John 6:51

I am. See on v. 35.

Which came down from heaven. Here, as contrasted with the previous verse, the Greek simply states the fact that Christ came from heaven to earth at the time of the incarnation. Upon this fact Jesus based His claim to having eternal life for the world.

Eat of this bread. Compare on v. 53; see DA 390, 391.

I will give. In speaking of the gift of Christ to the world in vs. 32, 33 the present tense is used, emphasizing that He is a continuing, eternal gift. But here, as in v. 27, the future is used, which focuses upon the specific event of the cross, when Christ gave His “flesh,” in a climactic act, “for the life of the world.”

Textual evidence favors (cf. p. 146) a simpler reading at this point, but one that in no way changes the sense of the sentence: “And the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.”

Flesh. Gr. sarx, a word that John has already used of Christ’s incarnation (see on ch. 1:14; cf. its use in ch. 17:2). In the present passage “flesh” seems clearly to refer to Christ’s humanity, with no thought of the imperfection implied by the word in chs. 3:6; 6:63. Because He took upon Himself humanity, the Son of God was able to give His “flesh”, that is, to die and thus to make His perfect humanity available to those who partake of Him by faith.