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John 6:44 – Does it really prove calvinist teachings?
Calvinists are quite fond of taking hold of a verse (usually in isolation) and using it, often aggressively, to “prove” that they are right and therefore all others are wrong. They will teach in such a way that makes it difficult at times to oppose them without openly accusing them of heresy. If you have some respect for the person who is pushing his calvinist views largely to the exclusion of other views, it can be uncomfortable to argue without feeling as if you might be offending that person. And many good Christians are reluctant to think that they might have offended another “Christian”.
All too often, calvinists will imply, suggest or even openly state, that to not believe as they do defines the other person as a somewhat lesser Christian, or even, perhaps, lacking spirituality because they are bereft of God’s spiritual guidance. If you disagree, then they will quote their “experts” in books and articles written by calvinist “teachers”, many of whom may be well-known, if not necessarily correct. It can be quite overwhelming, even daunting, for a Christian to be inundated with such a flood of opposing teachings. All too often those Christians will tend to agree in order to avoid an argument, and, if they “agree” as such for long enough, they may even start believing what the calvinists are saying. It’s a mild (or not so mild) form of brainwashing.
(Jehovah’s Witnesses use a similar form of aggressive argument: they are taught to answer most opposition by using suitably impressive references including Bible verses that, in isolation, appear to support their views. Their Watchtower Society constantly trains them for such debate.)
John 6:44 is one of the classic calvinist verses that is used to “prove” that (a) those who come to Christ are the only ones called by the Father, and (b) therefore man has no free will to choose to be saved.
John 6:44 – No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The calvinist will interpret this verse to say that if the Father draws a person, then that person will come to Christ. They teach that if a person doesn’t come to Christ, then the Father did not draw him. Therefore, says the calvinist, this demonstrates that no-one has the free will to choose for himself, for this verse “proves” that God chooses for all people. (That is, unconditional election or choosing by God alone, rather than an election or choosing conditional upon God’s foreknowledge of future decisions to be saved.)
And, in fact, if this calvinist teaching is presented aggressively, it can appear to be correct, unless you test all things. It is not always easy to oppose views when they are presented so forcefully, even when you feel that such views might not be consistent with what you believed concerning the Bible. When opposing such forceful and aggressive teachings, it is essential to know exactly what you believe and why.
For instance, MacArthur’s church (Grace Community Bible Church, California) states “All whom the Father calls to Himself will come in faith and all who come in faith the Father will receive.” (John 6:44 is one of their supporting verses.) That is, everyone who is called by the Father will come in faith and be received. If you are called, you will come; therefore, if you do not come, you were not called. To the unthinking Christian, this interpretation of John 6:44 can appear correct. But such teaching is actually false. That is not what John 6:44 is saying at all! All it is saying is that every person who comes must have been called by the Father, yet it doesn’t say that every person who is called by the Father must come.
In Jesus’ day, to refuse a gift or invitation was to offend the one who offered it. Even if you didn’t want the gift or invitation, you would usually accept unless you desired to offend the one who offered it. In the parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14) many are called but these refuse the invitation, some violently. So, the king punishes them and then calls others to the feast. The passage ends with “For many are called, but few [are] chosen.” (Matthew 22:14) Being invited (or called) to a wedding feast was an important event not to be treated lightly. But you could still refuse that invitation!
You couldn’t attend a wedding feast unless you had an invitation, a calling to be there. (Matthew 22:3 says “bidden” which means to be called or invited by name.) No-one might come unless they had been personally invited by the father of the groom. But getting an invitation did not mean you had to go; you were greatly obligated to go, but you could still refuse the invitation.
Now look at John 6:44 again: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: No man can come to Christ except the Father draw him. But, the calvinists say, the word “draw” means to drag or force. Yes, in many cases it actually means that. But what about John 12:32 where Jesus says “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me.” That is the same word “draw” used here. In order for calvinists to explain this, they are forced to teach that “all” does not mean “all” but perhaps “all the elect” or similar. The word “draw” can mean to use debate to persuade someone, that is, to draw someone to your point of view, or to draw their attention to something.
Take another look at John 6:44 – No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. Where does it say that a person cannot refuse or resist the drawing of the Father. The calvinist then says that the grace of God is irresistible and cannot be refused. (This is one of their basic calvinist doctrines.) But that assumes man has no free will to be able to choose to resist. It assumes that God forces the person to come, and that person cannot resist. But does this verse teach such or is it an assumption based upon calvinist heresy?
Paul taught that man could indeed resist what God has ordained.
Romans 13:2 – Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
[ordinance = a law set forth by a governmental authority; Merriam Webster says that an ordinance is something ordained by fate or a deity (such as God).]
And Stephen, sitting in the council of the religious leaders, said to them:
Acts 7:51 – Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did], so [do] ye.
Thus it is scriptural to teach that man has a free will to accept or resist God. Of course, the calvinists then have to teach that God foreordained their acceptance or resistance of Him, because it cannot be by their free will! (And they do teach such!)
So what John 6:44 is really saying is that you cannot come to Christ unless the Father has drawn you. It cannot deny that all have been drawn to Christ (see John 12:32) with many people consequently resisting that drawing.
All who come must have been drawn, but it cannot equate to all that are drawn must come. That’s backward logic, like saying that because a dog is an animal with four legs, then all animals with four legs must be dogs.
John 6:44 does not deny free will to mankind, especially noting that free will to choose between good and evil, between God and the world, is taught consistently throughout the Bible. Therefore, in order for calvinists to demonstrate that John 6:44 “proves” their definition of the election, they must also demonstrate that free will of mankind is consistently denied throughout the Bible. This they cannot do. Only without the existence of free will can calvinists teach that all whom the Father calls must come in faith! Their teachings are based upon false premises and are only as truthful as the lies upon which they are based.
For further reading on the subject of John 6:44, go to John 6:44.
As a postscript, here’s some more questions for calvinists:
1/. Why did Jesus say to His disciples further down, in John 6:72, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” where “chosen” is the verb form of the adjective form used in 1 Peter 1:2 – Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
Why did Jesus choose Judas when He knew Judas would serve satan?
2/. Why did Jesus say to all His disciples in John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit” when Judas was still one of that group? Judas has been chosen, ordained, to bring forth fruit, yet he doesn’t.
3/. Why does Jesus say in John 6:39 say, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
Yet, after having chosen a devil (Judas) in John 6:72, and ordained that they should bear fruit (including Judas) in John 15:16, why does Jesus say of His disciples in John 17:12, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.”
What? Jesus kept them all, none of them is lost, except Judas. If John 6:39 is teaching about all the elect of God being given to Jesus, that He should lose none of them, then how is Judas lost after he has been chosen as per John 6:72? Clearly, to be consistent, calvinists cannot interpret John 6:39 as they do.
4/. If “many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14), then why is the number chosen less than the number called. Why would God call a large number of people to the wedding feast, yet only choose some of them? How can this be explained without the free will of mankind? How does this compare with MacArthur’s church doctrinal statement “All whom the Father calls to Himself will come in faith and all who come in faith the Father will receive.” if in fact not all who are called will be chosen! (Of course, MacArthur says that Matthew 22:14 is “the general call of the gospel, the general outward invitation of the gospel” and that only the elect or chosen of God get the efficacious or effectual call to be saved. (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-296/the-doctrine-of-gods-effectual-call)
Clearly, to the calvinist, the gospel is merely the general outward invitation which, according to MacArthur, will be ineffectual to save!
That brings us to question 5/. Why does God make a general call for all to be saved when calvinism teaches that Jesus only died for the sins of those who will receive the effectual call? Isn’t this deviousness at best from the calvinist God, to invite people when he has no intention of letting them in the door? Truly the calvinist God is no better than a politician who makes many promises but only delivers a few (if any)!
6/. Why does God say (in Jeremiah 32:35), “And they built the high places of Baal, which [are] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through [the fire] unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” if He has ordained such decisions from the beginning (as calvinists would have us believe)? God says here that He did not command them to do such things, nor did it even come into His mind (mind; knowledge; thinking; reflection; memory; inclination; resolution; determination of will). How can Judah do such things unless it is by their own free-will rebellion against God?
If calvinism is true doctrine, then why are there so many anomalies in their “explanations”? And why, after having asked such questions many times, has not one calvinist been able to refute these statements from a Biblical viewpoint? In fact, my arguments have been read by many people, some of whom must surely be calvinist, yet not one has been able to refute satisfactorily from the Bible alone any of my challenges to them! Clearly they don’t believe in sola scriptura (the Bible alone)!
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We have just finished an in-depth study of the book of Ephesians and it ends with Chapter 6 where the Christian is to put on the full armour of God. Not pieces of it. The Panoply of armour, the whole suite. All of the armour. And then verse 18 says Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for the saints.
Paul writes in a way as to argue his point. He is a debater. Read Romans in its entirety and you will see he starts at the foundations and then goes through everything and sums it up at the end. Ephesians also starts by addressing the church (or a number of churches in the area). He writes to the congregations to tell them who we are in Christ (God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, According as He hath chosen us in Him, in whom we have redemption through His blood, and so on).
He makes it clear we are saved by grace through faith and that this salvation by grace is the gift of God. It is not of ourselves, rather His grace. There is now no wall of partition between us (Paul is writing to Christians). He then goes into the church and how we are ministers, in the same body. He addresses the issue of sin in the church and edifying one another. Walking in love and not fellowshipping with darkness. The head of the church is Christ as is the husband the head of the wife and Christ desires to present the church spotless and without blemish.
In chapter 6, after talking about children obeying their father and mother and also servants obeying their masters, Paul goes into putting on the whole armour of God.
Here we can delve a little deeper. If we are to wear armour, then there must be a battle as why else would one need to wear armour? And the whole armour includes defensive and offensive pieces so therefore we must be defending and attacking. We need the armour so we can stand against the wiles (or trickery, deceit, craft) of the devil. A soldier doesn’t just stand and take blows. They also attack at the right time. Sword and footwear are also mentioned which are for moving or taking the offensive.
We wrestle against powers of darkness and not flesh and blood but why would the Christian (who is more than a conqueror through Christ) need to battle? Cant God do all that for us and we just live a peaceful life until we go to heaven?
If we were to believe Calvinist doctrine, would there be any need at all for Satan to attack Christians given they believe all who are elect will come anyhow (same question I ask about why they feel the need to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ if it makes no difference as they say man has no choice anyhow). But as I said, if there is armour then there must be a battle. And it says clearly who we wrestle with.
We would need to go right back to the garden of Eden to get a better understanding of how Satan and his demons work. Adam was perfect and knew no evil. But God put the tree in the middle of the garden which gave Adam a choice. As Adam was completely content, he had no desire to disobey God and eat of that tree. Adam had dominion over the earth. But when the serpent came to Eve, he was able to convince her that they were missing out on something. so that Eve would not be content. After she ate and knew what they had been missing out on (evil), she gave to Adam and he ate. Man had fallen.
What does Satan get out of this? Why try to make man fall? Satan had already fallen before this. I believe Satan was after some of God’s glory and as a result of trying to steal glory from God, he fell. We don’t know much about this event but I believe it was to do with God’s glory, which is 100% God’s and no one shall take His glory. God doesn’t share His glory. Only He is worthy of it.
Satan would have been jealous of man (made in God’s image) being given dominion over the earth. Satan was much more powerful, smarter, better in every way. Why should puny man have dominion? He couldn’t take dominion over the earth, man would have to give that dominion to him for him to have it and any glory that came with it.
The only way to get what he wanted was to make man fall. His plan was an act of deceit or trickery. To make man believe he was not content. That he could be more (strangely enough so many religions these days sell the same thing – that we can be gods).
God is just – it is one of His attributes. Holy, Loving, Merciful, Just are some attributes we can read about in the Bible. God plays by the rules which He set. Man chose to sin and therefore must now die and pay the penalty for it. Even though God loved us and did not desire that we sinned. Satan played his chess piece and possibly would have thought he had God at checkmate.
We know from the Bible that God sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ to die in our place which was a move Satan was not bargaining on. God is all knowing and knows the future, whereas Satan is not. Some examples of Satan playing or not playing by the rules are as follows:
1 In Job we read about Satan and God talking about Job and Satan is only able to play by the rules. He cannot harm Job outside God’s permission.
2 Genesis 6 we read about Nephilim (fallen angels) who were on the earth and bore children to the daughters of men. This was prior to the flood and we know by the time of Noah that Noah was blameless in his generation. I believe there were no others left who weren’t contaminated by the nephilim who were possibly trying to destroy the DNA or makeup of mankind so that God could not possibly save them. I also believe that this was likely outside the rules and God therefore wiped all contaminated mankind and locked up certain demons until the end (we read about demons who will be released from the bottomless pit to torment mankind in the end times).
Noah was the ‘restart’ of the human race.
Jesus also paid the cost of our sins, but could God have just saved us anyhow? God is Holy, Just, etc and He abides by His own attributes and rules. Someone therefore had to pay to ‘redeem’ us. To buy us back as we had been sold into slavery through sin. We were slaves to the law which we could never abide by because we were of a sinful nature.
Satan can try and keep us in bondage so that mankind never hear about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the free gift (the gospel of Christ).
Why attack Christians? Well he can also make us ineffective. Everything time we give into sin, it comes with a cost. For example, we see a nice car or a boat which we want (Satan plays on making sure we are not content as a content person has no wants). To get that nice car or boat, we must complete a contract of purchase. We must pay for it. In the spiritual sense, what are we using to pay for that car?
Goes the other way too. Many verses talk about suffering and persecution being a part of being a good Christian and spreading the gospel (1 Peter 2:20-21, Roma:18, 2 Timothy 3:11-12, John 15:18-19, John 16.33, John 16:2, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Corinthians 9:12). These verses are a bit of a kick in the teeth to those health wealth and prosperity gospel preachers. What is suffering for?
Could suffering be a payment or cost for answer to our prayers, people to be saved, fruit?
If Satan can get us to buy his wares (which in today’s Christian church seem to be comfort, social life, good house and good food and good job even as a pastor, minimal suffering, good school for your kids, gourmet food, a big church building, etc etc note we are all guilty of many of these things), then we won’t be buying the cost of being a Christian.
Now, the Bible doesn’t say sending your kids to a good school is wrong. Nor is gourmet food. But where’s your heart? Willing to lose it all for Christ? Willing to suffer any cost (ANY cost as Christ, Paul, Disciples, and many martyrs did) in order to gain a reward in heaven? Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust don’t get it or store it down here?
When I look at many RICH ‘churches’ in the western world today, it is clear where their heart lies. In fact some of these rich church leaders who are deceiving the masses, even say that God wants them to have all these riches now as gold streets in heaven aren’t much use.
More to come.