giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I 38 will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to 39 do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up 40 again at the last day. And this is the will' of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last 41 day. The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, I am 42 the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is

not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that He saith, I came down from heaven ? 43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not 44 among yourselves. No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him and I will raise him up at the 45 last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath 46 learned of the Father, cometh unto Me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen 47 the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth 48 on Me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man 51 may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which 52 I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us His flesh 53 to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto

you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His 54 blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and

These Jews might resist and ignore the evidence of His Messiahship, but His mission could not thus be defeated. There were others who would be convinced and come to Him. Coming to Him, i.e. believing in Him, He would be to them the source of everlasting life. Their resurrection, at the last day, would be the consummation of their redemption. The inability of any to come to Christ is moral, not physical; i.e., it arises from an insensibility of heart, a disinclination of will, an inability the most deplorable of all.

2 Although the Lord's Supper had not yet been instituted, we unmistakably find here the idea which underlies that holy sacrament, and the great doctrine which, in the breaking of bread and the pouring out of wine, is set forth, the expiatory death of Christ. We find the same mention of the death of Jesus, or in the same

drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up 55 at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is 56 drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, 57 dwelleth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent

Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he 58 shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from

heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he 59 that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. These things said 60 He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum. Many

therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This 61 is a hard' saying: who can hear it? When Jesus knew in

Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, 62 Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of 63 man ascend up where He was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak 64 unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. 65 And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come 66 unto Me except it were given unto him of My Father. From

that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more 67 with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go 68 away? Then Simon Peter 2 answered Him, Lord, to whom 69 shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the 70 living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you 71 twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray Him, being one of the twelve.

form of speech, as in the institutive words of the Supper, and proclamation of the same truths of which that ordinance is the symbol and the memorial.

Although Christ uttered no denunciations, a sifting power went along with His words; and men who had been attracted to declare themselves His disciples, but possessed no true faith, pronounced His doctrine a hard saying.

2 In his touching reply and grand confession, Peter must be regarded as speaking not only for himself, but for his associates, excepting Judas Iscariot the betrayer. Christ calls Himself the Bread of Life, because He is the gift of God; because He gave His life for the life of the world; because it is only by believing in Him that we become partakers of spiritual life, and can be made partakers, even as to our bodies, of life immortal at the last day.

One of the Christian fathers has observed that as the magnet does not attract everything, but only iron, so also to be attracted by Christ there must exist a certain frame of mind, the feeling of what we should be and are not. "While some

16. At the feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem He vindicates His Messiahship before a promiscuous assemblage of the people, with convincing power. VII]

2

[Ver. 1-31.

1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for He would 2 not walk in Jewry,1 because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now 3 the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brethren3 therefore said unto Him, Depart hence, and go into Judæa, that 4 Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, show 5 Thyself to the world. For neither did His brethren believe in

abuse the doctrine of dependence," says Dr. Jacobus (see his Notes) "so as to excuse themselves, and wait God's time,' others equally abuse the doctrine of independence, so as to wait a more convenient season."

We have in verse 1 the evidence rendering it probable that Jesus did not visit Jerusalem on the occasion of the passover mentioned in verse 4 of the preceding chapter, which was the third in His ministry. He "walked," i.e. journeyed, or prosecuted His ministry in Galilee, and would not walk or journey in Judæa for the reason that the Jews, those dwelling at Jerusalem, the leaders of the nation, sought to kill Him. Six months were occupied in itinerating about Galilee, of which John gives no account whatever, and during which some of the most interesting events occurred in our Lord's history. For the only time during His ministry He then passed beyond the bounds of Palestine, visiting the region of Tyre and Sidon, where He had His interview with the Syro-phoenician woman whose daughter He healed. Within the same period falls the miracle of feeding the four thousand, and the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. At first sight it seems strange, considering that it was the object of John to present the signs or proofs of the Divine mission and Messiahship of Jesus, that he should omit an account of that wonderful scene, His transfiguration on the mount, and His being visited by two glorified saints from heaven, of which we have a particular account in the other evangelists. What could have been better suited to his purpose? Why does he then omit all reference to it, especially when he was himself one of the three disciples who were with Him on the mount? The only answer and one that seems to be sufficient is that John, writing in and for the Gentile world, selected those miracles which were performed on the most public occasions, in the midst of the greatest number of witnesses, or of witnesses that were hostile or unfavourable to Jesus, like those at the marriage in Cana, the healing of the nobleman's son at Capernaum and the impotent man at Bethesda, the feeding of the five thousand, and the raising of Lazarus.

2 The feast of tabernacles was one of the great annual festivals. It began on the Jewish month Tisri, with the new moon corresponding to that in our own month of October; it continued eight days, the first and last days being sabbaths to the Lord, the eighth or last being called the great day of the feast. (Josephus, Ant. viii. 4. 1.)

3 By his brethren" we are doubtless to understand His relatives and near kinsmen, who did not believe ou Him, i.e., had no conception of the spiritual nature of the kingdom He came to establish; they wished Him to go, and in the presence of the great ones of the nation establish His power and kingdom. These brethren subsequently had their erroneous views corrected: Acts i. 14.