Below is a step-through examination of what Jesus teaches in John 6:29-66. It is the result of an attempt to follow the statements and how they relate to each other.
(please note the tables below has scrolling enabled to permit all columns to be read. A copy of this can also be downloaded at the end of the post.)
Action | Actor | Cause | Effect | Passage | Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Individuals believe on Jesus | Individual | The work of God | Faith | John 6:29 | The work/activity of God is individuals believing on Jesus | |
Individuals believing on/coming to Jesus | Individual | TBD | No longer hunger & thirst | John 6:35 | When an individual believes on Jesus (synonymous with coming to Jesus) they will never hunger or thirst (they have eternal life). | |
Individual given to Jesus | The Father | The Father-God is the self-cause | Individual will come | John 6:37 | Every individual who has been given to Jesus by God will come to Jesus (aka believe on Jesus). The giving precedes the coming. | |
Individual comes to Jesus | Individual | The Father's Giving to Jesus | The one who comes will not be cast away by Jesus. | John 6:37 | The individual who believes/comes on/to Jesus has assurance of acceptance of Jesus. | |
Doing God's will. | Jesus | The Father sent Him | None given to Jesus are lost but resurrected. | John 6:38-39 | Jesus came to do The Father's will and states this will is stated twice, that Jesus should lose NONE of the individuals that God has given Him, but raise them up on the last day. | **The union of the statement/restatement of The Fathers will is this: That every individual The Father has given to The Son [every individual that believes] will have eternal life and be raised on the last day. |
Doing God's will. | Jesus | The Father sent Him | None given to Jesus are lost but resurrected. | John 6:40 | The restatement is that the individual that believes on Jesus, Jesus gives him eternal life and will raise him up on the last day. | |
John 6:41-43 An interlude to Jesus' teaching as the listeners were grumbling about what he said. He tells them to stop as he begins to address them once more.
Action | Actor | Cause | Effect | Passage | Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unable to Come to Jesus | Individual | Individual | Unbelief | John 6:44 | The individual is unable to believe on Jesus. | |
Drawing of the Individual (greek word is literally to drag,not the word for woo or entice) | God | God | Resurrection of Individual by Jesus (this indicates the individual comes to Jesus, therefore all who God draws, comes, and has eternal life) | John 6:44 | The individual must be drawn (literally dragged) to Jesus by The Father, and that individual will be raised on the last day. | **This statement doesn't permit the idea that the drawing can result in anything less than the belief of the one being drawn. No man can come unless drawn by The Father, and this one will be raised on the last day. It doesn't say, "No one can come unless The Father draws him, and if he comes, I'll raise him up on the last day." |
Teaching individuals (the individual hears and learns by God) | God | God | Individual comes to Jesus (faith) | John 6:45 | The prophets spoke of a time when God will teach individuals, and everyone who has learned (been taught by God) will come to Jesus. | |
Belief | Individual | Not stated in this verse but previous verses state God. | Eternal life | John 6:47-59 | The Individual who believes on Jesus has eternal life | **In these verses Jesus is re-summarizing the truth that He is the bread of life and all those who come to Him will have eternal life. |
John 6:60-61 many of those following Jesus were struggling at accepting what He was telling them. He knew they were grumbling over His words, asked if they were offended as what He was teaching, and began to restate the truth again.
Action | Actor | Cause | Effect | Passage | Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Life is given | The Sprit/the flesh plays no part | God | Individual is reborn | John 6:62 | The Spirit gives life to the individual. Their flesh provides no assistance at all. | |
Unbelief | Individual | Individual | Remain as they are | John 6:64 | Unbelief is the original state of the individual. The default response of all who hear the words of life. | |
Granting belief/coming to Jesus | God | God | Individual comes to Jesus/belief | John 6:65 | Coming to Jesus/Belief is granted to the individual by The Father. | |
John 6:66 states that from that point on, many of those who were following Him turned back. This teaching is not something that is palatable. In it we are told that Jesus is the life. That all those who believe on Jesus (all those who come to Him) will have eternal life and be resurrected on the last day. Jesus goes further than just stating our responsibility to believe though. He explicitly addresses our state of unbelief. Refusing to allow us to imagine that the responses of coming to Him vs walking away (belief vs unbelief) are a result of something within ourselves; He states and restates His opening statement, “This is the work of God - that you believe on the One He has sent.” (John 6:29) and then he bookends his teaching with a clarifying restatement of the same - “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father. ” (John 6:65)
This truth should drive us to humbly thank our God because Jesus truly is the “Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Let’s praise God along with the Psalmist:
“Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his —
his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.”
Psalm 100 (CSB)
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