If "Any Man" Thirst

Good question, but, we have to keep this in its context:


John 7:37-39
King James Version (KJV)

37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)


"Drinking" was no more a possibility than believing was. This would not see its fulfillment until men began to be baptized by Christ with the Holy Ghost, or in other words, immersed in Eternal Union with God.

Spurgeon could ask those questions post-New Covenant Era, but I do not see an apt correlation to the passage you present.

"Drinking" is euphemistic for belief itself, and it would not be until Christ had died, arose, ascended, and sent the Comforter that men would actually believe in the Risen Lord.


God bless.

 

I've already responded to this in this thread....Ephesians 2:1-3 already says what a "spiritually dead'' person does or doesn't do...why add to the Word of God?

Let's look at the context...and See what "Dead people do or don't do"....

Ephesians 2:1-3

So we were dead in trespasses and sins: (What does that mean?)

Vs. 2--Dead people are led by the world and the devil:
in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

Vs. 3--Dead people walk according to the lusts of their flesh:
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Nope, i don't see Paul saying that spiritually dead people can't hear or call out to the LORD. The Lord's Voice and Word are powerful enough for even DEAD people to HEAR and respond to

 

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

"And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (John 6:65)

If you show me one who has come to Jesus, I will show you one whom the Father has drawn and one to whom it has been granted to come. Otherwise, no one will come because no one can come apart from the grace of God. Ephesians 1:15-2:10 very clearly illustrate this. What we have presented in the Scriptures is not an impotent god who cannot save apart from the free will of man and cheap, high-pressure "witnessing" that passes today for evangelism, but the omnipotent God who chose us in his Son before the foundation of the world and predestined us to be his sons and daughters according to the counsel of his will." (Ephesians 1:3-5, 11)

"For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:27)

 

Right, God draws people who believe Christ's Testimony to Christ...it's not that hard.

64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.

65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

 

Correct, Man would not come up with the Gospel if he tried. This passage has nothing to do with whether or not one can believe Christ's Testimony.

Instead of Quoting one or two of those verses in the 2nd Chapter, why don't you break it down in totality?

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Paul's point is simple--God chose a method that confounds man's wisdom. The Natural man cannot "figure out the plans of God."

He's not saying man cannot believe the Testimony of Christ.

 

If that were the case, there would be no need to draw them.

 

What does that statement have to do with the two verses i posted?

 

John 6

67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Those who reject Christ "Go away"

Those who believe Christ are drawn to Him of the Father.

Simple.

 

I'd hit "winner" a million times if i could.

 

You stated that God draws those who first believe, but that turns what Jesus said into nonsense. There would be no need to draw them if they already believed. 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 is very plain; Those who do not have the Spirit of God cannot discern spiritual things because only the Spirit knows them and can thus reveal them. I suggest you also read 1 Corinthians 1:20-30 where Paul plainly teaches us that our being in Christ is because of God, not because we were smart enough to figure it out.

"None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1 Corinthians 2:8)

Why did they not understand this? The Spirit did not reveal it to them.

"For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:11)

 

You are conflating ideas.

You're theology is preventing you from seeing the clear realities from the text.

This is a narrative. Christ is saying, "You people in front of me, if you believed Moses' testimony, My Father's Word, You would be drawn to Me. But since you Do not believe the Scriptures, You are rejecting Me as well."

Those who Loved/Believed "God's Word"--OT Scriptures/Yahweh--would have been Drawn by the Father to Love/believe Christ as well.

 

Really:

[Personal attack edited]"Do you only accept the 'Reader's Digest Condensed Version' "?

That's what you're going with?
That's your response?

O.K. folks:
I've learned that sometimes, letting the other side debate their view...is the camel which drives others AWAY from it.

I want EVERYONE to see T.Cassidy's response here...
I'll requote it so you see it again:

That was his counter folks:
Absorb that.
And judge the strength of Calvinism's arguments upon his response here.
Everyone see this???
Yes, this is Calvinist debate in action 101:
Choose your side.

Remember folks, T. Cassidy is a highly educated, thoroughly ingrained dedicated Calvinist......
...and this is his response.
This is what he comes up with.....
I'll repeat that for you:

That was the sum total of his argument.
[Personal attack edited]

 

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

those who are perishing = the natural person
the word of the cross = the things of the Spirit of God

You are proposing that those who are perishing, to whom the word of the cross is folly, should believe it so that they can become spiritual and then be able to accept the things of the Spirit of God. Why would they need the Spirit of God to accept the things of the Spirit of God if they already accept the things of the Spirit of God, evidenced by the fact that they believe the word of the cross? Whose theology is preventing them from seeing the truth? Yours does not even make sense trying to explain.

"Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." (John 6:35-37)

"So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—" (John 6:41-45)

"But there are some of you who do not believe. (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (John 6:64, 65)

 

1 Cor. 2 is not talking about someone's inability to Believe the Testimony of Christ. Paul is simply explaining that the Gospel is foolishness to the natural man. Yet we are still called to Believe. Your idea that we have to be given faith to believe is Gnosticism.

 

The point is, the Scriptures teach that man is dead, not sick. The solution to his problem is not medicine, but resurrection (Ephesians 1:15-2:10). Perhaps Paul was the one who "pressed the analogy too far and beyond reason."