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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 6
Verse Commentaries:
Chapter Level Commentary:
FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five modern translations. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.
1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Third paragraph
4. Etc.
CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS TO Joh_6:1-71
A. The Gospel of John does not record the Lord's Supper itself, although chapters 13-17 record the dialogue and prayer in the Upper Room. This omission may be intentional. The church of the second century began to view the ordinances in a sacramental sense. They saw them as channels of grace. John may have been reacting to the sacramental view by not recording Jesus' baptism or the Lord's Supper.
B. John 6 is in the context of the feeding of the five thousand. However, many use it to teach a sacramental view of the Eucharist. This is the source of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (Joh_6:53-56).
The question over how chapter 6 relates to the Eucharist shows the dual nature of the Gospels. Obviously, the Gospels relate to Jesus' words and life, yet they were written decades later and expressed the individual authors' community of faith. So there are three levels of authorial intent.
1. the Spirit
2. Jesus and the original hearers
3. the Gospel writers and their readers
How is one to interpret? The only verifiable method must be a contextual, grammatical, lexical approach, informed by a historical setting and not vice versa.
C. We must remember that the audience was Jewish and the cultural background was the rabbinical expectation of the Messiah being a super-Moses (cf. Joh_6:30-31), especially in regard to the Exodus experiences like "manna." The rabbis would use Psa_72:16 as a proof text. Jesus' unusual statements (cf. Joh_6:60-62; Joh_6:66) were meant to counteract the crowd's false Messianic expectations (cf. Joh_6:14-15).
D. The early church fathers did not all agree that this passage refers to the Lord's Supper. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius never mention the Lord's Supper in their discussions on this passage.
E. The metaphors of this passage are very similar to Jesus' words used with the "woman at the well" in John 4. Earthly water and bread are used as metaphors of eternal life and spiritual realities.
F. This multiplying of bread is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels (Mat_14:13-21; Mar_6:32-44; Luk_9:10-17)!
G. Michael Magill, New Testament TransLine (p. 325) makes an interesting observation related to the different groups in Capernaum and their relation to Jesus' shocking words.
1. the crowd, Joh_6:24
2. the Jews, Joh_6:41; Joh_6:52
3. the disciples, Joh_6:60; Joh_6:66
4. the Twelve, Joh_6:67
Jesus had effectively
1. stopped the crowd from trying to make Him king because He fed them (Joh_6:15)
2. challenged the Jewish leadership by His radical personal claims
3. caused many peripheral followers to leave
4. elicited a statement of continuing and deepening faith on the part of the Twelve (Joh_6:68-69)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Is John 6 a discussion of the Lord's Supper? Why or why not?
2. What was Jesus' claim when He said, "I am the bread of life"?
3. Why did Jesus make such startling statements to this crowd?