John 6:47

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(47) He that believeth.—This thought gives a new force to what He has said in John 6:40. He there declared the Father’s will, that every one seeing the Son and believing on Him may have eternal life. No man had ever seen the Father, but the Son was then standing in human form before them, and this will was being accomplished, and for the believer eternal life was not only of the future but of the actual present, “He hath eternal life.” (Comp. John 3:15; John 5:24.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:47-51 The advantage of the manna was small, it only referred to this life; but the living Bread is so excellent, that the man who feedeth on it shall never die. This bread is Christ's human nature, which he took to present to the Father, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world; to purchase all things pertaining to life and godliness, for sinners of every nation, who repent and believe in him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Not that any man hath seen the Father - Jesus added this, evidently, to guard against mistake. He had said that all who came to him were taught of God. The teacher was commonly seen and heard by the pupil; but, lest it should be supposed that he meant to say that a man to come to him must see and hear God, visibly and audibly, he adds that he did not intend to affirm this. It was still true that no man had seen God at any time. They were not, therefore, to expect to see God, and his words were not to be perverted as if he meant to teach that.

Save he which is of God - Jesus here evidently refers to himself as the Son of God. He had just said that no man had seen the Father. When he affirms that he has seen the Father, it implies that he is more than man. He is the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18; the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, Hebrews 1:3; God over all, blessed forever, Romans 9:5. By his being of God is meant that he is the only-begotten Son of God, and sent as the Messiah into the world.

Hath seen - Hath intimately known or perceived him. He knows his nature, character, plans. This is a claim to knowledge superior to what man possesses, and it cannot be understood except by supposing that Jesus is equal with God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

47-51. He that believeth, &c.—(See on [1795]Joh 3:36; [1796]Joh 5:24).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 47,48. See Poole on "John 3:18". See Poole on "John 3:36". See Poole on "John 6:35".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Verily, verily, I say unto you,.... This is a certain truth, and to be depended on:

he that believeth on me hath everlasting life; not only he may have it, as in John 6:40, and shall have it, but he has it; he has it in Christ, his head and representative; he has it in the covenant of grace; he has it in faith and hope; he has a right unto it, and a meetness for it; he has the earnest of it, the grace and Spirit of God; and he has the beginning and foretastes of it in his soul, and shall certainly enjoy it.

Geneva Study Bible

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 6:47-48. Jesus had given His answer to the murmurings of the Jews in John 6:43-46. He now returns to the subject which He had left, and first repeats in solemn asseveration what He had said in John 6:40; then He again brings forward the metaphor of the bread of life, which sets forth the same thought.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

47–50. Christ returns from answering the Jews to the main subject

47. hath everlasting life] Hath eternal life (John 3:16). Note the tense. Christ solemnly assures them (the double ‘Verily’) that the believer is already in possession of eternal life. See on John 3:36 and John 5:24.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 6:47. Ἔχει) hath. Present. Where the bread of life is, there life is; even before the last day, John 6:40.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 47. - Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth [on me] hath eternal life. He has here given a new turn to the conversation, and repeated what had been the substance of several discourses (John 3:16, 18, 36; John 5:24), and formed, indeed, the starting place of this (vers. 27, 35, 36). The full acceptance of Christ provides "living water" for the thirsty, "living bread," "bread from heaven," for the hungry - an inward refreshment, a Divine nourishment, an inexhaustible supply. "He that believeth on me" (whether the εἰς ἐμὲ were in the original text or not, they are involved in the sense)has entered on the possession of an eternal blessedness of being, superior to death, transcending time and sense - he "hath eternal life." John 6:47