Despite his rejection of a
sacramental meaning for this passage, one cannot deny that Calvin’s exegesis of
John 6 has eucharistic overtones. In fact, in explaining verse 55, Calvin says,
“For when Christ expressly mentions food and drink, Christ declares that the
life which he bestows is complete in every respect . . . provided that we eat
his flesh and drink his blood. Thus also in the Lord’s Supper, which
corresponds to this doctrine, not satisfied with the symbol of the bread,
he adds also the cup” (CO 25:155). Finding it hard to resist the
connections o the Eucharist, he explains that the doctrine that is taught in
this passage is sealed in the Lord’s Supper (CO 25:156). It is noteworthy
that, immediately after his rejection of an eucharistic interpretation of the
passage in John 6, Calvin writes, “At the same time, I confess that there is
nothing said here that is not figured and actually presented to believers in
the Lord’s Supper” (CO 25:155). By the time of the Institutio in
1559, Calvin explicitly relates John 6 with the Lord’s supper. (Esther
Chung-Kim, Inventing Authority: The use of the Church Fathers in Reformation
Debates over the Eucharist [Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2011], 52)