6:66 Jesus lost many of His followers because of the Bread of Life discourse (cf. v. 60). His explanation to them following the discourse did not change their minds. He had made no concessions. They had understood Him correctly the first time. The Greek phrase ek toutoucan mean "from this time"or "for this reason."Both meanings fit here.
In this passage we see four responses to Jesus: seeking (vv. 22-40), murmuring (vv. 41-51), striving (vv. 52-59), and departing (vv. 60-71).264
6:67 Jesus' question assumed a negative answer, as is clear from the Greek construction. He undoubtedly asked it not because He had questions about the Twelve's perseverance (v. 64) but because they needed to reaffirm their commitment. It would have been easy for them to agree with the crowd. The question also implied that very many of His disciples had abandoned Jesus, perhaps the majority.
6:68-69 Typically Peter spoke for the Twelve. "Lord"(Gr. kurios) can mean simply "sir,"but here it probably has a deeper meaning. These disciples were reaffirming their allegiance to the One whom Peter now identified as the Holy One of God (cf. Ps. 16:10; Isa. 41:14; 43:3; 47:4; 48:17; Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34). Peter probably did not mean that they viewed Jesus as their last resort but that Jesus was their only hope. They believed that Jesus' teachings resulted in eternal life for those who believed (v. 63), and they had believed in Him as the holy Messiah whom God had sent.
Peter's confession of faith here is not the same as the one He made later at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20). The content is different as is the chronology. Probably Peter's confession of Jesus' full deity occurred first at Caesarea Philippi. Here he evidently meant that the Twelve believed that Jesus was who He had claimed to be in the preceding discourse, namely the Messiah who had come with divine revelation from God. Peter referred to Jesus as the Holy One later in his preaching, but that was after receiving much more insight, particularly from Jesus' resurrection (Acts 2:27; 3:14).
6:70 It might appear that the Twelve had chosen Jesus as their rabbi, but really the choice had been His (Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16). He had chosen them and they had then believed on Him even as the Father chose the elect who then believed on Jesus. Reflecting His knowledge of those who believed in Him and those who did not (v. 64), Jesus revealed that even among the Twelve there was one unbeliever. Jesus had chosen him to be one of the Twelve, but God had not chosen Him for salvation.
The Greek word translated "devil"(Gr. diabolos) does not have an article with it in many reliable ancient Greek manuscripts. This usually indicates an emphasis on the quality of the noun. Here it probably means that one of the Twelve was devil-like (cf. Mark 8:33). The Greek word is the equivalent of the Hebrew satan, meaning adversary or accuser. It means slanderer or false accuser, but when it occurs as a substantive it means Satan (e.g., 8:44; 13:2; cf. 13:27). Jesus probably meant that one of the Twelve was going to behave as Satan because Satan would direct him.
6:71 John, not Jesus, identified the devil among the Twelve as Judas. His devilish act was to be the betrayal of Jesus into His enemies' hands. "Iscariot"is probably a transliteration of the Hebrew is qeriyot, meaning "man of Kerioth,"a village in southern Judah (Josh. 15:25).
