Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal;
Peter speaks at a low point. The crowd Jesus fed has thinned. Many followers have walked away. Jesus turns to the twelve — the disciples closest to Him — and asks if they will go too. His answer is not an argument but a question thrown back — and it settles where his heart is.
The same words emptied the room and held the few who stayed. One writer traces both results to the Lord's warnings, and to the will of those who walked out:
So the Lord's warnings hasten the departure of unbelievers. At the same time they bind the faithful more closely to Himself, and bring out their sense of what He is to their souls. The cause lay in their own will, which gave Satan power… The freer they are, the more they are bound. He alone is worthy.
Peter's question has a precise shape. He does not ask about a destination:
Peter did not say, Lord, where shall we go, but "Lord, to whom shall we go?" The Lord Himself, in all His attractiveness, filled Peter's vision. His words, words of eternal life, held his heart. Others might value the loaves and fishes, but Simon Peter prized the words of eternal life, infinite in spiritual value. Peter was learning in the company of his Lord that His words were the expression of Himself.
Peter's question came from more than loyalty. One writer traces it to conscience:
You get this desire of conscience here in Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" When the sifting comes, nothing else could replace Christ. There is nothing else that can. They knew that if they had not Christ there was nothing left. The heart and the conscience want Him, and that is eternal life. I might have every thought right as to truth without this. There is no true work where this is not done in the conscience. The heart is drawn to Jesus because the soul sees who He is.
Peter does not say Jesus has a message. He says Jesus has words. That plural carries weight for how Scripture itself came to us:
All writings are made up of words, and if these writings are inspired, the words are inspired. Many call this "verbal inspiration." Other passages also stress the importance of "words." Peter said, "To whom shall we go? You have the words (Greek: rhemata) of eternal life," John 6:68 — and we find those words in the Gospels.
Walking away from Jesus did not leave those disciples with nothing. It left them with everything except the one thing:
The Lord's teaching has exposed the unbelief of the flesh. It has also confirmed the faith of true believers. If such leave Him they might still keep an outward religion, present ease and honour in this world. But for ever they would leave behind life — eternal life — and all the heavenly and eternal blessing to which eternal life must lead.
Peter had no better grasp of the hard saying than the people who left. He stayed on a different basis:
It is not that Peter understood the Lord's position much better than those who withdrew. Much in His teaching puzzled him and disappointed his own expectations. But he at least recognised the good Shepherd's voice, and so clung to Him through all. He felt that there was no other in the universe of God to whom his heart could rightly turn.
One writer pairs what Christ has with what Christ is, and finds in the two everything a soul needs:
He saw in some measure what He was and what He had. What He is forms the immovable resting-place of our souls as we rest in Him and His work. What He has becomes the everlasting supply to our souls in their many needs. Get into your hearts those blessed words, "You have," and "You are." Then all the need of your soul will find its full answer in Christ. He loves to give what He is and what He has to the longing heart.
- Whom, tested. The Lord's hardest words hastened the unbelievers out. The same words bound the real disciples closer to Him.
- Whom, not where. Peter asks about a Person, not a destination — the Lord Himself, not the loaves and fishes, filled his vision.
- Whom, in conscience. Peter's certainty came from conscience. Nothing else could replace Christ. A person can hold every right thought about truth and still lack this.
- Whom, in His words. Peter clung to words, not to a vague message. If the writings are inspired, the words themselves are inspired.
- Whom, at cost. Those who left kept their outward religion, ease and honour. They lost eternal life and everything it leads to.
and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God.
A crowd of followers has just walked away from Jesus, and He asks the twelve — His closest disciples — if they want to leave too. Peter answers for them all, naming two things: what Christ has, and what Christ is.
One writer names the difference between the two kinds of followers this moment exposed.
It is one thing to claim to be a disciple of Christ. It is quite another to take a firm stand in public for His name, fully identified with a rejected Lord. It is one thing for people to flock to Christ for the benefits He gives. It is quite another to hold on to Him in the face of the world's scorn and contempt. Preaching the cross very quickly thins the ranks of those who only profess.
Older English Bibles read "the Christ, the Son of the living God" here. The earliest manuscripts give another title, and one writer asks where Peter may have found it.
Peter's reply was ready at once... The words of Christ had sunk deep into his soul. He had felt their power... And he was sure of the truth about Christ's person. He was the Holy One of God. Psalm 16:10 had spoken of God's Holy One. Was Peter thinking of that, when calling Him here, not "the Christ, the Son of the living God," but, as the best manuscripts read, "the Holy One of God"?
A demon had used this same title of Jesus. One writer shows why it means something completely different on Peter's lips.
Peter confesses Christ in the very same terms the demon used, but with the demon it was awful alarm... If we knew our Lord Jesus only as the gracious One, something would still be missing for our souls. He is the One who never allowed evil of any kind — He always refused it. And that is my comfort: the One who loves me best is the One who sees me through and through... But Peter shows the simplicity and growth of faith. He does not tremble. He does not grow weak. He does not go along with those who had left. Instead he confesses that Jesus is the Holy One of God at the very moment he says, "We have believed, and have come to know." There was no flinching and no hiding. There was no danger that this Holy One would find something in them that would make Him cast them out of His presence.
The tense of Peter's verbs carries weight.
Note the force of the perfect tense: "We have been believing." They had formed the habit in their hearts of thinking this of Him. For the disciples it was not a matter of mere opinion, and opinion has no lasting certainty... A necessary part of it is knowledge of the truth. The Apostle Paul says some are always learning but never reach it (2 Tim. 3:7).
Peter did not stay because he had grasped everything Jesus said.
It does not appear at all that Peter had understood what Jesus said. He did not know how to accept the sufferings of his Master... Still, the root was there with Peter. The need to have eternal life had woken up in him. He knew that this life was found only in Jesus, and that Jesus was the One sent by God, come from God. Jesus had the words of eternal life.
Peter says two things about Christ, and each one meets a different need.
He saw in some measure what He was and what He had. What He is forms the immovable resting-place of our souls as we rest in Him and His work. What He has becomes the everlasting supply to our souls in their many needs. Get into your hearts those blessed words, "You have," and "You are," and all the need of your soul will find its full answer in Christ.
Peter said "we." The Lord's reply showed that the word covered more than Peter knew.
So the Lord's warnings speed up the departure of unbelievers. At the same time they bind the faithful more closely to Himself, and bring out their sense of what He is to their souls... Yet the Lord does not hesitate to tell the twelve that one of them would betray Him — even while one confessed for all that He was the Holy One of God.
- Sifting. The same hard words that emptied the crowd bound the real disciples closer to Christ.
- Holding. Peter stayed without understanding it all. His need for eternal life was awake, and only Jesus met it.
- Believing. The perfect tense marks a settled habit of heart, not an opinion — and knowledge of the truth belongs to it.
- Holiness. A demon used this title in alarm. Peter uses it with none. The One who sees us through and through is the One who loves us best.
- Resting. "You have" supplies every need. "You are" is where the soul rests. Yet one confession spoken for all could not make every one of the twelve real.
Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you the twelve? and of you one is a devil.
Peter has just answered for the whole group — "we have believed." The Lord's reply says that one of the twelve is a traitor, and that raises two hard questions: why did Christ choose a man He knew would betray Him, and how could someone so near Him be so far from Him?
The word "chosen" here does not carry the sense it has elsewhere in Scripture. One writer draws the distinction, using this verse as his example:
The term election is used in two ways. Sometimes it means election to some outward office, as here: "Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." Judas the traitor really was chosen to the apostleship. But he was not chosen to the inheritance of eternal life. At other times election means that God marks out some people, out of the common lost mass, to know His will, and at last to have eternal life — by nothing but His own favour.
Judas held a real appointment. But an appointment to serve is not the gift of eternal life.
The Lord did not discover Judas late. He said this while the man still sat among the twelve, unsuspected by the rest:
Answering for all, he said "we." The Lord's reply showed that He knew better than Peter. The eleven were indeed sound. But one would turn out to be false. The Lord did not say then which of them it was, though John, writing years later, explains the hint. Until Judas showed himself by betraying the Lord, he kept his place among the apostles... No one could deceive Christ. He knew what was in man. He knew that some of the crowd which had followed Him across the water did not believe. He knew who would betray Him.
The twelve were the closest circle to Jesus. That closeness is what makes this verse so severe:
Yet, even so, being one of the twelve would be no sure ground to build on. In that circle — the nearest to the Lord, and so the most privileged — the evil of the flesh would rise to its height. One of them was so far under the power of the devil that the Lord can say of him he "is a devil." In time his betrayal of the Lord would show him to be just that.
The Lord's words exposed a traitor in the room. Judas heard them and stayed:
The Lord Jesus tells them solemnly that, though He had chosen twelve apostles, yet one of them was a demon. Even the Lord's searching words had not caused Judas to leave Him. This shows the blinding power of Satan's delusion in the man's soul. Judas was gaining materially by stealing from the disciples' fund, and he kept up this deceitful course of greed in spite of many more of the Lord's searching words... Only at the end was he revealed for what he was.
The Lord's word for Judas is worth pausing on. One writer explains it, and dates the moment the treachery first took shape:
This seems to be the time when the heart of Judas begins to form its first evil plans against the Lord, while many who claimed to be disciples were falling away. At the very least, his character is now formed into what the Lord calls him: a "false accuser" — a "devil." The seed of the betrayal has already taken root within him.
The Lord says one of you and stops there. He gives the fact without the name, and that restraint is itself instruction:
There may be evil there, and of the most serious kind, as in the case of Judas. Our Lord said of him, "One of you is a devil," and purposely kept the disciples in the dark about the particulars... He says it long before anything came out... though He knew it, they were only to trust His knowledge of it; for if the Lord bore with him, were not they to do the same? If He did not give them directions how to deal with the evil, they were to wait. That is always the resource of faith, which never hurries, especially in so solemn a case.
That leaves the question the eleven might have asked: why was such a man ever made an apostle?
But why was such a man admitted into the ranks of the apostles? If the Lord could foresee what Judas would do, why was he chosen?... Later He spoke of that same man, still unnamed, and showed why he had been numbered among the twelve — that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The treachery about to be shown had been foreknown, and predicted too.
- Chosen — Judas was chosen as an apostle, but never chosen for eternal life. Keep the two meanings apart.
- Close — the most privileged circle produced the worst evil. A place beside Christ saves no one.
- Known — Christ said this long before anything came out. No one could deceive Him.
- Named — "devil" means false accuser. The seed of betrayal had already taken root while Judas still walked with the twelve.
- Waited — He gave the fact and withheld the name. His own were to rest in His knowledge, not hunt for the traitor. Faith never hurries.
Now he spoke of Judas [the son] of Simon, Iscariote, for he [it was who] should deliver him up, being one of the twelve.
John closes the chapter by naming the man the Lord had just called "a devil." The name belongs to one of the twelve He Himself had chosen. Two questions follow: how could such a man stand so close to Christ, and what did Christ know while he stood there?
"Iscariot" is not a surname but a place, and it marks Judas out from the rest of the apostolic company. One writer traces both the town and the likely moment Judas attached himself to Jesus:
John 6:71 — "Judas the son of Simon Iscariot." This seems to mean, of Kerioth (Joshua 15:25), in Judea. He probably became a follower of the Lord during the early Judean ministry.
The verse names Judas' father too. One writer draws out that name and the contrast with the other apostles:
He was the son of Simon, who is also called Iscariot in the better reading of John 6:71. The Eleven were probably all Galileans. He alone belonged to Judea — a fact not without significance, when we remember that the Lord's bitterest opponents were from the Jews. The Lord chose him so that the prophetic word would be fulfilled (John 13:18). The Lord knew all about him, and about the awful crime he would be guilty of (6:71). The others had no idea of his double-dealing and his greed until after the betrayal.
John's phrase "one of the twelve" is deliberate. Being in the closest circle to Jesus settled nothing about a man's heart:
Yet, even so, being one of the twelve would be no sure ground to build on. In that circle — the nearest to the Lord, and so the most privileged — the evil of the flesh would rise to its height. One of them was so completely under the power of the devil that the Lord can say of him he "is a devil". In due time he would be manifest as such by his betrayal of the Lord.
Peter had just spoken for the whole group — "we have believed." The Lord's reply shows He knew the twelve better than their own spokesman did:
Answering for all, he said we. The Lord's reply made known that He knew better than Peter. The Eleven were indeed sound. But one would turn out to be false. The Lord did not then say which of them it was, though John, writing years later, explains the hint. Until Judas declared himself by betraying the Lord, he kept his place in the apostolic company... No one could deceive Christ. He knew what was in man (2:25). He knew that some of the crowd which had followed Him across the water did not believe (6:64). He knew who would betray Him (13:11). He is a Divine Person who knows all about everyone. He made His foreknowledge known only as events called for it.
One writer puts the obvious objection plainly, and answers it from Scripture:
But why was such a one admitted into the ranks of the apostles? If the Lord could foresee what Judas would do, why was he chosen?... Of that same one, still unnamed, He now spoke, indicating, however, why he had been numbered among the Twelve — that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The treachery about to be shown had been foreknown, and predicted too. So nothing predicted about the humiliation of Christ would remain unfulfilled. That left no opening for planting doubts about the Lord Jesus in the mind of any one of the apostles.
The close of the chapter sets three responses to Jesus side by side:
In that scene, Simon Peter shows living faith. The many disciples who left Jesus show dead faith. And Judas Iscariot gives us a man with much profession and no faith at all!
The Lord's response to the traitor at His side was patience, not exposure:
Judas Iscariot was chosen to be one of the twelve (John 6:70-71) but clearly he was not one of "His own."... The Lord knew all this and felt it intensely. Yet in love He bore with it, for He looked upon him at that moment as one of "the twelve."... Yet patient, suffering love did not reveal him to the rest of the disciples... He turned his back not only on His Lord, but on the yearning love that bore with him, knowing fully what he was going to do.
- Named. "Iscariot" points to Kerioth in Judea — Judas alone came from there, while the others were likely Galileans.
- Near. He stood in the most privileged circle of all, and that circle is exactly where the flesh reached its worst.
- Known. No one could deceive Christ. He knew the traitor from the start and made it known only as events called for it.
- Chosen. The Lord numbered him with the twelve so that Scripture would be fulfilled — his treachery foreknown, his crime his own.
- Warned. The same scene shows living faith in Peter, dead faith in those who left, and empty profession in Judas. That profession met patient love and still betrayed it.