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Joh_6:54-55. He now more fully explains Himself, onwards to Joh_6:58, with regard to the saving efficacy of this spiritual eating and drinking: “He who eateth my flesh,” etc.
ὁ τρώγων ] Previously the word was φάγητε , but there is in the change no special intention as if to use a stronger term (to chew, to crunch), as the repetition of πίνων shows. Comp. Dem. 402. 21 : τρώγειν καὶ πίνειν . Plut. Mor. p. 613 B; Polyb. xxxii. 9. 9. Comp. also Joh_13:18; Mat_24:38.
ζωὴν αἰών .] Fuller definition of the general ζωή which precedes; it signifies the eternal Messianic life, but the development of this in time as spiritual life is included in the thought; therefore ἔχει (Joh_3:15), and the result of the possession of this life: ἀναστήσω , κ . τ . λ . Comp. Joh_6:40.
Joh_6:55. Proof of the assertion ἔχει … ἡμέρᾳ ; for if the flesh of Jesus were not true food (something which in very deed has nourishing power), etc., the effect named in Joh_6:54 could not ensue. It is self-evident that food for the inner man is meant; but ἀληθής (see the critical notes) is not the same as ἀληθινή (this would mean genuine food, food that realizes its own ideal). It denotes the opposite of that which is merely apparent or so called, and therefore expresses the actual fact (1Jn_2:27; Act_12:9), which the Jews could not understand, since they asked πῶς δύναται , κ . τ . λ ., Joh_6:52.