Sunday, September 10, 2023

Phil Bair on Reformed Soteriology and John 6

  

The Greek word translated “draw” has a range of meanings:

 

·       drag

·       draw

·       pull

·       persuade

·       unsheathe

·       attract

 

There are several questions we must address in reference to John 6:44. First, what does coming to Christ mean? Does it mean putting one’s faith in Christ? Or does it mean embracing Christ in the sense of establishing a relationship with him after the exercise of faith? Or does it mean both? The fact is, the text has no answer. But the surrounding text does give us some clues as to who the Father draws. In the same chapter, verse 40 reads:

 

For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

 

Notice the phrase “and I will raise him up at the last day.” So according to verse 40, the set of individuals who believe in the Son is equivalent to the set of those who are raised up at the last day. This means that any reference to those who are raised up at the last day is automatically a reference to those who believe.

 

We now return to verse 44. What phrase do verses 40 and 44 have in common? And I will raise him up at the last day. Since we have just learned that the set of people who are raised up at the last day are automatically equivalent to those who believe, it follows that the set of those the Father draws in verse 44 is equivalent to those who believe. Therefore we can analytically exegete verse 44 in the following way and remain true to the words of Christ: those the Father draws are those who believe in the Son. The same is true of those the “Father gives” to the Son in verse 37 and 39. Verse 39 contains the same unifying phrase, “raise them up at the last day.”

 

The next question is, do individuals believe because the Father draws them, or does the Father draw them because they believe? Do individuals believe because the Father gives them to the Son, or does the Father give them to the Son because they believe? The text does not answer this either. To think it does would betray a serious lack of analytical skills in exegesis. To assume that all that the father gives the Son are the ones that the father chose (Calvin style) to be saved is to beg the question. Nowhere in this passage does it say this. Jesus specifically said that it is God’s will that those who put their faith in Christ are the ones who will receive eternal life. So the most natural understanding of the phrase “all that the father gives me” is those who put their faith in Christ. Jesus provides the definition of the phrase just a few verses away in verse 40. It’s right there. All we have to do is read and comprehend it.

 

Can individuals resist the Father as he draws them? There is nothing in the text itself to indicate they can’t. The word translated draw can mean to drag against one’s will, or it can mean to persuade or attract, or even woo—in which case the possibility of resistance no doubt exists. So, whether the Father is drawing people to have faith or is drawing them into a relationship with the Son after having believed may have an impact on whether people can resist the draw. But in the final analysis, just as the text does not tell us which comes first—drawing or believing, it also does not tell us whether people can resist the father as he lovingly draws them.

 

It would be helpful to point out that it’s possible for people to resist God the Holy Spirit. In case you haven’t ripped the book of Acts out of your Bible yet, look up Acts 7:51. It reads:

 

You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and eats are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

 

If even the Holy Spirit can be resisted, why, oh why, would we think another member of the Godhead (the Father) can’t be resisted as he draws people to himself in repentance?

 

Jesus then sumps up the entire dialog with the following remark in verse 47:

 

Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life.

 

This is the crux of the matter (and it, by the way, most likely what inspired the apostle Pual to place such a powerful emphasis on having faith in Christ). When Jesus says, “truly, truly, I say to you,” he is giving us the “sum of the whole” (as Calvin put it) of his teaching on a given topic. The pivotal issue regarding who will receive eternal life and who will endure eternal death is the faith of each individual—or the lack of it, not whether people are pre-programmed for one or the other.

 

The text of John 6 does not support or dismiss a deterministic or a non-deterministic approach to soteriology. It is neutral in regards to the question of when the Father draws believers to Christ. (The same is true in verse 65.) What we are left with is the simple idea Christ was communicating in this dialog: no one can come to Him—regardless of what that means—without the Father’s influence—regardless of what that looks like. The glory ultimately belongs to God. He came up with the entire plan, and man didn’t. This does not mean, however, that man’s volition plays no role in the formula. John 6 doesn’t say it doesn’t, and in fact, int indicates the opposite: he who believes has eternal life. If we focus on what Christ was teaching in this passage rather than how we would like it to support our favorite soteriological theories, we will have a greater probability of comprehending his intended meaning without any preconceived theological bias.

 

As we learn from a great many other issues, if we attempt to force the text into primitive cause-and-effect or force-resistance equations, we will distort its meaning and miss the lessons it can teach us. It is a dreadful mistake to expect any given verse in the Bible to marshal a comprehensive soteriological framework for us. These remarks from Christ in John 6 were not intended to answer the soteriological questions Calvinists want them to answer. They were intended to teach something else. To insist that any given passage of scripture must answer every conceivable pet soteriological question is an abuse of the biblical data rather than a thoughtful and humble attitude of learning and discipleship. John 6:44 and the surrounding verses teach us that the only reason people believe in the Son for their salvation is because the Father is working behind the scenes to influence them in that direction. If he didn’t, no one would believe. This is a million miles away from a man-made meat-grinder that chews up the text with question-begging deterministic blades. (Phil Bair, Calvin’s Desperation: How John Calvin’s Unbiblical Divine Determinism Destroys the Credibility of the Christian Faith [2023], 235-39, italics in original)