John 6:44
|
"No one
can come to me unless the Father who
sent me draws him." |

The word used for
draws in this connection is helkuo which also has
the meaning "drag". Calvinists implies that those
who are saved are dragged against their own will to
salvation. Their inclination is not to be saved.
Father will have to drag them into it as a dead body
is dragged.
We need again to
look at the whole context to see whether it is true
or not.
Jn 6: 37 All that
the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever
comes to me I will never drive away.
38 For I have come
down from heaven not to do my will but to do the
will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the
will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of
all that he has given me, but raise them up at the
last day.
40 For my
Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son
and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day."
41 At this the Jews
began to grumble about him because he said, "I am
the bread that came down from heaven."
42 They said, "Is
this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and
mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down
from heaven'?"
43 "Stop grumbling
among yourselves," Jesus answered.
44 "No one can
come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in
the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by
God.' Everyone who listens to the Father
and learns from him comes to me.
46 No one has seen
the Father except the one who is from God; only he
has seen the Father.
- I tell you the
truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
John 6:44 must be
understood in the light of verse 45: "It is written
in the Prophets, 'They will all be taught by God.'
Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from
him comes to me."
All will be taught
by God. Who listens to the Father and learns will
come. Who believes whas eternal life. Here there is
no draging concept at all. The evident concept is
draw or attract. Every teaching has a drawing or
dragging through reason and persuation. Every
philosophy is taught by dragging in a way. In that
sense there is nothing new in this passages to
suggest an efficacious grace to give life so that
they can understand. Aren’t all knowledge imparted
like this. In fact that is one of main principles of
teaching. Make the subject interesting and they will
learn by themselves. No one learns anything good or
evil unless God drags him into it. This grace then
is universal applying to everything from alphabet to
spiritual matters. These passages do not refer to
total inability or total depravity.
It is through the
preaching and teaching of the Word of God that
people come to the knowledge of salvation.
This is confirmed by Peter :
1 Pet.1: 22 Now
that you have purified yourselves by obeying the
truth so that you have sincere love for your
brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
- For you have
been born again, not of perishable seed, but of
imperishable, through the living and enduring
word of God.
James:
James 1: 17 Every
good and perfect gift is from above, coming down
from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not
change like shifting shadows.
18 He chose to give
us birth through the word of truth, that we might be
a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
and Paul:
Rom 10: 12 For
there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the
same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who
call on him,
13 for, "Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14 How, then, can
they call on the one they have not believed in? And
how can they believe in the one of whom they have
not heard? And how can they hear without someone
preaching to them?
15 And how can they
preach unless they are sent?