Quotes & Notes on:     John 6:63   

• John Wesley's Notes:
   It is the Spirit-The spiritual meaning of these words, by which God giveth life.
  
  The flesh-The bare, carnal, literal meaning, profiteth nothing.
  
  The words which I have spoken, they are spirit-Are to be taken in a spiritual sense and, when they are so understood,
  
  they are life-That is, a means of spiritual life to the hearers.
   

• Reginald Fuller's Preaching the Lectionary:

   But "flesh" here is not the Eucharistic flesh of verses 51c-59;  as in John 3:6, it means "the natural principle in man which cannot give eternal life."  (R.E. Brown).  Similarly, "spirit" here means what it means in 3:6 -- the life-giving Spirit that will be given as a result of the ascension of the Son of man to where he was before (v. 62).  [This]  passage, therefore, is not speaking of the sacrament but of the reception of the revelation of Jesus as the heavenly wisdom, the bread from heaven.
   

• Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., Interpreter's Commentary:

   The scandal of Jesus confronts them also with decision.  Can they understand that Jesus speaks of final things -- of the Spirit that gives life (cf 2 Cor. 3:6).
  
   

• D.D. Whedon, Commentary on the Gospels (1866):

   The spirit that quickeneth -- It is the inspired Power, the impregnating Spirit, in his words, by which their souls ought to be quickened and rise into a living faith.  The flesh -- The carnality which the sensual perverts would put into his words.  Profiteth nothing -- Being akin to their vain expectation to be fed in the body by the Messiah's constant miracle.  The words... are spirit -- And should be interpreted in the highest sense of the Spirit, not by the low demands of appetite.

   

• Donald Guthrie, The New Bible Commentary (Revised 1970):

   As yet these disciples had not learned to distinguish the physical from the spiritual.  This is what Jesus makes clear in these verses.  They were concentrating on the flesh, but He urges them to consider the real meaning of the words spirit and life. 
   

• David Guzik, Study Guide for John:
  This could well be the "theme statement" for this whole discourse of Jesus. He continually calls us to put our heart and focus, on spiritual realities, not fleshly things.
   

• Catechism of the Catholic Church:
  (No comment on this verse).
   

• The Fourfold Gospel:

      Jesus here tells them plainly that his words relate to the spiritual realm, and to life in that realm. It is his Spirit in our spirit which gives eternal life.
   

• Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:

  * the spirit. Ge 2:7; Ro 8:2; 1Co 15:45; 2Co 3:6; Ga 5:25; 1Pe 3:18
  * the flesh. Ro 2:25; 3:1,2; 1Co 11:27-29; Ga 5:6; 6:15; 1Ti 4:8; Heb 13:9 1Pe 3:21
  * the words. Joh 6:68; 12:49,50; De 32:47; Ps 19:7-10; 119:50,93,130; Ro 10:8-10,17 1Co 2:9-14; 2Co 3:6-8; 1Th 2:13; Heb 4:12; Jas 1:18; 1Pe 1:23
   

• Robertson's Word Pictures:
    That quickeneth (to zôopoioun). Articular present active participle of zôopoieô for which see Joh 5:21. For the contrast between pneuma (spirit) and sarx (flesh) see already Joh 3:6. The words (ta rêmata). Those in this discourse (I have just spoken, lelalêka), for they are the words of God (Joh 3:34; 8:47; 17:8). No wonder they "are spirit and are life" (pneuma estin kai zôê estin). The breath of God and the life of God is in these words of Jesus. Never man spoke like Jesus (Joh 7:46). There is life in his words today.
   

• William Burkitt's Notes:

  To convince the Jews that our Saviour did not mean a carnal and fleshly eating of his body, he tells them, That such an eating would profit nothing; but it is a spiritual eating of him by faith, that bringeth that quickening life of which he had spoken. It is the spirit, or divine nature, that quickeneth; the flesh, or human nature, alone, separated from his godhead, profiteth nothing, and can give no life.
  
  Learn hence, That it is the godhead of Christ united to the human nature, which adds all virtue, efficacy, and merit, to the obedience and sufferings of the human nature. It is the spirit, or divine nature of Christ, that quickeneth; the flesh, or human nature alone, profiteth nothing; and therefore the carnal eating of his flesh would do no good.
   

• Family Bible Notes:

  It is the Spirit that quickeneth; it was the spiritual, not the literal meaning of his words, which would profit them. The literal eating of his flesh would not benefit them. It was only the spiritual meaning, understood, believed, and obeyed, that would be the means of spiritual life to their souls. They are spirit--they are life; they contain spiritual food and life; for by receiving them, you receive me. The words of Christ have a spiritual meaning, and it is the right apprehension and cordial reception of this meaning which is life-giving to the soul. Men naturally do not receive this meaning, because such is their wickedness that they have not spiritual discernment. Hence the propriety of praying, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law; quicken thou me according to thy word." Ps 119:18,25; 1Co 2:14.
   

• 1599 Geneva Bible Notes:
  The flesh of Christ therefore quickens us, because he that is man is God: and this mystery is only comprehended by faith, which is the gift of God, found only in the elect. Spirit, that is, that power which flows from the Godhead causes the flesh of Christ (which is otherwise nothing but flesh) both to live in itself and to give life to us.
   

• People's New Testament Commentary:

  We may paraphrase this verse thus: I shall ascend to heaven so that my body cannot be literally eaten; the flesh literally profits nothing. It is the spirit that makes alive. The spirits of men must feed upon me by faith, that they may be made alive. My words are spirit and life. He who feeds upon them will be made alive.
   

• Albert Barnes' Commentary:

   It is the Spirit that quickeneth. These words have been understood in different ways. The word "Spirit," here, evidently does not refer to the Holy Ghost, for he adds, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit." He refers here, probably, to the doctrine which he had been teaching in opposition to their notions and desires. "My doctrine is spiritual; it is fitted to quicken and nourish the soul. It is from heaven. Your doctrine or your views are earthly, and may be called flesh, or fleshly, as pertaining only to the support of the body. You place a great value on the doctrine that Moses fed the body; yet that did not permanently profit, for your fathers are dead. You seek also food from me, but your views and desires are gross and earthly."
  
  Quickeneth. Gives life. See Barnes for Joh 5:21.
  
  The flesh. Your carnal views and desires, and the literal understanding of my doctrine. By this Jesus shows them that he did not intend that his words should be taken literally.
  
  Profiteth nothing. Would not avail to the real wants of man. The bread that Moses gave, the food which you seek, would not be of real value to man's highest wants.
  
  They are spirit. They are spiritual. They are not to be understood literally, as if you were really to eat my flesh, but they are to be understood as denoting the need of that provision for the soul which God has made by my coming into the world.
  
  Are life. Are fitted to produce or give life to the soul dead in sins.
  
  {x} "It is the Spirit" 2Co 3:6
   

• Jamieson-Faussett Brown:

   Much of His discourse was about "flesh"; but flesh as such, mere flesh, could profit nothing, much less impart that life which the Holy Spirit alone communicates to the soul.
  
  the words that I speak ... are spirit and ... life--The whole burden of the discourse is "spirit," not mere flesh, and "life" in its highest, not its lowest sense, and the words I have employed are to be interpreted solely in that sense.
   

• Spurgeon Devotional Commentary:

   (No comment on this verse).
   

• Adam Clarke's Commentary:

  It is the spirit that quickeneth] It is the spiritual sense only of my words that is to be attended to, and through which life is to be attained, 2Co 3:6. Such only as eat and drink what I have mentioned, in a spiritual sense, are to expect eternal life.
  
  The flesh profiteth nothing] If ye could even eat my flesh and drink my blood, this would not avail for your salvation. These words contain a caution that the hearers should not understand his words in the strict literal sense, as if his body were really BREAD, and as if his flesh and blood were really to be eaten and drank.
  
  The words that I speak Or, I have spoken. Instead of , I speak, I read , I have spoken, on the authority of BCDKLT, thirteen others; the Syriac, all the Arabic, all the Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, Vulgate, all the Itala; Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, Basil, Cyril, Chrysostom, Tertullian, Ambrosias, Augustin, Gaudentius, and Vigilius Taps. This is an important reading, and plainly shows that our Lord's words here do not refer to any new point of doctrine which he was then inculcating, but to what he had spoken concerning his being the living bread, and concerning the eating of his flesh, and drinking of his blood, in the preceding verses.
  
  Are spirit, and they are life.] As my words are to be spiritually understood, so the life they promise is of a spiritual nature: see Bishop Pearce.

   

• Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:

   (No comment on this verse).