John 6:71

Ἰσκαριώτου for Ἰσκαριώτην, with the earlier MSS. and best copies of the Vulgate.

We see more and more as we go on, that this Gospel makes no attempt to be a complete or connected whole. There are large gaps in the chronology. The Evangelist gives us not a biography, but a series of typical scenes, very carefully selected, and painted with great accuracy and minuteness, but not closely connected. As to what guided him in his selection, we know no more than the general purpose stated John 20:31, and it is sufficient for us. Those words and works of Jesus, which seemed most calculated to convince men that He ‘is the Christ, the Son of God,’ were recorded by the beloved Apostle. And the fact that they had already been recorded by one or more of the first Evangelists did not deter him from insisting on them again; although he naturally more often chose what they had omitted. In this chapter we have a notable instance of readiness to go over old ground in order to work out his own purpose. The miracle of feeding the Five Thousand is recorded by all four Evangelists, the only miracle that is so. Moreover, it is outside the Judaean ministry; so that for this reason also we might have expected S. John to omit it. But he needs it as a text for the great discourse on the Bread of Life; and this though spoken in Galilee was in a great measure addressed to Jews from Jerusalem; so that both text and discourse fall naturally within the range of S. John’s plan. Moreover by producing an outburst of popular enthusiasm (John 6:15) it shewed how utterly the current ideas about the Messiah were at variance with Christ’s work.

As in chap. 5. Christ is set forth as the Source of Life, so in this chapter He is set forth as the Support of Life. In the one the main idea is the Son’s relation to the Father, in the other it is the Son’s relation to the believer.

71. ἔλεγεν δέ. Now He spake, was meaning. For the accusative instead of περί c. gen. comp. John 8:54; John 9:19; John 1:15.

Ἰσκαριώτου. Here and in John 13:26 the true reading adds Iscariot not to the name of Judas (John 12:4; John 13:2; John 14:22), but to that of his father. If Iscariot means ‘man of Kerioth,’ a place in Judah (Joshua 15:25), or possibly Moab (Jeremiah 48:24), it would be natural for both father and son to have the name. In this case Judas was the only Apostle who was not a Galilean, and this would place a barrier between him and the Eleven.

ἔμελλεν. Was about to; John 12:4; Luke 22:23; comp. John 6:64. There is no need to include either predestinarian views on the one hand or the intention of Judas on the other. What has taken place, when viewed from a point before the event, may be regarded as sure to take place. εἷς ἐκ τ. δ. is in tragic contrast with what precedes; for he was to betray Him—one of the Twelve. “Clean and unclean birds, the dove and the raven, are still in the Ark” (S. Augustine).

With regard to the difficulty of understanding Christ’s words in this sixth chapter, Meyer’s concluding remark is to be borne in mind. “The difficulty is partly exaggerated; and partly the fact is overlooked that in all references to His death and the purpose of it Jesus could rely upon the light which the future would throw on these utterances: and sowing, as He generally did, for the future in the bosom of the present, He was compelled to utter much that was mysterious, but which would supply material and support for the further development and purification of faith and knowledge. The wisdom thus displayed in His teaching has been justified by History.”