The context: John 6:1-15 Tells the story of Jesus miracle of turning 5 loaves and 2 fish into enough food for everyone to eat "as much as they wanted" and still have 12 baskets full of pieces left over. Verse 14 says: "When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, 'This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!'"
After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Before we dive into the rest of the passage I want to take a quick detour since the bible says more about this prophet.
He is first foretold by Moses in Deutoronomy 18:15-19
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him."
God promised through Moses that He would send another Prophet and He warns that anyone who doesn't listen to that prophet, God will "require it" of him. From this passage alone we might not know what "it" is that will be required, but Peter in Acts 3 fills us in on what is intended.
Acts 3:22-23
"Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’"
Here we see that Peter understands that what God will require of people will be their lives, they will be "destroyed" from the people. The NASB translates "destroyed" as "utterly destroyed" that is because the Greek word used is one of the strongest words that could be used to convey what we understand as "Annihilationism"
This does not just mean to "ruin" them as in make their still living lives worthless and miserable, it means to exterminate.
So setting the context, these people see the "sign" that Jesus does and they realize "He's the one we were told that would come!" and they seek to make Jesus their king by force. Jesus IS the prophet foretold by Moses but he would not let them make him king at this time because he still had redemption to accomplish.
Peter's words are important to remember in the following passage. Those who do not listen to Him will be "utterly destroyed" out from the people. Let's see if they will listen to Jesus.
In verses 16-24 the disciples get in a boat and go across the sea, Jesus walks on water and gets in the boat and they all go across to the other side. The next day, those people left behind realize that Jesus had gone to the other side so they follow and search for him.
When they get there and find Jesus he immediately cuts to the heart of the situation:
"“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.'"
Not knowing what Jesus is exactly saying they ask him:
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
(they should have listened to him at this point)
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Right here they show their true desires. John already said in verse 14 and Jesus reiterates it in verse 26 that the feeding from the 5 loaves and 2 fish was a sign. They didn't really want to see a sign, they already had that, they wanted more food. They weren't seeking Jesus they were seeking just what Jesus could give them.
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Let's stop here for a second. Jesus says that the one who comes down from heaven gives LIFE to the world. What do we understand life to be? Those who believe in eternal torment think that "eternal life" (life here refers back to the eternal life that Jesus said the Son of Man would give them in verse 27) does not mean merely being alive forever but means a blessed quality of life in fellowship with God.
They say since John 17:3 says:
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Therefore the phrase eternal life is not talking about living forever (though they won't deny that the saved will live forever) but about knowing God. Since the lost in hell do not "know" God, even though they "exist" (as William Lane Craig says) they do not have "eternal life." But that is selectively narrowing down the meaning of the phrase. Yes the eternal life that Jesus gives is more than just being alive forever, but it is certainly not less. If you are alive forever you have eternal life whether you know God or not. However if Conditionalism is true, then John 17:3 fits like a glove. Everyone who knows God has eternal life, everyone who has eternal life knows God because those who don't "know" Him have been killed.
Let's see however if the traditionalist restriction of "eternal life" can withstand the rest of the passage.
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
As the prophet that was foretold by Moses, Jesus told them "believe in me". They do not now believe in him, therefore they have not "listen(ed) to that prophet." Keep in mind what Peter says will happen to those who don't listen...
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
More not listening...
Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
If "eternal life" refers not just to being alive forever but being in a knowing relationship with God then it would be logical that not knowing God could be called "eternal death" and that those who are physically alive but do not know God could logically be called "dead." But, is this the sense of life and death that Jesus is using in this passage? When he says:
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
Is he referring to this "spiritual state" of being alive but not knowing God? NO! they dropped like flies in the desert so that within 40 years everyone who was over 20 years old who had decided not to enter the promised land (other than Joshua and Caleb) had died! They physically died. So in one sentence Jesus contrasts the bread that he offers which offers "eternal life" with bread that couldn't keep people alive forever so they physically died.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
Eternal life here results in "not dying" what does he mean by dying? Well it's a direct contrast with what happened to those who ate the manna. They died, if you eat the bread from heaven you will not die. This is physical death not a state of "spiritual death" that means you are physically alive but since you do not know God you could be called "dead". Since we've established that physical death is what is being contrasted with eternal life then eternal life has to mean more than simply knowing God but must also mean being alive forever.
This means that there are two options.
1. Listen to Jesus, believe in him and have eternal life.
2. Don't listen to Jesus and you will not have eternal life and you will die.
There is no room in this contrast for people who "exist" but are not alive. Jesus goes on to say:
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
Here Jesus reiterates what eternal life means, it means living forever. If you are alive forever in hell you have eternal life. Since only those who believe in Jesus receive eternal life, those who go to hell cannot continue to live forever.
And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus is referring to how he will give us eternal life. For everyone who believes in Jesus, he will bear their sins on the cross and he will die the death they deserve to die. Since they are IN Jesus by faith when he rises from the dead they rise with him and share in eternal life because of his sacrificial death.
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Remember, life in this context refers to eternal life, yes they are alive now but they will not live past the "Last day."
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
This is the fourth time Jesus has referred to "the last day" and the second time that he has connected eternal life with being raised on "the last day" Jesus connects having eternal life with the resurrection that will take place on the last day (John 5:29). Believers now will die (unless Jesus returns) and so having eternal life does not mean once you come to Christ you won't ever die physically at all, it means that once you are raised from the dead, if you are in Christ you will never die again, unlike the lost who will die in the judgement.
John 11:21-27
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives (speaking of after the resurrection) and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
I point this out because all the other New Testament authors generally speak of "eternal life" as something we WILL receive in the future but do not yet fully posses. (Matthew 25:46, Mark 10:30, Romans 2:7, Romans 6:22, Jude 1:21) Peter says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
We have eternal life now in that we have it as our inheritance. We have a taste of it now in this world but will have it fully in the last day. Jesus says that eternal life is knowing God and Jesus and we do know them now but only as in a mirror dimly 1 Cor 13:12:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
We have eternal life now as an inheritance, but we will one day have it as a possession. We know God now in part, but one day we will know him fully. Amen!
Jesus continues...
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Jesus could not have been more explicit, the contrast is between dying and living forever, not two kinds of living forever, one blessed and one miserable. The phrase "eternal life" is not restricted to just a qualitative meaning.
Remember that Peter said that whoever does not listen to the prophet (Jesus) would be "utterly destroyed" from the people, Jesus says that those who believe him receive "eternal life" will "not die"and will "live forever" and contrasts it with those who do not believe and will die just like those who physically died who ate the manna.
Again, those who believe in Jesus will live forever and those who do not believe in Him will be utterly destroyed. There is no room to squeeze eternal torment into this passage.
Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Jesus lays out some challenging words. He expertly cut through the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of those who had chased him for a meal. Those who listen to Jesus and believe in Him He gives eternal life, Peter understands this and says "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Peter and the other 10 listened to Jesus, they knew that there was no hope to look anywhere else. The rest of the people, the hangers on, those who were in it for what they could get out of it couldn't stomach what Jesus had to say, they couldn't handle how exclusive he was, how he elevated himself, most of them walked away, they refused to "listen to him", and one, Judas, would betray Jesus to death. Judas and the rest rejected the words of the prophet and did not believe in him so as to have eternal life, therefore there is nothing left for them but at the day of Judgement to be "utterly destroyed" from the people.
_____
If you have read this and you are not a believer. Listen to what Jesus says. You already know you are going to die. The reason we die and the reason we will not be able to survive on the day of Judgment and will be destroyed is because of our sin. God created human beings to be good, to enjoy fellowship with God and to be stewards over creation. But pride and jealousy entered our ancestors hearts and they were not content to simply serve and obey God. They wanted to be like God themselves and decided for themselves what was right and wrong. In their rebellion they passed sin down to all their descendants. People decided that, for them, it was right to lie, to steal, to murder, to be sexually immoral, to dishonor their parents, to covet what didn't belong to them and their sin spread throughout the world.
You know in your own heart of hearts that you have sinned. You've lied, you've stolen, you've been jealous, you've hated, you've been self centered.
God told us to love Him and to love one another and all manor of sin and evil in the world is a violation of those two commands.
Romans 13:8-10
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
You understand that you have not obeyed God's commands and the Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:28-32:
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
We all understand instinctively that those who do evil deserve to die. That's why we cheer when the bad guy in a movie finally gets what he deserves. We instinctively feel justice is served, but when we turn and look at our own lives, and we see the same sin and evil we don't want justice. We make excuses, we compare ourselves to others "at least I'm not as bad as him/her". But excuses don't make us innocent. The apostle James says that if you break one commandment but not another, you're still guilty of breaking God's law. It's like a window, if you break the glass in any part, the whole window is broken.
Jesus says in the sermon on the mount "You must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect."
But who of us is perfect? No one. That's why the Apostle says "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
If we all have fallen short, what hope is there?
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
If you try to stand on your own merits before God you will fall. You cannot be good enough to enter the kingdom of God. That is why the bible says that you need to acknowledge that you have sinned, that you are a sinner, that you are guilty before God, and grab hold of Jesus by faith, trusting that his death on the cross satisfies your debt of sin and that by his act of sacrifice you can be forgiven.
Jesus paid the debt of all who will trust in him for forgiveness.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Trust in Jesus.
After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Before we dive into the rest of the passage I want to take a quick detour since the bible says more about this prophet.
He is first foretold by Moses in Deutoronomy 18:15-19
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him."
God promised through Moses that He would send another Prophet and He warns that anyone who doesn't listen to that prophet, God will "require it" of him. From this passage alone we might not know what "it" is that will be required, but Peter in Acts 3 fills us in on what is intended.
Acts 3:22-23
"Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’"
Here we see that Peter understands that what God will require of people will be their lives, they will be "destroyed" from the people. The NASB translates "destroyed" as "utterly destroyed" that is because the Greek word used is one of the strongest words that could be used to convey what we understand as "Annihilationism"
This does not just mean to "ruin" them as in make their still living lives worthless and miserable, it means to exterminate.
So setting the context, these people see the "sign" that Jesus does and they realize "He's the one we were told that would come!" and they seek to make Jesus their king by force. Jesus IS the prophet foretold by Moses but he would not let them make him king at this time because he still had redemption to accomplish.
Peter's words are important to remember in the following passage. Those who do not listen to Him will be "utterly destroyed" out from the people. Let's see if they will listen to Jesus.
In verses 16-24 the disciples get in a boat and go across the sea, Jesus walks on water and gets in the boat and they all go across to the other side. The next day, those people left behind realize that Jesus had gone to the other side so they follow and search for him.
When they get there and find Jesus he immediately cuts to the heart of the situation:
"“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.'"
Not knowing what Jesus is exactly saying they ask him:
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
(they should have listened to him at this point)
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Right here they show their true desires. John already said in verse 14 and Jesus reiterates it in verse 26 that the feeding from the 5 loaves and 2 fish was a sign. They didn't really want to see a sign, they already had that, they wanted more food. They weren't seeking Jesus they were seeking just what Jesus could give them.
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Let's stop here for a second. Jesus says that the one who comes down from heaven gives LIFE to the world. What do we understand life to be? Those who believe in eternal torment think that "eternal life" (life here refers back to the eternal life that Jesus said the Son of Man would give them in verse 27) does not mean merely being alive forever but means a blessed quality of life in fellowship with God.
They say since John 17:3 says:
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Therefore the phrase eternal life is not talking about living forever (though they won't deny that the saved will live forever) but about knowing God. Since the lost in hell do not "know" God, even though they "exist" (as William Lane Craig says) they do not have "eternal life." But that is selectively narrowing down the meaning of the phrase. Yes the eternal life that Jesus gives is more than just being alive forever, but it is certainly not less. If you are alive forever you have eternal life whether you know God or not. However if Conditionalism is true, then John 17:3 fits like a glove. Everyone who knows God has eternal life, everyone who has eternal life knows God because those who don't "know" Him have been killed.
Let's see however if the traditionalist restriction of "eternal life" can withstand the rest of the passage.
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
As the prophet that was foretold by Moses, Jesus told them "believe in me". They do not now believe in him, therefore they have not "listen(ed) to that prophet." Keep in mind what Peter says will happen to those who don't listen...
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
More not listening...
Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
If "eternal life" refers not just to being alive forever but being in a knowing relationship with God then it would be logical that not knowing God could be called "eternal death" and that those who are physically alive but do not know God could logically be called "dead." But, is this the sense of life and death that Jesus is using in this passage? When he says:
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
Is he referring to this "spiritual state" of being alive but not knowing God? NO! they dropped like flies in the desert so that within 40 years everyone who was over 20 years old who had decided not to enter the promised land (other than Joshua and Caleb) had died! They physically died. So in one sentence Jesus contrasts the bread that he offers which offers "eternal life" with bread that couldn't keep people alive forever so they physically died.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
Eternal life here results in "not dying" what does he mean by dying? Well it's a direct contrast with what happened to those who ate the manna. They died, if you eat the bread from heaven you will not die. This is physical death not a state of "spiritual death" that means you are physically alive but since you do not know God you could be called "dead". Since we've established that physical death is what is being contrasted with eternal life then eternal life has to mean more than simply knowing God but must also mean being alive forever.
This means that there are two options.
1. Listen to Jesus, believe in him and have eternal life.
2. Don't listen to Jesus and you will not have eternal life and you will die.
There is no room in this contrast for people who "exist" but are not alive. Jesus goes on to say:
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
Here Jesus reiterates what eternal life means, it means living forever. If you are alive forever in hell you have eternal life. Since only those who believe in Jesus receive eternal life, those who go to hell cannot continue to live forever.
And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus is referring to how he will give us eternal life. For everyone who believes in Jesus, he will bear their sins on the cross and he will die the death they deserve to die. Since they are IN Jesus by faith when he rises from the dead they rise with him and share in eternal life because of his sacrificial death.
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Remember, life in this context refers to eternal life, yes they are alive now but they will not live past the "Last day."
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
This is the fourth time Jesus has referred to "the last day" and the second time that he has connected eternal life with being raised on "the last day" Jesus connects having eternal life with the resurrection that will take place on the last day (John 5:29). Believers now will die (unless Jesus returns) and so having eternal life does not mean once you come to Christ you won't ever die physically at all, it means that once you are raised from the dead, if you are in Christ you will never die again, unlike the lost who will die in the judgement.
John 11:21-27
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives (speaking of after the resurrection) and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
I point this out because all the other New Testament authors generally speak of "eternal life" as something we WILL receive in the future but do not yet fully posses. (Matthew 25:46, Mark 10:30, Romans 2:7, Romans 6:22, Jude 1:21) Peter says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
We have eternal life now in that we have it as our inheritance. We have a taste of it now in this world but will have it fully in the last day. Jesus says that eternal life is knowing God and Jesus and we do know them now but only as in a mirror dimly 1 Cor 13:12:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
We have eternal life now as an inheritance, but we will one day have it as a possession. We know God now in part, but one day we will know him fully. Amen!
Jesus continues...
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Jesus could not have been more explicit, the contrast is between dying and living forever, not two kinds of living forever, one blessed and one miserable. The phrase "eternal life" is not restricted to just a qualitative meaning.
Remember that Peter said that whoever does not listen to the prophet (Jesus) would be "utterly destroyed" from the people, Jesus says that those who believe him receive "eternal life" will "not die"and will "live forever" and contrasts it with those who do not believe and will die just like those who physically died who ate the manna.
Again, those who believe in Jesus will live forever and those who do not believe in Him will be utterly destroyed. There is no room to squeeze eternal torment into this passage.
Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Jesus lays out some challenging words. He expertly cut through the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of those who had chased him for a meal. Those who listen to Jesus and believe in Him He gives eternal life, Peter understands this and says "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Peter and the other 10 listened to Jesus, they knew that there was no hope to look anywhere else. The rest of the people, the hangers on, those who were in it for what they could get out of it couldn't stomach what Jesus had to say, they couldn't handle how exclusive he was, how he elevated himself, most of them walked away, they refused to "listen to him", and one, Judas, would betray Jesus to death. Judas and the rest rejected the words of the prophet and did not believe in him so as to have eternal life, therefore there is nothing left for them but at the day of Judgement to be "utterly destroyed" from the people.
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If you have read this and you are not a believer. Listen to what Jesus says. You already know you are going to die. The reason we die and the reason we will not be able to survive on the day of Judgment and will be destroyed is because of our sin. God created human beings to be good, to enjoy fellowship with God and to be stewards over creation. But pride and jealousy entered our ancestors hearts and they were not content to simply serve and obey God. They wanted to be like God themselves and decided for themselves what was right and wrong. In their rebellion they passed sin down to all their descendants. People decided that, for them, it was right to lie, to steal, to murder, to be sexually immoral, to dishonor their parents, to covet what didn't belong to them and their sin spread throughout the world.
You know in your own heart of hearts that you have sinned. You've lied, you've stolen, you've been jealous, you've hated, you've been self centered.
God told us to love Him and to love one another and all manor of sin and evil in the world is a violation of those two commands.
Romans 13:8-10
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
You understand that you have not obeyed God's commands and the Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:28-32:
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
We all understand instinctively that those who do evil deserve to die. That's why we cheer when the bad guy in a movie finally gets what he deserves. We instinctively feel justice is served, but when we turn and look at our own lives, and we see the same sin and evil we don't want justice. We make excuses, we compare ourselves to others "at least I'm not as bad as him/her". But excuses don't make us innocent. The apostle James says that if you break one commandment but not another, you're still guilty of breaking God's law. It's like a window, if you break the glass in any part, the whole window is broken.
Jesus says in the sermon on the mount "You must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect."
But who of us is perfect? No one. That's why the Apostle says "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
If we all have fallen short, what hope is there?
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
If you try to stand on your own merits before God you will fall. You cannot be good enough to enter the kingdom of God. That is why the bible says that you need to acknowledge that you have sinned, that you are a sinner, that you are guilty before God, and grab hold of Jesus by faith, trusting that his death on the cross satisfies your debt of sin and that by his act of sacrifice you can be forgiven.
Jesus paid the debt of all who will trust in him for forgiveness.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Trust in Jesus.
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