John 6:58, commentary and pictures

This is that bread which came down from heaven is Christ Himself, the true living bread given by God to give life to the world, obtainable from no human agent. Unlike this bread, the manna eaten by the fathers in the wilderness did not keep them from dying, for they ate and are dead. To eat this bread is not bodily eating of flesh, for flesh by itself profits nothing, but coming to Christ and believing on Him as personal Saviour with earnest faith in His life, death, and sacrifice. Eating is entering living union with Him so that He dwells in the eater, and receiving His life-giving words into mind and heart until they are obeyed, kept, and brought into daily practice. He who so eats has eternal life now, never hungering in spirit, and will be raised up at the last day to live forever.

Bread and Manna Contrast

This is the bread which came down from heaven, Christ Himself, the true bread given by God Himself through the gift of Christ to give life to the world, obtainable from no human agent. To eat this bread is to receive Him, to come to Him and believe on Him whom God sent, to receive Him as personal Saviour and Redeemer in true earnest faith, becoming one with Him. It is to receive the Word of God and His life-giving words into mind and heart and to take them into practical life and practice, holding His teaching, example, life and death and the efficacy of the sacrifice He was to make for the world. Whoever so receives Him as spiritual food never hungers and never thirsts for higher or more satisfying food, but is nourished for every need of the soul unto spiritual strength, health, growth and soundness, forgiveness and sanctification unto eternal life, dwelling in Him and He in the eater and living by Him as He lives by the living Father who sent Him.

Unlike this bread, the manna which the fathers and ancestors of Israel ate in the wilderness and desert did not keep them from dying, for they ate and are dead. The Israelites ate that manna and yet died, while he that eats this bread shall live forever and not die, having eternal life now. Those who so receive Christ will be raised up at the last day.

Eating this bread is spiritual and not literal or bodily eating of human flesh. It does not mean temporal eating and drinking but coming, believing, understanding by experience and doing, keeping God's Word and truth continually before the mind. For the flesh by itself profits nothing, while it is the Spirit that gives life.

His flesh given for the life of the world is identified with His character. His words about His flesh and blood are spirit and life, not fleshly profit, and feeding upon the divine Word gives healthy development of all spiritual powers with sanctified strength, wisdom, integrity and moral power. To eat is therefore to partake of Christ and live by Him, receiving Him and becoming Christlike with lives filled with love for God and others, His Spirit and holy desires toward God, showing His principles to the world.

Historical Setting and Hearers

Jesus spoke these words in the synagogue at Capernaum as part of His Bread of Life sermon in John 6, after the feeding of the multitude with loaves and fishes and after His walking on the water. The sermon was preached on the occasion of the miracle of the loaves, and John 6:32-58 sets forth its full discourse on the bread of life. After feeding the five thousand and refusing to be made king, He gave Himself more earnestly to instructing the disciples in the mysteries and truths of His work.

It conveys the deep spiritual teaching of the miracle of the loaves, which the people had not understood. It was to show that following Him was not a path to an earthly kingdom, worldly rewards, or temporal supply. It defines His spiritual kingdom while refusing a temporal, royal reign. Many had followed Him for the temporal advantage of eating and being filled, seeking Him not from conviction of His divinity as the Teacher sent from God but to have temporal wants supplied.

It was spoken in answer to Jews who questioned among themselves how He could give His flesh to eat, in proud, self-righteous, scornful unbelief though convicted by His words. It was addressed to both Jews and Gentiles, telling them that life depends on eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Moral darkness kept them from fully comprehending it at the time.

The lesson was given while His popularity after refusing to be made king began to wane, amid national prejudice and the open hostility of the Pharisees. It was to be made plain by subsequent events and to stay their hearts when He would walk no more with them. Those who stumbled at His coming down from heaven would stumble more when they would see Him ascend up where He was before.

The chapter sets out the plain will of God and gives the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world. It makes known the terms and conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom of God. It plainly states the way in which eternal life may be obtained, as a teaching to be understood and lived by leading to life that measures with the life of God. Those conditions require dying to self and practicing self-denial and giving up ambitious desire to rule others.

Meaning of Eating Bread

To eat this bread is to come to Christ and believe on Him whom God sent, receiving Him as a personal Saviour and Redeemer in true earnest faith. That faith embraces His words, His teachings, His example, His life and death, and the efficacy of the sacrifice He was to make for the world, truly receiving His Word because His words are spirit and life. The bread from heaven can be obtained from no human agent, and those who so eat by belief never hunger and never thirst for higher or more satisfying food. To so receive Him is to take His words into practical life, bringing His Word home to the understanding until mind and soul are filled with its greatness and power and truth becomes the very life of the soul.

Eating means entering living spiritual union with Him, becoming one with Him and partakers of the divine nature. He who eats dwells in Christ and Christ in him, living by Christ just as Christ lives by the living Father who sent Him. It is receiving Christ, believing in Him, looking constantly to Him, and receiving the Word of God and practicing its teaching, which gives spiritual strength, health, growth and soundness. Those who so receive Him show Christ's principles to the world, while true believers continue with Him in sincere, steadfast faith.

Eating means receiving His life-giving words and truth into mind, heart, and understanding until they become part of life, comprehending and appreciating them. It is keeping God's Word and truth continually before the mind, holding to its precepts, obeying them, keeping the commandments, and bringing them into daily experience and practice. Receiving life from Christ in this way is spiritual and not physical, and those who receive Christ live by Him. Through spiritual experience the eater takes Christ's words as spiritual food and drink for the soul, studying and practicing His Word and living by faith in it.

This feeding must be continual and daily, constantly meditating upon the Word, digesting it, drinking it in, and by practice assimilating it into the life current. It is studying His words and carrying them into life in obedience to all its precepts, receiving them daily until they form a character like His, with prayer for special enlightenment upon it. Mind and life are shaped and built up by what is chosen as food, for spiritually men and women are built up from the food they give the mind. The Word is substantial spiritual food that strengthens the mind and protects against deception and corruption, and those who feed on His Word become observers of it. Those who live on this bread instead of passing by the large, full promises of God's Word for words of comfort and help from human beings are nourished every day and strengthened in spiritual muscle and sinew.

Eating is tasting that the Lord is gracious in actual personal experience, which is true conversion and being born again and seeing the kingdom of God. It is learning as newborn babes to desire the sincere milk of the word and bringing the Word into the experience to grow thereby. This feeding is the divine element the soul needs for healthful development of all its spiritual powers, giving strength, wisdom, integrity, and moral power. It comes by opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, for the word gives understanding to the simple, placing feet on the first round of the ladder which is Christ Jesus and transforming character heavenward step by step.

Mere outward membership in a church cannot save, and mere outward connection with any church will not save a man. Mere agreement with the theory of truth is not enough, for eating His flesh and drinking His blood means personally accepting salvation and clinging to the truth of His Word. Eating the heavenly bread means taking truth from the Scriptures where God placed it into the heart, not only receiving its theory outwardly. The truth must be planted in the heart, control the mind, regulate the affections, and stamp the whole character with its divine utterances, with its deep meaning searched out and every detail brought into daily practice. Without this inward receiving there will be misconception, misapplication, and misinterpretation of the Word, and truth will not be accepted to the saving of the soul, while a person's life reveals whether he is taught of God and eats the Bread of life.

The Word is the bread of life because it represents the body and blood of the Son of God. It does not speak to the understanding alone as mathematics speaks to the intellect, but aims at the heart and speaks to the moral nature. It takes possession of the will, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Promise of Eternal Life

He who eats this bread shall live forever, having eternal life now as the gift of Christ Himself as the bread come down from heaven to give life to the world. Unlike the manna the fathers ate in the wilderness and in the desert, which did not keep them from dying, for they ate and are dead, this bread gives a life that does not end, so that he who eats shall not die but live forever. To eat is to come to Christ and believe on Him whom God sent in true earnest faith, receiving Him as personal Saviour, becoming one with Him, receiving the Word of God and bringing it home to the understanding until mind and soul are filled with its greatness and power and truth becomes the very life of the soul. His words so received are spirit and life, not literal eating, and when taken into practical life and practiced in obedience to its teaching they give spiritual strength, health, growth and soundness, with Christ abiding in the soul bringing life, comfort, sobriety and joy. The one who so eats lives by Him, dwells in Him with Him dwelling in him, never hungers and never thirsts for higher or more satisfying food, but is filled and satisfied. This living bread is given by God Himself through the gift of Christ and is obtainable from no human agent, so spiritual food is of far more consequence than temporal food and chief labor and anxiety must be to secure the bread that endures unto eternal life rather than perishable bread, though He is not unmindful of bodily necessities and will provide for them.

One who eats may still die as Christ died, yet the life of the Saviour is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. Christ's life in him remains eternal, nourishing every day and giving strong consolation and an experience of highest value, strengthening spiritual muscle and sinew. This is the plain will of God and the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world, carrying on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity, receiving Him by dwelling in Christ and Christ dwelling in him and by daily feeding on the large, full promises of God's Word.

Those who so receive Him have eternal life now and will be raised up at the last day. They dwell in Christ and Christ in them, live by Christ as Christ lives by the Father, draw spiritual vitality from Him in vital union as a branch from the vine, receive nourishment sufficient for every need of the soul, receive forgiveness of sins and are sanctified unto eternal life, growing up to the full stature of manhood and womanhood in Christ. Eating is spiritual and not bodily eating, for the Spirit gives life and Christ's words about His flesh and blood are spirit and life, received by desiring the sincere milk of the word, bringing the Word into experience to grow thereby, and feeding upon the divine Word until there is healthy development of all spiritual powers. So they shall live forever and rise to new life at the resurrection of the just, with the pledge that because Christ was raised they will be raised.

Even if the earthly body decays, the principles of faith sustain them, giving an earnest of immortality through Christ's death and resurrection. At the last trumpet the dead who sleep in Christ will come forth to new life, clothed with garments of salvation, entering through the gates into the city of God to the joy of their Lord. Those who so partake become partakers of the divine nature, one with Christ, changed by the Holy Spirit into His likeness and breathing a holy atmosphere in which only the soul can truly live, by studying His words and carrying them into life in obedience to all its precepts and receiving them daily until they form a character like His.

The verse plainly states the way in which eternal life may be obtained as a condition of salvation. Its chapter sets out the conditions of eternal life, and understanding its teaching and living by it lead to life that measures with the life of God, which must be understood or heaven will be missed. The work God requires is to believe on Him whom He sent, with believing first and then working, so that eating His flesh and drinking His blood means receiving His living words by faith, being doers of the Word, and putting them into practice in obedience. Christ came down from heaven and clothed His divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the price of heaven is the only begotten Son of God with the way to heaven by faith in Jesus.

Links to Other Scriptures

The same lesson of abiding union taught here is taught by the vine and its branches, for to eat the bread from heaven is for the truly converted to draw spiritual vitality from Christ and live in vital union with Him as a branch draws nourishment from the vine, dwelling in Him and He in them. This eating is acting out the flesh and blood of the Son of God now by believing His Word, appropriating it by faith, taking it into practical life and obeying it, which is revealed in conversation and character. Receiving Christ as the bread of life means following Him as a perfect Saviour and being wholly the Lord's, with Christ abiding in the eater so that His attributes appear in words and actions. Such ones become channels through whom living water flows, and their life shows whether they are doers of the Word and can be trusted. This eating is spiritual rather than literal flesh, received through Christ's words which are spirit and life.

Christ Himself is the tree of life to all who will pluck and eat, and this life is compared to that tree whose fruit sustained health and vitality before humanity's fall. The living Word of Christ is to be received as bread and His blood as life, by coming to Him and believing on Him with a meek and lowly heart. Feeding upon Him should be with contrition of heart because of sin, as the Passover lamb was eaten with bitter herbs pointing back to the bitterness of bondage in Egypt. Receiving life and nourishment from Him requires putting away the leaven of sin, as no leaven was allowed in the houses during the Passover feast.

The living oracles and Old Testament directions given by Christ as the unseen leader of Israel are rich nourishment, and no one who takes and eats them will remain spiritually hungry. They are the flesh and blood of the Son of God even before His crucifixion, and His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. After His death the New Testament was written by Spirit-led men not to set aside the Old but to throw light back on earlier ages and give meaning to the whole Jewish system. So the practical holiness and obedience required of ancient Israel still belong in the life of everyone who claims to be Christian. Receiving this bread means taking in the spirituality of His Word, which unlike the manna gives life.

God sets study of His Word before people as a rich banquet to feast on, a living pasture and wheat as opposed to the chaff of man's word, for His flesh is meat indeed and His blood drink indeed. Eating this bread means daily feeding on the large, full promises of God's Word instead of passing them by for words of comfort and help from human beings, which nourishes every day and strengthens spiritual muscle and sinew. Feasting on it increases spiritual strength and growth in grace and in knowledge of the truth, forms and strengthens habits of self-control, removes the infirmities of childhood such as fretfulness, wilfulness, selfishness, hasty words and passionate acts, and develops in their place the graces of Christian manhood and womanhood. Those who believe and live by the Word experience its power, and it is to be shared for the salvation of people perishing in sin.

Reception and Rejection

Many hearers were offended by this teaching as a hard saying and turned back and walked no more with Him, while the Twelve did not turn away then and Peter speaking for his brethren declared loyalty. This turning away exposed half-hearted disciples and separated them from Him through unbelief, while true believers continue with Christ in sincere, steadfast faith. It was spoken in answer to those who in proud, self-righteous, scornful unbelief questioned among themselves how He could give His flesh to eat, though they were convicted by His words. The plain testimony tested those who claimed to follow Him, and many rejected it when it exposed their lives as out of harmony with truth and righteousness, choosing human praise over divine admonition because they were unwilling to reform.

Rejection comes from limited comprehension and lack of depth of faith and spiritual perception, so that His words are not discerned. Many hear only with the ears and with closed understanding, treat the light given for salvation indifferently, and resist conviction because truth is unpopular and involves self-denial. They sought Christ not from conviction of His divinity as the Teacher sent from God but to have temporal wants supplied, seeking Him for the temporal advantage of eating and being filled. Those unwilling to accept the self-denial and separation from the world this requires may use excuses to withdraw from the truth, for the saying tests faith and those who cannot accept or comprehend its spiritual meaning turn away. It calls for becoming Christlike — meek, self-denying, and self-sacrificing, following the narrow path He trod — which they will not accept.

Their leaving reveals conviction without conversion and determined refusal to yield the will to God, framing excuses instead of submitting to truth. They did not love Jesus and did not accept the terms of salvation, choosing human praise over God's admonition and showing unwillingness to reform when their lives were exposed as out of harmony with truth and righteousness. The same happens when the Holy Spirit works on mind and heart, the understanding is convinced and the conscience is aroused, yet sinners still will not come to Christ to have life.

The teaching tests faith, exposes lives out of harmony with truth and righteousness, reveals the real sentiments of hearts, and leads hearers to decide for or against Him. Those who hear only with the ears with closed understanding have no spiritual life and are offended and go back, while thoughtful and candid hearers are led to exalted views of His character and office. Disciples gain saving understanding of these words through the Holy Spirit, receiving them not as mere information studied as other books are studied but as spirit and life that unites them with Christ.

Daily Christian Practice

Spiritual food matters far more than temporal food, so the chief labor and anxiety of life must be to secure the living bread that endures to eternal life rather than perishable bread for bodily sustenance. Christ who fed the hungry multitude cared for physical needs and is not unmindful of bodily necessities but will provide food for them, yet knowing this spiritual nourishment is far more essential than questions about temporal food. That bread from heaven is Christ Himself, whose flesh He gives for the life of the world, obtainable from no human agent but given by God Himself through the gift of Christ. To eat it is not temporal eating and drinking but coming to Christ and believing on Him whom God sent, understanding His words by experience and doing them, and so never hungering and never thirsting.

The lessons of the chapter are to be studied, meditated upon, committed to memory, and prayed over for clearness of understanding. Diligent prayerful study of Scripture forms Christ in the believer, digs for hidden treasures, weighs every human proposition, and takes God's Word as guide for walking and working as accountable to God. The bread sent down from heaven is contained in the Bible, so eating means feeding the mind upon it, for men and women are spiritually built up from the food they give the mind. Whether the Word is thus eaten makes every difference to what and how it is understood, and those ministering in word and doctrine must not be dull of understanding but read John 6 praying to comprehend its important statements.

Feeding on this bread is the divine element the soul needs for healthful development of all spiritual powers, giving sanctified strength, wisdom, integrity, and moral power. It is the most important education for children, youth, and men and women, to be given at home and in schools established to train workers together with God, with the Bible standing as the great educating Book above all other books. That education includes the law of Jehovah and the penalty for transgressing it, and that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour for each obedient person, with believing first and then working the works of God. It is not the words of worldly wisdom, the maxims of men, or the theory of human beings, but the Word of God, offering a privilege and an education that endures through time and eternity. Eating in this way is tasting that the Lord is gracious in actual personal experience, which is true conversion and being born again, learning as newborn babes to desire the sincere milk of the word and bringing it into the experience to grow thereby.

Those who do not feed on these words of eternal life are drawn into misleading amusements and pursuits, while receiving and living by God's revealed truth purifies and strengthens mind and character. Reading John 6 and receiving this heavenly nourishment brings spiritual strength and comfort and awakens hunger for God, whereas turning the heart to worldly entertainments leaves that hunger unsatisfied. Spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray hinders spiritual growth, as do words of worldly wisdom, maxims of men, and objectionable authors. Receiving and obeying the words sanctifies the heart and prepares people to lay hold of immortality through Christ.

Those who receive and practice these words are sanctified through obedience to all its precepts, receiving them daily until they form a character like His. This living union makes believers partakers of the divine nature, one with Christ, changed by the Holy Spirit into His likeness, showing His principles, love for God and others, His Spirit, holy desires, meekness, self-denial, and Christlikeness to the world. Truth thus received never degrades nor makes the receiver uncouth, rough, disagreeable, noisy, or sensational, but refines taste, sanctifies judgment, makes the mind pure, elevated, and ennobled, and makes the receiver modest, meek, and lowly of heart. Those so transformed breathe a holy atmosphere in which alone the soul can truly live, bear fruit in heart, speech, and influence, and live and work in harmony as members of one body from the same source. Even if the earthly body decays, principles of faith sustain them with an earnest of immortality through Christ's death and resurrection, with the pledge that because He was raised they will be raised at the last trumpet to come forth to new life, clothed with garments of salvation, entering through the gates into the city to the joy of their Lord.

This partaking is the grand remedy for all physical, mental, and spiritual disorders, for apart from Him everything is worthless, giving tone and vitality to the whole religious experience by daily deriving vitalizing power from Christ. It teaches by example to think less of what to eat and drink to gratify fleshly appetite and to feel greater anxiety for soul food, encouraging the appetite of the soul through constantly meditating upon the Word, digesting it, and by practice assimilating it into the life current with prayer for special enlightenment. It calls for true fasting in abstinence from every kind of stimulating food and proper use of the wholesome simple food God has provided. Those who feed on Christ and seek His rich blessing are to partake of a very simple diet on the Sabbath.

Teachers and ministers must first eat this bread themselves, for as Christ's representatives they can impart nothing without first receiving spiritual food. Eating means feeding on the Bible as the Word of God, reading and studying it, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, receiving His grace not to hoard but to give, and communing with God until self is put away and Christ's likeness is formed. No one can shepherd God's flock or stand before the people without first eating himself, and teachers must know the Word by experience before they can properly communicate it, appropriating truth in individual life so its light appears in words and influence for good grows. The one who eats gains the element of eternal life in ministry, new perception of truth with sight of truth on every side, works as Christ worked with respect for varied minds, speaks a clear word that touches every case without stale repetition or worldly ideas, satisfies every soul hunger, and kindles inner life and the fire of God's love in susceptible hearers. Active religious work like Martha's is good, but workers also need Mary's part of listening and learning at the feet of Jesus, and the Word received from the living Christ strengthens believers so they can share its benefits with others.

Feeding on Christ brings life, comfort, sobriety, joy, and holy joy, with Christ abiding in the soul. His words are spirit and life, giving strong consolation and an experience more valuable than reliance on human words. Daily feeding on the large, full promises of God's Word instead of passing them by for words of comfort and help from human beings nourishes every day, strengthens spiritual muscle and sinew, and proves the Word to be as wheat to the chaff of man's word, with promises as gifts claimable on condition of obedience. The importance of this teaching is shown in Christian missionary work, which inspires self-denial and sanctified zeal and has an uplifting, sanctifying influence on the church. Those who hunger for Him are filled with His fullness and receive spiritual strength and comfort, while filling the mind with what turns it from God leaves it without appetite for heavenly instruction.

No one is safe in following his own way or making man his trust, but each must realize dependence on Him by creation and by redemption. He must be looked to and followed and received by faith, taking the Word of the living God as guide and walking and working as accountable to God. When received He is sanctification and righteousness and exceeding great reward, giving light of life and strength in the Lord instead of spiritual weakness and bondage. The instruction given in the sixth chapter of John must be fully carried out and received, for its words are spirit and life to the receiver and mean much to every soul. Had it been fully carried out, believers would stand in a higher place today, so its important statements must now be sought to be understood.