Jean 6:63

63 C'est l'esprit qui vivifie; la chair ne sert de rien. Les paroles que je vous dis sont esprit et vie.

Jean 6:63 Meaning and Commentary

John 6:63

It is the Spirit that quickeneth
It is the spirit of man that quickens him; or which being breathed into him, he becomes a living soul; for the body, without the spirit, is dead; it is a lifeless lump: and it is the Spirit of God that quickens dead sinners, by entering into them as the spirit of life, and causing them to live: and it is spiritual eating, or eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of Christ in a spiritual sense, which quickens, refreshes, and comforts the minds of believers; it is that by, and on which they live, and by which their spiritual strength is renewed: unless, by spirit, is meant the divine nature of Christ, by which he was quickened and raised from the dead, and ascended up into heaven, and was declared to be the Son of God with power:

the flesh profiteth nothing;
the human nature of Christ, though profitable, as in union with the Son of God, to be given for the life of his people, and to be an offering, and a sacrifice for their sins, yet not as alone, or as abstracted from the divine nature; nor would his flesh and blood, corporeally eaten, could, or should it be done, be of any avail to eternal life; nor is any other flesh, literally understood, profitable of itself for life; for man lives not by bread, or meat, or flesh alone, but by the word and blessing of God upon it, and along with it; nor flesh, in a figurative sense, as creature acts and performances, self-righteousness, obedience to the ceremonial law, carnal descent, and birth privileges:

the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are
life;
the doctrines which Christ had then been delivering concerning himself, his flesh and blood, being spiritually understood, are the means of quickening souls. The Gospel, and the truths of it, which are the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, are the means of conveying the Spirit of God, as a spirit of illumination and sanctification, into the hearts of men, and of quickening sinners dead in trespasses and sins: the Gospel is the Spirit that giveth life, and is the savour of life unto life, when it comes not in word only, or in the bare ministry of it, but with the energy of the Holy Ghost, and the power of divine grace.

Jean 6:63 In-Context

61 Mais Jésus, sachant en lui-même que ses disciples murmuraient de cela, leur dit: Ceci vous scandalise-t-il?
62 Que sera-ce donc si vous voyez le Fils de l'homme monter où il était auparavant?
63 C'est l'esprit qui vivifie; la chair ne sert de rien. Les paroles que je vous dis sont esprit et vie.
64 Mais il y en a parmi vous qui ne croient point. Car Jésus savait dès le commencement qui étaient ceux qui ne croyaient pas, et qui était celui qui le trahirait.
65 Et il disait: C'est à cause de cela que je vous ai dit, que personne ne peut venir à moi, si cela ne lui a été donné par mon Père.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.