The Tender Love Of God

A Study of John 6:41-46

“So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.”

John 6:41–46 (ESV)

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-The Jews: “οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι”, “Hoi, Ioudaioi”; adjective, nominative, plural, masculine | substantival adjective – In this context this is likely those present and listening to Jesus in Capernaum; More broadly: the apostle John, looked upon the Jews as those who (not only at Jerusalem, but also in Galilee, cf. John 6:41, 52) opposed his divine Master and his Master’s cause — especially the rulers, priests, members of the Sanhedrin, Pharisees — he does not hesitate to style οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, since the hatred of these leaders exhibits the hatred of the whole nation toward Jesus.

-Grumbled: “Ἐγόγγυζον”, “Egongyzon”; verb, imperfect, active, indicative, third person, plural | finite verb – to murmur, mutter, grumble or saything in a low tone.

-The Bread: “ὁ ἄρτος”, “ho artos”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | predicate nominative – bread, loaf.

-Heaven: “τοῦ οὐρανοῦ”, “tou ouranou”; noun, genitive, singular, masculine | prepositional object – The dwelling place of God; from here Jesus the Christ came to earth.

-Jesus: “Ἰησοῦς”, “Iēsous”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | proper name – Jesus, Jehoshua; Jesus = “Yahweh is salvation”; the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind, God incarnate.

-Joseph: “Ἰωσήφ”, “Iōsēph”; noun, genitive, singular, masculine | proper name – Joseph = “let him add”; the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus.

-I Have Come Down: “καταβέβηκα”, “katabebēka”; verb, perfect, active, indicative, first person, singular | finite verb – come down, go down, descend.

-Father (v. 44): “πατὴρ”, “patēr”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | subject of the dependent clause – God is called the Father; the Father of Jesus Christ, as one whom God has united to himself in the closest bond of love and intimacy, made acquainted with his purposes, appointed to explain and carry out among men the plan of salvation, and made to share also in his own divine nature. Also, of Christians who have been born again as children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

-Sent: “πέμψας”, “pempsas”; verb, aorist, active, participle, singular, nominative, masculine | attributive participle – teachers who come forward by God’s command and with his authority are said to be (or to have been) sent by God.

-Draws: “ἑλκύσῃ”, “helkysē”; verb, aorist, active, subjunctive, third person, singular | finite verb – allure, inciting, to draw by inward power, lead.

-Will Raise Up: “ἀναστήσω”, “anastēsō”; verb, future, active, indicative, first person, singular | finite verb – rise, get up, rise up; to raise up from death.

-Last: “ἐσχάτῃ”, “eschatē”; adjective, dative, singular, feminine | attributive adjective – the last, “the last day” denotes that with which the present age which precedes the times of the Messiah or the glorious return of Christ from heaven will be closed.

-Day: “ἡμέρᾳ”, “hēmera”; noun, dative, singular, feminine | prepositional object – day; “the last day of the present age” speaks of the day in which Christ will return from heaven, raise the dead, hold the final judgment, and perfect his kingdom.

-Prophets: “προφήταις”, “prophētais”; noun, dative, plural, masculine | prepositional object – prophet, inspired speaker, the Old Testament prophets.

-Taught: “διδακτοὶ”, “didaktoi”; adjective, nominative, plural, masculine | predicate adjective – taught, instructed.

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

As Jesus spoke to the people of Capernaum and the wider region of Galilee, as well as Jewish religious leaders who were present, they grumbled against Him because He said He was the “bread that came down from heaven.” In spite of all they had seen and heard from Jesus they questioned how Jesus could say He had come down from heaven because they knew his mother Mary, and her husband Joseph who was an earthly, but not biological father of Jesus (though they disputed/were ignorant of this fact). In response, Jesus told them not to grumble because He had said this and also that no one can come to Him unless God the Father draws them to Him; and that He will raise up all those who do come to Him on the “last day.” Jesus then quoted a portion from the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah 54:13) which said, “And they will be taught by God,” and continued on to say that everyone who has heard and learned from God the Father comes to Him, but no one has seen God the Father except the one who is from God (speaking of Himself).

Implication (what does this mean to us):

In verses 41-42 of this passage we find that the Jewish people Jesus spoke to were grumbling about Him because He said He was the “bread that came down from heaven.” At this time Jesus was speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum, and by use of the word “Jews,” John, the gospel writer, is referring to the Galilean Jewish audience spoken to, or at the very least, the Jewish leaders present in that audience. Between verses 33–58 of John chapter 6 Jesus claims that He came down from heaven 6 times, so His claim to have come from heaven and to speak and act with the authority and power of God the Father is clear. Prior to this discourse of Jesus, He had miraculously fed many of the people present the previous day, and upon arriving in Capernaum that morning, many people were miraculously healed by Him as well (Matthew 14:34-36). However, in spite of what the people present had seen, heard and experienced, they complained about Jesus’ claim to have come from heaven.

Earlier in His teaching, Jesus drew on the people’s comparison of Moses and the miracle of the manna from heaven from Exodus 16, to say that while the manna God provided the people in the wilderness eventually spoiled like regular food does, He is the bread that endures to eternal life. The grumbling that John writes of can also be compared to the grumbling of the people in Exodus that came even after they had received the manna from heaven (Numbers 11:4). Earlier in this gospel account the Jews in Jerusalem were outraged because Jesus said things that made it clear He is equal with God (Jesus is God incarnate and He made that clear in John 5:18), but now the Jews of Galilee are upset because they think He is merely a fellow Galillean. Jesus is a human man from Galilee, but He is also fully God; fully Divine. Yet the people say, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”. Essentially, the people are saying, ‘we know who this man’s parents are; they moved here when he was younger. So, how can he claim to be from heaven?’

In speaking this way they show themselves to be ignorant in regards to the miraculous, virgin birth of Jesus, and Jesus’ Divine origin. Joseph was an earthly father to Jesus, but he was not Jesus’ biological father. Mary was miraculously impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit without ever having sexual relations. It was only after having given birth to Jesus that Joseph and Mary came together as husband and wife and conceived other human children who were not of divine origin (Matthew 1:23-25; 12:46; 13:55-56).

In verses 43-44 Jesus addresses their grumbling by saying, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” Their grumbling showed that they thought they could understand divine revelation in their own finite power and intellect. Here they had One who had clearly been sent by God, but it challenged their own fallible conception of who the Messiah would be and in what manner He would come. There was no room in their understanding for the grace of God to come to them and save them. They thought they could come to God and understand Him in their own ability, but Jesus is quick to restate what He said in verse 37a by telling them no one can come to Him (God the Son) unless God the Father who sent Jesus draws them, and also that Jesus Himself would raise those who come up on the last day.

This Jewish audience incorrectly thought they were chosen by God because of their natural, ethnic origin. But Jesus is explaining here that God must draw them to Himself before they can even make the choice whether or not to come to Him. Here we see again the combination of God’s initiative in salvation and our freewill to accept or reject. This word translated from the Greek as “draw” is the same one used by God in Jeremiah 31:3, in the Greek Old Testament, that some English translations record as, “With loving-kindness I have drawn thee.” In this context it describes tender wooing or alluring. This does not describe dragging, irresistible grace or rapacious force. God does not force us to love and accept Him because that would not be love, and God is love. He could have created us as mindless automatons, but instead He created us in His image and gave us free will to choose whether or not to love Him in return. So, God pursues us in loving-kindness, and if He did not do so we would have no opportunity to choose Him. But because He does pursue us in tender love, He allures and draws us to Himself, and we are then faced with the choice of whether or not we will love Him in return and “come to Him.” And that means coming to Jesus, God the Son, in faith. To reject Jesus is to reject God, because Jesus is God.

And all those who do come to Jesus will be raised up on the last day. This means everyone who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior will have eternal life and be resurrected on the last day of this present age. When we who believe in Jesus die here on earth, we will immediately be with Him, but we will also be bodily resurrected when He returns to judge the earth and make all things new.

In verse 45 Jesus quotes from Isaiah 54:13 when He says, “‘And they will all be taught by God,” and He says this to support His claim that everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Him. He also says this to further describe how God the Father draws people to Himself. As D.A. Carson puts it, “When he compels belief, it is not by the savage constraint of a rapist, but by the wonderful wooing of a lover. Otherwise put, it is by an insight, a teaching, an illumination implanted within the individual, in fulfillment of the Old Testament promise, They will all be taught by God.” (Carson, D. A.. The Gospel according to John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary (PNTC)) (p. 293). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.))

To come to Jesus in faith requires a sort of internal awakening. We must first have our minds and hearts opened to perceive and understand the truth, and be “granted repentance” by God (2 Timothy 2:24-26). But He does not force us. He woos us with the beautiful truth of who He is, what He has done, and how He loves us and desires to fulfill the deepest longing of our hearts that were made to find ultimate satisfaction in Him. Therefore, the initiative in salvation and belief lies with God, but the choice of whether or not to accept Him is given to us. He has lovingly and graciously given us the dignity of choice. The other point we can draw from this statement of Jesus is that the disbelieving crowd He spoke to had not “heard and learned” from the Father.

What Jesus does not say here though, and I must therefore be careful not to impose upon the text, is that every single one who God teaches in this way comes to Him. Perhaps there must also first be a willingness and desire in a person’s heart to even hear this type of teaching from God. What is clear though from John 6, is that God is the first mover in all things. Unless He first comes to us, we have no opportunity to respond in faith and acceptance, but when He does come in this way, we must choose to receive and believe His teaching.

Lastly for this passage, in verse 46 a parenthetical qualification is added to Jesus’ statement which says, “not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.” This parenthetical is nearly identical to what John wrote in 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” In this Jesus again communicates His unique relationship and unity with God the Father. This statement further illuminates the nature of the Godhead. God is one Being, but He is not one Person. He is one Being who exists as three perfectly unified Persons. This is the Trinity. “Being” is what you are, and “person” is who you are. You and I are human beings, and who we are is a single person. But God, who is also one Being (therefore there is only one true God), exists as three Persons. This concept of God’s nature is complex, but not illogical. We should not be surprised to find out that there are aspects related to the identity and nature of the eternally existent God of the universe that bend out finite minds at least a little bit.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to consider how lovely it is that the God of all creation does not compel or force us to come to Him, even though He has every right to as our sole Creator and Sustainer. He is a relational being that has existed for eternity past in a perfect loving relationship within the three Persons of the Godhead. But because He is infinitely loving He desired to create us for the purpose of glorifying Him in a loving, intimate, personal relationship for eternity. This being the case, He tenderly allures us with the beautiful truth of who He is, and even though we rejected Him and cut ourselves off from the source of life Himself, He came to earth as a man to die the death we deserve to open the way to a restored, loving relationship with Him.

Self Reflection:

1. Is there a part of God’s Word, or character revealed in His Word that I am struggling to comprehend; and is this causing me to, like the people of Galilee, grumble in response?

2. How should I deal with this difficulty I am having? How can I lean in closer to God with my questions or frustrations?
3. God has every right and the ability to force and compel me to accept Him, but He doesn’t. What does the tender love of God, seen in His humble and gracious alluring of us, tell me about His character?