As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
To eat Christ is to receive him personally by faith as the One sent from God, taking his life, death, teaching and character into mind, heart and life until they become part of the person. As the living Father sent him and he lives by the Father in dependence and surrender, so the one who partakes of him lives by him, receiving God's life through him to give to others. This eating is continual and individual, done by daily prayer, diligent searching and meditation on his Word, believing and obeying it and depending on him alone rather than on any human being. He who so eats dwells in Christ and Christ in him like a branch in the vine, becoming a partaker of the divine nature, transformed into Christlikeness in love, character and fruit. That union is righteousness received inwardly, bringing pardon, sanctification, strength, joy and peace now, and eternal life and resurrection at the last day, unlike the manna that left its eaters dead.
Setting and Language
The saying was given in the synagogue at Capernaum after the feeding of the five thousand with loaves and fishes and after the walking on the water, when Christ presented Himself as the bread of life. He spoke to define His spiritual kingdom and to discourage hope of a temporal reign and an earthly kingdom, making no distinct claim to Messiahship in royal dignity but appearing as a man among men. After He had fed the multitude and refused to be made their king His popularity began to wane, and He devoted Himself more earnestly to instructing His disciples in the mysteries and truths of His work. The fuller explanation of the teaching connected with the miracle of the loaves was not understood by many who followed in hope of an earthly kingdom, and it tested their commitment. The sermon on the bread of life set forth the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom of God.
He cares for both physical and spiritual need, gives words of life, and does not overlook bodily hunger or the hunger of those who follow Him. He will provide food to satisfy bodily necessities and even impart knowledge whereby His people are provided with food, for His hand of benevolence is not stayed. Yet the spiritual food that endures to everlasting life is of far more consequence than temporal food and is to be sought with far more anxiety than perishable bread for physical sustenance. That living bread comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, can be obtained from no human agent, and through the gift of Christ God Himself gives it. It is received by coming to Christ and believing on Him whom God has sent, so that he who comes shall never hunger and he who believes shall never thirst. He appoints His followers as His representatives to give that bread of life to souls hungering in unexpected need, and they must first receive spiritual food from God or they will be destitute and helpless with nothing to impart, while God who sent His servants to feed the hungry will supply their need for His own work so they need turn no soul away unfed.
The teaching was a hard saying and a test that offended many hearers. Many sought Him not from conviction of His divinity nor as the great Teacher sent from God, but because they ate the loaves and were filled and hoped He would satisfy temporal wants and give only temporal advantage. When the conditions demanding death to self and the practice of self-denial were heard, exposing ambitious desire to rule others and unwillingness to surrender to truth, they went back and walked no more with Him. This turning away exposed pretentious or half-hearted followers and distinguished them from sincere believers who remain with Christ when His words offend or call for soul-purifying change. Those who treated the light for salvation indifferently and resisted conviction because truth was unpopular and involved self-denial and the cross justified themselves just as the disciples did at this saying. The plain testimony tested even the disciples, and many were offended by the truth and turned away rather than accept reproof and take up self-denial, while the twelve remained and Peter confessed that He had the words of eternal life and was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Eating Christ is a figure, parable, similitude and symbol under the likeness of heavenly bread, not a literal eating of human flesh or drinking of blood. The flesh by itself profits nothing; it is the Spirit that quickens, and His words are spirit and life. To live by Him is therefore to feed on Him spiritually by keeping His Word and truth continually before the mind, looking constantly to Jesus, studying God's Word, and practicing its teachings, with life sustained by faith in the Word and not by sight or by the flesh. Eating in figure means true, earnest belief and true receiving of His Word, believing on Him as Redeemer and receiving His words as spiritual food and nourishment. All who truly receive His Word never hunger, and all who believe in Him never thirst for higher or more satisfying food. Faithful practice of His teachings brings sanctification through obedience, so that those who receive His words and live by them reflect His character and have eternal life.
The living Father who sent Him is the source of Christ's life, and Christ lives by the Father. The life of the Father and the Son is one, and the Father sent the Son to communicate His life to humanity. As Christ receives from God in order to give, this self-giving relation is the law of life for the universe and a revelation of God's character, setting the pattern by which life flows from the Father through the Son to others. As the Son lived by faith in the Father, believers are to live by faith in Christ. Jesus was fully surrendered to God's will, and though tempted as people are and surrounded by evil He remained untainted, and believers are to overcome as He did. Receiving His love and life makes the believer one with the Father and the Son.
The chapter sets out the conditions and terms of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom, plainly states the way to obtain eternal life, and reveals Christ as the bread of life and source of life. It contains instruction that is the mystery of godliness and God's will as the divine antidote for sin. Its lessons are learned and its call to eat the bread of life is fulfilled by reading, studying, meditating on, and remembering it, receiving Christ's life-giving truth and making it part of life. The chapter must be understood and lived and not merely read, and is to be studied diligently because it reveals Christ as the source of life. Studying that chapter and making it part of life by bringing its teachings into daily experience gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril, and living by Christ gives a life that measures with the life of God.
Life From Father Through Son
As the living Father sent him and he lives by the Father, so the one who partakes of him lives by him, receiving eternal life now and resurrection at the last day. Though the believer may die as Christ died, the Saviour's life is in him, his life hidden with Christ in God, for Christ came to give life more abundantly and carries on the great process by which believers are made one with him in this present life to be one with him through all eternity. The Father is the source of Christ's life, and Christ lives in dependence on the Father, receiving from God in order to give, and this self-giving relation is the law of life for the universe and a revelation of God's character, setting the pattern by which life flows from the Father through the Son to others. The lesson is to receive and obey Christ's words, which are life and lead to eternal life, showing the will of God for his people and the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world. This life-giving word is what his witnesses are to declare while rejecting misleading teachings.
This life comes through Christ's incarnation and sacrifice, by which he gave his flesh for the life of the world and his blood for sins as a ransom. To eat him is to have genuine faith by which, as physical food is incorporated with flesh and blood, Christ is incorporated with the believer so that his flesh and blood become spiritual life, Christ formed within as the hope of glory, containing the element that imparts life-giving virtue through his sacrificial death and resurrection which gives life and value to all who receive and believe in him as personal Saviour. It is not eating his human flesh literally, which profits nothing, but feeding on his words, his teaching and example, his life and death and the efficacy of the sacrifice he was to make for the world, which is meat indeed and drink indeed. The Passover lamb represented him, and its blood which marked safety for the Hebrews in Egypt represented his blood shed for the sins of the world, giving believers a sure hope that he will raise them from the dead to immortal life in God's kingdom. That bread came down from heaven and is death-destroying, giving immortal life to the body and raising the believer at the last day, unlike the manna the fathers ate in the wilderness and are dead.
Living by him happens in receiving the bread and wine symbolizing his broken body and spilled blood, joining in thought the communion in the upper chamber, the agony of the garden, and Christ set forth crucified. Looking upon the crucified Redeemer gives fuller comprehension of the magnitude and meaning of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, glorifies the plan of salvation, and makes clear the struggle by which reconciliation with God was obtained. The thought of Calvary awakens living and sacred emotions, puts praise to God and the Lamb in heart and lips, and leaves no room for pride and self-worship in the soul that keeps Calvary fresh in memory. Beholding the Saviour's matchless love gives spiritual strength, elevates thought, purifies the heart, transforms the character, and sends the believer forth to be a light to the world reflecting that love. Eating him means faith in him and obedience to his teachings, dwelling in him and he in the believer, giving spiritual vigor to the soul and life everlasting.
He laid aside his royal robe and crown and stepped down from his high command as the Prince of Life and Glory to become human in order to combine humanity with divinity as a steppingstone for man to stand on vantage ground with God. His becoming human makes everlasting union with him possible, so that to eat him is to be united with him with his life in them and their life joined to his, and though they die he will raise them at the last day as a part of himself. He became one with humanity so that humanity might become one with him in divinity. To eat him is to turn from worldly policy, to obey the living principles of God's law, to train daily for service, to serve actively, and to breathe the atmosphere of heaven, the only atmosphere in which the soul can truly live. Eating him is eating the bread of life and drinking the water of salvation by taking his Word as food and meat and drink and making it the elements of character through practice, so that every soul who does this is imbued with the sanctified and holy character of God and has eternal life in him because that life is in Christ and Christ is in him.
He is the Lifegiver and the tree of life to all who pluck and eat, restoring the life lost through disobedience, and feeding on him in faith, receiving him and his atonement, is the way spiritual life is perfected and eternal life received. As the tree of life in Eden was a type of that source, sin cut people off from it, and when Adam and Eve lost access to its fruit they began to lose health and vitality, but life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel. Its branches now hang from the paradise above so believers may eat and live forever, and this eating need not wait until translation but happens now when a person receives the words of Christ into the heart, and in the fellowship of the Spirit lays hold upon truth itself and appropriates it as the bread that comes down from heaven. That eating is eating the leaves of the tree of life now and eating the fruit of the tree of life, entering into the life of Christ and appreciating the great sacrifice made in behalf of the sinful race. It is receiving his words, which are spirit and life, for the Spirit gives life while the flesh by itself profits nothing.
Living by him means receiving the living elements in the Scriptures and doing the will of God, feeding on the Word of God by constant meditation and study, the privilege of all who believe in him as personal Saviour. The Holy Spirit is in the Word of God and renders the Bible a living, undying, immortal truth that gives the prayerful searcher spiritual strength, for God's Word is verity and truth, spirit and life, and eternal life is this receiving and doing. The living oracles are the flesh and blood of the Son of God and gave life even though he had not then been crucified, for his work as the substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. The directions given in the Old Testament Scriptures are full of marrow and fatness, and the plain directions for practical holiness and practical obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be a Christian. The New Testament Scriptures given after his death were not given to cast the Old aside, but their light reflects back into past ages giving significance to the whole Jewish economy. Taking these words and eating them ends spiritual hunger, for the words of the sixth chapter of John refer especially to the spirituality of the Word, chiefly concerning the spiritual nourishment of God's Word, to be received and lived out rather than merely read, a more exalted experience to be obtained by every worker though not one in a hundred knows the value of eating the bread of life.
Personal Receiving by Faith
To eat Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, coming to Him, believing on Him as the One sent from God, accepting Him, and truly receiving His Word with earnest belief, obedience, and sharing in the life given through His self-offering. This receiving in faith is dependence on Christ that gives spiritual life and belongs to the way to eternal life. It is spiritual life given by the Spirit, not a benefit of the flesh, and this life leads to eternal life and resurrection at the last day. Those who treat the light for salvation indifferently and resist conviction because truth is unpopular and involves self-denial and the cross justify themselves just as those did who stumbled at this saying, for they did not seek Christ because convinced of His divinity or seeing Him as the great Teacher sent from God, but because they ate the loaves and were filled and hoped He would satisfy temporal wants.
This eating is strictly personal and individual, for no one can eat His flesh and drink His blood for another and no one can be nourished by food another eats. Each person must come to Christ with his own soul hunger, his own convictions, his own feeling of soul need, and learn of Christ for himself. This life must be received personally, not borrowed from another, for the Father sent the Son to communicate His life to humanity and the life of the Father and the Son is one. Each one is invited to partake for himself of the banquet of promises spread before every child of God, and feeding on the Word strengthens spiritual muscle and sinew.
To eat Christ by individually seeking to understand the Word of God, believing it, and practicing it is to take in His words and obey them, and as food nourishes the body His words nourish spiritual life and make believers partakers of His divine nature. The one who does this dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in him, has eternal life, and will be raised up at the last day. This must become personal experience, and each person should ask whether he has experienced it and realizes its true meaning. This Word, believed, is to every truly converted soul the free gift of grace, not deserved by merit and not bought with money, for all is God's gift, to be freely given as it was freely received.
Mere outward connection with any church will not save a man, even though God calls the church His body and the bride, the Lamb's wife, and is Himself the Father of the family and the Shepherd of the flock. The symbols of the Lord's Supper, and Christ's death by itself, do not give spiritual life unless Christ is personally received and the soul is nourished by Him. In a special sense living by Him happens in holy communion, where as faith contemplates the Lord's great sacrifice the soul assimilates the spiritual life of Christ and receives spiritual strength from every communion. The service forms a living connection by which the believer is bound up with Christ and thus bound up with the Father, joining in imagination the communion in the upper chamber, the agony of the garden, and Christ set forth crucified. Looking upon the crucified Redeemer gives fuller comprehension of the magnitude and meaning of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, awakens living and sacred emotions with praise to God and the Lamb, leaves no room for pride and self-worship in the soul that keeps Calvary fresh in memory, and gives spiritual strength that elevates thought, purifies heart, transforms character, and sends the believer forth to be a light to the world.
Eating is not an occasional experience but continual nourishment from the bread of life, receiving Him as personal Saviour and looking constantly to Him for nourishment sufficient for every need of the soul. It is being united with Christ, dwelling in Him with Him dwelling in the believer, through daily, hourly faith that works by love and purifies the soul. The soul needs a constant vital connection with God just as the body needs vitalizing air at all times, with the truth the Spirit teaches in the Word of God mingled with all that is done until it controls every action, with the Holy Spirit as witness and guide even in business relations. This is sought by prayer to God for blessing as in praying for daily bread, and learned by being taught daily in the school of Christ, comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by bringing truth into daily experience and growing continually in grace. Those who so eat live by Christ and grow up into the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus, receiving forgiveness of sins and sanctification unto eternal life, for earnestly taking His words into the life and practicing them with meekness transforms the character.
Eating Christ means depending on Him and not on any human being for power, experience, strength, guidance, and wisdom, looking to Jesus Christ as the source of strength and power. Each person is accountable to God by creation and by redemption and must walk and work as accountable to Him, with the Word of the Living God as guide. His lessons are a firm foundation and an elevated platform, and human words are as chaff to wheat beside them, so no soul should apply to a human agent for light to be imparted through that channel. The Word of God is not a dry theory but light and life to mind and soul, enlarging every mind and vitalizing every soul with the heavenly current as truth is sought from God alone as hidden treasure, drunk in and practiced. When Christ is received by faith He becomes sanctification, righteousness, and exceeding great reward, giving spiritual strength instead of spiritual weakness and bondage.
Feeding on His Word
To eat his flesh and drink his blood is not bodily eating but spiritual receiving of Christ himself as the bread of life come down from heaven, taking in his words which are spirit and life and the true food and drink for eternal life. This eating means receiving his spiritual truth, teaching, example, life and death through living faith, so that his words become part of practical life and fill the soul with health, growth, strength and soundness. It is the divinity of his character that is thus received, not his teaching alone, and the reception depends on the Spirit who quickens, while the flesh profits nothing and mere human ideas cannot give life. Heard truth profits nothing unless mixed with faith that appropriates it, but when so received with obedience it produces oneness with him as the branch is one with the vine and gives life-giving power that gladdens the soul.
Feeding means receiving and assimilating the gospel and the Word of God until it becomes part of mind, heart, character and the current of life, sustaining mind and heart and forming Christlike spirit and character. It is done by individually seeking to understand it, believing it, meditating on it, keeping it continually before the mind, yielding the will, obeying its precepts, bringing its truths into daily practice, and sharing it with others. Such earnest appropriation turns attention from gratifying bodily appetite to nourishment for the soul, gives vitality to religious life, enlarges the mind with saving knowledge, and brings pardon and sanctification through transforming the character. Unlike the manna in the wilderness after which the fathers died, this living bread gives lasting life so that he who eats it never hungers or thirsts for higher food but lives forever.
This study is diligent, prayerful searching that digs deeply into the treasures of the Bible as the great educating Book above all other books, receiving its words because they are spirit and life. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby, the soul must feed on Scripture and bring it into experience, gathering testimonies as the ark held the law, receiving the Word as the leaves of the tree of life and eating them, masticating and digesting the Word in the religious life. Whatever the Word says is to be taken home into the sanctuary of the soul, individually seeking to understand it, believing it and practicing it, which is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God and gives a life that never dies. So received, the Word is to every truly converted soul the free gift of grace, not deserved by merit nor bought with money, for all is God's gift to be freely given as it was freely received, and it becomes a grand remedy for physical, mental and spiritual disorders.
The Holy Spirit is in the Word of God and renders the Bible a living, undying, immortal truth that gives the prayerful searcher spiritual strength, for God's Word is verity and truth, spirit and life. When prayerfully studied, the Scriptures become spirit and life like living bread from heaven rather than words studied as in other books, supplying spiritual food and drink sufficient for every need of the soul. So sought as hidden treasure from God alone, truth enlarges every mind and vitalizes every soul with the heavenly current, giving a solid experience, moving the conscience and cleansing the soul, while human words are as chaff to wheat beside his lessons. Treating the Word as a dead letter or dry theory robs it of power, but receiving and doing its living truth mingled with all that is done until it controls every action brings eternal life, with the Holy Spirit as witness and guide, and through the gospel brings life and immortality to light.
As the body is built up by what it eats, spiritual character and experience are shaped by what the mind feeds on and takes in, and what is eaten and drunk forms spiritual experience just as bodily food forms the body. Feeding the mind on pure Bible truth and carrying it into practical life gives life to the soul hidden like life in a seed, developing first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. This feeding refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, makes the receiver modest, meek and lowly of heart, and makes the mind pure, elevated and ennobled, never uncouth, rough, disagreeable, noisy or sensational. It spiritualizes the mind and protects against coming deception, whereas feeding on trash in papers, magazines and pictures, on worldly distractions and entertainments, on others' faults, or on low ideas leaves no appetite for heaven's bread and weakens vigor.
Union Character Eternal Life
To eat is to dwell in Christ with Christ dwelling in the eater, losing separate identity in oneness with him and through him with the Father. This is a vital spiritual union, not bodily eating, entered by personal faith in a personal Saviour and kept by looking constantly to him for nourishment sufficient for every need of the soul. It is exercised in daily, hourly faith that works by love and purifies the soul, feeding on his words as spiritual food and drink and giving them entrance into life and character by becoming a doer of the Word. The union is as the branch grafted into and one with the vine, nourished by sap flowing from the stock to every branch, and it must control every action even in business, witnessed and guided by the Holy Spirit and strengthened for sharing the divine nature and revealing righteousness in works. Mere outward connection with any church will not save, though the church is called his body and bride, for each must so eat and live by him, growing up into the full stature of men and women in Christ, forgiven and sanctified unto eternal life and connected with keeping his commandments by the Spirit God gives.
By this union believers become partakers of the divine nature, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory. Receiving his Spirit and mind and love and life transforms and purifies character, making them Christlike in spirit, words, acts, manner and dealings. Their lives are filled with love for God and for others and for one another as he loved, with holy aspirations toward God, revealing his principles and bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace and all graces as evergreen trees bringing forth fruit even in old age. As food nourishes the body, his words taken in and obeyed nourish spiritual life, and this life must be received personally and cannot be borrowed from another, for the Father sent the Son to communicate his life to humanity and the life of the Father and the Son is one.
Eating gives eternal life now and forever with resurrection at the last day. He who eats this bread come down from heaven does not die as the fathers who ate manna in the wilderness and are dead, but never hungers or thirsts for higher food and lives forever, filled with health and growth and spiritual strength and soundness. Though the believer may die as Christ died, Christ's life remains in him hidden with Christ in God, and because Christ was raised and lives they will come forth clothed with salvation to enter the city. This life comes through incarnation and sacrifice by which he gave himself as ransom for the world, received by partaking of his flesh and blood in faith and by receiving and practicing the Word whose words are spirit and life quickened by the Spirit, perfecting spiritual life as Christ the Lifegiver and tree of life restoring life lost through disobedience.
Living by Christ as Christ lives by the Father defines the righteousness of Christ that joins humanity with divinity. Inwardly received by personally receiving and practicing his words, it brings pardon and sanctification through obedience, grace for grace, crucifixion of pride and self, escape from the world's corruption, reformation, and fitness as a guest in the wedding garment. Those so worked by God through the Holy Spirit undergo moral change into his likeness, breathing a holy atmosphere in which only the soul can live, with assurance of holy principles received from the Word and an earnest of immortality through his death and resurrection. Should the earthly body decay, the principles of faith sustain them in pledge of their own resurrection at the last trumpet to new life and the joy of their Lord, forming a character like his that walks as he walked and works as he worked, partaking his trials, obeying under temptation, and holding faith firm unto the end; without this there is presumption, continued sin and loss.
Christ abiding in the soul as living bread and center of life gives life, health, vitality, strength, comfort, sobriety, joy, hope, assurance, peace, tone to religious experience, and grace sufficient for daily duties, trials and battle against invisible foes. It brings thorough conversion without boasting, expels the world, fills the hungry soul with his fullness as rich manna from heaven satisfying hunger, gladdens the soul with life-giving power through obedience, and meets all needs of the soul. Dwelling on Christ builds character and gives freshness to ministry and power to awaken new life in those open to the Spirit, while turning instead to worldly entertainments and trash leaves no hunger for God and leads to loss of assurance and love for Bible religion.
Obedient Practice and Witness
Truly receiving is hearing with understanding by experience and doing, for to eat is to take in words and truth in faith and live them, meditating on them, taking them into the life and putting them into practice in obedience to the commandments. Heard truth profits nothing unless mixed with faith that appropriates it, but cherished truth that works by love purifies, gives a saving knowledge that enlarges the mind, gives vitality to religious life, turns attention from gratifying bodily appetite toward nourishment for the soul, and leads believers to practice truth and share it with others. Those who truly believe reveal how much they believe in conversation and character, and by obeying the Word now, while it is called today, they have eternal life, as taught also under the symbol of the vine and its branches. Living by Christ is the great lesson in answer to what it means to work the works of God, which is to believe on Him whom God sent, for the price of heaven is the only begotten Son and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, first believing and next working, so students must be taught to believe and then they will work the works of God and become doers making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books. This life from the Father through the Son is lasting, unlike the manna that did not keep the Israelites from death, and receiving His words, which are spirit and life, makes partakers of the divine nature and is a condition of salvation.
This is the higher education from God for children and youth and men and women, with the Bible as the great Book, learned by remaining as students in the school of Christ and by diligently searching the Word, receiving it as the leaves of the tree of life and eating them. Eternal happiness depends on submission and obedience to His words in working out salvation with fear and trembling, for all who abide in Him reveal His spirit, lose identity in Him and become one with Him, partake through faith of His Spirit and love, are set apart to do the same works He did, and gain a knowledge of the plan of salvation that, eaten and digested in the religious life, creates in the newborn soul an appetite for the bread come down from heaven and gives life that never dies. As physical strength depends on suitable daily food and physical health is maintained by what is eaten, so spiritual strength depends on feeding on Christ by living by every word from God, and spiritual fitness to study Scripture and learn what to do to inherit eternal life requires appetites under control of a sanctified mind with temperance in eating and drinking, since unhealthful habit injures the stomach and the system and strengthens the disposition to enter temptation and commit sin. This living by Christ is grace sufficient for the duties and trials of each day when accepted and improved, learned by conquering invisible foes in daily battle and march instead of being conquered, refusing a life of self-amusement and neutrality, practicing the precious light on health reform, keeping truth in ascendancy in the heart to meet sure temptation, and on the Sabbath partaking of a very simple diet to keep the mind free for nature and God, because individual life and church life are history-making. This feeding upon Christ includes being taught the law of Jehovah and the penalty for transgression, and understanding that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in behalf of each person obedient to the law.
Those who feed most become ready to serve and must first receive before imparting, for ministers and teachers must sit at His feet, commune with God, and eat the bread themselves to gain new perception, avoid stale or worldly ideas, speak a word that satisfies hunger, work as Christ worked, and give the bread of life to unexpected hungry souls. Their life-giving truth, when understood, gives ministry power and freshness and can awaken new life in those open to the Holy Spirit, and this life-giving dependence is essential nourishment for those who teach and learn the Scriptures. Those who receive and live upon the Word dwell in Christ and Christ in them, receive and impart light and life and grace, have heard a message from heaven, have hearts touched with human suffering and woe, and give themselves to wise, unselfish efforts to save souls, such earnest workers being needed for the great and solemn work, for lukewarm service cannot be endured. Shared life from the same source makes all one body by the same Spirit, bringing unity of purpose and harmony of action with mutual love and confidence that is a moral force and convicting power to the world, calling to active missionary labor as trustworthy channels of living water, while living the instruction of this chapter in practical life expresses God's will and links unity with Christ and one another. It means paying absolute homage to the Word of God in doctrine and principle, taking the Bible and the Bible alone as the rule of faith and practice, having no easy fellowship with the world and no slipshod religion, so the influence of the life has telling power on the world.
Without this eating there is no spiritual life, for believers receive and continue to have life through Christ as the living Bread whose flesh is given for the life of the world, and those who receive Him have eternal life and will be raised at the last day. This teaching distinguishes sincere believers who remain with Christ from pretentious or half-hearted followers who abandon Him when His words offend or call for soul-purifying change, for mere listening without eating the truth as bread from heaven leaves the saying hard, causes offense and murmuring, and leads to going back, since the flesh profits nothing and it is the Spirit that quickens through words which are spirit and life. Truly receiving Christ's words means practicing His teachings in daily life, dwelling upon Him, meditating upon Him, drawing nigh in prayer, making Him the food of the soul by what the mind dwells upon, and guarding the heart against pride and vain common thoughts. In this eating the believer dwells in Christ and Christ in him, and the Holy Spirit molds the mind to recognize Christ in His true character as the Lamb of God who takes away sin and the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, with love to God and love of Christ manifested in the life. When received in truth this produces practice of the truth, reformation of life, crucifixion of pride and self-exaltation, and sanctification through the truth preparing for translation, with the Spirit abiding within giving the mind of Christ, the graces of His character and the fruits of the Spirit seen in spirit and word and act with a heavenly atmosphere surrounding the soul, forming the pure, holy, acceptable character required for heaven; without availing of this privilege the religious life remains half-hearted and lukewarm, misrepresents Him, sets an unsafe example before the youth, and like those whose conscience is aroused yet who will not come for life turns away when reproved.
Paying absolute homage in doctrine and principle, taking the Bible alone as rule of faith and practice, obeying the living principles of God's law, training daily for service, breathing heaven's atmosphere, and holding faith firm under trial and temptation forms a character like His that walks and works as He walked, partakes His self-denial and sufferings, and reveals His principles. The living oracles are the Son of God's flesh and blood and give life even though He had not yet been crucified when spoken, for His work as substitute for sin was the only hope of ancient Israel, and the Scriptures are to be received and lived out rather than merely read. The Word as the bread of life representing body and blood does not address the understanding alone like mathematical formulas for the intellect, but aims at the heart, addresses the moral nature, takes possession of the will, casts down imaginations and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God, and brings every thought into captivity to obedience, requiring the yielded will to be trained and disciplined in His school to obedience and service, with the soul emptied of proud possessions so He can imprint His image and the soul-temple become the abiding place of the Most High. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means receiving His Word, the living bread He has given, whose words are Spirit and life, not a call to seek signs or rely on dreams and visions. The eternal Word is spiritual food, and life depends on living on that Word by searching it and receiving its revealed truth, for treating it as a dead letter robs it of power to move the conscience and cleanse the soul.
To eat Christ is to receive him personally by faith as the One sent from God, taking his life, death, teaching and character into mind, heart and life until they become part of the person.
As the living Father sent him and he lives by the Father in dependence and surrender, so the one who partakes of him lives by him, receiving God's life through him to give to others.
This eating is continual and individual, done by daily prayer, diligent searching and meditation on his Word, believing and obeying it and depending on him alone rather than on any human being.
He who so eats dwells in Christ and Christ in him like a branch in the vine, becoming a partaker of the divine nature, transformed into Christlikeness in love, character and fruit.
That union is righteousness received inwardly, bringing pardon, sanctification, strength, joy and peace now, and eternal life and resurrection at the last day, unlike the manna that left its eaters dead.
Setting and Language
The saying was given in the synagogue at Capernaum after the feeding of the five thousand with loaves and fishes and after the walking on the water, when Christ presented Himself as the bread of life. He spoke to define His spiritual kingdom and to discourage hope of a temporal reign and an earthly kingdom, making no distinct claim to Messiahship in royal dignity but appearing as a man among men. After He had fed the multitude and refused to be made their king His popularity began to wane, and He devoted Himself more earnestly to instructing His disciples in the mysteries and truths of His work. The fuller explanation of the teaching connected with the miracle of the loaves was not understood by many who followed in hope of an earthly kingdom, and it tested their commitment. The sermon on the bread of life set forth the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom of God.
He cares for both physical and spiritual need, gives words of life, and does not overlook bodily hunger or the hunger of those who follow Him. He will provide food to satisfy bodily necessities and even impart knowledge whereby His people are provided with food, for His hand of benevolence is not stayed. Yet the spiritual food that endures to everlasting life is of far more consequence than temporal food and is to be sought with far more anxiety than perishable bread for physical sustenance. That living bread comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, can be obtained from no human agent, and through the gift of Christ God Himself gives it. It is received by coming to Christ and believing on Him whom God has sent, so that he who comes shall never hunger and he who believes shall never thirst. He appoints His followers as His representatives to give that bread of life to souls hungering in unexpected need, and they must first receive spiritual food from God or they will be destitute and helpless with nothing to impart, while God who sent His servants to feed the hungry will supply their need for His own work so they need turn no soul away unfed.
The teaching was a hard saying and a test that offended many hearers. Many sought Him not from conviction of His divinity nor as the great Teacher sent from God, but because they ate the loaves and were filled and hoped He would satisfy temporal wants and give only temporal advantage. When the conditions demanding death to self and the practice of self-denial were heard, exposing ambitious desire to rule others and unwillingness to surrender to truth, they went back and walked no more with Him. This turning away exposed pretentious or half-hearted followers and distinguished them from sincere believers who remain with Christ when His words offend or call for soul-purifying change. Those who treated the light for salvation indifferently and resisted conviction because truth was unpopular and involved self-denial and the cross justified themselves just as the disciples did at this saying. The plain testimony tested even the disciples, and many were offended by the truth and turned away rather than accept reproof and take up self-denial, while the twelve remained and Peter confessed that He had the words of eternal life and was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Eating Christ is a figure, parable, similitude and symbol under the likeness of heavenly bread, not a literal eating of human flesh or drinking of blood. The flesh by itself profits nothing; it is the Spirit that quickens, and His words are spirit and life. To live by Him is therefore to feed on Him spiritually by keeping His Word and truth continually before the mind, looking constantly to Jesus, studying God's Word, and practicing its teachings, with life sustained by faith in the Word and not by sight or by the flesh. Eating in figure means true, earnest belief and true receiving of His Word, believing on Him as Redeemer and receiving His words as spiritual food and nourishment. All who truly receive His Word never hunger, and all who believe in Him never thirst for higher or more satisfying food. Faithful practice of His teachings brings sanctification through obedience, so that those who receive His words and live by them reflect His character and have eternal life.
The living Father who sent Him is the source of Christ's life, and Christ lives by the Father. The life of the Father and the Son is one, and the Father sent the Son to communicate His life to humanity. As Christ receives from God in order to give, this self-giving relation is the law of life for the universe and a revelation of God's character, setting the pattern by which life flows from the Father through the Son to others. As the Son lived by faith in the Father, believers are to live by faith in Christ. Jesus was fully surrendered to God's will, and though tempted as people are and surrounded by evil He remained untainted, and believers are to overcome as He did. Receiving His love and life makes the believer one with the Father and the Son.
The chapter sets out the conditions and terms of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom, plainly states the way to obtain eternal life, and reveals Christ as the bread of life and source of life. It contains instruction that is the mystery of godliness and God's will as the divine antidote for sin. Its lessons are learned and its call to eat the bread of life is fulfilled by reading, studying, meditating on, and remembering it, receiving Christ's life-giving truth and making it part of life. The chapter must be understood and lived and not merely read, and is to be studied diligently because it reveals Christ as the source of life. Studying that chapter and making it part of life by bringing its teachings into daily experience gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril, and living by Christ gives a life that measures with the life of God.
Life From Father Through Son
As the living Father sent him and he lives by the Father, so the one who partakes of him lives by him, receiving eternal life now and resurrection at the last day. Though the believer may die as Christ died, the Saviour's life is in him, his life hidden with Christ in God, for Christ came to give life more abundantly and carries on the great process by which believers are made one with him in this present life to be one with him through all eternity. The Father is the source of Christ's life, and Christ lives in dependence on the Father, receiving from God in order to give, and this self-giving relation is the law of life for the universe and a revelation of God's character, setting the pattern by which life flows from the Father through the Son to others. The lesson is to receive and obey Christ's words, which are life and lead to eternal life, showing the will of God for his people and the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world. This life-giving word is what his witnesses are to declare while rejecting misleading teachings.
This life comes through Christ's incarnation and sacrifice, by which he gave his flesh for the life of the world and his blood for sins as a ransom. To eat him is to have genuine faith by which, as physical food is incorporated with flesh and blood, Christ is incorporated with the believer so that his flesh and blood become spiritual life, Christ formed within as the hope of glory, containing the element that imparts life-giving virtue through his sacrificial death and resurrection which gives life and value to all who receive and believe in him as personal Saviour. It is not eating his human flesh literally, which profits nothing, but feeding on his words, his teaching and example, his life and death and the efficacy of the sacrifice he was to make for the world, which is meat indeed and drink indeed. The Passover lamb represented him, and its blood which marked safety for the Hebrews in Egypt represented his blood shed for the sins of the world, giving believers a sure hope that he will raise them from the dead to immortal life in God's kingdom. That bread came down from heaven and is death-destroying, giving immortal life to the body and raising the believer at the last day, unlike the manna the fathers ate in the wilderness and are dead.
Living by him happens in receiving the bread and wine symbolizing his broken body and spilled blood, joining in thought the communion in the upper chamber, the agony of the garden, and Christ set forth crucified. Looking upon the crucified Redeemer gives fuller comprehension of the magnitude and meaning of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, glorifies the plan of salvation, and makes clear the struggle by which reconciliation with God was obtained. The thought of Calvary awakens living and sacred emotions, puts praise to God and the Lamb in heart and lips, and leaves no room for pride and self-worship in the soul that keeps Calvary fresh in memory. Beholding the Saviour's matchless love gives spiritual strength, elevates thought, purifies the heart, transforms the character, and sends the believer forth to be a light to the world reflecting that love. Eating him means faith in him and obedience to his teachings, dwelling in him and he in the believer, giving spiritual vigor to the soul and life everlasting.
He laid aside his royal robe and crown and stepped down from his high command as the Prince of Life and Glory to become human in order to combine humanity with divinity as a steppingstone for man to stand on vantage ground with God. His becoming human makes everlasting union with him possible, so that to eat him is to be united with him with his life in them and their life joined to his, and though they die he will raise them at the last day as a part of himself. He became one with humanity so that humanity might become one with him in divinity. To eat him is to turn from worldly policy, to obey the living principles of God's law, to train daily for service, to serve actively, and to breathe the atmosphere of heaven, the only atmosphere in which the soul can truly live. Eating him is eating the bread of life and drinking the water of salvation by taking his Word as food and meat and drink and making it the elements of character through practice, so that every soul who does this is imbued with the sanctified and holy character of God and has eternal life in him because that life is in Christ and Christ is in him.
He is the Lifegiver and the tree of life to all who pluck and eat, restoring the life lost through disobedience, and feeding on him in faith, receiving him and his atonement, is the way spiritual life is perfected and eternal life received. As the tree of life in Eden was a type of that source, sin cut people off from it, and when Adam and Eve lost access to its fruit they began to lose health and vitality, but life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel. Its branches now hang from the paradise above so believers may eat and live forever, and this eating need not wait until translation but happens now when a person receives the words of Christ into the heart, and in the fellowship of the Spirit lays hold upon truth itself and appropriates it as the bread that comes down from heaven. That eating is eating the leaves of the tree of life now and eating the fruit of the tree of life, entering into the life of Christ and appreciating the great sacrifice made in behalf of the sinful race. It is receiving his words, which are spirit and life, for the Spirit gives life while the flesh by itself profits nothing.
Living by him means receiving the living elements in the Scriptures and doing the will of God, feeding on the Word of God by constant meditation and study, the privilege of all who believe in him as personal Saviour. The Holy Spirit is in the Word of God and renders the Bible a living, undying, immortal truth that gives the prayerful searcher spiritual strength, for God's Word is verity and truth, spirit and life, and eternal life is this receiving and doing. The living oracles are the flesh and blood of the Son of God and gave life even though he had not then been crucified, for his work as the substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. The directions given in the Old Testament Scriptures are full of marrow and fatness, and the plain directions for practical holiness and practical obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be a Christian. The New Testament Scriptures given after his death were not given to cast the Old aside, but their light reflects back into past ages giving significance to the whole Jewish economy. Taking these words and eating them ends spiritual hunger, for the words of the sixth chapter of John refer especially to the spirituality of the Word, chiefly concerning the spiritual nourishment of God's Word, to be received and lived out rather than merely read, a more exalted experience to be obtained by every worker though not one in a hundred knows the value of eating the bread of life.
Personal Receiving by Faith
To eat Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, coming to Him, believing on Him as the One sent from God, accepting Him, and truly receiving His Word with earnest belief, obedience, and sharing in the life given through His self-offering. This receiving in faith is dependence on Christ that gives spiritual life and belongs to the way to eternal life. It is spiritual life given by the Spirit, not a benefit of the flesh, and this life leads to eternal life and resurrection at the last day. Those who treat the light for salvation indifferently and resist conviction because truth is unpopular and involves self-denial and the cross justify themselves just as those did who stumbled at this saying, for they did not seek Christ because convinced of His divinity or seeing Him as the great Teacher sent from God, but because they ate the loaves and were filled and hoped He would satisfy temporal wants.
This eating is strictly personal and individual, for no one can eat His flesh and drink His blood for another and no one can be nourished by food another eats. Each person must come to Christ with his own soul hunger, his own convictions, his own feeling of soul need, and learn of Christ for himself. This life must be received personally, not borrowed from another, for the Father sent the Son to communicate His life to humanity and the life of the Father and the Son is one. Each one is invited to partake for himself of the banquet of promises spread before every child of God, and feeding on the Word strengthens spiritual muscle and sinew.
To eat Christ by individually seeking to understand the Word of God, believing it, and practicing it is to take in His words and obey them, and as food nourishes the body His words nourish spiritual life and make believers partakers of His divine nature. The one who does this dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in him, has eternal life, and will be raised up at the last day. This must become personal experience, and each person should ask whether he has experienced it and realizes its true meaning. This Word, believed, is to every truly converted soul the free gift of grace, not deserved by merit and not bought with money, for all is God's gift, to be freely given as it was freely received.
Mere outward connection with any church will not save a man, even though God calls the church His body and the bride, the Lamb's wife, and is Himself the Father of the family and the Shepherd of the flock. The symbols of the Lord's Supper, and Christ's death by itself, do not give spiritual life unless Christ is personally received and the soul is nourished by Him. In a special sense living by Him happens in holy communion, where as faith contemplates the Lord's great sacrifice the soul assimilates the spiritual life of Christ and receives spiritual strength from every communion. The service forms a living connection by which the believer is bound up with Christ and thus bound up with the Father, joining in imagination the communion in the upper chamber, the agony of the garden, and Christ set forth crucified. Looking upon the crucified Redeemer gives fuller comprehension of the magnitude and meaning of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, awakens living and sacred emotions with praise to God and the Lamb, leaves no room for pride and self-worship in the soul that keeps Calvary fresh in memory, and gives spiritual strength that elevates thought, purifies heart, transforms character, and sends the believer forth to be a light to the world.
Eating is not an occasional experience but continual nourishment from the bread of life, receiving Him as personal Saviour and looking constantly to Him for nourishment sufficient for every need of the soul. It is being united with Christ, dwelling in Him with Him dwelling in the believer, through daily, hourly faith that works by love and purifies the soul. The soul needs a constant vital connection with God just as the body needs vitalizing air at all times, with the truth the Spirit teaches in the Word of God mingled with all that is done until it controls every action, with the Holy Spirit as witness and guide even in business relations. This is sought by prayer to God for blessing as in praying for daily bread, and learned by being taught daily in the school of Christ, comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by bringing truth into daily experience and growing continually in grace. Those who so eat live by Christ and grow up into the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus, receiving forgiveness of sins and sanctification unto eternal life, for earnestly taking His words into the life and practicing them with meekness transforms the character.
Eating Christ means depending on Him and not on any human being for power, experience, strength, guidance, and wisdom, looking to Jesus Christ as the source of strength and power. Each person is accountable to God by creation and by redemption and must walk and work as accountable to Him, with the Word of the Living God as guide. His lessons are a firm foundation and an elevated platform, and human words are as chaff to wheat beside them, so no soul should apply to a human agent for light to be imparted through that channel. The Word of God is not a dry theory but light and life to mind and soul, enlarging every mind and vitalizing every soul with the heavenly current as truth is sought from God alone as hidden treasure, drunk in and practiced. When Christ is received by faith He becomes sanctification, righteousness, and exceeding great reward, giving spiritual strength instead of spiritual weakness and bondage.
Feeding on His Word
To eat his flesh and drink his blood is not bodily eating but spiritual receiving of Christ himself as the bread of life come down from heaven, taking in his words which are spirit and life and the true food and drink for eternal life. This eating means receiving his spiritual truth, teaching, example, life and death through living faith, so that his words become part of practical life and fill the soul with health, growth, strength and soundness. It is the divinity of his character that is thus received, not his teaching alone, and the reception depends on the Spirit who quickens, while the flesh profits nothing and mere human ideas cannot give life. Heard truth profits nothing unless mixed with faith that appropriates it, but when so received with obedience it produces oneness with him as the branch is one with the vine and gives life-giving power that gladdens the soul.
Feeding means receiving and assimilating the gospel and the Word of God until it becomes part of mind, heart, character and the current of life, sustaining mind and heart and forming Christlike spirit and character. It is done by individually seeking to understand it, believing it, meditating on it, keeping it continually before the mind, yielding the will, obeying its precepts, bringing its truths into daily practice, and sharing it with others. Such earnest appropriation turns attention from gratifying bodily appetite to nourishment for the soul, gives vitality to religious life, enlarges the mind with saving knowledge, and brings pardon and sanctification through transforming the character. Unlike the manna in the wilderness after which the fathers died, this living bread gives lasting life so that he who eats it never hungers or thirsts for higher food but lives forever.
This study is diligent, prayerful searching that digs deeply into the treasures of the Bible as the great educating Book above all other books, receiving its words because they are spirit and life. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby, the soul must feed on Scripture and bring it into experience, gathering testimonies as the ark held the law, receiving the Word as the leaves of the tree of life and eating them, masticating and digesting the Word in the religious life. Whatever the Word says is to be taken home into the sanctuary of the soul, individually seeking to understand it, believing it and practicing it, which is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God and gives a life that never dies. So received, the Word is to every truly converted soul the free gift of grace, not deserved by merit nor bought with money, for all is God's gift to be freely given as it was freely received, and it becomes a grand remedy for physical, mental and spiritual disorders.
The Holy Spirit is in the Word of God and renders the Bible a living, undying, immortal truth that gives the prayerful searcher spiritual strength, for God's Word is verity and truth, spirit and life. When prayerfully studied, the Scriptures become spirit and life like living bread from heaven rather than words studied as in other books, supplying spiritual food and drink sufficient for every need of the soul. So sought as hidden treasure from God alone, truth enlarges every mind and vitalizes every soul with the heavenly current, giving a solid experience, moving the conscience and cleansing the soul, while human words are as chaff to wheat beside his lessons. Treating the Word as a dead letter or dry theory robs it of power, but receiving and doing its living truth mingled with all that is done until it controls every action brings eternal life, with the Holy Spirit as witness and guide, and through the gospel brings life and immortality to light.
As the body is built up by what it eats, spiritual character and experience are shaped by what the mind feeds on and takes in, and what is eaten and drunk forms spiritual experience just as bodily food forms the body. Feeding the mind on pure Bible truth and carrying it into practical life gives life to the soul hidden like life in a seed, developing first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. This feeding refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, makes the receiver modest, meek and lowly of heart, and makes the mind pure, elevated and ennobled, never uncouth, rough, disagreeable, noisy or sensational. It spiritualizes the mind and protects against coming deception, whereas feeding on trash in papers, magazines and pictures, on worldly distractions and entertainments, on others' faults, or on low ideas leaves no appetite for heaven's bread and weakens vigor.
Union Character Eternal Life
To eat is to dwell in Christ with Christ dwelling in the eater, losing separate identity in oneness with him and through him with the Father. This is a vital spiritual union, not bodily eating, entered by personal faith in a personal Saviour and kept by looking constantly to him for nourishment sufficient for every need of the soul. It is exercised in daily, hourly faith that works by love and purifies the soul, feeding on his words as spiritual food and drink and giving them entrance into life and character by becoming a doer of the Word. The union is as the branch grafted into and one with the vine, nourished by sap flowing from the stock to every branch, and it must control every action even in business, witnessed and guided by the Holy Spirit and strengthened for sharing the divine nature and revealing righteousness in works. Mere outward connection with any church will not save, though the church is called his body and bride, for each must so eat and live by him, growing up into the full stature of men and women in Christ, forgiven and sanctified unto eternal life and connected with keeping his commandments by the Spirit God gives.
By this union believers become partakers of the divine nature, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory. Receiving his Spirit and mind and love and life transforms and purifies character, making them Christlike in spirit, words, acts, manner and dealings. Their lives are filled with love for God and for others and for one another as he loved, with holy aspirations toward God, revealing his principles and bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace and all graces as evergreen trees bringing forth fruit even in old age. As food nourishes the body, his words taken in and obeyed nourish spiritual life, and this life must be received personally and cannot be borrowed from another, for the Father sent the Son to communicate his life to humanity and the life of the Father and the Son is one.
Eating gives eternal life now and forever with resurrection at the last day. He who eats this bread come down from heaven does not die as the fathers who ate manna in the wilderness and are dead, but never hungers or thirsts for higher food and lives forever, filled with health and growth and spiritual strength and soundness. Though the believer may die as Christ died, Christ's life remains in him hidden with Christ in God, and because Christ was raised and lives they will come forth clothed with salvation to enter the city. This life comes through incarnation and sacrifice by which he gave himself as ransom for the world, received by partaking of his flesh and blood in faith and by receiving and practicing the Word whose words are spirit and life quickened by the Spirit, perfecting spiritual life as Christ the Lifegiver and tree of life restoring life lost through disobedience.
Living by Christ as Christ lives by the Father defines the righteousness of Christ that joins humanity with divinity. Inwardly received by personally receiving and practicing his words, it brings pardon and sanctification through obedience, grace for grace, crucifixion of pride and self, escape from the world's corruption, reformation, and fitness as a guest in the wedding garment. Those so worked by God through the Holy Spirit undergo moral change into his likeness, breathing a holy atmosphere in which only the soul can live, with assurance of holy principles received from the Word and an earnest of immortality through his death and resurrection. Should the earthly body decay, the principles of faith sustain them in pledge of their own resurrection at the last trumpet to new life and the joy of their Lord, forming a character like his that walks as he walked and works as he worked, partaking his trials, obeying under temptation, and holding faith firm unto the end; without this there is presumption, continued sin and loss.
Christ abiding in the soul as living bread and center of life gives life, health, vitality, strength, comfort, sobriety, joy, hope, assurance, peace, tone to religious experience, and grace sufficient for daily duties, trials and battle against invisible foes. It brings thorough conversion without boasting, expels the world, fills the hungry soul with his fullness as rich manna from heaven satisfying hunger, gladdens the soul with life-giving power through obedience, and meets all needs of the soul. Dwelling on Christ builds character and gives freshness to ministry and power to awaken new life in those open to the Spirit, while turning instead to worldly entertainments and trash leaves no hunger for God and leads to loss of assurance and love for Bible religion.
Obedient Practice and Witness
Truly receiving is hearing with understanding by experience and doing, for to eat is to take in words and truth in faith and live them, meditating on them, taking them into the life and putting them into practice in obedience to the commandments. Heard truth profits nothing unless mixed with faith that appropriates it, but cherished truth that works by love purifies, gives a saving knowledge that enlarges the mind, gives vitality to religious life, turns attention from gratifying bodily appetite toward nourishment for the soul, and leads believers to practice truth and share it with others. Those who truly believe reveal how much they believe in conversation and character, and by obeying the Word now, while it is called today, they have eternal life, as taught also under the symbol of the vine and its branches. Living by Christ is the great lesson in answer to what it means to work the works of God, which is to believe on Him whom God sent, for the price of heaven is the only begotten Son and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, first believing and next working, so students must be taught to believe and then they will work the works of God and become doers making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books. This life from the Father through the Son is lasting, unlike the manna that did not keep the Israelites from death, and receiving His words, which are spirit and life, makes partakers of the divine nature and is a condition of salvation.
This is the higher education from God for children and youth and men and women, with the Bible as the great Book, learned by remaining as students in the school of Christ and by diligently searching the Word, receiving it as the leaves of the tree of life and eating them. Eternal happiness depends on submission and obedience to His words in working out salvation with fear and trembling, for all who abide in Him reveal His spirit, lose identity in Him and become one with Him, partake through faith of His Spirit and love, are set apart to do the same works He did, and gain a knowledge of the plan of salvation that, eaten and digested in the religious life, creates in the newborn soul an appetite for the bread come down from heaven and gives life that never dies. As physical strength depends on suitable daily food and physical health is maintained by what is eaten, so spiritual strength depends on feeding on Christ by living by every word from God, and spiritual fitness to study Scripture and learn what to do to inherit eternal life requires appetites under control of a sanctified mind with temperance in eating and drinking, since unhealthful habit injures the stomach and the system and strengthens the disposition to enter temptation and commit sin. This living by Christ is grace sufficient for the duties and trials of each day when accepted and improved, learned by conquering invisible foes in daily battle and march instead of being conquered, refusing a life of self-amusement and neutrality, practicing the precious light on health reform, keeping truth in ascendancy in the heart to meet sure temptation, and on the Sabbath partaking of a very simple diet to keep the mind free for nature and God, because individual life and church life are history-making. This feeding upon Christ includes being taught the law of Jehovah and the penalty for transgression, and understanding that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in behalf of each person obedient to the law.
Those who feed most become ready to serve and must first receive before imparting, for ministers and teachers must sit at His feet, commune with God, and eat the bread themselves to gain new perception, avoid stale or worldly ideas, speak a word that satisfies hunger, work as Christ worked, and give the bread of life to unexpected hungry souls. Their life-giving truth, when understood, gives ministry power and freshness and can awaken new life in those open to the Holy Spirit, and this life-giving dependence is essential nourishment for those who teach and learn the Scriptures. Those who receive and live upon the Word dwell in Christ and Christ in them, receive and impart light and life and grace, have heard a message from heaven, have hearts touched with human suffering and woe, and give themselves to wise, unselfish efforts to save souls, such earnest workers being needed for the great and solemn work, for lukewarm service cannot be endured. Shared life from the same source makes all one body by the same Spirit, bringing unity of purpose and harmony of action with mutual love and confidence that is a moral force and convicting power to the world, calling to active missionary labor as trustworthy channels of living water, while living the instruction of this chapter in practical life expresses God's will and links unity with Christ and one another. It means paying absolute homage to the Word of God in doctrine and principle, taking the Bible and the Bible alone as the rule of faith and practice, having no easy fellowship with the world and no slipshod religion, so the influence of the life has telling power on the world.
Without this eating there is no spiritual life, for believers receive and continue to have life through Christ as the living Bread whose flesh is given for the life of the world, and those who receive Him have eternal life and will be raised at the last day. This teaching distinguishes sincere believers who remain with Christ from pretentious or half-hearted followers who abandon Him when His words offend or call for soul-purifying change, for mere listening without eating the truth as bread from heaven leaves the saying hard, causes offense and murmuring, and leads to going back, since the flesh profits nothing and it is the Spirit that quickens through words which are spirit and life. Truly receiving Christ's words means practicing His teachings in daily life, dwelling upon Him, meditating upon Him, drawing nigh in prayer, making Him the food of the soul by what the mind dwells upon, and guarding the heart against pride and vain common thoughts. In this eating the believer dwells in Christ and Christ in him, and the Holy Spirit molds the mind to recognize Christ in His true character as the Lamb of God who takes away sin and the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, with love to God and love of Christ manifested in the life. When received in truth this produces practice of the truth, reformation of life, crucifixion of pride and self-exaltation, and sanctification through the truth preparing for translation, with the Spirit abiding within giving the mind of Christ, the graces of His character and the fruits of the Spirit seen in spirit and word and act with a heavenly atmosphere surrounding the soul, forming the pure, holy, acceptable character required for heaven; without availing of this privilege the religious life remains half-hearted and lukewarm, misrepresents Him, sets an unsafe example before the youth, and like those whose conscience is aroused yet who will not come for life turns away when reproved.
Paying absolute homage in doctrine and principle, taking the Bible alone as rule of faith and practice, obeying the living principles of God's law, training daily for service, breathing heaven's atmosphere, and holding faith firm under trial and temptation forms a character like His that walks and works as He walked, partakes His self-denial and sufferings, and reveals His principles. The living oracles are the Son of God's flesh and blood and give life even though He had not yet been crucified when spoken, for His work as substitute for sin was the only hope of ancient Israel, and the Scriptures are to be received and lived out rather than merely read. The Word as the bread of life representing body and blood does not address the understanding alone like mathematical formulas for the intellect, but aims at the heart, addresses the moral nature, takes possession of the will, casts down imaginations and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God, and brings every thought into captivity to obedience, requiring the yielded will to be trained and disciplined in His school to obedience and service, with the soul emptied of proud possessions so He can imprint His image and the soul-temple become the abiding place of the Most High. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means receiving His Word, the living bread He has given, whose words are Spirit and life, not a call to seek signs or rely on dreams and visions. The eternal Word is spiritual food, and life depends on living on that Word by searching it and receiving its revealed truth, for treating it as a dead letter robs it of power to move the conscience and cleanse the soul.