Interpretation of John 6:35-40

I'm not much on discussing the TULIP, but I think you are reading more into it than what is there or should I say you are not reading everything.

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.

We are also told elsewhere that it is the will of God that no man perish, that He would have all men to be saved.

We also know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So we know that first for one to come to Christ they would have to hear the gospel. otherwise how would they know who Christ is?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.


The gospel gets preached, we come to the Father, the Father gives us to Christ, and Christ says he will not cast us out. I'm not Calvinist and I don't have a problem with that, so I don't see the big deal. I take the Bible as a whole, not just a verse here and a verse there. You can come to some weird doctrine cherry picking verses.

The Calvinist see it as either or. In other words if God is sovereign then man does not have a free will, but if man has a free will then God is not sovereign. To disregard either one one has to disregard many verses if not half the book.

 

You can't isolate vss. 35-40 or you can come to some wrong conclusions. Vss. 44-45 explains vss. 35-40.

Jn 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.
45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me.

Vs. 45 explains the word "given" in vss. 37 and 39. If a person comes to Christ, it is because he has been taught by the Father. How was this done? Was it done through regeneration? No, it is done through the scriptures, the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom 10:17) and no man can believe in him of whom they have not heard (Rom 10:14).

In vss. 63-65 this is shown again, Jesus says the words he speaks unto us are spirit and life, but some believe not, therefore no man can come to him unless it were given by the Father. If you don't believe the words (scripture) given by the Father, you cannot come to Jesus.

 

John 6:35-40

35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

39 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.

40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.


Have you seen the Son with your natural eyes, Brother? I haven't, but I sure have felt His touch many times, praise His sweet name. Jesus is talking about those who saw Him in his natural body, in a "in the now" sense. So He is talking about those around Him at that time.

 

This is one of the most clearest and I might add most direct passages in scripture that deal with the security of the believer.

Verse 36 sets the tone. He is not addressing believers but unbelievers. They saw him and yet they did not believe and then Jesus explains unto these unbelievers why they did not believe in verses 37-65.

First, they did not believe in him because they are not among those whom the Father gave to Christ! Why? Because "ALL" that the Father gives to Christ, "ALL" come to Christ. The idea of "come" means to believe in. This must be the meaning because they are the only ones (believers) that he emphatically declares he will never cast out. That cannot be said of unbelievers. Hence, the idea of "come to me" means to savingly believe in him.

Anyone have any problems so far with what I have said?

They did not believe in him because they were not given unto him by the father because "ALL" that the father gives him do come to him. The word "come" is inclusive of faith or believing in him.

 

38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 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.

Verse 38 is the beginning of a defense of what he states as a FACT in verse 37. In verse 37 he states two FACTS:

1. ALL (not some) the Father gives to the Son comes to the Son
2. He will never cast out this "all"

In verse 38 he provides a GENERAL fact to defend what he said in verse 37. The General fact is that Christ's intent for coming to earth was to do the will of the Father. He is not speaking about his POTENTIAL to do the will of the Father but his OWN ABILITY to do the will of the Father. Significantly, he is not supposing or presenting any kind of POTENTIAL but non-effectual attempt to carry out the Father's will. He ALWAYS and thus EFFECTUALLY did the Father's will in everything as no sin could be found in him, he did no sin and he knew no sin.


Verse 39 shifts from the declaration of FACT in GENERAL terms (v. 38) to the declaration of FACT in SPECIFIC terms in regard to what he said in verse 37.

Both verse 38 and 39 have to do with CHRIST'S ABILITY to "DO" the Father's will not in terms of POTENTIALITY but in terms of certainty as coming short by Christ to "do" the Father's will would be SIN charged agains the Son.

Moreover, verse 37 SPECIFIES what is the exact and precise ASPECT of the Father's will he is directly speaking about:

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

He could have listed many other aspects of the Father's will he came to do but he is concerned with that specific aspect first introduced in verse 37 and now identified specifically in verse 39 to be again that "ALL" which the father gave him that NOT ONE would be lost but "IT" (he) will be in the resurrection of life at the last day.

CONCLUSION: He is not talking about any POTENTIAL for the Father's will to be accomplished but HIS OWN ABILITY to accomplish the Father's will. Hence, the security of "ALL" those given to the Son do not stand upon THEIR ABILITY but the ability of the SON OF GOD "to do" the Father's will in regard to "ALL" not some that were given him.

 

40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

In verse 36 he declares to those unto whom he is speaking that they both "saw him and beleived not" but in contrast "all" that the father giveth him do "cometh to me". Hence the contrast defines "cometh to me" to be the same as seeing him and beleiving in him.

Prior to verse 40 he has consistently used the term "cometh" but now in verse 40 he clearly sets forth the meaning of "cometh" to mean "every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him" in contrast to those in verse 36 both saw and did not believe.

In verse 40 "everyone" translates the same Greek term that is translated in verses 37 and 39 as "all". The "all" that he promises in NEGATIVE TERMS that shall never be cast out in verse 37 and that shall never "perish" in verse 39 are expressed in POSTIVE TERMS in verse 40 "may have everlasting life" and then concluded with the absolute promise first introduced in verse 39 and then repeated in verse 40 "and I shall raise him up at the last day."

CONCLUSION: thus he has come in full circle from verse 36 in regard to those who do see him and yet do not believe in him to who are those who will see him and will beleive on him BECAUSE "ALL" who do see and believe on him are given unto him by the Father ON PURPOSE for that very thing. That is the FATHER's WILL in regard to "ALL" that the Father gives because "ALL" the Father gives do come to him in saving faith and NOT ONE of that "ALL" shall perish but each one of that
"ALL" or "everyone" of that "ALL" will be raised up at the last day.

 

36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

The fact that more were present does not change the specific audiance he is said to address this unto.

 

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" - Matthew 23:37

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. - John 3:16

It is also a personal choice. Both God's election and mans choice without God making the person choose Him.

 

I did not say He forces us. I said we have free will.

 

You are trying to circumvent the text by going outside and reading your presuppositions back into this text. Deal with the text in its context first before jumping outside and forcing it to conform to your interpretations of outside texts which are not in view here.

 

In approaching John 6, I believe it is first necessary to answer this very important question:

Why can't Jesus' audience come to him?

Possible answers:
1) Because God doesn't really salvifically love them and since they have been born in their totally depraved condition by which they really can't even hear, understand, believe and come to him they have no hope of salvation unless God supernaturally regenerates their hearts, changing their natures and effectually drawing them to come to Christ to be saved.

OR

2) "For this reason they could not believe, because... "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them." - Jesus in John 12:39
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What Calvinists fail to see is that the reason people weren't enable to come to Christ was not because of some inborn nature preventing their faith, but because Jesus was hiding the truth in parables and the father was sending them a 'spirit of stupor' to keep them in their rebellion. He was hardening them temporarily to accomplish redemption through them. The Jews, in their unbelief crucified Christ. The father had only granted a few from Israel to come to Jesus while he was on earth, the rest were hardened/blinded from the truth for a time.

The GOSPEL, God's means to draw all men to himself, wasn't even sent out into all the world; and the Holy Spirit, which is to convict the world of sin, wasn't poured out UNTIL Christ had been raised up!

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." - Jesus

 

Like I said we have free will.