Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 6:51

"I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world." — John 6:51 (ASV)

The key to a genuine experience with God lies in the sequence of statements in this verse. It is vested in the person of Christ, who descended from heaven to provide for humans what their nature requires. To eat of this bread means to appropriate Christ as one’s life. It is a figure of speech for believing, for no one will eat what he or she cannot trust as edible. Eating a meal implies that it is wholesome, nourishing, and real. This verse also introduces the concept of Jesus’ vicarious death, the sacrifice of his body for the sins of the world.