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John 6:51

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

KJV

ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ζῶν ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς· ἐάν τις φάγῃ ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ ἄρτου, ζήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· καὶ ὁ ἄρτος δὲ ὃν ἐγὼ δώσω ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς, ἡ σάρξ μου ἐστίν.

Greek NT

Ego sum panis vivus, qui de cælo descendi.

Vulgate

I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.

ASV

I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

Douay-Rheims

Open in reader with connections →

In the original Greek

21 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

αἰών
aion
noun · 124×
δέ
de
conjunction · 2781×
δίδωμι
didomi
verb · 414×
εἰμί
eimi
verb · 2461×
εἰς
eis
preposition · 1769×
ζάω
zao
verb · 140×
ζωή
zoe
noun · 135×
καί
kai
conjunction · 8973×
καταβαίνω
katabaino
verb · 78×
κόσμος
kosmos
noun · 184×
οὐρανός
ouranos
noun · 274×
σάρξ
sarx
noun · 147×
τὶς
tis
indefinite_pronoun · 527×
φάγω
phago
verb · 93×
ἄρτος
artos
noun · 97×
ἐάν
ean
conditional · 333×
ἐγώ
ego
pronoun · 1720×
ἐκ
ek
preposition · 915×
o
article · 19778×
ὅς
os
relative_pronoun · 1404×
ὑπέρ
uper
preposition · 148×

Textual variants

2 variant units attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.

minor
SBLGNT: ζήσει | WH/NIV: ζήσει | Treg/RP: ζήσεται
  • ζήσειSBLGNT
  • ζήσειWestcott-Hort, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • ζήσεταιTregelles, Robinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus
notable
SBLGNT: ἐστιν | WH/Treg/NIV: ἐστιν | RP: + ἣν ἐγὼ δώσω
  • ἐστινSBLGNT
  • ἐστινWestcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • + ἣν ἐγὼ δώσωRobinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus

Themes

Doctrines that cite this verse

Historic Christian voices

25 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§728Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death and Resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little he alludes to him even in his teaching of the multitudes, as when he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world.110 He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus,111 to the Samaritan woman,112 and to …
§1355In the communion, preceded by the Lord's prayer and the breaking of the bread, the faithful receive "the bread of heaven" and "the cup of salvation," the body and blood of Christ who offered himself "for the life of the world":179 Because this bread and wine have been made Eucharist ("eucharisted," according to an ancient expression), "we call this food Eucharist, and no one ma…
§2835This petition, with the responsibility it involves, also applies to another hunger from which men are perishing: "Man does not live by bread alone, but . . . by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,"123 that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort "to proclaim the good news to the poor." There is a famine on earth,…
…and 1 more from this source.
1. Whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame Philippians 3:19, said Paul of certain persons, writing to the Philippians. Now that the Jews were of this character is clear, both from what has gone before, and from what they came and said to Christ. For when He gave them bread, and filled their bellies, they said that He was a Prophet, and sought to make Him a K…
City of God · 3 passages
Chapter 5.—Of Those Things Which a Man of God Spake by the Spirit to Eli the Priest, Signifying that the Priesthood Which Had Been Appointed According to Aaron Was to Be Taken Away. But this is said more plainly by a man of God sent to Eli the priest himself, whose name indeed is not mentioned, but whose office and ministry show him to have been indubitably a prophet. For it is…
Chapter 19.—Of Those Who Promise Impunity from All Sins Even to Heretics, Through Virtue of Their Participation of the Body of Christ. So, too, there are others who promise this deliverance from eternal punishment, not, indeed, to all men, but only to those who have been washed in Christian baptism, and who become partakers of the body of Christ, no matter how they have lived, …
Chapter 25.—Whether Those Who Received Heretical Baptism, and Have Afterwards Fallen Away to Wickedness of Life; Or Those Who Have Received Catholic Baptism, But Have Afterwards Passed Over to Heresy and Schism; Or Those Who Have Remained in the Catholic Church in Which They Were Baptized, But Have Continued to Live Immorally,—May Hope Through the Virtue of the Sacraments for t…
Breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but which causes that we should live for ever in Jesus Christ.
I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger. Calvin expounds the feeding of the five thousand as a sign pointing to Christ as the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Whoever eats the flesh of the Son of Man and drinks his blood has eternal life. Calvin insists this is spiritual feeding by fai…
1. Introduction to the Feeding of the Five Thousand. And when even had come His disciples came to Him, Matthew 14:15 that is, at the consummation of the age in regard to which we may fitly say what is found in the Epistle of John, It is the last hour. 1 John 2:18 They, not yet understanding what the Word was about to do, say to Him, The place is desert, Matthew 14:15 seeing the…
Chapter 1. Summary of the Foregoing Books, and Scope of that Which Follows. I. The man who fears God seeks diligently in Holy Scripture for a knowledge of His will. And when he has become meek through piety, so as to have no love of strife; when furnished also with a knowledge of languages, so as not to be stopped by unknown words and forms of speech, and with the knowledge of …
This the Eucharist has indeed in common with the rest of the sacraments — that it is a symbol of a sacred thing and a visible form of an invisible grace. But there is found in the Eucharist this excellent and peculiar thing, that the other sacraments have then first the power of sanctifying when one uses them, whereas in the Eucharist, before being used, there is the Author Him…
Heidelberg Catechism · 2 passages
Q. What do you understand by the word suffered? A. That during his whole life on earth, but especially at the end, Christ sustained in body and soul the anger of God against the sin of the whole human race. This he did in order that, by his suffering as the only atoning sacrifice, he might set us free, body and soul, from eternal condemnation, and gain for us God's grace, right…
Q. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured-out blood? A. It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and thereby to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ's blessed body. And so,…
We believe and confess that our Savior Jesus Christ has ordained and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper to nourish and sustain those who are already regenerated and ingrafted into his family, which is his church. Now those who are born again have two lives in them. The one is physical and temporal—they have it from the moment of their first birth, and it is common to a…
The Supper of the Lord (which is called the Lord's Table, and the Eucharist, that is, a Thanksgiving) is ordinarily administered in the congregations of the saints, that in it the death of Christ may be held in memory, and his coming again expected, according to his own ordinance: "Do this in remembrance of me; for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim …
God Who is good and altogether good and more than good, Who is goodness throughout, by reason of the exceeding riches of His goodness did not suffer Himself, that is His nature, only to be good, with no other to participate therein, but because of this He made first the spiritual and heavenly powers: next the visible and sensible universe: next man with his spiritual and sentie…
We believe Holy Baptism, which was instituted by the Lord, who said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5), to be necessary for salvation. For without it none is able to be saved. Baptism confers the remission of original and actual sin. Infants also, since they too are under original sin, and without Baptism are n…
Gregory teaches that the bread of the Eucharist becomes the body of Christ by the power of the Word. Just as bread eaten by Christ during His earthly life was transformed into His body, so the eucharistic bread is sanctified by the Word of God and changed into the body of Christ. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven."
Before the words of consecration, what is on the altar is bread; after the words of Christ are spoken, it is the body of Christ. The consecration is accomplished by the words of the Lord Himself — "This is my body." If the word of the Lord Jesus is powerful enough to bring into existence things that did not exist, how much more can it change things that already exist into somet…
The manna in the wilderness was bread from heaven, but it was a type and shadow — those who ate it still died. The bread that Christ gives is His own body, the true bread from heaven, and whoever eats it will live forever. Ambrose also points to the offering of Melchizedek, who brought bread and wine to Abraham, as a prophetic figure of the Eucharistic sacrifice.

Cross-references

  • 1Cor 11:27 — Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
  • 1John 2:2 — And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
  • 1John 4:9 — In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
  • 1John 4:10 — Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
  • 1John 4:14 — And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
  • 1Pet 2:4 — To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
  • 1Tim 2:6 — Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
  • 2Cor 5:19 — To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
  • 2Cor 5:21 — For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
  • Eph 4:9 — (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
  • Eph 5:2 — And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
  • Eph 5:25 — Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
  • Heb 4:12 — For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoug
  • Heb 10:5 — Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
  • Heb 10:20 — By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
  • John 1:14 — And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
  • John 1:14 — And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
  • John 1:29 — The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
  • John 3:13 — And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
  • John 3:13 — And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
  • John 3:16 — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
  • John 3:31 — He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
  • John 4:10 — Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
  • John 4:10 — Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
  • John 6:27 — Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
  • John 6:33 — For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
  • John 6:41 — The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
  • John 6:48 — I am that bread of life.
  • John 6:50 — This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
  • John 6:52 — The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
  • John 7:38 — He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
  • John 10:10 — The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
  • John 14:6 — Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
  • Luke 22:19 — And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
  • Luke 22:19 — And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
  • Matt 20:28 — Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
  • Titus 2:14 — Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.