CHAPTER VI. _Jesus passes the sea of Tiberias, and a great multitude follow_ _him_, 1-4. _He feeds_ five thousand _with_ five _loaves, and_ two _fishes_, 5-13. _They acknowledge him to be the prophet that should come into_ _the world_, 14. _They purpose to force him to become their king; and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:2. _THEY SAW HIS MIRACLES WHICH HE DID_] John does not mention these miracles; but Matthew details them, Matthew 12:2. John seems more intent on supplying the deficiencies of the other evangelists than in writing a connected history himself.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:3. _WENT UP INTO A MOUNTAIN_] This mountain must have been in the desert of Bethsaida, in the territories of Philip, tetrarch of Galilee. Our Lord withdrew to this place for a little rest; for he and his disciples had been so thronged with the multitudes, continually coming and going, t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:4. _AND THE PASSOVER - WAS NIGH._] This happened about ten or twelve days before the third passover which Christ celebrated after his baptism. _Calmet_. For a particular account of our Lord's _four_ passovers John 2:13. For thirty days before the Passover there were great preparations... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:5. _SAW A GREAT COMPANY_] See this miracle explained at large on Matthew 14:13, c. Mark 6:31, c. Luke 9:10, c. In speaking of the passovers, and various other matters, it does not appear that John follows any strict _chronological_ order. From John 6:15, it appears that our Lord had c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:6. _THIS HE SAID TO PROVE HIM_] To try his faith, and to see whether he and the other apostles had paid proper attention to the miracles which they had already seen him work; and to draw their attention more particularly to that which he was now about to perform. This is an observation... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:7. _TWO HUNDRED PENNYWORTH_] This sum, rating the _denarius_ at 7 3/4_d_., would amount to 6_£_. 9_s_. 2_d_. of our money, and appears to have been more than our Lord and all his disciples were worth of this world's goods. See the notes on Matthew 18:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:8. _ANDREW, SIMON PETER'S BROTHER, SAITH_] The other evangelists attribute this answer to the apostles in general. See the passages referred to above.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:9. _THERE IS A LAD HERE_] παιδαριον, a _little boy_, or _servant_, probably one who carried the apostles' provisions, or who came on purpose to sell his bread and fish. _FIVE BARLEY LOAVES_] Barley scarcely bore one-third of the value of wheat in the east: see Revelation 6:6. That it... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:10. _THERE WAS MUCH GRASS IN THE PLACE._] Perhaps newly _mown_ _grass_, or _hay_, is meant, (so the Vulgate _faenum_,) and this circumstance marks out more particularly that the _passover_ was at hand. In Palestine the grass is ready for mowing in _March_; and this miracle seems to have... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:11. _JESUS TOOK THE LOAVES_] See the notes on Matthew 14:19. As there were five loaves and five thousand people, so there was _one loaf_ to every _thousand_ men, independently of the women and children.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:12. _GATHER UP THE FRAGMENTS_] "Great will be the punishment of those who waste the crumbs of food, scatter seed, and neglect the law." _Synops Sohar_. Among the Jews the _peah_, or residue after a meal, was the property of the servitors.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:14. _THIS IS OF A TRUTH THAT PROPHET_] Spoken of, Deuteronomy 18:15, viz. the Messiah. How near were these people at this time to the kingdom of heaven!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:15. _TAKE HIM BY FORCE, TO MAKE HIM A KING_] The Jews had often suffered by famine in those times in which their enemies were permitted to prevail over them; but, finding that Jesus had such power as to multiply a few loaves to feed thousands, they took it for granted that while he was... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:17. _TOWARD CAPERNAUM._] St. Mark says, Mark 6:45, that our Lord commanded them to go along to Bethsaida; and in the course of the history we find they got neither to Bethsaida nor Capernaum, but landed in the country of _Genesaret_: Matthew 14:34. Our Lord seems to have desired them t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:19. _HAD ROWED_] Their vessel was a small one only, something of the boat kind: as to _sails_, if they had any, they could not now venture to carry them, because of the storm. _FIVE AND TWENTY OR THIRTY FURLONGS_] Between three and four miles. The sea of Tiberias, on which they now wer... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:21. _IMMEDIATELY THE SHIP WAS AT THE LAND_] How far they were from the place at which they landed, when our Lord came to them, we know not. But the evangelist seems to speak of their _sudden_ arrival there as extraordinary and miraculous.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _THE PEOPLE WHICH STOOD ON THE OTHER SIDE_] ἙϚηκως περαν της θαλασσης, _Standing by the sea side_. The people were not on the _other_ side, i.e. in _Perea_, as our version states, but on that side where Bethsaida lay: see the notes on Matthew 14:25; Matthew 14:34, and on Mark 6:45. The G... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _THERE CAME OTHER BOATS_] After Jesus and his disciples had departed. _FROM TIBERIAS_] Herod Antipas built this city near the lake of Genesaret, in the best parts of Galilee, and called it _Tiberias_, in honour of _Tiberius_, the Roman emperor: see Jos. Ant. book xviii. chap. 2. sect. 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _THEY ALSO TOOK SHIPPING_] That is, as many of them as could get accommodated with boats took them and thus got to Capernaum; but many others doubtless went thither on foot, as it is not at all likely that five or six thousand persons could get boats enow to carry them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SEA_] That is, on the sea coast, to the northward of it, where Capernaum lies in the land of Genesaret: but see the note, on John 6:17; John 6:22. It was in one of the synagogues of Capernaum that he delivered the following discourse: see John 6:59.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _YE SEEK ME, NOT BECAUSE YE SAW_, c.] Though the miracle of the loaves was one of the most astonishing that ever was wrought upon earth and though this people had, by the testimony of all their senses, the most convincing proof of its reality; yet we find many of them paid little attention... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _LABOUR NOT FOR THE MEAT_] That is, for that _only_, but _also for the bread_, c. Our Lord wills every man to be active and diligent in that employment in which providence has placed him but it is his will also that that employment, and all the concerns of life, should be subservient to th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _THAT WE MIGHT WORK THE WORKS OF GOD?_] That is, Divine works, or such as God can approve.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _THIS_ IS _THE WORK OF GOD, THAT YE BELIEVE_] There is nothing you can be employed in more acceptable to God than in yielding to the evidence set before you, and acknowledging me as your Messiah and the _Saviour_ of a lost _world_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _WHAT SIGN_] τισημειον, _What miracle_; so the word is evidently used, John 2:11; John 2:23, and in many other places. _THAT WE MAY SEE, AND BELIEVE THEE_] That, having _seen_ the miracle, we may _believe_ thee to be the promised Messiah. They had already seen the miracle of the five loav... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _OUR FATHERS DID EAT MANNA IN THE DESERT_] Their argument seems to run thus: Thou hast, we grant, fed five thousand men with five loaves and two small fishes; but what is this in comparison of what Moses did in the desert, who for forty years fed more than a million of persons with bread f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _MOSES GAVE YOU NOT THAT BREAD FROM HEAVEN_] Our Lord refutes the argument of the Jews, by proving: 1. That it was not Moses, but God, who gave the manna. 2. That this bread was not the _true_ bread, but was merely a type of it. 3. That God had given them now a bread infinitely more exc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _LORD, EVERMORE GIVE US THIS BREAD._] Either meaning, "Let the miracle of the manna be renewed, and continue among us for ever:" or, "Let that bread of which thou hast spoken, become our constant nourishment." The Jews expected that, when the Messiah should come, he would give them all ma... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE_] That is, the bread which gives _life_, and preserves from _death_. _HE THAT COMETH TO ME_] The person who receives my doctrine, and believes in me as the great atoning sacrifice, shall be perfectly satisfied, and never more feel misery of mind. All the guilt of h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME_] The neuter gender, παν, is probably used here for the masculine, πας. _SHALL COME TO ME_] All that are _drawn_ by the Father, John 6:44, i.e. all those who are _influenced_ by his Spirit, and _yield_ to those influences: for as many as are LED (not _drive... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 38. _NOT TO DO MINE OWN WILL_] I am come, not to act according to human motives, passions, or prejudices; but according to infinite wisdom, goodness, and mercy. Jewish passions and prejudices would reject publicans and sinners as those alluded to, and shut the gate of heaven against the Gentil... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING_] It is the will of God that every soul who believes should continue in the faith, and have a resurrection unto life eternal. But he _wills_ this _continuance_ in salvation, without purposing to _force_ the persons so to _continue_. God may _will_ a thing _to be_, w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _THIS IS THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME_] Lest they should take a wrong meaning out of his words, as many have done since, he tells them that, far from any person being excluded from his mercy, it was the will of God that every one who saw him might believe and be saved. The _power_, without... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 41. _THE JEWS THEN MURMURED_] Because the whole of his discourse event to prove that he was infinitely greater than Moses; and that he _alone_ could give present peace and eternal glory to men.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 44. _EXCEPT THE FATHER - DRAW HIM_] But how is a man drawn? St. _Augustin_ answers from the poet, _Trahit sua quemque voluptas_; a man is attracted by that which he delights in. Show green herbage to a sheep, he is drawn by it: show nuts to a child, and he is drawn by them. They run wherever t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 45. _IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS_] Isaiah 54:13; Jeremiah 31:34. _THEY SHALL BE ALL TAUGHT OF GOD._] This explains the preceding verse. God teaches a man to know himself, that, finding his need of salvation, he may flee to lay hold on the hope which his heavenly Father has set before him i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 46. _NOT THAT ANY MAN HATH SEEN THE FATHER_] He does not teach men by appearing _personally_ before them, or by any other outward voice than that of his word and messengers; but he teaches by his _Spirit_. This teaching from God implies: 1. That they shall have _proper_ instruction. 2. That... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 47. _HATH EVERLASTING LIFE._] He is entitled to this, on his believing me to be the Messiah, and trusting in me alone for salvation. Our blessed Lord recapitulates here what he had said in the preceding discourse. The person who is saved is, 1. drawn by the Father; 2. hears his instructions;... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 48. _I AM THAT BREAD OF LIFE._] I alone afford, by my _doctrine_ and _Spirit_, that _nourishment_ by which the soul is saved unto life eternal.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 49. _YOUR FATHERS DID EAT MANNA - AND ARE DEAD._] That bread neither preserved their bodies alive, nor entitled them to life eternal; but those who receive my salvation, shall not only be raised again in the last day, but shall inherit eternal life. It was an opinion of the Jews themselves tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 50. _THIS IS THE BREAD_, c.] I am come for this very purpose, that men may believe in me, and have eternal life.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 51. _IS MY FLESH, WHICH I WILL GIVE_, c.] Our Lord explains his meaning more fully, in these words, than he had done before. Having spoken so much of the _bread_ which _feeds_ and _nourishes_ the _soul_, and preserves from _death_, the attention of his hearers was fixed upon his words, which t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 52. _HOW CAN THIS MAN GIVE US HIS FLESH TO EAT?_] Our Lord removes this difficulty, and answers the question, in John 6:63.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 53. _EXCEPT YE EAT THE FLESH OF THE SON OF MAN_] Unless ye be made partakers of the blessings about to be purchased by my blood, passion, and violent death, ye cannot be saved. As a man must eat bread and flesh, in order to be nourished by them, so a man must receive the grace and Spirit of C... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 54. _HATH ETERNAL LIFE_] This can never be understood of the sacrament of the Lord's supper. 1. Because this was not instituted till a year after; at the last Passover. 2. It cannot be said that those who do not receive that sacrament must perish everlastingly. 3. Nor can it be supposed tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 55. _MY FLESH IS MEAT INDEED, AND MY BLOOD IS DRINK_ _INDEED._] Or, rather, _My flesh is the true meat_, c. In both clauses of this verse, instead of αληθως, the _adverb_, I read αληθης, the _adjective_, agreeing with βρωσις. This reading is supported by BCKLT, and twenty-one others both the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 56. _DWELLETH IN ME, AND I IN HIM._] Of all connections and unions, none is so intimate and complete as that which is effected by the digestion of aliments, because they are changed into the _very substance_ of him who eats them; and this our Lord makes the model of that union which subsists... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 57. _SO HE THAT EATETH ME, EVEN HE SHALL LIVE BY ME._] From which we learn that the union between Christ and his followers shall be similar to that which subsists between God and Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 59. _IN THE SYNAGOGUE - IN CAPERNAUM._] From John 6:26, to this verse, the evangelist gives us the discourse which our Lord preached in the synagogue, in which he was repeatedly interrupted by the Jews; but this gave him the fuller opportunity to proclaim the whole truth relative to his passio... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 60. _MANY THEREFORE OF HIS DISCIPLES_] So it appears that he had _many more_ than the twelve, who constantly accompanied him. _THIS IS A HARD SAYING; WHO CAN HEAR IT?_] Who can digest such doctrine as this? It is intolerable: it is impracticable. There is a similar saving in _Euripides_, to t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 61. _JESUS KNEW IN HIMSELF_] By giving them this proof that he knew their hearts he also proved that he was God; that he could not be deceived himself, and that it was impossible for him to deceive any; consequently, that the doctrine he taught them must be the truth of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 62. _IF YE SHALL SEE THE SON OF MAN ASCEND_] Ye need not be stumbled at what I say concerning eating my flesh and drinking my blood, for ye shall soon have the fullest proof that this is _figuratively_ spoken, for I shall ascend with the same body with which I shall arise from the dead; theref... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 63. _IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH_] It is the spiritual sense only of my words that is to be attended to, and through which life is to be attained, 2 Corinthians 3:6. Such only as _eat_ and _drink_ what I have mentioned, in a _spiritual_ sense, are to expect eternal life. _THE FLESH PROFI... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 64. _BUT THERE ARE SOME OF YOU THAT BELIEVE NOT._] This is addressed to Judas, and to those disciples who left him: John 6:66. _AND WHO SHOULD BETRAY HIM_] Or, _who would deliver him up_. Because he knew all things; he knew from the _first_, from Judas's call to the apostleship, and from ete... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 65. _THEREFORE SAID I UNTO YOU_] John 6:44. see the note there. _EXCEPT IT WERE GIVEN UNTO HIM_] None can come at _first_, unless he be drawn by the Father; and none can _continue_, unless he continue under those sacred influences which God _gives_ only to those who do not receive his first g... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 66. _MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES WENT BACK_] They no longer associated with him, nor professed to acknowledge him as the Messiah. None of these were of the _twelve_. Christ had many others who generally attended his ministry, and acknowledged him for the Messiah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 67. _WILL YE ALSO GO ALWAY?_] Or, _Do YE also desire_, c. These words are very emphatical. Will YOU abandon me? - _you_, whom I have distinguished with innumerable marks of my affection - _you_, whom I have chosen out of the world to be my companions, - _you_, to whom I have revealed the secr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 68. _SIMON PETER ANSWERED_] With his usual zeal and readiness, speaking in behalf of the whole, _To whom shall we go_? Where shall we find a more gracious master-a more powerful Redeemer - a more suitable Saviour? _Thou_ alone _hast the words of_ _eternal life_. None can teach the _doctrine_ o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 69. _WE BELIEVE_] On the authority of thy word; _and are_ _sure-have known_, εγνωκαμεν, by the evidence of thy miracles, _that_ _thou art the Christ_, the promised Messiah. [-Anglo-Saxon-] _And we_ _belyfath and witen that thu eart Crist Godes Son. Anglo-Saxon_. How near is the _mother_ to the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:70. _HAVE NOT I CHOSEN YOU TWELVE_] Have I not, in an especial manner, called _you_ to believe in my name, and chosen you to be my disciples and the propagators of my doctrine! _Nevertheless_, one of you is a _devil_, or _accuser_, enlisted on the side of Satan, who was a murderer from... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 6:71. _HE SPAKE OF JUDAS-FOR HE IT WAS THAT SHOULD BETRAY_ _him_] Οὑτος γαρ ημελλεν αυτον παραδιδοναι, _He who was about to_ _deliver him up_. By referring to this matter so often, did not our blessed Lord intend to _warn_ Judas? Was not the evil fully exposed to his view? And who dare s... [ Continue Reading ]