I am the living bread which came down from
heaven
This is the same with what is said in ( John 6:33 John 6:35 John 6:48 ) , which is
true of Christ, as he has life in him; and is the author and
giver of life to others; and is of an heavenly original, and came
from heaven to give life to men: and such is the virtue of this
living and heavenly bread, that
if any man eat of this bread he shall live for
ever;
not a natural, but a spiritual life; a life of sanctification,
which is begun here, and will be perfected hereafter; and a life
of glory, which will never end:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh;
or "body", as all the Oriental versions render it. Here our Lord
explains more clearly and fully what he means, under the notion
of bread; and which shows, that by bread he did not design merely
his doctrine, but his flesh, his human nature; though not as
abstracted from his deity, but as in union with it:
which I will give for the life of the world;
and which he did by the offering up of his body, and making his
soul, or giving himself an offering, a propitiatory sacrifice for
sin; which was done in the most free and voluntary manner, in the
room and stead of his people, to procure eternal life for them,
even for the whole world of his elect; whether among Jews or
Gentiles; particularly the latter are here meant, in opposition
to a notion of the Jews, that the world, or the Gentiles, would
receive no benefit by the Messiah when he came; (See Gill on
John
3:16).