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Joh_6:56-57. A statement parallel with what precedes, concerning him “who eats,” etc., and explaining how that comes to pass which is said of him in Joh_6:54.
ἐν ἐμοὶ μένει κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ ] an expression distinctively Johannean of abiding, inner, and mutual fellowship (Joh_15:4 ff., Joh_17:23; 1Jn_3:24; 1Jn_4:16), by virtue of which we live and move continually in Christ, and Christ works and rules in our minds, so that thus Christ’s life is the centre and circumference, i.e. the all-determining power of our life.
Joh_6:57. Consequence of this spiritual union: life, i.e. true imperishable life, as proceeding from the Father to the Son, so from the Son to believers. Observe (1) that the consequent clause does not begin with κἀγώ (Chrysostom and his followers); but, as Joh_6:56 requires, with κ . ὁ τρώγ . με , so also he that eateth me; (2) that in the antecedent clause the emphasis is on ζῶν and ζῶ (therefore ἀπέστειλε does not introduce any strange or unnatural thought, as Rückert supposes), while in the consequent it is upon the subject, which accordingly is made prominent by κἀκεῖνος , he also.
ὁ ζῶν πατήρ ] the living Father (comp. Joh_6:26), the Living One absolutely, in whose nature there is no element of death, but all is life.
κἀγὼ ζῶ διὰ τ . πατ .] and I—by virtue of my community of essence with the Father—am alive because of the Father. διά with the accus. does not denote the cause (Castalio, Beza, De Wette, Gess, Rückert, and several), per patrem; nor for the Father (Paulus, Lange); but, according to the context, the reason: because of the Father, i.e. because my Father is the Living One. See on Joh_15:3; Plat. Conv. p. 203 E: ἀναβιώσκεται διὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς φύσιν ; and see Nägelsbach, Ilias, p. 39 ff. ed. 3.
ὁ τρώγων με ] This sufficed to denote the relation, and is in keeping with the transition to Joh_6:58; whereas, if the discourse referred to the Lord’s Supper, the eating and drinking of the flesh and blood should again have been mentioned, as in Joh_6:53-56. Note also that ὁ τρώγων με expresses a permanent, continuous relation, not one taking place from time to time, as in the Lord’s Supper.
ζήσει ] in contrast with spiritual and eternal death.
διʼ ἐμέ ] on account of me, because he thus takes up my life into himself.