John 6:64

Then he settles the offense they took at what he said. And, as Chrysostom says, he distinguished two ways in which his words could be understood. With respect to the first, we should note that Christ's words can be understood in two senses: in a …

Manifesting a property of divinity, namely revealing what is hidden, He tells them that some of you do not believe; by saying "some," He excluded the disciples. And the evangelist, wishing to show us that He knew all things before the foundation of the world, …

But there are some of you who believe not - And so receive no life by them, because you take them in a gross literal sense. For Jesus knew from the beginning - Of his ministry: who would betray him - Therefore it is plain, God does foresee future contingencies:- "But his foreknowledge causes not the fault, Which had no less proved certain unforeknown."

But there are some of you that believe not,....

But there are some of you that believe not - This is addressed to Judas, and to those disciples who left him: Joh 6:66. And who should betray him - Or, who would deliver him up. Because he knew all things; he knew from the first, from Judas’s call to the apostleship, and from eternity, (if the reader pleases), who it was who would (not should) deliver him up into the hands of the Jews.

We learn from these verses that some of Christ's sayings seem hard to flesh and blood. We are told that "many" who had followed our Lord for a season, were offended when He spoke of "eating his flesh and drinking his blood." They murmured and said, "This is an hard saying; who can accept it?" Murmurs and complaints of this kind are very common. It must never surprise us to hear them. They have been, they are, they will be as long as the world stands. To some Christ's sayings appear hard to understand.

ARE there really? Yes. He that searches the hearts says so. Then it is high time for us to enquire, "What is it to believe in Christ? What is it to believe to the saving of the soul?" It is not merely to consider the Gospel to be true. It is not simply to endorse the Doctrine that Christ is God. Those who hold a sound creed may be destitute of precious faith and those who are able to defend the Divinity of Christ with admirable scholarship may, nevertheless, be without God in the world.

But there are some, &c.--that is, "But it matters little to some of you in what sense I speak, for ye believe not." This was said, adds the Evangelist, not merely of the outer but of the inner circle of His disciples; for He knew the traitor, though it was not yet time to expose him.

We learn from these verses that some of Christ's sayings seem hard to flesh and blood. We are told that "many" who had followed our Lord for a season, were offended when He spoke of "eating his flesh and drinking his blood." They murmured and said, "This is an hard saying; who can accept it?" Murmurs and complaints of this kind are very common. It must never surprise us to hear them. They have been, they are, they will be as long as the world stands. To some Christ's sayings appear hard to understand. To others, as in the present case, they appear hard to believe, and harder still to obey. It is just one of the many ways in which the natural corruption of man shows itself. So long as the heart is naturally proud, worldly, unbelieving, and fond of self-indulgence, if not of sin, so long there will never be lacking people who will say of Christian doctrines and precepts, "These are hard sayings; who can hear them?" Humility is the frame of mind which we should labor and pray for, if we would not be offended by scriptural teaching. If we find any of Christ's sayings hard to understand, we should humbly remember our present ignorance, and believe that we shall know more by and bye. If we find any of His sayings difficult to obey, we should humbly recollect that He will never require of us impossibilities, and that what He bids us do, He will give us grace to perform. We learn, secondly, from these verses, that we must beware of putting a carnal meaning on spiritual words. We read that our Lord said to the murmuring Jews who stumbled at the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing—the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." It is useless to deny that this verse is full of difficulties. It contains expressions "hard to be understood."

ARE there really? Yes. He that searches the hearts says so. Then it is high time for us to enquire, "What is it to believe in Christ? What is it to believe to the saving of the soul?" It is not merely to consider the Gospel to be true. It is not simply to endorse the Doctrine that Christ is God. Those who hold a sound creed may be destitute of precious faith and those who are able to defend the Divinity of Christ with admirable scholarship may, nevertheless, be without God in the world. To believe in Christ includes much more than a religious profession. It is so to believe the Gospel as to forsake all other beliefs for the possession of its blessed hope! It is to imbibe the spirit of the Word of God while you accept the letter of its pure teaching! Or, in other words, it is to come to Jesus and to prove, in your own souls, His power to save. Just as the faith of Abraham led him to leave his kindred and his father's house under the guardian care of Jehovah, so saving faith leads a man to leave his self-sufficiency with all the carnal pursuits and ambitions that encircled, like a farmstead, his natural and primitive home and to go forth, led by Jesus Christ, not knowing where he goes.

Jesus knew from the beginning ... - As this implied a knowledge of the heart, and of the secret principles and motives of men, it shows that he must have been omniscient.