John 6:14
Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
(a) The sign. The miraculous feeding led the Jews to conclude that Jesus was the prophet foretold by Moses.
(b) The Prophet. The Jews revered Moses, but Moses said that the Lord would send another prophet that they should listen to (Deu. 18:15). That Prophet was Jesus (Acts 3:22, 7:37).
John 6:15
So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.
Make him king. The Jews were looking for a Messiah who would deliver Israel from its oppressors and overthrow the Romans. (The noncanonical Psalms of Solomon, which may have been written about the time the Romans invaded Israel in 60 BC, says the Messiah will “purge Jerusalem from nations… (and) thrust out sinners from the inheritance.”) When Jesus didn’t live up to their expectations, they tried to force his hand. Jesus made himself scarce.
John 6:27
“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
(a) Do not work for the food which perishes. The most important work we will ever do is partake of Jesus, the bread of life. Indeed, believing in Jesus is the work of God (John 6:29).
(b) Food which endures. Jesus is bread of God which gives life to the world (John 6:33).
(c) The Father; see entry for John 4:21.
(d) Eternal life is living forever in union with Jesus; see entry for John 3:15.
John 6:29
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
(a) The work of God. In the new covenant of grace, Jesus has done all the work; your part is to trust him.
Much confusion has come from misunderstanding the relationship between faith and works. We are justified by faith and not our good works, but faith without works is dead and useless (Jas. 2:17, 20). What are the works of faith? In the New Testament, there are more than 200 imperative statements linked with faith. Some of these statements exhort us to: receive Jesus (John 1:11-12, 5:43), receive the message of Jesus (John 17:8), obey or heed the message or good news of Jesus (John 17:6) and turn to God in repentance (Acts 26:20).
Other scriptures encourage us to accept the word (Mark 4:20), confess Jesus as Lord (Rom. 10:9), call on the name of the Lord (Act 2:21), eat the bread of life (John 6:50-51), be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20), submit to God’s righteousness (Rom. 10:3), and be born again (John 3:3, 7). But the one imperative that appears far more than any other, is the instruction to believe. We are to believe in Jesus (see entry for John 3:16).
(b) Believe in Him. If faith is the noun – the state of being persuaded that God loves you – then believing is the verb or activity that flows from that conviction. Indeed, believing in Jesus is both the work of God and the command of the Lord (1 John 3:23). We do not believe to create faith. Rather, believing is the action that reveals our faith. “Having the same spirit of faith… we also believe” (2 Cor. 4:13).
The chief takeaway of the new covenant is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (see entry for John 3:16).
Further reading: “What are the works of faith?“
(c) He sent. On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had come or been sent from heaven. See entry for John 6:38.
John 6:30
So they said to him, “What then do you do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?
(a) Sign. The Jews wanted a sign from heaven to prove that God was with Jesus; see entry for Matt. 12:38.
(b) Believe you. How fickle were the crowds! Jesus fed the 5000 and they believed he was the Prophet foretold by Moses (John 6:14). But just a few verses later they were no longer convinced. They wanted another sign. Their craving for signs only demonstrated their unbelief. For this reason, Jesus called them “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matt. 12:39).
John 6:33
“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
Comes down out of heaven. On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had come or been sent from heaven. See entry for John 6:38.
John 6:37
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
(a) The Father; see entry for John 4:21.
(b) The Father gives Me. Those who come to the Lord come only by the grace of God. The Lord draws all of us by his Spirit, but not all respond in faith. Those who do are known as the elect or chosen (see entry for 1 Pet. 1:1).
This verse is not saying that God is selective about who he saves, for God loves the whole world (John 3:16). He is not willing that any perish but desires all to come to repentance and be saved (2 Pet. 3:9, 1 Tim. 2:4). Whoever believes is saved (John 3:16).
(c) I will certainly not cast out. Notice the absence of conditions and qualifiers. Jesus does not say, “I will not cast them out for as long as they behave right.” One with the Lord, you are eternally secure.
John 6:38
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
From heaven. On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had come or been sent from heaven (John 3:13, 5:23, 36, 37, 6:29, 33, 38, 39, 44, 51, 57, 58, 8:16, 18, 23, 42, 10:36, 12:49, 14:24, 16:28, 17:8, 18, 21, 23, 25, 18:37, 20:21).
“I have come down from heaven.” Because of Adam, humanity was on death row. (Romans 6 calls it living under the condemnation of sin and death.) But Jesus was not from Adam’s fallen line. Jesus was born outside the prison. Only a free man can ransom a slave.
See entry for Virgin Birth.
John 6:39
“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.
(a) Him who sent me. On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had been sent from heaven. See entry for John 6:38.
(b) I lose nothing. The Good Shepherd keeps his sheep and loses none of them (John 18:9).
Christ sustains us (Rom. 11:18, Eph. 5:29) and keeps us from stumbling (Jude 1:24). We can be confident that he will complete the good work he began in us (Php. 1:6) and bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. 4:18).
John 6:40
“For 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 day.”
(a) The will of My Father. The will of God is the same as the work of God and the command of God – that you believe in Jesus (John 6:29, 1 John 3:23). Jesus is the will of God made flesh.
(b) My Father; see entry for John 4:21.
(c) Beholds the Son. Earlier Jesus said “whoever hears my word and believes” (John 5:24). We get a revelation of the Son by hearing the gospel.
(d) And believes in him. All of God’s blessings, including forgiveness, salvation, righteousness and eternal life, come to us freely by grace and are received by faith. Faith does not compel God to forgive us or sanctify us. But faith is the conduit through which grace flows. See entry for Eph. 2:8.
(e) Eternal life is a gift we receive when come to Christ (John 3:15).
Once upon a time you were dead in sins and separated from the zoe-life of God (Eph. 2:1). But the moment you put your faith in Christ you crossed over from death to life (John 5:24). Whoever believes in Christ has eternal life and shall not perish (John 3:16).
John 6:44
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
(a) The Father; see entry for John 4:21.
(b) Draws him. Those who come to the Lord come only by the grace of God. The Lord draws all of us by his Spirit, but not all respond in faith. See entry for John 6:37.
(c) Who sent me. On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had been sent from heaven. See entry for John 6:38.
John 6:46
“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.
(a) The Father; see entry for John 4:21.
(b) He has seen the Father. The character and purposes of God are revealed in prophecies, laws, and visions, but the clearest picture of God the Father comes through the Son. “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son reveals him” (Matt. 11:27). It is through Jesus alone that we encounter the true character of God. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).
John 6:47
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
(a) He who believes; see entry for John 3:16.
(b) Eternal life is a gift we receive when come to Christ (John 3:15, 5:24).
We are not born immortal (Rom. 2:6–8). But the moment you put your faith in Christ you crossed over from death to life (John 5:24). Whoever believes in Christ has eternal life and shall not perish (John 3:16). Eternal life
John 6:51
“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.”
(a) Came down out of heaven. On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had been sent from heaven. See entry for John 6:38.
(b) The life. Two kinds of life are described in the Bible; the psuche– or soul life we inherited from Adam and the zoe– or spirit life that comes from God (John 5:26). It’s the second kind of life that is described here. See entry for New Life.
(c) My flesh. My body. Jesus will sacrifice his body so that all may live.
John 6:53
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.
(a) You have no life. The natural man is not spiritually dead but he is dead in sin (see entry for Eph. 5:2). He is living on death row (Rom. 5:12. But the moment he puts his faith in Christ he crosses over from death to life (John 5:24).
(b) Life. Two kinds of life are described in the Bible; the psuche– or soul life we inherited from Adam and the zoe– or spirit life that comes from God (John 5:26). It’s the second kind of life that is described here. See entry for New Life.
John 6:54
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Eternal life is living forever in union with Jesus, the Author of Life; see entry for John 3:15.
John 6:63
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
(a) The Spirit who gives life. The chief ministry of the Holy Spirit is to give life to the dead.
Technically, zoe-life comes from God the Father (John 5:21, 26, 6:27, Acts 17:28, Heb. 12:9) and God the Son (John 1:4, 5:21, 14:6, Rom. 6:23, 2 Tim. 1:9, 1 John 1:2, 1 John 5:11-13). But this life comes to us via God the Holy Spirit.
Yet there is a danger of over-thinking things and splitting hairs. John 6:63 says the Spirit gives life while 1 John 5:12 says he who has the Son has the life. There is no difference. If you have the Son you have the Spirit and if you have the Spirit you have the Son. Jesus is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
See entry for New Life.
(b) The flesh profits nothing. You can be the best person in the world and in the end it will count for nought, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). We all need to be born of the Spirit. We all need to be born again.
John 6:64
“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
Do not believe. In the crowds that followed Jesus there were two kinds of people. There were some who believed that Jesus were the Son of God and others who didn’t. These unbelievers were following Christ but they hadn’t made up their minds. Jesus decided to force the issue by saying “no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father” (see next verse). This was too much for some and they turned away (John 6:66). They literally turned aside and went astray. Having hardened their hearts to the Lord’s voice, it was unlikely that they would ever return to the place of decision (Heb. 4:7).
John 6:65
And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
(a) The Father; see entry for John 4:21.
(b) Unless it has been granted. Those who come to the Lord come only by the grace of God. The Lord draws all of us by his Spirit, but not all respond in faith. See entry for John 6:37.
John 6:66
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
Many of his disciples withdrew. The unbelievers in the crowd turned away. See entry for John 6:64.
John 6:71
Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
Simon Iscariot was one nine men named Simon in the New Testament; see entry for Matt. 4:18.
The Grace Commentary is a work in progress with new content added regularly. Sign up for occasional updates below. Got a suggestion? Please use the Feedback page. To report typos or broken links on this page, please use the comment form below.