Jesus continues with the line: “It is the
spirit that gives life, the flesh is useless” (6:63). Until now, that which
gives life has been identified as belief in Jesus (3:15, 16, 36; 5:40; 6:40,
47; see also 11:25; 17:3; 20:31), and in John 6, believing is equated with the
act of ingesting his flesh (6:40, 47, 48, 51, 53, 54). For the first time in
this discourse, the life-giving principle is identified as the spirit. The use
of the term “spirit” (πνευμα) in the Gospel of John is very complex. First, the term is used
to distinguish that which is of the heavenly realm from which is “of the world.”
So, for example, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born of the spirit or “from
above” (3:3-8). When πνευμα is understood in this sense, John 6:63 claims that that which
comes from the earth does not give life, but that which comes from heaven
(bread = Jesus) does give life (cf. 6:48-50). “Spirit” also refers to the life
force that animates Jesus’ flesh. Thus, when Jesus “gives up the spirit,” he
dies (19:30). His flesh “is useless” without the presence of this animating
spirit. Finally, “spirit” refers to the life-giving Holy Spirit that Jesus
imparts to believers after his death (7:39; 17:2; 20:22). In this way, 6:63 can
claim that “it is the [Holy] spirit that gives life [to believers], the flesh
is useless.” Because the Gospel often combines various references in one image
or word, it is possible that all three of these aspects of the Spirit are at
play here.
The idea that the spirit gives life is
extended in the next sentence. Jesus’ words
are “spirit and life” (6:63). He both speaks the word and is the Word (1:1),
as he both provides bread and is bread. He embodies that which comes down from
heaven.
A contrast is established between those who
believe what Jesus says and those who do not (Jesus knows who they are from
the beginning, 6:64). There are those who follow Jesus looking or signs and
wanting to eat their fill of bread (6:26). There are those who never come to
Jesus in the first place; these are identified as the Jews (6:41-59). There are
the “many disciples” who heard his words but found them too difficult to
accept; these are the ones who “turned back and no longer went about with them”
(6:66). Finally, there are the remaining disciples, introduced here for the
first time as the “Twelve” (6:67). (Jane S. Webster, Ingesting Jesus: Eating and Drinking in the Gospel of John [Academia
Biblica 6; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003], 86-87)