EXEGETING JOHN 6:37-45
Before we get to this section, it is already established in John that: “to all who have received him - those
who believe in his name - he has given the right to become God’s children” (1:12); that “everyone who
believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (3:16); that “the one who believes in the Son has
eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him” (3:36); that
“whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (4:14); that “the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his
worshipers” (4:23); that “the fields are already white for harvest” (4:35). And the Lord’s intent is quite
specific in 5:34: “I say these things so that you may be saved.”
Note also that many of the Jewish hearers are rebuked for their unbelief and refusal to acknowledge
Jesus: “you [do not] have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent”
(5:38); “you are not willing [ou thelete] to come to me so that you may have life” (5:40); and “and you
do not accept me” (5:43). “How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another and don’t seek
the praise that comes from the only God?” (5:44) “If you believed Moses, you would believe me,
because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my
words?” (5:46-47) Jesus is clearly holding them responsible for their unbelief, pride, and unwillingness to
come to him. “But I told you that you have seen me and still do not believe” (6:36).
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the
one who believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me and still do not
believe.” (John 6:35-36). First, we have the active, present participles of coming and believing; those are
the ones who will never go hungry or thirsty. Then note the word of rebuke in 6:36! You should have
belie