John 6
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 1–15
Jesus Walks on the Sea 16–21
The People Seek the Wrong Bread 22–34
Jesus Declares, 'I Am the Bread of Life' 35–50
The Bread of Life: Eating His Flesh 51–59
The Hard Saying and Division 60–66
Peter's Confession and Judas’s Betrayal 67–71
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for John 6
Verse 1
the sea of Tiberias — One lake under three names: ‘the sea of Galilee’ (Matt 4:18), ‘the lake of Gennesaret’ (Luke 5:1), and here the name of the town on its shore, Tiberias. John uses it again in v.23, where ‘other boats from Tiberias’ come to the place of the feeding.
Verse 4
the passover, a feast of the Jews — The LORD’s passover fell on ‘the fourteenth day of the first month’ (Lev 23:5). Its nearness frames the bread of this chapter: Israel’s deliverance from Egypt (Ex 12:14) is followed by the manna of the wilderness, which the crowd raises in v.31.
Verse 6
to prove him — Peirazo, to test or try. God ‘did tempt Abraham’ (Gen 22:1) and led Israel in the wilderness ‘to prove thee’ (Deut 8:2) in the same sense: a test, not a trap. Christ puts the question to Philip while he ‘himself knew what he would do’, so the test shows Philip’s faith, not Christ’s need.
Verse 9
five barley loaves — Krithinos, of barley. Elisha’s servant likewise had ‘twenty loaves of barley’ for a hundred men, and ‘they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD’ (2 Kings 4:42–44). The small fishes (opsarion) are the relish eaten with the bread; ‘what are they among so many?’ states the need the sign answers.
Verse 14
that prophet that should come into the world — The crowd recalls the promise of ‘a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me’ (Deut 18:15), the ‘that prophet’ of John 1:21. Fed in the wilderness as under Moses, they name him rightly, yet in v.15 they mean to make him a king by force.
Verse 15
take him by force, to make him a king — Harpazo, to seize, the verb for snatching. Christ withdraws ‘into a mountain himself alone’, and before Pilate states why: ‘My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight’ (John 18:36).
Verse 19
five and twenty or thirty furlongs — A stadion is about a furlong, so the boat was some three miles out. Christ ‘walking on the sea’ fulfils what Job says of God: he ‘treadeth upon the waves of the sea’ (Job 9:8). The disciples’ fear is met by his words in v.20.
Verse 20
It is I — Literally ‘I am’ (ego eimi), the same words as ‘I am the bread of life’ in v.35. He uses them in the same hour in Matt 14:27, ‘Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid’. The LORD’s promise stands behind it: ‘When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee’ (Isa 43:2).
Verse 26
Verily, verily — Amen, amen, a Hebrew word meaning sure and trustworthy, doubled as Christ’s opening for a weighty statement. He answers the question of v.25 by naming their motive: ‘because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled’. The sign was meant to point beyond the bread, as v.27 goes on to say.
Verse 27
Labour not for the meat which perisheth — The verb ergazomai, to work, is the same as ‘work’ in v.28, where the crowd takes it up in their question. The call echoes Isa 55:2, ‘Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?’ ‘Sealed’ (sphragizo) is to mark with a signet: the Father has attested the Son.
Verse 29
the work of God — The crowd asked for ‘works’ in the plural (v.28); the answer is one ‘work’ (ergon), ‘that ye believe on him whom he hath sent’. Faith is named as the work itself, and the same verb pisteuo runs through the chapter to Peter’s confession in v.69.
Verse 31
He gave them bread from heaven to eat — The crowd cites Scripture, close to Ps 78:24, ‘had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven’, with Ex 16:4, ‘I will rain bread from heaven for you’. They set Moses’ sign against Christ’s, and v.32 corrects who gave and what is ‘true’.
Verse 32
the true bread from heaven — Alethinos, genuine, the real thing of which the other was the pattern, as in ‘the true vine’ (John 15:1). Tenses matter: Moses ‘gave’ (past) and ‘not that bread’, while the Father ‘giveth’ (present) the true. The manna came from the Father, not from Moses.
Verse 35
I am the bread of life — ‘Never hunger’ and ‘never thirst’ use the strong double negative (ou me): not at all. ‘Cometh’ and ‘believeth’ are two names for one act. The invitation answers Isa 55:1, ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters’, and he repeats it at the feast (John 7:37).
Verse 37
in no wise cast out — The double negative ou me again: certainly not. ‘All that the Father giveth me’ and ‘him that cometh to me’ stand side by side, as in v.44 and v.65. The security is restated in ‘neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’ (John 10:28).
Verse 42
the son of Joseph — The crowd knows his household, as Nazareth did: ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ (Luke 4:22); ‘is not his mother called Mary?’ (Matt 13:55). Their knowledge is accurate and incomplete; it cannot account for ‘I came down from heaven’, which v.44 says only the Father’s drawing makes credible.
Verse 44
draw him — Helkuo, to draw, the verb for hauling a net (John 21:6, 11). The Father’s drawing is paired with Christ’s: ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me’ (John 12:32). The LORD says the same of Israel, ‘with lovingkindness have I drawn thee’ (Jer 31:3).
Verse 45
they shall be all taught of God — From Isa 54:13, ‘all thy children shall be taught of the LORD’. John’s ‘God’ renders the LORD of Isaiah. Those who ‘hath heard, and hath learned of the Father’ come to Christ, so the Father’s drawing in v.44 is carried out as teaching. Jer 31:34 says likewise that all ‘shall know me’.
Verse 51
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world — The bread is now named: his flesh, given ‘for’ (huper, on behalf of) the world. The language of giving is that of sacrifice: ‘to give his life a ransom for many’ (Matt 20:28), and at the supper, ‘This is my body which is given for you’ (Luke 22:19).
Verse 53
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood — The saying answers the quarrel of v.52. Christ takes bread and cup at the supper with ‘this is my body’ and ‘this is my blood of the new testament’ (Matt 26:26, 28). The blood is life given for atonement: ‘it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul’ (Lev 17:11).
Verse 56
dwelleth in me, and I in him — Meno, to abide, the word of John 15:4, ‘Abide in me, and I in you’. The verb for eating changes in vv.54–58 to trogo, a word for chewing or feeding. Eating and drinking result in mutual indwelling, and the life it brings is that of v.57.
Verse 59
in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum — Capernaum’s synagogue is where ‘on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught’ (Mark 1:21). A centurion had ‘built us a synagogue’ there (Luke 7:5). The teaching just given was thus spoken in a place of public worship, in the town toward which the crowd had sailed (v.24).
Verse 60
an hard saying — Skleros, harsh, rough, and logos, the saying. The complaint comes from ‘many of his disciples’, not from opponents, and ‘who can hear it?’ asks who can accept it. It leads to the turning back of v.66. Christ asks in v.61 ‘Doth this offend you?’ (skandalizo, to cause to stumble).
Verse 63
It is the spirit that quickeneth — Zoopoieo, to make alive. Compare ‘the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life’ (2 Cor 3:6). His ‘words’ (rhema) are ‘spirit’ and ‘life’, and Peter answers in v.68 with ‘thou hast the words of eternal life’. ‘The flesh profiteth nothing’ is set against the Spirit’s work, not against his own flesh given in v.51.
Verse 64
Jesus knew from the beginning — He knew from the first who would not believe and ‘who should betray him’, as ‘he knew all men’ (John 2:24). v.71 names Judas Iscariot, and Ps 41:9 had foretold the treachery: ‘which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me’.
Verse 66
went back, and walked no more with him — The verb peripateo, to walk, is the language of discipleship as following; they ‘walked no more’ with him. The warning of Luke 9:62 applies, as does 1 John 2:19, ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us’. The Twelve are asked in v.67 whether they too will go.
Verse 68
to whom shall we go? — Peter does not argue the saying but names the only place to turn: ‘thou hast the words of eternal life’. The word is rhema, the same as the ‘words’ that Christ called ‘spirit’ and ‘life’ in v.63. His answer is in the tone of the psalm, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?’ (Ps 73:25).
Verse 70
Have not I chosen you twelve — Eklegomai, to choose out, as ‘of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles’ (Luke 6:13). Among those chosen was ‘a devil’ (diabolos, slanderer); v.71 names Judas. In John 13:18 he says, ‘I know whom I have chosen’, and quotes the Scripture about the one who eats bread with him and lifts his heel.