Jhn 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
Most Calvinists point to this as being a proof of monergism; God must draw the individual first before he can come to Christ. A similar statement is made later on, enforcing the statement made in verse 44:
Jhn 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."
Because Jesus says that He has already said this thing, it makes it quite reasonable that He was pointing back to what He said in verse 44. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father has granted it to them, and the Father must draw them to Christ.
Now the typical rebuttal is to immediately run to John 12:32, where it says:
Jhn 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."
And the synergist says "See! He draws all men!"
And I am going to prove this line of reasoning as false, right here and now.
The synergist jumps on the opportunity for a proof text, for no other reason than they are helpless against John 6. John 6 clearly teaches monergism, I didn't quote much of it but there is a whole lot more that Jesus says to support this claim.
Now, most of us are probably familiar with the terminology in John 6:44, and the English "draw". The word means nothing of "wooing" or "convincing" as it may mean in the English. The closest correct interpretation from the English word "draw" would be something like drawing water from a well, or drawing a sword from its sheath, or drawing a net of fish from water. The Greek is ἕλκω (helko), which is a verb (or an action word). The word is most accurately defined as one animate force or party acting upon one inanimate force or party. Meaning, if someone were to "draw their sword" or "draw water from a well" or "draw a net of fish", the sword is inanimate, or the water is inanimate, or the fish are inanimate. There is no fighting between the two objects, as well as the opposite; there is no synergy between them at all. It is one party acting upon another. All biblical usages fit under this description with absolute certainty.
Jhn 18:10 Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave's name was Malchus.
Jhn 21:6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
Jhn 21:11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
Act 16:19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities,
Act 21:30 Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
Jam 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
Now in some of these usages, it might be easy to see that there may have been struggling going on from the object/party which is being acted upon. And that may have been; Paul may have been struggling when he was dragged away, and those fishing may have been struggling to pull the net in. But that is not stated in the word itself. It's similar to me saying that I caught a fish. By using there word "caught", you don't know whether there was really a fight between the fish and I at all. All you know is that I somehow caught a fish, whether with a net, or my hands, or a fishing pole, etc. It is the same here.
So now that I got some background covered, let's jump back to John 12:32. If ἕλκω defines God as drawing men, by Himself, with no help or struggle in either direction, then wouldn't John 12:32 be saying that God was going to save all men, since He would be drawing all men to Himself?
There is a slight problem here (apart from Universalism). The passages are being falsely equated. Who is doing the drawing in John 6?
Jhn 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
The Father is drawing.
Jhn 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."
Jesus is drawing.
Right here, you have two different statements. They cannot be equated. First, Jesus says no one can come unless the Father draws him. Then later on Jesus says the He Himself will draw all men.
It is clear that what is meant here are two different drawings. We Calvinists would still affirm that John 6 is teaching Monergism, and more specifically, monergistic regeneration. But from the context, John 12:32 can be spelled out very specifically in opposition to the synergists, now that we have established a few things.
In John 12, the context is that Greeks (Gentiles) were going up to worship, and these were who Jesus was speaking to.
Jhn 12:20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast;
and Jesus says, among other things,
Jhn 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.
and John provides commentary, to clarify this statement which Jesus had made:
Jhn 12:33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.
Now, the most plausible interpretation, according to the context, as opposed to Universalism (which is the only other option), is that Jesus was telling the Greeks that His death would be made available for all men, Jew or Gentile. Thus, the reference to drawing all men to Himself is pointing to the fact that His death would not only be for Jews, but also for all other people (Gentiles). It is not in reference to individuals, but instead mankind as a whole. We might point to John 10, where Jesus makes a statement along these same lines:
Jhn 10:14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
Jhn 10:15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
Jhn 10:16 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
One flock is the Jews, the other flock is the Gentiles. There are of different folds; a fold is a place where the sheep are kept. They must become one flock, meaning the Church, and He will be their shepherd.
I say all of this to show that simply quoting John 12:32 as an opposition to the whole chapter of John 6 is not adequate, and is based on a logical fallacy. It shows that synergists cannot reconcile what Jesus has taught, and are in a desperate scramble to preserve their supposed free will.
Most Calvinists point to this as being a proof of monergism; God must draw the individual first before he can come to Christ. A similar statement is made later on, enforcing the statement made in verse 44:
Jhn 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."
Because Jesus says that He has already said this thing, it makes it quite reasonable that He was pointing back to what He said in verse 44. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father has granted it to them, and the Father must draw them to Christ.
Now the typical rebuttal is to immediately run to John 12:32, where it says:
Jhn 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."
And the synergist says "See! He draws all men!"
And I am going to prove this line of reasoning as false, right here and now.
The synergist jumps on the opportunity for a proof text, for no other reason than they are helpless against John 6. John 6 clearly teaches monergism, I didn't quote much of it but there is a whole lot more that Jesus says to support this claim.
Now, most of us are probably familiar with the terminology in John 6:44, and the English "draw". The word means nothing of "wooing" or "convincing" as it may mean in the English. The closest correct interpretation from the English word "draw" would be something like drawing water from a well, or drawing a sword from its sheath, or drawing a net of fish from water. The Greek is ἕλκω (helko), which is a verb (or an action word). The word is most accurately defined as one animate force or party acting upon one inanimate force or party. Meaning, if someone were to "draw their sword" or "draw water from a well" or "draw a net of fish", the sword is inanimate, or the water is inanimate, or the fish are inanimate. There is no fighting between the two objects, as well as the opposite; there is no synergy between them at all. It is one party acting upon another. All biblical usages fit under this description with absolute certainty.
Jhn 18:10 Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave's name was Malchus.
Jhn 21:6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
Jhn 21:11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
Act 16:19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities,
Act 21:30 Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
Jam 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
Now in some of these usages, it might be easy to see that there may have been struggling going on from the object/party which is being acted upon. And that may have been; Paul may have been struggling when he was dragged away, and those fishing may have been struggling to pull the net in. But that is not stated in the word itself. It's similar to me saying that I caught a fish. By using there word "caught", you don't know whether there was really a fight between the fish and I at all. All you know is that I somehow caught a fish, whether with a net, or my hands, or a fishing pole, etc. It is the same here.
So now that I got some background covered, let's jump back to John 12:32. If ἕλκω defines God as drawing men, by Himself, with no help or struggle in either direction, then wouldn't John 12:32 be saying that God was going to save all men, since He would be drawing all men to Himself?
There is a slight problem here (apart from Universalism). The passages are being falsely equated. Who is doing the drawing in John 6?
Jhn 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
The Father is drawing.
Jhn 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."
Jesus is drawing.
Right here, you have two different statements. They cannot be equated. First, Jesus says no one can come unless the Father draws him. Then later on Jesus says the He Himself will draw all men.
It is clear that what is meant here are two different drawings. We Calvinists would still affirm that John 6 is teaching Monergism, and more specifically, monergistic regeneration. But from the context, John 12:32 can be spelled out very specifically in opposition to the synergists, now that we have established a few things.
In John 12, the context is that Greeks (Gentiles) were going up to worship, and these were who Jesus was speaking to.
Jhn 12:20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast;
and Jesus says, among other things,
Jhn 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.
and John provides commentary, to clarify this statement which Jesus had made:
Jhn 12:33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.
Now, the most plausible interpretation, according to the context, as opposed to Universalism (which is the only other option), is that Jesus was telling the Greeks that His death would be made available for all men, Jew or Gentile. Thus, the reference to drawing all men to Himself is pointing to the fact that His death would not only be for Jews, but also for all other people (Gentiles). It is not in reference to individuals, but instead mankind as a whole. We might point to John 10, where Jesus makes a statement along these same lines:
Jhn 10:14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
Jhn 10:15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
Jhn 10:16 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
One flock is the Jews, the other flock is the Gentiles. There are of different folds; a fold is a place where the sheep are kept. They must become one flock, meaning the Church, and He will be their shepherd.
I say all of this to show that simply quoting John 12:32 as an opposition to the whole chapter of John 6 is not adequate, and is based on a logical fallacy. It shows that synergists cannot reconcile what Jesus has taught, and are in a desperate scramble to preserve their supposed free will.
