You're confusing the instrumental cause of salvation ("through faith,"
Eph. 2:8) with its efficient cause ("by grace,"
Eph. 2:8). The question is whether fallen man possesses the moral and spiritual capacity to direct faith toward Christ at all, given his hostility toward God (
Rom. 8:7-8;
1 Cor. 2:14).
Saving faith is indeed
qualitatively distinct from natural belief. The natural man can believe propositions, but he cannot
receive the things of the Spirit (
1 Cor. 2:14). Faith in Christ does not arise from the old nature's rational faculties; it arises from the new life granted by the Spirit (
John 6:44,
65).
Your comments on
Phil. 1:29 and
Eph. 2:8 ignores the syntax. In
Phil. 1:29, τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν ("to believe in Him") is the very thing "granted" (ἐχαρίσθη). Belief itself is the divine gift. Likewise, in
Eph. 2:8, the neuter demonstrative τοῦτο ("this") refers to the entire preceding clause, "by grace you have been saved through faith." The whole reality of salvation
through faith is of God, not of human origin.
It actually does. Grammatically, the αὐτὸν ("him") in both ἑλκύσῃ ("draws") and ἀναστήσω ("will raise") refers to the same person. Thus, the one drawn is the one raised. This is easily seen if restating the logic of the verse contrapositively:
"If
he is able to come, then the Father [has drawn]
him, and I will raise
him up."
Who is the one raised? The one
enabled to come; the one
drawn by the Father.
While it is true theologically that the one raised is the one
who actually comes, what the logic of
John 6:44 is declaring is that
there isn't a distinction. Jesus assumes no difference between those enabled to come, and those who actually do so. The drawing is effectual. It
changes the disposition of their hearts such that the sin they once loved they now hate, and the God they once opposed (
Rom. 8:7-8) they are now naturally inclined toward.
This aligns with verse 37, which says, "all that the Father gives me
will come to me." Interestingly, verse 65 restates verse 44, but replaces the verb with that of verse 37. That interchange of ἑλκύω ("draw") and δίδωμι ("give") indicates a paradigmatic relationship between the two verbs within parallel syntagmatic contexts, suggesting that the Father's drawing and giving are conceptually identical acts:
"All that the Father gives/draws to me
will come to me." (v. 37)
"No one
can come to me unless the Father draws/gives them to me (and the one drawn/given
will be raised up on the last day)." (v. 44)
Again, it actually does. To say otherwise misses both the syntax and theological force of διδακτοὶ θεοῦ ("taught by God"). Jesus is citing Isaiah 54:13, where "being taught by God" is a covenantal promise of divine renewal, parallel to Jeremiah 31:33-34, where God writes His law on their hearts so that "they shall all know Me." In context, it is not a general offer of instruction but a
description of the
effectual work of God upon His covenant people.
Grammatically, διδακτοὶ θεοῦ contains a genitive of agency with a substantivized predicate adjective. This construction consistently denotes persons passively affected by the action of the genitive noun. Compare ἁγαπητοῖς θεοῦ in Romans 1:7 ("loved by God") and τοῖς ἁγαπητοῖς ἡμῶν in Acts 15:25 ("our beloved"), which describe an objective reality independent of response. The persons
are loved; their reaction does not produce that love. Similarly, γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν in Matthew 11:11 ("those born of women") identifies those who have undergone birth, something wholly external to their will. The same pattern appears in θεόπνευστος ("God-breathed") in 2 Timothy 3:16, where the focus is on the divine origin of Scripture, not human participation.
In other words, this grammatical logic essentially conveys the same thing as a
compound word: God-breathed, woman-born, God-loved, God-taught. See also actual compounds, σητόβρωτα ("moth-eaten," Jas. 5:2), πατροπαράδοτου ("inherited from forefathers," 1 Pet. 1:18), and ποταμοφόρητον ("swept away by a flood," Rev. 12:15). In fact, Paul actually uses a compound form of the "God-taught" phrase in 1 Thess. 4:9: θεοδίδακτοι.
In every one of these cases, the modifying element marks the agent
producing the effect.
In other words, "taught by God" describes not a universal opportunity for instruction, but a divine action that
creates the very capacity to come to Christ. It's a metaphor for regeneration, being born again, and directly parallel to "draws" in the prior verse. The subsequent clause, "everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me," simply articulates the necessary consequences of that effectual act. Being taught by God
is what ensures coming to the Son.
