Waldenstrom's Commentary

translated by Tommy Carlson

Verse 24 — When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,¹ they themselves² stepped into boats³ and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.⁴

1. The people saw that Jesus was not by the lake and, when, in addition, there was no boat in which Jesus could have travelled over, they understood that he was not waiting down by the shore. This became a reason for them not to stay there themselves.
2. Not all the 5000, only a small part of them.
3. Namely the boats that had come from Tiberius.
4. They must have thought that he had walked the road north of the lake, or possibly, that the disciples had come back to get him during the night.

Verse 25 — And when they had found him on the other side of the lake,¹ they said to him: “Rabbi, when did you come here?”²

1. That is to say, on the West side of the Sea of Galilee. In John, verse 22, “the other side of the lake” is the East side.
2. That they were searching for him, showed that they expected to find him there. But they wanted to know WHEN he had come there because he had not come with the disciples. No thought of a miracle is expressed in their question.

Verse 26 — Jesus answered them and said: “Truly, truly,¹ I say to you: You seek me not because you have seen signs,² but because you have eaten bread and been filled.³

1. See comment to Chapter 1:51 which reads: In the original text, the word translated truly is amen. This is a Hebrew word and implies a protest. It is often used as assurances by Jesus and only by him. Only in the Gospel of John is it repeated twice when it occurs. In the Apostolic letters, it is often used as a confirmation after an expression of God’s promise (Romans 1:25, 9:5, 11:36 and others; sometimes, though infrequently, after a wish for God’s grace (Galatians 6:18).
2. The miracles they had seen (verse 2) of which the feeding miracle was the latest, should have been a SIGN for them from which they could have come to know him as the true Messiah. See comments to Luke 2:34 that reads: By a sign, such happenings or deeds (especially miraculous) are referred to whereby a person or a thing is acknowledged, or evidence is confirmed, or a future predicted event’s approach is heralded, or a person confirms that he is what he passes himself off to be. In this meaning, the word occurs in the New Testament very often. See for example, Luke 2:12; Matthew 12:38, 24:3, 26:48; John 2:23; II Corinthians 12:12; and others. Compare Exodus 4:1-9. The Jews always demanded a sign (I Corinthians 1:22; Mark 8:11). Jesus himself was, in his whole person, his life, his work, his resurrection, a sign through which each and everyone could learn to know that the time had now come for the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises. But this sign was contradicted. Even this was predicted (Isaiah 53, 65:2).
3. The purely physical satisfaction of being filled was the only thing that drove them to seek him in this way. For, any higher Messianic conceptions were completely foreign to them. The only Messiah they could understand was one who could satisfy their earthly wishes and needs.

Verse 27 — Do not labor¹ for that food² that does not last,³ but rather the food that endures to eternal life,⁴ which the Son of Man gives to you,⁵ for on him the father God⁶ has set his seal.”⁷ (See John 11:26; Matthew 3:17; John 1:32f., 5:37, 8:18.)

1. The way the word is used here means to acquire something through work.
2. Verbatim: eating. See comments to 4:32 which reads: The Greek word in the original text expresses the eating itself (Romans 14:17; Colossians 2:16) and also that which is eaten. Here (as in John 6:27, 55) it is surely the latter. However, it is not impossible that the Lord wants to say: Something to eat is given to me of which you do not know.
3. The natural food is consumed through use and ceases thereby to exist. (See Colossians 2:22; I Corinthians 6:13.) In addition, it must be noted that food is also used here as an expression for everything sinful whereby persons seek to satisfy their earthly wishes.
4. This food is the Godly grace and truth (John 1:14) that humankind becomes a part of by accepting Jesus himself who is the bread (verse 35). It is not consumed, but lasts into eternal life. While it is itself everlasting, it upholds and nourishes the person for eternity. To labor for this food is to strive after it, to struggle for it. This happens whereby, in faith, one comes to Jesus. Note in addition how the eternal life, here as in chapter 4:14, is presented as something to come. The eternal life that the blessed shall live in God’s kingdom when it comes. Of this life they have already here, by faith, become partakers. Because that life that they already now have in Jesus is in kind the same life as the blessed ones’ life in God’s Kingdom. Therefore, it is easy to explain how it is that eternal life is presented sometimes as coming and sometimes as already here. See John 3:36.
5. Namely on the condition that you strive after it. The Lord shall give this food to each and every one who in faith comes to him in order to win the same. Had the people come to him with this intention, they would have already received the same. But instead they sought after the food that vanishes.
6. And HIS witness you must acknowledge. An expression of this witness they had just experience in that wonderful feeding.
7. See John 3:33. God has, in a way, placed this seal on the Son and thereby confirmed that he is the one who gives this food that lasts for eternity. With this seal he means that witness which the father gave to him. See John 5:36-39.

Verse 28 — Then they said to him: “What shall we do¹ that we may labor for God’s work?”²

1. What the Lord talked about to labor for that food which remains for eternal life, the people understood to mean that it is a few good deeds they must do in order to win eternal life.
2. Those works of God that you intend. God’s works are such that belong to God, either that he does them, or that he insists on them. Here it is the latter. See Revelation 2:26.

Verse 29 — Jesus answered and said to them: “This is God’s work,¹ that you believe² the one whom he has sent.” (I John 3:23)

1. That is to say, this is the work that God demands from you as a condition for winning eternal life.
2. See John 3:16. Your belief in him is the foundation and the root of the spiritual re-creation that constitutes the demand to win eternal life. In that a person embraces Jesus, she or he is a participant in the fullness of grace and truth that is in him. Faith is presented as work that God demands from people, showing that it does not depend on God’s predestined decision but rather on humankind’s one condition, if a person shall win eternal life or not. This is the same way of looking at it as the foundation for all the places where people are admonished to believe or be punished if they do not believe.

Verse 30 — Then they said to him: “What will you give for a sign¹ so that we may see it and believe you? What work will you do?”² (See Matthew 12:38, 16:1; I Corinthians 1:22.)

1. While you demand that we shall believe in you, what sort of sign do you show? Even you must show some sign and prove that God has sent you. Moses did.
2. The Lord has demanded work from them, and now they ask for work from him. They had just recently experienced a large work from him when he fed them in a wonderful way. But it was, in their eyes, nothing compared to what Moses had done when he gave the people bread from heaven. Note. Yesterday the miracle of the bread was enough for them to honor him as the Messiah. Yes, they even wanted to force him to become king. Today, however, after the Lord had dispelled their false fantasies, the miracle of the bread is not enough — let alone all the other miracles. Summary: as long as the miracles could be used as a support for their own earthly ideas, they were excellent testimonies. When they could not be used for such, they were of no use. So perverse is the nature of humankind.

Verse 31 — Our fathers ate manna¹ in the desert, as it is written:² “Bread from heaven he³ gave them to eat.” (See I Corinthians 10:3.)

1. The Jews viewed the manna from heaven as Moses’ biggest miracle. Their scripture teachers taught that, as the first savior (Moses) let the manna fall from heaven, so should the second savior (Messiah) let manna come down. If they were to believe in him, they now wanted a similar miracle from Jesus as from Moses.
2. The Old Testament words that are stated here are freely expressed in Psalm 78:24, 105:40; Exodus 16:15.
3. Whether this “he” refers to God or Moses is uncertain. In Psalm 78:24, it means God. But since the miracle happened through Moses and because the people here express it as proof of Moses’ being sent by God, it is not unreasonable to believe that they are saying that Moses gave them the bread from heaven. The Savior’s answer shows that he understood this to be their meaning. The Jewish scripture teachers sometimes expressed it in this way, as we just saw. The one is really the same as the other. It is often said about God’s holy men that they have done this or that, which has been God’s work carried out through them.

Verse 32 — Then Jesus said to them: “Truly, truly I say to you: It was not Moses who gave you¹ bread from heaven,² but my Father³ gives⁴ you the true bread⁵ from heaven.

1. It was actually to their fathers, not to them, that he gave the manna. But, the Lord includes them and their fathers as one people.
2. The Lord does not want to deny that Moses gave them manna, or that the manna fell from heaven but he says that Moses did not give them “the bread from heaven.” The manna was bread that fell from the sky, but in the truest sense it was not “the bread from heaven.”
3. To be sure, it was God who also gave the manna. But, though it was given through Moses, it is viewed as Moses’ deed. “The bread from heaven,” however, God gives without such human intermediary. This bread is Christ himself whom the Father has sent.
4. Not: HAS GIVEN, but GIVES NOW. Jesus was now present as that bread.
5. That bread which, alone, in the true and real meaning, can be called “the bread from heaven.”

Verse 33 — For God’s bread is that which comes down from heaven¹ and gives life² to the world.”

1. That bread which comes down from heaven is God’s bread and can therefore not be given by anyone but God.
2. That is to say, eternal life. It not only UPLIFTS, but it GIVES eternal life. Without this bread, the world is dead. Through this bread, the world receives life. In what way and under what conditions the world receives life, the Lord shows in the following (verses 35, 50, and 51). Note in addition, how even here the universality of God’s saving grace is emphasized.

Verse 34 — Then they said to him: “Lord, give us always this bread.”¹

1. The people think that the Lord may have access to some supernatural bread which is better than manna, but yet physical. Since the feeding miracle the day before, it seems possible to them, and they beg the Lord to always give them this bread. Compare the prayer of the Samaritan woman in John 4:15. They beg for this bread from him because they understand that it is his father who gives it through him.

Verse 35 — Then Jesus said to them: “I¹ am the bread of life.² The one who comes to me³ shall by no means ever hunger⁴ and the one who believes⁵ in me shall by no means thirst⁶ ever.”⁷ See Isaiah 55:1; Matthew 11:28; John 4:14 and 7:37.

1. In the original text there is strong emphasis on the word “I.”
2. That is to say, the bread that leads to life, the bread that gives life (compare verse 68).
3. That is to say, by believing. To be a believer consists of just that one comes to, is drawn to, Jesus. See 5:40.
4. He or she shall be satisfied completely in his or her innermost being. Compare John 4:14.
5. The one who believes, the one who not only comes to Jesus, but also remains with him.
6. This is a new expression for the same perfect spiritual satisfaction that was previously expressed: “he or she shall by no means ever hunger.”
7. The satisfaction that they shall find shall not be a temporary but a continuing satisfaction.