguing sharply with one another (v. 52). Once again we see people who come to
Jesus as a rabbi, who even wanted to make him king, but who are far from
treating him as either a king or a rabbi. They are not receiving his teaching, as
cryptic and offensive as it is. Like Nicodemus, they can only ask how such a thing
can be (v. 52; cf. 3:9). "When questioning concerning the `how' comes in, there
comes in with it unbelief" (Chrysostom In John 46.2). And Jesus does not make
it easy for them. He now makes sure they get the point that real eating and
drinking are involved. As he deepens the offense in these verses, he also explains
in a very profound way the eternal life he is offering.
MACLAREN, "THE MANNA
‘This is of a truth that Prophet,’ said the Jews, when Christ had fed the five thousand
on the five barley loaves and the two small fishes. That was the kind of Teacher for
them; they were quite unaffected by the wisdom of His words and the beauty of His
deeds, but a miracle that found food precisely met their wants, and so there was
excited an impure enthusiasm, very unwelcome to Jesus. Therefore He withdrew
Himself from it, and when the people followed Him, all full of expectation, to get
some more loaves and see some more miracles, He met them with a douche of cold
water that cooled their enthusiasm and flung them back into a critical, questioning
mood. They pointed to the miracle of the manna, and hinted that, if He expected
them to accept Him, He must do as Moses had done, or something like it. Probably
there was a Jewish tradition in existence then to the effect that the Messiah was to
repeat the miracle of the manna. But, at all events, Christ lays hold of the reference
that they put into His hands, and He said in effect, ‘Manna? Yes; I give, and am, the
true Manna.’
So this is the third of the instances in this Gospel in which our Lord pointed to Old
Testament incidents and institutions as symbolising Himself. In the first of them,
when He likened Himself to the ladder that Jacob saw, He claimed to be the Medium
of communication between heaven and earth. In the second of them, when He
likened Himself to the brazen serpent lifted in the camp, He claimed to be the Healer
of a sin-stricken and poisoned world. And now, with an allusion both to the miracle
and to the Jewish demand for the repetition of the manna sign, He claims to be the
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272. true Food for a starving world. So there are three things in my text: Christ’s claim,
His requirements, and His promise; the bread, the eating, the issues.
I. Here is a claim of Christ’s.
As I have already said, in the whole wonderful conversation of which I have selected a
portion for my text, there is a double reference to the miracle of the loaves and of the
manna. What our Lord means to assert for Himself is that which is common to both
of these-viz. that He supplies the great primal wants of humanity, the hunger of the
heart. There may be another reference also, which I just notice without dwelling
upon it. Barley loaves were the coarsest and least valuable form of bread. They were
not only of little worth, but altogether inadequate to feeding the five thousand. The
palates, unaccustomed to the stinging savours of the garlic and the leeks of Egypt,
loathed the light bread. And so Jesus Christ comes into the world in lowly form, like
the barley loaf or the light bread from which men whose tastes have been vitiated by
the piquant savours of more earthly nourishment turn away as insipid. And yet He in
His lowliness, He in His savourlessness, is that which meets the deepest wants of
humanity, and is every man’s fare because He will be any man’s satisfaction.
But I wish to bring before your notice the wonderful way in which our Lord, in this
great dissertation concerning Himself as the Bread of Life, gradually unfolds the
depths of His meaning and of His offer. He began with saying that He, the Son of
Man, will give to men the bread that ‘endures to everlasting life.’ And then when that
saying is but dimly understood, and yet awakes some strange new desires and
appetites in the hearers, and they come to Him and ask, ‘Lord, evermore give us this
bread,’ He answers them with opening another finger of His hand, as it were, and
showing them a little more of the treasure that lies in His palm. For He says, ‘I am
that Bread of Life.’ That is an advance on the previous saying. He gives bread, and
any man that was conscious of possessing some great truth or some great blessing
which, believed and accepted, would refresh and nourish humanity, might have said
the same thing. But now we pass into the penumbra of a greater mystery: ‘I am that
Bread of Life.’ You cannot separate what Christ gives from what Christ is. You can
take the truths that another man proclaims, altogether irrespective of him and his
personality. That only disturbs, and the sooner it is got rid of, the firmer and the
purer our possession of the message for which he is only the medium. You can take
Plato’s teaching and do as you like with Plato. But you cannot take Christ’s teaching
and do as you like with Christ. His personality is the centre of His gift to the world. ‘I
am that Bread of Life.’ That He should give it is much; that He should be it is far
more.
And notice how, when He has thus drawn us a little further into the magic circle of
the light, He not only asserts the inseparableness of His gift from His Person, but
also asserts, with a reference, no doubt, to the manna, ‘I am the Bread that came
down from heaven.’ The listeners immediately laid hold of that one point, and
neglected for the moment all the rest, and they fixed with a true instinct-although it
was for the purpose of contradicting it-on this central point, ‘that came down from
heaven.’ They said one to the other, ‘How can this man say that He came down from
heaven? Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?’ So,
brethren, as the manna that descended from above in the dew of the night was to the
bread that was baked in a baker’s oven, so is the Christ to the manhood that has its
origin in the natural processes of birth. The Incarnation of the Son of God, becoming
Son of Man for us and for our salvation, is involved in this great claim. You do not get
to the heart of Christ’s message unless you have accepted this as the truth concerning
Him, that ‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God,’ and that at a definite point in the long process of the ages, ‘the Word
became flesh, and dwelt amongst us.’ He will never be ‘the Bread of Life’ unless He is
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273. ‘the Bread that came down from heaven.’ For humanity needs that the blue heavens
that bend remote above should come down; and we cannot be lifted ‘out of the
horrible pit and the miry clay’ unless a Hand from above be reached down into the
depths of our degradation, and lift us from our lowness. Heaven must come to earth,
if earth is to rise to heaven. The ladder must be let down from above, if ever from the
lower levels men are to ascend thither where at the summit the face of God can be
seen.
But that is not all. Our Lord, if I may recur to a former figure, went on to open
another finger of His hand, and to show still more of the gift. For He not only said,
‘the Son of Man gives the bread,’ and ‘I am the Bread that came down from heaven,’
but He went on to say, in a subsequent stage of the conversation, ‘the Bread that I
will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’ Now, notice that ‘will
give.’ Then, though the Word was made flesh, and the manna came down from
heaven, the especial gift of His flesh for the life of the world was, at the time of His
speaking, a future thing. And what He meant is still more clearly brought out, when
we read other words which are the very climax of this conversation, when He
declares that the condition of our having life in ourselves is our ‘eating the flesh and
drinking the blood of the Son of Man.’ The figure is made repulsive on purpose, in
order that it may provoke us to penetrate to its meaning. It was even more repulsive
to the Jew, with his religious horror of touching or tasting anything in which the
blood was. And yet our Lord not only speaks of Himself as the Bread, but of His flesh
and blood as being the Food of the world. The separation of the two clearly indicates
a violent death, and I, for my part, have no manner of doubt that, in these great
words in which our Lord lays bare the deepest foundations of His claim to be the
Food of humanity, there is couched, in the veiled language which was necessary at
the then stage of His mission, a distinct reference to His death, as being the Sacrifice
on which a hunger-stricken world may feed and be satisfied.
So here we have, in three steps, the great central truth of the Gospel set forth in
symbolical aspect: the Son that gives, the Son that is, the Bread of the world, and the
death whereby His flesh and blood are separated and become the nourishment of all
sin-stricken souls. I do not say one word to enforce these claims, but I beseech you
deal fairly with these Gospel narratives, and do not go on picking out of them bits of
Christ’s actions or words, which commend themselves to you, and ignoring all the
rest. There is no more reason to believe that Jesus Christ ever said, ‘As ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them likewise,’ or any other part of that
Sermon on the Mount which some people take as their Christianity, than there is to
believe that He said, ‘The bread which I give is My flesh, which I will give for the life
of the world.’ Believe it or not, it is not dealing with the Scripture records as you deal
with other historical records if, for subjective reasons, you brush aside all that
department of our Lord’s teaching. And if you do accept it, what becomes of His
‘sweet reasonableness’? What becomes of His meekness and lowliness of heart? I was
going to say what becomes of His sanity, that He should stand up, a youngish man
from Nazareth, in the synagogue of Capernaum, and should say, ‘I, heaven-
descended, and slain by men, am the Bread of Life to the whole world’?
I was going to make another observation, which I must just pass with the slightest
notice, and that is that, taking this point of view and giving full weight to these three
stages of our Lord’s progressive revelation of Himself, we have the answer to the
question, What is the connection between these discourses and the ordinance of the
Lord’s Supper? Our modern sacramentarian friends will have it that Jesus Christ is
speaking of the Communion in this chapter. I take it, and I venture to think it the
reasonable explanation, that He is not speaking about the Communion, but that this
discourse and that rite are dealing with the same truths-the one in articulate words,
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274. the other in equivalent symbols. And so we have not to read into the text any allusion
to the rite, but to see in the text and in the rite the proclamation of the same thing-
viz. that the flesh and the blood of the Sacrifice for sins is the food on which a sinful
and cleansed world may feed.
II. So, secondly, let me ask you to note our Lord’s requirement here.
He carries on the metaphor. ‘This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that
a man may eat thereof and not die.’ The eating necessarily follows from the symbol of
the bread, as the designation of the way by which we all, with our hungry hearts, may
feed upon this Bread of God. I need not remind you that in many a place, and in this
whole context, we find the explanation of the symbol very plainly. In another part of
this conversation we read, under another metaphor which comes to the same thing,
‘He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never
thirst. So the eating and the coming are diverse symbols for the one thing, the
believing. When a man eats he appropriates to himself, and incorporates into his very
being, the food of which he partakes. And when a man trusts Christ he appropriates
to himself, and incorporates into his inmost being, the very life of Jesus Christ. You
say, ‘That is mysticism’; but it is the New Testament teaching, that when I trust
Christ I get more than His gifts-I get Himself; that when my faith goes out to Him it
not only rests me on Him, but it brings Him into me, and that food of the spirit
becomes the life, as we shall see, of my spirit.
That condition is indispensable. It is useless to have food on your table or your plate
or in your hand, it does not nourish you there: you must eat it, and then you gain
sustenance from it. Many a hungry man has died at the door of a granary. Some of us
are starving, though beside us there is ‘the Bread of God that came down from
heaven.’ Brethren, you must eat, and I venture to put the question to you-not Do you
believe that Jesus Christ is the world’s Saviour? not Do you believe in an
Incarnation? not Do you believe in an Atonement? but Have you claimed your
portion in the Bread? Have you taken it into your own lips? Crede et manducasti,
said Augustine, ‘believe’-or, rather, trust-’and thou hast eaten.’ Have you?
Further, let me remind you that under this eating is included not only some initial act
of faith, but a continuous course of partaking. The dinner you ate this day last year is
of no use for to-day’s hunger. The act of faith done long ago will not bring the Bread
to nourish you now. You must repeat the meal. And very strikingly and beautifully in
the last part of this conversation our Lord varies the word for eating, and substitutes-
as if He were speaking to those who had fulfilled the previous condition-another one
which implies the ruminant action of certain animals. And that is what Christian men
have to do, to feed over and over and over again on the ‘Bread of God which came
down from heaven.’ Christ, and especially in and through His death for us, can
nourish and sustain our wills, giving them the pattern of what they should desire,
and the motive for which they should desire it. Christ, and especially through His
death, can feed our consciences, and take away from them all the painful sense of
guilt, while He sharpens them to a far keener sensitiveness to evil. Christ, and
especially through His death, can feed our understandings, and unveil therein the
deepest truths concerning God and man, concerning man’s destiny and God’s mercy.
Christ, and especially in His death, can feed our affections, and minister to love and
desire and submission and hope their celestial nourishment. He is ‘the Bread of God,’
and we have but to eat of that which is laid before us.
III. So, lastly, we have here the issues.
‘Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.’ This Bread secures that
if ‘a man eat thereof he shall not die.’ The bread that perishes feeds a life that
perishes; but this Bread not only sustains but creates a life that cannot perish, and,
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275. taken into the spirits of men that are ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ imparts to them a
life that has no affinity to evil, and therefore no dread of extinction.
If ‘a man eats thereof he shall not die,’ Christ annihilates for us the mere accident of
physical death. That is only a momentary jolt on the course. That may all be
crammed into a parenthesis. ‘He shall not die,’ but live the true life which comes
from the possession of union with Him who is the Life. The bread which we eat
sustains life; the Bread which He gives originates it. The bread which we eat is
assimilated to our bodily frame, the Bread which He gives assimilates our spiritual
nature to His. And so it comes to be the only food that stills a hungry heart, the only
food that satisfies and yet never cloys, which, eating, we are filled, and being filled are
made capable of more, and, being capable of more, receive more. In blessed and
eternal alternation, fruition and desire, satisfaction and appetite, go on.
‘Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread?’ You cannot answer the
question with any reasonable answer. Oh, dear friends! I beseech you, listen to that
Lord who is saying to each of us, ‘Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you.’
SBC, "I. It is in the Lord himself alone that the power of life dwells, and from Him
that it goes forth. There is no intermediate agent. He is the life of men, and it is by
feeding on Himself that eternal life is both obtained and assured. But as in the
miracle, so in this which is signified by it, He is pleased to impart this nourishment of
life not without visible and sensible material, on which His life-giving power will be
exercised. In the one case, it is the five loaves and the two fishes which represent and
as it were carry the weight of so mighty a thing, in the other case, it is the visible Body
and Blood of the Lord, whatsoever He is pleased to appoint to set them forth and
carry the semblance of them to us. The great truth which underlies the whole is this,
that Christ is the Bread of life, the only food of man for an eternity of vitality and
blessing, that this blessing must come from no other than the Lord Himself in direct
and personal contact with a man’s own self in his inner being; but that He is pleased,
in condescension to our weakness, to make use of signs and symbols whereupon His
power acts, and by means of which man apprehends His life-giving power, and
becomes partaker of it.
II. This incident our Lord’s interpretation shows, as plainly as can be shown, that the
ordinance of the Sacrament is not commemorative merely. An actual feeding upon
Christ, not indeed corporeal, but spiritual, is spoken of throughout His discourse
here. And when Christ said, "This do in remembrance of Me," it is plain that the
remembrance is to be understood as bringing with it and involving not merely the
revelation of an event past, or of a dear departed friend and benefactor, but the
participation also in a present benefit, grounded on the realizing of that past event
and the union with that Divine benefactor and source of life, in an actual and present
manner. The discourse of which my text is part is thus of immense value to the
Christian, as assuring him of a real living and feeding upon his Saviour, in that
Sacrament, rescuing him from the notion of its being merely a commemoration
without present living benefit.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vi., p. 233.
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276. 49
Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they
died.
BARNES, "Your fathers did eat manna - There was a real miracle performed
in their behalf; there was a perpetual interposition of God which showed that they
were his chosen people.
And are dead - The bread which they ate could not save them from death.
Though God interfered in their behalf, yet they died. We may learn,
1. That that is not the most valuable of God’s gifts which merely satisfies the
temporal wants.
2. That the most distinguished temporal blessings will not save from death.
Wealth, friends, food, raiment, will not preserve life.
3. There is need of something better than mere earthly blessings; there is need of
that bread which cometh down from heaven, and which giveth life to the world.
CLARKE, "Your fathers did eat manna - and are dead - That bread neither
preserved their bodies alive, nor entitled them to life eternal; but those who receive
my salvation, shall not only be raised again in the last day, but shall inherit eternal
life. It was an opinion of the Jews themselves that their fathers, who perished in the
wilderness, should never have a resurrection. Our Lord takes them on their own
ground: Ye acknowledge that your fathers who fell in the wilderness shall never have
a resurrection; and yet they ate of the manna: therefore that manna is not the bread
that preserves to everlasting life, according even to your own concession.
GILL, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness,.... All the while they
were in the wilderness, for the space of forty years, till they came to the borders of the
land of Canaan; this was their only food on which they lived, during their travels
through the wilderness. It is observable, that Christ says, not "our fathers", but "your
fathers"; for though Christ, as concerning the flesh, came of these fathers, yet in
every sense they were rather theirs than his; because regard may be had to such of
them more especially who ate the manna as common food, and not as spiritual meat,
as typical of the Messiah, as others did; and whom these, their offspring, did very
much resemble. Though perhaps the reason of the use of this phrase may be, because
the Jews themselves had used it in Joh_6:31, and Christ takes it up from them.
And are dead. This food, though it supported them in life for a while, could not
preserve them from a corporeal death, and still less from an eternal one: for some of
them not only died the first, but the second death.
JAMIESON, "Your fathers — of whom ye spake (Joh_6:31); not “ours,” by which
276

277. He would hint that He had a higher descent, of which they dreamt not [Bengel].
did eat manna ... and are dead — recurring to their own point about the
manna, as one of the noblest of the ordained preparatory illustrations of His own
office: “Your fathers, ye say, ate manna in the wilderness; and ye say well, for so they
did, but they are dead - even they whose carcasses fell in the wilderness did eat of
that bread; the Bread whereof I speak cometh down from heaven, which the manna
never did, that men, eating of it, may live for ever.”
CALVIN, "Verse 49
49.Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead. He says that the
manna was a perishing food to their fathers, for it did not free them from death.
It follows, therefore, that souls do not find anywhere else than in him that food
by which they are fed to spiritual life. Besides, we must keep in remembrance
what I formerly stated, that what is here said does not relate to the manna, so far
as it was a secret figure of Christ; for in that respect Paul calls it spiritual food,
(1 Corinthians 10:3.) But we have said that Christ here accommodates his
discourse to the hearers, who, caring only about feeding the belly, looked for
nothing higher in the manna. Justly, therefore does he declare that their fathers
are dead, that is, those who in the same manner, were devoted to the belly, or, in
other words, who thought of nothing higher than this world. (155) And yet he
invites them to eat, when he says that he has come, that any man may eat; for
this mode of expression has the same meaning as if he said, that he is ready to
give himself to all, provided that they are only willing to believe. That not one of
those who have once eaten Christ shall die — must be understood to mean, that
the life which he bestows on us is never extinguished, as we stated under the
Fifth Chapter.
PINK
"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"
(John 6:49, 50). This is an amplification of verse 48. There He had said, "I am
that bread of life"; here He describes one of the characteristic qualities of this
"life." The Lord draws a contrast between Himself as the Bread of life and the
manna which Israel ate in the wilderness; and also between the effects on those
who ate the one and those who should eat the other. The fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, but they died. The manna simply ministered to a temporal need.
It fed their bodies, but was not able to immortalize them. But those who eat the
true bread, shall not die. Those who appropriate Christ to themselves, those who
satisfy their hearts by feeding on Him, shall live forever. Not, of course, on earth,
but with Him in heaven.
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof,
and not die" (John 6:50). It is obvious that Christ gives the word "die" a
different meaning here from what it bears in the previous verse. There He had
said that they, who of old ate manna in the wilderness, "are dead": natural
death, physical dissolution being in view. But here He says that a man may eat of
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278. the bread which cometh down from heaven, and "not die": that is, not die
spiritually and eternally, not suffer the "second death." Should any object to this
interpretation which gives a different meaning to the word "death" as it occurs
in two consecutive verses, we would remind him that in a single verse the word is
found twice, but with a different meaning: "Let the dead bury their dead" (Luke
9:60).
This is one of the many, many verses of Scripture which affirms the eternal
security of the believer. The life which God imparts in sovereign grace to the
poor sinner, is—not a life that may be forfeited; for, "the gifts and calling of God
are without repentance" (Rom. 11:29.) It is not a life which is perishable, for it is
"hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3.) It is not a life which ends when our earthly
pilgrimage is over, for it is "eternal life." Ah! what has the world to offer in
comparison with this? Do the worldling’s fondest dreams of happiness embrace
the element of unending continuity? No, indeed; that is the one thing lacking, the
want of which spoils all the rest!
50
But here is the bread that comes down from heaven,
which a man may eat and not die.
CLARKE, "This is the bread, etc. - I am come for this very purpose, that men
may believe in me, and have eternal life.
GILL, "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven,.... Namely, that
of which he had spoken Joh_6:32, meaning himself:
that a man may eat thereof, and not die; for this heavenly bread is soul
quickening, soul strengthening, and soul satisfying food; nor can there be any want
where this is: eating of it is not to be understood corporeally, as these Capernaites
took it; nor sacramentally, as if it was confined to the ordinance of the Lord's supper,
which was not, as yet, instituted; but more largely of eating and feeding upon Christ
spiritually by faith: he is, by the believer, to be fed upon wholly, and only; all of him,
and none but him, and that daily; for there is the same need of daily bread for our
souls, as for our bodies; and also largely and freely, as such may do; and likewise
joyfully, with gladness and singleness of heart: such as are Christ's beloved, and his
friends, "may" eat; they have liberty, a hearty welcome to eat; and so have everyone
that have a will, an inclination, a desire to eat; and all overcomers, whom Christ
makes more than conquerors, Son_5:1 Rev_2:7; which liberty is owing to Christ's
gracious invitation, and to his and the Father's free gift; and to the openness and ease
278

279. of access of all sensible sinners to him: and the consequence and effect of such eating
is, that it secures from dying, not from a corporeal death, to which men are
appointed, and saints themselves are subject; though it is indeed abolished by Christ
as a penal evil; nor shall his people continue under the power of it, but shall rise
again to everlasting life: but then they are, through eating this bread, secured from a
spiritual death; for though there may be a decline, as to the exercise of grace, and a
want of liveliness, and they may fear they are ready to die, and conclude they are free
among the dead, and that their strength and hope are perished; yet he that lives and
believes in Christ, the resurrection, and the life, shall never die; and such are also
secure from an eternal death, on them the second death shall have no power, nor
shall they ever be hurt by it.
51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If
anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This
bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world."
BARNES, "The bread that I will give is by flesh - That is, his body would be
offered as a sacrifice for sin, agreeably to his declaration when he instituted the
Supper: “This is my body which is broken for you,” 1Co_11:24.
Life of the world - That sinners might, by his atoning sacrifice, be recovered
from spiritual death, and be brought to eternal life. The use of the word world hero
shows that the sacrifice of Christ was full free ample, and designed for all men, as it is
said in 1Jo_2:2, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world.” In this verse Jesus introduces the subject of his
death and atonement. It may be remarked that in the language which he used the
transition from bread to his flesh would appear more easy than it does in our
language. The same word which in Hebrew means “bread,” in the Syriac and Arabic
means also “flesh.”
CLARKE, "Is my flesh, which I will give, etc. - Our Lord explains his
meaning more fully, in these words, than he had done before. Having spoken so
much of the bread which feeds and nourishes the soul, and preserves from death, the
attention of his hearers was fixed upon his words, which to them appeared
inexplicable; and they desired to know what their meaning was. He then told them
that the bread meant his flesh, (his life), which he was about to give up; to save the
life of the world. Here our Lord plainly declares that his death was to be a vicarious
sacrifice and atonement for the sin of the world; and that, as no human life could be
preserved unless there was bread (proper nourishment) received, so no soul could be
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280. saved but by the merit of his death. Reader, remember this: it is one of the
weightiest, and one of the truest and most important sayings in the book of God.
GILL, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven,.... This is the
same with what is said in Joh_6:33, which is true of Christ, as he has life in him; and
is the author and giver of life to others; and is of an heavenly original, and came from
heaven to give life to men: and such is the virtue of this living and heavenly bread,
that
if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever; not a natural, but a spiritual
life; a life of sanctification, which is begun here, and will be perfected hereafter; and a
life of glory, which will never end:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh; or "body", as all the Oriental versions
render it. Here our Lord explains more clearly and fully what he means, under the
notion of bread; and which shows, that by bread he did not design merely his
doctrine, but his flesh, his human nature; though not as abstracted from his deity,
but as in union with it:
which I will give for the life of the world; and which he did by the offering up
of his body, and making his soul, or giving himself an offering, a propitiatory
sacrifice for sin; which was done in the most free and voluntary manner, in the room
and stead of his people, to procure eternal life for them, even for the whole world of
his elect; whether among Jews or Gentiles; particularly the latter are here meant, in
opposition to a notion of the Jews, that the world, or the Gentiles, would receive no
benefit by the Messiah when he came; See Gill on Joh_3:16.
HENRY, "4. Christ, having thus spoken of himself as the bread of life, and of faith
as the work of God, comes more particularly to show what of himself is this bread,
namely, his flesh, and that to believe is to eat of that, Joh_6:51-58, where he still
prosecutes the metaphor of food. Observe, here, the preparation of this food: The
bread that I will give is my flesh (Joh_6:51), the flesh of the Son of man and his
blood, Joh_6:53. His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, Joh_6:55.
observe, also, the participation of this food: We must eat the flesh of the Son of man
and drink his blood (Joh_6:53); and again (Joh_6:54), Whoso eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood; and the same words (Joh_6:56, Joh_6:57), he that eateth me.
This is certainly a parable or figurative discourse, wherein the actings of the soul
upon things spiritual and divine are represented by bodily actions about things
sensible, which made the truths of Christ more intelligible to some, and less so to
others, Mar_4:11-12. Now,
JAMISON, "I am, etc. — Understand, it is of MYSELF I now speak as the Bread
from heaven; of ME if a man eat he shall live for ever; and “THE BREAD WHICH I
WILL GIVE IS MY FLESH, WHICH I WILL GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE
WORLD.” Here, for the first time in this high discourse, our Lord explicitly
introduces His sacrificial death - for only rationalists can doubt this not only as that
which constitutes Him the Bread of life to men, but as THAT very element IN HIM
WHICH POSSESSES THE LIFE-GIVING VIRTUE. - “From this time we hear no
more (in this discourse) of “Bread”; this figure is dropped, and the reality takes its
place” [Stier]. The words “I will give” may be compared with the words of institution
280

281. at the Supper, “This is My body which is given for you” (Luk_22:19), or in Paul’s
report of it, “broken for you” (1Co_11:24).
CALVIN, "51.I am the living bread. He often repeats the same thing, because
nothing is more necessary to be known; and every one feels in himself with what
difficulty we are brought to believe it, and how easily and quickly it passes away
and is forgotten. (156) We all desire life, but in seeking it, we foolishly and
improperly wander about in circuitous roads; and when it is offered, the greater
part disdainfully reject it. For who is there that does not contrive for himself life
out of Christ? And how few are there who are satisfied with Christ alone! It is
not a superfluous repetition, therefore, when Christ asserts so frequently that he
alone is sufficient to give life. For he claims for himself the designation of bread,
in order to tear from our hearts all fallacious hopes of living. Having formerly
called himself the bread of life, he now calls himself the living bread, but in the
same sense, namely, life-giving bread. — Which have come down from heaven
He frequently mentions his coming down from heaven, because spiritual and
incorruptible life will not be found in this world, the fashion of which passes
away and vanishes, but only in the heavenly kingdom of God.
If any man eat of this bread. Whenever he uses the word eat, he exhorts us to
faith, which alone enables us to enjoy this bread, so as to derive life from it. (157)
Nor is it without good reason that he does so, for there are few who deign to
stretch out their hand to put this bread to their mouth; and even when the Lord
puts it into their mouth, there are few who relish it, but some are filled with
wind, and others — like Tantalus — are dying of hunger through their own
folly, while the food is close beside them.
The bread which I shall give is my flesh. As this secret power to bestow life, of
which he has spoken, might be referred to his Divine essence, he now comes
down to the second step, and shows that this life is placed in his flesh, that it may
be drawn out of it. It is, undoubtedly, a wonderful purpose of God that he has
exhibited life to us in that flesh, where formerly there was nothing but the cause
of death. And thus he provides for our weakness, when he does not call us above
the clouds to enjoy life, but displays it on earth, in the same manner as if he were
exalting us to the secrets of his kingdom. And yet, while he corrects the pride of
our mind, he tries the humility and obedience of our faith, when he enjoins those
who would seek life to place reliance onhis flesh, which is contemptible in its
appearance.
But an objection is brought, that the flesh of Christ cannot give life, because it
was liable to death, and because even now it is not immortal in itself; and next,
that it does not at all belong to the nature of flesh to quicken souls. I reply,
though this power comes from another source than from the flesh, still this is no
reason why the designation may not accurately apply to it; for as the eternal
Word of God is the fountain of life, (John 1:4,) so his flesh, as a channel, conveys
to us that life which dwells intrinsically, as we say, in his Divinity. And in this
sense it is called life-giving, because it conveys to us that life which it borrows for
us from another quarter. This will not be difficult to understand, if we consider
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282. what is the cause of life, namely, righteousness. And though righteousness flows
from God alone, still we shall not attain the full manifestation of it any where
else than in the flesh of Christ; for in it was accomplished the redemption of
man, in it a sacrifice was offered to atone for sins, and an obedience yielded to
God, to reconcile him to us; it was also filled with the sanctification of the Spirit,
and at length, having vanquished death, it was received into the heavenly glory.
It follows, therefore that all the parts of life have been placed in it, that no man
may have reason to complain that he is deprived of life, as if it were placed in
concealment, or at a distance.
Which I shall give for the life of the world. The word give is used in various
senses. The first giving, of which he has formerly spoken, is made daily,
whenever Christ offers himself to us. Secondly, it denotes that singular giving
which was done on the cross, when he offered himself as a sacrifice to his Father;
for then he delivered himself up to death for the life of men, and now he invites
us to enjoy the fruit of his death. For it would be of no avail to us that that
sacrifice was once offered, if we did not now feast on that sacred banquet. It
ought also to be observed, that Christ claims for himself the office of sacrificing
his flesh. Hence it appears with what wicked sacrilege the Papists pollute
themselves, when they take upon themselves, in the mass, what belonged
exclusively to that one High Priest.
BARCLAY, "HIS BODY AND HIS BLOOD (John 6:51 b-59)
6:51b-59 "The bread which I will give him is my flesh, which is given that the
world may have life." So the Jews argued with each other. "How" they said,
"can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them: "This is the truth I
tell you--unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you
cannot possess eternal life within yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks
my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is the
real food and my blood is the real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood remains in me and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, so I live
through him; and he who eats me will live through me. This is the bread which
came down from heaven. It is not a case of eating, as your fathers ate and died.
He who eats this bread lives for ever." He said these things when he was teaching
in the synagogue at Capernaum.
To most of us this is a very difficult passage. It speaks in language and moves in
a world of ideas which are quite strange to us and which may seem even fantastic
and grotesque. But to those who heard it first, it was moving among familiar
ideas which went back to the very childhood of the race.
These ideas would be quite normal to anyone brought up in ancient sacrifice.
The animal was very seldom burned entire. Usually only a token part was
burned on the altar, although the whole animal was offered to the god. Part of
the flesh was given to the priests as their perquisite; and part to the worshipper
to make a feast for himself and his friends within the temple precincts. At that
feast the god himself was held to be a guest. More, once the flesh had been
offered to the god, it was held that he had entered into it; and therefore when the
worshipper ate it he was literally eating the god. When people rose from such a
282

283. feast they went out, as they believed, literally god-filled. We may think of it as
idolatrous worship, we may think of it as a vast delusion; yet the fact remains
these people went out quite certain that in them there was now the dynamic
vitality of their god. To people used to that kind of experience a section like this
presented no difficulties at all.
Further, in that ancient world the one live form of religion was to be found in the
Mystery Religions. The one thing the Mystery Religions offered was communion
and even identity with some god. The way it was done was this. All the Mystery
Religions were essentially passion plays. They were stories of a god who had
lived and suffered terribly and who died and rose again. The story was turned
into a moving play. Before the initiate could see it, he had to undergo a long
course of instruction in the inner meaning of the story. He had to undergo all
kinds of ceremonial purifications. He had to pass through a long period of
fasting and abstention from sexual relationships.
At the actual presentation of a passion play everything was designed to produce
a highly emotional atmosphere. There was carefully calculated lighting, sensuous
incense, exciting music, a wonderful liturgy; everything was designed to work up
the initiate to a height of emotion and expectation that he had never experienced
before. Call it hallucination if you like; call it a combination of hypnotism and
self hypnotism. But something happened; and that something was identity with
the god. As the carefully prepared initiate watched he became one with the god.
He shared the sorrows and the griefs; he shared the death, and the resurrection.
He and the god became for ever one; and he was safe in life and in death.
Some of the sayings and prayers of the Mystery Religions are very beautiful. In
the Mysteries of Mithra the initiate prayed: "Abide with my soul; leave me not,
that I may be initiated and that the holy spirit may dwell within me." In the
Hermetic Mysteries the initiate said: "I know thee Hermes, and thou knowest
me; I am thou and thou art I" In the same Mysteries a prayer runs: "Come to
me, Lord Hermes, as babes to mothers' wombs." In the Mysteries of Isis the
worshipper said: "As truly as Osiris lives, so shall his followers live. As truly as
Osiris is not dead, his followers shall die no more."
We must remember that those ancient people knew all about the striving, the
longing, the dreaming for identity with their god and for the bliss of taking him
into themselves. They would not read phrases like eating Christ's body and
drinking his blood with crude and shocked literalism. They would know
something of that ineffable experience of union, closer than any earthly union, of
which these words speak. This is language that the ancient world could
understand--and so can we.
It may be well that we should remember that here John is doing what he so often
does. He is not giving, or trying to give, the actual words of Jesus. He has been
thinking for seventy years of what Jesus said; and now, led by the Holy Spirit, he
is giving the inner significance of his words. It is not the words that he reports;
that would merely have been a feat of memory. It is the essential meaning of the
words; that is the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
283

284. HIS BODY AND HIS BLOOD (John 6:51 b-59 continued)
Let us see now if we can find out something of what Jesus meant and of what
John understood from words like this. There are two ways in which we may take
this passage.
(i) We may take it in a quite general sense. Jesus spoke about eating his flesh and
drinking his blood.
Now the flesh of Jesus was his complete humanity. John in his First Letter lays it
down almost passionately: "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of
God." In fact, the spirit which denies that Jesus is come in the flesh is of
antichrist (1 John 4:2-3). John insisted that we must grasp and never let go the
full humanity of Jesus, that he was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. What
does this mean? Jesus, as we have seen again and again, was the mind of God
become a person. This means that in Jesus we see God taking human life human
problems, battling with our human temptations, working out our human
relationships.
Therefore it is as if Jesus said: "Feed your heart, feed your mind, feed your soul
on the thought of my manhood. When you are discouraged and in despair, when
you are beaten to your knees and disgusted with life and living--remember I took
that life of yours and these struggles of yours on me." Suddenly life and the flesh
are clad with glory for they are touched with God. It was and is the great belief
of the Greek Orthodox Christology that Jesus deified our flesh by taking it on
himself. To eat Christ's body is to feed on the thought of his manhood until our
own manhood is strengthened and cleansed and irradiated by his.
Jesus said we must drink his blood. In Jewish thought the blood stands for the
life. It is easy to understand why. As the blood flows from a wound, life ebbs
away; and to the Jew, the blood belonged to God. That is why to this day a true
Jew will never eat any meat which has not been completely drained of blood.
"Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood" (Genesis 9:4). "Only
you shall not eat its blood" (Deuteronomy 15:23). Now see what Jesus is
saying--"You must drink my blood--you must take my life into the very centre of
your being--and that life of mine is the life which belongs to God." When Jesus
said we must drink his blood he meant that we must take his life into the very
core of our hearts.
What does that mean? Think of it this way. Here in a bookcase is a book which a
man has never read. It may be the glory and the wonder of the tragedies of
Shakespeare; but so long as it remains unread upon his bookshelves it is external
to him. One day he takes it down and reads it. He is thrilled and fascinated and
moved. The story sticks to him; the great lines remain in his memory; now when
he wants to, he can take that wonder out from inside himself and remember it
and think about it and feed his mind and his heart upon it. Once the book was
outside him. Now it is inside him and he can feed upon it. It is that way with any
great experience in life. It remains external until we take it within ourselves.
284

285. It is so with Jesus. So long as he remains a figure in a book he is external to us;
but when he enters into our hearts we can feed upon the life and the strength and
the dynamic vitality that he gives to us. Jesus said that we must drink his blood.
He is saying: "You must stop thinking of me as a subject for theological debate;
you must take me into you, and you must come into me; and then you will have
real life." That is what Jesus meant when he spoke about us abiding in him and
himself abiding in us.
When he told us to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he was telling us to feed our
hearts and souls and minds on his humanity, and to revitalize our lives with his
life until we are filled with the life of God.
(ii) But John meant more than that, and was thinking also of the Lord's Supper.
He was saying: "If you want life, you must come and sit at that table where you
eat that broken bread and drink that poured-out wine which somehow, in the
grace of God, bring you into contact with the love and the life of Jesus Christ."
But--and here is the sheer wonder of his point of view--John has no account of
the Last Supper. He brings in his teaching about it, not in the narrative of the
Upper Room, but in the story of a picnic meal on a hillside near Bethsaida Julias
by the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee.
There is no doubt that John is saying that for the true Christian every meal has
become a sacrament. It may well be that there were those who--if the phrase be
allowed--were making too much of the Sacrament within the church, making a
magic of it, implying that it was the only place where we might enter into the
nearer presence of the Risen Christ. It is true that the Sacrament is a special
appointment with God; but John held with all his heart that every meal in the
humblest home, in the richest palace, beneath the canopy of the sky with only the
grass for carpet was a sacrament. He refused to limit the presence of Christ to an
ecclesiastical environment and a correctly liturgical service. He said: "At any
meal you can find again that bread which speaks of the manhood of the Master,
that wine which speaks of the blood which is life."
In John's thought the communion table and the dinner table and the picnic on
the seashore or the hillside are all alike in that at all of them we may taste and
touch and handle the bread and the wine which brings us Christ. Christianity
would be a poor thing if Christ were confined to churches. It is John's belief that
we can find him anywhere in a Christ-filled world. It is not that he belittles the
Sacrament; but he expands it, so that we find Christ at his table in church, and
then go out to find him everywhere where men and women meet together to
enjoy the gifts of God.
PINK
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51). How evident
it is then that Christ is here addressing these Jews on the ground, not of God’s
secret counsels, but, of their human responsibility. It is true that none will come
285

286. to Him save as they are "drawn" by the Father; but this does not mean that the
Father refuses to "draw" any poor sinner that really desires Christ. Yea, that
very desire for Christ is the proof the Father has commenced to "draw." And
how Divinely simple is the way in which Christ is received—"If any man [no
matter who he be] eat of this bread he shall live forever." The figure of "eating"
is very suggestive, and one deserving of careful meditation.
In the first place, eating is a necessary act if I am to derive that advantage from
bread which it is intended to convey, namely, bodily nourishment. I may look at
bread and admire it; I may philosophize about bread and analyze it; I may talk
about bread and eulogize its quality; I may handle bread and be assured of its
excellency—but unless I eat it, I shall not be nourished by it. All of this is equally
true with the spiritual bread, Christ. Knowing the truth, speculating about it,
talking about it, contending for it, will do me no good. I must receive it into my
heart.
In the second place, eating is responding to a felt need. That need is hunger,
unmistakably evident, acutely felt. And when one is really hungry he asks no
questions, he makes no demurs, he raises no quibbles, but gladly and promptly
partakes of that which is set before him. So it is, again, spiritually. Once a sinner
is awakened to his lost condition; once he is truly conscious of his deep, deep
need, once he becomes aware of the fact that without Christ he will perish
eternally; then, whatever intellectual difficulties may have previously troubled
him, however much he may have procrastinated in the past, now he will need no
urging, but promptly and gladly will he receive Christ as his own.
In the third place, eating implies an act of appropriation. The table may be
spread, and loaded down with delicacies, and a liberal portion may have been
placed on my plate, but not until I commence to eat do I make that food my own.
Then, that food which previously was without me, is taken inside, assimilated,
and becomes a part of me, supplying health and strength. So it is spiritually.
Christ may be presented to me in all His attractiveness, I may respect His
wonderful personality, I may admire His perfect life, I may be touched by His
unselfishness and tenderness, I may be moved to tears at the sight of Him dying
on the cruel Tree; but, not until I appropriate Him, not until I receive Him as
mine, shall I be saved. Then, He who before was outside, will indwell me. Now, in
very truth, shall I know Him as the bread of life, ministering daily to my
spiritual health and strength.
In the fourth place, eating is an intensely personal act: it is something which no
one else can do for me. There is no such thing as eating by proxy. If I am to be
nourished, I must, myself, eat. Standing by and watching others eat will not
supply my needs. So, dear reader, no one can believe in Christ for you. The
preacher cannot; your loved ones cannot. And you may have witnessed others
receiving Christ as theirs; you may later hear their ringing testimonies; you may
be struck by the unmistakable change wrought in their lives; but, unless you
have "eaten" the Bread of life, unless you have personally received Christ as
yours, it has all availed you nothing. "If any man eat of this bread, he shall live
forever." Divinely simple and yet wonderfully full is this figure of eating.
286

287. "And the bread that I will give is my flesh" (John 6:51). Exceedingly solemn and
exceedingly precious is this. To "give" His "flesh" was to offer Himself as a
sacrifice, it was to voluntarily lay down His life. Here, then, Christ presents
Himself, not only as One who came down from heaven, but as One who had
come here to die. And not unto we reach this point do we come to the heart of the
Gospel. As an awakened sinner beholds the person of Christ, as he reads the
record of His perfect life down here, he will exclaim, "Woe is me; I am undone."
Every line in the lovely picture which the Holy Spirit has given us in the four
Gospels only condemns me, for it shows me how unlike I am to the Holy One of
God. I admire His ways: I marvel at His perfections. I wish that I could be like
Him. But, alas, I am altogether unlike Him. If Christ be the One that the Father
delights in, then verily, He can never delight in me; for His ways and mine are as
far apart as the east is from the west. O what is to become of me, wretched man
that I am! Ah! dear reader, what had become of every one of us if Christ had
only glorified the Father by a brief sojourn here as the perfect Son of man?
What hope had there been if, with garments white and glistening. and face
radiant with a glory surpassing that of the midday sun, He had ascended from
the Mount of Transfiguration, leaving this earth forever? There is only one
answer: the door of hope had been fast closed against every member of Adam’s
fallen and guilty race. But blessed be His name, wonderful as was His descent
from heaven, wonderful as was that humble birth in Bethlehem’s lowly manger,
wonderful as was the flawless life that He lived here for thirty-three years as He
tabernacled among men; yet, that was not all, that was not the most wonderful.
Read this fifty-first verse of John 6 again: "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." Ah!
it is only in a slain Christ that poor sinners can find that which meets their dire
and solemn need. And His "flesh" He gave in voluntary and vicarious sacrifice
"for the life of the world": not merely for the Jews, but for elect sinners of the
Gentiles too. His meritorious life was substituted for our forfeited life. Surely this
will move our hearts to fervent praise. Surely this will cause us to bow before
Him in adoring worship.
I ate all my angel food cake and now I’m hungry again. The Israelites ate the manna
and were famished the next day. Jesus repeats this metaphor in verse 48: “I am the
bread of life.” He then reminds them that even though people ate manna in the dessert,
they eventually died. Material things have a built-in mortality. No matter how much
we exercise, how good our diet is, we’re eventually going to die. If you want
something that lasts for eternity then you must partake of the one who alone is eternal.
Look at verse 51: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats
of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life
of the world.”
David J. Stewart | April 2005
"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
287

288. the life of the world." -John 6:51
I recently received an e-mail from a Catholic named Craig...
"Your website has lots of errors. The Roman Catholic Church follows the words
of Jesus. We eat his body and drink his blood because he said so. John 6:51, "I
myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall
live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world" The bread is
his body for us to eat for eternal life.
I will pray for your conversion. Jesus is the way the truth and the life.
Please correct the Roman Catholic Church section of your website."
The problem Craig is that you've taken John 6:51 out of context (which is no doubt
what you have been taught by the heretics of the Catholic religion). If you back up
just a couple verses to John 6:47-48, you'll find the context, "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life." Jesus was
speaking about salvation. To teach that Jesus meant for us to literally digest His body
is not only absurd, but is also inconsistent with the rest of the Bible. In John 10:9
Jesus claimed to be the "door." How do we go through this "literal" door? Does the
Catholic religion have a secret door somewhere that we must all walk through. The
"door" which Jesus spoke of is NOT a literal concrete object, but abstract (cannot be
perceived with the 5 senses). The Bible simply means that the door to heaven is
THROUGH Jesus Christ! If John 6:51 is to be taken as literal instead of spiritual in
meaning, then John 10:9 would make no sense at all.
When Jesus tried to explain to Nicodemus that he needed to be "born again" in John
chapter three, Nicodemus took Jesus literally and was dumbfounded. Nicodemus was
baffled, asking, how can I go back into my mother's womb and be born again? He
looked at Jesus like he was crazy. Nicodemus was not thinking on a spiritual plane,
but earthly. Jesus was trying to teach Nicodemus a spiritual truth, but Nicodemus just
didn't get it. Just as Nicodemus FAILED to understand Jesus' Words of Truth, so also
do the Catholics FAIL to comprehend the simple Word of God. John 6:51 has
nothing to do with eating Jesus' flesh and blood, it simply means that we need to
believe upon the Lord for salvation.
In John 11:25 Jesus claimed to be the "resurrection." Are we to go bury ourselves
alive in the cemetery? Jesus claimed to be the vine, the light, the shepherd, etc.
Matthew 10:38 reads, "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not
worthy of me." Does God mean that we should literally carry wooden crosses around
over our shoulder? Of course not! This would be as ridiculous as the Catholic
teaching of transubstantiation (the heresy that the food taken at mass literally becomes
the flesh and blood of Jesus when digested). Can you imagine one billion people
being deceived by such a lie of the devil? One billion Catholics around the world
sincerely believe that they are eating Jesus. Satan is always mentioned in the Bible as
being a liar and a deceiver.
What's very sad to me is that so many people are going to burn in hell one day
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289. because of the Catholic's demandable heresies. In the e-mail I quoted you earlier,
Craig said...
"The bread is his body for us to eat for eternal life."
Listen friend, you can eat all the communion bread in the world and still go straight
to burn in the fires of hell. You had better get born again and stop fiddlin' with
religion. Jesus is the bread of life, not some stupid wafer or a glass of juice. Jesus
obviously wasn't claiming to be a physical OBJECT when He declared that He was
the Door, the Vine , or the Water of life...so why make the fatal mistake of thinking
that Jesus is a loaf of bread? What really astounds me is that anyone would be naive
enough to believe such nonsense. There is NO magical power or mystical event
happening at the Lord's Supper, the Bible commands us to observe it only as a
REMEMBRANCE of Jesus shedding His blood and suffering upon the cross for our
sins. The Lord's Supper is an ordinance, NOT a sacrament. Nowhere does the Bible
refer to the Lord's Supper as the "Eucharist" (a Catholic teaching).
I did NOT write this article to be unkind to Craig, but to WARN all who may
otherwise be led astray by this damnable heresy of Roman Catholicism. Salvation can
ONLY be obtained by coming to Jesus Christ, the Saviour, and asking Him to forgive
you of all your sins. If you don't get your sins forgiven, then you will sadly burn in
hell someday. God does not want ANYONE to burn in hell (2nd Peter 3:9). Won't
you come to Jesus now to be saved.
52
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among
themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to
eat?"
CLARKE, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? - Our Lord removes
this difficulty, and answers the question, in Joh_6:63.
GILL, "The Jews therefore strove among themselves,.... Fell to cavilling and
disputing one among another; some understanding Christ, and others not; some
being for him, and vindicated what he said; and others being against him, and who
were the majority, objected,
289

290. saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat? which is to be understood,
not physically, but as morally impossible and unlawful; since, with the Jews, it was
not lawful to eat the flesh of any creature alive, and much less the flesh of man; for
the Jews understood Christ of a corporeal eating of his flesh, being strangers to a
figurative or spiritual eating of it by faith, in which sense he meant it.
HENRY, "(1.) Let us see how this discourse of Christ was liable to mistake and
misconstruction, that men might see, and not perceive. [1.] It was misconstrued by
the carnal Jews, to whom it was first delivered (Joh_6:52): They strove among
themselves; they whispered in each other's ears their dissatisfaction: How can this
man give us his flesh to eat? Christ spoke (Joh_6:51) of giving his flesh for us, to
suffer and die; but they, without due consideration, understood it of his giving it to
us, to be eaten, which gave occasion to Christ to tell them that, however what he said
was otherwise intended, yet even that also of eating of his flesh was no such absurd
thing (if rightly understood) as prima facie - in the first instance, they took it to be.
[2.] It has been wretchedly misconstrued by the church of Rome for the support of
their monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation, which gives the lie to our senses,
contradicts the nature of a sacrament, and overthrows all convincing evidence. They,
like these Jews here, understand it of a corporal and carnal eating of Christ's body,
like Nicodemus, ch. 3, 4. The Lord's supper was not yet instituted, and therefore it
could have no reference to that; it is a spiritual eating and drinking that is here
spoken of, not a sacramental. [3.] It is misunderstood by many ignorant carnal
people, who hence infer that, if they take the sacrament when they die, they shall
certainly go to heaven, which, as it makes many that are weak causelessly uneasy if
they want it, so it makes many that are wicked causelessly easy if they have it.
JAMISON, "Jews strove among themselves — arguing the point together.
How can, etc. — that is, Give us His flesh to eat? Absurd.
CALVIN, "52.The Jews therefore debated among themselves. He again mentions
the Jews, not by way of honor, but to reproach them with their unbelief, because
they do not receive the well known doctrine concerning eternal life, or, at least,
do not inquire modestly into the subject, if it be still obscure and doubtful. For
when he says that they debated, it is a sign of obstinacy and contempt; and those
who dispute so keenly do, indeed, block up against themselves the road to the
knowledge of the truth. And yet the blame imputed to them is not simply that
they inquired into the manner; for the same blame would fall on Abraham and
the blessed Virgin, (Genesis 15:2; Luke 1:34.) Those persons, therefore, are
either led astray through ignorance, or are deficient in candour, who, without
taking into account the hardihood and eagerness to quarrel, which alone the
Evangelist condemns, direct all their outcry against the wordhow; as if it had not
been lawful for the Jews to inquire about the manner of eating the flesh of Christ
(158) But it ought rather to be imputed to sloth than ascribed to the obedience of
faith, if we knowingly and willingly leave unsolved those doubts and difficulties
which are removed for us by the word of the Lord. Not only is it lawful,
therefore, to inquire as to the manner of eating the flesh of Christ, but it is of
great importance for us to understand it, so far as it is made known by the
Scriptures. Away, then, with that fierce and obstinate pretense of humility, “For
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291. my part, I am satisfied with that single word of Christ, when he declares that his
flesh is truly food: to all the rest I willingly shut my eyes.” As if heretics would
not have equal plausibility on their side, if they willingly were ignorant that
Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, because, believing that he is the seed of
Abraham, they make no farther inquiry. Only we ought to preserve such
moderation about the secret works of God, as not to desire to know anything
more than what he determines by his word.
This is really a startling statement. Verse 52 reveals that his listeners begin to argue
sharply among themselves. The word used here reveals that they almost break out into
a fight. They’re stumped because Jesus is making it seem like they must commit
cannibalism. Instead of backing off, His statements get more deliberate and even
harder to swallow (no pun intended). Once again we see that we can’t put Jesus in a
nice and neat package and think we have Him all figured out. What He is saying in
verses 58 is that we must take Him into the very core of our being: “This is the bread
that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds
on this bread will live forever.” We must believe in His finished work on the cross
and receive Jesus into our lives.
STEDMAN 52 TO 57 "These words were an outrage to the Jews who first heard
them. They even sound offensive to our ears. Talk of eating human flesh and drinking
human blood is disgusting! And that's how the people reacted to Jesus. You can hear
their voices dripping with scorn as they say, in effect, "How can this man give us His
flesh to eat and His blood to drink? What does He think we are? Cannibals and
vampires? What kind of ghoulish talk is this? Why, we're all Orthodox Jews! This
kind of talk isn't even kosher!"
For centuries, the Jews had lived by strict dietary rules. All food had to be "kosher,"
approved according to Jewish dietary laws. The word kosher means "cleansed," and it
had special reference to the preparation of meat. The Jews cannot eat any meat that
has not had all the blood drained from it. I once visited a factory in Israel where
chickens were killed and canned for food. Every one of those chickens--thousands
every day!--had to be killed and its blood drained by a rabbi. If not, it could not be
sold on the Israeli market. Clearly, the thought of consuming any kind of blood--let
alone human blood!--was most offensive to the Jews.
It is possible, however, that these people are being deliberately obtuse, denying what
Jesus has already made quite plain: He is talking about His own death. Flesh and
blood are symbols of the sacrifice He must make. He has already answered their
question, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" He has told them that He will
give His flesh for the life of the world. That can only mean death--His own death--and
they are troubled by that.
291

292. Behind the protest of these Jews is a kind of defensiveness, the feeling that their sins
are not that bad, that it should not require anyone's death to resolve the question of
their sins. Again we see an attitude that is as relevant to our own age as the computer
chip. People today, just like people then, do not want to believe that their problems
come from something so bad within themselves that it requires death to cure it. We're
good people! Not perfect, certainly, but all we need is a little adjustment here and
there, and maybe a New Year's resolution or two--but we don't need someone to die
for us!
The words of Jesus, however, are relentless and uncompromising: "I tell you the truth,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in
you." He leaves no room for doubt: His death is essential to real life for you and me.
Moreover, the life He brings is real life, beyond that of mere physical existence: "F