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John 6:35
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’”
Jesus’ discourses as recorded in the gospel of John give us some of the most important titles and metaphors for our Savior that help us understand His person, His work, and how we are made beneficiaries of His great salvation. Christ’s “I am” sayings, wherein He ascribes to Himself a title or image such as “bread of life” (John 6:35), are particularly useful for showing us the Lord in His fullness. Therefore, our look at the titles and metaphors applied to Jesus will include a consideration of these “I am” sayings.
As we think about these sayings, we note that all of them reveal to us the deity of Christ. The “I am” in these sayings from John’s gospel is a translation of the Greek phrase egō eimi, which means “I myself am.” Importantly, the Greek version of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint uses egō eimi to translate the Hebrew used in Exodus 3:14 when God reveals His name “I am.” Because Jesus uses this phrase so frequently for Himself, we may rightly infer that He is claiming the divine name “I am” and thus that He is God. We find confirmation of this in John 8:58–59, wherein the opponents of Jesus attempt to stone Him to death after He says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” They understood that Jesus was claiming to be God, and they attempted to mete out the punishment of death that the Mosaic law prescribes for blasphemy (Lev. 24:10–16). Ordinarily, they would have been in the right, since it is blasphemous for a mere man to claim deity for himself. Yet they were in the wrong because Jesus is no mere man but God Himself incarnate.
With that in mind, we come to today’s passage, wherein Jesus tells us that He is the Bread of Life given to the world by His Father in heaven (John 6:35; see v. 32). In context, Jesus contrasts Himself with the other bread that God gave, the manna in the wilderness. That bread was good for its purpose at the time, to sustain Israel in its travels through the wilderness, but it did not prevent the Israelites from dying. The manna served as a type anticipating the true Bread from heaven, Jesus Christ, whom people can feed on by faith unto eternal life. God draws His elect to trust in Jesus, for that is ultimately what it means to feed on Him, and so they will live with God forever, enjoying the true eternal life that only He can give (vv. 41–51). John Calvin comments, “Whoever shall betake himself to Christ, to have life from him, will want nothing, but will have in abundance all that contributes to sustain life.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Matthew Henry says that Jesus “nourishes and supports the spiritual life (is the staff of it) as bread does the bodily life; it is the staff of life. The doctrines of the gospel concerning Christ—that he is the mediator between God and man, that he is our peace, our righteousness, our Redeemer; by these things do men live.” If we want to have eternal life, we must know Christ personally, believing on Him and knowing who He is and what He has done.
For further study
- Psalm 78:23–24
- 1 Corinthians 11:17–34
The bible in a year
- Psalms 44–46
- Acts 25
- Psalms 47–53
- Acts 26