Exegesis of John 6:44

[jimmudcatgrant]

John 6:44 (ESV)
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

I don't speak Greek, but Strong says that word draws is literally drags in the Greek.  So the Father dragged me to Jesus. I would love to hear how people on both sides (Calvinism and Arminianism) view that passage.

 

[rsc2a]

Goes hand in hand with more of John's gospel:

"The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

(John 1:9-13 ESV)

 

[wheatpenny]

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Taking this verse into account, my view is that you can only believe if God "draws" you, but he draws everyone, so everyone can be saved. (not everyone will, because you still have to believe, which not everyone will do).

 

[AresMan]

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Taking this verse into account, my view is that you can only believe if God "draws" you, but he draws everyone, so everyone can be saved. (not everyone will, because you still have to believe, which not everyone will do).

Here is a post that I did on another forum discussing the context of the same verse:


Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Joh 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Joh 12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.
Joh 12:20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
Joh 12:21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Joh 12:22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
Joh 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

The context of John 12:32 is NOT that of a general, ineffectual "drawing" for every individual person in the world. In fact, in vv. 38-40 of the same chapter the writer references prophecies from Isaiah about the many Jews who would not believe.

The context is concerning Jew and Gentile converts (from all nations) vs. the cultural concept of Jewish-only privilege. In John 12 we have the Pharisees making a hyperbolic statement that "the world has gone after him" and among these were "certain Greeks" that sought Him. While Jesus was "a minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers" the intention of His coming was that salvation would start with the Jews ("to the Jew first") and expand to Samaria, to all Judea, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Even though Christ told His disciples this in the Great Commission, they did not fully understand that the Gentiles at large would be bona fide "fellow citizens with the saints" and "of the same body" until Paul was converted and God told Peter in his visions that "what God has made clean do not call common."

Far from being a faulty, general "drawing" of every individual person, the "drawing" of "all men" in John 12:32 in context is an effectual drawing of Jews and Gentiles from all nations.