Cheryl Schatz

Peter, you wrote: That link provided by John, clearly identifies the words of Jesus as having primary application to THIS situation. In other words, the giving is occurring during the time of his ministry as He did the Father’s will while he was on earth. As such, phrases such as “gives”, “comes” and “drive away” must have relevance to the conversation at hand – as a FIRST priority of the reading as we try to determine the intended meaning of the passage. While what Jesus said applies to the people that He is talking to, it CANNOT be limited to only them as verse 40 shows. So what did the Jews take away from what Jesus said? Did they think that His words were only for a specific time and that is what He meant? No, because they started grumbling about His words that extended His life and His power to beyond that time and beyond those people. The Jews grumbled about how He could come down from heaven if He was a mother and father on earth. John 6:41–42 41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” They see Jesus’ point as being above this situation, but they are offended by His words. Jesus then explains to them that what He is saying was predicted by the prophets and refers to those who have believed the Father (learned from the Father). John 6:45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. This is not about a setting-specific, but about a concept-specific. The concept is what Jesus had already said in chapter 5. Only those who have learned from the Father, have believed His word, will come to Him. And Jesus adds in another concept-specific word by saying that those who believe already have eternal life. John 6:47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.