John Calvin Commentary John 6:36

"But I said unto you, that ye have seen me, and yet believe not." — John 6:36 (ASV)

But I have told you. He now reproves them for wickedly rejecting the gift of God, which is offered to them.

Indeed, a person is chargeable with wicked contempt of God who rejects what he knows God has given him.

If Christ had not made known his power and plainly shown that he came from God, the plea of ignorance might have alleviated their guilt. But when they reject the doctrine of him whom they formerly acknowledged to be the Lord’s Messiah, it is extreme baseness.

It is undoubtedly true that people never resist God intentionally, with the conscious realization that they are dealing with God; and to this applies the saying of Paul:

They would never have crucified the Lord of glory, if they had known him (1 Corinthians 2:8).

But unbelievers, because they willingly shut their eyes against the light, are justly said to see what immediately vanishes from their sight, because Satan darkens their minds.

This, at least, is beyond all controversy: when he said that they saw, we must not understand him to mean his bodily appearance. Rather, he describes their voluntary blindness, because they could have known who he was, if their malice had not prevented them.