Jesus Is The Living Bread

A Study of John 6:47-51

 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 6:47–51 ESV

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

-Whoever Believes: “ὁ πιστεύων”, “ho pisteuōn”; verb, present, active, participle, singular, nominative, masculine | substantival participle – believe, have faith; to have a faith directed unto, believing or in faith to give oneself up to; used especially of the faith by which a man embraces Jesus, i.e. a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah — the divinely appointed author of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God, conjoined with obedience to Christ.

-Eternal: “αἰώνιον”, “aiōnion”; adjective, accusative, singular, feminine | attributive adjective – eternal, without end, never to cease, everlasting.

-Life: “ζωὴν”, “zōēn”; noun, accusative, singular, feminine | direct object – life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever.

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

-Fathers (v.49): “πατέρες”, “pateres”; noun, nominative, plural, masculine | subject – a more remote ancestor, fathers i.e. ancestors, forefathers, founders of a nation.

-Manna: “μάννα”, “manna”; noun, accusative, singular, neuter | direct object – manna = “what is it”; the food that nourished the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness.

-Wilderness: “ἐρήμῳ”, “erēmō”; adjective, dative, singular, feminine | prepositional object – wilderness, desert, deserted places.

-They Died (v.49): “ἀπέθανον”, “apethanon”; verb, aorist, active, indicative, third person, plural | finite verb – of the natural death of humans.

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

-Die (v.50): “ἀποθάνῃ”, “apothanē”; verb, aorist, active, subjunctive, third person, singular | finite verb – of eternal death, as it is called, i.e. to be subject to eternal misery, and that, too, already beginning on earth.

-World: “κόσμου”, “kosmou”; noun, genitive, singular, masculine | subjective genitive – the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human race.

-Flesh: “σάρξ”, “sarx”; noun, nominative, singular, feminine | predicate nominative – flesh, body; here Christ speaks this way to say: “to offer in sacrifice my flesh.”

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

Continuing His discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum, Jesus tells the crowd that all who believe in Him will have eternal life, and He is the bread of life. Although their fathers (ancestors) ate the “manna” in the wilderness journey of Exodus and still died natural deaths, Jesus is the bread that comes down from heaven so that all who eat of it (Him) will not die. He says this again in verse 51 to emphasize the point that He is the living bread that came down from heaven, and if anyone eats of this bread he or she will live forever; the bread that He gives for the life of the world is the sacrifice of his own flesh (body).

Implication (what does this mean to us):

In these verses Jesus continues to restate and expand upon His message that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life, because He is the bread of life. To believe in Jesus is to trust in Him as the one true God and in His redemptive work on the cross and His resurrection. This statement also implies that all who do not believe will not have everlasting life, and that is also explicitly said elsewhere in verses like John 3:18. The message is clear: If eternal life is only obtained by trusting in Jesus, then all those who do not trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior will not receive eternal life.

Another important aspect of this fact is that all who do follow Jesus and believe have no reason for feelings of superiority. There is nothing anyone can do to be saved. Eternal life only comes through trusting in Jesus and His redemptive work, and trusting could hardly be described as doing anything. We who follow Him have every reason to be grateful, and no reason to be prideful in this gift of salvation. Salvation is obtained on Jesus’ terms, and it is a gracious gift. We are not doing Him a favor by trusting in Him, but when we accept His gracious gift we do immediately receive everlasting life which we have done nothing to deserve.

Importantly, Jesus said believe in “Me” and have everlasting life. No other Old Testament prophet made such a claim. They all called the people to believe and trust in God but Jesus is unique. Jesus was not simply a human prophet or teacher. He is fully human and fully God. For this reason He tells us to believe in Him, because He is Yahweh incarnate. And He again compares Himself to the manna given to the ancestors or “fathers” of the Jewish Galileans He spoke to. While physical bread is a necessity for physical, temporal life; Jesus is required for eternal, spiritual life. We all try to feed our souls with something. Maybe it’s human relationships, career, money, sports, etc. These things are good things when they are prioritized and utilized appropriately, but they are not ultimate. They cannot satisfy the deepest hunger of our souls and they were never meant to. Only the God who created us for Himself can satisfy the hunger of our souls. Only Jesus, the one who loves us and made us to love Him, can satisfy us.

As Jesus goes on in verse 49 He illustrates this point again. He tells them that while their ancestors ate the physical bread, or manna, in the wilderness centuries earlier, they all died. That physical bread only gave them life temporarily, but Jesus is different. He is the bread that comes down from heaven so that we may eat of it and not die. To be clear this is a metaphor. Believe it or not some people have actually accused Christianity of cannibalism for verses like this. But that is incorrect, and probably in some cases it is a willful misunderstanding of the text. This is clearly a metaphor.

There are also Christians who have connected these verses to the practice of communion, and then inferred that taking communion is required for salvation. With respect to my brothers and sisters in Christ who hold that view, I would again stress the point that salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, and nothing we do saves us or keeps us saved (John 6:29, Ephesians 2:8-10). The practice of communion is possibly related to this statement from Jesus, but if it is, that does not imply that communion is required for salvation. Communion is not salvific; it is a symbolic reminder that we have been saved through the selfless sacrifice of Jesus’ own flesh and blood. And we must believe and take this truth into the very core of our being in faith. Similar to baptism, which is also not salvific, why would we come to believing faith in Jesus and then not follow these most basic commands that proclaim our allegiance to King Jesus, and also lead us in remembrance of what He has done for us? These are basic commands we as Christians should obey because of our love and loyalty to Jesus, but they do not save us. Believing in Jesus and His redemptive work is what saves us (John 6:29, Romans 10:9-10).

One last question I would present is: did the thief on the cross who Jesus told would be with Him in paradise (Luke 23:43) have time to take communion or be baptized? No. He was saved by grace alone, through faith alone. And according to Jesus Himself, that man was in paradise with our Lord that very day.

The core truth Jesus is communicating here, by making a comparison to the manna in the wilderness, is that these people He spoke to needed to stop thinking of Him as merely a curiosity or topic of theological debate and take Him into themselves in believing faith. And He communicated this with the metaphors of eating and drinking, which He had already done multiple times in John’s gospel, including when He described Himself as “living water” to the woman at the well in Samaria in chapter 4.

In keeping this statement in context of what has been said before in this passage, I believe this is a continuation of the metaphorical comparison of Jesus coming from heaven as the “bread of life,” to the manna (type of bread) sent from heaven to sustain these people’s ancestors in the wilderness. Again, the connection being, while the bread sent in the Exodus journey only gave life temporarily, Jesus is far greater. He is the “living bread” that has come from heaven to give eternal life, and He sacrificed His own “flesh,” meaning His body, for the “life of the world.”

This gift of eternal life is available to anyone, no matter who they are, where they are from, or what they have done. All that is required to receive this free gift is to believe in Jesus:

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” – Romans 10:9-10 (ESV).

There is nothing else we do that can save us or keep us saved:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV).

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

This passage should cause us to understand that “everyone who believes [in Jesus] has eternal life.” Jesus spoke of no other requirements for salvation. He does give us who follow Him other commands that we endeavor to obey because of our love and loyalty to Him, but none of these things save us. Only the finished work of Jesus on the cross and in the empty tomb saves us. This metaphor of Jesus as the living bread, or bread of life who came down from heaven should also help us to understand that, He alone is the source of eternal life, we must take Him into the very core of our being in believing faith, and also that He sacrificed His own body to make this possible.

Self Reflection:

• How am I feasting on the Living Bread each day? In what practical ways (i.e. prayer, Bible study, Christian fellowship, etc.) do I give evidence to my reliance on Jesus as my sole source of life?

• How does the eternal life I have in Jesus help me to view this short life on earth differently? How does this eternal perspective give me hope in life’s trials, and grounding humility in life’s triumphs?

• What does the fact that Jesus sacrificed His own life for mine tell me about His love for me, and how I should love others around me? (One initial thought: His love is selfless).