John 6:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

NIV: Philip answered him, 'It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!'

NASB: Philip answered Him, 'Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, for each to receive just a little!'

CSB: Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn't be enough for each of them to have a little."

NLT: Philip replied, 'Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!'

KJV: Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.

NKJV: Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”

Jesus asks the disciples how they plan to handle the hungry crowd, numbering some 5,000 men, presumably with many more women and children in attendance as well. This is meant as a test of their faith (John 6:6). Other Gospels indicate that the initial reaction of the disciples is to attempt to ignore the problem entirely (Mark 6:36). Jesus' response, seen later (John 6:11), confronts their common error of starting from human effort, rather than appealing to God to handle the results.

Philip, it seems, was focused on a financial solution to the problem. In that era, a worker would earn about one denarius for a day's labor. Two hundred denarii, then is a common man's pay for 200 days. The crowd, numbering five thousand men—not counting whatever women and children were there—would have required the wages from eight month's labor just to give each one a taste. Sarcastic or not, Philip's stance is that attempting to feed so many people is effectively impossible since it would be incredibly expensive.

John 6:1–15 describes Jesus' feeding thousands of people—the fourth of the gospel of John's seven ''signs'' of Christ's divinity. This is the only miracle recorded in all four of the gospel accounts. When the crowd complains of hunger, the disciples who are mentioned each react in unique ways. Starting with only a tiny lunch of bread and fish, Jesus miraculously divides the food, filling everyone, and leaving more left over than they had to begin with. The people are astounded by this, and immediately react by proclaiming Jesus as ''the Prophet'' who has been promised. Jesus, however, is not yet ready to be publicly announced. He also knows the true motivations of this crowd and will attempt to explain the real importance of the miracle to them the following day.

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.

Accessed 5/4/2024 5:19:24 PM