Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
All Commentaries on John 6:32 Go To John 6
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Jesus said therefore, &c. Christ here refutes the cavilling of the Jews, and shows that He is greater than Moses, and gives better bread than Moses gave in giving manna. He opposes therefore, and prefers His own bread, i.e, Himself in His Body in the Eucharist, as He Himself unfolds (Vers35 , 51 , 54 , &c.) to the Mosaic manna, and this in three ways. (1.) The first Isaiah , because Moses, who was a mere Prayer of Manasseh , gave the manna, and that only to Israel, i.e, to the Jews in the desert: but it is God the Father who gives this bread, and that to the whole world.
(2.) Because the manna was not really bread from heaven, but only from the atmosphere, coming down like dew, or hail. For it is only the bread of heaven by a figure of speech, as we say the birds of heaven, because they fly in the heaven, that Isaiah , in the air. But His bread, He said, really came down from the highest heaven, even from the Bosom of God the Father. Therefore It alone was truly heavenly and Divine, of which, in truth, the manna was only a type and shadow. So S. Chrysostom, &c.
(3.) The third way is consequent upon this—that the manna only fed the body for a time: but the Bread of Christ feeds and quickens both body and soul for ever. So SS. Chrysostom and Cyril. For though it be that Christ and the Eucharist do not remove temporal death from Christians who communicate devoutly, yet it is the cause that they will rise again from death, and after that die no more for ever. For the Resurrection is an effect of the Eucharist, as will appear from verse50 ( John 6:50).
(4.) Cyril (lib3 , c33) adds a fourth way: that Moses neither formed, nor gave the manna, but God gave it by angels at Moses" prayer: but Christ Himself forms, and verily gives this bread of the Eucharist. For He Himself by His own omnipotence, which, together with the Divine Essence, He has received from the Father, transubstantiates, transelements, and transforms bread and wine into His Body and Blood.
The true Bread from heaven: that Isaiah , truly heavenly and Divine, not only as regards locality, in that It descends from heaven, but also as regards Its nature and substance. For this Bread is Christ Himself, Who, because He is God, has a heavenly and Divine essence, yea, the same Deity as the Father2. The word "true" is said because of the manna, say Cyril, Chrysostom, and Augustine; for the manna was only a type of the Eucharist. In the Eucharist is reality (veritas), in the manna, the shadow of the reality3. True, in the sense of life-giving, because It gives life to the soul as well as the body, as Christ saith in the following verse4. True, i.e, perfect, excellent, in which there is all fulness, both of existence and nourishment. For all created existences, such as the manna, if they be compared with the uncreated Essence, or the Deity, such as Christ in the Eucharist, cannot be accounted of as realities, but only shadows. In God and Christ alone is there reality (veritas), i.e, solidity and plenitude of Being, and of feeding perfectly, like (true) Bread. This is what God spake to Moses, "I Am I who Am: thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, He who is hath sent me" ( Exodus 3:14).
