Page 64 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

but it is not true that God gives them new life based on their repentance and faith. Rather, while God calls all
men externally, He only calls His own internally. Those who truly respond to the external call are those who have
been internally called by God and given new birth. Then they respond in faith to the external call. This is the
Calvinistic view.

Arminianism would read verse 37 this way: “All who come to Me the Father will give to Me.” We come; we
decide. Then the Father recognizes our decision and makes us gifts to His Son. Reformed theologians would
argue that’s not the way Jesus taught it. Jesus said, “The ones whom the Father has given to Me will come to Me
– every one of them.”

We must not overlook the final part of this statement: “…the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.” Jesus
said: “All whom the Father gives Me will come to Me, and when they come to Me they will never be sent out;
they will never be separated from Me. They are Mine forever.” Jesus wasn’t teaching only the doctrine of
unconditional election or irresistible grace. Here He was setting forth the doctrine of the perseverance of the
saints, or the preservation of the saints. Those who are truly saved will continue in that condition, for Jesus will
not let them fall away. In his 1 epistle, John writes, “They went out from us, but they were not all of us; for if
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they had been of us, they would have continued with us” (1 John 2:19). Or to word it another way, “if you truly
have it, you never lose it; and if you lose it, you never truly had it.” In short, those who are saved cannot be
separated from the Savior.

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38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of
Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day.
40 For this is the will of My Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day.” Therefore the Jews started complaining about Him, because He said,
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“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered
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them, “Stop complaining among yourselves. He gave a statement that both reiterated what He had already said
about salvation and expanded up on it: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,
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and I will raise him up on the last day.

This astonishing pronouncement is what is called a universal negative proposition. Jesus began with the words
“No one,” which meant “No person” without exception. He then added the word “can.” This word has to do
with ability, but since Jesus had already made clearer that He was talking about something “no one” is able to
do, He was speaking of an inability. He was about to declare that there was something no one was capable of
doing. What was it? “Come to me.” In short, Jesus said no one, no human being, was capable of coming to Him.
All people are infected with a moral inability as a result of their fallen condition.

That doesn’t mean no one ever will come to Jesus. It can happen, but Jesus’ next word, “unless,” indicated a
necessary condition, something that must take place before the desired result can happen. What is this
necessary condition? “… The Father who sent Me draws him.” Jesus said, “No one has the power or the ability to
come to Me and less the Father draws Him.” Please Note: The Greek word that is translated draw is also
translated dragged. (Acts 21:30)

45 It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned
from the Father comes to Me— not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God. He
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has seen the Father. “I assure you: Anyone who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your
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fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so
that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of
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this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” At that, the
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Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “I
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