A Study of John's Gospel

John 6:65-71: Jesus Has The Words Of Eternal Life

A Study of John 6:65–71

"And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him."

John 6:65–71 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

After explaining to His wider group of disciples that it is the Spirit who gives life, and also that He knew some of them did not believe, Jesus told them this was why He said earlier that no one can come to Him unless it is granted to them by His Father. After this conclusion of Jesus' discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum, many of the disciples who had followed Him up to this point turned back and stopped following Him (not the Twelve). After this Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked if they wanted to leave too, but Simon Peter declared they had believed in Him, and only He has the words of eternal life. Peter also said there is no one else, for Jesus is the Holy One of God. In response to this Jesus asked the rhetorical question, "Did I not choose you, the twelve?". And then He also said, "And yet one of you is a devil." By this Jesus meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who He knew would betray Him.

Implication (what does this mean to us):

In these final verses of John chapter 6, Jesus is addressing His own followers after His discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum. Many of the Galilean Jews and other Jewish leaders present for His teaching were offended by a number of things He said. Perhaps what offended them most though was Jesus' metaphorical words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood to describe the need for believing faith in Him and in His coming redemptive work on the cross to describe what it means to truly believe in Him and receive eternal life. But it was not only the people of Capernaum and the surrounding region who were offended, many of His disciples were offended as well, as we read in verse 60 where they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?". By this they meant it was offensive and hard to accept or believe.

We will see in this passage that the Twelve disciples of Jesus are addressed separately from the other disciples of Jesus. This is because Jesus had more disciples than just the most prominent Twelve we are familiar with. There were some who followed Him around, and some who remained where they lived but also viewed Him as their authoritative teacher. And just as there was one among the Twelve who did not truly believe and trust in Jesus, there were others among His wider group of disciples who did not truly believe and would walk away. Here, in these verses, we read of some such disciples who walked away from Jesus after hearing His most recent discourse.

In verse 65 Jesus said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." Here we find Jesus in the middle of confronting His dissenting disciples who took offense at His teaching, and in this verse He expands on the topic of unbelief. Earlier, in verses 37 and 44-45, Jesus explained the initiative of God the Father in calling and enabling people to believe in Him. This does not mean we have no say in the matter, but it does mean unless God first comes to us, we can never come to Him. We are truly helpless apart from His grace.

This also helps those who do believe Jesus to understand the reason for unbelief a little bit better. Many among these disciples may have been following Him for quite some time, but they had not truly become His followers. Many only followed Him for material or earthly reasons. They only wanted Him to keep miraculously giving them food and healing, and to establish an earthly kingdom. When they found out this was not His primary reason for coming, they walked away. We who follow Jesus today would do well to consider why Jesus came, and to examine our own reasons for following Him. Do we desire the gifts more than the Giver Himself?