John 6:36

But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(36) But I said unto you . . .—There is no record of this saying. It was included in the thoughts of John 5:37-44, and was perhaps uttered then, or, more probably, to those whom He is now addressing. That there are many words of Christ which have not been preserved to us is certain. (Comp. Notes on John 20:30-31.) It is possible, but scarcely more than this, that the words refer to what He was about to say.

Ye also have seen me.—The “also” is misplaced. It is not “ye in addition to others,” but Ye have even seen Me. Ye have not simply been told, but have had the fullest evidence, amounting to actual seeing. (Comp. John 20:29.) You asked for a sign, that you may see it and believe (John 6:30); you have had much more, and do not believe. (Comp. Note on Luke 16:29.)

Benson Commentary

John 6:36-37. But I said, &c. — But valuable as these blessings of my grace are, you are little disposed to pursue and accept them. For ye also have seen me, and believe not — You have seen a manifestation of my true character, in my life and conversation, and have been eye-witnesses of the ample proofs which I had given of my divine mission, in the miracles which I have already performed; signs certainly sufficient to convince you that I am the Messiah: nevertheless, you do not believe that I am he, but reject me as an impostor. Therefore, your infidelity proceeds not from want of evidence, as you pretend, (John 6:30,) but from the perverseness of your own disposition. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me — Nevertheless, though you reject me, yet I shall not be universally rejected, nor shall the purposes of my mission be entirely frustrated; for all that hearken to the teaching of my Father, and in consequence thereof see themselves to be in a lost estate, guilty, depraved, weak, and wretched, and therefore follow the drawings of his grace, (see John 6:44-45, where our Lord’s meaning is explained,) will come to me — By faith: such as these the Father in a peculiar manner giveth to the Son. And him that cometh to me — Being thus convinced of sin, humbled, and penitent; I will in no wise cast out — I will give him pardon, holiness, and happiness, and even heaven, if he continue in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Thus our Lord encouraged his disciples, who had already believed on him; and at the same time invited those who were disposed to believe, from the consideration that he would not reject them, however low their circumstances might be, however vile they might appear in their own eyes, or however much they might have formerly injured him, by speaking evil of him and opposing him. “The expression, ου μη εκβαλω εξω, is extremely beautiful and emphatical. It represents an humble supplicant, as coming into the house of some prince, or other great person, to cast himself at his feet, and to commit himself to his protection and care. He might fear his petition would be rejected, and he be thrust out of doors: but our Lord assures him to the contrary. His house and heart are large enough to receive, shelter, and supply all the indigent and distressed.” — Doddridge.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:36-46 The discovery of their guilt, danger, and remedy, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, makes men willing and glad to come, and to give up every thing which hinders applying to him for salvation. The Father's will is, that not one of those who were given to the Son, should be rejected or lost by him. No one will come, till Divine grace has subdued, and in part changed his heart; therefore no one who comes will ever be cast out. The gospel finds none willing to be saved in the humbling, holy manner, made known therein; but God draws with his word and the Holy Ghost; and man's duty is to hear and learn; that is to say, to receive the grace offered, and consent to the promise. None had seen the Father but his beloved Son; and the Jews must expect to be taught by his inward power upon their minds, and by his word, and the ministers whom he sent among them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But I said unto you - This he said, not in so many words, but in substance, in John 6:26. Though they saw him, and had full proof of his divine mission, yet they did not believe. Jesus then proceeds to state that, although they did not believe on him, yet his work would not be in vain, for others would come to him and be saved.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

36. But … ye have seen me, and believe not—seen Him not in His mere bodily presence, but in all the majesty of His life, His teaching, His works.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

You have seen me in the flesh, you have heard my doctrine, you have seen the miracles which I have wrought, confirming that doctrine, and me to be the true Messias; for I have done amongst you those works which never any man did: but you are of the generation of those of whom it was prophesied: That in seeing you should not see, nor yet perceive; for though you have seen me with your bodily eyes, and could not but conclude by what works I have done that I am the true Messiah; yet you do not own and acknowledge me as such, nor will by faith close with me, and come unto me for life and happiness.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But I said unto you,.... The substance of what follows in John 6:26 though the Persic and Ethiopic versions render it, "I say unto you"; and so refers not to anything before said, but to what he was about to say:

that ye also have seen me, and believe not; that is, they had not only seen him in person, which many kings, prophets, and righteous men had desired, but not enjoyed, yet nevertheless believed; but they had seen his miracles, and had shared in the advantages of them, being healed, and fed corporeally by him, and yet believed not in him as the spiritual Saviour and Redeemer of their souls; nor did they come to him in a spiritual way, for eternal life and salvation.

Geneva Study Bible

But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 6:36. But although God and this perfect satisfaction were brought so near them, they did not believe: ἀλλʼ εἶπον … πιστεύετε. Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Godet, Weiss, etc., understand that εἶπον refers to John 6:26. Euthymius, preferably, says εἰκὸς τοῦτο ῥηθῆναι μὲν, μὴ γραφῆναι δέ. Lampe gives the alternatives without determining. Undoubtedly, although the reference may not be directly to John 6:26, the ἑωράκατε means seeing Jesus in the exercise of His Messianic functions, doing the works given Him by the Father to do. But seeing is not in this case believing. It was found very possible to be in His company and to eat the provision He miraculously provided, and yet disbelieve. If so, what could produce belief? Might not His entire manifestation fail to accomplish its purpose?

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

36. I said unto you] When? no such saying is recorded. Ewald thus finds some slight evidence for his theory that a whole sheet of this Gospel has been lost between chapters 5 and 6. But the reference may easily be to one of the countless unrecorded sayings of Christ, or possibly to the general sense of John 5:37-44. In the latter case ‘you’ must mean the Jewish nation, for those verses were addressed to Jews at Jerusalem. See on John 10:26, where there is a somewhat similar case. That ‘I said’ means ‘I would have you to know,’ and has no reference to any previous utterance, does not seem very probable.

ye also have seen me] ‘Also’ belongs to ‘have seen,’ not to ‘ye,’ as most English readers would suppose: ye have even seen me (not merely heard of me), and (yet) do not believe. The tragic tone again. See on John 1:5; John 1:10-11.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 6:36. Εἶπον ὑμῖν, I said unto you) He said so, John 6:26, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves.” As I said that you were, saith He, such ye still are: Ye [also] both have seen Me, (and have not believed: ye see,) and (yet) believe not. Hereby is refuted what they had said at John 6:30 : Do [some sign] that we may see it, and we will believe.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 36. - But (α}λλα is here decidedly adversative. It introduces the melancholy statement, that the one thing which is requisite to the full realization of the gift is that of which these questioners are ignorant) I told you - I said unto you - that you have both seen me, and believe me not; or "that you have seen me, and yet believe not." Some difficulty has arisen from our not being able to find, in the previous dialogue, the exact words here quoted. Some have supposed it to refer to an unrecorded conversation (Alford, Westcott), or even to some written sentence which is now a lost fragment of the discourse. Meyer says (without answering the suggestions of Olshausen, Hengstenberg, Godet, and others), that there is no such statement in the context, and proposes to translate εϊπον (as he says it is not unfrequently found in Greek tragedians, as if it were equivalent to dictum velim) "I would have you told;" but there is no such usage in the New Testament, and John 11:42 does not seem a parallel ease. It is not at all probable that Jesus was referring to the language of John 5:37, words which were addressed to a different audience - to "Jews" at Jerusalem, and uttered many months before (Lucke and De Wette). But ver. 26 shows that Galilaeans had come to see him, and had come without belief in the great sign of his spiritual nature and claims which he had already granted. They had seen him and his great miracles, it is true; but they simply longed in consequence for "more bread" and "more healing," not for himself. In ver. 30 he draws from them a confession that they had not seen enough to believe him. This thought recurs not infrequently. "Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" "Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed" (John 20:29). The setting forth of himself ought to have induced belief apart even from works. He is so intensely conscious of the Divine reality himself, that he marvels at the unbelief of his hearers. Let them think as he does, and immediately the lifelong hunger and thirst of their souls would be satisfied. Seeing, however, is not believing in their ease; and he has already urged them to consider this lamentable spiritual blindness of theirs. The exclamation of this verse recites the obvious inference of the verses we have referred to, condenses into a sentence the spirit of what he had said, εϊπε (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:8). John 6:36

Vincent's Word Studies

But

Though you have seen as you asked, I repeat what I said to you that you have seen and do not believe.