Tom asked the following question:
A Calvinist cited John 6:37, which says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,” to argue in favor of election unto everlasting life. How shall I reply?
Coming to Jesus in John’s Gospel––including in chapter 6 (see verse 35, two verses earlier)––refers to believing in Him.
There is nothing about election in John 6:37. Giving is not choosing or electing.
Whom does the Father give to Jesus? According to John 6:37, those given to the Lord Jesus come to faith in Him. Hence, something occurs prior to believing that results in that belief. See also John 6:35, 39, 40, 47.
Acts 16:14 indicates that “the Lord opened her [Lydia’s] heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” Nowhere in Scripture is regeneration called opening the heart. Rather, the point is that a nanosecond before anyone believes, God opens their heart/mind (cf. Luke 24:45) so that they see the truth and believe it.
Other Scripture indicates that He opens the hearts of those who respond positively to being drawn by Him.
In other words, the ones the Father gives to the Lord Jesus are those who are open to the truth and who seek the Lord in response to His first seeking them.
Compare also John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (italics added). The words, “you are not willing to come to Me,” are decidedly contra the Calvinist view of election. And they are found in both John 5:40 and 6:37.
See also Matt 7:7-11 where the Lord says that those who ask receive, those who seek find, and those who knock have the door opened for them. Once again, that is not deterministic.
Speaking to the Athenian philosophers, the Apostle Paul said:
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us…” (Acts 17:26-27, italics added).
Cornelius in Acts 10 is another example. His prayers and alms had ascended to God as a memorial. That is why God sent an angel to tell him to send for Simon Peter, who would tell him and his household what they must do to be saved (Acts 11:14).
The woman at the well was told that if she knew the gift of God and who was speaking with her, she would have asked Him and He would have given her living water (John 4:10). In John 4:14 the Lord explained that the gift of God is everlasting life and that the living water is the saving message that Jesus the Christ guarantees everlasting life to all who believe in Him for it.
Calvinists mean well. But their system is not based on Scripture. It is based on a man-made philosophical construct. That construct is contrary to Scripture and results in people going on lifelong quests to find some hope that they might be born again. They live in ongoing dread that they are not elect and that they will spend eternity in the lake of fire. The Father does not wish that fear on anyone. He wants us to believe in His Son and be sure of our eternal destiny. See my books Is Calvinism Biblical? and Secure and Sure for more details.
Keep grace in focus and you will remain assured that you have come to Jesus and that you have everlasting life that can never be lost.
