Theme · narrative
Bread of Life
God feeds Israel with manna in the wilderness — bread from heaven, gathered daily, sufficient for each day's need. The showbread in the tabernacle represents God's provision in his presence. Elijah is sustained by bread delivered by ravens and angels. Jesus feeds five thousand with five loaves, then declares, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.' He connects the manna to himself: 'Your fathers ate manna and died, but whoever eats of this bread will live forever.' At the Last Supper, he breaks bread and says, 'This is my body, given for you.'
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Cor 10:4 — And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
- 1Cor 10:17 — For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
- 1Cor 11:24 — And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
- Deut 8:3 — And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but
- Deut 8:16 — Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
- Exod 16:4 — Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law,
- Exod 16:15 — And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
- Exod 16:35 — And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
- Exod 25:30 — And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
- Gen 14:18 — And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
- Heb 9:4 — Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
- Isa 30:23 — Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pa
- Isa 33:16 — He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
- Isa 55:2 — Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in f
- John 1:4 — In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
- John 6:9 — There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
- 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 6:35 — And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
- 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.
- John 7:37 — In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
- John 7:38 — He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
- John 8:12 — Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
- 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 4:4 — But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
- Matt 6:11 — Give us this day our daily bread.
The Church Fathers on Bread of Life
"I am the bread of life"; and this for believers, because, as is said in Proverbs three, "she is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her," namely through faith: "and he who holds her fast is blessed," who holds fast through comprehension. And that he is the bread of life, he shows through the effect, because…
I am the Bread of Life, not bodily bread, which cutteth off the suffering from hunger only, and freeth the flesh from the destruction therefrom, but remoulding wholly the whole living being to eternal life, and rendering man who was formed to be for ever, superior to death. By these words He points to the life and…
He calleth Himself, "the bread of life," because He maintaineth our life both which is and which is to be, and saith, "Whosoever shall eat of this bread shall live for ever." By "bread" He meaneth here either His saving doctrines and the faith which is in Him, or His own Body; for both nerve the soul. Yet in another…
For Christ is our Bread; because Christ is Life, and bread is life. "I am," saith He, "the Bread of Life; " and, a little above, "The Bread is the Word of the living God, who came down from the heavens.
He frequently repeats the words "your fathers ate manna in the wilderness" in order to convince His listeners that if it was possible for people to be nourished without harvest or sowing for forty years and their life was sustained, how much more will the Lord now strengthen our rational life with a better bread,…
Then, he shows how this bread is acquired. First, he shows what this bread is; secondly, how to obtain it (v 37). Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he explains what this bread is, I am the bread of life; secondly, he gives the reason for this, Whoever comes to me shall not hunger; thirdly, he shows…