John
10:28-29 is a common “proof-text” for Eternal Security/Perseverance of the
Saints (for a refutation, see Does
John 10:28-29 teach Eternal Security [cf. Does
John 6:39 teach Eternal Security?])
My friend
and fellow LDS apologist Christopher Davis offered the following informative
note about the passage which I am sharing here so it can get a wider audience:
Lately, I’ve been contemplating the use of
“hands” in the scriptures as it applies to priestly offerings. Today as I read
John again, I was struck by a plausible explanation for a common prooftext of
Calvinism.
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father,
which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father’s hand.” - John 10:28-29
The use of hands in the Jewish context of
this time was commonly to speak of offerings of sacrifice. The word
“consecrate” in Hebrew is commonly thought to be derived from “filled hand”.
“[T]he ‘filled hand’ (the Hebrew letter kaph כ means ‘palm’) is the widespread sign of offering sacrifice.” -
Hugh Nibley, “Sacred Vestments,” Temple and Cosmos, 106
It is therefore consistent in my mind that
this passage from the Savior is a reference to the certainty of his mission and
ultimate offering as priest. No one can frustrate his offering to the Father.
No one can frustrate the exchange between them. The Father has given the world
to the Son, putting them in his “hand”. The Son offers himself to death, an
offering that also invokes language of “hands”. He then gives a clean offering
of consecrated Israel back to the Father into his “hands”, including his spirit
at the very end on the cross. Those who are offered back to the Father are
given eternal life by the consecrating grace of the Savior, and no one can stop
this scared offering or remove the offering from His hands. I would say that
the reading of this verse as a prooftext of predestination, irresistible grace,
and perseverance of the saints as defined by TULIP Calvinism is missing the
priestly temple offering language that a “filled hand” was intended to invoke.