Cheryl Schatz

Mark,
You asked:

You emphasised ‘world’ ( i wish i could bold!). Why is that?

I sent you an email that describes how to bold text. That should help.

I emphasized “world” because it is an important part of the truth claims of Jesus. Jesus emphasized his words claiming that they were “Amen, amen” as truth and said he gives his life for the world. It is worth paying attention to.

This text is not talking about the atonement, this text is talking about the ‘life’ that Jesus gives- eternal life.

Please explain how Jesus gives his flesh for the world and this is not the atonement. Eternal life comes only through Jesus’ death and resurrection. If eternal life could come from just a gift and the death of Jesus was not necessary, then God surely made a mistake as Jesus suffered when He did not need to.

If you are going to deny that eternal life comes through the death of Jesus, then you are going to have a big problem with the rest of the chapter, because Jesus talks about the bread as eternal life (verse 27) and the bread that Jesus gives as His own life that He gives up.

John 6:51 (NASB)
51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Jesus gave a testimony to truth when He said that He gives life to the world. As another testimony to the fact that there can be no eternal life if Jesus doesn’t die, Jesus said:

John 12:24 (NASB)
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

It is Jesus’ death that bears “much fruit”. Here are other truth claims in John showing that Jesus created “the world”, “the world did not know Him”, He “takes away the sin of the world”, “the Light has come into the world”. Also even the Samaritans knew there was to be a Savior of the world” which included them (John 6:51).

John 1:10 (NASB)
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

John 1:29 (NASB)
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John 3:19 (NASB)
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

John 4:42 (NASB)
42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

John 6:51 (NASB)
51 …and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

You said:

Clearly Jesus does not give ‘life’ (eternal life in the context) to every single person since he is not a universalist. So here is another clear example where universal language is not meant to be understood to mean every single person in the world.

This would be reading your own prejudice into the text for Jesus claimed to give life to the world. The truth that keeps Jesus’ words as truth and yet allows many to not have “life” is the fact that Jesus gives life to the world, but God requires a response. Those who believe will receive the life. Those who do not believe will be condemned. Yet it doesn’t stop Jesus from giving. For rejecting the gift does not limit the giver’s ability to give. It just limit’s the person from receiving.

Also note that it was Jesus testimony that it was the ‘Father’ who gave the manna to the Israelites. Here we see one example of the differing relationships and roles of the Father and Son.

The giving of the Son (the manna) to the Israelites prefigures the incarnation. The Father gives and Jesus gives. There is no one “role” of giver in the Trinity. This relationship is in the incarnation itself and does not mean that there is a “role” of one giver alone in the essence of the Trinity, but certainly there are differences during the time that Jesus was limited in His humanity here on the earth.