John Calvin Commentary John 6:53

"Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves." — John 6:53 (ASV)

Verily, verily, I say to you. The just resentment Christ felt when he saw his grace rejected with such haughty disdain constrained him to use this oath. For he does not now use simple teaching, but also mixes in threats to strike terror. He denounces eternal perdition against all who refuse to seek life from his flesh, as if he had said, “If you hold my flesh in contempt, rest assured that no other hope of life remains for you.” The vengeance awaiting all who despise the grace of Christ is that they will miserably perish in their pride. They must be urged with plainness and severity so that they do not continue to flatter themselves. For if we threaten with death those sick people who refuse to take medicine, what must we do with wicked men when they strive, as far as it is in their power, to destroy life itself?

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man. When he says, the flesh of the Son of man, the expression is emphatic, for he reproves them for their contempt, which arose from perceiving that he resembled other men. The meaning, therefore, is: “Despise me as much as you please on account of the humble and despicable appearance of my flesh; still, that despicable flesh contains life; and if you are destitute of it, you will find nothing elsewhere to give you life.”

The ancients fell into a grave error by supposing that little children were deprived of eternal life, if the Eucharist, that is, the Lord’s Supper, was not administered to them. For this passage does not relate to the Lord’s Supper, but to the uninterrupted communication of the flesh of Christ, which we obtain apart from the use of the Lord’s Supper. Nor were the Bohemians correct when they cited this passage to prove that all, without exception, should be admitted to the use of the cup.

Regarding young children, Christ’s ordinance forbids them to partake of the Lord’s Supper because they are not yet able to understand or celebrate the remembrance of Christ’s death. The same ordinance makes the cup common to all, for it commands us all to drink of it, (Matthew 26:27).