When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Jesus knew in himself that his disciples were murmuring at his hard saying about eating his flesh and drinking his blood and his claim to have come down from heaven, and he challenged them by asking whether this offended them. He pointed them to seeing the Son of man ascend where he was before, which would confirm his heavenly origin and greater honor. The eating and drinking is not literal flesh, which by itself profits nothing, but receiving him as a personal Saviour by earnest believing faith and receiving his life-giving words, which are spirit and life, into heart and obedient daily life. So received, he dwells in believers and they in him and live by him, bringing eternal life and resurrection at the last day, nourishment for every soul need, forgiveness, sanctification, and growth into the full stature of Christ. His words tested faith and forced decision, exposing unbelief and worldly hope of a temporal kingdom so that many went back and walked no more with him, while the sixth chapter is still to be studied with prayer and made part of daily experience to distinguish true from false.
Words and Historical Setting
Jesus knew within himself that his disciples were murmuring at his teaching and met it directly by asking whether it offended them. He perceived their inward trouble over his words without needing to be told, and his question exposed their unbelief and grief over their resistance as his blood-bought people. Their earthly minds misunderstood his symbolic language, yet he did not soften the figure but pressed its spiritual meaning that his words received through the Spirit give life while flesh merely literally understood profits nothing.
The murmuring concerned his hard saying that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have life and abide in him. It concerned also his claim to have come down from heaven, which they failed to receive. Those who murmured had listened as many listen to the Word but had never become partakers with him and had never eaten the truth as bread from heaven.
He spoke these words in the synagogue in Capernaum in his bread of life teaching that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, will be raised at the last day, dwells in him, lives by him, and shall live forever, unlike the fathers who ate manna and are dead. This came after he fed the hungry multitude with the loaves and fishes, walked on the water, taught that he is the Bread of life, and refused to be made king. From the time he fed the five thousand his popularity began to wane as he devoted himself more earnestly to instructing the twelve who were still imperfect in knowledge, no longer held hope that the Jewish nation as a nation would receive him, clearly defined his spiritual kingdom, discouraged hope of a temporal reign, and exposed that many followers hoped for an earthly kingdom rather than understanding the spiritual meaning of the miracle of the loaves.
In that same chapter he fed the hungry multitude, showing care for physical needs, taught that the spiritual food he gives as the bread of life matters more than perishable food, and instructed that what remained be gathered. His question, Doth this offend you, pointed them forward to seeing the Son of man ascend up where he was before. That coming ascension would confirm his heavenly origin and greater honor and make the truth of his descent from heaven still harder to reject, and witnessing it would be a privilege given to his constant and true disciples.
He spoke before his death when his disciples were perplexed and could not understand many things connected with his work, including his disclosures about his humiliation, rejection, and crucifixion. Their difficulty arose from taking his words literally and from moral darkness, though his language pointed to spiritual life through faith in his words and in the saving power of his sacrifice, and his words would sustain them after he was no longer with them. They understood with saving understanding only after his resurrection, and especially when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to illumine the mind to receive Scripture as living bread, revealing that eating his flesh and drinking his blood means being united with him and receiving his words as spirit and life.
Spiritual Meaning Explained
The saying is not about literal fleshly eating, for flesh by itself profits nothing and gives no life. The disciples stumbled because they took the words about eating flesh and drinking blood with earthly minds, even though the ritual law forbade tasting blood. His question whether this offended them leads to the spiritual meaning that his words are spirit and life, and the bread he offers is not fleshly food. His coming ascension to where he was before would make the truth of his heavenly origin still harder to receive without faith.
To eat his flesh and drink his blood is to receive him as a personal Saviour by true earnest belief. It is to look constantly to him and be united with him through daily, hourly faith which works by love and purifies the soul. It is to abide in him by eating his words, taking them into the soul, and drawing continually from him as the living bread.
It means receiving his life-giving words, for it is the Spirit that quickens and his words are spirit and life. The Word of God abiding in the heart quickens the spiritual faculties and understanding. The words are to be taken into practical life, kept continually before the mind, studied and practiced while looking to Jesus and living by faith.
It means studying the Word, appropriating it, keeping its precepts, and carrying it into practical life in obedience so that character is formed like Christ. Eating the Word is receiving and assimilating what God has revealed until it becomes part of life, not departing from its precepts but living by every word necessary for salvation without replacing Scripture with human suppositions. Believing the Word, appropriating it, and obeying it brings eternal life and a living relationship with him, and the same lesson is taught under the symbol of the vine and its branches.
It means inward union in which believers dwell in him and he in them and live by him as he lives by the Father. All who are truly converted draw spiritual vitality from Christ as a living branch derives nourishment from the vine and bears fruit, with promise of eternal life and resurrection at the last day. When the natural man formed by heredity, nationality, education, and circumstances is changed by grace, this receiving creates the new man with a new heart, new purposes, and new impulses, seen in fruit in heart, lips, and character some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold. Only vital union with him saves the soul, while cherished natural desires divide the soul from him, and the Holy Spirit illumines the mind to receive Scripture as living bread.
The flesh and blood of the Son of God are the living oracles even before he was crucified, and his work as 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, so no soul will suffer spiritual hunger if those words are taken and eaten. The New Testament was given after the plan of God was fulfilled in the death of Christ not to cast aside the Old but to reflect light back into past ages and give significance to the whole Jewish economy, so the directions for practical holiness and practical obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be a Christian.
His teaching, example, life, and death are the heavenly food that gives spiritual vigor and everlasting life through faith in his words and in the power of the sacrifice he would make for the world. The chapter is to be understood in plain simplicity under the Holy Spirit's guidance, not treated as an unintelligible mystery. It teaches dependence on God by creation and by redemption and not on human beings, looking to Jesus Christ instead of looking to men for wisdom and strength, with the Word of the living God as guide and each one accountable to God.
Life Promised to Believers
Receiving Christ, pictured as eating his flesh and drinking his blood, gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day and living forever, in contrast to the fathers who ate manna and are dead. All who truly receive his word never hunger and all who believe in him never thirst for higher food. His life is in the believer now, making them one with him in this life and remaining one with him forever. Those who daily partake of the truth and hold faith firm to the end become partakers of the divine nature, with the earnest of immortality and resurrection to eternal life.
Those who so receive him obtain nourishment sufficient for all the needs of the soul, forgiveness of sins, sanctification unto eternal life, and growth up into the full stature of men and women in Christ. When received by faith he becomes sanctification, righteousness, and exceeding great reward, making believers strong in the Lord instead of spiritually weak. Feeding on him brings spiritual strength, comfort, and fullness, with growth in grace and in knowledge of the truth. It is tasted as personal experience that the Lord is gracious, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word to grow thereby and secure healthy development of all spiritual powers. This is had only in true conversion and being born again, proved by a changed life and transformed character, with habits of self-control formed, childish infirmities removed, and Christian manhood and womanhood developed.
The chapter defines the righteousness of Christ, and accepting that righteousness puts on the wedding garment required to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity. Without it the standard of character is not reached and the soul is lost. Feeding upon Christ to receive life and nourishment from him must be with contrition of heart because of sin, pictured by eating the Passover lamb with bitter herbs pointing to the bitterness of bondage in Egypt. It requires putting away the leaven of sin, pictured by the rule that no leaven be found in houses during the feast.
The chapter teaches the conditions of eternal life, and thoroughly understanding and living by it leads to a life that measures with the life of God. It calls for faith that looks beyond what human senses perceive to eternal realities, receiving his life-giving words into the heart rather than relying on the flesh. Faith in the Son and the efficacy of his blood are the means of deliverance from Satan's power, for his words received and obeyed mean eternal life.
Unbelief Tested and Exposed
The murmuring sprang from unbelief and from a shallowness of spiritual perception that could not discern the meaning of the words. With earthly minds and worldly ideas men took literally what was spoken as symbol concerning eating flesh and drinking blood, and the merely literal flesh so understood profits nothing and gives no life. Corrupted spiritual senses and limited comprehension left them unable to receive that the words are received through the Spirit and are spirit and life. Some turned away because an evil heart of unbelief left them open to Satan's influence even while they claimed great spiritual light. In some the resistance exposed unbelief that had been allowed to grow into habit, revealing weakness and the peril of faith that was not genuine.
The words were a test that forced a decision for or against Him, bringing hearers to reveal their true feelings and their true relation to Him. That test distinguished genuine believers from those whose faith was not genuine and whose weakness was thus laid bare. Only vital union with Him saves the soul, while cherished ambitions and cherished natural desires divide the soul from Him. Many received the truth at first with enthusiasm, but when they met a statement of the Word needed for purification of the soul, pride was offended and they abandoned Him as false disciples. Receiving Him meant surrendering cherished ambitions and becoming self-sacrificing, meek and lowly in following His path rather than seeking earthly rewards.
The offense sharpened as He clearly defined a spiritual kingdom and discouraged hope of a temporal reign. Worldly-minded hearers and even professed disciples stumbled at His appearance as a man among men, expecting royal dignity, and at significant mysterious truths they did not understand. Many wanted His miracles, political deliverance, and freedom from suffering rather than surrender, self-sacrifice, meekness and the cross. The teaching about the miracle of the loaves thus became a closer test for those following Him, exposing that many hoped for an earthly kingdom rather than understanding its spiritual meaning. Prejudice spread by enemies and open hostility pressed against Him, yet He pressed the truth in clear decided lines.
From that time many disciples went back and walked no more with Him in criticism and disbelief, because they had listened as many listen to the Word but had never been partakers with Him and had not eaten the truth as bread from heaven. Those offended refused the test of receiving His words into the life, while those who daily partake of the truth and hold faith firm to the end become partakers of the divine nature. The twelve remained, with Peter confessing that He has the words of eternal life. Even the Redeemer was thus insulted, mocked and disbelieved by hearers.
The hard saying was spoken on purpose to prove professed disciples before He left them. By bringing them to decide for or against Him it revealed their true feelings and made manifest those not wholly with Him who would oppose Him at His trial. So their apostasy would not come as a surprise to true disciples and make the trial too severe for them. By this sifting His future work would be kept safe and not swayed into wrong paths.
He patiently bore with their misunderstanding when He recognized that they were troubled by His teaching. His followers could remain in close communion with Him while their thoughts differed. His tender compassion in that forbearance was to be their example.
Warning and Present Application
The sixth chapter holds the mystery of godliness and the bread sent down from heaven, and is to be read, studied with prayer, understood, and made part of life and daily experience. So received it gives knowledge that distinguishes the true from the false in perilous times, empties the heart of selfishness, and fosters deep fervent piety. It teaches dependence on God and not on human beings, looking to Jesus Christ instead of to men for wisdom and strength, with each one accountable to God and dependent on Him by creation and by redemption and the Word of the living God as guide. When those who claim belief receive Him by faith He becomes their sanctification, righteousness, and exceeding great reward, making them strong in the Lord instead of spiritually weak. Those ministering in word and doctrine must not be dull of understanding but ask God for clearness to comprehend what the chapter contains, because men and women are built up spiritually from the food they give the mind.
Plain truth offends those who have not made it the foundation of their lives, and superficial students turn from Christ when His words seem too restrictive or strait. Hearing His testimony they shut their hearts to reproof and prefer human praise to God's admonition, revealing resistance to correction and willingness to turn away rather than reform. Their departure comes not from lack of evidence but from unwillingness to yield the will to God's will and to accept the terms of salvation. Even when understanding is convinced and conscience aroused by the Holy Spirit upon mind and heart, the unconverted remain determined not to yield, frame excuses, deceive their own souls, and refuse to love Jesus and come to Him for life. Because they did not dig deep and make foundation sure and were not riveted to the Eternal Rock, they cannot stand test and trial.
The same criticism and murmuring His servants meet in their work today was shown when many who listened but had never been partakers with Christ and had not eaten truth as bread from heaven went back and walked no more with Him in criticism and disbelief, while the twelve remained. The same happens when the Lord's words come through His chosen messengers: heady, high-minded, self-sufficient men murmur, make shipwreck of faith, and apostatize as traitors to the truth. Offense in this setting is linked to misinterpreting messages sent by God.
Speaking truth in reproof and warning in the last days must be done irrespective of consequences, even though some will become offended and turn from the truth. Those who maintain truth will offend those whose hearts are not in harmony with truth as it is in Jesus, because they cherish theories and sentiments of their own that do not harmonize with truth and rather than give up their own ideas they walk away from those who obey truth. Many receive truth with enthusiasm at first, but when they meet a statement from the Word needed for purification of soul, pride is offended and they abandon Christ as false disciples and come under Satan's hellish shadow. This turning away of the offended has always happened and will continue to the close of earth's history, yet truth will still bear away the victory, and faithful people who will receive truth will take the vacant places made by those who left.
Teachers must give His words instead of men's words, for His instruction lifts disciples and people of all classes to a high plane of thought and action. Giving His words to learners brings higher intelligence, clearer comprehension of heavenly things, deeper knowledge of God, and a purer and more vigorous Christian life. Receiving the Bible as the soul's food purifies and strengthens the mind and shapes sanctified character. As believers look to Jesus and receive His Word, which is spirit and life, they reveal Christ's character, gain influence for good with light appearing in speech, and are guarded from careless idle words; teachers therefore need personal lived knowledge of God's Word to communicate it properly.
Feeding on Christ brings spiritual strength, comfort, fullness, and growth in grace, while turning the heart toward worldly entertainments leaves no hunger for God and divides service. Men and women are to feed on heavenly bread and not spend time reading books and magazines that lead the mind astray and hinder spiritual growth. Feeding the mind on worldly entertainments can leave a person without hunger for Christ or relish for heavenly teaching. What people take into their minds and dwell on shapes spiritual experience, and continually dwelling on others' faults is unhealthy food that weakens spiritual life.
Outward connection with a church cannot save; salvation comes through personal faith in a personal Saviour, which brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. The work God requires, taught in simple language, is to believe on Him whom He sent, with the Bible standing as the great educating Book above all other books and eating His flesh and drinking His blood meaning being a doer of God's Word. He came down from heaven and clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the price of heaven being the only begotten Son of God and the way to heaven being by faith in Jesus first, then by working the works of God. The importance of this teaching is shown by a life of Christian missionary service, lived out as believers deny self, lift the cross, and work to spread the truth.
True disciples as a rule conform to His teachings, practice the lessons enjoined, teach others to do the same, disregard selfish considerations, and reveal propriety of deportment, honesty, industry, and deep piety, while the unbelieving who became offended and left Him are exceptional cases who became His bitterest persecutors. Partaking of His flesh and blood calls every Christian as a wise steward to preserve Christlikeness of character by sanctified obedience to all the words of Holy Writ, which give spirit and life to the receiver. So nourished through receiving His life-giving words, believers draw vitality, bear fruit, and reveal His character. This instruction in the sixth chapter is presented as guidance for curing dissension among God's people.
Jesus knew in himself that his disciples were murmuring at his hard saying about eating his flesh and drinking his blood and his claim to have come down from heaven, and he challenged them by asking whether this offended them.
He pointed them to seeing the Son of man ascend where he was before, which would confirm his heavenly origin and greater honor.
The eating and drinking is not literal flesh, which by itself profits nothing, but receiving him as a personal Saviour by earnest believing faith and receiving his life-giving words, which are spirit and life, into heart and obedient daily life.
So received, he dwells in believers and they in him and live by him, bringing eternal life and resurrection at the last day, nourishment for every soul need, forgiveness, sanctification, and growth into the full stature of Christ.
His words tested faith and forced decision, exposing unbelief and worldly hope of a temporal kingdom so that many went back and walked no more with him, while the sixth chapter is still to be studied with prayer and made part of daily experience to distinguish true from false.
Words and Historical Setting
Jesus knew within himself that his disciples were murmuring at his teaching and met it directly by asking whether it offended them. He perceived their inward trouble over his words without needing to be told, and his question exposed their unbelief and grief over their resistance as his blood-bought people. Their earthly minds misunderstood his symbolic language, yet he did not soften the figure but pressed its spiritual meaning that his words received through the Spirit give life while flesh merely literally understood profits nothing.
The murmuring concerned his hard saying that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have life and abide in him. It concerned also his claim to have come down from heaven, which they failed to receive. Those who murmured had listened as many listen to the Word but had never become partakers with him and had never eaten the truth as bread from heaven.
He spoke these words in the synagogue in Capernaum in his bread of life teaching that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, will be raised at the last day, dwells in him, lives by him, and shall live forever, unlike the fathers who ate manna and are dead. This came after he fed the hungry multitude with the loaves and fishes, walked on the water, taught that he is the Bread of life, and refused to be made king. From the time he fed the five thousand his popularity began to wane as he devoted himself more earnestly to instructing the twelve who were still imperfect in knowledge, no longer held hope that the Jewish nation as a nation would receive him, clearly defined his spiritual kingdom, discouraged hope of a temporal reign, and exposed that many followers hoped for an earthly kingdom rather than understanding the spiritual meaning of the miracle of the loaves.
In that same chapter he fed the hungry multitude, showing care for physical needs, taught that the spiritual food he gives as the bread of life matters more than perishable food, and instructed that what remained be gathered. His question, Doth this offend you, pointed them forward to seeing the Son of man ascend up where he was before. That coming ascension would confirm his heavenly origin and greater honor and make the truth of his descent from heaven still harder to reject, and witnessing it would be a privilege given to his constant and true disciples.
He spoke before his death when his disciples were perplexed and could not understand many things connected with his work, including his disclosures about his humiliation, rejection, and crucifixion. Their difficulty arose from taking his words literally and from moral darkness, though his language pointed to spiritual life through faith in his words and in the saving power of his sacrifice, and his words would sustain them after he was no longer with them. They understood with saving understanding only after his resurrection, and especially when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to illumine the mind to receive Scripture as living bread, revealing that eating his flesh and drinking his blood means being united with him and receiving his words as spirit and life.
Spiritual Meaning Explained
The saying is not about literal fleshly eating, for flesh by itself profits nothing and gives no life. The disciples stumbled because they took the words about eating flesh and drinking blood with earthly minds, even though the ritual law forbade tasting blood. His question whether this offended them leads to the spiritual meaning that his words are spirit and life, and the bread he offers is not fleshly food. His coming ascension to where he was before would make the truth of his heavenly origin still harder to receive without faith.
To eat his flesh and drink his blood is to receive him as a personal Saviour by true earnest belief. It is to look constantly to him and be united with him through daily, hourly faith which works by love and purifies the soul. It is to abide in him by eating his words, taking them into the soul, and drawing continually from him as the living bread.
It means receiving his life-giving words, for it is the Spirit that quickens and his words are spirit and life. The Word of God abiding in the heart quickens the spiritual faculties and understanding. The words are to be taken into practical life, kept continually before the mind, studied and practiced while looking to Jesus and living by faith.
It means studying the Word, appropriating it, keeping its precepts, and carrying it into practical life in obedience so that character is formed like Christ. Eating the Word is receiving and assimilating what God has revealed until it becomes part of life, not departing from its precepts but living by every word necessary for salvation without replacing Scripture with human suppositions. Believing the Word, appropriating it, and obeying it brings eternal life and a living relationship with him, and the same lesson is taught under the symbol of the vine and its branches.
It means inward union in which believers dwell in him and he in them and live by him as he lives by the Father. All who are truly converted draw spiritual vitality from Christ as a living branch derives nourishment from the vine and bears fruit, with promise of eternal life and resurrection at the last day. When the natural man formed by heredity, nationality, education, and circumstances is changed by grace, this receiving creates the new man with a new heart, new purposes, and new impulses, seen in fruit in heart, lips, and character some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold. Only vital union with him saves the soul, while cherished natural desires divide the soul from him, and the Holy Spirit illumines the mind to receive Scripture as living bread.
The flesh and blood of the Son of God are the living oracles even before he was crucified, and his work as 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, so no soul will suffer spiritual hunger if those words are taken and eaten. The New Testament was given after the plan of God was fulfilled in the death of Christ not to cast aside the Old but to reflect light back into past ages and give significance to the whole Jewish economy, so the directions for practical holiness and practical obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be a Christian.
His teaching, example, life, and death are the heavenly food that gives spiritual vigor and everlasting life through faith in his words and in the power of the sacrifice he would make for the world. The chapter is to be understood in plain simplicity under the Holy Spirit's guidance, not treated as an unintelligible mystery. It teaches dependence on God by creation and by redemption and not on human beings, looking to Jesus Christ instead of looking to men for wisdom and strength, with the Word of the living God as guide and each one accountable to God.
Life Promised to Believers
Receiving Christ, pictured as eating his flesh and drinking his blood, gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day and living forever, in contrast to the fathers who ate manna and are dead. All who truly receive his word never hunger and all who believe in him never thirst for higher food. His life is in the believer now, making them one with him in this life and remaining one with him forever. Those who daily partake of the truth and hold faith firm to the end become partakers of the divine nature, with the earnest of immortality and resurrection to eternal life.
Those who so receive him obtain nourishment sufficient for all the needs of the soul, forgiveness of sins, sanctification unto eternal life, and growth up into the full stature of men and women in Christ. When received by faith he becomes sanctification, righteousness, and exceeding great reward, making believers strong in the Lord instead of spiritually weak. Feeding on him brings spiritual strength, comfort, and fullness, with growth in grace and in knowledge of the truth. It is tasted as personal experience that the Lord is gracious, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word to grow thereby and secure healthy development of all spiritual powers. This is had only in true conversion and being born again, proved by a changed life and transformed character, with habits of self-control formed, childish infirmities removed, and Christian manhood and womanhood developed.
The chapter defines the righteousness of Christ, and accepting that righteousness puts on the wedding garment required to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity. Without it the standard of character is not reached and the soul is lost. Feeding upon Christ to receive life and nourishment from him must be with contrition of heart because of sin, pictured by eating the Passover lamb with bitter herbs pointing to the bitterness of bondage in Egypt. It requires putting away the leaven of sin, pictured by the rule that no leaven be found in houses during the feast.
The chapter teaches the conditions of eternal life, and thoroughly understanding and living by it leads to a life that measures with the life of God. It calls for faith that looks beyond what human senses perceive to eternal realities, receiving his life-giving words into the heart rather than relying on the flesh. Faith in the Son and the efficacy of his blood are the means of deliverance from Satan's power, for his words received and obeyed mean eternal life.
Unbelief Tested and Exposed
The murmuring sprang from unbelief and from a shallowness of spiritual perception that could not discern the meaning of the words. With earthly minds and worldly ideas men took literally what was spoken as symbol concerning eating flesh and drinking blood, and the merely literal flesh so understood profits nothing and gives no life. Corrupted spiritual senses and limited comprehension left them unable to receive that the words are received through the Spirit and are spirit and life. Some turned away because an evil heart of unbelief left them open to Satan's influence even while they claimed great spiritual light. In some the resistance exposed unbelief that had been allowed to grow into habit, revealing weakness and the peril of faith that was not genuine.
The words were a test that forced a decision for or against Him, bringing hearers to reveal their true feelings and their true relation to Him. That test distinguished genuine believers from those whose faith was not genuine and whose weakness was thus laid bare. Only vital union with Him saves the soul, while cherished ambitions and cherished natural desires divide the soul from Him. Many received the truth at first with enthusiasm, but when they met a statement of the Word needed for purification of the soul, pride was offended and they abandoned Him as false disciples. Receiving Him meant surrendering cherished ambitions and becoming self-sacrificing, meek and lowly in following His path rather than seeking earthly rewards.
The offense sharpened as He clearly defined a spiritual kingdom and discouraged hope of a temporal reign. Worldly-minded hearers and even professed disciples stumbled at His appearance as a man among men, expecting royal dignity, and at significant mysterious truths they did not understand. Many wanted His miracles, political deliverance, and freedom from suffering rather than surrender, self-sacrifice, meekness and the cross. The teaching about the miracle of the loaves thus became a closer test for those following Him, exposing that many hoped for an earthly kingdom rather than understanding its spiritual meaning. Prejudice spread by enemies and open hostility pressed against Him, yet He pressed the truth in clear decided lines.
From that time many disciples went back and walked no more with Him in criticism and disbelief, because they had listened as many listen to the Word but had never been partakers with Him and had not eaten the truth as bread from heaven. Those offended refused the test of receiving His words into the life, while those who daily partake of the truth and hold faith firm to the end become partakers of the divine nature. The twelve remained, with Peter confessing that He has the words of eternal life. Even the Redeemer was thus insulted, mocked and disbelieved by hearers.
The hard saying was spoken on purpose to prove professed disciples before He left them. By bringing them to decide for or against Him it revealed their true feelings and made manifest those not wholly with Him who would oppose Him at His trial. So their apostasy would not come as a surprise to true disciples and make the trial too severe for them. By this sifting His future work would be kept safe and not swayed into wrong paths.
He patiently bore with their misunderstanding when He recognized that they were troubled by His teaching. His followers could remain in close communion with Him while their thoughts differed. His tender compassion in that forbearance was to be their example.
Warning and Present Application
The sixth chapter holds the mystery of godliness and the bread sent down from heaven, and is to be read, studied with prayer, understood, and made part of life and daily experience. So received it gives knowledge that distinguishes the true from the false in perilous times, empties the heart of selfishness, and fosters deep fervent piety. It teaches dependence on God and not on human beings, looking to Jesus Christ instead of to men for wisdom and strength, with each one accountable to God and dependent on Him by creation and by redemption and the Word of the living God as guide. When those who claim belief receive Him by faith He becomes their sanctification, righteousness, and exceeding great reward, making them strong in the Lord instead of spiritually weak. Those ministering in word and doctrine must not be dull of understanding but ask God for clearness to comprehend what the chapter contains, because men and women are built up spiritually from the food they give the mind.
Plain truth offends those who have not made it the foundation of their lives, and superficial students turn from Christ when His words seem too restrictive or strait. Hearing His testimony they shut their hearts to reproof and prefer human praise to God's admonition, revealing resistance to correction and willingness to turn away rather than reform. Their departure comes not from lack of evidence but from unwillingness to yield the will to God's will and to accept the terms of salvation. Even when understanding is convinced and conscience aroused by the Holy Spirit upon mind and heart, the unconverted remain determined not to yield, frame excuses, deceive their own souls, and refuse to love Jesus and come to Him for life. Because they did not dig deep and make foundation sure and were not riveted to the Eternal Rock, they cannot stand test and trial.
The same criticism and murmuring His servants meet in their work today was shown when many who listened but had never been partakers with Christ and had not eaten truth as bread from heaven went back and walked no more with Him in criticism and disbelief, while the twelve remained. The same happens when the Lord's words come through His chosen messengers: heady, high-minded, self-sufficient men murmur, make shipwreck of faith, and apostatize as traitors to the truth. Offense in this setting is linked to misinterpreting messages sent by God.
Speaking truth in reproof and warning in the last days must be done irrespective of consequences, even though some will become offended and turn from the truth. Those who maintain truth will offend those whose hearts are not in harmony with truth as it is in Jesus, because they cherish theories and sentiments of their own that do not harmonize with truth and rather than give up their own ideas they walk away from those who obey truth. Many receive truth with enthusiasm at first, but when they meet a statement from the Word needed for purification of soul, pride is offended and they abandon Christ as false disciples and come under Satan's hellish shadow. This turning away of the offended has always happened and will continue to the close of earth's history, yet truth will still bear away the victory, and faithful people who will receive truth will take the vacant places made by those who left.
Teachers must give His words instead of men's words, for His instruction lifts disciples and people of all classes to a high plane of thought and action. Giving His words to learners brings higher intelligence, clearer comprehension of heavenly things, deeper knowledge of God, and a purer and more vigorous Christian life. Receiving the Bible as the soul's food purifies and strengthens the mind and shapes sanctified character. As believers look to Jesus and receive His Word, which is spirit and life, they reveal Christ's character, gain influence for good with light appearing in speech, and are guarded from careless idle words; teachers therefore need personal lived knowledge of God's Word to communicate it properly.
Feeding on Christ brings spiritual strength, comfort, fullness, and growth in grace, while turning the heart toward worldly entertainments leaves no hunger for God and divides service. Men and women are to feed on heavenly bread and not spend time reading books and magazines that lead the mind astray and hinder spiritual growth. Feeding the mind on worldly entertainments can leave a person without hunger for Christ or relish for heavenly teaching. What people take into their minds and dwell on shapes spiritual experience, and continually dwelling on others' faults is unhealthy food that weakens spiritual life.
Outward connection with a church cannot save; salvation comes through personal faith in a personal Saviour, which brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. The work God requires, taught in simple language, is to believe on Him whom He sent, with the Bible standing as the great educating Book above all other books and eating His flesh and drinking His blood meaning being a doer of God's Word. He came down from heaven and clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the price of heaven being the only begotten Son of God and the way to heaven being by faith in Jesus first, then by working the works of God. The importance of this teaching is shown by a life of Christian missionary service, lived out as believers deny self, lift the cross, and work to spread the truth.
True disciples as a rule conform to His teachings, practice the lessons enjoined, teach others to do the same, disregard selfish considerations, and reveal propriety of deportment, honesty, industry, and deep piety, while the unbelieving who became offended and left Him are exceptional cases who became His bitterest persecutors. Partaking of His flesh and blood calls every Christian as a wise steward to preserve Christlikeness of character by sanctified obedience to all the words of Holy Writ, which give spirit and life to the receiver. So nourished through receiving His life-giving words, believers draw vitality, bear fruit, and reveal His character. This instruction in the sixth chapter is presented as guidance for curing dissension among God's people.