The season of Passover had come and a large Jewish crowd was following Jesus because "they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick" (John 6:2 NASB). Quietly, Jesus went up on a mountainside with His disciples. There He saw the crowds coming to Him. Realizing their need for food, Jesus asked where they might buy bread, so that they could eat. Jesus demonstrated His care or concern for the Jewish people. However, He also had in mind what He intended to do.
With five barley loaves and two fish Jesus fed over five thousand people (John 6:10). "Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, 'This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world'" (John 6:14). Knowing their intention to "come and take Him by force to make Him king" (John 6:15), Jesus quickly sneaked away again to the mountainside.
The following day, the crowds were seeking Jesus, but He responded, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled" (John 6:26). He then instructed them to "work [ergazomai] for the food which endures to eternal life," which He Himself was willing to give them (John 6:27).
Spending so much effort in order to be filled physically, Jesus instructed the Jewish people to place their efforts on being filled spiritually -- through "the food" which "endures to eternal life." He instructed them not to work for their salvation, but, if you will, to attune their hearts toward salvation, which can only be found (by grace) through faith (John 6:29) in Christ. The Greek word ergazomai (according to BDAG) carries the notion: to work, work out, labor, trade, do, perform; deed, action.1 R. C. H. Lenski comments:
Did these Jewish people adequately understand Christ's message? They asked, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" (John 6:28) Let us note what Jesus could have said in response. He could have corrected their thinking about working for salvation (perhaps through works of the Mosaic Law), if such was implied in their question. But Jesus did not necessarily correct their errant theology. He answered their question, which was qualified as the works of God, or the works which God requires. Adam Clarke interprets, "That is, Divine works, or such as God can approve."3 Jesus responded, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he has sent" (John 6:29). Frédéric Louis Godet comments:
The Jewish people responded, "Lord, always give us this bread" (John 6:34). Note that Jesus then informed them that they, each one of them, must come to Him, and when he or she did so, hunger and thirst for spiritual realities would be satisfied (John 6:35). Again, this bread, admitted Jesus, is "that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world" (John 6:33). Thus we know that the bread, Christ Himself, and His intent to give its benefits, were restricted here to no one person or group, since the word world is all-inclusive.
But there was a problem. The bread from heaven -- the bread of salvation -- stood before them and yet they would not "work for the food . . . which endures to eternal life" (John 6:27). They would not work "the work of God," which is to "believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29). He promised to satisfy their spiritual hunger and thirst by offering Himself as the genuine object of their spiritual needs. Jesus responded, "But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet you do not believe" (John 6:36).
This is the second occasion in this brief discourse that Jesus explicitly informed and confronted the Jewish people about their unbelief: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled" (John 6:26). Again, Lenski comments, "These Galileans now know both the Bread and the eating; but this Bread does not attract them, this eating they refuse."5 Why did Jesus emphasize, twice now, the unbelief of this Jewish crowd? Lenski offers:
By the era of Jesus, many hearts of the Jewish people had already grown cold to the realities of the God of Israel (cf. Matt. 13:12-15). Adam Clarke notes the spiritual truths the Jewish people should have derived from Christ's message in John 6:
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1 A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG), second edition, trans. and eds. William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979), 306.
2 R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel (Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1942), 451-52. So the reader is not led to believe that the Arminian position grants any work, properly taken, of man to his salvation, Lenski comments, "But 'work for' excludes every Pelagian and synergistic sense. Even earthly food for bodily eating we do not produce by any 'working' of ours, it is God's creature and gift; witness every earthly harvest, also the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000" (451).
3 Adam Clarke, The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Volume I. -- Matthew to the Acts (New York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1883), 560.
4 Frédéric Louis Godet, Commentary on the Gospel of John with an Historical and Critical Introduction (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Publishers, 1886), 20. Commenting further on the nature of this "work," he comments: "It is evident that, in this context, the genitive . . . of God, designates, not the author of the work (Augustine), but the one with reference to whom it is done: the question is of the work which God requires. What is called Paulinism is implied in this answer, which may be called the point of union between Paul and James. Faith is really a work, the highest work, for by it man gives himself [to God in and through Christ]" (20).
Godet seems to indicate that faith is not a work in the sense of being a meritorious act which God views as righteous, since we know that 1) no one is inherently righteous (Rom. 3:10-18); 2) no one has the inherent ability to come to Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit (John 6:44; 16:8-11); and 3) faith or belief in Christ is not counted a work in the sense of performing the works of the Law were counted as a work (Rom. 4:4-5). But, indeed, we must do the believing; God will not believe for us.
R. C. H. Lenski comments, "He makes the genitive 'of God' mean, not 'commanded by God,' but 'wrought by God.' And then in the [hina] clause, which is in apposition to 'this' . . . he plainly defines just what work God works in us. Faith is here called a 'work' in a peculiar sense, differentiating it entirely from 'works' as righteous acts of ours. We, indeed, must do the believing, but our believing is the work of God. We trust, but God kindles that trust in us" (455).
5 Lenski, 462.
6 Ibid., 462-63.
7 Clarke, 561.
With five barley loaves and two fish Jesus fed over five thousand people (John 6:10). "Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, 'This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world'" (John 6:14). Knowing their intention to "come and take Him by force to make Him king" (John 6:15), Jesus quickly sneaked away again to the mountainside.
The following day, the crowds were seeking Jesus, but He responded, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled" (John 6:26). He then instructed them to "work [ergazomai] for the food which endures to eternal life," which He Himself was willing to give them (John 6:27).
Spending so much effort in order to be filled physically, Jesus instructed the Jewish people to place their efforts on being filled spiritually -- through "the food" which "endures to eternal life." He instructed them not to work for their salvation, but, if you will, to attune their hearts toward salvation, which can only be found (by grace) through faith (John 6:29) in Christ. The Greek word ergazomai (according to BDAG) carries the notion: to work, work out, labor, trade, do, perform; deed, action.1 R. C. H. Lenski comments:
When Jesus bids the people at Capernaum to "work" thus, he implies that they have not as yet done so. They, indeed, had come and had heard, but altogether superficially, with their ears not with their hearts. They had clung to the temporal and transient, and every effort of Jesus to give them the eternal they had passed over coldly and indifferently.2Note what Jesus informed each individual in the crowd: Work for "the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you" (John 6:27). Thus we know that the message of Christ and His intent to give its benefits were restricted here to no one person or group; the Son of Man "will give" to you, though we know from the context that such was not bestowed irresistibly, nor unconditionally, since the condition of belief had first to be accomplished.
Did these Jewish people adequately understand Christ's message? They asked, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" (John 6:28) Let us note what Jesus could have said in response. He could have corrected their thinking about working for salvation (perhaps through works of the Mosaic Law), if such was implied in their question. But Jesus did not necessarily correct their errant theology. He answered their question, which was qualified as the works of God, or the works which God requires. Adam Clarke interprets, "That is, Divine works, or such as God can approve."3 Jesus responded, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he has sent" (John 6:29). Frédéric Louis Godet comments:
Jesus, in His turn, enters into this idea of works to be done; only He reduces them all to a single one: the work, in contrast to the works (ver. 28). This work is faith in Him; in other terms: the gift of God is to be, not deserved, but simply accepted [or received]. Faith in Him whom God sends to communicate it is the sole condition for receiving it.4Jesus, reflecting the Moses image connected with the manna which fell from heaven (i.e., God), by which food their lives were sustained (cf. Exodus 16:15; Num. 11:8; Neh. 9:15), declared Himself to be the bread (manna) which came down from heaven (i.e., God), and that this bread -- this food: feeding on Him, so to speak -- is true food, food which they needed for salvation (John 6:30-33).
The Jewish people responded, "Lord, always give us this bread" (John 6:34). Note that Jesus then informed them that they, each one of them, must come to Him, and when he or she did so, hunger and thirst for spiritual realities would be satisfied (John 6:35). Again, this bread, admitted Jesus, is "that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world" (John 6:33). Thus we know that the bread, Christ Himself, and His intent to give its benefits, were restricted here to no one person or group, since the word world is all-inclusive.
But there was a problem. The bread from heaven -- the bread of salvation -- stood before them and yet they would not "work for the food . . . which endures to eternal life" (John 6:27). They would not work "the work of God," which is to "believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29). He promised to satisfy their spiritual hunger and thirst by offering Himself as the genuine object of their spiritual needs. Jesus responded, "But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet you do not believe" (John 6:36).
This is the second occasion in this brief discourse that Jesus explicitly informed and confronted the Jewish people about their unbelief: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled" (John 6:26). Again, Lenski comments, "These Galileans now know both the Bread and the eating; but this Bread does not attract them, this eating they refuse."5 Why did Jesus emphasize, twice now, the unbelief of this Jewish crowd? Lenski offers:
When the blessed reality of life and salvation in Christ is placed before the eyes and the hearts of men, so that they are made to see them, and when they then refuse to believe and to accept these gifts, their guilt is on their own heads. But Jesus points these people to this their guilt, not in order to cast them off forever (although they deserve that), but in order to drive fear into their conscience."6If the Jewish people clearly and without doubt understood Jesus' message about Him being the Bread and Wine from heaven (God), complete with all its spiritual implications and applications, we are not explicitly informed. We have to remember, however, that Jesus elsewhere stated to Jewish ears, "So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him" (Luke 8:18). The crowds were responsible for rightly responding to Jesus' messages, which acted as a sort of testing ground, if you will, in order to verify the spiritual temperature of each individual.
By the era of Jesus, many hearts of the Jewish people had already grown cold to the realities of the God of Israel (cf. Matt. 13:12-15). Adam Clarke notes the spiritual truths the Jewish people should have derived from Christ's message in John 6:
The person who receives my [Christ's] doctrine, and believes in me as the great atoning sacrifice, shall be perfectly satisfied, and never more feel misery of mind. All the guilt of his sins shall be blotted out, and his soul shall be purified unto God; and, being enabled to love him with all his heart, he shall rest, fully, supremely, and finally happy, in his God.7Yet, by the end of Christ's discourse with this group of Jewish followers, "many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore" (John 6:66). Though this group of Jewish believers saw Christ Jesus in the flesh -- saw the miracles He performed before their very eyes -- they did not, they would not, believe in Him (John 6:36).
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1 A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG), second edition, trans. and eds. William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979), 306.
2 R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel (Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1942), 451-52. So the reader is not led to believe that the Arminian position grants any work, properly taken, of man to his salvation, Lenski comments, "But 'work for' excludes every Pelagian and synergistic sense. Even earthly food for bodily eating we do not produce by any 'working' of ours, it is God's creature and gift; witness every earthly harvest, also the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000" (451).
3 Adam Clarke, The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Volume I. -- Matthew to the Acts (New York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1883), 560.
4 Frédéric Louis Godet, Commentary on the Gospel of John with an Historical and Critical Introduction (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Publishers, 1886), 20. Commenting further on the nature of this "work," he comments: "It is evident that, in this context, the genitive . . . of God, designates, not the author of the work (Augustine), but the one with reference to whom it is done: the question is of the work which God requires. What is called Paulinism is implied in this answer, which may be called the point of union between Paul and James. Faith is really a work, the highest work, for by it man gives himself [to God in and through Christ]" (20).
Godet seems to indicate that faith is not a work in the sense of being a meritorious act which God views as righteous, since we know that 1) no one is inherently righteous (Rom. 3:10-18); 2) no one has the inherent ability to come to Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit (John 6:44; 16:8-11); and 3) faith or belief in Christ is not counted a work in the sense of performing the works of the Law were counted as a work (Rom. 4:4-5). But, indeed, we must do the believing; God will not believe for us.
R. C. H. Lenski comments, "He makes the genitive 'of God' mean, not 'commanded by God,' but 'wrought by God.' And then in the [hina] clause, which is in apposition to 'this' . . . he plainly defines just what work God works in us. Faith is here called a 'work' in a peculiar sense, differentiating it entirely from 'works' as righteous acts of ours. We, indeed, must do the believing, but our believing is the work of God. We trust, but God kindles that trust in us" (455).
5 Lenski, 462.
6 Ibid., 462-63.
7 Clarke, 561.
It is so simple; it is such a mystery. Eternal life gained simply, and exclusively, through faith. One cold and clear night in March of 1975 I climbed the face of Garret Mountain in Wayne, New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteI had just heard Billy Graham say that Jesus was coming back and my heart was enlightened. If He was returning, then He is alive and was who He claimed to be.
As I sat atop the mountain and gazed at the Manhattan skyline, I spoke out loud and said, "Jesus, if you are who You say You are, then I desire to know You". I knew no doctrine or theology, but I can honestly tell you something happened to me on that very moment.
I scaled the mountain seeking but lost, and I came back down a redeemed sinner. For the next year I practiced a clumsy but sincere form of evangelism. I accosted everyone with "Do you know that Jesus is real?"
I went back to the bar in which I had become infamous, and while drinking soda, I evangelized as well. I drove everyone crazy and many avoided me. Not knowing ecclesiastical protocal, I took wine and unsalted crackers upon Garret Mountain and took communion.
And I baptized myself in the Gulf of Mexico while visiting my aunt. Fear not - I subsequently was baptized in a Baptist church. By faith, I ate the bread/body and drank the wine/blood. And I can say with Biblical experience and certainty: I have never been the same.
Good job brother.
ReplyDeleteRoy,
ReplyDeleteThanks, brother!
Rick,
You and I have similar conversion stories: my own conversion was brought about (during a time in which I was a nightclub DJ) due to the truth of Christ's return spoken to me from my dad.
Yea, if He was coming back He was alive. And if He was coming back - uh-oh; I was in trouble!
ReplyDeleteWhen Christ says, "This is the work of God, that you believe..." some C. commentators have said that this shows that our BELIEVING is God's work--i.e., not of our choice but of his effective action.
ReplyDeleteHow would you respond to this Billy?
BPB,
ReplyDeleteLenski addressed this very issue in footnote 4: "Faith is here called a 'work' in a peculiar sense, differentiating it entirely from 'works' as righteous acts of ours. We, indeed, must do the believing, but our believing is the work of God. We trust, but God kindles that trust in us."
I would "Amen" that statement. But I fear that many Calvinists do not actually believe that they are the ones believing in Christ, which is unbiblical. God is certainly not believing for them; they, though enabled by God, must believe in Christ in order to be justified and thus saved.
All that we deny is that God's work of belief in our heart/mind is irresistible. Due to their doctrine of Unconditional Election, they cannot allow for any semblance of resistibility.
BPB - That is exactly why the epistles are absolutely necessary for clarity.
ReplyDelete