John 6:60-65 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?… I. OCCASIONED BY A HARD SAYING (ver. 60). It was unquestionably hard (vers. 51, 53, 57). 1. Difficult to understand even for Christians (John 14:17, 26; 1 John 2:20, 27), but especially for unbelievers (1 Corinthians 2:14). 2. Difficult to receive, demanding humility, self-abnegation (Matthew 16:24), whole-hearted surrender (Romans 13:14; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:8), none of which is easy for the unrenewed. 3. Difficult to practice. II. ARRESTED BY A HIGH SAYING (ver. 62). 1. Retrospective (John 3:13; John 6:38, 51; John 7:29; John 8:38); referring to His pre-existent condition. 2. Predictive; foretelling His ascension. 3. Anticipative; cherishing the hope that His exaltation would resolve difficulties (Matthew 28:17). III. INSTRUCTED BY A DEEP SAVING (ver. 63). 1. The announcement of a truth. Only spirit can impart life. 2. The removal of an error that literal eating was meant. 3. The illustration of a principle. Wrong understanding a stumbling block; right understanding of the same words life. IV. WARNED BY A SHARP SAYING (ver. 64). 1. Discriminating. Christ, then as now, distinguished between those who believed and those who believed not. 2. Informing. Christ, then as now, showed that He was perfectly acquainted with characters, works, and ways (Revelation 2:2, 9, 13, 19; Revelation 3:1, 8, 15) of His professed followers. 3. Reproving of their guilt. Christ never regarded unbelief as an accident, misfortune, disease, but always as a sin. 4. Sorrowing (Mark 3:5; Mark 6:6). V. EXPLAINED BY A DARK SAYING (ver. 65). 1. A rebuke to their self-sufficiency. They deemed themselves competent to pronounce judgment on Christ, to gauge His utterances, to estimate the value of His teaching, and to determine His position in God's kingdom. Christ assures them they could do none of these things without Divine assistance. 2. A declaration of their irreligion. They were yet in their uurenewed condition, and therefore incapable of receiving the truth.Learn — 1. The sin of stumbling at Christ's words. 2. To wait for further light on religious difficulties. 3. The danger of literalism. 4. The propriety of self-examination as to whether one truly believes. 5. The possibility of repeating the sin of Judas. 6. The need of daily prayer for Divine grace. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? |
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