John 6:53, commentary and pictures

Except a person inwardly receives Christ by faith and takes His life into the soul, there is no spiritual life in him. The eating and drinking is a spiritual figure, not a literal eating of human flesh and blood, for the Spirit gives life and His words are spirit and life. To eat and drink is to believe on Him, come to Him, trust Him wholly, and enter living union with Him so that He dwells within and the believer lives by Him. It is also to receive His words, teachings and Scriptures into mind, heart and daily life through study, meditation, belief and obedience until they become the motive power of character and action. Those who so partake have eternal life now, will be raised at the last day to live forever, are made partakers of the divine nature and transformed into His likeness, while mere profession, outward church connection or occasional tasting gives no life.

Figure and Setting

To eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood is a spiritual figure, a parable and a similitude, not a literal or physical eating of human flesh and blood. It represents true, earnest belief, receiving Christ Himself inwardly by faith as personal Saviour, receiving His Word, believing His teachings, putting whole trust in Him who gave His own life to save souls, and practicing His principles in living union with Him. His instruction is the soul's food and drink, supplying the necessities of the soul as physical food supplies the necessities of the body, and this union is shown by continually seeking and doing His will and learning His meekness, lowliness, and way of speaking. Without so receiving there is no spiritual life within, while those who so receive dwell in Him and He in them, live by Him as He lives by the Father, have eternal life now, will be raised up at the last day, will live forever, and grow up to the full stature of men and women in Christ. Mere outward connection with a church will not save, and daily feeding on Christ in meditation, appropriation, and obedience matters more than gratifying bodily appetite.

Jesus Himself explained the figure: it is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh by itself profits nothing, and His words are spirit and life. To eat and drink is therefore to live by Christ and His word, keeping His Word and truth constantly before the mind, studying and practicing His teachings, looking constantly to Him, and living by faith in God's Word as a branch joined to its parent stock. Those who so partake take Christ's principles as their own, reveal Him to the world, gain spiritual strength because Christ Himself supplies nourishment, receive forgiveness of sins, and are sanctified unto eternal life. This spiritual nourishment must be understood by experience, and knowing it is of far greater consequence than temporal concerns.

The words were spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum as part of the discourse on the bread of life in John 6:32-58, given so that His children may understand the terms of eternal life. They were spoken in answer to Jews who were full of unbelief and caviling, who with scornful unbelief asked how He could give His flesh to eat, Jesus reading their thoughts. In that discourse He presented Himself as the bread of life and made receiving Him necessary for life, offering spiritual life and spiritual good rather than worldly good, earthly honor, kingship in Jerusalem, and high position for His followers. Unbelieving, selfish, proud, self-righteous minds cannot grasp this meaning, and many disciples called it a hard saying, murmured, were offended, went back and walked no more with Him.

The discourse came after the miracle of the loaves and fishes and walking on the water, when Christ fed the five thousand and refused to be made king. By presenting Himself as the bread of life He clearly defined His spiritual kingdom and discouraged the idea of a temporal reign. Because it cut against worldly expectation, His popularity began to wane, the hope that the Jewish nation would receive Him faded, and the worldly-minded among the multitudes and even among professed disciples turned away from Him.

The language echoes the Passover lamb eaten in Egypt whose blood on the doorposts protected the Hebrews when the firstborn were slain. That sacrifice symbolized the Lamb of God, though the people had focused on the symbol and missed its meaning, and the blood as a sign of safety represented the blood of Christ shed for the sins of the world. So eating His flesh and drinking His blood is partaking by faith of His future sacrifice given for the life of the world, receiving Christ clothed in humanity as Redeemer who has access to the Father and divine authority to save, with well-founded hope of resurrection to immortal life in the kingdom of God. This feeding should be joined with contrition for sin, pictured by the bitter herbs, and with putting away sin, pictured by the unleavened bread.

Because it cut against worldly expectation and was spoken as the time of separation from His disciples drew near, the teaching was made more significant and mysterious in order to instruct the Twelve in the mysteries and truths of His work and to lay out in clear, decided lines the truth concerning Himself. Christ repeated the lesson over and over because of its vital importance. Its full meaning was not understood when spoken, but would be understood only after His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension when the Holy Spirit brought His words to remembrance. Belief in Christ is more than sentiment or mere profession: it is living faith in a personal Saviour who can and will ransom from sin, and those who remained refused to go back to formalism and human tradition and chose to stay with Christ in sacred relationship.

Christ the Living Bread

Christ is the true bread of heaven, the bread of God come down from heaven to give life to the world, the living bread and Bread of Life whose flesh was given for the life of the world. To eat that bread and drink that blood is to come to Him and believe on Him whom the Father sent, to receive Him in true earnest belief and put whole trust in Him who gave His own life to save souls. His words are spirit and life, and all who truly receive His Word never hunger and all who believe in Him never thirst for higher or more satisfying food, for hunger and thirst are forever satisfied and the one who eats does not die but lives forever. This living union is like a branch joined to its parent stock, so that He dwells in the believer and the believer in Him, living by Him as He lives by the Father. From Him as the provision of the gospel feast flow the streams of salvation.

He gave Himself on the cross for the world's salvation, giving His own flesh in sacrifice and shedding His blood for the sins of the world. By perfect obedience to the law and by offering Himself for the sins of the world He became the Sin-bearer and the bread of life to all who eat of Him, bearing sinners' guilt so that believers may receive His righteousness and the pardon embraced in the atonement made on Calvary. His instruction is the soul's food and drink, and those who believe in Him, receive His Word, believe His teachings and practice His principles are nourished by living union with Him, shown by continually seeking and doing His will. By that feeding spiritual life is perfected and eternal life received, which is not mere human life but eternal life with the promise of resurrection at the last day.

He is to the world what the tree of life in the garden of Eden was to Adam and Eve, whose loss of its fruit meant loss of everlasting life and whose loss of access caused health and vitality to decline. He now presents Himself as Lifegiver, the tree of life to the world, to all who pluck and eat. His words are truth, Spirit and life, and like the leaves of the tree of life they heal, while the flesh by itself profits nothing. Receiving Christ by faith means looking to Him rather than to human beings for strength and guidance, receiving and obeying His life-giving words, exercising faith in the Son of God and relying on the efficacy of His blood as the way to eternal life and deliverance from Satan's power.

This was made possible because He laid aside His royal robe and crown and stepped down from His high command as Prince of Life and Glory to become human and combine humanity with divinity as a steppingstone for man to step on to vantage ground with God. Knowing His incarnation through personal experience is essential both to redemption and to daily sanctification. The one who so takes Christ and takes His Word as food and meat and drink and practices it has eternal life in him because it is in Christ and Christ is in him, and the sanctified and holy character of God imbues his life.

Even physical life depends on His death, for daily bread is received through His broken body and water through His spilled blood. The cross is marked on every loaf and reflected in every spring, and the communion emblems teach that ordinary provisions are purchased by His sacrifice, making daily food sacred so that the family table becomes like the Lord's table and every meal a sacrament. He still cares for bodily necessities, provides food for His people and requires that nothing be wasted, yet the living bread that endures to everlasting life is of far more consequence than temporal food and is to be sought with chief labor and anxiety. It is the daily bread asked for in Give us this day our daily bread, which means more than temporal food, for even temporal food can be received only because He gave His life for the life of the world.

God's inexpressible love furnished this costly gospel banquet at infinite cost through His death, providing unsearchable, inexhaustible resources for the plan of salvation. To be invited to the supper is the greatest honor that can be conferred, and partaking of Him by accepting the gracious invitation is necessary, for without it a person has no life in him.

Offense and Decision

The words are spiritual, and many hearers could not understand them, so they called the teaching a hard saying, murmured, were offended, and went back and walked no more with Him. This falling away included many disciples, and also many priests and rulers who did not understand truths meant to lead to decision for or against Him. The requirement is solemn and little comprehended even by those who claim to believe the truth.

The offense tests genuine faith and sets before readers the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom, with understanding and living by this chapter essential to having life that measures with the life of God. It reveals the difference between thoughtful and candid believers who take exalted views of His character and office, and half-hearted, pretentious, selfish, proud and self-righteous followers who abandon Christ when truth challenges or purifies them. True belief is shown by remaining with Christ, honoring Him through practical godliness, and bearing public witness in His name rather than turning away when correction and self-denial are seen to be required.

Many turned away because they had followed after the miracle of the loaves seeking temporal benefits rather than the life offered, and did not understand the sermon on the bread of life. Though convicted in conscience and aroused, they refused to yield the will to God or accept the terms of salvation. They acted in the same spirit as those who resist the gospel.

Peter answered for the Twelve that Christ has the words of eternal life, recognizing Him as Messiah and Son of the living God, and those who remained refused to go back to formalism and human tradition. Those given by the Father come to Christ, and no one can come except it is given by the Father. Daily learning from Christ in this way enables partaking of the divine nature and making calling and election sure.

Hearing this discourse was the turning-point in the history of Judas, because it showed that Christ offered spiritual life and spiritual good rather than worldly good, earthly honor, kingship in Jerusalem, high position, or temporal preferment for His followers. Disappointed that hope of a worldly kingdom would not be realized, he determined not to unite himself closely to Christ but to hold back, to watch, and to keep a way open to draw away. He gave the words a mystical construction that robbed them of true significance, and his misrepresentation helped turn listeners against Christ. This opened him to doubt, envy, hatred, jealousy and disaffection unto shipwreck of faith.

Receiving by Faith

To eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood is to receive Christ Himself inwardly by faith as a personal Saviour, believing in Him, trusting Him wholly, coming to Him, depending on Him alone rather than on any human being, and entering living, saving union with Him. It is a parable and spiritual figure, not a literal eating of physical flesh, representing true earnest belief, receiving and living by Him through His Word, meditating on it, taking it in, believing His teachings and practicing His principles so that His instruction becomes the soul's food and drink. Those who so believe are nourished by living union with Him, shown by continually seeking and doing His will and learning His meekness, lowliness and way of speaking, living by Christ and His word unto eternal life and resurrection at the last day. No one can eat and drink for another, for each must come with his own soul hunger, his own convictions and his own sense of need, learn of Christ for himself, realize need before receiving, look to Him rather than to human beings for strength and guidance, and exercise faith in the Son of God and reliance on the efficacy of His blood for deliverance from Satan's power.

Those who so receive dwell in Him and He in them, live by Him as He lives by the Father, become one with Him as He was one with the Father, and are placed in the same relation to Christ as Christ was to God. Without this partaking there is no spiritual life within, while those who partake take Christ's principles as their own, reveal Him to the world, gain spiritual strength because Christ Himself supplies the necessities of the soul as physical food supplies the body, have eternal life, and will be raised up at the last day. The union is like a fruit-bearing branch drawing nourishment from the vine and one with the parent stock by sap flowing to every branch, like a stalk nourished by soil, like a worthless stalk grafted into the living vine to bear fruit, and like blood circulating through the body and food becoming the soul's life. It is entered by hearing and searching His Word, mixing it with faith, appropriating its truths as the bread and water of life, giving the Word entrance into life and character by becoming a doer of the Word, so that the life of Christ becomes the believer's life and spirit one with His, for the flesh profits nothing and it is the Spirit that quickens whose words are spirit and life.

Receiving is active living faith, not mere profession, creed, theory, sentiment, outward connection with a church, or occasional tasting, and mere assent to theory is not enough without personally accepting salvation, clinging to truth and gaining experiential knowledge. Mere outward connection even with that which God calls His body and bride, the Lamb's wife, His family and flock, will not save, and turning away from Christ's teaching when it challenges is turning away from Him. It requires full surrender, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, being emptied of self, and continually laying hold of Christ by faith which works by love and purifies the soul. To eat and drink is to come to Him and believe on Him, being filled from the heavenly banquet of rich grace prepared at infinite cost, drinking living water springing up into everlasting life and abiding in the vine to bear fruit with spiritual health, strength and righteousness as the vital life principle revealed in daily practice. It is to drink deep draughts from the fountain of His sympathy and tenderness and love, to drink of the Spiritual Rock that followed Israel in the wilderness, and to partake daily of the heavenly manna, which changes the experience, gives right comprehension of true religion, patterns the life after Christ instead of the world, and forms Christ within as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.

Receiving His life made possible by His infinite sacrifice gives humanity great worth and calls people to honor God and treat others with respect, that they may have eternal life in God's kingdom. Strength depends on this eating and drinking, which means making the Word of God the study book as the source of true knowledge, coming to Christ in full assurance of faith, tasting the rich blessings He has in store, and copying the simplicity of Christ while in this world as probationers. Through Christ who is light and truth this communicates true knowledge of God, gives access to the Father, and makes partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust.

Life or No Life

Except a person eats the flesh of the Son of man and drinks His blood, there is no life in him, no spiritual life and no eternal life, however great other advantages may be, and humanity alienated from God can be reconciled only by so partaking. Eating and drinking is receiving Christ Himself as a personal Saviour, relying on Him as the source of life, believing in Him and entering living union with Him, living by Christ and by His word and taking His words into the life. It is spiritual and not literal, for His words are spirit and life, and the Spirit gives life while the flesh by itself profits nothing. It is done by looking constantly to Him in daily, hourly union by faith which works by love and purifies the soul, fed by the spiritual food and drink supplied in the words of Christ. Those who so eat and drink take Christ's principles as their own and reveal Him to the world, gain spiritual strength because Christ Himself supplies nourishment for all the needs of the soul just as physical food supplies the needs of the body, grow up into the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus, receive forgiveness of sins, and are sanctified unto eternal life, truths essential for this time. Mere outward connection with any church will not save, even though God calls the church His body and the bride, the Lamb's wife, and is the Father of the family and Shepherd of the flock.

Those who eat and drink have eternal life now, with the Saviour's own life within and life hid with Christ in God, making them one with Him now to be one with Him through all eternity. They receive His spiritual life and enter an abiding union in which they dwell in Him and He dwells in them, live by Him as He lives by the Father, and partake of the divine nature given in God's gift of His Son for the life of the world. They will be raised up at the last day to immortal life in God's kingdom, will live forever, and though they may die as Christ died they will be raised, never to die or become extinct. This is unlike the fathers who ate manna in the wilderness and died, for Christ as bread from heaven gives life forever.

No one possesses independent immortal spiritual life apart from Christ, for life is found in Christ alone. The believer who sees the Son by faith and believes in Him receives Christ's nature, obeys God's commandments, and finds everlasting life. As John 5:24 explains, this is hearing Christ's word and believing the Father, passing from death to life and escaping condemnation. Eating and drinking is God's plain will for His people and the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world, giving eternal life and more abundant life now. The chapter sets before readers the conditions of eternal life, and understanding and living by it is essential to having life that measures with the life of God.

Merely knowing the truth is not feeding on Christ, and those in the churches who know the truth can still fail to feed and have no life. His words awaken desire for the Bread of eternal life and lead people to become partakers of the divine nature, and eternal life is promised to those who repent and are converted. The flesh and blood of the Son of man is the Word of God, and each individual must eat and drink that Word in order to win eternal life, which requires grasping every opportunity to become acquainted with it and requires training new converts so they receive its light.

Feeding on Scripture

To eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood is to receive Christ Himself through His words, teachings, truth and Scripture as spiritual food and drink, taking them into mind and heart and daily life by study, meditation, belief and obedience until they become part of life and control action. It is to keep His Word and truth constantly before the soul, to look to Him and live by faith in God's Word, to believe His teachings and practice His principles in living union with Him, and to meditate on the Word, take it in and put it into practice so that daily feeding gives spiritual life and dwelling in Him. His instruction is the soul's food and drink, the life-giving message of Scripture whose words are spirit and life, and this union is shown by continually seeking and doing His will and learning His meekness, lowliness and way of speaking.

His words are spirit and life, light and life to mind and soul, the living oracles and living bread from heaven, not dry theory but a heavenly current enlarging the mind and vitalizing the soul. They must be received and assimilated until they become the motive power of life and action, the principles of the Word taken into daily life and practiced in connection with Christ, the living elements in the Scriptures received with doing the will of God. The living undying element is the Holy Spirit in the Word, which is verity and truth, spirit and life, giving the prayerful searcher spiritual sinew and muscle and a solid valuable experience.

As food and drink build up the body, meditating on God's words gives strength and tone to the spiritual nature, for what the mind dwells on sustains the spiritual nature. This requires dwelling upon Christ, meditating upon Him, drawing nigh in prayer, cherishing His Word in mind and heart and obeying it through grace, reading and appropriating it, digging deep for hidden treasure, comparing Scripture with Scripture, praying for enlightenment, and educating the mind aright by putting away vain and common thoughts and guarding the heart. Christ Himself supplies this nourishment for the necessities of the soul just as physical food supplies the necessities of the body, and those who so partake take His principles as their own and are strengthened to grow to full stature and partake of the divine nature.

The words to be eaten are the living oracles in both Old and New Testaments, including the directions given by Christ as the invisible Leader of Israel in the Old Testament Scriptures, which are full of nourishment and directions for practical holiness and practical obedience that must enter the life of everyone claiming to be Christian. His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel even before He was crucified, and after God's plan was fulfilled in Christ's death the New Testament Scriptures were given not to cast aside the Old but to reflect light back into past ages and give significance to the whole Jewish economy. His earthly teaching does not contradict what He spoke through Moses but restores the gospel to its purity and true meaning, and the Old Testament Scriptures received and obeyed are sufficient to lead to belief in Him and salvation.

The sure Word is to be received just as it reads as authority for what is necessary to salvation, to be kept in its precepts, brought into daily life, and lived by as every word proceeding from the mouth of God. It is not to be left for the suppositions of men, human customs, maxims, tradition, fanciful theories, new scientific sophistries, or the serpent's meat of selfishness, hypocrisy, evil suspicion, envy and covetousness, and refusing the testimonies and correct principles God sends is refusing to partake and leaves one vulnerable to deception. Truth held pure and unadulterated and held firm unto the end will stand the test in the time of false theories.

Through the Holy Spirit the Word becomes spiritual life to the prayerful believer, for the Holy Spirit is in the Word and its influence makes it immortal truth. By planting the feet upon the Word, studying the Scriptures and making them constant meditation of mind and heart, the mind is molded to recognize Christ in His true character as Lamb of God and propitiation for the sins of the whole world, renewed, given spiritual sinew and muscle, and guided into truth. Only those thus taught by the Spirit and made partakers of the divine nature by receiving and obeying His word can discern spiritual things and understand the things of God and fulfill God's purpose, while without that teaching even great advantages leave ignorance, and mere outward hearing without inward work of character and conduct is not enough.

As studied the Word becomes a wellspring of wisdom and water springing to everlasting life, refreshes like the leaves of the tree of life, creates in the newborn soul an appetite for the bread from heaven, and gives light, understanding, strength and encouragement. Truth so received is capable of constant expansion, opening more and more clearly with closer communion with its divine Originator, enabling discovery of Spirit-inspired truths in Daniel and Revelation, including truths long overlooked or hidden, setting in action forces that cannot be repressed and opening lips, even of children, to proclaim them boldly. Those who so feed pluck and eat of the leaves of the tree of life for healing, and every minister and worker must have this life and vitality by the Spirit's quickening and Christ's breathing.

Eating is comprehending and appreciating truth as it is in Jesus and bringing it into daily experience with continual growth, being taught daily in Christ's school, praying for growth and all blessings, and practicing the self-denial and self-sacrifice He practiced in His humiliation. It is partaking of His experience and making Him part of life, living by Him as He lives by the Father, trusting fully, claiming provided salvation, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, following in the path of light in humble dependence rather than self-guidance, and working with God to conform to His image while emptying heart and mind of wrong. Proud self-exalted leaders who point away from Christ to themselves refuse this food and have no life unless they reform.

It is not mere Bible knowledge or correct interpretation but practicing truth as it is in Jesus, doing His Word, complying with its conditions, keeping His commandments including the Sabbath and the Decalogue, the first four and last six, appropriating all embraced in the atonement on Calvary, and weaving His spirit and works into life, character and dealings with others. Those who so eat bring Christ's spirit into the heart, become one with Him as He was one with the Father, become partakers of the divine nature escaped from corruption through lust, escape hereditary and cultivated tendencies, pride, vanity, self-esteem, worldliness and every sin, and reveal Christ by obedience rather than profane speech or disobedience like eating of the forbidden tree. What is fed on in mind and heart shapes spiritual experience, and obedience is the condition of eternal life.

Merely reading without bringing principles into life and obeying precepts, hearing without faith and without appropriating truth, or rejecting the Word, gives no life and leaves without grace, without the oil of grace, and unclean. Hearing alone is not enough, for truth saves only when received inwardly and obeyed by hearing and searching the Word, mixing it with faith, appropriating its truths as bread and water of life, giving it entrance into life and character by becoming a doer, and maintaining daily hourly union by faith working by love that purifies the soul. So received and practiced, the Word is the soul's life bringing pardon, forgiveness, sanctification, transformation, refinement, purification of character, growth to full stature, and eternal life.

The teaching in John 6, with John 5, is the mystery of godliness containing lessons for all, to be read, studied, meditated on, committed to memory, prayed over for understanding and clearness, and brought into daily experience as eating the bread of life. So studied with the living Word as guide it gives knowledge to distinguish true from false in days of peril, instead of dependence on human beings for strength, guidance and wisdom which brings bondage and weakness, or absorption in unrevealed mysteries and science. Men are built up spiritually by food given the mind, so time on books and magazines hindering growth must be refused.

The Bible is to stand as the great educating Book above all other books in schools, for the divine Teacher came from heaven clothed in humanity as Way, Truth and Life, and the answer to working the works of God must be understood or heaven will be missed. Working God's work is believing on Him whom He sent, heaven's price is the only begotten Son, the way is faith in Jesus, first belief then work, and students taught to believe will then work God's works as doers of the Word.

Eating and drinking is tasting that the Lord is gracious by actual personal experience, being truly converted and born again as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the word that growth may follow. It takes place when the mind is opened for God's word to enter with determination to practice it, so light comes and understanding is given to the simple, turning from frivolous common life, transforming character, placing the feet on Christ as the first round heavenward, and revealing Christ in spirit, words and actions. This feeding on His words as His very flesh and blood, joined with instruction about Jehovah's law and its penalty, is essential education for children, youth and adults, and God accepts the Saviour's ransom for obedient children and youth.

Each must choose whether to live on that Word as the soul's life or let influences opposed to God's truth guide the future, not letting natural desires and the resisting natural heart take priority over God's principles. Searching the Word of divine wisdom and practicing it is each believer's duty, and it is not compatible with acting as though one needs no help from others. Receiving is taking Christ in through the mind, knowing God and Jesus and feeding the mind on divine truth, requiring a cultivated disciplined mind for character and earnest work, lest the untrained mind become corrupted and fixed on a low worldly standard. It is keeping Christ and His instruction the subject of most earnest thought, marking His words, studying the Scriptures and treasuring every ray of light, as opposed to being absorbed by curiosity, conjecture and investigation of unrevealed mysteries which Satan uses to eclipse knowledge of God and remove desire for Christ.

Transformed Holy Life

To eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood is to partake of the divine nature, receiving His character, life, principles, Spirit and mind as one's own, becoming Christlike and escaping the corruption that is through lust. It is to have Christ and His Holy Spirit as an abiding principle in the soul, drawing nourishment from Him as the body is nourished by food, taking His principles as one's own, revealing Him to the world, and gaining spiritual strength because He Himself supplies all the necessities of the soul. Those who thus partake become one with Him, dwell in Him and He in them, represent His character, are changed by the Holy Spirit into His likeness, and have His words form their character and sustain their faith. This union distinguishes true believers from those who only follow outwardly, for without this inward participation there is no spiritual life within.

Receiving His words and practicing His teachings sanctifies through obedience and purifies the soul through faith working by love, transforming, refining, cleansing and ennobling heart and character and making believers complete and holy in Him. To eat and drink is to take the gospel and the Word as counsel, believe and practice it, hear and search it, mix it with faith, appropriate its truths as the bread and water of life, and give it entrance into life and character by becoming a doer of the Word. So received, the life of Christ becomes the believer's life and the believer's spirit becomes one with His, as the branch is one with the vine and nourished by its sap, bringing pardon, forgiveness of sins, sanctification unto eternal life, and growth up into the full stature of men and women in Christ. Mere tasting occasionally, reading without bringing principles into life and obeying precepts, or hearing without faith and appropriation, does not give life but leaves one without the oil of grace and its influence.

It changes the natural person formed by heredity, nationality, education and circumstances into a new person with new heart, purposes and impulses, bearing fruit thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. Receiving the principles of the Word into the daily life and practicing its truths brings into connection with Christ who knew no sin, makes Him the center of life, keeps close union with Him as a fruit-bearing branch with the vine, and shows itself in self-denying, self-sacrificing service. This is not merely intellectual, for the Word addresses the heart and moral nature, takes possession of the will, brings thoughts into obedience to Christ, and comes through the Holy Spirit in the Word as verity and truth, spirit and life, giving the prayerful searcher spiritual sinew and muscle and a solid experience. It implants a new nature so that Bible truth becomes part of spiritual sinews and muscle, desires, appetites, passions, and the smallest habits and practices, daily strengthening and renewing more and more after the divine image of His perfect humanity, and revealing greater meekness and lowliness of heart in all who seek glory, honor, immortality and eternal life.

The indwelling is shown by works of righteousness, Christian consistency, doing His will, learning His meekness, lowliness and way of speaking, and displaying even amid poverty, trial and temptation the same spirit of goodness, love and excellence of character that was in Christ, adorning His doctrine and following His example in what one says and does. Its reality is revealed in conversation and character, beginning at once while it is called today, continually seeking and doing His will and abiding in Him. Those who call Him Lord yet do not do what He says, who hear without faith and without appropriating truth, show He is not abiding within and remain without grace. Without this life there can be no growth or fruit, but those who eat are strengthened to grow up into the full stature in Christ, to develop healthy religious character, and to grow in grace, knowledge and self-control until they finally partake fully of the divine nature.

Christ abiding in the soul brings spiritual life, comfort, sobriety, joy, health, growth and spiritual soundness to which the Spirit sets its seal, filling the soul with consolation and holy joy. The Word dwells in those who receive and do its holy precepts, and obedience to God's requirements illuminates and uplifts and brings immortality with assurance of immortality and pledge of resurrection. Beholding Him changes into His likeness and image as faith, love and holiness grow, healing the soul as looking to Him heals the serpent's sting. Beholding Him as the perfect Pattern with self-examination brings the same perfection beheld in Him, and being united with Him by accepting and living by every word of God leads to fight against sin and every approach to it, becoming more like a light and growing in victory and strength.

It produces unity of purpose and harmony in action with mutual love and confidence, fellowship, salvation and praise, binding followers to one another in holy fellowship expressed in love, kindness, courtesy, patience and forbearance. Those who feast on Christ by receiving His word and enjoying His love are made one with Christ, live through Him, learn from Jesus the elements of eternal life, recognize goodness and hopefulness in fellow workers, and contribute their gifts as members of Christ united with God now and in the life to come. This oneness is a moral force and convincing power to the world, requires paying absolute homage to the Word of God in doctrine and principle, taking the Bible and the Bible alone as rule of faith and practice, and refusing easy fellowship with the world and slipshod religion, while living the instruction of John 6 cures dissension and leads to unity with Christ and one another. Sincere reception gives eternal life only as truth sanctifies, leading to hate and shun sin, for Christ cannot share a divided heart. This life in Christ is incompatible with frivolity and love of amusement, and disobedience, selfishly following one's own standard, judging, despising and accusing others, and continuing unchanged in sinful habits reveal failure to feed and to live by His Word. Those who take His words to heart and practice them receive eternal life, shown in obedience, the death of pride and selfishness, and the fruit of love, compassion and unselfish action, and moved to seek and save the lost.

The verse defines the righteousness of Christ as eating His flesh and drinking His blood by accepting His righteousness, taking a firm stand for Christ, surrendering to God what is already His own, and standing firm. Without this no one has on the wedding garment and no one is a fit guest for the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity and requires reaching God's standard of character rather than measuring by human ideas or continuing in sin. Drinking His blood is joined to a heart overflowing with holy, unselfish love for God and for those He died to save, because they belong to Him and were purchased by Him, a love not selfish, changeable, or dependent on praise, appreciation or affection. Those who so eat and drink are one with Christ by faith, live in Christ with Christ living in the heart, appreciate the heavenly gift, receive the spirit of peace and heavenly joy, love Jesus supremely, enter into the joys of the Lord, and, constrained by His love and the matchless excellency and beauty of His character, express appreciation in costly service with nothing too costly to give and no self-denial or self-sacrifice too severe to endure for His sake. Those who make strife and falsehood their meat and drink turn from this life-giving communion with Christ, and false ideas of God and Christ and rejection of the gospel leave them without the genuine holiness needed to see the Lord.

Daily Walk and Witness

Eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood must be daily and continual, through constant communion, earnest prayer and daily study of the Word, with daily hourly union by faith which works by love and purifies the soul. As food sustains the body, Christ as the Bread of life sustains spiritual need, and as the body needs daily food so the soul must daily feed on heavenly manna, drinking deep draughts from His sympathy, tenderness and love and from the Spiritual Rock that followed Israel. Occasional or one-day service is not enough, and weekly seasons alone do not meet the need, but truth must enter heart and mind, be prayed over and practiced, so faith and understanding grow. This continual drawing near, depending, loving and receiving gives nourishment sufficient for all needs of the soul, forgiveness of sins, sanctification unto eternal life, change of experience, right comprehension of true religion, a life patterned after Christ instead of the world, Christ formed within as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life, and a character fitted for heaven. Commercial food work, business and other duties must not crowd out prayer or feeding on the Word, for devotion to business and worldly concerns robs spiritual health, deprives the soul of nourishment and inspiration found in words of eternal life, imperils spirituality, and leaves inability to preserve spirituality or represent Christ.

The action must begin at once while it is called today, by believing the Word, appropriating it, taking it into practical life and obeying it, teaching the same lesson as the vine and its branches. Those who do this have life in them, even eternal life, and its reality is revealed in conversation and character. Without soul hunger for God there is no spiritual life, and feeding on heavenly manna means seeking Christ for spiritual strength and comfort. A divided heart cannot serve God, and giving the mind to worldly entertainments, misleading amusements, frivolity, gossip, jesting, joking, foolish talk, nonsense, folly, backbiting, talebearing and evil speaking instead of Christ weakens assurance and love for Bible religion and shows the soul is not feeding. Such talk is unfit food, partaking of the very spirit of the devil as accuser of the brethren, while those who feed on Christ closely investigate what mental food is served, reject frivolity, use mind and abilities for God's work, receive and live by words of eternal life through the Holy Spirit, and are purified, strengthened, nourished and sanctified in heart, soul, mind and character.

Men and women are built up spiritually by the food they give the mind, as food shapes the body so the Word shapes experience, and the important statements of John 6:35-58 must be read with prayer for clearness of understanding. Time spent on books, magazines, novels, cheap and improper reading and an excessive mass of other reading that hinder spiritual growth and prevent understanding and assimilation of the word of life must be refused. Wisdom must choose the word of life over excess reading, studying the Word and working in Christ's lines rather than wedding oneself to certain authors or filling the mind with corrupting material, for setting aside God's word for spiritually harmful reading separates from God and damages thoughts, conduct, relationships and spiritual experience. This continual increase in knowledge of the Word and spiritual truth brings daily improvement of powers and capabilities, makes believers observers of the Word, and gives eternal life.

Appetite must be closely guarded with temperate, healthful habits and simple diet to keep mind and body sound to study Scripture and learn what to do to inherit eternal life, since unhealthful appetite and diet injure the system and strengthen disposition to enter temptation and commit sin. By eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of man the mind is kept pure and free to do God's will. This partaking is taking home whatever the Word says and bringing truth into the sanctuary of the soul as the bread of heaven, to be done daily to derive vitalizing power from Christ, and it is the grand remedy for all physical, mental and spiritual disorders, apart from whom everything is worthless. Those who want the rich blessing of Christ will eat a very simple diet on the Sabbath so the mind is not full of what to eat and drink but is quiet and waiting to receive what God waits to bestow.

Whether partaking is happening is revealed in words, demeanor, conduct and little things, for what fills the heart and what is cherished is revealed in speech. Having life depends on feeding on Christ in vital connection, making Him the focus rather than dwelling on other people's faults and failures. Continually dwelling on others' failures is unhealthy spiritual food that prevents spiritual vitality and growth and weakens spiritual life, while the mind should instead feed on what is true, just, pure, lovely and worthy of praise, which builds character. High ideas and ambitions, plans and desire to make a show prove the soul is not eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, and those who claim discipleship need converting power in a higher sense before eating and drinking produces the rich cluster of fruits that satisfies God, where all who exalt themselves are humbled and those who humble themselves are exalted.

The verse applies especially to holy communion, for although the sacramental service is not named it is embodied in its figures. Eating and drinking takes place when the believer celebrates the ordinance in spirit and in truth with the crucifixion kept before the mind, faith contemplating Christ's sacrifice poured out at Calvary, and the service strengthening living connection with Christ and through Him with the Father. Receiving the bread and wine as symbols of broken body and spilled blood represents dependence on Him, and the ordinances pointing to His humiliation and suffering were instituted to awaken the senses to the mystery of godliness and help grasp His expiatory suffering. Having life requires more than taking part in the Supper, for eating means receiving Him through faith into the nature, continually receiving and meditating upon Him so His life and nature are within, receiving His words in faith and obedience, becoming one with Him and sharing His eternal life, which the Spirit helps grasp, while His death alone apart from personal ongoing participation does not give life to the soul.

Teachers, editors, ministers and workers must first eat and digest the Word themselves before giving the bread of life to others, for the gospel presented to save perishing souls must first save one's own soul. Eating the flesh is receiving the Word of God, eating the Word and living the Word to all intents and purposes, for the Word is His flesh, and drinking His blood is partaking of the spiritual attributes of Jesus Christ and drinking in His spiritual attributes. Those who open the Word to others must watch over themselves, commune with God, learn from Christ through the Holy Spirit, fight battles with self instead of letting unsanctified impulses control mind and judgment, and weed malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking, rivalry and every product of the carnal mind out of heart and character. Without this inward partaking self is mingled with nearly everything and sacred labor is made of little effect, and when disciples feel helpless before hungry souls they must seek supply from Christ who sends them to feed others and will provide, not sending anyone away unfed.

Eating puts the element of eternal life into ministry by being divested of self with its peculiar habits, manners and customs and coming into Christ's likeness, first eating the bread from heaven and communing with God before going before the people. The one who does this does not offer stale, oft-repeated ideas but has new perception of truth, sees truth on every side, with a word that touches the case of all and satisfies every soul hunger. As truth becomes part of the person and Christ's life is in the heart, God's power is present, the voice is touched with special and peculiar power, speech is sanctified, and believers receive a fresh supply of heavenly manna to sustain them as they share salvation, speak of Christ, and communicate received truth to hungry souls and perishing sinners. Hearing or agreeing with truth without taking it in produces no decisive change, and speech that does not show the Word as bread of life reveals failure to feed on Christ.

All who teach the Word must know this living experience for themselves, receiving the Son of God by sanctified obedience to all words of Scripture which are spirit and life, and by that obedience preserving Christlikeness of character. Those who eat and drink belong to God's work, registered in heaven as fellow workers, learning His meekness and lowliness under His direction and showing what human beings can become when they accept His yoke. They are constant learners in Christ's school, drawing daily grace from the Word, growing in goodness and spiritual understanding, built up by what they take in, formed with Christ within, receiving wisdom to nourish others and give the flock its due portion, prepared to serve with consecrated hearts rather than unsanctified desires. Without inward reception a minister may be active, plan, study and teach Scripture yet lack eternal life and the Spirit of Christ, mingling sacred things with the common and carnal while self is highly esteemed.

Such profession while neglecting to practice what He said leaves a person without life, a vitalizing current from Jesus and His love received to transform character being lost, which is losing Christ Himself, the vital essence of the message. Without decided change in practical life in almost every respect the person will soon be offended, turn away from truth as too hard, deny Christ in character and put Him to open shame. In these last days every minister in word and doctrine and every worker must have this life and vitality by the Holy Spirit's quickening influence and by being breathed upon by the Lord Jesus, plucking and eating leaves of the tree of life for healing of nations, for this life flows from Jesus, not from human plans, talents or knowledge. The requirement is solemn and little comprehended even by those who claim to believe truth, testing genuine faith, for those who hear only with ears and whose understanding is closed are offended and go back, while the thoughtful and candid take exalted views of His character and office.

Eating and drinking means voluntarily appropriating Christ's words and truth until it becomes the very life of the soul, filling mind and soul with its greatness and power, coming to Him so as never to hunger and believing so as never to thirst, dwelling in Him and living by Him unto resurrection at the last day. It means carefully studying, eating, digesting and making the Word part of the being, living the Word rather than keeping it separate from conduct, so Christ's character becomes the character through transformation by renewing of the heart. Profession, name, claiming to serve God or watch for His appearing is not enough, as with foolish virgins found without oil outside the shut door, but followers must live as Christ commands rather than take promises for granted. This is the only safety so nothing can separate a living Christian from God, to be done with earnest self-examination, cherishing faith, confession and repentance rather than shrinking from humiliation, and improving the little remaining probation to be prepared for the coming storm and last battle.

Receiving God's promises by faith and making them one's own, taking God's Word as true, is joined to loving Christ and keeping His commandments, through whose promised grace believers can keep God's law. Those who feed upon Christ become partakers of the divine nature, have Christ's mind, live God's law, show His attributes, and stand as living sentinels for truth. This includes self-denial, self-sacrifice, patience, mercy, long-suffering and love to bring those gone wrong back to repentance and fellowship. Living for God in this way brings clear light to the path, heavenly anointing, counsel from Him with the Holy Spirit working in and through, and protection from mistakes and grave error, whereas without it men reason from human standpoint and policy principles instead of the Lord's ways and thoughts.

This life is the mystery of godliness, receiving the Son as source of divine power bringing eternal life as the fruit of the tree of life gave life to Adam and Eve, needed for the Spirit to sanctify intellectual ability and make it effective in convicting and converting sinners. Eating and drinking is receiving intelligent knowledge of God's Word as bread of life that feeds hungry souls and brings men and women out of darkness of error into life. God desires this life-giving knowledge carried by many workers into other fields and all countries, unfurling the banner of truth, converting souls and organizing churches, rather than gathering means to build large interests in one place while other parts languish.