Discovery BoxJohn 6:51-63 
Context6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread 1 that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
6:52 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus 2 began to argue with one another, 3 “How can this man 4 give us his flesh to eat?” 6:53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, 5 unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, 6 you have no life 7 in yourselves. 6:54 The one who eats 8 my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 9 6:55 For my flesh is true 10 food, and my blood is true 11 drink. 6:56 The one who eats 12 my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him. 13 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes 14 me will live because of me. 6:58 This 15 is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread your ancestors 16 ate, but then later died. 17 The one who eats 18 this bread will live forever.”
6:59 Jesus 19 said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue 20 in Capernaum. 21 6:60 Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, 22 said, “This is a difficult 23 saying! 24 Who can understand it?” 25 6:61 When Jesus was aware 26 that his disciples were complaining 27 about this, he said to them, “Does this cause you to be offended? 28 6:62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? 29 6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! 30 The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 31
1 tn Grk “And the bread.”
2 tn Grk “Then the Jews began to argue.” Here the translation restricts the phrase to those Jews who were hostile to Jesus (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.β), since the “crowd” mentioned in 6:22-24 was almost all Jewish (as suggested by their addressing Jesus as “Rabbi” (6:25). See also the note on the phrase “the Jews who were hostile to Jesus” in v. 41.
3 tn Grk “with one another, saying.”
4 tn Grk “this one,” “this person.”
5 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
6 sn Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. These words are at the heart of the discourse on the Bread of Life, and have created great misunderstanding among interpreters. Anyone who is inclined toward a sacramental viewpoint will almost certainly want to take these words as a reference to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, because of the reference to eating and drinking. But this does not automatically follow: By anyone’s definition there must be a symbolic element to the eating which Jesus speaks of in the discourse, and once this is admitted, it is better to understand it here, as in the previous references in the passage, to a personal receiving of (or appropriation of) Christ and his work.
7 tn That is, “no eternal life” (as opposed to physical life).
8 tn Or “who chews”; Grk ὁ τρώγων (Jo trwgwn). The alternation between ἐσθίω (esqiw, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trwgw, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) may simply reflect a preference for one form over the other on the author’s part, rather than an attempt to express a slightly more graphic meaning. If there is a difference, however, the word used here (τρώγω) is the more graphic and vivid of the two (“gnaw” or “chew”).
9 sn Notice that here the result (has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day) is produced by eating (Jesus’) flesh and drinking his blood. Compare John 6:40 where the same result is produced by “looking on the Son and believing in him.” This suggests that the phrase here (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood by the phrase in 6:40 (looks on the Son and believes in him).
10 tn Or “real.”
11 tn Or “real.”
12 tn Or “who chews.” On the alternation between ἐσθίω (esqiw, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trwgw, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) see the note on “eats” in v. 54.
13 sn Resides in me, and I in him. Note how in John 6:54 eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood produces eternal life and the promise of resurrection at the last day. Here the same process of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood leads to a relationship of mutual indwelling (resides in me, and I in him). This suggests strongly that for the author (and for Jesus) the concepts of ‘possessing eternal life’ and of ‘residing in Jesus’ are virtually interchangeable.
14 tn Or “who chews”; Grk “who eats.” Here the translation “consumes” is more appropriate than simply “eats,” because it is the internalization of Jesus by the individual that is in view. On the alternation between ἐσθίω (esqiw, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trwgw, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) see the note on “eats” in v. 54.
15 tn Or “This one.”
16 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
17 tn Grk “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not just like your ancestors ate and died.” The cryptic Greek expression has been filled out in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Or “who chews.” On the alternation between ἐσθίω (esqiw, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trwgw, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) see the note on “eats” in v. 54.
19 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.
20 sn A synagogue was a place for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (cf. Luke 8:41). Though the origin of the synagogue is not entirely clear, it seems to have arisen in the postexilic community during the intertestamental period. A town could establish a synagogue if there were at least ten men. In normative Judaism of the NT period, the OT scripture was read and discussed in the synagogue by the men who were present (see the Mishnah, m. Megillah 3-4; m. Berakhot 2).
21 map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 C3; Map3 B2.
22 tn The words “these things” are not present in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, and must be supplied for the English reader.
23 tn Or “hard,” “demanding.”
24 tn Or “teaching”; Grk “word.”
25 tn Or “obey it”; Grk “hear it.” The Greek word ἀκούω (akouw) could imply hearing with obedience here, in the sense of “obey.” It could also point to the acceptance of what Jesus had just said, (i.e., “who can accept what he said?” However, since the context contains several replies by those in the crowd of hearers that suggest uncertainty or confusion over the meaning of what Jesus had said (6:42; 6:52), the meaning “understand” is preferred here.
26 tn Grk “When Jesus knew within himself.”
27 tn Or “were grumbling.”
28 tn Or “Does this cause you to no longer believe?” (Grk “cause you to stumble?”)
sn Does this cause you to be offended? It became apparent to some of Jesus’ followers at this point that there would be a cost involved in following him. They had taken offense at some of Jesus’ teaching (perhaps the graphic imagery of “eating his flesh” and “drinking his blood,” and Jesus now warned them that if they thought this was a problem, there was an even worse cause for stumbling in store: his upcoming crucifixion (John 6:61b-62). Jesus asked, in effect, “Has what I just taught caused you to stumble? What will you do, then, if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?” This ascent is to be accomplished through the cross; for John, Jesus’ departure from this world and his return to the Father form one continual movement from cross to resurrection to ascension.
29 tn Or “he was formerly?”
30 tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”
31 tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”
