John 6 - CSB Tony Evans Study Bible

6:5-6 Teachers give students tests to allow them to apply what they’ve learned. When God tests us, he grants us opportunity to apply spiritual truth to the challenging circumstances we face. With thousands of hungry people gathering, Jesus gave Philip a pop quiz he’d never forget.

6:7 Two hundred denarii was over six months’ wages. But in 6:5 Jesus wasn’t asking about the cost; he was asking where the food would come from.

6:10 Were women and children included in the count (see Matt 14:21), there could have been over fifteen thousand people present.

6:11 Jesus thanked God for what was not nearly enough! After that, he distributed the food and, miraculously, everyone ate as much as they wanted. Jesus took insufficiency, expressed gratitude for it, and provided more than enough. Don’t let your lack of resources limit what God can do. Offer prayers of thanksgiving even in the midst of your insufficiency.

6:13 Twelve baskets equaled one big doggy bag per disciple. Each was a reminder of God’s supernatural provision for each disciple.

6:14-15 As we’ll see in 6:26-27, they only wanted the physical benefits Jesus offered. They wanted the blessings without the blesser.

6:19 They feared he was “a ghost” (see Matt 14:26).

6:21 One moment they were in the middle of a stormy sea; the next moment they had miraculously reached their destination! Don’t miss that once they were willing to receive Jesus into the boat, he dealt with their problem and delivered them where they needed to go. When believers recognize and respond to the presence of Jesus in the midst of their struggles, they invite the supernatural into their negative circumstances.

6:25 The crowd knew the disciples had departed in a boat (6:22) and knew Jesus hadn’t left in one. Therefore, given his reputation, they suspected Jesus had arrived in some supernatural way.

6:26 They hadn’t sought him for who he was. They sought him for what he could give them. They didn’t want him, but his blessings. God isn’t opposed to blessing people. He is opposed, however, to people who simply want to use him for his blessings—people who only want him for the stuff he can provide. He’s looking for those who don’t want his blessings without him.

6:27 They were striving for miraculous physical food (like the prioritization of the materi-al over the spiritual in prosperity theology), when the Son was offering the free gift of spiritual food—that is, eternal life.

6:28-29 The only thing God demands of those wanting to receive the free gift of eternal life is belief in his Son, Jesus Christ.

6:32-33 Jesus’s point was that God was their source, not Moses (6:32). And as sure as he’d provided manna in the wilderness to address their ancestors’ physical hunger, he was providing Jesus—the true bread from heaven—to meet their spiritual need (6:32).

6:37 Just whom does the Father give to the Son? All those who believe in him. Whoever believes in the Son is a gift from the Father to the Son.

6:39 When you truly trust in Jesus Christ, you are eternally secure. If you come to him for salvation, you cannot be lost again.

6:40 As Jesus was raised from the dead (20:1-29), believers will also be raised on the last day.

6:42 They essentially said, “We know this guy. He’s not from heaven; he’s from Nazareth!”

6:44 This drawing is universal (see 12:32; 16:7-11) and can be rejected (see Acts 7:51).

6:48-51 Verse 48 is the first of Jesus’s seven I am statements recorded in John’s Gospel (see 8:12; 10:7, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). He would also say “I am” in an absolute sense to emphasize his divine identity (see 8:58).

6:53-56 Jesus wasn’t talking about cannibalism, though some listening may have misinterpreted it that way (see 6:60). He was using a rich metaphor to emphasize that believing in him is essential. Just as you will die without physical food, so also you can’t have spiritual life apart from Jesus. You must eat him—that is, receive him, trust him, believe in him, have faith in him, partake of him.

6:63 The Holy Spirit takes a person’s belief in Jesus’s words and activates Jesus’s life in that person to give him spiritual life. Salvation cannot be attained through human effort.

6:64 The one who would betray him was Judas.

6:65 God only grants to Jesus those who are willing to respond to him. The Father cooperates with a person’s decision to believe in his Son.

6:66-69 Only those who continue with Christ in the school of discipleship will receive more understanding from him. Those who drop out will not.

6:70-71 Nothing that happened throughout the course of his ministry, including Judas’s betrayal, took Jesus by surprise. God’s plan would be fulfilled even though it involved using Satan and his followers to accomplish it.