John 6:41-71 – Bible Study & Exploration
Jesus Says, I Am the Bread of Life
(Verses 41-59) As we continue with this chapter, you’ll notice that Jesus uses the phrase “I Am” four times. “I Am the bread of life” is one of the seven great “I Am” statements that Jesus uses throughout John’s gospel. These seven statements are meant to reveal an attribute of His divinity.
The other six are, the light of the world (8:12), the gate for the sheep (10:7), the good shepherd (10:11), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way (14:6), and the true vine (15:1).
It’s important to understand that Jesus is speaking from the spiritual perspective of heaven and not the physical world when He uses these “I Am” statements.
The Jews of Jesus’ day had difficulty understanding what His purpose was for coming into the world. They wanted to be set free from Roman oppression. Jesus was their to set them free spiritually.
Can You Eat the Bread of Life?
When we look at Jesus’ interactions with the people of Israel from the beginning of John’s gospel, we can see a consistent pattern. Jesus is revealing God’s message of heaven and salvation. The people are speaking from the perspective of the physical world.
With this understanding, we can see that Jesus is not referring to physically eating His flesh and drinking His blood. These are metaphoric expressions used to differentiate the physical food the Jews sought and the spiritual food that Jesus was offering.
This teaching of Jesus naturally flows from the story of feeding the five thousand. It demonstrates the contrast between the physical need the people of Israel were seeking and what Jesus was trying to get them to pay attention to which was spiritual nourishment.
The unfortunate reality is the Catholic and Orthodox churches, through substantiation believe that the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ during the mass. They use this passage in John’s gospel as the basis for this belief. This is a false gospel and goes against what the Word of God teaches.
Both of the churches take this verse out of context and mislead many people into thinking that they are actually consuming the body and blood of Christ. This is false! This is what occurs when you fail to take into account the words that lead up to this verse and the words that follow.
Is the Bread of Life a Hard Teaching?
(Verses 60-63) It certainly was for the ancient Jews as they listened to Jesus speak. Jesus tells them that if they have a difficult time believing this how will they understand when they see Him ascend into heaven when He returns to the Father.
But if you read the entire chapter, it begins to come together and you see that it actually is not a hard teaching. Especially with what Jesus is about to say in verse 63.
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” (John 6:63)
Here, Jesus briefly speaks of the flesh from it’s physical perspective. He says that “flesh counts for nothing.” This helps to explain that eating Jesus’ body and blood are merely metaphorical. This verse is completely disregarded by the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
To reaffirm this, Jesus quickly follows up with by explaining that His words are full of spirit and life. And this is what we should always be consuming.
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” (John 6:63)
The Story of Martha and Mary
The eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood is a metaphorical expression describing a spiritual endeavor. Jesus taught on spiritual things of heaven.
A beautiful biblical example of this comes from the story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42) that we find in Luke’s gospel.
The story takes place at Martha’s home on a day when Jesus was visiting. Martha wanting to host her Lord as best she could, worked hard to be hospitable to Jesus and the other guests. While Martha was making preparations, Mary her sister chose to sit at the feet of Jesus. With all attentiveness, she hung on every word Jesus spoke.
This troubled Martha as she was doing all the work. Jesus recognized this and stated that what Mary was doing (consuming the bread of life) listening to Jesus’ words was the most important thing to do. In essence, listening to every word spoken by Jesus, Mary was consuming the body and blood of Christ in a metaphorical way.
Just As Jesus Spoke Of
(Verses 64-71) Look carefully at this particular passage. Do you see anything that corresponds to the previous verses 35-40?
Read verses 35-40 again and take notice of what Jesus said in these verses. They are coming to fruition in these last verses of chapter. He said those who are drawn to me by my Father I would not lose. They would believe and be saved and stay saved. Those who were not drawn by the Father would not hold a saving faith in Jesus.
After Jesus’ teaching on the bread of life, many of His followers left Him. But the twelve did not leave Jesus. And Jesus spoke these words to confirm that who the Father chooses I will not lose.
He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” (John 6:65)
Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? (John 6:70)
When Jesus asks the twelve if they’re going to leave Him also. Simon Peter replies with a statement that shows a saving faith among the twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)
This response to Jesus is one that demonstrates a saving faith in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This answer shows how they put their whole faith and trust in Jesus.
To the twelve, there was nothing else beside Jesus. Where else would they go. What could the world possibly offer them that would be better than what Jesus was offering. This is the sign of true saving faith.
The others who left Jesus might argue that they were saved but lost their salvation after hearing the difficult words that Jesus spoke about in being the bread of life. This would not be the case. Just as Jesus spoke and demonstrated. He will never lose those that the Father draws to Him.