John 6:42

42 et dicebant nonne hic est Iesus filius Ioseph cuius nos novimus patrem et matrem quomodo ergo dicit hic quia de caelo descendi

John 6:42 Meaning and Commentary

John 6:42

And they said, is not this Jesus the son of Joseph?
&c.] From murmuring they go to mocking and scoffing at his parentage and descent, and object this to his coming down from heaven; and intend by it to upbraid him with the meanness of his birth, being the son of Joseph, a poor carpenter; and suggest, that it was great arrogance in him to claim an heavenly original, and to ascribe such things to himself, that he was the bread of God, and the bread of life, and came from heaven:

whose father and mother we know?
for Capernaum and Nazareth were not at a great distance from each other; so that Joseph and Mary might be personally known by the inhabitants of Capernaum, and they might be intimately acquainted with them.

How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
they could not tell how to reconcile these things, not knowing either his miraculous conception and incarnation, nor his divine sonship; otherwise his being made of a woman, or born of a virgin on earth, is consistent with his being the Lord from heaven.

John 6:42 In-Context

40 haec est enim voluntas Patris mei qui misit me ut omnis qui videt Filium et credit in eum habeat vitam aeternam et resuscitabo ego eum in novissimo die

41 murmurabant ergo Iudaei de illo quia dixisset ego sum panis qui de caelo descendi

42 et dicebant nonne hic est Iesus filius Ioseph cuius nos novimus patrem et matrem quomodo ergo dicit hic quia de caelo descendi

43 respondit ergo Iesus et dixit eis nolite murmurare in invicem

44 nemo potest venire ad me nisi Pater qui misit me traxerit eum et ego resuscitabo eum novissimo die