Why John 6?
John chapter 6 has become a very contentious passage of Scripture for a multitude of reasons. It starts off easily enough with the well known Feeding of the Five Thousand, but quickly diverges into a deep theological discourse about the will of God, the (in)ability of man, and the nature of saving faith. Possible topics for debate range from Old Testament fulfillment to communion, with plenty else in between.
For our purposes in particular, however, John 6 has become a major passage of debate in the realm of Reformed Theology. On its face, John 6 is a one-stop-shop for the doctrines of Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints… which may explain why we called it “contentious” earlier. Debates over the meaning of Jesus’s words in this passage are long-recorded, and alternative interpretations are as many as the day is long—but what does John 6 really tell us about the nature of Christ’s mission and The Gospel? We maintain that a careful, hermeneutically consistent interpretation of this passage leaves us without question about the sovereignty of God in accomplishing salvation perfectly and for all whom He wills.
A Brief Note Before We Begin:
Although John 6 does not elicit nearly the same level of emotional reaction as Romans chapter 9, the conclusions that we believe must be drawn from the passage can create uncomfortable tensions that often cloud individuals’ ability to weigh the content of the text. As such, we ask that as we look into this section of Holy Scripture, we would submit our emotions and our opinions to the text—our goal here is to find the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. While we do strongly believe that the teachings found in John chapter 6 explain and give foundation for Reformed Soteriology, it is not our goal here to argue for the validity of those Reformed doctrines, but to argue for the true meaning of the text. We ask then, dear reader, that you not evaluate our work here based on how it feels or how it comports with an existing systematic (Calvinistic, Arminian, Provisionist, or otherwise), but based on how accurate it is to the text.
Our work today is built upon one single presupposition: that John 6 really is understandable. We hold strongly to the perspicuity of Scripture—that Scripture is, at its core, understandable and clear. While we recognize, of course, that certain passages of Scripture are confusing in particular details (the Nephilim of Genesis 6 or the various images of Daniel and Revelation), we believe that the main messages of Scripture are inspired by the Holy Spirit with the purpose of being clearly understood. Furthermore, we understand that when Jesus proclaimed the words found in John chapter 6—and we really do believe that He said them, contrary to some opinion—that He really did mean something. We believe that when Jesus addressed the crowds, He intended to communicate relevant, understandable truth; likewise, when John the Apostle recorded these words, we believe that he understood them and had an explicit purpose in writing them down.
The question then, as we are sure you already understand, is simple: “What does John 6 mean?” We are not here to wonder what interpretation of the text we prefer, but what interpretation of the text is true. In our pursuit of this truth, we have outlined certain hermeneutical principles that we believe are absolutely necessary—chief of which is consistency. The hermeneutical methodology used to exegete this passage will be one and the same with the methodology we use to exegete passages of Scripture that teach monotheism, the nature and offices of Christ, justification by faith, and ecclesiology.
And now, one final note before we turn to the text. One’s interpretation of this passage is not a salvation issue. We will not call into question anyone’s state before God based on which side of this issue they choose to fall. And as a personal matter, we believe that the unity shared between Christians of differing perspectives is a glorious evidence of the bond created by the Holy Spirit. However, this cannot be an “agree to disagree” issue. That is, this is not an issue to be taken lightly. The Gospel of John is uniquely theological among the Four Gospels. That does not mean that the Jesus we see in John, or the teachings communicated there, differ or contradict the presentations in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. However, it does mean that John places a particular emphasis upon theological exposition that is not necessarily present in the other gospels. He does this through his record of drawn out discourses from Jesus—and John chapter 6 is one of those discourses. Therefore, if John—an apostle of the Lord Jesus, even “the apostle whom Jesus loved”—believed these words to be so important that he records them here for us, we ought to pay the utmost attention. If we are to truly be people of the word, then we ought to find joy in plumbing the whole word, and when the Lord Jesus Himself dedicates immense time to a particular subject, it seems only right to give it considerable thought.
Background to the Passage
The first place we will turn now to understand the passage in question is to its immediate context: the Feeding of the Five Thousand. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is a well-known miracle of Jesus, and for good reason. What many readers may not realize is that the Feeding of the Five Thousand is the only miracle or event of Jesus’s life (except for the crucifixion and resurrection) that is recorded in each of the Four Gospels. The story is straightforward enough: Jesus is in town for the Passover, and while He’s teaching the crowds, the day is drawing to an end. Having compassion on them, Jesus has the multitude sit down, and after a young boy surrenders his five loaves and two fish, Jesus distributes the food to everyone in the crowd, multiplying it until everyone has their fill—with leftovers!
That’s the main thrust of the story, and is all that we need to go over for our purposes today. The most important piece, however, happens at the end. In verse 14, John gives us a short commentary on the situation, saying, “Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had done, they were saying, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’” Take note of this verse: the people who received the multiplied bread and fish were making a profession that Jesus was “the Prophet,” a messianic title. These people had—on some level—believed in Jesus because of the miracle He had just performed.
This is the inciting reason for the next event to take place, which is when Jesus walks on the sea. John transitions the narrative by saying this: “So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone” [John 6:15]. Again, take note of this: the people in the five thousand believed in Jesus (at some level) even to the point of wanting to make Him king of Israel, likely to overthrow the Roman oppressors. Jesus, however, flees the crowd, sends His disciples across the Sea of Galilee, and then walks across the sea to meet them “on the other side” [John 6:25].
Jesus Exposes The Crowd’s Unbelief
This brings us into the passage that will be receiving our fullest attention, and before we begin we ask: if you have not read John chapter 6 all the way through, please take the time to read verses 26 - 65 before continuing through this article—again, our goal is not necessarily to convince you of Reformed Soteriology, but to allow the truth of the text to come to light, and we believe that the first step in allowing the text to speak is to read it as it is, for what it is.
Now, let’s summarize the scene that precedes verse 26. Jesus has just done an amazing miracle by multiplying bread and fish in order to feed a crowd of at least five thousand (or even upwards of twenty thousand) people. These people, after the miracle, became convinced that Jesus was the coming messiah (calling Him “the Prophet who is to come”) and sought to make Him their king. Jesus, however, flees the crowd, crossing over the Sea of Galilee, where the people then follow Him to the other side of the sea, meeting Him Capernaum. They ask Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” and Jesus responds with this:
“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.’
Therefore they said to Him, ‘What should we do, so that we may work the works of God?’
Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’
So they said to Him, ‘What then do You do for a sign so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’
Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’
Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, always give us this bread.’
Jesus said to them, “‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.’” [John 6:26 - 36]
Here Jesus gives an absolutely stunning response to this crowd. He says, rather plainly, “You do not believe.” Consider, again, the context of this statement: these are people who have listened to His teaching, sat under His care, partaken of His gifts (the bread and fish), had professed Him to be a messianic figure, and followed Him across the sea. By all available evidence, these were converted, convinced, and committed followers of the Lord Jesus—and yet He says to them, “You have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”
First, consider the amazing integrity of Jesus. How many of us, were a crowd of thousands following us around trying to make us king, would have the integrity to say, “I don’t think you’re in this for the right reasons”? How many of us would have fled the crowd? Or would we rather have accepted their adoration? Yet Jesus finds it necessary—even though He, unlike any of us, truly did have a right to be made king—to expose their spiritual sickness.
Second, consider how scandalizing and offensive it would be to hear these words. You have now been with Jesus for multiple days on end, and risked your life to follow Him across the sea—yet He says you do not believe in Him? How could that be‽ But what does Jesus say? “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” [v. 26]. Here is the issue: this crowd was not following Jesus because they wanted Jesus, but because they wanted what Jesus could give them. We see this play out in their discourse:
“‘Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.’
Therefore they said to Him, ‘What should we do, so that we may work the works of God?’
Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’”
Jesus says to them: “You are looking for earthly things, things that fade; look, rather, for eternal things—that which never fades, but which is honoring to God.” He is addressing their spiritual deficiencies, and exposing their following of Himself to be ingenuine. He calls them to believe in Him—not for the sake of what He can give them, but for the sake of who He is, “the Son of Man” who has been sealed by God the Father. They, however, are not believing in Him, despite having seen the signs. They’ve received the miracles, seen the signs, and even have evidence of conversion, but in reality they “do not believe.” It is from this background that Jesus will make the most abrasive statements of the passage.
The Will of the Father
As we have seen, Jesus is addressing a crowd of people who, though they seem to have evidence of true conversion and faith, are actually unbelieving. Jesus has exposed their unbelief, and then goes further, saying,
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Now this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” [John 6:37 - 40]
This (along with verse 44 - 47) is the section of interest in this passage. Here Jesus makes a bold and clear presentation on the reality of His redemptive mission. We believe that by understanding Jesus’s words here, taking them for what they clearly indicate, we see nothing other than the full sovereignty of God in redemption, and the full security of the believer in light of Christ’s work and promises.
Start in verse 37, let’s walk through Jesus’s words: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.” Observe three things here: First, the act of giving. Jesus says, “All that the Father gives Me…” The first thing we must understand is what giving refers to. Clearly, the things being given are people, which can be deduced from the context of Jesus speaking to Jewish people and by the personal act of “coming” that is expressed later in the phrase. The one giving is clearly the Father, and He is giving these people to Jesus, the Son, and the purpose of the Father’s giving these people to the Son is that they may have eternal life—which will be developed in verses 39 and 40.
Second, observe what necessarily results from the act of giving: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me…” The necessary consequence of someone being given by the Father to the Son is that they come to the Son in faith, which then results in being “raised up on the last day” [vv. 39, 40]. When someone is given by the Father to the Son, it is so that they may believe (come to Christ) and have eternal life (be raised on the last day).
Third, observe who it is that Jesus has in view: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me…” Jesus says that everyone who is given by the Father to the Son will come to the Son. Everyone who has been given will come to believe in the Son, and will inherit eternal life. Furthermore, He says that He will “never cast out” such a person. What we can know, then, is that this giving from the Father to the Son is not merely an enabling action (making it possible for someone to believe and be saved) but is an effective action that can leave no room for question: if someone is given by the Father to the Son, then they will come to believe in the Son and they will inherit eternal life.
But now, let’s examine the implications of this passage. If it is true that “all” who are given by the Father to the Son “will come” to the Son and will inherit eternal life, and yet not all inherit eternal life, it must necessarily follow that not everyone is given… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves—we’ve only just looked at one sentence from the Lord Jesus. He continues by saying,
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Now this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” [John 6:38 - 40]
Let’s examine the rest of these verses. First, we see that Jesus frames His last sentence within the context of doing the Father’s will. The connective “for” indicates that Jesus is about to provide the justification/explanation of His last statement with what will soon follow. So, He’s saying: the reason that all whom the Father gives to Him will come and never be cast out is because He “has come down not to do [His] own will, but the will of [the Father].” And what is the Father’s will? “That of all that He has given [Jesus] [He] lose[s] nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” And again, Jesus makes it clear what the Father’s will is: “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” [John 6:40].
The will of God the Father is that all those who believe in Jesus will inherit eternal life. Observe this, however: those who believe in Jesus are those who have been given—they’re the same group. We know this because, one, Jesus has already outlined that the necessary consequence of being given from Father to Son is believing; secondly, we can tell this because in verses 39 and 40, the phrases “given to Me” and “believes” are used interchangeably in respect to being raised up. Being given to the Son results in eternal life; believing in the Son results in eternal life. Why? Because those who are given necessarily come to believe, and those who believe must have already been given (as we will explore further in verse 44).
And now, consider this: is it possible for God’s will to not be accomplished? More precisely, is it possible for Jesus to not fulfill the Father’s will? Of course not! It is not possible for Jesus to not accomplish the Father’s will. Such would make Jesus a sinner, a failed savior, and would introduce disharmony within the triune Godhead. Therefore, if it is indeed the Father’s will that “of all He has given [Jesus] [He] lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day,” and “that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and [Jesus] will raise him up on the last day,” then that must be the reality of the situation. It must also be the case that “all” the Father gives to Jesus will come to Him; and it must be the case that none of those who are given to Jesus (i.e. believe in Jesus) do not receive eternal life.
But now again, we must examine the implications: if all that the Father gives to Jesus end up coming to Jesus and are raised on the last day because it is the Father’s will (and Jesus must necessarily fulfill the Father’s will) then those who do not come to Christ or inherit eternal life must not have been given by the Father to the Son. That is a difficult reality to wrestle with, of course, but it is the only logical conclusion from the very clear meaning of Jesus’s words here.
Objection: “Someone can still freely walk away.”
Now, the objection can be raised: “Well, all that the Father gives will come, and Jesus will never cast them out, but someone can still walk away on their own.” This, however, is not correct. First, this does not overturn the apparent reality that many have not been given, because many will not ever come to the Son (which is the necessary precondition for “walking away”) in the first place. Second, the text refutes this possibility. It clearly expresses that Jesus will never cast out someone who believes in Him [v. 37]—that is, Jesus will never bring someone into judgment if in fact they have been given to Him by the Father and believe in Him.
Objection: “But that’s an action on Jesus’s part; Jesus is saying He will never actively cast someone out, but He can be passive in their walking away.” This, however, is also refuted. Verse 39 parallels verse 37 in its meaning (saying that those given to the Son will never enter judgment), but it swaps the active “cast out” for the passive “lose.” In this instance, someone freely walking away from Christ would undoubtedly qualify as Christ “losing” someone given to Him by Father—something He says can never happen. So neither will Jesus actively cast someone out, nor can Jesus passively lose someone by them walking away—the plain meaning of the passage stands: all that the Father gives to Jesus will be saved, full stop.
Furthermore, Jesus says, “this is the will of my Father.” Again, we will ask, can the Father’s will not be accomplished? The answer, biblically, is no. Consistently throughout both Old and New Testaments, we see that God accomplishes all that He pleases. Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases.” Isaiah 46:9 - 10 says,
“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My counsel will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’”
Ephesians 1:11 says that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.” Clearly, both prophets and apostles understand that when God wills something to be done, He does it, without fail. So, when Jesus says that it is “the will of [His] Father” that all who are given will come to the Son and never fall away, we see that this is a simple and uncontrovertible fact that will be accomplished.
“No One Can Come to Me”
At this point, we may be quite surprised at Jesus. Not only do His words seem rather unprompted by the crowds themselves, but His implication that there are some (many?) people that God has not given Him to save cuts strongly against the popular, socially acceptable conception of God that predominates theology today. “God loves everyone equally and desires every single person to be saved just as much” simply does not comport with what we’ve unpacked in verses 37 - 40. But let’s continue reading to see if we can gather some more intel.
“Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’
Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Stop grumbling among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.’” [John 6:41 - 47]
John continues the narrative in verse 41 with the Jews “grumbling” at Jesus—I think we understand why. Yet, they aren’t grumbling over what Jesus said in verses 37 - 40, but rather over His previous statement in verses 32, 33, and 35, that He is “the bread that came down from heaven.” Why are they upset about this? Weren’t they ready to make Jesus prophet and king over them just twenty-six verses earlier? Well, what Jesus had done in saying “I am the bread of life” is put Himself in a place superior to Moses. Jesus is saying, rather clearly, “I am better than Moses; believe in Me.” The Jews, however (as we may expect from the rest of John’s narrative), were not willing to confess that Jesus was better than Moses. Why? Because they didn’t actually believe in Jesus? Why? Because they weren’t His people; they hadn’t been given to Him by the Father. This whole dialogue is about exposing the unbelief of the crowd, and what does Jesus do: He presses an important theological issue, observes that His listeners are not willing to receive it, and demonstrates that they are not saved, not given to Him by the Father. As a side note: theological distinctives (like the identity of Jesus and the nature of The Gospel) exist to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the goats from the sheep.
Jesus has exposed the spiritual deadness of His audience and concluded that they have not been given to Him by the Father. At this point, some questions arise: “Okay,” we might say, “sure, Jesus says that all the Father gives to Him will come to Him, but that doesn’t mean that only those who are given can come to Him. Jesus isn’t saying that the crowd is unable to ever believe, but only that they currently aren’t. What if the Father gives people to Jesus because they are righteous or because they believe in Him?” Well, Jesus’s next statement should answer that rather quickly:
“Stop grumbling among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” [John 6:43 - 47]
Here we have perhaps the most damning (literally) statement of the entire discourse: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” “No one.” No one, according to Jesus—not a single person—is able (as in, has the ability) to come to Him (in faith and repentance) unless the Father draws that person to Him. There’s no way around this. The consistent teaching of Scripture is that man is naturally dead in his sins. Consider the following verses:
“Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” [Genesis 6:5]
“Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who has insight, anyone who seeks after God. They have all turned aside, altogether they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” [Psalm 14:2 - 3 (cf. Romans 3:9 - 18)]
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” [John 8:34]
“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.” [Romans 8:5 - 8]
“And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” [Ephesians 2:1 - 3]
Mankind, as a result of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden, is so marred and enslaved by sin that he cannot do any good whatsoever. Every action a man takes is, at the very least, tainted by selfish ambition or pride or greed; no one really does anything out of goodwill. At best, we act in an attempt to look good—at worst, we simply do evil. The Scriptures quoted above say that man is “only evil continually,” “worthless,” “a slave to sin,” “not able to please God,” and “dead in sin.” The outlook could not be more bleak. So, in light of that biblical data, do we really believe that people who “only plan evil continually” are going to willingly submit themselves to the command of God and to His person? Do we really believe that rebellious and “dead” sinners will freely run back to the one whom they have been rebelling against? Do we suppose that those who are “not able to please God” will freely do that thing which is chiefly pleasing to God—having faith? No, clearly not.
And that is why Jesus says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” Man’s situation is so dire that we cannot, of our own volition, come to Christ. We must be drawn. God must, by an extension of His amazing love and grace, bring us to Christ in spite of our every protest. The end of this drawing is, as to be expected, one-and-the-same with the end of being given: “and I will raise him up on the last day.” Someone who is given, and then drawn, will believe The Gospel and will inherit eternal life—Jesus leaves no ifs-ands-or-buts about it.
But what does this drawing look like? Well, Jesus again: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me” [John 6:45]. Jesus, seemingly harmonizing two Old Testament references (Isaiah 54:13 and Jeremiah 31:34), defines this drawing as hearing and learning from God the Father. God draws people to Christ by telling them about Him (or perhaps calling them) and by instructing them about who He is and what they need to do. Note the significance of Jesus’s (possible) quotation. Jeremiah 31 contains the most in-depth Old Testament prophecy about the New Covenant. The full text of Jeremiah 31:33 - 34 reads:
“But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
The Old Covenant—because it was defined by genealogy and nationality—could not guarantee that all of its members were truly believers and followers of God. But the New Covenant, however, is composed only of believers, as demonstrated by Jeremiah and by Jesus’s words. In the New Covenant, “they all will know [Yahweh],” and they all will receive forgiveness of sins. Most importantly for our discussion, however, look at the context of Jeremiah 31:34, and note specifically who we see acting: it is God. God says, “I will cut a new covenant with the house of Judah… I will put My law within them… I will write it.” God is the one acting here… so now turn to John 6:44 - 45; who do we see acting there? God. God draws the dead sinner to Christ. God does the instructing. Likewise, it is God who does the giving in verses 37 and 39. And what is the result of being drawn by the Father? “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me” [John 6:45].
No one, absolutely no one, can come to Christ apart from the drawing of God. Man is too sinful, too wicked, too dead. As C.S. Lewis once remarked, “The doors of hell are locked from the inside;” the natural man hates God and will do anything he can to escape Him. It is only by God's amazing grace then—only by His action of drawing—that any of us have been privileged to believe The Gospel.
Objection: “That makes God responsible for damnation.”
Of course, the objection that is often raised against a presentation of God being this sovereign over individual salvation is, “That makes God responsible for billions of people going to hell.” To this objection, allow us to present two answers.
First: no it doesn’t. The giving and drawing of God in John chapter 6 does not make God responsible (in the sense of moral culpability) for people being in hell, it makes God responsible for people being in heaven. What we see in John 6 is God having grace on already fallen and condemned people. God does not draw some to sin and some to Christ, but only ever draws to Christ, and passes over those who are dead in their sin. And lest we think that it is “unfair” of God to choose to have mercy on some and to pass over others, let us not forget that God “has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” [Romans 9:18]. Let us also remember that “the wages of sin is death”—we deserve death, judgment, and hell. We don’t deserve grace and salvation. God is under no obligation to give grace, nor is He responsible for sinners going to hell when they do so because they have sinned. People are damned because they have sinned; people are saved because God has acted in mercy—do not confuse the two.
Second: it is not entirely foreign to Scripture to believe that God has purposed for some people to face the judgment of hell—in fact, that’s exactly what the Bible says:
“Yahweh has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.” [Proverbs 16:4]
“And what if God, wanting to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared for destruction, and in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory?” [Romans 9:22 - 23]
In short, objecting to biblical truth (the teaching of God’s sovereignty in John 6) by appealing to other biblical truths (God’s purposes in allowing certain individuals to die in their sin and endure hell) isn’t going to accomplish anything, but actually strengthens the overall consistency of the Bible’s perspective.
What Does It All Mean?
So what does it all mean? What can we really glean from John 6:26 - 47? Well, let’s summarize what we have discussed:
1. We have most recently seen that human beings are totally incapable of coming to Christ on their own. Due to our enslavement to and deadness in sin, we would never, of our own choosing or free act, submit ourselves to Christ or believe in Him [v. 44].
2. God the Father has given a particular people to the Lord Jesus, all of whom will come to believe in Christ and will inherit eternal life; from logical deduction, we have concluded that people who die in unbelief have not been given to Jesus by the Father, and we have concluded that all believers believe because they have been given by the Father to the Son. Furthermore, because of what we learned in point one, we know that the Father does not give these individuals on the basis of some inherent goodness or in response to their faith, but His doing so is the cause of their faith [vv. 37 - 40].
3. All whom God the Father has given to the Lord Jesus will be drawn by the Father to the Lord Jesus, which is the application of the “giving” in real time [vv. 44 - 45].
4. All whom God the Father has given to the Lord Jesus will come to believe in, follow, and know the Lord Jesus; all whom the Father has given to Christ will inherit eternal life. This is the will of God, which cannot be left unaccomplished. Neither will Jesus reject those whom the Father has given Him, nor will He lose them by allowing them to apostasize, but He will raise them up on the last day [vv. 37 - 40, 44].
5. We have seen that although someone may appear to have “faith” in Jesus, even going to great lengths to follow Him, it is very well that they did not believe at all. Those who “fall away” do not call into question Christ’s perfect ability to preserve all whom the Father has given Him, for they were never given to Him in the first place. Such false-believers can be detected by pressing doctrinal distinctives about the person of Christ and the nature of The Gospel [vv. 26, 36, 47, 59 - 66].
In short, what we have found in the text of John chapter 6 are what Reformed Theologians have summarized in the Doctrines of Grace, namely: Total Depravity (1), Unconditional Election (2), Irresistible Grace (3), and Perseverance of the Saints (4).
Closing Thoughts
John chapter 6 is a difficult passage to receive, wrestle with, and accept—but it’s not difficult to understand. Jesus speaks plainly and directly, without any hint of sarcasm, hyperbole, or ambiguity. So why are the doctrines that we derive from this passage and others (like Romans 9 and Ephesians 1) held in such derision, or otherwise relegated to obscurity? Why aren’t they unanimously believed and taught? Is it possible that it has nothing to do with the clarity (or alleged lack thereof) of the Scriptures, but has everything to do with emotionalism, cultural conformity, and a compromised view of Scripture? Of course, we stand by what we said in the introduction: someone’s stance on the issues addressed here do not indicate their state before God, nor is salvation in jeopardy for “being wrong” on this topic. But, we would simply encourage you: every word of God is true and precious. And, should there be no interpretation that better handles the text than the one presented (and we would not have given ours if we believed there was a better one), then what stops the heart from believing the words of the Lord?
If you’d like to explore another passage that examines similar themes as the one above, please refer to our study through Romans chapter 9. As always, we hope this has been of great blessing to you in our collective pursuit to know the word of God and believe it. Soli Deo Gloria!
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