John 6:27-29
Context6:27 Do not work for the food that disappears, 1 but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food 2 which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.” 3
6:28 So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds 4 God requires?” 5 6:29 Jesus replied, 6 “This is the deed 7 God requires 8 – to believe in the one whom he 9 sent.”
John 6:35
Context6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. 10
John 6:40
Context6:40 For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up 11 at the last day.” 12
1 tn Or “perishes” (this might refer to spoiling, but is more focused on the temporary nature of this kind of food).
sn Do not work for the food that disappears. Note the wordplay on “work” here. This does not imply “working” for salvation, since the “work” is later explained (in John 6:29) as “to believe in the one whom he (the Father) sent.”
2 tn The referent (the food) has been specified for clarity by repeating the word “food” from the previous clause.
3 tn Grk “on this one.”
4 tn Grk “the works.”
5 tn Grk “What must we do to work the works of God?”
6 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
7 tn Grk “the work.”
8 tn Grk “This is the work of God.”
9 tn Grk “that one” (i.e., God).
10 tn Grk “the one who believes in me will not possibly thirst, ever.”
sn The one who believes in me will never be thirsty. Note the parallelism between “coming to Jesus” in the first part of v. 35 and “believing in Jesus” in the second part of v. 35. For the author of the Gospel of John these terms are virtually equivalent, both referring to a positive response to Jesus (see John 3:17-21).
11 tn Or “resurrect him,” or “make him live again.”
12 sn Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at the last day) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him. Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood in terms of the phrase here (looks on the Son and believes in him).