What Does John 6:55 Mean in the King James?
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The doubled “indeed” seals one claim: Jesus’ embodied life is named as true food and drink.
THE MEANING
The verse addresses your whole person: his flesh is food and his blood is drink, each called truly nourishing. Life here comes through receiving what is offered, not observing it from a distance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that life with God can remain purely abstract, untouched by the body or by receiving.
THE ROOT
βρῶσις
brōsis
GROWS FROM
βρω
brō
The Greek stem of eating and food, joining the act of eating with what nourishes.
Here “meat” is βρῶσις, a word that can hold both food and the act of eating. Its word family links what is received with the receiving itself, presenting the flesh as nourishment rather than a detached object.
ALSO GROWS
brōma: Food; a thing eaten.
βρῶμα
This related noun names the substance received as food, showing how the word family moves between eating and what nourishes.
bibrōskō: To eat or consume.
βιβρώσκω
This verb shares the eating stem, linking the food named here to the act of taking it in.
πόσις
posis
GROWS FROM
πιν
pin
The Greek root associated with drinking.
The noun can name drinking itself as well as a drink. Paired with the word for food, it makes the verse speak of nourishment through both eating and drinking.
ALSO GROWS
pinō: To drink.
πίνω
This verb makes explicit the act held within the noun for drink.
potērion: A cup; a drinking vessel.
ποτήριον
The related drinking vessel shows how this word family connects the act of drinking with what holds the drink.
ἀληθῶς
alēthōs
GROWS FROM
ἀληθ
alēth
True, real.
“indeed” in this verse is alēthōs. The adverb appears twice, once with food and again with drink, giving both halves the same force of truth. Neither kind of nourishment is left uncertain or incidental.
ALSO GROWS
alētheia: Truth.
ἀλήθεια
This noun carries the same root into the quality of what is true.
alēthinos: True; genuine.
ἀληθινός
This adjective applies the root to what is genuine, echoing the repeated emphasis on real nourishment.
THE PATTERN
Life is sustained through provision that is received and shared as nourishment.
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?THE THREAD
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.The same Greek noun, βρῶσις (brōsis, food or eating), appears in both verses. Here it names Jesus’ flesh as food; there he speaks of food his listeners do not yet know, opening a connection between bodily nourishment and a nourishment that is not immediately seen.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us