John 6:33

John 6:33. For the bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. The ‘bread of God' is the bread which God gives (John 6:32). It is not easy to decide on the translation of this verse. The Greek equally admits of two renderings, either ‘he that cometh,' or ‘that (bread) which cometh.' If the former is correct, our Lord begins here to identify Himself with the ‘true bread;' if the latter, the figure is retained unexplained until John 6:35. The expressions in John 6:50; John 6:58 do not decide the point; for after John 6:35 the descent from heaven might with equal propriety be connected either with the bread or with Him whom the bread symbolized. Nor does the present tense ‘cometh down ‘compel us to refer the word to the bread; for Jesus might be designated ‘He that cometh from heaven' (comp. chap. John 3:31) as correctly as ‘He that came from heaven:' one description relates to nature and origin, the other to a past fact of history. On the whole, however, it seems best to carry on the thought of the bread in this verse. The very word ‘come down' is used (Exodus 16) in the account of the manna; and the answer of the multitude in John 6:34 seems to show that no new and (to them) strange thought has come in since the mention of the Father's gift. But if the figure is still continued in this verse, it is only a thin veil that conceals the truth. In John 6:27 the Son of man is He who gives eternal life; here it is the bread of God that giveth life unto the world. The last word is very significant. The manna had been for ‘the fathers;' the true bread is for the world. We are reminded at once of chap. John 3:16, ‘God so loved the world,' and of chap. John 4:42, ‘the Saviour of the world.' The unlimited offer also recalls chap. John 4:14, ‘Whosoever hath drunk of the water that I will give him;' and in both cases the result is the same.