Bread of Life Discourse

The Bread of Life Discourse is a portion of the teaching of Jesus which appears in chapter 6 of John's Gospel (verses 22–59) and was delivered in the synagogue at Capernaum.

[1] The title "Bread of Life" (Ancient Greek: ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς, artos tēs zōēs) given to Jesus is based on this biblical passage which is set in the gospel shortly after the feeding the multitude episode (in which Jesus feeds a crowd of 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish), after which he walks on the water to the western side of Sea of Galilee and the crowd follow by boat in search of him.

One of the earliest explanations of the Eucharist given on behalf of a Christian to the larger contemporary community is given by Justin Martyr in his First Apology to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius:"We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined.

—(First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of John the Apostle (the author of the gospel of John), first-century Christian writer and Patriarch of Antioch, explains the common understanding of the Eucharist as truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ in a letter written c. 110 AD: Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God…They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again.

[8] "I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table….That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ.

Warren argues that it reflects ancient Mediterranean traditions of sacrificial meals that identify a hero with a divinity.

[12] Heilmann argues that the imagery of eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood is to be understood against the background of the conceptual metaphor.

"[14] These assertions build on the Christological theme of John 5:26, where Jesus claims to possess life just as the Father does and provides it to those who follow him.