John 6:22-59

Bread of Life Discourse

​After the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples sail toward the other side of the sea, while Jesus prays and then walks on the water to their boat. Immediately, their boat reached the other side. The next morning, the crowds that had been fed looked for Jesus and eventually found Him in Capernaum. They ask how He got there (since they noticed only the disciples left in a boat), but Jesus sees through their question to their real motivation for seeking Him. They were fed the prior day and now were hungry again. Jesus then takes the opportunity to explain man’s need to “feed” on the true bread, His flesh. Through graphic imagery, Jesus portrays the spiritual truth that His death provides continual sustenance for His followers. The phenomenon in this discourse, though, is the multiple ways in which the author describes the follower’s response to Jesus, and this has interpretive results for later passages.

​After reading John 6:22–59 carefully, the reader will notice the various types of “response imagery.” When the crowds ask how Jesus got to Capernaum, He tells them to labor for the food that does not perish instead of constantly seeking daily, physical food (6:27). Then, throughout the discourse, the crowds are indirectly encouraged to believe on the One whom the Father sent (6:29, 35b, 40, 47). Furthermore, these responses are paralleled by the idea of “coming to Jesus” (6:35a, 37, 44, 45). The reader will notice that verse thirty-five contains two distinct terms for the proper response, but the parallel structure of the verse implies the two phrases have the same referent. At one point, Jesus states that those who “look on the Son” and believe fulfill the will of the Father (6:40). This probably parallels John 3:14–15, where John references the bronze serpent that Moses raised in the wilderness. Though a different word for “seeing” is used in the LXX (ὁράω; θεωρέω), the final response image in John 6 points to the death of Christ that is also referenced in chapter three. Jesus closes the discourse with graphic remarks about eating “this” bread, later described as the flesh of the Son of Man, and drinking His blood (6:51, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58). No less than five distinct phrases of terminology represent the actions that Jesus calls His followers to perform.

The reader may ask, Which am I supposed to do? What does it mean to “eat flesh” and “drink blood,” and how does that fulfill the will of God (6:39–40). Questions like these are answered by noticing the effects or results of performing the above actions. In a few instances, the result of a particular response is unique. First, the one who comes to Jesus will never hunger, and the one who believes will never thirst (6:35), but these metaphors are not explained further in literal terms. Second, coming to Jesus also results in not being cast out by Jesus (6:37), which indicates some type of inseparable bond between the individual and Christ.

On the other hand, two effects of these responses are repeated for multiple actions. First, Jesus claims that He will raise various individuals “on the last day.” He offers this promise to the one who believes on Him (6:40), the one who comes to Him (6:44), and the one who eats His flesh (6:54). Second, the concept of eternal life is declared certain for those who do the following: labor for food that does not perish (6:27), believe in Christ (6:40, 47), look on the son (6:40), and eat His flesh (6:54, 57). Similarly, whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood will live forever (6:51, 58). The only action not included in the second list is coming to Jesus. However, the first repetitive phrase (“raise on the last day”) connects this response to the others. 

Based on these observations, I conclude that these phrases are multiple ways of referring to the same action. Since the same results are applied to those who perform each action, it follows that the actions are also identical. In this way, John presents that “salvation” in modern evangelical terminology is based on faith (i.e., “believing on Him whom the Father sent”). Coming to Jesus and looking on Him are different perspectives of the fundamental act. Finally, “eating His flesh” and “drinking His blood” refer to this process of believing in Jesus as the Source and Sustainer of spiritual life. In John 6, Jesus claims that His death is the means by which life flows to the believer, and dependence on that death is the content of “saving faith.”

Two final comments should be introduced here, though. First, the content of this belief is clear to modern Christians (and probably the author of John at the time of writing), but the disciples did not understand the necessity of Christ’s death until after the resurrection. They were constantly questioning His assertions of a coming death and forbad Him from speaking such things. Therefore, the content of their faith eventually progressed to the salvific necessity of His death and resurrection to provide atonement, but at the time of the Bread of Life Discourse they most likely considered the “object” of belief to be the truth of Christ’s being the Messiah or God’s promise of a new covenant and deliverance from sin.

Second, for future purposes, the one unmentioned result of “feeding” on Christ’s flesh should be mentioned. In verse fifty-six, Jesus claims that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood “abides” or resides (μένω) in Him. This is significant for two reasons. First, if eating and drinking Jesus’ body is identical to believing in Him or coming to Him as argued above, then all believers or Christians are “abiding” or “residing” in Christ. This conclusion opposes modern theories that only the seriously obedient and highly devoted Christians are “abiding” in Christ. Pastors and teachers often set this state of “abiding” as the goal of the daily Christian walk. Yet, John seems to argue that true believers always depend on Christ’s death for spiritual sustenance and thus “abide” in Him. Believers are those who abide in Christ, leaving no middle room for a Christian who does not abide in Jesus. John’s emphatic dualism is present in this chapter, providing only two options when it comes to accepting or rejecting Jesus. If the purpose of his writing is for the audience to believe that Jesus is the Christ (20:31), it follows that he would emphasize this need throughout the book. Second, the fact that believers are already abiding will become significant in later discussion of chapter fifteen. If John remains consistent in his terminology, he seems to imply that believers not only abide in Christ but also produce effects in their lives to show that to be the case. Again, he leaves no gray area: one believes and abides or one does not believe and does not abide.