John 6:52

The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Jews	Ἰουδαῖοι Ioudaioi	G2453	Judæan · noun — nominative plural masculine, a people name
therefore	οὖν oun	G3767	(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
strove	Ἐμάχοντο Emachonto	G3164	to war · verb — imperfect middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person plural
among	πρὸς pros	G4314	a preposition of direction · preposition
themselves	ἀλλήλους allēlous	G240	one another · reciprocal pronoun — accusative plural masculine
saying	λέγοντες· legontes	G3004	properly · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
How	πῶς pōs	G4459	an interrogative particle of manner · particle — interrogative
can	δύναται dunatai	G1410	to be able or possible · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
man	οὗτος houtos	G3778	the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
give	δοῦναι dounai	G1325	to give (used in a very wide application · verb — second aorist active infinitive
us	ἡμῖν hēmîn	G2254	to (or for
flesh	σάρκα sarka	G4561	flesh (as stripped of the skin) · noun — accusative singular feminine
eat	φαγεῖν;¶ phagein	G5315	to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active infinitive

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 9:16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a s…
John 10:19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
John 6:41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they…
John 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
John 4:11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
John 7:40-43 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 6:28-59

Whether this conference was with the Capernaites, in whose synagogue Christ now was, or with those who came from the other side of the sea, is not certain nor material; however, it is an instance of Christ's condescension that he gave them leave to ask him questions, and did not resent the interruption as an affront, no, not from his common hearers, though not his immediate followers. Those that would be apt to teach must be swift to hear, and study to answer. It is the wisdom of teachers, when they are asked even impertinent unprofitable questions, thence to take occasion to answer in that which is profitable, that the question may be rejected, but not the request. Now, I. Christ having tol…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 6:52

Jews strove among themselves--arguing the point together. How can, &c.--that is, Give us His flesh to eat? Absurd.

Adam Clarke on John 6:52

How can this man give us his flesh to eat? - Our Lord removes this difficulty, and answers the question, in Joh 6:63.

John Gill on John 6:52

The Jews therefore strove among themselves,.... Fell to cavilling and disputing one among another; some understanding Christ, and others not; some being for him, and vindicated what he said; and others being against him, and who were the majority, objected, saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat? which is to be understood, not physically, but as morally impossible and unlawful; since, with the Jews, it was not lawful to eat the flesh of any creature alive, and much less the flesh of man; for the Jews understood Christ of a corporeal eating of his flesh, being strangers to a figurative or spiritual eating of it by faith, in which sense he meant it.

John Calvin on John 6:52-58

John 6:52-58 52. The Jews therefore debated among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53. Jesus therefore said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have not life in you. 54. He who eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. 56. He who eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live on account of my Father; and he who eateth me, even he shall live for my sake. 58. This is the bread which hath come down from h…

The Church Fathers

The Jews thought that our Lord would divide His flesh into pieces, and give it them to eat: and so mistaking Him, strove.
— Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

(Tr. xxvi. s. 14) The Jews not understanding what was the bread of peace, strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Whereas they who eat the bread strive not among themselves, for God makes them to dwell together in unity.
— Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" They strove, and that among themselves, since they understood not, neither wished to take the bread of concord: "for they who eat such bread do not strive with one another; for we being many are one bread, one body." And by this bread, "God makes people of one sort to dwell in a house."
— Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John 26

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Capernaum — Nahum’s town, a Galilean city frequently mentioned in the history of our Lord. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament. After our Lord’s expulsion from Nazareth (Matt. 4:13-16; Luke 4:16-31),…
Crucifixion — A common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the…
Lords Supper — The words which thus describe the great central act of the worship of the Christian Church occur but in a single passage of the New Testament— (1 Corinthians 11:20)
Philip — Lover of horses. (1.) One of the twelve apostles; a native of Bethsaida, “the city of Andrew and Peter” (John 1:44). He readily responded to the call of Jesus when first addressed to him (43), and…
Fellowship · WITH CHRIST — WITH CHRIST
Flesh · .Body of Christ symbolized by the bread — .Body of Christ symbolized by the bread
Life, Eternal · Results from: Eating the bread of life — Results from: Eating the bread of life
Life, Spiritual · Christ is the Author of — Christ is the Author of
Murmuring · .Jews, against Jesus — .Jews, against Jesus

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 6:28-59

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 6:52

Adam Clarke on John 6:52

John Gill on John 6:52

John Calvin on John 6:52-58

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 6:28-59

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 6:52

Adam Clarke on John 6:52

John Gill on John 6:52

John Calvin on John 6:52-58

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 6:51