John 6:41-51

⁴¹At this the Jews began to grumble about Him because He said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." ⁴²They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" ⁴³"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. ⁴⁴"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to Me. ⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. ⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

At this point, the unbelieving Jews grumble or murmur, becoming increasingly offended at Jesus’ teachings. First, they cannot accept Jesus, who has made Himself God’s equal and claimed Himself the Christ by calling Himself the bread that came down from heaven, because they think they know His two human parents, Joseph and Mary. They see nothing heavenly or divine in Jesus; they see Him now as a mere man making ludicrous claims. But the fact that He was fully man, which the Jews maligned, is a great picture of His love for us. Second, it seems that they are offended because Jesus’ teachings speak too lowly of themselves; Jesus has certainly accused them of ignorance and unbelief and has clearly explained that they are unable to understand and believe God’s Word apart from His drawing or granting. They are irritated at Jesus’ attack on their maturity and too proud to recognize His teaching as truth.

Jesus interrupts in v43-44 with, “Stop grumbling.” But if they are offended already, they will become more so, because Jesus will speak all the more clearly to the Jews inability to believe. V44 is also one of my favorites. Look at it closely. “No one is able to come to Jesus (remember, by “coming” He means “believing,”) unless the Father who sent Jesus draws him, and Jesus will raise the drawn one up on the last day.” Since Jesus had just said that all whom the Father gives Him will come, it now becomes clear that all of humanity can be spoken of under one of these two categories: those whom the Father eternally chose will all believe in Jesus, without a single exception; and those whom the Father has not chosen to give to Him, who are not able to believe – not even a single one. Christ declares that the doctrine of the Gospel, though it is preached to all without exception, cannot be embraced by all, but that a new understanding and a new perception are required; and, therefore, faith does not depend on the will of men, but on God who gives it. We ought not wonder that many refuse to embrace the Gospel, because no man will ever of himself be able to come to Christ. God must first approach him by His Spirit; and hence it follows that all are not drawn, but that God bestows this grace on those whom He has elected. The drawing is not violent, so as to compel men by external force or be “against their will;” rather the Holy Spirit changes man’s nature – making the elect alive and both willing and able, whereas before they were dead in trespasses and sin and both unwilling and unable. It is a false assertion that none are drawn but those who are willing to be drawn, as if man made himself obedient to God by his own efforts. The willingness with which men follow God is what they have been granted from God, who has formed their hearts to obey Him (Ezekiel 36:24-32). Finally, the word “draw” is elsewhere translated as “drag,” and it should make us think of drawing water from a well. Some suggest that draw means “to woo,” but that’s not good grammar. Nobody woos water from a well, and God doesn’t woo us to His Son. He draws us like water from a well. And we come.

Although this offensive teaching may have seemed strange and unprecedented to the Jews, Jesus makes clear beginning in v45 by quoting from Isaiah 54:13 (see also Jeremiah 31:31-34) that it is not a new idea – the Scriptures taught that “they all” – everyone who is made a true partaker of the New Covenant – “will be taught by God.” This “teaching” is the inward illumination of the heart, the quickening by the Holy Spirit – regeneration. Jesus is speaking to both believers and unbelievers. He’s saying to the crowd, “The greatest thing that you need is to be humbled. The greatest thing that you need is to be brought down in the estimation of yourselves and your own ability. Because you have to understand this: There is absolutely nothing that you can do to save yourselves, apart from the sovereign grace of almighty God. You cannot by your own unaided strength come to Me, and you can’t even enjoy the bread that endures to eternal life apart from the drawing of My Father.” The Jews of Jesus’ time could eat the physical bread He provided, just as the Jews of Moses’ time ate the manna. But even as those eventually died, so all who ate merely of Christ’s physical bread would likewise die.

When Jesus effectively says, “Unless the Father sovereignly draws you, like water from a well, you are dead in sins,” He is deliberately crushing their pride. They’re grumbling, because salvation is absolutely all of grace or it is nothing at all. There is within each one of us a gravitational pull toward self-justification. And Jesus is saying to these spectators of His miracles, “Unless My Father draws you, you can have nothing with Me.” He’s humbling them. This is hard teaching. Jesus isn’t wooing anyone with this teaching. He’s driving those who aren’t His away, and He’s drawing those who belong to Him closer to Him.

Through v45, Jesus has magnified God’s glory; and now in v46, He turns the audience to Himself. He alone, having seen the Father, reveals Him; He alone serves as Mediator between mankind and God the Father; He alone deserves the glory that we must give to the Father. And v47 reveals that if one learns anything true about the Father, he will know to look to Christ – “He who believes has everlasting life.” V48 repeats, “I am the bread of life” from v35. And v49-50 repeat the teaching about the manna from heaven from v32. Repetition is a good method of teaching. Finally, v51 is still more repetition – the only thing worth knowing is that Christ is the bread of life for the soul. Jesus is the bread of life, the living bread, the life-giving and life-sustaining bread. And He tells us here that He gives Himself, His flesh, His body, for the life of all who believe in Him.