John Chapter 6 verse 36 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 36. - But (α}λλα is here decidedly adversative. It introduces the melancholy statement, that the one thing which is requisite to the full realization of the gift is that of which these questioners are ignorant) I told you - I said unto you - that you have both seen me, and believe me not; or "that you have seen me, and yet believe not." Some difficulty has arisen from our not being able to find, in the previous dialogue, the exact words here quoted. Some have supposed it to refer to an unrecorded conversation (Alford, Westcott), or even to some written sentence which is now a lost fragment of the discourse. Meyer says (without answering the suggestions of Olshausen, Hengstenberg, Godet, and others), that there is no such statement in the context, and proposes to translate εϊπον (as he says it is not unfrequently found in Greek tragedians, as if it were equivalent to dictum velim) "I would have you told;" but there is no such usage in the New Testament, and John 11:42 does not seem a parallel ease. It is not at all probable that Jesus was referring to the language of John 5:37, words which were addressed to a different audience - to "Jews" at Jerusalem, and uttered many months before (Lucke and De Wette). But ver. 26 shows that Galilaeans had come to see him, and had come without belief in the great sign of his spiritual nature and claims which he had already granted. They had seen him and his great miracles, it is true; but they simply longed in consequence for "more bread" and "more healing," not for himself. In ver. 30 he draws from them a confession that they had not seen enough to believe him. This thought recurs not infrequently. "Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" "Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed" (John 20:29). The setting forth of himself ought to have induced belief apart even from works. He is so intensely conscious of the Divine reality himself, that he marvels at the unbelief of his hearers. Let them think as he does, and immediately the lifelong hunger and thirst of their souls would be satisfied. Seeing, however, is not believing in their ease; and he has already urged them to consider this lamentable spiritual blindness of theirs. The exclamation of this verse recites the obvious inference of the verses we have referred to, condenses into a sentence the spirit of what he had said, εϊπε (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:8).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(36) But I said unto you . . .--There is no record of this saying. It was included in the thoughts of John 5:37-44, and was perhaps uttered then, or, more probably, to those whom He is now addressing. That there are many words of Christ which have not been preserved to us is certain. (Comp. Notes on John 20:30-31.) It is possible, but scarcely more than this, that the words refer to what He was about to say.Ye also have seen me.--The "also" is misplaced. It is not "ye in addition to others," but Ye have even seen Me. Ye have not simply been told, but have had the fullest evidence, amounting to actual seeing. (Comp. John 20:29.) You asked for a sign, that you may see it and believe (John 6:30); you have had much more, and do not believe. (Comp. Note on Luke 16:29.) . . .