From Recanting Calvinism, by Steven L. Hitchcock (2011), a section titled: The Calvinist’s Strongest Argument. Parentheses have been used in place of the footnotes that are in the published book.
But still the Calvinist confidently asserts that certain teachings of Jesus settle the matter conclusively. For Jesus taught, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me…” and “…No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…” and “…For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:37, 44, 65).
Jesus said, “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (John 8:47). Jesus also said, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:26-28).
These texts of Scripture are used very frequently and would be called by Calvinists as Jesus’ definitive teaching in support of man’s inability to come to Him because mankind is totally depraved. It is because of Total Depravity that God must elect men for otherwise they would not come.
Yet these sayings by Jesus have been wrenched out of their context. It strikes me as ironic that Calvinists of such high caliber, possessing extensive abilities of intellect, and who are widely esteemed for their skill in the exegesis of the Scriptures, can be so reckless and unwilling to examine these texts carefully. Has it occurred to anyone that we should seek to understand the context in which these texts are found as they are only in the Gospel of John and fairly close to one another in proximity?
We need to be aware of how easy it is to take a verse out of context and to raise it up to the level of a great maxim of Scripture, simply because we have neglected to probe deeper into the wider body of the Scripture that it is found. These texts do seem to powerfully prove the Calvinist’s position, but that is because we are failing to understand their intended meaning.
Let us consider carefully the proper context of these favorite Calvinistic texts. When John the Baptist was queried about Jesus beginning to have more followers than he, he replied, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven….He who has the bride is the bridegroom…” (John 3:27, 29). This expression ‘given him from heaven’ gives us the initial point of reference for these particular expressions by Jesus in the Gospel of John. In other words, we can now begin to develop a context for the ‘given him from heaven’ passages.
If we fail to appreciate the significance of being ‘given’ followers from God, as indicating Jesus’ validity of claiming to be the bridegroom, we can very easily attach a Calvinistic understanding to these texts.
Imagine Jesus starting His ministry and He had no followers at all. Followers were rather important to being a Rabbi and especially important to being the Messiah of Israel. John the Baptist says that the one who has the bride is the bridegroom and it must be ‘given Him from heaven.’ If Jesus does not have the bride His claim to being the Messiah is groundless. It is particularly the Gospel of John that addresses this challenge by Jesus’ opponents.
When we come to John 6, Jesus is already facing a question of no small significance as to the validity of His claim to being the Messiah. There was an undercurrent of doubt because Jesus was already experiencing a lack of support from the religious leaders, created by His cleansing of the temple, (John 2:13-18) and as He was about to introduce teaching that would further divide His followers, about eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6:66; ‘As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore’). The ‘given Him from heaven’ passages are interspersed with the repetition of divisions occurring among the Jews, because of Jesus’ controversial teaching and idea of what the Messiah should be (ex., John 7:43, ‘So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him;’ John 9:16, ‘And there was a division among them.’; John 10:19 ‘A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.’)
Again, we must draw the reader to the attention of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 (This incident is dealt with in Part One – It Belongs to and Starts With Jesus). Jesus’ enemies clearly observed the tremendous opportunity to once and for all destroy Jesus’ claim to being the Messiah by increasing the division to the very heart of those who truly believed in Him. Those who truly believed in Jesus were those whose life had been radically transformed by the promise of Justification in Him for their sins that they could not obtain forgiveness for by means of the sacrificial service of the temple (Sins such as murder and adultery were punishable by death. There was no provision for such sins in the temple service. 2 Samuel 12:13).
The hypocritical enemies of Jesus brought a woman caught in adultery. If they could trap Jesus into condemning the woman, as they reasoned He would have to do in order to honor the Law, then all of the sinners following Him would become disillusioned and He would be left with hardly any followers, making Him a complete laughing stock.
At this point perhaps it is best to point out that John always couches all of the these expressions that we are calling The Calvinist’s Strongest Argument with an emphasis on what it means to truly believe in Jesus.
In regard to John 6:37, Jesus said in the previous verse, “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”
In regard to John 6:44, Jesus is addressing their grumbling over Him, that He said that He ‘came down from heaven’ and yet they know Him as the son of Joseph. In contrast to their objection, Jesus says in verse 47, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”
In regard to John 6:65, Jesus says in the previous verse, ‘“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe….’
In regard to John 8:47, it is said at the beginning of the context, ‘So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine”’ (John 8:31).
In regard to John 10:26-28, Jesus says, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.”
In every case there is some sort of reference to a greater majority of Jews ‘who were not believing in Him.’
So what is going on here?
We can see that Jesus was facing a significant problem that not everyone in Israel was for Him and that this undermined a perceived rightful claim to being the Messiah of Israel. But why is Jesus answering this situation with statements such as “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me…” and “…No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…” and “…For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father”?
At this point we need to turn to John 12.
John 12:37-40 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.”
This is the decree of the Lord in Isaiah 6:9,10 that is fulfilled in their not accepting Jesus. It is in this context of a special hardening upon Israel that Jesus makes these unique statements in John 6, 8, and 10.
Certainly no one can come to Jesus unless God is granting, leading, and drawing, but these statements by Jesus say more than that. They assert a particular election of Jews at a time when there was a unique hardening of the Jews. In regard to the Jews, Jesus would have them to know that they needed a special election to believe in Him.
Foreign to Jesus’ intention for these passages, the Calvinist mistakenly thinks that these particular verses are to be universally related to the world. Quite the contrary, Jesus is making an emphatic point that had a particular audience in mind that is specifically explained by John in chapter 12.
During the time of Jesus’ ministry there was a special hardening upon Israel and this was why Jesus did not have the expected unity that would have automatically provided a certain legitimacy to His claim of being the Messiah. Those who were following Him were especially enlightened in contrast to those who did not follow Him. This explanation of a hardening of Israel is an important point of Paul’s in Romans.
Romans 11:25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uniformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in….
Towards the very end of Paul’s lengthy answer to ‘The Problem of Israel’ in Romans 9-11 we find this very thing acknowledged by Paul just after a similar prophecy is mentioned in verse 8 (Romans 11:7, 8 ‘What then? What Israel I seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEMA SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.”’). For more information about this argument in Romans 9-11, I refer the reader to the exegesis under The Third Argument to Recant Calvinism in this book.
To solidify this corrective in our interpretation, here is a text of great significance that Calvinists do not seem to want to know about, that expressly relates to these important verses. In John 18:8, 9, when Jesus is being seized, Jesus says, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”
Those whom the Father had given to Jesus had their fulfillment at that time and therefore the ‘given Me’ passages of John 6, 8, and 10, do not relate to the universal church. They specifically relate to those believers at that time in contrast to the majority of Israel that did not believe in her Messiah.
These verses in John 18 show that the context relates to the disciples that God gave to Jesus during the time of His ministry for the express purpose that they might validate His claim to being the Messiah and that they might continue on as a witnesses of everything that would happen to Jesus. It was imperative that they not be killed, so that they might witness His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and then as those who must give personal testimony of being the recipients bodily of the promise of the Spirit that occurred upon Jesus’ Glorification at Pentecost.
A similar argument among Calvinists is made of a particular passage in the gospel of John, relating to those whom Jesus was given from the Father. It is argued that Jesus’ concern is only for the elect and not for the world.
It is John 17:9 where Jesus, in His ‘High Priestly Prayer,’ says, “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours….” Steele and Thomas argue that this verse proves that Jesus ‘…prays not for the world but for those given to Him by the Father’ (Steele & Thomas, p. 44).
This is a perfect example of how easy it is to get it totally wrong in our exegesis of the Scripture. What was Jesus asking for His disciples and what was He not asking for the world? In the verse just prior Jesus has acknowledged that His disciples have already received the Word and ‘truly understood’ that Jesus came from the Father. Jesus is praying on behalf of those who are saved, even those who belong to the Father: “they are Yours.”
Jesus was asking for all the things that were necessary for the disciples as He was now about to depart and leave them. Jesus was praying for the disciples’ stability, strengthening, continuance, and the like. The world needed to be saved, not to be solidified in their lost condition and so Jesus does not pray for the world in this context. It is an oversimplification by the Calvinist to say that this verse proves that Jesus’ concern is not for the world, that they might be saved (Carson, D.A. The Gospel According to John, p. 560-61 ‘The antithesis between the disciples and the world is extremely sharp, but it should not be made absolute. The Father loves the world so much he sends his Son (3:16)….On the other hand, the distinction between the disciples and the world should not be reduced to the merely utilitarian – as if Jesus restricts himself to praying for his disciples for no other reason than that they are his means for reaching the world….The world can be prayed for only to the end that some who now belong to it might abandon it and join with others who have been chosen out of the world’).
Steele and Thomas omit verses 21 and 23 in their lengthy quote of the farewell discourse of John 17. Jesus says in those verses, “…so that the world may believe that You sent Me…” and “…so that the world may know that You sent Me….” Jesus does pray in His high priestly prayer for the world and specifically to the end that the world might be saved.
The unique hardening of the Jews at the time of Christ is pivotal to understanding other key verses that are used by Calvinists.
1 Peter 2:7, 8 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
The context is a contrast between unbelieving Jews and all believers. God had not arbitrarily appointed the former “builders” of God’s kingdom to perish. It says that they were appointed to stumble ‘because they are disobedient to the word’ (Acts 7:51 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did”). That is, they were appointed to stumble in disobedience to God’s word because they were entrenched in the disobedience of unbelief (Romans 1:5,6 ‘…through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;’ Romans 9:32 ‘Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.’ [The next verse is a quote of Isaiah 29:16 which is also quoted in 1 Peter 2:6.]).
Acts 13:48 ‘When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.’
This verse expresses the same thing, as the passages in the Gospel of John, that one cannot believe unless it had ‘been granted him of the Father.’ Again, the Calvinist has assumed that this expression of ‘appointed’ is something that can be carried over to any other situation, such as even our own conversion to Christ and to other people in our present day. The Calvinist confidently asserts a formula answer for why some believe and why some do not – they simply have not been ‘appointed to eternal life.’
Again, what is the context?
The context is in two parts, both emphasizing a contrast between unbelieving Jews and believing Gentiles. It starts in Acts 13:14. Paul and Barnabas arrived at Pisidian Antioch and sat down in the synagogue. They are given an opportunity to speak (Acts 13:16-41) and in anticipation that the Jews would be unbelieving Paul says, “Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you.”
That is, that they will not believe in the amazing work of God that has been accomplished in their day, though someone should describe it to them (Acts 13:41 ”’BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.’”). Paul quotes Habakkuk 1:3, 5, in which the prophet asks the Lord why He does not hear him and why He makes him to see iniquity. This reflects the same Isaiah 6 decree upon Israel that they should not perceive the truth.
The second part of the context is from Acts 13:44-52, again, highlighting the contrast between unbelieving Jews and believing Gentiles. In which we find the unbelieving Jews judging themselves unworthy of eternal life (Acts 13:46) contrasted with Gentiles who ‘had been appointed to eternal life,’ who were believing in that gospel.
What the Calvinist fails to see is that Acts 13:48 is spoken right in the middle of this context of the particular election of seeing or not seeing, in fulfillment of Isaiah 6:9,10.
If you are still not convinced that Isaiah 6:9,10 also answers Acts 13:48, then consider the same contrast between unbelieving Jews and believing Gentiles at the very end of Acts in which Isaiah 6:9,10 is quoted.
Acts 28:17, 23-28 ‘After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews….When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, ‘GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, “YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES; OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’ Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.”’
Paul makes it clear. To the same degree that those who presumed upon their election were appointed to not hear, so those excluded from the commonwealth of Israel were appointed to hear. Paul is fatalistic regarding his own kinsmen and optimistic regarding the world (From the exegesis of Romans 9-11, in this book, we learn that this apparent fatalism is actually replaced in the end with optimism for his kinsmen).
We should think as Paul thinks. Paul does not apply Isaiah 6 to the Gentiles, but to those Jews who were not specially elected within Israel at that time. He can confidently assert that the Gentiles will listen.
If God loves all men without partiality and, because of that unchanging love, does enable those who are totally depraved to believe, how are we to understand the hardening of many Jews at the very time in which the Christ comes?
The reason, that we must now turn our attention to, provides us with insights as to how God deals with men in either hardening or softening their hearts toward the gospel, in every age.
The next section addresses ‘Hardening and Softening (Blessing and Cursing)’ and then ‘The Whole Point About Parables.’
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