Anchor My Faith

Words Are Spirit and Life

Scripture: John 6:59-63

In the previous section, Jesus taught some very hard things that were very hard to understand, and many began to grumble. Now, ^{Jn 6:59} “Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. ⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

The word “many” identifying disciples seems to indicate more that just the 12 and may include those who follow him around as students, learning from him. As these disciples heard what Jesus was saying about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, they found this to be a hard saying because they were trying to interrupt his statements literally and as a result it made no sense; like when Nicodemus tried to understand the meaning of being born again.

^{Jn 6:61} “But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?”’ Now Jesus seems to be speaking to the twelve disciples. He wants to open a conversation with them to help them understand some deep spiritual things. He begins that conversation with a condition.

^{Jn 6:62} “Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” He asks them if it would help them understand it they were to watch him rise from the earth and ascend toward heaven and disappear from their sight. If he was the bread of life that came down from heaven, then should he not be able to ascend back to heaven? (Acts 1:6 – 11)

As is usually the case when his teaching is not understood, and questions are raised, Jesus leaves the topic and presses on to something new. It is as if he simply wants to present information for people to wrestle with, waiting for the time when the Holy Spirit will be sent to indwell believers to give them understanding. Jesus speaks of his ascension and connects belief and spiritual life to it.

To help in their understanding, Jesus speaks to them about flesh and spirit. ^{Jn 6:63} “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” “Flesh” as used here is our human nature including emotions, will, and intellect. It is completely incapable of producing genuine spiritual life as Paul describes in Romans 7:14 – 25. With our flesh we serve the law of sin, while with our mind we serve the law of God. Without spiritual birth and the indwelling Spirit, we are under the control of sin that reigns in our bodies. It is the Spirit that gives us life; the flesh can’t help because the wage of our sin is death not life.

Once spiritually life is initially given to us by the Father the Spirit works powerfully in and through the words that Jesus speaks or those words we hear or read today. Those words are “spirit and life” in that they work in the unseen spiritual realm and awaken genuine spiritual life that leads to spiritual birth. Just as there is physical life before physical birth, there is spiritual life before spiritual birth. This is a position not held by everyone but is one that appears clear to me from the Scriptures. One of the reasons I believe this will appear in a verse we will cover in the next lesson.

Conclusion

“It is the Spirit that gives life,” but who does he give life to? Since we are adopted into the family of God, does that imply that God chooses us and recued us from death caused by our sin or did we while spiritually dead, decide that God would adopt us, and that decision caused us to be born again? In preparation for out next lesson, think about 1 Peter 1:3 (ESV): “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.”