What is the meaning of John 6:68? Simon Peter replied The scene is tense. After Jesus’ hard teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, “many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him” (John 6:66). Then Jesus asks the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67). Simon Peter speaks up, just as he does at Caesarea Philippi when he confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). His quick response shows: • a settled conviction formed by close, personal experience with Jesus’ miracles (John 2:11) and teaching (Matthew 7:28-29). • a leadership role among the apostles, demonstrated again when he preaches at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-36). Lord Peter does not call Jesus “Rabbi” here but “Lord,” the same title Thomas later uses: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). By doing so he: • recognizes Jesus’ supreme authority, lining up with the declaration that “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:11). • submits personally, echoing his earlier moment in the boat: “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). Peter knows Jesus isn’t merely a teacher; He is Master, Owner, Sovereign. to whom would we go? This question underlines the exclusivity of Jesus as the only Savior: • “Salvation is found in no one else” (Acts 4:12). • Jesus Himself says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Peter’s rhetorical question also echoes the Psalmist’s cry, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You” (Psalm 73:25). In effect, Peter is admitting that every other path is empty, every alternative voice powerless. You have the words of eternal life Jesus had just promised, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). Peter grabs hold of that promise: • Jesus’ words create life, just as “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4). • Believing His word passes a sinner from death to life: “Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life” (John 5:24). • Those words are living and imperishable, the seed that causes us to be born again (1 Peter 1:23). • Possessing Christ means possessing life itself: “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11). summary Peter’s declaration teaches that genuine disciples stay because they see no rival to Jesus’ lordship and no substitute for His life-giving word. The verse calls us to the same settled confidence: Jesus alone is Lord; every alternative is empty; His words alone open the door to eternal life. |
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