Joh_6:37; Joh_6:39. - Christ Draws Men By The Cross

16. John 6:37; John 6:39. - Christ Draws Men By The Cross.

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (37) And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” John 6:37; John 6:39 In reference to these two verses, Mr. Nettleton makes the statement:

“Throughout John 6:1-71 the divine side is spoken of along with the human side.  Man must believe and God has planned.”

Now, I do not know where to find his statement in John 6:1-71; nevertheless, these two verses are used to support it.  You can make any passage mean what you want it to, if you take two verses and isolate them without taking other verses in the Word that shed light upon these verses.  When we come to John 6:37 we find that:

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Nettleton's comment is this:

“Believers are given to Christ by the Father and such as are given shall come.” (Page 26, Chosen to Salvation.) In other words, they do not have any choice, according to Nettleton. In John 6:39 we read:

“And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” Their reasoning is--all that the Father has given Christ have no choice. They have to come--they will come--and the free will of man is taken away because they must believe. God will even give them the faith to do it with! Therefore, they conclude that man is elected to salvation. “Don't ask us why,” the election people say, “because you have to take it by faith. It is all contained in the sovereignty of God and His ways are past finding out! We will never know His ways,” and all of that mumbo-jumbo! This is not the teaching of the Word of God.

Let us examine John 6:37; John 6:39 in their context as we read the rest of the chapter, especially John 6:44-45 :

“No man can come to me (Christ), except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (44)

“It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” (45)

We find a little more information that Mr. Nettleton did not include in his writings.  Just taking two verses and not using the rest of the chapter or the rest of the Gospel of John would not be consistent with the basic fundamentals of Biblical interpretation.  Notice again in John 6:44 :

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” The Father is going to have to draw men, and how will He draw them? In John 12:32 the Bible answers for itself:

“And I (Christ), if I be lifted up from the earth (the cross) will draw all men unto me.” The drawing of all men unto Him is through the cross--by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Drawing all men is not all men without exception, as we have said; but, rather, all men without distinction as to race, color, or creed. No--God loves the world and gave His only begotten Son in sacrifice for it. To take just two verses (as Mr. Nettleton has done with John 6:37; John 6:39) and not correlate any other verses in the Gospel of John that speak on the same subject is shown to be erroneous when we find that all men are drawn by the cross. So you see, it is God's will that all should come and be saved. This is a far cry from seeing the Scriptures twisted and turned, pulling out two verses of Scripture and disregarding the rest of the chapter as well as the rest of the Gospel of John. Is it any wonder a person can make the Bible mean what they want it to when they do not let Scripture interpret Scripture? No--you and I are not one of those who are elected to be saved nor one of those who are elected to be lost.

We have a free will and our destiny is really in our own hands.  If you choose to accept the record God has given of His Son, then you will be saved.  If you choose to reject the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then the responsibility is yours, as you will spend eternity separated from God.  But thanks be to God we have the free will to make that choice and stand responsible for the choice we make!