Let me clear up one of the most misread things the Lord Jesus ever said. He had just fed five thousand, and now He is trying to lift their eyes off bread and onto life. And when His words got hard, and people were offended, He said this, and I want you to hear it as the key that unlocks the whole chapter:
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63, KJV)
The flesh profiteth nothing, so stop trusting anything physical
“The flesh profiteth nothing.” Nothing physical gives eternal life, child of God, not bread you can chew, not water you can pour, not a work your hands can do. Life comes one way: “it is the spirit that quickeneth”: the Holy Spirit, making a dead sinner alive. This is exactly what He told Nicodemus: “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit… Ye must be born again” (John 3:6–7). The new birth is a Spirit-birth, start to finish.
And the Spirit gives life through the Word, received by faith
But look how the Spirit does it: through the Word. “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth” (James 1:18); “being born again… by the word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). That is why the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16), and “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Peter got it: when others walked away, he said, “to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). So do not look to the flesh for what only the Spirit can give. Hear the Word, believe on the Son, and let the Spirit make you alive. Glory to God.
Related Teaching
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 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. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 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.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
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