John 6:42

42 And they said, Whether this is not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we have known. How then saith he this, That I came down from heaven [Therefore how saith he this, I came down from heaven]?

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 And this is the will of my Father that sent me, that each man that seeth the Son, and believeth in him, have everlasting life; and I shall again-raise him in the last day.
41 Therefore the Jews grumbled of him, for he had said [Therefore Jews grutched of him, for he said], I am bread that came down from heaven.
42 And they said, Whether this is not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we have known. How then saith he this, That I came down from heaven [Therefore how saith he this, I came down from heaven]?
43 Therefore Jesus answered, and said to them, Do not ye grumble together [Do not ye grutch together].
44 No man may come to me, but if the Father that sent me, draw him [no but the Father that sent me, draw him]; and I shall again-raise him in the last day.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.