Life in God’s Son

May God’s Holy Spirit shine his light and connect the threads as we continue to read Jesus’ teaching about the Spirit and life in Jesus, God’s Son.

Read John 6:60-65.

• The disciples said Jesus’ teaching was harsh and offensive.
• They struggled to accept the teaching on eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This indicates they also didn’t fully grasp his spiritual, figurative meaning. Remember, these were the people who looked to Jesus to provide a literal picnic! Of course they didn’t understand his teaching. We paused last week and reviewed the Old Testament laws about the scapegoat, who was not consumed as a sacrifice, and God’s law forbidding human sacrifice.
• Jesus asked the disciples why they were grumbling and offended.
• Already knowing the answer, he probed their inner thoughts with the question, is my teaching a stumbling block that scandalizes you?¹
• Perhaps Peter remembered that scene when he later wrote his letter to scattered believers after Jesus’ resurrection. He quoted Isaiah, identifying Jesus as

“a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall” (1 Peter 2:8).

• Michael Card wrote a song about how the truth of who we are in the light of who Jesus is.²
• Jesus continued to probe his followers’ true thoughts.
• If they could not comprehend and accept Jesus was the bread of life come down from heaven, neither would they accept he would ascend back to his Father in heaven.
• Zodhiates shed more light on Jesus as the Son of God, when he wrote to
• “ascend to heaven [is] to have communion with God or to dwell there.”³
• As proof the Son is indeed the bread of life, Jesus will ascend.
• Here John connected the Holy Spirit with eternal life.
• As “the spirit in man gives life to the body, so my words are spirit and life to the soul.”⁴

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

• Our earthly life counts for nothing as far as making us spiritually alive.
• Jesus spoke “words of life”, speaking the Word, as he taught his disciples.⁵
• John proclaimed the Truth in so many ways in his gospel!

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).

• Already, Jesus knew some would not believe. He knew who would betray him.
• The Father made the full plan known to the Son.

“… you were redeemed from the empty way of life … with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:18-21).

• According to Zodhiates, Jesus had “innate knowledge … of who would not be true believers.”⁶
• The one who would betray Jesus would “deliver [him] to [the] power of someone [else].”⁷
• The Father draws us to the Son.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:44).

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:11-12).

• Our faith itself is a gift from God.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—“ (Ephesians 2:8).

*Which teaching from Jesus causes you to stumble? Why?

*How might who we are in the light of Jesus cause us to fall?

*How do you envision Jesus ascending to heaven, dwelling there, and communing with God?

*What does it mean to say when we have the Son, we have life?

*What is your response to Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:11-12?

Read John 6:66-71.

• Something about Jesus’ teaching caused many to turn away at this point.
• They chose to turn back to their former way of life and no longer associate with him.⁸
• They withdrew from their teacher and went away.⁹
• Jesus confirmed his twelve disciples wanted to continue to follow him.
• He already knew who would follow, so he must have wanted to reassure them and have them affirm it to themselves, to make a conscious choice.
• Peter declared the Truth: Jesus holds eternal life.
• Peter then stated,
• “We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69).
• In the Greek, this implies, “he who believes also knows.”¹⁰
• A quick glance at a narrative alignment of the gospels indicates this might be Peter’s first proclamation of Jesus as the Christ.¹¹
• Jesus again reassured his disciples that he chose them.
• Not that he rejected anyone who would chose to follow him, but he chose them with favor.¹²
• Jesus spoke again, more specifically, of the one who would betray him.
• Judas would act “under the influence of this evil spirit [and] be Christ’s [false] accuser and betrayer.” Satan [falsely] accused God in paradise.”¹³

*What harsh or offensive teaching from Jesus might cause us to consider turning away? Why?

*How can we reaffirm our belief in Jesus?

*Why do you imagine John ended this passage with Jesus’ words about his betrayer?

 

1. Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., The Complete Word Study New Testament, King James Version (AMG Publishers, 1991), 1291.
2. Michael Card, “Scandalon” (Birdwing Music, 1986).
3. Zodhiates, 142.
4. Zodhiates, 1181.
5. Zodhiates, 906, 1262-1263.
6. Zodhiates, 509.
7. Zodhiates, 1103.
8. Zodhiates, 1051, 1148.
9. Zodhiates, 1407.
10. Zodhiates, 373.
11. Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry, A Harmony of the Gospels, New American Standard (Moody Press, 1978), 10.
12. Zodhiates, 544.
13. Zodhiates, 419.