=59, 60. In the synagogue.= I believe the whole discourse to have been delivered in the synagogue. See Prel. Note above.--=Many of his disciples.= Not of the twelve, but of those who had been theretofore inclined to accept him as a teacher.--=This is a hard saying.= Rather, _an impious saying_, or at least hard in the sense of harsh and repulsive, rather than in that of merely difficult. To the Jews then, as to the world ever since, a system of religion which proposes an amelioration of condition only by a revolution of moral character, by a new and divine life, seemed not only not attractive, but repellent.--=Who can hear it?= That is, Who can stay and listen to such teaching as this? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62 _What_ and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend[252] up where he was before? [252] ch. 3:13; Mark 16:19; Ephes. 4:8-10. 63 It[253] is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, _they_ are spirit, and _they_ are life. [253] 2 Cor. 3:6. =61-63. When Jesus knew in himself.= Either miraculously or by a subtle sense which the delicately organized often possess.--=Doth this offend you?= _Stumble you._ See Matt. 5:29, note; 11:6, note. The teaching of the disciple, as the teaching of Christ, will sometimes be to men a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence.--=What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?= Another admonition that they are not to take his words in a material sense, for in his glorified body he is to ascend into heaven before their sight. The language is a strong testimony to the historical verity of the ascension.--=The spirit is the life-giver, the flesh profiteth nothing whatsoever=; _i. e._, It is my spirit in your spirit which will give eternal life, not my flesh in your flesh. This is the natural meaning of these words, and they are to be taken in their material sense, not with such qualifications as that of Augustine, “The flesh alone and by itself profiteth not,” _i. e._, without the blessing of the spirit; or such as that of Alford, “He does not say _my_ flesh profiteth nothing, but _the_ flesh.” _The_ flesh is _my_ flesh; for it is only of his own flesh that he has spoken at all in this discourse. The flesh of Christ, if it could be miraculously reproduced by the benediction of a priest, would still be of no profit.--=The words which I have spoken to you, they are spirit and they are life.= The meaning is not that Christ’s words are themselves life-giving, though this is true; but that the words which he has just spoken to them respecting his flesh and his blood relate to the spiritual realm and the eternal life, and are to be so interpreted.