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Joh_6:27. “Strive to obtain, not the food which perisheth, but the food which endureth unto life eternal.” The activity and labour of acquiring implied in ἐργάζεσθαι (laborando sibi comparare; comp. ἐργάζ . τὰ ἐπιτήδεια , Dem. 1358. 12; ἐργάζ . βρῶμα , Palaeph. xxi. 2; ἐργάζ . θησαυρούς , Theodot. Prov xxi. 6; see especially Stephan. Thes. Ed. Hase, III. p. 1968) consists, when applied to the everlasting food, in striving and struggling after it, without which effort Jesus does not bestow it. We must come believingly to Him, must follow Him, must deny ourselves, and so on. Then we receive from Him, in ever-increasing measure, divine grace and truth, by a spiritual appropriation of Himself; and this is the abiding food, which for ever quickens and feeds the inner man; the thing itself not being really different from the water, which for ever quenches thirst (Joh_4:14). See on βρῶσις , Joh_4:32, also, and the οὐράνιος τροφή in Philo, de profug. p. 749; Allegor. p. 92. According to this view, the thought conveyed in ἐργάζεσθαι , as thus contrasted with that of δώσει on the other side, cannot be regarded as strange (against De Wette); both conceptions rather are necessary correlatives. Php_2:12-13.
τὴν ἀπολλυμ .] not merely in its power, but in its very nature; it is digested and ceases to be (Mat_15:17; 1Co_6:13). On the contrast, τ . μένουσ . εἰς ζ . αἰ ., comp. Joh_4:14, Joh_12:25.
ἐσφραγ .] sealed, i.e. authenticated (see on Joh_3:33), namely, as the appointed Giver of this food; in what way? see Joh_5:36-39.
ὁ θεός ] emphatically added at the end to give greater prominence to the highest authority.