In Greek this verse reads “In the same way that the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.” Good News Translation restructures this complex sentence into two simpler sentences. Since the actual comparison is between the first two statements (“In the same way … because of the Father”) and the final statement (“so he … because of me”), Good News Translation does not introduce the comparison (in the same way) until the second sentence. Thus a more natural English structure is achieved, and at the same time a long, involved sentence is avoided. It should be noted that Good News Translation substitutes the pronoun him for “the Father” in the phrase “because of the Father”—also in keeping with the desire to attain naturalness in English.

The expression the living Father does not occur elsewhere in the Scriptures, though the phrase “the living God” appears in both the Old and New Testaments. The phrase is probably used on the analogy of the living bread mentioned in verse 51, so that the meaning of the living Father would be “the Father who is the source of life” or “the Father who gives life.”

Note that whereas the preceding verse reads eats my flesh, this verse reads eats me; the meaning is the same.

In 5.21 also the Father is said to have life-giving power; according to this passage the Son derives his power to give life from his union with the Father.

The agents expressed in the phrases because of him and because of me may be clearly marked by indicating a causal relation, for example, “the Father who causes people to live sent me, and he has caused me to live. In the same way if anyone eats me, I will cause him to live.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .