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1. In the discourse of this chapter we have many "dark sayings," which gave great offence to many, and were the occasion of the apostasy of some of our Lord's disciples.

2. The men who replied to our Lord felt the mysteriousness of His teaching as deeply as others, and at different times confessed as much. But in spite of all difficulties they did understand that their Master had what no other teacher had — "the words of eternal life," and for that reason they would cling to Him. So with many of His disciples in the present day.

I. THE MEANING OF ETERNAL LIFE.

1. It has been said that "Eternal" is expressive of the character and quality of a thing not of its continuance, and stands for what is divine and spiritual in present enjoyment, e.g —

(1) If any being possessed of animal or intellectual life were to have its being perpetuated for ever, though this would be life everlasting it would not be life eternal.

(2) If an angelic or human being possessed of this divine life were to be annihilated for a period it would still be proper to say that they had been made partakers of eternal life.

2. This is only half a truth and needs completing before we can grasp what was in the disciples' minds. Let all this be granted, yet the subject of our Saviour's teaching must have included perpetuity. He called them to a subjective life now, and declared that that in its ultimate issues, was to be their everlasting possession.

II. LET US SEE HOW THIS MEANING MAY BE ILLUSTRATED IN THE ANSWER OF THE DISCIPLES. This answer could not have embodied all that we know. It was given previously to our Lord's redemptive work which throws such light on our Lord's teaching, aud previously to the dispensation of the Spirit. Moreover, they were slow to learn and misunderstood the meaning of much which our Lord did teach. Nevertheless, they knew something about eternal life from —

1. Our Lord's teaching.

(1) He demanded of them a present divine life in its origin, continuance, and outward graces.

(2) He authenticated the popular belief in a life after death.

2. Our Lord's example embodied the first and was connected by Him with the prospect of entering upon an endless life which they were to share. There was no uncertainty about this, and when asked if they would abandon Him of whom they had learnt it, they felt it to be impossible.

III. TO WHOM COULD THEY GO?

1. To the Sadducees — the rationalists of the age? They rejected immortality, and this being gone, what room was there for the culture of a divine life, or even of secular virtue, seeing that "we might eat and drink for to-morrow we die."

2. To the Pharisees — the ritualists of their day? They believed in a future life, but held such views of what constituted the present religious life of man as to rob it of everything, spiritual and divine,

3. To the Essenes — the ancient monks and ascetics? These went further than the Pharisees. They tried to reach the Divine by ceasing to the human, and by practices which, if universal, would have brought society to an end, showed that they could not have the words of eternal life.

(T. Binney.)

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KJV: From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

WEB: At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.