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The Life of ChristSection 56 / 113
Section 056 · Bread of Life & Withdrawal

The Bread of Life Discourse

The day after the feeding, the crowds find Jesus at Capernaum, and he turns the sign into the great discourse: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” He is himself the bread that came down from heaven (“I am the bread of life”), and to eat his flesh and drink his blood is to have eternal life. The hard saying drives many disciples away; and when he asks the Twelve, “Will ye also go away?” Peter answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”

John 6:22–711 of 4 accountsReading: CCE
ProvenanceJSTJoseph Smith TranslationCCECovenant Christian EditionDeleted text shown struck, attributed
Study: reading text with parallel accounts; changes available.

Note. A John-only discourse, and among the most revised passages of John in the Joseph Smith Translation: twice recasting “except the Father draw him” as “except he does the will of my Father,” and naming the rising “the resurrection of the just.”

? How to read this edition

The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.

JST
Green: Joseph Smith Translation. Where the Covenant Christian Edition departs in substance from the King James text and the change is in the JST (confirmed against the parallel-column edition). Modernized English (“has” for “hath,” “you” for “thou”) is not marked.
CCE
Burgundy: Covenant Christian Edition. Where the CCE’s reading departs from the King James but the change is not in the Joseph Smith Translation manuscript (e.g. “this day I have begotten you” at the baptism). Some are Joseph’s own readings from his sermons; the section’s Joseph Smith commentary then gives the sermon.
JohnKJVJohn 6:22–71CCEJohn 5:12–20NT 2

22The day following, when the people who stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, save that one into which his disciples had entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples had gone away alone 23(nevertheless, there came other boats from Tiberias near unto the place where they did eat bread, after the Lord had given thanks), 24when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also boarded a ship and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. 25And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when how did you come here? 26Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly I say unto you, you seek me not because you desire to keep my sayings, neither because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. 27Labor not for the food which perishes, but for that food which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give has power to give unto you, for him has God the Father sealed.

28Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God: that you believe on him whom he has sent. 30They said therefore unto him, What sign do you show then, that we may see and believe you? What do you work? 31Our fathers did eat manna in the desert as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32Then Jesus said unto them, Truly, truly I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from Heaven, 33for the bread of God is he who comes down from Heaven and gives life unto the world. 34Then said they unto him, Lord, for ever give us this bread.

35And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst; 36but I said unto you that you also have seen me, and believe not. 37All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me, I will by no means cast out. 38For I came down from Heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39And this is the Father’s will which has sent me: that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40And this is the will of him that sent me: that everyone who sees the Son and believes on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up in the resurrection of the just at the last day.

41The Jews then murmured at him because he said, I am the bread which came down from Heaven. 42And they said, Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I came down from Heaven?

43Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44No man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him; and I will raise him up he does the will of my Father who has sent me. And this is the will of him who has sent me: that you receive the Son, for the Father bears record of him. And he who receives the testimony and does the will of him who sent me, I will raise up in the resurrection of the just. 45For it is written in the prophets: And they these shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard and has learned of the Father comes unto me 46(not that any man has seen the Father save he who is of God — he has seen the Father). 47Truly, truly I say unto you, he that believes on me has everlasting life. 48I am that bread of life. 50This is the bread which comes down from Heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. 49Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.; 51but 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.

52The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53Then Jesus said unto them, Truly, truly I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the resurrection of the just at the last day. 55For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him. 57As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall live by me. 58This is that bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eats of this bread shall live for ever. 59These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.

60Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? 61When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Does this offend you? 62What, and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? 63It is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. 64But there are some of you that believe not. (For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him.) 65And he said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given him of my Father he does the will of my Father who has sent me.

66From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. 67Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away? 68Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69and we believe and are sure that you are that Christ, the Son of the living God.

70Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71He spoke of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

Cross-references · other works
Exodus 16:15 (CCE 10:5) · it is the bread which the Lord has given you↗Deuteronomy 8:3 (CCE 3:8) · man does not live by bread only↗Proverbs 9:5 (CCE 1:40) · Wisdom: Come, eat of my bread↗1 Corinthians 11:24 (CCE 1:46) · This is my body, broken for you↗
Joseph Smith on the Words of Eternal Life

Nothing Else Can Profit Us

Not to Do My Own Will

This is not an exposition of the discourse. The Lectures on Faith, given to the elders’ school in Kirtland in the winter of 1834–35 and printed in 1835 as the first part of the Doctrine and Covenants, quote verse 38 as proof that the Father and the Son possess the same mind. It is shown for that one verse.

Lectures on Faith, Lecture Fifth, questions 13–14, in Doctrine and Covenants (Kirtland, 1835), p. 57 · canonized in the CCE as Teachings and Commandments 110 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗

Also recorded in Teachings and Commandments 110, Lecture 5:19.

Q. Do the Father and the Son possess the same mind? A. They do. John 5:30. I [Christ] can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. John 6:38. For I [Christ] came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. John 10:30. I [Christ] and my Father are one. Q. What is this mind? A. The Holy Spirit. …

The Savior Has the Words of Eternal Life

When the hard saying emptied the synagogue, Peter would not leave: “To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” Joseph Smith took up that confession to open a sermon a month before his death: there is profit in nothing else, so search ever deeper into the mysteries of godliness. The reading is the History’s synopsis, which it credits to Thomas Bullock; switch to Scribal accounts to read his report.

Discourse, 12 May 1844, Nauvoo · History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, p. 16 (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 364) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗

Also recorded in as reported by Samuel W. Richards.

The Savior has the words of eternal life; nothing else can profit us; there is no salvation in believing an evil report against our neighbor. I advise all to go on to perfection, and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of godliness. A man can do nothing for himself unless God direct him in the right way; and the Priesthood is revealed for that purpose.

Margaret Barker · the temple lens

The Bread of the Presence: Eating Wisdom for Eternal Life

This discourse is Barker’s home ground. In the temple, the high priests alone ate the “bread of the Presence,” a most-holy food that imparted holiness and the LORD’s own presence; later tradition called that bread Wisdom, whom “those who eat me will hunger for more.” To eat the bread of life, Jesus says, is to receive that presence and live forever.

The Great High PriestBYU Studies 42, nos. 3–4 (2003) · public lecture at Brigham Young University, May 9, 2003 ↗
This union was described as sharing Life or Spirit (John 6:57 [John 5:17], 63), presumably sustained by the bread of the presence that the high priests ate. In John’s Gospel, Jesus gives this teaching with reference to the bread from heaven: “He who eats me will live because of me” — the eternal life of the high priest sustained by the bread of the presence — “he who eats this bread will live for ever” (John 6:57–58 [John 5:17]).
The Great High Priest© Margaret Barker, 2003 ↗

Leviticus 24.7 implies that the incense was the 'azkarah, but the Targums imply that the bread itself was the 'azkarah,80 If the divinity had been invoked over the bread, this would explain its extreme holiness, confirmed by the fact that when the tabernacle was transported through the desert, the ark and the table were the only items to have three coverings; all the others had only two (Num. 4.5-8 [Num. 2:10]).

There are several places in the LXX where the Hebrew 'presence' is understood as a circumlocution for the LORD; thus 'My Presence will go with you' (Exod. 33.14) became in the LXX 'I myself, autos, will go with you'. Isaiah 63.9 [Isa. 24:3]: 'The Angel of his Presence saved them' became 'Not an ambassador nor an angel, but he himself saved them'. The Bread of the Presence probably meant 'the bread of the divine presence'.

Wisdom set up her house with seven pillars (Josephus says that the main entrance to the tabernacle had seven pillars, Ant. 3.12.4),81 and she invited devotees to her table (Prov. 9.5 [Prov. 1:40]). It is interesting that later tradition links the tabernacle and the Bread of the Presence to Wisdom: 'The House of Wisdom is the tabernacle, and Wisdom's table is Bread of Presence and wine' (Lev. R. XI.9). The poem in Proverbs 9 is much interpolated, but it is clear here that Wisdom offered the bread and wine of her table to those who sought the way of insight (Prov. 9.5-6 [Prov. 1:40-41]), and in Ben Sira Wisdom herself promised 'Those who eat me will hunger for more' (Ben Sira 24.21). The gift of Wisdom was eternal life (e.g. Wisd. 8.13) as well as knowledge, and the obvious way to have eaten Wisdom was as the Bread of Presence, the Bread of Life perhaps? It would be interesting to speculate what was said to the priests as they received their pieces of the broken shewbread each Sabbath.

There had at one time been meals in the temple; the elders who saw God on Sinai and then ate and drank before him (Exod. 24.11) is an encoded reference to this, as too is Psalm 23, the table set before the anointed one. Genesis Rabbah links the bread and wine of Melchizedek, the more ancient priesthood in Jerusalem, to the bread and wine of Wisdom: whilst instructing Abraham in the priesthood, Melchizedek brought out the Bread of the Presence, and there follows a reference to Proverbs 9, the invitation to Wisdom's table (Gen. R. XLIII.6).

The Lord Is OneBYU Studies Quarterly 56, no. 1 (2017) ↗
Objects as well as people could be most holy and so impart holiness. The shewbread, literally “the bread of the presence,” was most holy. The prescriptions for making and eating this bread are no longer clear, but it was set out before the Lord each Sabbath. When the fresh bread was set in place, the bread that had been before the Lord for seven days was eaten in the temple by the high priests; it was most holy. In other words, the bread imparted holiness to the high priests (Lev. 24:5–9 [Lev. 11:14]). Malachi, complaining that the angel priests of his time had betrayed their sacred role, said they had given false teaching and offered impure bread (Mal. 1:6–7 [Mal. 1:2]; 2:7–9). He prophesied a time when the pure offering would be restored, and the Christians claimed that this was fulfilled in the bread of the Eucharist, which had the same role as the ancient shewbread. Those who ate the most holy bread participated in the divine (Mal. 1:11 [Mal. 1:2]; Didache 14; Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 41; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses 22:5).

Quoted from a scanned printing: spacing errors from the scan have been corrected, and the wording is unchanged. The last entry is from the BYU Studies printing of “The Lord Is One,” which is longer than the lecture text on Barker’s own site: this passage is only in the printed version.