---
title: John 6:57
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-6-57/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-6-57.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 6:57
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 6:57

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will live because of me."

## JW Usage

A favourite one-line proof that Jesus owes his existence to Jehovah. "I live because of the Father" is read as a statement about origin: the Son's life comes from someone else, therefore the Son is not the eternal God. It pairs in Watchtower usage with John 14:28 and John 5:19 as evidence of a creature's dependence.

## Protestant Usage

Do not argue about the first half of the sentence. Read the second half aloud, in their Bible, and let it do the work: "so also the one who feeds on me will live because of me." It is one sentence with two matching clauses. If "I live because of the Father" proves the Son owes his existence to the Father, then by the identical grammar "will live because of me" proves the believer owes his existence to Jesus — that Jesus created him. No Witness will accept that conclusion, which means the grammar cannot be carrying the weight they need it to carry. What the sentence is actually about is the sending. Look at how it starts: "just as the living Father sent me." The frame is mission, not origin — the Son sent into the world, living out a life derived from the one who sent him, and then becoming the source of the same kind of life for those who come to him. John 17:18 uses the same sending language of the disciples. Then set it beside John 5:26, where the Son has life in himself, and John 1:4, "in him was life." Compare John 5:26, John 1:4, John 17:18.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [I Live Because of the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john-6-57-i-live-because.md) — John 6:57 — incarnation context, not pre-existent origin [Deity of Christ]
- [A Creature Can Point to Life; Only the Source Can Say 'I Am the Life'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/i-am-the-life.md) — Psalm 36:9 / John 11:25 / John 14:6 / John 5:26 — the source of life is with Jehovah, and Jesus says he is that life [Deity of Christ]