{4} The sixth chapter of St. John is not mentioned in the list, because,
although it contains a description of the inward and spiritual grace, of
which the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a sign and mean, it cannot
refer to the sacrament itself; for that was not appointed when the words
were spoken; and the persons our Lord was addressing were unconverted and
unbaptized Jews, who were following him simply for the loaves and fishes.
It would, indeed, have been unintelligible, had he said to such
characters, at such a time, “Except ye receive the sacrament, ye have no
life in you.” The passage refers, therefore, to the spiritual grace, and
not to the outward sign—to the feeding upon our blessed Lord by faith,
and not to the act of communion in the sacrament.
{13} This is yet more evident in the Greek than in the English. The
word for chastisement is κρῖμα, that for final judgment κατάκριμα. But
the word in ver. 29 is κρῖμα, and the only verse in which κατάκριμα, or
its equivalent verb occurs, is the latter part of the 32d.