The
Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’” Therefore Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.
John 6:41-47
John 6 [35.] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6 [41.] The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’”
John 6 [43.] Therefore Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 6 [52.] The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Meaning:
Jesus had claimed to be the bread that came down from heaven and had promised to raise up at the last day all who believe in him (John 6:36-40). Some of his hearers in the synagogue at Capernaum objected. In these verses Jesus answers their grumbling and explains why some come to him and others do not.
- “The Jews therefore murmured”
In John’s Gospel “the Jews” often means the religious leaders, or people who opposed Jesus, rather than the Jewish people as a whole. Jesus and his disciples were themselves Jewish. Here the term refers to Galileans in the synagogue who resisted his claim. Their “murmuring” recalls Israel in the wilderness, who “murmured against Moses and against Aaron” when they were hungry (Exodus 16:2). God answered that murmuring with manna; now the people grumbled against the true bread from heaven.
- “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?”
The objection was based on familiarity. They knew his family and where he had grown up, so how could he have come down from heaven? The people of Nazareth said the same: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22; Mark 6:3). Philip had described him as “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45), and Joseph was his legal father. But John’s readers know more: “The Word became flesh, and lived among us” (John 1:14). Jesus’ human family did not cancel his heavenly origin.
- “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”
Jesus does not argue about his family tree. He tells them that coming to him is not simply a matter of human reasoning; God must draw a person. The same word is used when Jesus says, “I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). God draws people through his word, his Spirit and the message of the cross. Christians differ on how this drawing relates to human freedom, but all agree that no one comes to Christ without God’s gracious work, and that those who come are welcomed and will be raised “in the last day.”
- “They will all be taught by God”
Jesus quotes the prophets, as the PIB footnote shows: “All your children will be taught by Yahweh” (Isaiah 54:13). Jeremiah promised a new covenant when “they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest” (Jeremiah 31:34). God’s drawing is not force but teaching. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to Jesus.
- “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God”
Hearing from the Father is not the same as seeing him. Only the Son, who came from God, has seen the Father, as John wrote at the start of his Gospel: “No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him” (John 1:18). The Father teaches people by pointing them to the Son.
- “he who believes in me has eternal life”
Jesus closes with a solemn “Most certainly” and a simple promise. Eternal life is not only a future hope; the believer “has” it now (John 5:24). This prepares for his next words: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48).
The Significance of John 6:41-47
- Familiarity can blind
The people of Capernaum thought they knew all about Jesus. Those who grow up hearing about him can make the same mistake and dismiss him as ordinary, or grumble instead of listening. Jesus’ answer to grumblers was an invitation to be taught by God, who points us to the Son.
Cross-References:
Isaiah 54:13: "All your children will be taught by Yahweh; and your children’s peace will be great." The prophecy Jesus quotes.
Exodus 16:2: "The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;" Israel’s grumbling over bread.
John 12:32: "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." Jesus draws people through the cross.
John 1:18: "No one has seen God at any time." Only the Son reveals the Father.
Conclusion: The crowd grumbled at Jesus’ claim to have come down from heaven because they knew his family. Jesus answered that no one can come to him unless the Father draws him, and that those taught by God, as the prophets foretold, come to him and are raised at the last day. Only the Son has seen the Father, and whoever believes in him has eternal life now.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible