Observations from the Greek text in John's Gospel: John 6:60

This verse comes off the heels of Jesus proclaiming that he is the bread of life that must be eaten in order to obtain eternal life.  In fact, Jesus says that both his “flesh” and “blood” must be consumed.  Verse 60 is the response that Jesus gets from many of his disciples.  Let’s take a look at it.

6:60 Πολλοὶ οὖν ἀκούσαντες ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ εἶπαν· σκληρός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος οὗτος· τίς δύναται αὐτοῦ ἀκούειν; 

6:60 Then, after hearing this, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying!  Who is able to hear it?”

First and foremost, “to hear it” here means “to accept it”.  These folks were astonished at what Jesus had just said.  

But that’s not all that’s implied in this text.  John actually creates what I would call “the ultimate word play”.  The literal translation of the first statement that the disciples say is this: “Hard is this THE word!”  Why have I translated it is such a way?  It’s because the article stands in front of “word” (ὁ λόγος).  Of course, this is the expression in 1:1, but it has also appeared through out John’s Gospel with the article implying more than its normal use.  Up unto this point, it has been used in 1:1 (3 times), 1:14, 2:22, 4:37, 4:39, 4:41, 4:50, 5:54, and 5:38.  Not all of them refer to Jesus or to what Jesus says, but John’s audience would not have lost sight of the use ὁ λόγος in 1:1 and 1:14.

In verse 60, not only do these many disciples reject what Jesus says, but by doing so, they reject Jesus (ὁ λόγος) himself.  All depart except the twelve, and one of them is διάβολός (adversary/devil).