John 6:32Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Even when He said these very words, He did not stop them. Although at the beginning He had said, "You seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled," and although He corrected them in the words that followed, still they did not cease demanding bread.

When Christ promised to give water to the Samaritan woman, He did not mention the Father. He simply said, "If you knew who it is that says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

And again He said, "The water that I shall give" (Jn 4:10, 14), and He does not refer her to the Father. Here, however, He mentions the Father, so that you may know how great the Samaritan woman's faith was, and how great the Jews' weakness was.

But the manna was not from heaven; how then is it said, "from heaven"? In the same way Scripture says, "the birds of heaven," and again, "the Lord thundered from heaven" (Ps 8:9; Ps 17:14).

He calls that bread true, not because the miracle of the manna was false, but because it was an image and not the truth itself. Having mentioned Moses, He did not set Himself against him, because the Jews did not yet prefer Him to Moses.

On the contrary, they held a higher opinion of Moses than of Him. Therefore, after saying, "Moses did not give it," He did not add, "I give it." Instead He said, "The Father gives."

Manna means, "What is this?" For when the Hebrews each saw it fallen in abundance around his tent, they were struck by the extraordinary and strange sight, and asked one another, "What is this?"

And the Lord, the Son of God, became Man. He Himself is the Manna that astonishes all, so that each one says in perplexity, "What is this?"

How is He the Son of God and the Son of Man? How is there one Person from two contrary natures? What is this Mystery?

Therefore Christ now cuts off very decisively what was in their impious thoughts. For is it not already the height of madness and impiety to ascribe what belongs and is proper to the divine nature alone, not to it, but to the honor of men?

Then, having removed the high priest Moses from the performance of miracles, and having taken the supernatural out of his hand, He thereby plainly assigns this honor to Himself together with the Father.

Yet He refrains from speaking more plainly, because of the ignorance of His hearers. It could easily have happened that, taking such words as an insult to Moses, they would again have grown savage and burned with unrestrained anger.

They would not have examined the true nature of the matter, nor recognized the dignity of the One speaking. They would have been carried away thoughtlessly by reverence for Moses alone, and certainly without basis, when he was being equated with something higher.

Let us therefore learn from this, precisely and soundly, to show reverence to our holy fathers and to render, as it is written, "fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor" (Rom 13:7).

We shall do no injustice if we ascribe to each what befits him, since "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Cor 14:32).

But when the matter concerns our Savior Christ, then we must say, "For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord? Or who among the sons of God shall be likened to the Lord?" (Ps 88:7).

"But My Father gives you the true bread from heaven." See the commentary on Jn 6:33.

But what bread? Perhaps manna? No. He gave the bread prefigured by the manna, that is, He gave the Lord Jesus Himself.

"My Father gives you the true bread, for the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." To this they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always" (Jn 6:32-34).

It was like the Samaritan woman, to whom it had been said, "Whoever drinks this water will never thirst forever" (cf. Jn 4:13-14). At once, understanding this bodily and yet wishing to be freed from need, she said, "Give me this water" (Jn 4:15).

So also they said: "Lord, give us such bread, which would strengthen us and not run out."

Since they did not have to give payment for the bread and wine, though they could have done so, they certainly could not give payment for the Body and Blood.

Yet He not only gave freely to us, but also used a certain wisdom to draw us. He gave us these small things freely, so that He might move us to go and receive without any payment what is greater than they.

Those crumbs of bread and wine which He gave were sweet to the throat. But the gift of the Body and Blood was profitable for the minds. Through what is sweet to the throat, He stirred us, that He might draw us to what gives life to souls.

For this reason He mingled sweetness into the wine which He made, to show what great treasures were hidden in His life-giving Blood.

"True" means that the former bread was typological, prefiguring Me, who am Truth itself. As that bread, coming down from above, nourished and strengthened those who received it, so also do I.

But that bread was from the air, while I am from heaven itself. That nourished and strengthened bodies, but I nourish and strengthen souls. Further on He states the more general difference between the typological bread and the true.

He only says that it cannot properly be called "bread from heaven" (ἄρτος ἀληθινός ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ), because it served to satisfy an earthly need, the nourishment of the flesh.

The true bread from heaven is He who comes down from heaven. He has a heavenly nature and contains within Himself the power to give the world what belongs to heaven: life.

The best souls of the ancient world languished in vain searches for truth and righteousness. They thirsted to know the Unknown God. Yes, they languished, because the dissatisfaction of the spirit's demands is no less painful than bodily hunger.

The answer to these demands is that spiritual food without which man cannot live consciously. This answer was brought by Christ from God, or, as it is customary to say, from heaven.

This Word is the bread from heaven of which Christ now speaks, and this Word is He Himself.

The impatient hearers did not understand of what bread Jesus was speaking. They supposed that the bread He promised, which gives life to the world, would free them forever from cares about obtaining food.

Therefore they interrupt His speech with this request: "Lord, give us this bread always."

Having already said that the manna nourished only the Jews, while the bread of God which He brought from heaven will give life to the whole world, Jesus continues the interrupted speech and says: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

These words express the same thought Jesus expressed to the Samaritan woman. He said: "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst forever.

The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water flowing into eternal life."

"True" is not opposed to the former bread, the manna, as though it were illusory or merely seeming. Compare Chrysostom and Theophylact. It means His highest significance in comparison with it, for this true bread, the bread of God, gives life to the world.

The Lord's speech is still veiled here and is explained later: by bread is meant the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Jn 6:35 and following).

Therefore the highest dignity of this bread in comparison with the manna, and thus the greatness of the miracle now being performed in comparison with that miracle, may be expressed according to the thought of the verse as follows.

Through Moses, God My Father gave your fathers bread that nourished only the body, as did the bread multiplied by Me in the wilderness.

But in Me He gives you bread that nourishes the soul, and therefore gives eternal life, whereas that bread supported only temporal life.

That bread was given only to one people for a time; this is given to the whole world forever. That is called the bread of angels; this is the bread of God. That was only an image and shadow; this is the truth itself. Compare Chrysostom and Theophylact.

Concerning the manna, the Savior does not deny that it came down from heaven. "He fed them with heavenly bread," says the sacred singer (Ps 104:40).

If this had been a product of the earth, miraculously multiplied each day, as some think, then there would have been no reason to keep the manna in the ark of the covenant.

Nevertheless, the manna was material in its composition and was not the best food. It satisfied only the body, not the immortal soul. It only stirred desire for better food and pointed to spiritual bread in the future.

The better bread, which satisfies all the needs of the soul and does so for all eternity, comes down from heaven. This is the Son of God, who appeared on earth for the salvation of men.

This is such a miracle of the heavenly Father's love as the world had never seen, and will not see a second time.

"Moses," says the Lord, "did not give you bread from heaven, but God My Father did." It was His mercy toward the people, not Moses'. Moses was only God's faithful servant and stood before God as representative of the people.

And let us note: of one people, Israel.

But in the descent from heaven of the manna that fed the people, it is not enough to see only bodily food. It was also spiritual food, given by God to the people, to educate them in faith.

It was given to raise the soul of the Israelites to the Giver of all good things. Therefore the Lord says, "My Father gives you the true bread from heaven."

In other words, the Lord God, who always cares for His creation, man, always gives him what is needed for his soul and body.

After this, the Lord leads His hearers into still deeper mysteries of God's providence. "The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

Preparing His hearers for the disclosure of another mystery in verse 35, that the bread of God and spiritual food is the Lord Himself, He approaches this revelation.

He explains to His hearers that the manna which came down in the wilderness, though given by God, cannot be considered eternal and true bread.

The eternal and true bread is the Word of God, revealing the mysteries of God more or less veiledly in revelations and prophecies.

This is the true spiritual food, for "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Deut 8:3; Mt 4:4).

But now "the work of God is that you believe in Him whom He sent," as was said above in verse 29.

For the "bread of God who gives life to the world," who came down from heaven and became incarnate for the salvation of men, is the One whom the Jews address with questions of unbelief. He is the very Word of God.

Let us also note that the Lord says, "giving life to the world," not to Judaism alone, as the Jews expected from their dreamlike Messiah. He speaks of the whole world, all tribes and peoples, embraced by God in His common love for all mankind.

This universality of God's love, which the Jews apparently understood in part, was also one of the causes of their hatred for the Lord. The Jews could not have been ignorant of the Lord's preaching in Samaria and the healing of the Syrophoenician woman's daughter.

The very parable of the merciful Samaritan (Lk 10:30 and following) disturbed them.