translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JHN

label: NET study note

text: This is a parenthetical note by the author. Only John in the New Testament refers to the Sea of Galilee by the name Sea of Tiberias (see also John 21:1 ), but this is correct local usage. In the mid-20’s Herod completed the building of the town of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the lake; after this time the name came into use for the lake itself.


text: Up on the mountainside does not necessarily refer to a particular mountain or hillside, but may simply mean “the hill country” or “the high ground,” referring to the high country east of the Sea of Galilee (known today as the Golan Heights).


text: Passover. According to John’s sequence of material, considerable time has elapsed since the feast of 5:1 . If the feast in 5:1 was Pentecost of a.d. 31, then this feast would be the Passover of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion.


text: This is a parenthetical note by the author.


text: This is a parenthetical note by the author (suggesting an eyewitness recollection).


text: Note that the fish mentioned previously (in John 6:9 ) are not emphasized here, only the five barley loaves . This is easy to understand, however, because the bread is of primary importance for the author in view of Jesus’ upcoming discourse on the Bread of Life.


text: The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15 , by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.


text: An allusion to Deut 18:15 .


text: Jesus, knowing that his “hour” had not yet come (and would not, in this fashion) withdrew again up the mountainside alone . The ministry of miracles in Galilee, ending with this, the multiplication of the bread (the last public miracle in Galilee recorded by John) aroused such a popular response that there was danger of an uprising. This would have given the authorities a legal excuse to arrest Jesus. The nature of Jesus’ kingship will become an issue again in the passion narrative of the Fourth Gospel ( John 18:33 ff.). Furthermore, the volatile reaction of the Galileans to the signs prepares for and foreshadows the misunderstanding of the miracle itself, and even the misunderstanding of Jesus’ explanation of it ( John 6:22-71 ).


text: John 6:25-31 . The previous miracle of the multiplication of the bread had taken place near the town of Tiberias (cf. John 6:23 ). Jesus’ disciples set sail for Capernaum ( 6:17 ) and were joined by the Lord in the middle of the sea. The next day boats from Tiberias picked up a few of those who had seen the multiplication (certainly not the whole 5,000) and brought them to Capernaum. It was to this group that Jesus spoke in 6:26-27 . But there were also people from Capernaum who had gathered to see Jesus, who had not witnessed the multiplication, and it was this group that asked Jesus for a miraculous sign like the manna ( 6:30-31 ). This would have seemed superfluous if it were the same crowd that had already seen the multiplication of the bread. But some from Capernaum had heard about it and wanted to see a similar miracle repeated.


text: A quotation from Ps 78:24 (referring to the events of Exod 16:4-36 ).


text: Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at the last day ) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him. Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood . This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 ( eats my flesh and drinks my blood ) is to be understood in terms of the phrase here ( looks on the Son and believes in him ).


text: A quotation from Isa 54:13 .


text: This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Although some would attribute these words to Jesus himself, the switch from first person in Jesus’ preceding and following remarks to third person in v. 46 suggests that the author has added a clarifying comment here.


text: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. These words are at the heart of the discourse on the Bread of Life, and have created great misunderstanding among interpreters. Anyone who is inclined toward a sacramental viewpoint will almost certainly want to take these words as a reference to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, because of the reference to eating and drinking. But this does not automatically follow: By anyone’s definition there must be a symbolic element to the eating which Jesus speaks of in the discourse, and once this is admitted, it is better to understand it here, as in the previous references in the passage, to a personal receiving of (or appropriation of) Christ and his work.


text: Notice that here the result ( has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day ) is produced by eating (Jesus’) flesh and drinking his blood . Compare John 6:40 where the same result is produced by “looking on the Son and believing in him.” This suggests that the phrase here ( eats my flesh and drinks my blood ) is to be understood by the phrase in 6:40 ( looks on the Son and believes in him ).


text: Resides in me, and I in him. Note how in John 6:54 eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood produces eternal life and the promise of resurrection at the last day . Here the same process of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood leads to a relationship of mutual indwelling ( resides in me, and I in him ). This suggests strongly that for the author (and for Jesus) the concepts of ‘possessing eternal life’ and of ‘residing in Jesus’ are virtually interchangeable.


text: A synagogue was a place for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (cf. Luke 8:41 ). Though the origin of the synagogue is not entirely clear, it seems to have arisen in the postexilic community during the intertestamental period. A town could establish a synagogue if there were at least ten men. In normative Judaism of the NT period, the OT scripture was read and discussed in the synagogue by the men who were present (see the Mishnah, m. Megillah 3-4; m. Berakhot 2).


text: This is a parenthetical comment by the author.


text: See 1 John 4:16 .


text: א B C* D L W as well as versional witnesses. It appears that Peter’s confession in the Synoptic Gospels (especially Matt 16:16 ) supplied the motivation for the variations. Although the witnesses in Matt 16:16 ; Mark 8:29 ; and Luke 9:20 vary considerably, the readings are all intra-synoptic, that is, they do not pull in “the Holy One of God” but reflect various permutations of “Christ”/“Christ of God”/“Christ, the Son of God”/“Christ, the Son of the living God.” The wording “the Holy One of God” (without “Christ”) in important witnesses here is thus unique among Peter’s confessions, and best explains the rise of the other readings. You have the words of eternal life…you are the Holy One of God! In contrast to the response of some of his disciples, here is the response of the twelve, whom Jesus then questioned concerning their loyalty to him. This was the big test, and the twelve, with Peter as spokesman, passed with flying colors. The confession here differs considerably from the synoptic accounts ( Matt 16:16 , Mark 8:29 , and Luke 9:20 ) and concerns directly the disciples’ personal loyalty to Jesus, in contrast to those other disciples who had deserted him ( John 6:66 ).


text: At least six explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). See D. A. Carson, John , 304.


text: This parenthetical statement by the author helps the reader understand Jesus’ statement one of you is the devil in the previous verse. This is the first mention of Judas in the Fourth Gospel, and he is immediately identified (as he is in the synoptic gospels, Matt 10:4 , Mark 3:19 , Luke 6:16 ) as the one who would betray Jesus.