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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_6:41-51
41Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven." 42They 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'?" 43Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45It 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. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."
Joh_6:41 "Therefore the Jews were grumbling" This is an imperfect tense, which implies they started to grumble or grumbled again and again. The parallel with the wilderness wandering period (cf. Exod. and Num.) is striking. The Israelites of that day also rejected Moses, God's representative, who also provided them food.
Joh_6:42 This shows that the Jews understood Jesus' words about Himself. He was clearly using Jewish idioms to claim to be pre-existent and divine! Jesus' words are still shocking coming from a Galilean carpenter! Jesus made such strong statements about Himself. He is then
1. the incarnate Son of God who brings eternal life by His words and deeds or
2. a premeditative liar or
3. a lunatic (taken from Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict)
The truthfulness of Jesus' claims is the issue of Christianity.
Joh_6:43 "Do not grumble among yourselves" This is a present imperative with Negative particle which usually means to stop an act already in progress.
Joh_6:44 "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him" God always takes the initiative (cf. Joh_6:65; Joh_15:16). All spiritual decisions are the result of the wooing of the Spirit, not mankind's religiosity (cf. Isa_53:6). God's sovereignty and a mandated human response are inseparably linked together by the will and mercy of God. This is the OT concept of covenant.
The balance to this "drawing of God" is found in Joh_12:32 where Jesus "draws all men to Himself." This drawing reverses the OT pattern of God's people not responding to His prophetic word (examples: Isa_6:9-13; Isa_29:13; Jeremiah). God now speaks, not through prophets to Israel, but through His Son to all mankind (cf. Heb_1:1-3). See Special Topic: Send (Apostellô) at Joh_5:24.
Joh_6:45 "It is written in the prophets" This is a quote from Isa_54:13 or Jer_31:34 which describes the internal (new heart, new mind) aspect of the "New Covenant."
▣ "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me" It is impossible to claim to know God and reject Jesus (cf. 1Jn_5:1-12).
Joh_6:46 "Not that any man has seen the Father" Jesus' affirmation is that only through Him can one really understand and know God (cf. Joh_1:18; Joh_14:6; Joh_14:9). Even Moses never truly saw YHWH (cf. note at Joh_5:32).
Joh_6:47 This verse summarizes Jesus' offer of a free salvation to all humans ("the one believing," present active participle; "eternal life" cf. Joh_6:51; Joh_6:58; Joh_3:15-16; Joh_3:36; Joh_5:24; Joh_11:26; Joh_20:31). Jesus is the only true revelation of God, the only true door to God (the exclusivism of the gospel, cf. Joh_10:1-9; Joh_14:6), but this is available to all sons and daughters of Adam (the inclusivism of the gospel fulfills Joh_1:4; Joh_1:7; Joh_1:12; Joh_3:16; Gen_3:15; Gen_12:3).
Joh_6:50 This verse, like 31-35, is a play on the meaning of bread, physical bread (manna) and heavenly bread (Jesus). One gives and sustains physical life, but must be repeated and eventually cannot stop death. The other gives and sustains eternal life, but must be accepted and nurtured and puts an immediate end to spiritual death (broken fellowship with God; intimate fellowship with sin and self).
Joh_6:51 "I am the living bread" This is one of the famous "I am" statements of John's Gospel (cf. Joh_6:35; Joh_6:48; Joh_6:51). It was a literary technique of Jesus to focus attention on His person. Salvation, like revelation, is ultimately a person.
▣ "for the life of the world is My flesh" This is a metaphor emphasizing that Jesus Himself, not some food supply, is our central need. This phrase obviously links back to Joh_1:14.