The Doctrines of Grace in Scripture: John 6:44-45

The Text

John 6:44-45 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me.” – Jesus (NET Bible)

Relevance

The significance of this text in relation to the Doctrines of Grace is that this passage shows us man’s inability to come to Christ outside of God’s intervention (an intervention which could not be a generically inclusive one due to the fact that the one drawn is raised on the last day). It relates very directly to the T, U, I, P in TULIP.

Historical Comments On It

• “Here all men must confess their incapacity and inability to do the good. Should one imagine he is able to do anything good of his own strength he does no less than make Christ the Lord a liar…..Now, if he is drawn by God to Christ, he will certainly experience what the Lord here says: ‘He will raise him up in the last day.’ ” – Martin Luther (1483-1586)
• “They must be brought unto Christ, yea, drawn unto him; for [quoting John 6:44]. Men, even the elect, have too many infirmities to come to Christ without help from heaven; inviting will not do.” – John Bunyan (1628-1688)
• “The discovery of their guilt, danger, and remedy, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, makes men willing and glad to come, and to give up every thing which hinders applying to him for salvation. The Father’s will is, that not one of those who were given to the Son, should be rejected or lost by him. No one will come, till Divine grace has subdued, and in part changed his heart; therefore no one who comes will ever be cast out. The gospel finds none willing to be saved in the humbling, holy manner, made known therein; but God draws with his word and the Holy Ghost; and man’s duty is to hear and learn; that is to say, to receive the grace offered, and consent to the promise.” – Matthew Henry (1662-1714)
• “they had neither power nor will of themselves; being dead in trespasses and sins, and impotent to everything that is spiritual: and whilst men are in a state of unregeneracy, blindness, and darkness, they see no need of coming to Christ, nor anything in him worth coming for; they are prejudiced against him, and their hearts are set on other things; and besides, coming to Christ and believing in Christ being the same thing, it is certain faith is not of a man’s self, it is the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; and therefore efficacious grace must be exerted to enable a soul to come to Christ;” – John Gill (1697–1771)
• “Arminian divines generally say that God draws men by the preaching of the gospel. Very true; the preaching of the gospel is the instrument of drawing men, but there must be some thing more than this. Let me ask to whom did Christ address these words? Why, to the people of Capernaum, where he had often preached, where he had uttered mournfully and plaintively the woes of the law and the invitations of the gospel. In that city he had done many mighty works and worked many miracles. In fact, such teaching and such miraculous attestation had he given to them, that he declared that Tyre and Sidon would have repented long ago in sack-cloth and ashes, if they had been blessed with such privileges. Now, if the preaching of Christ himself did not avail to the enabling these men to come to Christ, it cannot be possible that all that was intended by the drawing of the Father was simply preaching. No, brethren, you must note again, he does not say no man can come except the minister draw him, but except the Father draw him. Now there is such a thing as being drawn by the gospel, and drawn by the minister, without being drawn by God. Clearly, it is a divine drawing that is meant, a drawing by the Most High God—the First Person of the most glorious Trinity sending out the Third Person, the Holy Spirit, to induce men to come to Christ. ” – Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
• “the incarnate Son of God positively declares that such an act is utterly impossible to a fallen and depraved creature unless and until Divine power is brought to bear upon him. A most pride-humbling, flesh-withering, man-abasing word is this….Before any one can or will “come to Christ” the understanding must be supernaturally enlightened, the heart must be supernaturally changed, the stubborn will must be supernaturally broken.” – A.W. Pink (1886-1952)
• “Some have said that draw only means ‘woo’ or ‘entice.’… This interpretation of John 6:44 is impossible, however. In James 2:6, we read, ‘Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?’ In Acts 16:19 we find,’ They… dragged them into the marketplace.’ The same Greek word is used in all three verses. Obviously, mere enticement is not in view here. Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, a standard scholarly work on New Testament Greek, tells us that the word translated draw in John 6:44 means ‘to compel by irresistible authority.’ It was used in classical Greek for drawing water from a well. We do not entice or persuade water to leave the well; we force it against gravity to come up by drawing it. So it is with us. We are so depraved that God must drag us to himself.” – R.C. Sproul (1939-Present)
• ” All of this presents a consistent teaching that the Father reveals the Son to the elect through the work of the Spirit so that their faith is placed firmly in the Son. There is no disruption of the consistent emphasis upon the sovereign freedom of God in salvation in the text” – James White (1962-Present)