John Calvin Commentary John 6:28

"They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God?" — John 6:28 (ASV)

What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? The multitude understood well enough that Christ had exhorted them to aim at something higher than the conveniences of the present life, and that they should not confine their attention to the earth, since God calls them to more valuable blessings.

But, in asking this question, they are partly mistaken in not understanding the kind of labor; for they do not consider that God bestows on us, by the hand of the Son, all that is necessary for spiritual life. First, they ask what they should do; and next, when they use the expression, the works of God, they do not understand what they say, and talk without any definite object.

In this manner they manifest their ignorance of the grace of God. And yet they appear here to murmur disdainfully against Christ, as if he were accusing them groundlessly. “Do you suppose,” they say, “that we have no concern for eternal life? Why, then, do you command us to do what is beyond our ability?” By the works of God, we must understand those which God demands, and of which he approves.