Sunday
Aug292010
I Am the Bread of Life
Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 9:24PM Jesus' first I Am statement is found in John 6. He wanted those that chose to follow him to be clear as to his identity. Using the metaphor of bread, which had particular significance in Jewish biblical history and with which had just fed 5,000+ people, Jesus declared "I Am the bread of life."
What ensues is a challenging dialogue after which many of his disciples no longer follow him. Those that stay understand a basic spiritual principle: in most things in life you get it then you live it; in Christianity, you live it, then you get it. Understanding is unlocked by obedience, not vice versa. Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Church in Atlanta put it this way: "to understand why, submit and apply."
Peter and a few others chose to personally entrust themselves to Jesus in complete confidence even though they didn't fully understand all of his teaching. As they followed and trusted, my understanding was unlocked. In the process they changed the world. What a lesson for us today.
Here are a commentary on John 6 and another resource on the book of John. Until next week...
Commentary (6:22-71)
6:22-25. The crowd who had been fed were still on the eastern shore of the sea. They saw Jesus compel His disciples to get into the one boat which was there. But since Jesus did not get into the boat, the crowd supposed that He had stayed in the area. After some time they realized He was no longer there. Some boats from Tiberias landed, so the people decided to seek Jesus in the Capernaum region and got into the boats. The people’s question, When did You get here? introduces His long discourse in Capernaum (v. 59). Jesus did not explain how or when He crossed the lake, for His walking on the water was a private sign for the disciples only.
6:26. Jesus began with the solemn words, I tell you the truth (cf. comments on 1:51). Jesus spoke these words four times in this discourse (6:26, 32, 47, 53). This drew attention to the importance of what He was about to teach. He rebuked them for their materialistic motivation and their lack of spiritual perception. They saw miraculous signs, but to them it was only an easy meal. They failed to see what it signified.
6:27. When Jesus said, Do not work for food that spoils, He was not condoning laziness. Rather He was saying that people should expend their efforts for what will last forever. “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Physical food is short-lived but spiritual food leads to eternal life. The Son of Man (who has access to heaven [John 3:13]) will give people this spiritual food, which is ultimately Christ Himself (6:53). God the Father Himself authenticated Jesus’ claim that He is true heavenly “food.”
6:28. The people recognized that Jesus was saying God had a requirement for them. They would do God’s requirement if He would inform them what it was. They believed that they could please God and thus obtain eternal life by doing good works (cf. Rom. 10:2-4).
6:29. Jesus’ response to their question was a flat contradiction of their thinking. They could not please God by doing good works. There is only one work of God, that is, one thing God requires. They need to put their trust in the One the Father has sent. Because of their sin people cannot please God by doing good works for salvation (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). God demands that people recognize their inability to save themselves and receive His gift (Rom. 6:23).
6:30-31. In response the people demanded a miraculous sign (sēmeion; cf. “Jews demand miraculous signs” [1 Cor. 1:22]). They thought God’s order is see and believe. But the divine order is believe and see (cf. John 11:40). They did not have faith or spiritual perception, but they understood that Jesus was proclaiming something new.
His coming was claimed as an advance over Moses. They reasoned, “If You are more than Moses, do more than Moses.” The crowd that asked for a sign from Jesus must have felt that the feeding of the 5,000 did not compare with Moses’ gift of bread from heaven. They remembered the divine gift of manna (Ex. 16; Num. 11:7). They thought Jesus’ feeding was less significant because manna fed the whole nation for 40 years. But they missed two things. First, many of the Israelites who were fed 40 years did not believe. The important thing is not the magnitude of the sign but the perception of its significance (cf. Luke 16:29-31). Second, both Moses and Jesus were authenticated by God’s signs; therefore both should be listened to and believed.
6:32. In a solemn revelation (I tell you the truth; cf. vv. 26, 47, 53) Jesus corrected their ideas in three ways. (1) The Father, not Moses, gave the manna. (2) The Father, was still giving “manna” then, not merely in the past. (3) The true Bread from heaven is Jesus, not the manna. Thus the supposed superiorities of Moses and his sign vanish. Manna was food for the body, and it was useful. But Jesus is God’s full provision for people in their whole existence. Jesus repeatedly said He had come down from heaven (vv. 32-33, 38, 41-42, 50-51, 58).
6:33. God is the Source of all life. The Son has life in Himself (1:4; 5:26) and He has come to give real and lasting life to people. Sin cuts them off from God, who is Life, and they die spiritually and physically. Christ has come down from heaven to give life to the world. Jesus is thus the genuine Bread of God.
6:34. As yet, the crowd did not perceive that Jesus is the genuine Bread which He had been describing. Like the woman at the well (4:15), they asked for this better food. And they wanted it continually (from now on), not like the manna which lasted for 40 years.
6:35. I am the Bread of Life. This corrected two more errors in their thinking: (1) The food of which He spoke refers to a Person, not a commodity. (2) And once someone is in right relationship to Jesus, he finds a satisfaction which is everlasting, not temporal. This “I am” statement is the first in a series of momentous “I am” revelations (cf. 8:12; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 5). “Bread of Life” means bread which provides life. Jesus is man’s necessary “food.” In Western culture, bread is often optional, but it was an essential staple then. Jesus promised, He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty. The “nevers” are emphatic in Greek.
6:36. Jesus then rebuked the crowd for their lack of faith. They had the great privilege of seeing Him and yet they did not believe. Seeing does not necessarily lead to believing (cf. v. 30).
6:37. Jesus then gave the ultimate explanation of their lack of faith: the Father works sovereignly in people’s lives. There is an election of God which is the Father’s gift to the Son. The Son has no concern that His work will be ineffective, for the Father will enable people to come to Jesus. Jesus has confidence. But people may have confidence also. (Cf. the crippled man’s response to Jesus’ question, “Do you want to get well?” [5:6-9]) One who comes to Jesus for salvation will by no means be driven away (cf. 6:39).
6:38-39. Jesus then repeated His claim about His heavenly origin. The reason He came down from heaven was to do the will of the Father who sent Him. The Father’s will is that those whom He gives to the Son will not suffer a single loss and all will be raised to life in the resurrection (cf. vv. 40, 44, 54). This passage is strong in affirming the eternal security of the believer.
6:40. This verse repeats and reinforces the ideas of the previous verses. One who looks and believes on Jesus for salvation has his destiny secure. The divine decree has insured it (cf. Rom. 8:28-30). He has eternal life (John 6:47, 50-51, 54, 58) and will be raised at the last day (cf. vv. 39, 44, 54).
6:41-42. The Jews, hostile unbelievers, grumbled because of Jesus’ proclamation of His heavenly origin. Like their ancestors in the wilderness, these Jews murmured (Ex. 15:24; 16:2, 7, 12; 17:3; Num. 11:1; 14:2, 27). Their thinking was seemingly logical: one whose parents are known could not be from heaven (cf. Mark 6:3; Luke 4:22). They were ignorant of His true origin and full nature. They said He was the son of Joseph, but they did not know of the Virgin Birth, the Incarnation. He had come down from heaven because He is the Logos (John 1:1, 14).
6:43-44. Jesus made no attempt to correct their ignorance other than to rebuke their grumbling and to point them to the drawing and teaching ministry of God. They are not in a position to judge Him. Without God’s help any assessment of God’s Messenger will be faulty. No one can come to Jesus or believe on Him without divine help. People are so ensnared in the quicksand of sin and unbelief that unless God draws them (cf. v. 65), they are hopeless. This drawing of God is not limited to a few. Jesus said, “I... will draw all men to Myself” (12:32). This does not mean that all will be saved but that Greeks (i.e., Gentiles; 12:20) as well as Jews will be saved. Those who will be saved will also be resurrected (cf. 6:39-40).
6:45. In support of this doctrine of salvation by God’s grace, Jesus cited the Old Testament. The quotation, They will all be taught by God, is from the Prophets, probably Isaiah 54:13, though Jeremiah 31:34 has the same thought. This “teaching” of God refers to His inner work that disposes people to accept the truth about Jesus and respond to Him. Everyone who listens to and learns from God will come to and believe in Jesus.
6:46. Yet this secret teaching of God is not a mystical connection of people with God directly. Knowing God comes only through Jesus, the Logos of God (cf. 1:18). As one is confronted by Him and hears His words and sees His deeds, the Father works within him.
6:47-48. These two verses summarize Jesus’ teaching in the debate. I tell you the truth occurs here for the third of four times in this passage (cf. vv. 26, 32, 53). He who believes is in Greek a participial construction in the present tense, meaning that a believer is characterized by his continuing trust. He has everlasting life, which is a present and abiding possession. Jesus then repeated His affirmation, I am the Bread of Life (see comments on v. 35).
6:49-50. Manna met only a limited need. It provided temporary physical life. The Israelites came to loathe it, and ultimately they died. Jesus is a Bread of a different kind. He is from heaven and gives life. A person who eats of that Bread will not die.
6:51. Since Jesus is the Bread of Life, what does “eating” this Bread mean? Many commentators assume that Jesus was talking about the Lord’s Supper. This passage may well illuminate the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, in relation to Christ’s death. But since the Last Supper occurred one year later than the incidents recorded in this chapter, eating His flesh and drinking His blood should not be thought of as sacramentalism. “Eating” the living Bread is a figure of speech meaning to believe on Him, like the figures of coming to Him (v. 35), listening to Him, (v. 45), and seeing Him (v. 40). To eat of this Bread is to live forever (cf. vv. 40, 47, 50, 54, 58). Jesus’ revelation about the Bread was then advanced in that not only is the Father giving the Bread (Jesus), but also Jesus is giving Himself: This Bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Salvation is by the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God (1:29). By His death, life came to the world.
6:52. As often happens, Jesus’ teaching was not understood (cf. 2:20; 3:4; 4:15; 6:32-34). A violent argument started in the crowd regarding what He meant. Their perception remained at a materialistic level. They wondered, How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?
6:53-54. This revelation by Jesus is marked out as important by the fourth use of the phrase, I tell you the truth (cf. vv. 26, 32, 47). Sacramental interpretations appeal to the words eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood as evidence that Jesus was speaking of the eucharist. As stated earlier, the basic objection to this approach is historical: Jesus did not institute the Communion service until a year later. Drinking “His blood” is another bold figure of speech. The Jews knew the command, “You must not eat... any blood” (Lev. 3:17; cf. Lev. 17:10-14). And yet blood was the means of atonement. It is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life (Lev. 17:11). Jesus’ hearers must have been shocked and puzzled by His enigmatic words. But the puzzle is unlocked by understanding that Jesus was speaking of His making atonement by His death and giving life to those who personally appropriate Him (cf. John 6:63). Faith in Christ’s death brings eternal life (cf. vv. 40, 47, 50-51) and (later) bodily resurrection (cf. vv. 39-40, 44).
6:55. Just as good food and drink sustain physical life, so Jesus, the real (reliable) spiritual food and drink, sustains His followers spiritually. His flesh and blood give eternal life to those who receive Him.
6:56-57. One who partakes of Christ enjoys a mutual abiding relationship with Christ. He remains (menei) in Christ, and Christ remains in him. Menō; is one of the most important theological terms in John’s Gospel (cf. comments on 1:38). The Father “remains” in the Son (14:10), the Spirit “remains” on Jesus (1:32), and believers “remain” in Jesus and He in them (6:56; 15:4). The implications of this “remaining” are many. A believer enjoys intimacy with and security in Jesus. Just as He has His life from the Father, so believers have life because of Jesus.
6:58-59. Jesus gave this discourse on the Bread of Life in the synagogue in Capernaum. He often spoke in Jewish synagogues, where men had opportunities to give expositions and exhortations (Mark 6:1-6; Luke 4:16-28; Acts 13:15-42). The services were not as formal as those of traditional American churches; “laymen” usually spoke. The conclusion to Jesus’ exposition and exhortation, based on the manna incident from Exodus 16, repeats the major themes: Moses’ bread did not give lasting life (salvation does not come by the Law); God has given the genuine life-giving Bread... from heaven; those who trust Jesus have eternal life.
6:60. As the people began to understand His teaching, they found it to be totally unacceptable. Besides the hostile Jewish leaders, many of the Galilean disciples turned away from Him. The popular enthusiasm for Jesus as a political Messiah (v. 15) was then over. They saw that He was not going to deliver them from Rome. He might be a great Healer, but His words were a hard (i.e., harsh) teaching. Who could accept it, that is, obey it? How could they personally appropriate Him?
6:61-62. Jesus knew His audience (cf. 1:47; 2:24-25; 6:15). Aware that they were grumbling (cf. v. 41), He asked what was so offensive to them. (Offend in Gr. is skandalizei.) Paul wrote that the crucified Messiah was a “stumbling block” (skandalon) to the Jews (1 Cor. 1:23). The Ascension of the Son of Man is also an offense. But His glorification is His heavenly vindication. He was crucified in weakness but He was raised in power (1 Cor. 15:43).
6:63. After His Ascension Jesus gave the Holy Spirit (7:38-39; Acts 1:8-9). The Holy Spirit, poured out in the world, gives life (salvation) to those who believe. Without the Holy Spirit, man (flesh) is utterly unable to understand Jesus’ person and His works (John 3:6; 1 Cor. 2:14). Though the crowds assessed Jesus’ words as “hard” (John 6:60), actually His words... are spirit and... life. That is, by the work of the Holy Spirit in an individual, Jesus’ words provide spiritual life.
6:64. The life Jesus gives must be received by faith. The words do not work automatically. From the start Jesus knew which followers were believers and which ones were unbelievers. This is another evidence of His supernatural knowledge (cf. 1:47; 2:24-25; 6:15).
6:65. Jesus had taught that divine enablement was necessary for people to come to faith (v. 44). The apostasy here (v. 66) should not be surprising. Believers who remain with Jesus evidence the Father’s secret work. The unbelieving crowds are evidence that “the flesh counts for nothing” (v. 63).
6:66. His rejecting their desire to make Him their political king; His demand for personal faith; His teaching on atonement; His stress on total human inability and on salvation as a work of God—all these proved to be unpalatable for many people. They gave up being His disciples (“disciples” here refers to followers in general, not to the 12 Apostles; this is evident in v. 67).
6:67. You do not want to leave too, do you? He framed this question to encourage their weak faith. The Twelve were affected by the apostasy of the many, and Jesus used that occasion to refine their faith. They did not fully understand His words either and would not until after the Resurrection (20:9).
6:68-69. Peter, as a spokesman, gave his confession of faith. The path may be difficult, but he was convinced that Jesus’ words lead to life. No one else has the gift of eternal life. “We have believed and have known” is a better translation of the Greek perfect tenses (niv: We believe and know). Peter was confident of the apostles’ commitment to Jesus as the Holy One of God. This title is unusual (a demon addressed Jesus that way; Mark 1:24). It suggests Jesus’ transcendence (“the Holy One”) and His representation of the Father (“of God”); thus it is another way of confessing Him as Messiah. Peter knew this by a special work of the Father (cf. Matt. 16:17).
6:70-71. Jesus then asked, Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? John’s Gospel does not record Jesus’ choice of the Twelve. He assumed his readers knew the Synoptics or common church tradition (cf. Mark 3:13-19). This choice was not election to salvation, but was Jesus’ call to them to serve Him. Yet, He said, one of you is a devil! In the light of John 13:2, 27, Satan’s working in Judas was tantamount to Judas being the devil. In 6:70 the Greek does not have the indefinite article “a,” so it could be translated “one of you is Satan (devil).” Jesus’ knowledge of Judas (who was called Judas Iscariot because his father was Simon Iscariot) was still another example of His omniscience (cf. 1:47; 2:24-25; 6:15, 61). Later in the Upper Room, Jesus again said one of the Twelve would betray Him (13:21). John called Judas “the traitor” (18:5). The disciples later could reflect on this prophecy of His and be strengthened in their faith. Judas was a tragic figure, influenced by Satan; yet he was responsible for his own evil choices.
—Bible Knowledge Commentary
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