John 6:33 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

NIV: For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'

NASB: For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.'

CSB: For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

NLT: The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'

KJV: For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

NKJV: For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

After Jesus claims that eternal life is found in belief, not in good works (John 6:27–29), the people demand a miraculous sign. This crowd was attracted to Jesus through His healing miracles and His spectacular feeding of more than five thousand the day before (John 6:2; John 6:9–14). Even so, they resist when Christ points to faith, not actions, as the source of salvation. Invoking Moses and the provision of manna (Exodus 16), they challenge Jesus to prove Himself.

Instead, Jesus reminds the people that miracles come from God, not men. In the same way, eternal life comes from God and not from men, even great men like Moses. And it certainly cannot come from men performing good works. The "true bread from heaven" is Christ Himself. Jesus is stating, in unambiguous terms, that God requires man to believe in Him in order to see eternal life.

Later, declarations that He has come "from heaven" will be used as evidence against Jesus, by those who claim He is a blasphemer (Matthew 26:65). More immediately, Jesus' claim to be the bread of heaven will be the source of complaining. For now, though, the people are still thinking from a material, earthly perspective. And so, once again, they will ask Jesus to provide them with the bread He is speaking of.

John 6:22–40 describes the initial aftermath of Jesus' feeding of thousands the previous day. The crowd's actual desire is for another supernatural spectacle and more free food. In this passage, Christ begins to explain the true meaning behind His miracle and His ministry. This includes the first of seven ''I AM'' statements in the gospel of John—moments where Jesus declares His own divinity. Jesus clarifies that physical things such as bread are meant to be symbols of a spiritual truth. In the following segment, the crowd will stop seeking and start complaining.

In chapter 6, Jesus feeds thousands of people who had been following Him. He does this by miraculously dividing the contents of a small lunch, leaving more left over than He had to begin with. At first, the crowd is amazed and they enthusiastically praise Jesus. After sending the disciples across the Sea of Galilee, and rescuing them from a storm by walking on the water, Jesus once again addresses the crowd. This time, He emphasizes the spiritual lesson behind His prior miracle. In response, most of those who had been praising Jesus turn away from Him in disappointment.

John chapter 6 occurs some months after the events of chapter 5, bringing the narrative to about one year prior to Jesus' crucifixion. As with the rest of the Gospel of John, the purpose is not to repeat information from the other three Gospels, but to focus on Jesus' status as God incarnate. This chapter continues to expand the list of Jesus' miraculous signs and the witnesses to His divine nature. Here, Jesus also gives the first of seven ''I AM'' statements found in this Gospel. Chapter 7 will once again skip ahead to a major public step in Jesus' path to the cross.

The gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls “signs”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.