John 6:40

Ver. 40. “ For this is the will of my Father, that whosoever beholds the Son and believes on him has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ”

This verse reproduces, either by confirming it (for, according to the Alexandrian authorities and the ancient versions), or by completing it (now, according to the Byzantine authorities), the thought of John 6:39. The principal difference is that in John 6:40 Jesus sets forth by the side of the gift which the Father makes in the person of the Son, the subjective act of the man who beholds and believes. In this expression is the decisive point. The two present participles, θεωρῶν καὶ πιστεύων, who beholds and believes, indicate the rapid succession of the two acts: “He who gives himself up to the contemplation and in whom it is immediately changed into faith.” This is the intentional antithesis of John 6:36: “ You have seen me, and you do not believe. ”

The commission which the Father has given to Jesus is not to save all men indiscriminately. His work is to offer Himself to the sight of all, and, where the sight becomes contemplation and contemplation becomes faith, there to save. The Alexandrian reading: of my Father, is more in harmony with the term Son. On the other hand, the received reading: of him that sent me, accords better with the words: he that beholds: “He has sent me that I might offer myself for contemplation:” The term θεωρεῖν, to behold, indicates a more reflective act than the simple ὁρᾶν, to see, of John 6:36. He only beholds who has been sufficiently struck by the mere sight to pause before the object with emotion. Jesus substitutes here the masculine πᾶς for the neuter πᾶν (John 6:39), of which He had made use, because faith is an individual act. The history of Jesus' ministry in the Synoptics is the commentary on this verse. Is it not by this sign, faith, that He recognizes those whom He can receive and save?

Luke 5:20: “ Seeing their faith, he said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. ” He does not Himself know either the individuals or the number of persons of whom the whole gift (τὸ πᾶν) which the Father bestows upon Him will be composed; God, in sending Him, has given to Him only this watchword: Whosoever believeth. The two ἀναστήσω, in John 6:39-40, may be made subjunctive aorists depending on ἵνα : “and that I may raise it up.” It is certainly so, in my view, with that of John 6:39; but perhaps we must detach that of John 6:40 from the preceding and see in it a future indicative. “And this done, I charge myself with raising him at the last day, without any possibility that anything should be able to prevent the accomplishment of this last work.” The pronoun με, me, especially placed as it is, seems to me to be better explained in this way.

In the presence of Jewish unbelief, Jesus has strengthened Himself anew by the assurance of the success of His work. He has explained the severity of His conduct towards the Jews: God has said: “He who sees and believes; and as for them, they have seen and have not believed.” There was here a serious charge against his hearers. Far from accepting it, they endeavor to throw it back upon Him.