John 6:55

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. FOR MY FLESH IS MEAT INDEED, AND MY BLOOD IS DRINK INDEED....

55._For my flesh is truly food. _He confirms the same statement by other words, “As the body is weakened and consumed by the want of food, so the soul, if it be not fed with heavenly bread, will soon perish with hunger.” For when he declares that_his flesh is truly food, _he means that souls are famished, if they want that food. Then only wilt thou find life in Christ, when thou shalt seek the nourishment of life in his flesh. Thus we ought to boast, with Paul, that we reckon nothing to be excellent but Christ crucified; because, as soon as we have departed from the sacrifice of his death, we meet with nothing but death; nor is there any other road that conducts us to a perception of his Divine power than through his death and resurrection. Embrace Christ, therefore, as _the Servant of the Father_, (Isaiah 42:1,) that he may show himself to thee to be the Prince of life

52-59 The flesh and blood of the Son of man, denote the Redeemer in the nature of man; Christ and him crucified, and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption; pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the way to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life. These are called the flesh and blood of Christ, because they are purchased by the breaking his body, and the shedding of his blood. Also, because they are meat and drink to our souls. Eating this flesh and drinking this blood mean believing in Christ. We partake of Christ and his benefits by faith. The soul that rightly knows its state and wants, finds whatever can calm the conscience, and promote true holiness, in the redeemer, God manifest in the flesh. Meditating upon the cross of Christ gives life to our repentance, love, and gratitude. We live by him, as our bodies live by...

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 _Arabic,_ _Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian_, two copies of the _Itala, Clement,_ _Origen, Cyril, Chrysostom_, and _Damascenus_. Our Lord terms his flesh, the _true meat_, and his blood the _true drink_, because those who received the grace merited by his death would be really nourished and supported thereby unto eternal life. He calls himself the _true vine_, John 15:1, in exactly the same sense in which he calls himself the _true bread_, John 6:32,...

In these verses Jesus repeats what he had in substance said before. EXCEPT YE EAT THE FLESH ... - He did not mean that this should be understood literally, for it was never done, and it is absurd to suppose that it was intended to be so understood. Nothing can possibly be more absurd than to suppose that when he instituted the Supper, and gave the bread and wine to his disciples, they literally ate his flesh and drank his blood. Who can believe this? There he stood, a living man - his body yet alive, his blood flowing in his veins; and how can it be believed that this body was eaten and this blood drunk? Yet this absurdity must be held by those who hold that the bread and wine at the communion are “changed into the body, blood, and divinity of our Lord.” So it is taught in the decrees of the Council of Trent; and to such absurdities are men driven when they depart from the simple meaning...

EXPOSITION JOHN 6:1 2. _Christ declares himself to be the Sustainer and Protector of the life of which he is the Source_. JOHN 6:1 (1) _The supply of human wants illustrated by a well known _"_sign_" _of power_. Chronological difficulties beset our treatment of this miraculous narrative with its varied consequences and results. Many curious and even violent measures have been resorted to with a view to solve them. Some have supposed that John 5:1. and 6. have been inverted in order, and that thus the presence of our Lord in Galilee, mentioned in...

FOR MY FLESH IS MEAT INDEED,.... Not in a corporeal, but in a spiritual sense; and the same is said of his blood: AND MY BLOOD IS DRINK INDEED, c. that is, they are both "truly" meat and drink, as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions render it or are "true" meat and drink, as the Arabic version: in opposition to what was typical meat and drink; as the manna in the wilderness, the water out of the rock, the flesh and wine at the passover, the meat and drink offerings under the law, or any other meats and drinks under that dispensation; and which, though not when Christ said these words, yet now are abolished, being unprofitable, and not to be fed upon. Moreover, these phrases may denote the reality, substance, and solidity of that spiritual food believers have in Christ, in opposition to the imaginary food of sensual sinners, who feed on ashes and bread of deceit; and to that...

John 6:22. _The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that the disciples were gone away alone: (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither the disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus._ Everything looked very favorable, did it not? These people put themselves to considerable trouble in order to get where the Saviour was; they were not satisfied to be away from him; they were «seeking for Jesus.» John 6:25. And when th

CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The Feeding of the Five Thousand Men. (John 6:1 .)_ 2. The Attempt to Make Him King, (John 6:15 .) 3. The Stormy Sea. “It is I, be not afraid.” (John 6:16 .) 4. The Discourse on the Bread of Life. The Food of the Believer. (John 6:22 .) 5. The Falling Away of Disciples. (John 6:60) 6. Peter's Confession. (John 6:67 .) The events which are recorded in this chapter happened at the Sea of Galilee, the sea of Tiberias. John exclusively uses t

FURTHER JEWISH OBJECTIONS. Further advance is made by the use for the first time of the phrase, to eat the flesh. To their question How? Jesus answers that the gift of life can be obtained only by such means. The reference to the sacrificial death is made clearer by the addition and drink His blood. The true life can be gained only by the assimilation of the Body and the Blood, the life set free by death for wider purposes. Those who partake of this true food gain abiding union with Christ. The expressions used here are intelligible only in the light of Christian Eucharistie experience. John 6:60 ff. is historically important as describing the crisis in Galilee, when many even of the best disposed took offence and fell away. In place of their material expectations He offered them a spiritual conception of the kingdom. It proved a stumbling-block. What would their feelings be when He left...