John 6:60-65

The Offense of Many Disciples. John 6, 60-71.

The disciples murmur: V. 60. Many; therefore, of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

V. 61. When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this offend you? V. 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? V. 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. V. 64. 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.

V. 65. And He said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto Me except it were given unto him of My Father.

Jesus had gained a considerable number of followers in Galilee, people that were impressed by both His miracles and His preaching and therefore accompanied Him whenever they could.

These people had just heard a wonderful sermon out of the mouth of the Master. They had learned that faith is a work which God desires of men, that Jesus is the Life-giver, that the grace of God in Jesus is universal, and that none is refused, that there is an election of grace by which those whom God has given to the Son become partakers of grace, that faith is the work of God, who draws to Christ, that the believers are sure of everlasting life, that there is a communication of attributes in the Godhead, between the divine and the human nature of Christ, that there is a mystical union between God the Father and the Son and the believers.

And yet some of these disciples were offended; they found it a hard saying that the flesh and blood of this Man should give eternal life. Although this dissatisfied grumbling went on softly, the omniscience of Jesus was fully aware of it and reproved them for taking occasion to stumble here. When they would see Him ascending up into heaven, whence He came down, they would either be scandalized all the more, or they would have to be convinced.

They would then also understand what He meant when He said that they must eat His flesh. For then His weak human nature would be forever imbued and united with the divine, with the heavenly manner of being. His flesh would then be spiritualized, His body glorified. That would be a visible proof of the fact that He came down from heaven. Knowing this in advance, they should remember that the spirit is life-giving, that the flesh has no value. All material, earthly things that are associated with the sinful derivation of man have no value for spiritual life. Only the words of Christ contain spirit and life, give spirit and life.

The reason for their offense, therefore, lies not in Christ, but in themselves: they do not believe. They depend upon human, carnal understanding and interpretation of everything about them; they refuse to let the Spirit of Christ work in them and give them life. From the beginning Jesus knew that there were such among His disciples as were no true believers; from the beginning also He knew His betrayer. Once more His earnest warning goes out to them that coming to Christ is a gift of God, who draws men through faith. The fact that there are unbelievers even among the disciples is a proof of the statement that no one can believe unless he receives this faith from the Father, that no one can come to Christ by his own strength:

Note: The result of freely preaching the Gospel of the unvarnished truth as to the way of salvation is ever this, that some are offended; their self-righteousness and pride rebels against the idea of free grace and mercy.