Does John 6.65 rule out “free will”?

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free will, gospel of john, jesus, life journal, questions, real life church

Life Journal // 007

I receieved an email this morning from a Real-Lifer (and good friend) about a verse from today’s Life Journal reading: John 6.65 – He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” His comment was quick and to the point: “Doesn’t sound like free will to me!!!”

Of course “free will” is a complicated philosophical concept that we aren’t going to get into here, but I thought I’d share my answer for any other Real-Lifers (or otherwise) who had the same question.

This verse finds a parallel in 6.44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” This states the very same thing, this time substituting “draws” for “enables” (they’re synonymous and both fairly straightforward).

If we read these as detached philosophical or theological statements then they do certainly seem to argue against free will. But not if we read them in the context of the story John is telling about Jesus. Notice what Jesus later says in John 12.32:

And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all men to myself.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus being “lifted up” always refers to the cross; in John’s paradoxical theology, it is when Jesus is at his lowest that he is actually at his highest (or to use another John phrase, that he is “glorified”). So it is at the cross that all people are drawn to Jesus. The cross is the great “enabler” without which none of us could come to Jesus. But since in the cross God reached out to all of us through Jesus, we are now all faced with the decision of how to respond. So it is true that no one can come unless they are drawn/enabled by God to do so, but in the cross this very drawing/enabling has taken place. God has done his part and the rest is up to us (with his constant help, of course).

Plowshares and Pruning Hooks

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church planting, discipleship, isaiah, life journal, old testament, politics, prophets, salvation

Life Journal // 006

Isaiah 2.1-4: This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

This is a picture of the future as God sees it (and therefore as it will be), and it is a future we are called to begin in the present. Isaiah 2.1-4 was one of the most consistently used passages in the early church’s attempts to teach new converts about the faith and make disciples out of them (catechism). It should play a similarly central role in how we understand our calling. We are the people of God’s future, a preview of things to come, a sign and foretaste of God’s heavenly kingdom come to earth. The point is not just “going to heaven when we die” but rather “bringing heaven to earth” in the form of a transformed community that lives according to a different story, with different allegiances and ideals, than the communities of our world. God will heal the world, and we are called to be the advance guard of that great healing operation. And this very well may cost us dearly. May we have ears to hear.

Life Journal 005 // Joel and the New Testament

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America, church, heaven, jesus, joel, life journal, new testament, old testament, paul, politics, romans

Last week I posted on the message of Joel the prophet here, and I promised to add some thoughts about how Joel impacts our understanding of the New Testament. I have three texts / topics in mind.

First, I think Joel’s understanding of pagan armies helps us understand Romans 13, where Paul tells the Jesus-followers in Rome to “submit to the governing authorities because they have been put in their place by God,” etc, etc. People have read this as indicating God’s support of this or that nation or government, with the implication that what nations do is good and godly. Today I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with the application points, but what we often miss is that for Paul, Romans 13 has everything to do with the way God works through pagan nations in the prophets. According to them, especially in texts like Isaiah 10 and here in Joel, pagan armies are both (a) tools accomplishing God’s purposes, and (b) enemies of God awaiting eventual judgment. The key thing is that God can use nations for his purposes, and he can call his people to submit to their rule, without them having his approval or blessing. This was certainly true of the Roman Empire of Paul’s day.

Life Journal 004 // the God of Jonah

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creation care, God, grace, jonah, life journal, old testament, prophets, salvation, theology

Following the Life Journal reading plan, yesterday we reflected on the prophet Joel and today I’d like to take a quick look at Jonah. Let’s make some observations about the God revealed in Jonah.

The God of Jonah changes his mind. Actually, the text says God repents (3.10). That’s the word used there, I believe. It’s translated “relent” but that’s only not to tick off the Calvinists. I’m not trying to be argumentative (thanks to today’s NT reading), but this verse doesn’t sit well with the picture of God whose plans are set in stone, less still one who controls every little thing. The picture of God here is radically relational – he genuinely interacts with us, so much so that our actions call out unplanned responses from within him.

The God of Jonah does things we think are wrong. I love 4.1: “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.”

Life Journal 003 // the message of Joel

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bible, joel, judgment, life journal, old testament, prophecy, repentance, sin

Part of today’s Life Journal reading is the prophetic book of Joel, a short but power-packed (and vindictive!) oracle about God, his people Israel, and the nations. I want to make a few observations about the message of Joel, and later today or tomorrow I’ll post some thoughts about Joel, the New Testament, and Jesus. (This one is already a bit longer than I’d hoped. Sorry!)

Joel brings an unpopular prediction of judgment. (1.1-2.11) The whole first half of Joel is not good news. And it is not what God’s people expected or desired. The “day of the LORD” is not what they had hoped. Put simply, God’s people assumed that their capital city (Jerusalem) and its Temple were invincible. They took God’s promises to their ancient Kings David and Solomon to mean that God would make them victorious no matter what. Joel disagrees; because of Israel’s gross unfaithfulness – turning obedient faith into ritualistic religion, among other things – God was prepared to act decisively against them.

Life Journal 002 // “son of God” in Romans 1

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jesus, life journal, new testament, paul, politics, romans, son of God, trinity

Yesterday I posted on the word “gospel” as it is used in Paul, specifically in Romans 1. I talked about how we need to let this word what it means rather than forcing it to say so much more (and thus, so much less). I want to reflect similarly on the word “son of God.” When most of us hear this word, we automatically think it refers to Jesus’ divinity. And indeed, this is what the word has come to mean. It actually came to mean this late in the first century. But I would argue that in Romans 1 (and in the Gospels) it mostly meant something different from “divine being” or “God in the flesh” or “second person of the Trinity.” It meant, most centrally, King of Israel.

Life Journal 001 // “gospel” in Romans 1

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gospel, isaiah, life journal, new testament, paul, politics, romans, salvation

Recently our church took up the task of “feeding ourselves” by reading the Bible regularly using the same reading plan and journaling format. You can read about it here. I won’t post regularly on this because I don’t want to ruin my own devotions by going public with them, but I’ll throw out some thoughts as I see fit. Part of yesterday’s reading was Romans 1. The first few verses are jam-packed with goodness. But there’s a lot in there that has been caked over with dust through the centuries, so it’s important for us to be clear on what some of the key terms originally meant.

“gospel” – I can’t stress enough how important it is that we get a clear grasp of what this word meant and means. It’s one of the most loved words in the Christian world, but sadly one of the most misunderstood.