In [John 6:37] Jesus asserts that the Father gives certain persons to
Jesus, that these persons come to Jesus, and that Jesus will never reject those
who come to him. He adds that God wills that Jesus lose none of those the
Father has given to him, but raise them all up at the Last Day (vv. 39–40). We
will enquire what it means for God to “give” people to Jesus, and how this giving
relates to what John already teaches about God’s will. We consider the role of
the Father’s will in giving salvation to those who believe in Jesus (v. 40). We
will ask when this “giving” occurs in the process of salvation, and consider
whether these people are “given” to Jesus in order that they may believe.
Immediately we note the force of Jesus’ statement in verse 37: “all
those the Father gives [present tense] me will come to me.” The first words are
intriguing, for the words the NIV translates as “all those” (Greek, pan ho) are neuter in gender, not
masculine. Barrett says about the initial neuter phrase: “pan ho is used collectively where the masculine pantes hous would be expected. Cf. 3:6;
6:39; 10:29; 17:2, 24; see also 17:21. The effect of the neuter is to emphasize
strongly the collective aspect of the Father’s gift of believers.” In the
second clause of Jesus’ statement, he uses the masculine singular substantive
participle (ton erchomenon),
translated, “whoever comes,” indicating Jesus’ acceptance of all those who
come.
Barrett’s comment and the subsequent use of the masculine participle
alert the reader to a tension in understanding didōmi. Some interpreters find here the teaching that God grants
the capacity to come to Jesus only to some, the elect. Leon Morris, for
example, comments, “Before men can come to Christ it is necessary that the
Father give them to him.” So, he suggests, when some so-called disciples later
decide to leave Jesus, it is because “they were not among those whom God gives
Him.” According to Morris, then, a person cannot or will not truly believe
unless God first “gives” that person to Christ. Morris abdicates any attempt to
reconcile this with the latter part of v. 37, which affirms that Jesus rejects
none and welcomes all.
But Barrett’s comment and Morris’s difficulty with 6:37 suggest another
understanding, one which meshes with Jesus’ statements about God’s will (6:40).
Both the affirmation that Jesus welcomes all, and the criterion of faith for
anyone who wishes to obtain life, evidently weigh against putting “give” (didōmi) into a predestinarian framework.
Certainly God “gives” only one group (of people) to Christ. We know that God
sends his Son, who alone can grant life. This is the divine initiative in
salvation. However, when Jesus explains the basis for the place of persons in
that “given” group, it turns out to be their faith. Nowhere in this passage
does Jesus intimate that God gives faith only to some select group. Jesus
affirms that people are given to him, but the requisite faith must come from
those who hear Jesus. This opens wide the invitation, as we will see: “Let
anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as
Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John
7:37–38).
The text gives no warrant for reading a prior divine determination of
who will be saved. Lindars agrees we should not see here “a rigid doctrine of
predestination,” since “we know from 3:17 that it is the desire of God that all
men should be saved.” He goes on, “The point is that all those who do respond
to the Father (or are “drawn” by him [verse 44]) come to Jesus, because of the
unique prerogatives which he has from the Father (cf. 5:20–3).”
Jesus teaches here that a group of people (the “all those”; pan ho) are headed for a grand and
glorious destination—resurrection to life everlasting. The Father has them in
his care, and he has entrusted them to Jesus. They come to Jesus, and he will
not tum them away. Jesus assures his disciples that he will not lose any of
these special ones; they will all attain to resurrection. This is assured and
even (pre)destined—in the sense that God’s will has determined it all. But when
we ask who is in this favored group, Jesus responds, “everyone who looks to the
Son and believes in him shall have eternal life” (v. 40). This means that God
gives to Jesus the company of believers.
Jesus will never reject one who comes to him in faith. This is God’s will, and
he implements his will by giving to Jesus those who respond to God’s gospel in
faith. In summing up Jesus’ intentions in this passage, Dongell states: “The
first aspect of Jesus’ teaching on this issue centered on a denial. Jesus in
effect declared, ‘Your unbelief is not my
fault.’ No one should imagine that persons refused to believe in Jesus because Jesus was turning their hearts away,
because Jesus was blocking their
approach, or because Jesus was
selecting whom He would receive, rejecting those He judged unfit.”
However compelling the case against predestination may be, there remains
in John a tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. On the
one hand, there is no salvation apart from God’s gracious provision, but on the
other, people must heed the warning to believe in order to apprehend God’s
gracious provision. For John, none can save themselves, and apart from
believing in Jesus, none attain eternal life. God’s sovereign provision of
salvation effected through his Son is paramount and precedent. Yet human
response to God’s grace secures God’s provision. Whitacre draws out the
theological implications of this dynamic: “It is God’s gracious action in our
lives that saves us from beginning to end. God’s choice has been fundamental
from the beginning, starting with the act of creation itself and continuing
through the acts of redemption from the Fall through the call of Abraham,
Jacob/Israel and so forth. The biblical teaching is not, however, mere
determinism.” That is, the tension must be preserved: God’s sovereign will is
to save all, and faith is required to embrace this salvation. (William
W. Klein, The New Chosen People: A Corporate View of Election [rev ed.;
Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf & Stock, 2015], 110-13)
