SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:27
Trabajad no por la comida que perece, sino por la comida que a vida eterna permanece, la cual el Hijo del hombre os dar; porque a ste seal el Padre, que es Dios.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - John 6:27
Verse 27. labour not for the meat] That is, for that only, but also for the bread, &c. Our Lord wills every man to be active and diligent in that employment in which providence has placed him; but it is his will also that that employment, and all the concerns of life, should be subservient to the interest of his soul. But for that meat, &c.] He who labours not, in the work of his salvation, is never likely to enter into the kingdom of God. Though our labour cannot purchase it, either in whole or in part, yet it is the way in which God chooses to give salvation; and he that will have heaven must strive for it.
Every thing that can be possessed, except the salvation of God, is a perishing thing: this is its essential character: it can last to us no longer than the body lasts. But, when the earth and its produce are burnt up, this bread of Christ, his grace and salvation, will be found remaining unto eternal life. This is the portion after which an immortal spirit should seek.
Him hath God the Father sealed.] By this expression, our Lord points out the commission which, as the Messiah, he received from the Father, to be prophet and priest to an ignorant, sinful world. As a person who wishes to communicate his mind to another who is at a distance writes a letter, seals it with his own seal, and sends it directed to the person for whom it was written, so Christ, who lay in the bosom of the Father, came to interpret the Divine will to man, bearing the image, superscription, and seal of God, in the immaculate holiness of his nature, unsullied truth of his doctrine, and in the astonishing evidence of his miracles. But he came also as a priest, to make an atonement for sin; and the bread which nourishes unto eternal life, he tells us, chap. vi. 51, is his body, which he gives for the life of the world; and to this sacrifice of himself, the words, him hath God the Father sealed, seem especially to relate. It certainly was a custom, among nations contiguous to Judea, to set a seal upon the victim which was deemed proper for sacrifice. The following account of the method of providing white bulls among the Egyptians, for sacrifices to their god Apis, taken from HERODOTUS, Euterpe, b. ii. p. 117, casts much light upon this place. "They sacrifice white bulls to Apis; and for that reason make the following trial. If they find one black hair upon him, they consider him as unclean: that they may know this with certainty, the priest appointed for this purpose views every part of the animal, both standing and lying on the ground. After this, he draws out his tongue, to see if he be clean by certain signs: in the last place, he looks upon the hairs of his tail, that he may be sure they are as by nature they should be. If, after this search, the bull is found unblemished, he signifies it by tying a lHebel to his horns; then, having applied wax, he seals it with his ring, and they lead him away: for it is death to sacrifice one of these animals, unless he have been marked with such a seal.
The Jews could not be unacquainted with the rites and ceremonies of the Egyptian worship; and it is possible that such precautions as these were in use among themselves, especially as they were so strictly enjoined to have their sacrifices without SPOT, and without blemish. Infinite justice found Jesus Christ to be without spot or blemish, and therefore sealed, pointed out and accepted him, as a proper sacrifice and atonement for the sin of the whole world. Collate with this passage, Heb. vii. 26-28; Ephesians v. 27; 2 Pet. iii. 14; and especially Heb. ix. 13, 14: For if the blood of BULLS and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth-how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself WITHOUT SPOT to God, purge your consciences from dead works! The rabbins talk much of the seal of God, which they suppose to be tma emeth, or truth; and that this is a representation of the unoriginated and endless perfections of God. This doctrine is just; but their method of proving it is not so satisfactory. Aleph a , say they, is the first letter of the alphabet; mem m the middle; and tau t the last: these three letters make tma emeth, TRuth, because God is the first-there was none before him; he is the middle-none mingles with him; and he is the last-there can be none after him. Hieros. Sanhed. fol. 18. See also 1 Pet. i. 18, 19.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth , etc.] Meaning either food for the body, which is perishing; its virtue is perishing; man cannot live by it alone, nor does it last long; its substance is perishing; it is received into the stomach, and there digested; it goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught; and that which it supports, for a while, is perishing; and both the one, and the other, shall be destroyed; even meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: now, though it becomes men to work for their bread, to provide it for themselves and families; yet they should not be anxiously solicitous about it, or labour only for that, and prefer it to spiritual food: or else food for the mind is meant, and that either in a sensual way, as sinful lust and pleasures, the honours of this world, and the riches of it; which are sweet morsels, though bread of deceit, to carnal minds, and which they labour hard for: or, in a religious way, as superstition, will worship, external works of righteousness, in order to please God, and obtain eternal life and salvation; which to labour for in such a way, is to spend money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which profiteth not; and in each of these ways were these Jews labouring for perishing food, from which Christ dissuades them: but for that which endureth unto everlasting life ; either the grace of Christ, which, as meat, is quickening and refreshing, strengthening and supporting, and which causes nourishment and growth, and by virtue of which work is done; and this springs up unto everlasting life, and is inseparably connected with it; and particularly the blessings of grace, such as sanctification, adoption, pardon, and justification: or the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, which are refreshing, and strengthening, and by which the saints are nourished up unto everlasting life; or rather the flesh of Christ eaten, in a spiritual sense, by faith, of which Christ so largely discourses in the following part of the chapter: which the son of man shall give unto you ; meaning either everlasting life, which is in Christs gift, and is a free grace gift of his; or else the meat which endures unto it: for though it is to be laboured for, not so as to prepare it, or to purchase it, but by asking for it in prayer, and by attending on ordinances, and exercising faith on Christ; yet it is his gift, and he gives it freely; grace, and the blessings of it, are freely given by him, and so are the Gospel and its ordinances; and also his own flesh, which is first given by him, by way of sacrifice, in the room and stead of his people, and for the life of them, ( John 6:51); and then it is given unto them to feed upon spiritually by faith, and which is here designed: for him hath God the Father sealed ; designated and appointed to be the Saviour, and Redeemer of his people, and has sent, authorized, and commissioned him as such; and has made him known, and approved of him, by the descent of the Spirit on him, and by a voice from heaven, declaring him his beloved Son; and has confirmed him to be the Messiah by the miraculous works he gave him to finish; for all which several uses seals are, as to distinguish one thing from another, to render anything authentic, to point it out, or to confirm it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 22-27 - Instead of answering the inquiry how he came there, Jesus blamed their asking. The utmost earnestness should be employed in seeking salvation in the use of appointed means; yet it is to be sought only as the gif of the Son of man. Him the Father has sealed, proved to be God. He declared the Son of man to be the Son of God with power.
Greek Textus Receptus
εργαζεσθε 2038 5737 V-PNM-2P μη 3361 PRT-N την 3588 T-ASF βρωσιν 1035 N-ASF την 3588 T-ASF απολλυμενην 622 5734 V-PMP-ASF αλλα 235 CONJ την 3588 T-ASF βρωσιν 1035 N-ASF την 3588 T-ASF μενουσαν 3306 5723 V-PAP-ASF εις 1519 PREP ζωην 2222 N-ASF αιωνιον 166 A-ASF ην 3739 R-ASF ο 3588 T-NSM υιος 5207 N-NSM του 3588 T-GSM ανθρωπου 444 N-GSM υμιν 5213 P-2DP δωσει 1325 5692 V-FAI-3S τουτον 5126 D-ASM γαρ 1063 CONJ ο 3588 T-NSM πατηρ 3962 N-NSM εσφραγισεν 4972 5656 V-AAI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM θεος 2316 N-NSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
27. Meat (brwsin). See on iv. 32. In Matt. vi. 19, 20, and there only, it is used in the sense of rust, that which eats or corrodes. Similarly, corrode is from rodo, to gnaw.Him hath God the Father sealed. The Rev. makes the sentence culminate properly in God: "for Him the Father, even God, hath sealed." According to the strict Greek order it is: for Him the Father sealed, even God. On sealed (esfragisen) see on iii. 33. Wyc., betokened Him.
