Jn 6:49-50 is used by the
immortality preachers to identify that Jesus preached immortality. For them, the
one who believes in Jesus will not die as he/she will be made immortal in
salvation. Jesus says in 6:47, “Truly,
truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” In addition, in 6:48
Jesus identifies himself as the ‘bread of life.’ In 6:49, he says that the
forefathers of the Jews ate mannah in the wilderness and they died. However,
the one who eats “the bread which comes
down out of heaven” will not die
but have eternal life (6:50). Jesus further says in v.51 that “if anyone eats of this bread he will live
forever.” Thus, for the immortality preacher if anyone believes in Jesus
he/she will not die but will live forever. For him, the word “die” in 6:50 should
not be taken as figurative (eternal death not physical death) but it should be
understood literally. The preacher who “always” reads the whole chapter must
read few verses before and after 6:50. The same concepts mentioned in 6:47-51
are repeated again in 53-54 which give more clarifications.
Though all these verses mentioned
above say similar things v.54 is the key as it gives more information about
living and not dying of vv.47-48. Jn 6:54 says that “he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” How?
Jesus answers by saying, “I will raise him up on the last day.”
My sincere question here is this: how could Jesus raise the one who does not
die (6:50)? Therefore, 6:50 should mean like this: “This is the bread which
comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die, i.e., the
eternal death.”
John is known for his frequent use of imageries, metaphors and similies,
etc. Let me show this from this passage itself. Jn 6:50 says that the one who eats
the bread will not die. In this verse alone many metaphors are used. Jesus is
the Bread. Eating the bread is believing
in Jesus Christ (v.40). And how about the verb “to die?” For the immortality
preacher this word alone should be read literally. If this should be read
literally how about 6:35? Jesus says in 6:35 that “I am the bread of life he who comes to me will not be HUNGRY and he
who believes in me will never be THIRSTY.” If “dying” in 6:50 should be
understood literally then we should understand 6:35 also literally. Do the immortality
preachers get hungry and thirsty? Then they must not teach about immortality. If
“to die” in 6:50 should be taken literally then “hunger” and “thirst” in 6:35
should also be taken literally. If 6:35 should not be taken literally then 6:50
should not also be taken literally.
In addition, in this chapter many times John relates eternal life with
raising up the dead on the last day. In 6:39, Jesus says, “This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me
[the believers] I lose nothing, but raise them up on the last day.” Jn 3:16
says that “whoever believes in him will
not perish but have eternal life.” Most immortality preachers use this
verse. However, in light of 6:39 this verse should mean something like this: The
believing one has eternal life as Jesus will raise him up on the last day. The
same thought is explicated better in 6:40: “For
this is the will of my Father, that everyone who believes in Him will have
eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.” By
believing in Jesus the believer has eternal life, as Jesus himself will raise him up on the last day. Thus, eternal life
in Jn 6:40-54 is about resurrection and not about “not dying.”
The context of 6:49-50 does not
suggest that the believer will not die at all. The context suggests that
eternal life is connected with the raising
up of the dead on the last day. John mentions the raising up of the dead in
this passage alone for four times (Jn 6:39, 40, 44, 54). Therefore, the one who
believes in Jesus Christ will have eternal life that they will be raised up
again on the last day. The similarity (parallelism) of v.50 and 54 validates
this hypothesis better. If one eats the bread (Jesus’ flesh and His blood) he
will not die in the sense that he will have eternal death as he will be raised
up from death on the last day.
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