John 6:40

For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses the Jewish crowd in Capernaum immediately after declaring Himself the bread from heaven. He speaks to clarify the divine purpose behind His mission before they begin to grumble at His next statement.

The words — The Greek phrase τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός μου (to thelēma tou patros mou) translates literally as "the will of My Father." This phrase grounds the subsequent promise in a fixed divine directive rather than human initiative.

The thread — The assurance of resurrection at the last day reappears in John 6:54, while the mechanism of believing for eternal life mirrors John 5:24. The theological contrast between earned death and given eternal life is later formalized in Romans 6:23.

Why it lands — The text explicitly commands the reader to look to the Son and believe in Him to receive eternal life and bodily resurrection. It places the entire burden of salvation on the Father's will and the Son's raising action, leaving human merit out of the equation.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Cross-references

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 6:54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
John 3:15 that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
John 4:14 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
Luke 2:30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
John 6:27 Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”