Church Fathers Commentary John 6:28-34

"They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what workest thou? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. They said therefore unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread." — John 6:28-34 (ASV)

Alcuin of York: They understood that the food which endures to eternal life was the work of God. Therefore, they asked Him what they must do to perform the work of God, that is, to obtain this food: Then said they to Him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?

The Venerable Bede: That is, by keeping what commandments will we be able to fulfill the law of God?

St. John Chrysostom: But they said this not so that they might learn and follow them, but to obtain from Him another display of His generosity.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Christ, though He saw it would be of no use, still answered their question for the benefit of others who would come later. He showed them, or rather the whole world, what the work of God was: Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He does not say, "that you believe Him," but "that you believe in Him." For the demons believed Him but did not believe in Him; and we believe Paul, but we do not believe in Paul. To believe in Him is to believe in such a way that you love Him, honor Him, go to Him, and are incorporated as members of His Body.

The faith that God requires of us is that which works by love. Faith is indeed distinguished from works by the Apostle, who says, That man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. But works that appear good, when done without faith in Christ, are not truly good, because they are not directed toward the end that makes them good. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes.

Therefore, our Lord would not separate faith from works, but said that faith itself was the performance of God's work. He did not say, "This is your work," but, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him, so that he who glories might glory in the Lord.

To eat that food which endures to everlasting life, then, is to believe in Him. Why do you make your teeth and stomach ready? Only believe, and you have already eaten.

When He called on them to believe, they still asked for miracles by which to believe. They said therefore to Him, What sign show you then, that we may see and believe You? What do you work?

St. John Chrysostom: Nothing could be more unreasonable than their asking for another miracle, as if none had been given already. They did not even leave the choice of the miracle to our Lord, but tried to force Him to give them the exact sign that was given to their fathers: Our fathers did eat manna in the desert.

Alcuin of York: And to exalt the miracle of the manna, they quote the Psalm: As it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

St. John Chrysostom: Although many miracles were performed in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert, they remembered this one best of all. Such is the power of appetite. They do not mention this miracle as the work of either God or Moses, in order to avoid, on the one hand, raising Him to an equality with God, or on the other, lowering Him by a comparison with Moses. Instead, they take a middle ground, only saying, Our fathers did eat manna in the desert.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, to put it another way, our Lord places Himself above Moses, who did not dare to say that he gave the food that does not perish. The crowd, therefore, remembering what Moses had done and wishing for a greater miracle, was saying, in effect, "You promise food that does not perish, yet you do not perform works equal to those of Moses. He gave us not barley loaves, but manna from heaven."

St. John Chrysostom: Our Lord could have replied that He had performed miracles greater than those of Moses, but it was not the time for such a declaration. He desired one thing: namely, to bring them to taste the spiritual food. Then Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

Did the manna not come from heaven? True, but in what sense? In the same sense that birds are called "the birds of heaven," and just as it is said in the Psalm, The Lord thundered out of heaven. He calls it the true bread, not because the miracle of the manna was false, but because it was a figure and not the reality.

He also does not say, "Moses did not give it to you, but I did." Instead, He substitutes God for Moses, and Himself for the manna.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is as if He said, "That manna was a type of this food of which I have just spoken, and to which all my miracles point. You like my miracles, but you despise what is signified by them." This bread that God gives, and which the manna represented, is the Lord Jesus Christ, as we read next: For the bread of God is He which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.

The Venerable Bede: Not to the physical world, but to humanity, its inhabitants.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He calls Himself the true bread because the only-begotten Son of God, made man, was the principal reality signified by the manna. For "manna" literally means, "What is this?" The Israelites were astonished when they first found it and asked one another what it was. In a special sense, the Son of God made man is this mysterious manna, about which we ask, "What is this? How can the Son of God be the Son of man? How can one person consist of two natures?"

Alcuin of York: He, through the humanity that was assumed, came down from heaven; and through the divinity that assumed it, gives life to the world.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But this bread, being life itself (for He is the Son of the living Father), does only what is natural for Him to do in giving life to all things. For just as natural bread sustains our weak flesh, so Christ, through the operations of the Spirit, gives life to the soul and even incorruptibility to the body (for at the resurrection, the body will be made incorruptible). Therefore, He says that He gives life to the world.

St. John Chrysostom: He gives life not only to the Jews, but to the whole world. The crowd, however, still attached a fleshly meaning to His words: Then they said to Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. They say, "Give us this bread," not, "Ask Your Father to give it to us," even though He had said that His Father gives this bread.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Just as the woman of Samaria, when our Lord told her, Whosoever drinks of this water shall never thirst, thought He meant natural water and said, Sir, give me this water, so that she would never be in need of it again; in the same way, these people say, Give us this bread, meaning a bread that refreshes, sustains, and never fails.