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g1 John iii.

23.

h Matt. xii.

38: xvi. 1. Mark viii.

11. 1 Cor. i. 22.

1 Exod. xvi. 15 Num.

the Father sealed. 28 Then said they unto him, What cshall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30 They said therefore unto him, h What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31 Our fathers did eat fmanna in the

k

x1.7. Neh. desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32 h Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,

ix. 15. 1 Cor. x. 3.

k Ps. lxxviii.

24, 25.

verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread

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ch. iv. 14. If this "meat" remains to
eternal life, it must be spiritual food.
which the Son of man shall give unto
you] See ch. iv. ib.
which agrees
with "meat," not with "life." shall
give, future, because the great Sacrifice was
not yet offered: so in ch. iv. the Son

of man, emphatic here, and belonging to
this discourse, since it is of His Flesh that
He is about to speak. for Him the
Father sealed, even God] This rendering
is made necessary by the grammatical form
of the original. sealed, by undoubted
testimony, as at His baptism; and since, by
His miracles, see ch. x. 36: not, stamped
with the image of His Person,' which is
altogether beside the present subject, and
inconsistent with the meaning of the verb.

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28.] The people understand His working literally, and dwell upon it. They quite seem to think that the food which is to endure for ever is to be spiritually interpreted; and they therefore ask this question,-referring the "working" to the works of the law. the works of God must not be taken to mean the works which God works,' but, as in Jer. xlviii. 10; 1 Cor. xv. 58, the works well pleasing to God. 29.] The meaning is not, that faith is wrought in us by God, is the work of God; but that the truest way of working the work of God is to believe on Him whom He hath sent. work, not works, because there is but this one, properly speaking, and all the rest are wrapt up in it (see James i. 25).

This is a

most important saying of our Lord, as containing the germ of that teaching afterwards so fully expanded in the writings of St. Paul. "I know not," says Schleiermacher, "where we can find any passage,

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even in the writings of the Apostles, which
says so clearly and significantly, that all
eternal life in men proceeds from nothing
else than faith in Christ." 30, 31.]
This answers to ch. iv. 12, "Art thou
greater than our father Jacob," &c. It is
spoken in unbelief and opposition; not, as
many have supposed, as a request for the
Bread of Life, meaning it by the sign, but
in the ordinary sign-seeking spirit of the
Jews. Stier says well, "They have been
hesitating between better and worse
thoughts, till at last unbelief prevails.”
The sign here demanded is the sign from
heaven, the proof of the sealing by God;
such a proof would be, in their estimation,
compared with His present miracles, as the
manna (bread from heaven) was, compared
to the multiplied loaves and fishes.
The manna was extolled by the Jews, as
the greatest miracle of Moses. Josephus
calls it "a divine and wondrous food:"
see also Wisd. xvi. 20, 21. They forgot
that their fathers disbelieved Moses almost
from the time when they began to eat the
manna; and that the Psalm from which
they quote most strongly sets forth this;-
that they despised the manna, and pre-
ferred ordinary meat to it." Stier.

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Observe our Lord's believe on him in ver. 29, and their believe thee. The former, the casting their whole hopes and faith on Him, is what He requires: but they will not even give the latter, common credence, to Him. Their what dost thou work? Meyer remarks, is a retort of our Lord's question, ver. 27. The stress, in these words, should be not on the thou, which is not expressed in the original, but on the what. 32.] Our Lord lays open the course of their argument. They have not

bread.

15.

from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 11 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this 1 see chap. iv. 35 [m And] Jesus said unto them, m I am the bread he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said o vv. 26, 64. unto you, That ye • also have seen me, and believe not. 37 P All P that the Father giveth me shall come to me; p ver. 45.

of life

:

render, that.

m omit.

• render, have even seen.

mentioned Moses,-nor was the giving of the manna a miracle performed by Moses ;but He knew that the comparison between Moses and Himself was in their minds, and answers by exposing the error which represented Moses as the giver of the manna. Neither again was that the true bread from heaven. It was, in one sense, bread from heaven;-but not in this sense. It was a type and shadow of the true bread from heaven, which my Father is giving (or perhaps the abstract present,-signify. ing that it is His office to give it) to you. Our Lord does not here deny, but asserts the miraculous character of the manna.

m ver. 48, 58.

a ch. iv. 14:

n

vii. 37.

1 render, They said therefore. n render, not.

P better, that which: see note.

ways. 35.] As in ch. v. 30, so here, our Lord passes from the indirect to the direct form of speech. Henceforward it is I,'' Me,' throughout the discourse. In the genitive of life, is implied, "which came down from heaven and giveth life unto the world." So living water in ch. iv. On the assurance of never hungering or thirsting, see note at ch. iv. 14. It is possible that our Lord placed the allsatisfying bread of life in contrast to the manna, which was no sooner given, Exod. xvi., than the people began to thirst, Exod. xvii. ;-but I would not lay any stress on this. he that cometh to me is in the same sense as in ch. v. 40-that of acceptance of and faith in Him. 36. I said unto you] "When did He say this to them? perhaps it was said, but has not been recorded." Euthymius. But perhaps the reference may be to ch. v. 37-44, and unto you may be said generally. Stier and others think that ver. 26 is referred to: but this is far-fetched. We have instances of reference to sayings not recorded, in ch. x. 26; xii. 34. have even seen] Ye have seen the true Bread from heaven, the sign greater than the manna, even Me Myself: and yet have not believed.' 37.] The whole body of believers on Christ are spoken of by Him, here and in ch. xvii., as given to Him by the Father. But Bengel's observation is very important: 'all that which a most significant expression, and, compared with what follows, most worthy of consideration. For in our Lord's discourses, that, which the Father hath given Him, is spoken of in the singular number and neuter gender, "all that which:" whereas they who come to Him, the Son, are spoken of in the masculine gender, and sometimes also in the plural number: every man," or "all they." The Father

33.] the bread of God answers to "the bread which my Father giveth." The words that which cometh down from heaven.... are the predicate of the bread, and do not apply, in the construction of this verse, to Christ personally, however truly they apply to Him in fact. The A. V. is here wrong: it should be, The bread of God is that (not He) which cometh, &c. Not till ver. 35 does Jesus first say, 'I AM the bread of life.' The manna is still kept in view, which when the dew fell on the camp....fell (the Greek word in the LXX is the same as here, came down) upon it,' Num. xi. 9. And the present tense, here used in reference to the manna, is dropped when the Lord Himself is spoken of: see vv. 38, 41, 58, and especially the distinction between ver. 50 and ver. 51. 34.] ch. iv. 15 is exactly parallel. The Jews understand this bread, as the Samaritan woman understood the water, to be some miraculous kind of sustenance which would bestow life everlasting :-perhaps they thought of the heavenly manna, which the Rabbis speak of as prepared for the just in the future world;-see Rev. ii. 17. more] emphatic:-not now only, but al

ever

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q Matt xxvi.

39. ch. v. 30. r ch. iv. 34.

sch. x. 28: xvii. 12: xviii. 9.

r

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S

and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 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. 40 t And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and 15, 16: iv. 14. believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 41 The Jews then murmured

t ver. 27, 47. 54. ch. iii.

Mark vi. 3.

t

at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down u Matt.xiii. 55. from heaven. 42 And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the Luke iv. 22. son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I y came down from heaven? 43 Jesus

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hath given to the Son as it were one mass, that all whom He hath given should be one that whole mass the Son unfoldeth one by one in this following out of the Father's design. Hence also that which we read in ch. xvii. 2, "that all that which Thou hast given Him (so literally), to them He may give eternal life." See also 1 John v. 4. I will in no wise cast out does not refer here to the office of the Son of God as Judge; but is another way of expressing the grace, and readiness with which He will receive all who come to Him. 38, 39, 40.] His reception of men is not capricious, nor even of His own arbitrary choice; but as He came into the world to do the Father's will, and that will is that all who come to Him by faith shall have life, so He receives all such;-loses none of them ;—and will raise them all up (here, in the fullest and blessed sense) at the last day. Olshausen remarks, that in ch. iv. we had only the inexhaustible refreshing of the soul by the water of life; but this discourse goes further;-that not even death itself shall destroy the body of him who has been nourished by this bread of life.' raise it up again refers to the only resurrection which is the completion of the man in his glorified state; it does not set aside the rection of judgment" (ch. v. 29), but that very term is a debasement of "resurrection" its true sense is only "resurrection of life." Bengel has beautifully given the connexion of this last promise with

"resur

what went before: "this is the end, beyond which there is no danger." But there is much more than this in it. In this declaration (vv. 39, 40) is contained the key of the following discourse, vv. 44-59. The end of the work of God, as regards man, is the glorification of his restored and sanctified nature,-body, soul, and spirit,-in eternity. Without this,salvation, restitution, would be incomplete. The adoption cannot be consummated without the redemption of the body. Rom. viii. 18-23. And the glorification of the body, soul, and spirit,-of the whole man, -cannot take place but by means of the glorified Body of the second Adam. He who does not see this, will never understand either the Holy Communion, or this testimony of the Lord in its inner meaning.' Stier. The looketh on here is a different thing from the mere seeing of ver. 56. It is the awakening of the atten tion preparatory to faith, answering to the looking on the serpent of brass: with the eyes of the soul, as Euthymius says; but we must not make the looking equivalent to believing, to which it is only preparatory.

41.] Not different hearers, nor does the scene of the discourse here change: they were the same,-perhaps the principal among them, the official superintendents of the synagogue :-for St. John generally uses "the Jews" in this official sense. 42.] They rightly supposed that this having come down from heaven must imply some method of coming into the world

:

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ver. 65.

y Isa. liv. 13.

Mic. iv. 2.

therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except Cant. 1. 4. the Father which [hath] sent me draw him and I will raise him up a at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man [therefore] that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46 a Not that any man hath seen the Father, 'save he which is d of God, he hath seen the

Z omit.

a read, in.

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Jer. xxxi. 34. Heb viii. 10: ch.1.18:

x. 16. z ver. 37.

v. 37. b Matt. xi. 27. Luke x. 22. ch. i. 18: vii. 29: viii.

bomit. render, hath heard from the Father, and hath learned. render, from.

d

diverse from ordinary generation. Meyer gathers from the word we know, that our Lord's reputed father was then still alive. But surely the verb will bear the sense of knowing, as matter of fact, who they were, and need not be confined to personal knowledge. 43.] Our Lord

does not answer their objection, because it lay far from His present purpose to disclose aught of those mysteries which the answer must have indicated. It was not till the faith of the apostolic Christians was fully fixed on Him as the Son of God, and the outline of the doctrine of His Person was firmly sketched out, that the Spirit brought out those historical records which assure us of His supernatural conception.

44.] The connexion seems to be this: They were not to murmur among themselves because He had said this; for the right understanding of what He had said is only to be gained by being taught of God, by being drawn by the Father, who alone can give the desire to come to Christ, and bring a man to Him. That this drawing' is not irresistible grace, is confessed even by Augustine himself, the great upholder of the doctrines of grace. "If a man is drawn, says an objector, he comes against his will. (We answer) if he comes unwillingly, he does not believe: if he does not believe, he does not come. For we do not run to Christ on our feet, but by faith; not with the movement of the body, but with the free will of the heart... Think not that thou art drawn against thy will: the mind can be drawn by love." Calvin and others understand irresistible grace to be here meant: "It is false and profane," says Calvin, "to say that only the willing are drawn." The Greek expositors take the view which I have adopted above. Chrysostom says, "This expression does not remove our part in the coming, but rather shews that we want help to come." See Article X. of the Church of

England, at the end.

19.

This drawing

towards Christ may be exemplified in the legal dispensation, which was to the Jews a schooling for Christ. It now is being exerted on all the world,-in accordance with the Lord's prophecy ch. xii. 32 (see note there), and His command Matt. xxviii. 19, 20,- by Christian preaching and missions; but, after all, the individual will must be turned to Christ by the Father, Whose covenanted promise is, that He will so turn it in answer to prayer. "Art thou not yet drawn? pray that thou mayest be drawn." Augustine.

The same solemn and joyous refrain, as Meyer well calls it, follows, as in vv. 39, 40. 45.] in the prophets may be a general form of citation (Mark i. 2. Acts vii. 42; xiii. 40), or may mean that the sense is found in several places of the prophets: see especially Jer. xxxi. 33, 31. This clearly intimates the kind of drawing meant in the last verse: the opening the eyes of the mind by divine teaching. hath heard and hath learned are expansions of the word taught in the citation from the prophets. cometh unto me] This is the final decision of the human will, acted on by the divine attraction to Christ. The beginning is, The Father draws him the progress, he hears and learns here is the consenting willSpeak, Lord, for thy servant heareth:'the end, he cometh to Christ-here is the will acting on the whole man.

46.] The connexion is: the mention of hearing from the Father might lead them to think of a personal communication from the Father to each man, and thus the necessity of the mission of the Son might be invalidated. This was the only way in which a Jew could misunderstand ver. 45; he could not dream of a seeing of the Father with bodily eyes. he which

is of God, is Jesus Himself; see ch. vii. 29.

86. ver. 40.

d ver. 33, 35.

e ver. 31.

f ver. 51, 58.

C

c ch. ii. 16, 18, Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 49 d I am that bread of life. 49 e Your fathers did eat fmanna in the wilderness, and 8 are dead. 50 f This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for h Heb. x. 5, 10. ever: h and the bread that I will give is my flesh,

g ch. iii. 13.

• render, the.

8 render, they died.

His knowledge of the Father is complete aud immediate; ours, partial, and derived through Him only. 47.] Our Lord now recurs to the subject of their murmurs, and gives the answer for which He has been preparing the way, repeating nearly ver. 40 and adding, 48.] If so, (see ver. 47,) there is full reason for my naming Myself the Bread of Life.

49.] That bread from heaven had no power to keep off death, and that, death owing to unbelief ::-our Lord by thus mentioning your fathers and their death, certainly hints at the similar unbelief of these Jews. And the same dubious sense of "dying" prevails in ver. 50. Death is regarded as being swallowed up in the glory of the resurrection, and the second death-which was hidden in the former term died-has over him who eats this Bread of Life, no power: nay, he is brought, even here into a resurrection state from sin and death; see Rom. vi. 1 ff. and Col. iii. 1 ff. 51.] the living bread; 'containing life in itself,' not merely supplying the waste of life with lifeless matter: see on ch. iv. 13, 14. yea, and the bread that I will give] From this time we hear no more of bread: this figure is dropped, and the reality takes its place. Some difficult questions arise regarding the sense and reference of this saying of our Lord. (1) Does it refer to HIS DEATH? and, (2) is there any reference to the ORDINANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER? (1) In treating this question I must at once reject all metaphorical and side-interpretations, as, that the teaching of Christ is the Bread, and to be taught by Him is feeding upon it (so Grotius, and the modern rationalists): that the divine Nature of Christ, or His sending of the Holy Spirit, or His whole life of doing good on earth, can be meant: all such have against them the plain sense of the words, which, as Stier observes, are very simple ordinary words; the only diffi

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culty arising, when we come to enquire into their application to His own Person. The Bread of Life is Himself: and, strictly treated, when we come to enquire what, of that body, soul, and spirit, which constituted Himself, this Bread specifically is, we have His answer that it is His Flesh, which He will give (for this will be the meaning, whether the words "which I will give" are to be regarded as part of the text or not) on behalf of the life of the world. We are then specifically directed to His Flesh as the answer. Then, what does that Flesh import? The flesh of animals is the ordinary food of men: but not the blood. The blood, which is the life, is spilt at death, and is not in the flesh when eaten by us. Now this distinction must be carefully borne in mind. The flesh here, (see ver. 53,) and the eating of the flesh, are distinct from the blood, and the drinking of the blood. We have no generalities merely, to interpret as we please: but the terms used are precise and technical. It is then only through or after the Death of the Lord, that by any propriety of language, His Flesh could be said to be eaten. Then another distinction must be remembered: The flesh of animals which we eat is dead flesh. It is already the prey of corruption; we eat it, and die (ver. 49). But this Bread, is living Bread; not dead flesh, but living Flesh. And therefore manducation by the teeth materially is not to be thought of here; but some kind of eating by which the living Flesh of the Son of God is made the living sustenance of those who partake of it. Now His Flesh and Blood were sundered by Death. Death was the shedding of His precious Blood, which (most probably) He did not afterwards resume: see ch. xx. 27, and Luke xxiv. 39. His Flesh is the glorified substance of His Resurrection-Body, now at the right hand of God. It is then in His Resurrection form only that His Flesh can be eaten, and be living food for

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