Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
In the synagogue at Capernaum, after teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood offended many disciples so that they went back and walked no more with Him, Jesus asked the twelve if they would also go away and Peter answered for them. His reply confesses that Jesus alone holds the teaching that gives eternal life, so there is nowhere else to turn for life, hope and truth. It is joined to settled belief and knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah and Redeemer. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is not literal but is received in figure by true belief, meaning taking His words into practical life, obeying them, abiding in Him and drawing spiritual life from Him as a branch from the vine. For Christ Himself is the living Bread from heaven given by the Father, whose Word is true manna that renews the soul unto everlasting life, so that all who receive Him never hunger and never thirst and have oneness with Him now and resurrection at the last day.
Historical Setting and Context
In the synagogue at Capernaum, after teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, many disciples were offended as by a hard saying, went back, and walked no more with Him, and Jesus asked the twelve, Will ye also go away, to which Simon Peter answered for the twelve. His answer was that they had nowhere else to go because Jesus alone has the words, message, and teaching that give eternal and everlasting life, joined to settled belief and certainty that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was the response of those truly converted who remain in vital union with Christ and draw spiritual life from Him as a branch from the vine, expressing genuine faith that receives His words as spirit and life, brings truth into practical life, and is strengthened, revived, and conformed to His life and character. By this experience Peter and the rest of the twelve except Judas became more fully established, in loyalty to Christ when the multitude disbelieves, holding to Him as heavenly bread received not literally but in a figure by true, earnest belief, so that all true receivers never hunger and all who believe never thirst for higher or more satisfying food.
It was a turning point and a test when many had hoped for an earthly kingdom but Jesus offered no worldly rewards, and the spiritual meaning of the loaves had not yet been understood. His truths tested whether faith was genuine, revealed the real sentiments of hearts, and led hearers to decide for or against Him, distinguishing sincere believers who remain from half-hearted followers who turn away when plain teaching offends them. Peter’s steadfast reply expresses loyalty and confidence in life-giving words, continued in certainty that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The same compassionate Saviour had cared for the hungry multitude drawn in eagerness to hear words of life from His lips, and He remains the same today. He fed five thousand men besides women and children with five barley loaves and two small fishes by creative power, teaching care to gather the fragments that nothing be lost and go to waste. He is not unmindful of physical wants and bodily necessities, and His hand of benevolence is not stayed, for He will still impart knowledge to His people in different places whereby food will be provided in various ways. His words of eternal life are living bread enduring unto everlasting life, the true bread from heaven given by God the Father through the gift of Christ and obtainable from no human agent, of far more consequence than temporal food, so chief labor must be given not to perishable meat but to this enduring meat by believing on Him whom God sent and sealed, for He is the Bread of Life so that he that comes to Him shall never hunger and he that believes on Him shall never thirst.
Peter’s answer served as the text for an appeal that moved listeners to serious reflection and tears. The setting includes Jesus teaching in the temple in mercy and healing, interrupted only by requests for help and praises from those He healed, and preaching words of eternal life to all who heard. The account contrasts the departure of the many with Peter’s decision to remain with the Master, after teaching about Christ as the Bread of Life had led some to turn away.
Meaning of Peter's Confession
Peter's question, Lord, to whom shall we go, is the recognition that Jesus alone has the words, the message and the teaching that give eternal life, so there is nowhere else to turn for life and hope and truth. John 6 presents the conditions of eternal life, and eternal life is found by staying with Him and by understanding and living by His teaching, which measures with the life of God. The words served as the text for an appeal that moved listeners to serious reflection and tears. The answer is the desire to remain with Christ because no alternative can replace Him, and it is joined to settled belief and certainty, come to by believing and knowing, that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah and Redeemer. That confession identifies Jesus as the One sent and sealed by God, and bringing these words into classroom teaching invites the Holy Spirit to work on minds and hearts.
The answer expresses more than sentiment: it is living faith in a personal Saviour who can ransom from sin, loyalty and trust and desire to be with Christ, and confidence in His life-giving words. It is the response of the truly converted who remain in vital union with Him and draw spiritual life from Him as a branch draws nourishment from the vine, listening closely and receiving His teaching into the heart. It expresses genuine faith that receives His words as spirit and life, brings truth into practical life, and is strengthened, revived, and conformed to His life and character, by which experience Peter and the rest of the twelve except Judas became more fully established. It stands opposite those without genuine faith who lived on rabbinic doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances, who did not eat His words as hungry men eat food nor drink in His truth as the life of the world, who had no root in themselves and left never to return, choosing form without spirit and husks without kernel and placing themselves with the great deceiver, as people in every age turn from truth in the same way. The difficult teaching tested the disciples and exposed whether faith was genuine, and this reply distinguishes sincere believers who remain and grow from half-hearted followers who turn away when plain truth offends them, while the departure of other followers brought Christ sorrow because He longed for people to value God's gift, believe His words, and honor Him.
To leave Him would mean going back to seek counsel of religious formalists and to side with scribes and Pharisees, whose teaching relied on human commandments and tradition. Away from Christ's teaching they would find only lifeless formalism, human tradition and commandments of men, disputes over doctrine, ambition, unbelief, wickedness of the world and darkness, rather than light and life. They remained with Christ even when His words about partaking of His flesh and blood offended others and when His plain truth exposed their lives and called them to change. The disciples could not turn from Jesus because He was their source of peace and joy and hope and spiritual life, and they had found greater peace and joy with Him amid malice and persecution directed against Him, making Him the anchor of their souls. Leaving Him would mean losing their Saviour and returning to spiritual darkness, to religious formalism, contention, unbelief and a world of sin rather than His teaching of love and mercy and charity, leaving them like sailors adrift on a dark, stormy sea in fear and superstition.
The life-giving teaching is spiritual, not a merely physical eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood. The words of eternal life are Christ under the similitude of heavenly bread, received not literally but in a figure by true, earnest belief, for His words are spirit and are life, so all true receivers never hunger and all who believe never thirst for higher or more satisfying food.
Christ the Bread of Life
Christ is the Bread of Life, the living and true bread from heaven given by God the Father through the gift of Christ and obtainable from no human agent, of far more consequence than temporal food. His Word is true manna and bread for those longing for the living God, the living bread that endures unto everlasting life and can renew the soul unto everlasting life, the spiritual food and source of life whose fullness fills the soul that hungers for Him. Chief labor and anxiety must be given not to perishable meat but to this enduring meat by believing on Him whom God sent and sealed, for he who comes to Him shall never hunger and he who believes on Him shall never thirst. Receiving Christ, pictured as eating His flesh and drinking His blood, brings eternal life and the promise of resurrection at the last day, so that believers may die yet the Saviour's life remains in them, and through Him they receive abundant life and are made one with Him now and forever. Those who minister in word and doctrine must read this chapter prayerfully and ask God for clearness to comprehend it, and God's people must feed the mind on this heavenly bread for spiritual growth instead of spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray, since turning from God's light to worldly things leaves no appetite for heavenly instruction or the words that lead to eternal life.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is received not literally but in a figure by true, earnest belief, for His words are spirit and are life. It means comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus and bringing truth into the daily experience, being doers of the Word in a life of obedience and not merely hearing it. It means obeying His Word, having His commandments and keeping them and His sayings, dwelling in Him and Him in the believer, and abiding in His love in harmony with the Redeemer. The Word of God is the tree of life, and those who obey its teachings receive it unto eternal life, following those teachings as eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, whose effect on each person determines eternal destiny and contains what is needed to form a perfect character. This requires continual growth in grace, sought by prayer ascending to God for this and for every other blessing, and by being taught daily in the school of Christ.
Receiving Christ and taking His words into practical life means receiving Him as an abiding presence and personal Saviour, which brings spiritual satisfaction, joy, deep piety and growth. His words are to be received, understood, and made part of daily life like food that is eaten and assimilated, becoming part of a person and shaping the whole life and daily experience; to eat the Word is to live by God's revealed teachings, keep their precepts, and not depart from them. Genuine faith receives His words as spirit and life, is strengthened, revived, and conformed to His life and character, in contrast to living on doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances without root, choosing form without spirit and husks without kernel. Scripture gives what is necessary for salvation, so it must not be abandoned for human suppositions, and human suppositions must not replace His Word.
The directions given by Christ as the invisible Leader of Israel in the Old Testament Scriptures are full of marrow and fatness and nourishment, and no soul who takes these words and eats them will suffer spiritual hunger. The living oracles were already the flesh and blood of the Son of God even before He was crucified, because His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. After the plan was fulfilled in the death of Christ the New Testament Scriptures were given not to cast aside the Old but to reflect light back into past ages and give significance to the whole Jewish economy. The plain directions for practical holiness and obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be Christian, to be eaten by reading the Word of God and appropriating it as personal experience in every phase of work, a value few know.
God's Word contains the living, undying element, and the Holy Spirit is present in it. Christ's words preserved in Scripture are sufficient for salvation, and the Spirit brings people to repentance by recalling and pressing home Christ's lessons, not by revealing new truths. Believing the Old Testament Scriptures leads to believing the New.
Truth About Christ and Salvation
John 6 sets out the conditions of eternal life, and that lasting life is found by staying with Him and believing on Him whom God sent and sealed. The work God requires is first to believe in Jesus and then to work, and understanding and living by this teaching leads to a life that measures with the life of God. The price of heaven is God's only begotten Son, who came down from heaven and clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and knowing Him rightly is eternal life. There is nowhere else to go because Jesus has the words of eternal life, and His true followers do not draw back to perdition but continue with Him.
Faith in His name and mission is humanity's only hope, ransoming from sin, and the disciples' desire to remain expresses living faith in a personal Saviour rather than mere sentiment or lifeless formalism and human tradition. His life, death, resurrection, and ascension testify that in Him alone is power to save, and the confession that He has the words of eternal life is joined to belief and certainty that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Outward belonging to a church does not save, but personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. Everyone who chooses Him as personal Saviour and Ruler and comes to Him will be received, looking to Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith and being changed into His likeness.
As the great Teacher sent by God He perfectly knew the need of everyone in the world and perfectly knew the principles of truth, which is the gospel unto salvation. He was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, which was the gospel in figure and symbol, and having stood in the councils of God every element of truth from least to greatest was familiar to Him. All the treasures of heaven were given to Him to bestow on the fallen race, pouring out heaven's wisdom and knowledge to give every soul needed help to break the chains of sin-slavery and become free men and women in Christ Jesus. He revealed the infinite mind of God and spoke with personal knowledge as the expression of the mind of God to man, as Himself the Word and the wisdom of God. He presented truth of the highest order with the authority of a divine Oracle and with power and knowledge, never speaking uncertain sentiments or opinions needing revision because established upon eternal principles.
Peter's response expresses the disciples' decisive allegiance to Christ after many left when He declared Himself the bread of life. That allegiance is connected with the declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and steadfast confession of Christ's divinity is the test on which the promise of the church's endurance rests. Christ Himself, not Peter, is the Rock on which the church is built.
John 6 defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment. That garment is the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity, requiring a firm stand for Christ and surrendering to God that which is already His own. Without accepting this righteousness there is presumption in matters of eternal interest that results in loss of the soul, measuring character by human ideas instead of God's standard, and hindering the fulfillment of God's promise by continuing in sin.
The words of eternal life are the truths Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount as one having authority, as the Lord of Heaven in mercy and kindness addressing the souls He came to save. There is no parade of human eloquence in them; the language is plain and the thoughts and sentiments are marked with the greatest simplicity, so the poor, the unlearned, and the most simple-minded can understand them. These truths have come down through the ages as a light amid the general darkness of error, and many have found in them what the soul most needs, a sure foundation of faith and practice.
Those who receive Him by faith as the One sent from God have everlasting life and are joined to Him more closely than by natural family ties. His words bring comfort to believers as He speaks the truth with divine authority as the revealer of the Father's mind. Natural relationship to Christ gives no saving benefit without accepting Him as Saviour.
Receiving His Words Daily
The instruction of John 5 and John 6 is the mystery of godliness, whose statements are to be read, studied, prayed over, heeded, made part of life, brought into daily experience and practiced rather than neglected. This study gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril. The Word of the living God is to be the guide and is the stronghold and defense against Satan's deceptions and spiritual darkness in the last days, and receiving its principles into the daily life gives light beyond satanic deception and brings into connection with Christ, who knew no sin and had no guile. Jesus Christ alone has the words of eternal life and is the only source of strength, wisdom, guidance and power by creation and by redemption, so no one is to look to any human being or trust in man for spiritual wisdom, strength and life but to look to Him and depend on Him, walking in that light to gain strength in the Lord and cure spiritual weakness, while looking to human beings for wisdom brings bondage; each one is accountable to God and is to walk and work as accountable to Him, receiving Christ by faith in His name and strength, and then He will be sanctification, righteousness and exceeding great reward.
The sixth chapter holds the most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools, giving an education that endures through time and through eternity when brought into practical life, though it is only faintly understood. It teaches what Christ is to each person and what advantage comes to each person individually from eating His words and realizing He Himself is the great center of life, for Christ is the bread of life and His words are spirit and life, and receiving Him as an abiding presence brings spiritual satisfaction and joy. Students should take in these words of Christ to understand their privileges. When leaders and teachers in institutions and schools bring Peter's answer that there is nowhere else to go because Jesus has the message that gives eternal life and is the Christ, the Son of the living God, into classroom teaching and practical life, the Holy Spirit will be present to work upon the hearts and minds of students.
Eating His words is personal study, earnest meditation, communion with Christ, listening for His voice, and resting by faith in His love, which is comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus and bringing truth into the daily experience. Believers discern His fresh footsteps and meet Him in their own houses and churches, with no need to travel to where He walked on earth, and this gives a healthful, vigorous Christian experience. This requires continual growth in grace, sought by prayer ascending to God for this and for every other blessing, and by being taught daily in the school of Christ. Receiving this life requires learning as a submissive student in Christ's school, with the soul emptied of pride so Christ can shape it, for the Word of God is the bread of life and represents the body and blood of the Son of God, meant to reach the heart and moral nature, take possession of the will, and lead to obedience to Christ. Its meaning must be studied and its truth cherished in the heart, where it works by love and purifies the soul, producing thorough conversion, a new life, humility, and the fruit borne by a good tree, and learning daily in this school leads disciples to confess from the heart that Christ alone gives life, awakens the soul, and has no true alternative to turn to.
Christ's words are spirit and life and eternal life to the one who receives them, and they give instruction that must be understood, received, and fully carried out; they mean much to every soul, and God's people would stand in a far higher place if they had lived them. They must be heeded without setting any of them aside and held firmly as a rock, heeded strictly without losing one word, in meekness and lowliness and tenderheartedness, because truth abides forever. Trusting deception or any lie or pretense instead of Christ's instruction and counsel is done at the loss of eternal life and can mislead others from the safe path and turn the lame out of safe paths, for which those who set His counsel at naught for words of deception originating with the father of lies are accountable.
Searching Scripture humbly and diligently, as for hidden treasure, with prayer for wisdom and understanding, brings deeper understanding, growing interest, and fresh light on its truths, revealing its riches and increasing its value to the reader. God's Word is true manna and food for the mind, containing the words of eternal life. Turning to light reading, love stories, and books that merely amuse weakens interest in the Bible, dulls interest in the words of God, and makes it harder to attend to its words of life and to truths concerning eternal welfare. When those words of eternal life are planted and sown in the heart, they produce righteousness and peace in the life, and their influence is shown in Christlike character, calling for a humble walk with God, the works of Christ, and much fruit unto righteousness and peace. The one who heeds them is guided by the Spirit of truth and led into all truth, and though such a person will not be loved, honored, and praised by the world because it did not know Christ, he is precious in the sight of Heaven as a son of God, calling for following Christ alone so that whatever others may say or do does not turn the follower aside from obeying His bidding to follow Him.
Those who minister in word and doctrine must not be dull of understanding about the important statements concerning Christ as the bread sent down from heaven whose words give eternal life and are the food that builds men and women up spiritually, but must read the chapter prayerfully and ask God for clearness to comprehend it. God's people must feed the mind on this heavenly bread for spiritual growth instead of spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray and hinder growth. Reading and publishing should direct attention to the words of eternal life through simple, true, practical matter concerning faith, godliness, and the salvation of the soul, rather than books that merely amuse and offer no lasting spiritual nourishment.
Loyalty Obedience and Trust
Peter's answer marks the line between sincere believers and half-hearted followers, for when plain truth offends, exposes the life and calls for change, the half-hearted turn back while those who receive the Spirit's conviction and bring His words into daily practice remain with Him and grow in grace and knowledge of God. Those who left after taking offense did not recover from that offense, and every neglected counsel puts the soul in distrust and suspicion and separates farther from righteousness and truth unless defects of character are reformed and self dies. Yet Christ's counsel and reproof recovers His disciples whenever they fall into error and peril.
It stands opposite those without genuine faith who lived on rabbinic doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances, who had no root in themselves and did not eat His words as hungry men eat food nor drink in His truth as the life of the world. Choosing form without spirit and husks without kernel, they left never to return, failing to accept truth and make it part of themselves and thereby placing themselves with the great deceiver, as people in every age turn from truth in the same way. The answer stands in contrast to defection and to Judas Iscariot among the twelve who would betray Him.
It also stands in contrast to Peter's later failure and denial under trial, which stands in painful contrast to that earlier loyalty. He needed to accept Christ's warning, seek help and depend on Him rather than his own self-confidence. It is the confession of one who looks to Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith and keeps fighting lawfully for an immortal crown instead of making shipwreck of the faith. When truly received in the heart the words of eternal life produce fruit unto righteousness and peace, and call for following Christ alone so that whatever others may say or do does not turn the follower aside from obeying His bidding to follow Him.
Jesus Christ alone has the words of eternal life and is by creation and by redemption the only source of strength, wisdom, guidance and power, so no one is to look to any human being or trust in man but to look to Him and depend on Him. The Word of the living God is to be the guide, and the statements in John 6 are to be read, studied and prayed over for understanding. Turning from His light that lights every man to the uncertain wisdom of men, who have no power except what they first receive from God, is disrespectful and discourteous toward the One who gives life and all things, and looking to human beings for wisdom brings bondage and spiritual weakness. Each one is accountable to God and is to walk and work as accountable to Him, receiving Christ by faith in His name and strength, and walking in that light gives strength in the Lord and cures spiritual weakness, and then He will be sanctification, righteousness and exceeding great reward. The verse is words to speak to God when in need, coming to Christ in weakness and unworthiness to receive help, wisdom and strength.
The verse expresses confidence to turn to Christ in perplexity, distress, weakness and unworthiness rather than to human counsel, seeking Him by faith even when unseen, with humility, prayer and an open heart. He supplies all that is necessary for time and for eternity and loves with an everlasting love as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, honored as the Son of the Highest by trusting Him with the whole heart, keeping the heart open to His love and showing love and devotion to Him. His life, death, resurrection and ascension are facts testifying that in Him alone is power to save, and He has ways and means beyond seeing. It calls for bearing much fruit to appease His hunger of soul, for counting the soul worth more than gaining the whole world, and for refusing discouragement while doing God's appointed work in dependence on His wisdom, grace and sustaining help, advancing in truth, winning souls, praying earnestly and not neglecting spiritual and eternal things but working with the understanding that the work belongs to God.
It is the resolve of humble and contrite believers to remain with Christ when men in responsibility shut their eyes to divine light, reject the working of the Holy Spirit as fanaticism, and reverse good and evil by treating darkness as light and light as darkness. Through approval and slander, through darkness and through all opposition from the agencies of Satan, Christ continues to shine, exposing evil, holding back sin and giving new life to the humble and contrite, and their answer is to stay with Him because He alone speaks the message that brings everlasting life and there is no other source to go to. His words gave the disciples strength and comfort, remaining a stay to their hearts after He was no longer with them, with sayings not fully understood when spoken becoming clear through later events. Looking to Jesus brings life and humbles human pride, and following God's will rather than one's own brings continued light and prepares a person to share that light with others.
The words of eternal life must be spoken with power and expression so hearers feel their weight, requiring training of the voice as a precious talent with the abdominal muscles doing the labor and the throat only a channel until defects are overcome. They must be presented ingeniously and tenderly by converted workers so people are reached and converted and hearts are won. They are to be carried to people perishing in sin and in spiritual darkness as heralds of salvation, and wicked cities must have opportunity to hear that Word, be enlightened and educated as to the sayings of Scripture, and search the Word for themselves before denunciation comes. Gospel workers who hold forth the words of life, having learned from Jesus and been helped by the Holy Spirit, let hearers hear an echo of Christ's voice. Christ's ministers communicate those words to the world, helping believers grow in knowledge and true holiness, watching over souls and teaching with patience, and those who proclaim the message of life need God's special grace and power, which He abundantly gives with the Holy Spirit to those who come to Him in faith.
That proclamation softens hearts, so that patients who hear the word of life at a sanitarium church may have hearts softened and be led to accept Christ as healer of the soul, and when presented in worship it calls for attentive, reverent listening rather than conduct that distracts others. Choosing Him means choosing light rather than darkness and following Him out of darkness to receive light and the light of life. His words give sufficient light to choose truth, but people who reject correction and cling to their own purposes risk deception. The words connect with the message brought by God's servants, for if they have brought such words and heavenly light they should be received as God's servants and trusted as led by God's Spirit. If people knew who the humble Teacher was and that He offered those words, they would welcome Him, for He gives mercy, love and peace without forcing anyone to accept them, and speaking truth from the sacred desk brings eternal life as God restores ruined mind and body so husband and wife can stand side by side doing that work.
Those loyal to Him are to obey His Word and carry out His work according to His instructions, hearing and receiving them to have the message to carry to others. Heeding the invitation of the Spirit of God through His ambassadors when appeals are made to the unconverted to take their stand on the Lord's side requires courage to break away alone from irreverent associates despite opposition and ridicule. To remain proud and self-defiant, hardening the heart with irreverence and indifference to Bible teaching, is to despise the salvation offered by the Prince of Life. His eager listeners showed hunger for spiritual food in their attentive hearing, and His words are life to those who receive them, the message people need. His teaching about partaking of His flesh and blood offended others, yet the disciples would not leave Him to seek counsel from religious formalists or side with scribes and Pharisees whose teaching relied on human commandments and tradition, remaining even when His words were a hard saying, and despite His reproofs Peter and the disciples chose to remain because they recognized Him as the one who had the words of eternal life.
In the synagogue at Capernaum, after teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood offended many disciples so that they went back and walked no more with Him, Jesus asked the twelve if they would also go away and Peter answered for them. His reply confesses that Jesus alone holds the teaching that gives eternal life, so there is nowhere else to turn for life, hope and truth. It is joined to settled belief and knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah and Redeemer. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is not literal but is received in figure by true belief, meaning taking His words into practical life, obeying them, abiding in Him and drawing spiritual life from Him as a branch from the vine. For Christ Himself is the living Bread from heaven given by the Father, whose Word is true manna that renews the soul unto everlasting life, so that all who receive Him never hunger and never thirst and have oneness with Him now and resurrection at the last day.
Historical Setting and Context
In the synagogue at Capernaum, after teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, many disciples were offended as by a hard saying, went back, and walked no more with Him, and Jesus asked the twelve, Will ye also go away, to which Simon Peter answered for the twelve. His answer was that they had nowhere else to go because Jesus alone has the words, message, and teaching that give eternal and everlasting life, joined to settled belief and certainty that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was the response of those truly converted who remain in vital union with Christ and draw spiritual life from Him as a branch from the vine, expressing genuine faith that receives His words as spirit and life, brings truth into practical life, and is strengthened, revived, and conformed to His life and character. By this experience Peter and the rest of the twelve except Judas became more fully established, in loyalty to Christ when the multitude disbelieves, holding to Him as heavenly bread received not literally but in a figure by true, earnest belief, so that all true receivers never hunger and all who believe never thirst for higher or more satisfying food.
It was a turning point and a test when many had hoped for an earthly kingdom but Jesus offered no worldly rewards, and the spiritual meaning of the loaves had not yet been understood. His truths tested whether faith was genuine, revealed the real sentiments of hearts, and led hearers to decide for or against Him, distinguishing sincere believers who remain from half-hearted followers who turn away when plain teaching offends them. Peter’s steadfast reply expresses loyalty and confidence in life-giving words, continued in certainty that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The same compassionate Saviour had cared for the hungry multitude drawn in eagerness to hear words of life from His lips, and He remains the same today. He fed five thousand men besides women and children with five barley loaves and two small fishes by creative power, teaching care to gather the fragments that nothing be lost and go to waste. He is not unmindful of physical wants and bodily necessities, and His hand of benevolence is not stayed, for He will still impart knowledge to His people in different places whereby food will be provided in various ways. His words of eternal life are living bread enduring unto everlasting life, the true bread from heaven given by God the Father through the gift of Christ and obtainable from no human agent, of far more consequence than temporal food, so chief labor must be given not to perishable meat but to this enduring meat by believing on Him whom God sent and sealed, for He is the Bread of Life so that he that comes to Him shall never hunger and he that believes on Him shall never thirst.
Peter’s answer served as the text for an appeal that moved listeners to serious reflection and tears. The setting includes Jesus teaching in the temple in mercy and healing, interrupted only by requests for help and praises from those He healed, and preaching words of eternal life to all who heard. The account contrasts the departure of the many with Peter’s decision to remain with the Master, after teaching about Christ as the Bread of Life had led some to turn away.
Meaning of Peter's Confession
Peter's question, Lord, to whom shall we go, is the recognition that Jesus alone has the words, the message and the teaching that give eternal life, so there is nowhere else to turn for life and hope and truth. John 6 presents the conditions of eternal life, and eternal life is found by staying with Him and by understanding and living by His teaching, which measures with the life of God. The words served as the text for an appeal that moved listeners to serious reflection and tears. The answer is the desire to remain with Christ because no alternative can replace Him, and it is joined to settled belief and certainty, come to by believing and knowing, that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah and Redeemer. That confession identifies Jesus as the One sent and sealed by God, and bringing these words into classroom teaching invites the Holy Spirit to work on minds and hearts.
The answer expresses more than sentiment: it is living faith in a personal Saviour who can ransom from sin, loyalty and trust and desire to be with Christ, and confidence in His life-giving words. It is the response of the truly converted who remain in vital union with Him and draw spiritual life from Him as a branch draws nourishment from the vine, listening closely and receiving His teaching into the heart. It expresses genuine faith that receives His words as spirit and life, brings truth into practical life, and is strengthened, revived, and conformed to His life and character, by which experience Peter and the rest of the twelve except Judas became more fully established. It stands opposite those without genuine faith who lived on rabbinic doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances, who did not eat His words as hungry men eat food nor drink in His truth as the life of the world, who had no root in themselves and left never to return, choosing form without spirit and husks without kernel and placing themselves with the great deceiver, as people in every age turn from truth in the same way. The difficult teaching tested the disciples and exposed whether faith was genuine, and this reply distinguishes sincere believers who remain and grow from half-hearted followers who turn away when plain truth offends them, while the departure of other followers brought Christ sorrow because He longed for people to value God's gift, believe His words, and honor Him.
To leave Him would mean going back to seek counsel of religious formalists and to side with scribes and Pharisees, whose teaching relied on human commandments and tradition. Away from Christ's teaching they would find only lifeless formalism, human tradition and commandments of men, disputes over doctrine, ambition, unbelief, wickedness of the world and darkness, rather than light and life. They remained with Christ even when His words about partaking of His flesh and blood offended others and when His plain truth exposed their lives and called them to change. The disciples could not turn from Jesus because He was their source of peace and joy and hope and spiritual life, and they had found greater peace and joy with Him amid malice and persecution directed against Him, making Him the anchor of their souls. Leaving Him would mean losing their Saviour and returning to spiritual darkness, to religious formalism, contention, unbelief and a world of sin rather than His teaching of love and mercy and charity, leaving them like sailors adrift on a dark, stormy sea in fear and superstition.
The life-giving teaching is spiritual, not a merely physical eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood. The words of eternal life are Christ under the similitude of heavenly bread, received not literally but in a figure by true, earnest belief, for His words are spirit and are life, so all true receivers never hunger and all who believe never thirst for higher or more satisfying food.
Christ the Bread of Life
Christ is the Bread of Life, the living and true bread from heaven given by God the Father through the gift of Christ and obtainable from no human agent, of far more consequence than temporal food. His Word is true manna and bread for those longing for the living God, the living bread that endures unto everlasting life and can renew the soul unto everlasting life, the spiritual food and source of life whose fullness fills the soul that hungers for Him. Chief labor and anxiety must be given not to perishable meat but to this enduring meat by believing on Him whom God sent and sealed, for he who comes to Him shall never hunger and he who believes on Him shall never thirst. Receiving Christ, pictured as eating His flesh and drinking His blood, brings eternal life and the promise of resurrection at the last day, so that believers may die yet the Saviour's life remains in them, and through Him they receive abundant life and are made one with Him now and forever. Those who minister in word and doctrine must read this chapter prayerfully and ask God for clearness to comprehend it, and God's people must feed the mind on this heavenly bread for spiritual growth instead of spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray, since turning from God's light to worldly things leaves no appetite for heavenly instruction or the words that lead to eternal life.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is received not literally but in a figure by true, earnest belief, for His words are spirit and are life. It means comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus and bringing truth into the daily experience, being doers of the Word in a life of obedience and not merely hearing it. It means obeying His Word, having His commandments and keeping them and His sayings, dwelling in Him and Him in the believer, and abiding in His love in harmony with the Redeemer. The Word of God is the tree of life, and those who obey its teachings receive it unto eternal life, following those teachings as eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, whose effect on each person determines eternal destiny and contains what is needed to form a perfect character. This requires continual growth in grace, sought by prayer ascending to God for this and for every other blessing, and by being taught daily in the school of Christ.
Receiving Christ and taking His words into practical life means receiving Him as an abiding presence and personal Saviour, which brings spiritual satisfaction, joy, deep piety and growth. His words are to be received, understood, and made part of daily life like food that is eaten and assimilated, becoming part of a person and shaping the whole life and daily experience; to eat the Word is to live by God's revealed teachings, keep their precepts, and not depart from them. Genuine faith receives His words as spirit and life, is strengthened, revived, and conformed to His life and character, in contrast to living on doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances without root, choosing form without spirit and husks without kernel. Scripture gives what is necessary for salvation, so it must not be abandoned for human suppositions, and human suppositions must not replace His Word.
The directions given by Christ as the invisible Leader of Israel in the Old Testament Scriptures are full of marrow and fatness and nourishment, and no soul who takes these words and eats them will suffer spiritual hunger. The living oracles were already the flesh and blood of the Son of God even before He was crucified, because His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. After the plan was fulfilled in the death of Christ the New Testament Scriptures were given not to cast aside the Old but to reflect light back into past ages and give significance to the whole Jewish economy. The plain directions for practical holiness and obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be Christian, to be eaten by reading the Word of God and appropriating it as personal experience in every phase of work, a value few know.
God's Word contains the living, undying element, and the Holy Spirit is present in it. Christ's words preserved in Scripture are sufficient for salvation, and the Spirit brings people to repentance by recalling and pressing home Christ's lessons, not by revealing new truths. Believing the Old Testament Scriptures leads to believing the New.
Truth About Christ and Salvation
John 6 sets out the conditions of eternal life, and that lasting life is found by staying with Him and believing on Him whom God sent and sealed. The work God requires is first to believe in Jesus and then to work, and understanding and living by this teaching leads to a life that measures with the life of God. The price of heaven is God's only begotten Son, who came down from heaven and clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and knowing Him rightly is eternal life. There is nowhere else to go because Jesus has the words of eternal life, and His true followers do not draw back to perdition but continue with Him.
Faith in His name and mission is humanity's only hope, ransoming from sin, and the disciples' desire to remain expresses living faith in a personal Saviour rather than mere sentiment or lifeless formalism and human tradition. His life, death, resurrection, and ascension testify that in Him alone is power to save, and the confession that He has the words of eternal life is joined to belief and certainty that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Outward belonging to a church does not save, but personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. Everyone who chooses Him as personal Saviour and Ruler and comes to Him will be received, looking to Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith and being changed into His likeness.
As the great Teacher sent by God He perfectly knew the need of everyone in the world and perfectly knew the principles of truth, which is the gospel unto salvation. He was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, which was the gospel in figure and symbol, and having stood in the councils of God every element of truth from least to greatest was familiar to Him. All the treasures of heaven were given to Him to bestow on the fallen race, pouring out heaven's wisdom and knowledge to give every soul needed help to break the chains of sin-slavery and become free men and women in Christ Jesus. He revealed the infinite mind of God and spoke with personal knowledge as the expression of the mind of God to man, as Himself the Word and the wisdom of God. He presented truth of the highest order with the authority of a divine Oracle and with power and knowledge, never speaking uncertain sentiments or opinions needing revision because established upon eternal principles.
Peter's response expresses the disciples' decisive allegiance to Christ after many left when He declared Himself the bread of life. That allegiance is connected with the declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and steadfast confession of Christ's divinity is the test on which the promise of the church's endurance rests. Christ Himself, not Peter, is the Rock on which the church is built.
John 6 defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment. That garment is the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity, requiring a firm stand for Christ and surrendering to God that which is already His own. Without accepting this righteousness there is presumption in matters of eternal interest that results in loss of the soul, measuring character by human ideas instead of God's standard, and hindering the fulfillment of God's promise by continuing in sin.
The words of eternal life are the truths Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount as one having authority, as the Lord of Heaven in mercy and kindness addressing the souls He came to save. There is no parade of human eloquence in them; the language is plain and the thoughts and sentiments are marked with the greatest simplicity, so the poor, the unlearned, and the most simple-minded can understand them. These truths have come down through the ages as a light amid the general darkness of error, and many have found in them what the soul most needs, a sure foundation of faith and practice.
Those who receive Him by faith as the One sent from God have everlasting life and are joined to Him more closely than by natural family ties. His words bring comfort to believers as He speaks the truth with divine authority as the revealer of the Father's mind. Natural relationship to Christ gives no saving benefit without accepting Him as Saviour.
Receiving His Words Daily
The instruction of John 5 and John 6 is the mystery of godliness, whose statements are to be read, studied, prayed over, heeded, made part of life, brought into daily experience and practiced rather than neglected. This study gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril. The Word of the living God is to be the guide and is the stronghold and defense against Satan's deceptions and spiritual darkness in the last days, and receiving its principles into the daily life gives light beyond satanic deception and brings into connection with Christ, who knew no sin and had no guile. Jesus Christ alone has the words of eternal life and is the only source of strength, wisdom, guidance and power by creation and by redemption, so no one is to look to any human being or trust in man for spiritual wisdom, strength and life but to look to Him and depend on Him, walking in that light to gain strength in the Lord and cure spiritual weakness, while looking to human beings for wisdom brings bondage; each one is accountable to God and is to walk and work as accountable to Him, receiving Christ by faith in His name and strength, and then He will be sanctification, righteousness and exceeding great reward.
The sixth chapter holds the most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools, giving an education that endures through time and through eternity when brought into practical life, though it is only faintly understood. It teaches what Christ is to each person and what advantage comes to each person individually from eating His words and realizing He Himself is the great center of life, for Christ is the bread of life and His words are spirit and life, and receiving Him as an abiding presence brings spiritual satisfaction and joy. Students should take in these words of Christ to understand their privileges. When leaders and teachers in institutions and schools bring Peter's answer that there is nowhere else to go because Jesus has the message that gives eternal life and is the Christ, the Son of the living God, into classroom teaching and practical life, the Holy Spirit will be present to work upon the hearts and minds of students.
Eating His words is personal study, earnest meditation, communion with Christ, listening for His voice, and resting by faith in His love, which is comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus and bringing truth into the daily experience. Believers discern His fresh footsteps and meet Him in their own houses and churches, with no need to travel to where He walked on earth, and this gives a healthful, vigorous Christian experience. This requires continual growth in grace, sought by prayer ascending to God for this and for every other blessing, and by being taught daily in the school of Christ. Receiving this life requires learning as a submissive student in Christ's school, with the soul emptied of pride so Christ can shape it, for the Word of God is the bread of life and represents the body and blood of the Son of God, meant to reach the heart and moral nature, take possession of the will, and lead to obedience to Christ. Its meaning must be studied and its truth cherished in the heart, where it works by love and purifies the soul, producing thorough conversion, a new life, humility, and the fruit borne by a good tree, and learning daily in this school leads disciples to confess from the heart that Christ alone gives life, awakens the soul, and has no true alternative to turn to.
Christ's words are spirit and life and eternal life to the one who receives them, and they give instruction that must be understood, received, and fully carried out; they mean much to every soul, and God's people would stand in a far higher place if they had lived them. They must be heeded without setting any of them aside and held firmly as a rock, heeded strictly without losing one word, in meekness and lowliness and tenderheartedness, because truth abides forever. Trusting deception or any lie or pretense instead of Christ's instruction and counsel is done at the loss of eternal life and can mislead others from the safe path and turn the lame out of safe paths, for which those who set His counsel at naught for words of deception originating with the father of lies are accountable.
Searching Scripture humbly and diligently, as for hidden treasure, with prayer for wisdom and understanding, brings deeper understanding, growing interest, and fresh light on its truths, revealing its riches and increasing its value to the reader. God's Word is true manna and food for the mind, containing the words of eternal life. Turning to light reading, love stories, and books that merely amuse weakens interest in the Bible, dulls interest in the words of God, and makes it harder to attend to its words of life and to truths concerning eternal welfare. When those words of eternal life are planted and sown in the heart, they produce righteousness and peace in the life, and their influence is shown in Christlike character, calling for a humble walk with God, the works of Christ, and much fruit unto righteousness and peace. The one who heeds them is guided by the Spirit of truth and led into all truth, and though such a person will not be loved, honored, and praised by the world because it did not know Christ, he is precious in the sight of Heaven as a son of God, calling for following Christ alone so that whatever others may say or do does not turn the follower aside from obeying His bidding to follow Him.
Those who minister in word and doctrine must not be dull of understanding about the important statements concerning Christ as the bread sent down from heaven whose words give eternal life and are the food that builds men and women up spiritually, but must read the chapter prayerfully and ask God for clearness to comprehend it. God's people must feed the mind on this heavenly bread for spiritual growth instead of spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray and hinder growth. Reading and publishing should direct attention to the words of eternal life through simple, true, practical matter concerning faith, godliness, and the salvation of the soul, rather than books that merely amuse and offer no lasting spiritual nourishment.
Loyalty Obedience and Trust
Peter's answer marks the line between sincere believers and half-hearted followers, for when plain truth offends, exposes the life and calls for change, the half-hearted turn back while those who receive the Spirit's conviction and bring His words into daily practice remain with Him and grow in grace and knowledge of God. Those who left after taking offense did not recover from that offense, and every neglected counsel puts the soul in distrust and suspicion and separates farther from righteousness and truth unless defects of character are reformed and self dies. Yet Christ's counsel and reproof recovers His disciples whenever they fall into error and peril.
It stands opposite those without genuine faith who lived on rabbinic doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances, who had no root in themselves and did not eat His words as hungry men eat food nor drink in His truth as the life of the world. Choosing form without spirit and husks without kernel, they left never to return, failing to accept truth and make it part of themselves and thereby placing themselves with the great deceiver, as people in every age turn from truth in the same way. The answer stands in contrast to defection and to Judas Iscariot among the twelve who would betray Him.
It also stands in contrast to Peter's later failure and denial under trial, which stands in painful contrast to that earlier loyalty. He needed to accept Christ's warning, seek help and depend on Him rather than his own self-confidence. It is the confession of one who looks to Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith and keeps fighting lawfully for an immortal crown instead of making shipwreck of the faith. When truly received in the heart the words of eternal life produce fruit unto righteousness and peace, and call for following Christ alone so that whatever others may say or do does not turn the follower aside from obeying His bidding to follow Him.
Jesus Christ alone has the words of eternal life and is by creation and by redemption the only source of strength, wisdom, guidance and power, so no one is to look to any human being or trust in man but to look to Him and depend on Him. The Word of the living God is to be the guide, and the statements in John 6 are to be read, studied and prayed over for understanding. Turning from His light that lights every man to the uncertain wisdom of men, who have no power except what they first receive from God, is disrespectful and discourteous toward the One who gives life and all things, and looking to human beings for wisdom brings bondage and spiritual weakness. Each one is accountable to God and is to walk and work as accountable to Him, receiving Christ by faith in His name and strength, and walking in that light gives strength in the Lord and cures spiritual weakness, and then He will be sanctification, righteousness and exceeding great reward. The verse is words to speak to God when in need, coming to Christ in weakness and unworthiness to receive help, wisdom and strength.
The verse expresses confidence to turn to Christ in perplexity, distress, weakness and unworthiness rather than to human counsel, seeking Him by faith even when unseen, with humility, prayer and an open heart. He supplies all that is necessary for time and for eternity and loves with an everlasting love as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, honored as the Son of the Highest by trusting Him with the whole heart, keeping the heart open to His love and showing love and devotion to Him. His life, death, resurrection and ascension are facts testifying that in Him alone is power to save, and He has ways and means beyond seeing. It calls for bearing much fruit to appease His hunger of soul, for counting the soul worth more than gaining the whole world, and for refusing discouragement while doing God's appointed work in dependence on His wisdom, grace and sustaining help, advancing in truth, winning souls, praying earnestly and not neglecting spiritual and eternal things but working with the understanding that the work belongs to God.
It is the resolve of humble and contrite believers to remain with Christ when men in responsibility shut their eyes to divine light, reject the working of the Holy Spirit as fanaticism, and reverse good and evil by treating darkness as light and light as darkness. Through approval and slander, through darkness and through all opposition from the agencies of Satan, Christ continues to shine, exposing evil, holding back sin and giving new life to the humble and contrite, and their answer is to stay with Him because He alone speaks the message that brings everlasting life and there is no other source to go to. His words gave the disciples strength and comfort, remaining a stay to their hearts after He was no longer with them, with sayings not fully understood when spoken becoming clear through later events. Looking to Jesus brings life and humbles human pride, and following God's will rather than one's own brings continued light and prepares a person to share that light with others.
The words of eternal life must be spoken with power and expression so hearers feel their weight, requiring training of the voice as a precious talent with the abdominal muscles doing the labor and the throat only a channel until defects are overcome. They must be presented ingeniously and tenderly by converted workers so people are reached and converted and hearts are won. They are to be carried to people perishing in sin and in spiritual darkness as heralds of salvation, and wicked cities must have opportunity to hear that Word, be enlightened and educated as to the sayings of Scripture, and search the Word for themselves before denunciation comes. Gospel workers who hold forth the words of life, having learned from Jesus and been helped by the Holy Spirit, let hearers hear an echo of Christ's voice. Christ's ministers communicate those words to the world, helping believers grow in knowledge and true holiness, watching over souls and teaching with patience, and those who proclaim the message of life need God's special grace and power, which He abundantly gives with the Holy Spirit to those who come to Him in faith.
That proclamation softens hearts, so that patients who hear the word of life at a sanitarium church may have hearts softened and be led to accept Christ as healer of the soul, and when presented in worship it calls for attentive, reverent listening rather than conduct that distracts others. Choosing Him means choosing light rather than darkness and following Him out of darkness to receive light and the light of life. His words give sufficient light to choose truth, but people who reject correction and cling to their own purposes risk deception. The words connect with the message brought by God's servants, for if they have brought such words and heavenly light they should be received as God's servants and trusted as led by God's Spirit. If people knew who the humble Teacher was and that He offered those words, they would welcome Him, for He gives mercy, love and peace without forcing anyone to accept them, and speaking truth from the sacred desk brings eternal life as God restores ruined mind and body so husband and wife can stand side by side doing that work.
Those loyal to Him are to obey His Word and carry out His work according to His instructions, hearing and receiving them to have the message to carry to others. Heeding the invitation of the Spirit of God through His ambassadors when appeals are made to the unconverted to take their stand on the Lord's side requires courage to break away alone from irreverent associates despite opposition and ridicule. To remain proud and self-defiant, hardening the heart with irreverence and indifference to Bible teaching, is to despise the salvation offered by the Prince of Life. His eager listeners showed hunger for spiritual food in their attentive hearing, and His words are life to those who receive them, the message people need. His teaching about partaking of His flesh and blood offended others, yet the disciples would not leave Him to seek counsel from religious formalists or side with scribes and Pharisees whose teaching relied on human commandments and tradition, remaining even when His words were a hard saying, and despite His reproofs Peter and the disciples chose to remain because they recognized Him as the one who had the words of eternal life.