John 6

—indeed.] Really and truly, not literally and materially; really and truly, but in a spiritual sense. Thus our Church, in her Catechism, “verily and indeed taken;” but still in a spiritual, not in a natural, sense. Dr. Tropp.

John 6:2

2.—feast of tabernacles] One of the three great feasts (see notes at Lev. xxiii. 34) which occurred on the fifteenth of the seventh month, answering to the end of our September, or the beginning of October; it continued for eight days.

John 6:3

3. His brethren] His kindred. See note at Matt. xiii. 55.

—that thy disciples also may see &c.] That the disciples, which were wont to follow Thee there, may see the miracles that Thou doest. For (ver. 4.) whosoever would gain an authority among the people, must not perform his miracles in private; therefore, whatsoever Thou doest, perform in Judea as publickly as Thou canst. Dr. Hammond. Shew Thyself to the world, Perform Thy miracles in Judea, at Jerusalem, at the time of the approaching feast, that the great men, the Jews, proselytes, and strangers, may all behold them, and be convinced of Thy power. Dr. S. Clarke

John 6:5

5.—neither did his brethren believe in him.] To what extent His brethren did not believe Him at this time, is uncertain. By their discourse it seems not to have been a total disbelief, but only some partial doubts, arising from their observing that He was not willing to make a publick appearance in Jerusalem. Bp. Pearce. They doubted when they saw that He did not take the means, which they expected from the Messiah, of raising Himself and them. Dr. Lightfoot.

It is probable that the same worldly-minded notions of the temporal power and grandeur of the Messiah’s kingdom, which infected even the Apostles, had taken possession of His relations. Hence they endeavoured to check His exertions to instruct the people, which they conceived to be extravagant and enthusiastic. Dr. Hales. The remark here made by the Evangelist illustrates his fidelity, and his confidence in the truth and excellency of his cause. Abp. Newcome.

It was so ordered by Providence, that our blessed Saviour’s reputation was very little owing to the interest

John 6:6

6. — this he said to prove him.] To make trial of his faith; for He before determined in Himself what He was about to do. Bp. Mann.

John 6:7

7. — Two hundred pennyworth] The Roman penny being about sevenpence halfpenny of our money.

John 6:8

8. One of his disciples.] We should observe, that, while the three first Evangelists have related the appointment of the twelve Apostles, and have given a regular catalogue of their names, St. John, without even mentioning the appointment, or giving the catalogue, supposes, through his whole narrative, Christ to be accompanied by a select party of disciples, and the number of these to be twelve; and, whenever he happens to notice any one as of that number, it is one included in the catalogue of the other Evangelists; and the names principally occurring in the course of his history of Christ, are the names extant in their list. This last agreement, which is of considerable moment, runs through every Gospel, and through every Chapter of each. Archdeacon Paley.

John 6:12

12. — Gather up the fragments—that nothing be lost.] We should learn from this direction of our Saviour, to avoid all wastefulness of the good things with which Providence has blessed us, to manage our substance on all occasions to the best advantage, and so to approve ourselves charitable and kind, as at the same time not to be profuse and indiscreet. Jesus, by setting His whole store before the multitude, has left us a pattern of beneficence and largeness of heart. Yet this same Jesus would not that even the fragments should be

lost; and herein He hath shewed us that charity is very consistent with frugality; indeed, not only that they may, but they ever should, go together. Dean Stanhope.

John 6:13

13. — twelve baskets] Equal in number to the Apostles who ministered. Dr. Lightfoot.

John 6:14

14. — that prophet that should come] The Messiah, that Saviour and deliverer, whom, according to the ancient prophecies, they expected to appear in the world about this time. Dr. S. Clarke. For further remarks on this miracle, see notes at Matt. xiv.

John 6:15

15. — to make him a king.] According to their false notion of a Messiah, who was to be a great temporal prince. Dr. S. Clarke. They were struck with astonishment and respect; and Jesus, who knew the thoughts and designs of men, perceived their intention, and withdrew Himself. Bp. Mann.

So hard was it for our Lord, performing those miracles which were necessary to testify His mission, and which often drew great crowds of people after Him, to keep the headstrong and hasty multitude from such disorder as would have involved Him in it, and have disturbed the course, and cut short the time of His ministry, and drawn on Him the character, and the fate, of a turbulent seditious malefactor; contrary to the design of His coming, which was to be offered up a lamb blameless, and void of offence; His innocence appearing clear to all the world, even to him who delivered Him up to crucifixion. Locke.

John 6:19

19. — they see Jesus] They did not know Him to be Jesus, but took Him for a spirit, Matt. xiv. 26. Respecting this miracle, see notes at Matt. xiv. 24, &c.

Christ reprove the carnal hearers of his word. Anno DOMINI 22.

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;

John 6:24

24. — took shipping.] Embarked in those other boats which had come from Tiberias. Beausobre.

John 6:26

26. — Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles.] Ye follow Me, not for the true end of the miracles which I work, which is, that ye might believe in Me and have everlasting life, but merely for the present benefit which ye hope to receive by them. Dr. Clagett.

John 6:27

27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, &c.] Our blessed Saviour’s meaning is not, to discourage that labour and industry which the providence of God has made necessary for men in their respective stations, and the neglect of which is therefore sinful; but He recommends, as comparatively of far higher importance than any concerns of this world, a careful preparation for the next, Matt. vi. 33. Bp. Mann.

The metaphor which Christ uses through much of this chapter, of expressing spiritual food by meat and drink, is familiar to Eastern nations, and occurs frequently in Scripture, as in other writings. See Prov. ix. 5; Issi. iv. 2; Ecclus. xxiv. 21. Dr. Whitby.

— that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.] This is meat worth labouring for, indeed; happy are they that after all their labour can attain it; they will live in perfect health and strength and vigour, both of body and mind; they will live in joy and bliss and glory, the highest that can be imagined; they will live with the holy angels, with Christ, with God Himself, and enjoy all the pleasures that are at His right hand, and that too, not for some few years or ages only, but for evermore. Bp. Beveridge.

— for him hath God—sealed.] The miracles, which the Son of man performs, are as it were the seal of His authority from God the Father, to give eternal life to such as believe and obey Him. Bp. Mann.

John 6:28

28. — What shall we do, &c.] “What shall we do,” you: 4 for him hath God the Father sealed.

John 6:29

29. — This is the work of God.] Take care to embrace the Gospel covenant: this is the work that God requires of you. Bp. Mann.

John 6:30

30, 31. — What sign shewest thou then, &c.] Not satisfied with the miracles they had seen, not even with that of the loaves by which they were fed, they still demand, as a further proof, a sign from heaven, Matt. xvi. 1. Moses brought food from heaven for their fathers; they ask whether He could do the like. Bp. Mann.

John 6:32

32. — gave you not that bread from heaven:] Not the bread from heaven properly so called, the manna being only material food sent by the immediate power of God; “but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven,” Jesus himself and His doctrine being that true bread, “which giveth life unto the world,” ver. 33. Dr. Wells.

John 6:33

33. — life unto the world.] Not, as the manna did, temporal, but eternal, life; not to one nation, but to the whole world. Bp. Mann, Dr. Whitby.

John 6:34

34. — evermore give us this bread.] Which will preserve our lives. They still supposed Him to speak of corporeal food. Dr. Whitby.

John 6:35

35. — he that cometh to me shall never &c.] Meaning, in the literal sense, Whosoever believes on Me, and embraces My doctrine, and obeys My instructions, shall never want any thing necessary to his eternal happiness: since He possesses the means which will assuredly support him unto everlasting life, more than meat and drink maintain and nourish the body in this mortal state. Dr. S. Clarke.

Anno DOMINI 22.

John 6:45

45.—they shall be all taught of God.] Iasi. liv. 13. The sum of what I say to you has been obscurely delivered to you by the Prophets of old. For they, speaking of these times, have foretold, that God will prepare and dispose the hearts of many men to embrace the Gospel of the Messiah. Therefore it was that I said, every humble and honest heart, every disciple of My Father, that hath not resisted His guidance, doth certainly come unto Me and believe on Me. Dr. Hammond.

John 6:48

48—50. I am that bread of life.] On the whole, therefore, as I have before said, I myself am the true bread of life, of which I have been speaking; whom God hath sent into the world, to direct and bring you up in the way of everlasting life. With this bread of life, the manna, of which you boast that your fathers ate in the wilderness, is by no means to be compared. For the manna which they ate could not preserve them from temporal death. But whosoever eateth of this bread, by believing in Me, embracing My doctrine, and persevering in obedience to My commands, shall thereby be preserved and nourished unto everlasting life. Dr. S. Clarke.

John 6:51

51.—he shall live for ever.] He shall be prepared for immortality, by eating of the bread of life; that is, by receiving and digesting the heavenly doctrine of Christ. Bp. Mann. —and the bread that I will give &c.] He speaks in mysterious terms of the death which He was to suffer for the redemption of mankind. Beausole.

John 6:53

53.—Except ye eat the flesh &c.] This figurative mode of speech was naturally suggested by the occasion. The multitude had followed Christ for the sake of the loaves, expecting to be fed again, as they had been the day preceding; and being disappointed, they affect to despise the miracles, and extol Moses for having wrought a greater in bringing bread from heaven. Our blessed Lord then takes occasion to assert His own superiority, invites them to eat, not such temporary perishable food as the manna which their forefathers had in the wilderness, but the true living, that is, everlasting, bread from heaven; describing under that name belief in Him, and obedience to His doctrine, as being spiritual food and nourishment to the soul. And this is the meaning of this strong figure, which is continued through this whole discourse: but the conceptions of the Jews were too gross to understand it in its true sense. Bp. Mann. Although these expressions may not be to be understood directly of the holy Sacrament, yet, because they signify those things which are signified in the Sacrament, they may be aptly applied to it, especially in exhortations to devotion; nay, there are also some cases in which a person may argue from one to the other; and this may very well be, and yet it may by no means follow that the words are to be understood in a primary sense of the Eucharist. Dr. Clagett.

John 6:54

54. Whoso eateth my flesh, &c.] He means to say, He that, instead of rejecting me on account of the death which I shall suffer, receives that Divine instruction which that event affords, and turns it into spiritual nourishment, by learning the high displeasure of God against sin; he shall find My death a means of that eternal life, to which I will raise him at the last day. Dr. Clagett. It is a point which has been much disputed, whether this passage of St. John’s Gospel relates to the Lord’s Supper. It probably does so, as a prophetic intimation: something seems to be intended by our Saviour in the words which He uses, which is not expressed with perfect clearness. Dr. Hey. Those persons who heard our Saviour could not understand Him with a reference to the Sacrament, unless they were then instructed as to His death and passion; but it sufficiently appears that they then knew and expected nothing of that event. Much less could they understand Him with reference to advantages merely earthly and sensual. But to partake of the Messiah truly, is to partake of Himself, His pure nature, His righteousness, His spirit; and to live and grow and receive nourishment from that participation of Him; all which He expresses in a lively and comprehensive manner, by the phrase of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Dr. Lightfoot. Those who come duly prepared to the holy Sacrament, and receive it rightly and worthily, are spiritually partakers of Christ’s body and blood; they become one with Christ, and Christ with them; they really and truly partake of the benefits of His passion, as living members of His body. As He is “the bread of life,” they are then nourished, strengthened, and supported by Him; they receive Him by faith; by faith they feed upon Him; and the Divine life, which is thus begun in their souls, is in a spiritual manner upheld and carried on in them. Bp. Tomline.

John 6:55

55.—is meat indeed.] He means, the eating and drinking of My flesh and blood, the being united to Me Anno DOMINI 53. to believers. His disciples murmur at it. Anno DOMINI 33.

John 6:56

56. —dwelleth in me, and I in him.] A frequent mode of expressing a close and intimate union, chap. xiv. 10; xvii. 21, 23, 26. Beausole.

John 6:57

57. As the living Father hath sent me.] As I, that came down from the Father, who is the fountain of life, His Son by eternal generation, derive life from Him; so he that believeth on Me, and has received My precepts to the nourishment of his soul, shall derive everlasting life from Me. Dr. Hammond.

John 6:58

58. —he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.] All that are saved owe their salvation to the salutary passion of Christ; and their partaking thereof, which is feeding upon His flesh and blood, is their life. Our Lord’s general doctrine in this chapter seems to resolve itself into this; that, whether with faith or without, whether in the sacraments or out of the sacraments, whether whether here or hereafter, no man ever was or will be accepted, but in and through the grand propitiation made by the flesh and blood of Christ. This appears to be the main doctrine taught by our Lord in this chapter, which He delivers so earnestly and inculcates so strongly. Eating and drinking, by a very common figure, means receiving: and here what is the thing to be received? Christ Himself in His whole person: “I am the bread of life;” “He that eateth me, even He shall live by Me.” But, more particularly He is to be considered as giving His body to be broken, and His blood to be shed, for an atonement. And so the fruits of His death are what we are to receive as our spiritual food. “His flesh is meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed.” His passion is our redemption, and by His death we live. It is right to apply the general doctrine of this chapter to the particular case of the Lord’s supper, considered as worthily received, because the spiritual feeding here mentioned is the thing signified and effected in the Lord’s supper. After we have sufficiently proved by the Scriptures, that, in and by the

John 6:66

66. —This is an hard saying; &c.] This doctrine of His is very hard and unintelligible, that He should be said really to have come down from heaven, and that His flesh should feed men to eternal life, ver. 51, 53, &c. Dr. Hammond. 67. —Doth this offend you? That is, prove to you a cause of stumbling, or of falling off from Me. Abp. Newcome.

John 6:68

68. What and if ye shall see &c.] Shall see the Son of man ascend up into heaven, where He was before He came down to earth. Dr. Wells. Are ye surprised and disturbed at what I have now spoken, as if they were strange and unintelligible things? what if hereafter ye shall see me go up again to the same place, from whence I at first came? When ye see this, ye will learn to understand My words, not in a gross, but in a spiritual and rational sense. Dr. S. Clarke.

68.—Lord, to whom shall we go? &c.] To whose instruction and discipline shall we submit, if we should once forsake You, whose doctrine is the only true guide to eternal life and happiness? Dr. S. Clarke. In this answer, there are three things expressed or implied, as the ground of their constancy and adherence to Christ. The first is, the miserable condition they should be in, if they did forsake Him, having no other in whom they could trust. The second is, the excellency of His religion, and the certain means it afforded of obtaining that which is the great end of religion, a blessed life after this: “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” The third is, the authority and Divine commission of Christ, on which their faith and confidence were built. “We believe, and are sure,” that is, have determined for ourselves, from what we have heard and seen, “that Thou art that Christ.” Bp. Sherlock.

— thou hast the words of eternal life.] As if He had said, We do not understand Thee in the gross and absurd sense to which these men have perverted Thy sayings; for we perceive that thou speakest of those doctrines and revelations, by which we are to be guided to eternal life. Dr. Clagett.

John 6:69

69. It is the spirit that quickeneth; &c.] It is the soul, He says, that enliveneth, and not the body; and accordingly it was not the gross carnal eating of His body, of which He spake, but a spiritual feeding on Him which would bring them to eternal life; His doctrine being thus received into their hearts, would quicken them to a spiritual life here, and that would bring them to everlasting life hereafter. Dr. Hammond.

69.—are sure that thou art that Christ.] Whereas these men called Thee the Son of Joseph, we assuredly believe that Thou art the Son of that God who giveth life to all, and that Thou wilt give eternal life to all that believe in Thee. Dr. Clagett.

Simon Peter here speaks in the name of all the twelve; upon which our Lord shews His Divine knowledge, by excepting Judas Iscariot, ver. 70. Abp. Newcome.

70.—is a devil? That is, an adversary to Me and My doctrine. Dr. Whitby. A false treacherous person, who will betray Me. Dr. Hammond.

Chap. VII. ver. 1.—Jesus walked in Galilee:] Went about preaching in the cities of Galilee, rather than in Judea, because the rulers of the Jews sought for some occasion to put Him to death. He conducted Himself

to the feast of tabernacles: 14 teacheth in the temple. 40 Divers opinions of him among the people. 45 The Pharisees are angry that their officers took him not, and chide with Nicodemus for taking his part.

Anno DOMINI 32.

AFTER these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.

John 6:70

70. —there are some of you that believe not.] That believe not sincerely, and on sound principles, notwithstanding outward professions. Dr. Wells. —For Jesus knew from the beginning &c.] For He knew Himself what was in man, being the Searcher of hearts, Acts i. 24; Rev. ii. 23. Dr. Hales.

John 6:71

71. —Therefore said I unto you.] For this reason, that is, because I knew there were among you some who believe not, I told you before that My doctrine Peter confesseth Christ. The Jews seek to kill him. Anno DOMINI 32. unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.