John 6:44 De-Calvinized

Dr. Leighton Flowers walks through John 6:44 and its various interpretations to demonstrate that no one rejects Christ because God has withheld some kind of special "irresistible grace" that is necessary for them to believe, as the Calvinist posits.

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[tedbates]

I am not a Calvinist but I could not have come if the Lord had not drawn me.

[danielneufeld]

Thank you Dr. Flowers.

You helped me get get out of a Calvinistic pit of despair!

Praise Jesus!

[jinaforjesus]

I really cannot thank you enough for this content and your channel. My whole world is flipping on its head right now, but I am safe in my Father’s arms. This I know. Thank you, Mr. Flowers. I am learning so much from you and it is setting me free. God bless you, sir.

[monicawilson]

Thank you for this short, concise, intelligent and spiritually discerned video.

[FlamSalad]

And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

[regandanielle]

WOW thank you for covering this verse, too! I am only 23, but I have been grappling with Calvinism for over 2 years now. You are the first source I have EVER come across that gives alternative perspectives that make sense, and it gives me hope for not living in doubt about who God really is. Your channel is an answer to many tear-filled prayers.
I was starting to not even want to evangelize, because I felt like telling someone that Jesus loves them and died for their sins could really be me just lying to them. Very painful and tumultuous stuff to be thinking. The logic just wasn't adding up. It all is so confusing, when people like Piper are saying that the cross is available to all people, and the offer is genuine. All I could say was, "HOW?!"

[kjb]

So a video on John 6:44 has the total length of 6:45? Maybe you should edit the video and trim off one second. 😊

[b.g.]

John 6:44 and John 6:65-
John 6:44 (NIV):
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at
the last day.
John 6:65 (NIV):
65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them."

But, John 12:32 and 16:8 shows that God draws all men to Christ.
John 12:32 (NIV):
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
"All people."

John 16:8 (NIV):
8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
TO THE WORLD- AS IN: EVERYONE.

John 6:35
John 6:40
John 6:47
John 6:35 (NIV):
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:40 (NIV):
40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

John 6:47 (NIV):
47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.


For the Calvinist to claim that God preselecting those (only), and that be the only way to (and for)
salvation- it completely contracts John 6:40.

John 6:47 (NIV):
47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.

[bryanhurlbutt]

How could you possibly ignore the immediate context in this explanation? Note John 6:37-39 - All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. [39] And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Effectual calling and eternal security are both clear. ALL given WILL come and he will lose NOTHING of what is given. The doctrines of grace are pretty clear here.

[SpielbergMichael]

Another great incisive articulate powerfully clear teaching!
Praise Jesus!

[labsquadmedia]

Such a clear, helpful explanation. It really is good news.

[randatatang]

The fact that Christ intends to draw all men to himself proves that grace is not irresistible since not everyone believes

[MiracleWhit]

I just had a conversation with a Calvinist who pulled this verse OUT OF CONTEXT to prove total inability. I went through John 6 verse by verse revealing the same content in this video.

His answer: You just don’t understand the context of John 6.

Go figure. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[emf]

The more I learn about Calvinism, the more it seems to resemble a cult since cults are notorious for re-interpreting scripture and giving it a completely different meaning.

[JustReadTheBible]

BSF is John this year. I knew right away I had to look you up when I got stuck on this verse. THANK YOU 🙏🏻

[mathewabraham]

Beautiful, beautiful. Thanks you dear brother Leighton.💥😀🙏🏼

[msindisi]

Yes. The mistake that is made in the handling of this portion of scripture is that the words “give” and “draw” are taken as synonymous whereas there are two very different concepts. All whom the Father gives to the Son will come. Not all whom the Father draws will come.

I used to vehemently hold to Calvinism in my younger years. I used to feel a denial of TULIP was to open the door to a works based salvation, and a denial of the sovereignty of God in our salvation. I would look at John 6 as an obvious proof of the Doctrines of Grace, although the basis of my Calvinism was not from John 6 but Romans 9. Romans 9 was also what later convinced me that my Calvinism was wrong.

I was blind to 2 main assumptions that I had made about John 6. Firstly I assumed the nature of the drawing. John says nothing about the drawing being irresistible. Part of the reason that I read it that way because I made “give” and “draw” synonyms.

Secondly, John 6 says nothing as to the motive of God’s drawing where as I understood it as being that it was God’s pleasure to save some and not others. It was an assumption based on prior belief. However, these were clear to me because, in my mind Romans 9 clearly set these truths out explicitly. So when my reading of Romans 9 later contradicted my Calvinism, and I repented concerning those beliefs, I no longer had those assumptions which then raised questions about how I had been reading that passage formerly. I think this video does much to challenge assumptions on how that passage has been read. Very clear reasoning that harmonizes that passage with other statements that Jesus makes concerning his heart that all might be saved. May the Lord give us such a heart also.

[gvillemusic]

You never examined the full context of any of the verses that you quoted.

People use the same word or phrase to mean something different in a different context all the time. That's just how we speak.

There would be no way to know if a sentence outside of John 6 related to John 6 without examining those context but you didn't do it. I would definitely argue that none of those versus outside of John 6 had anything to do with what Jesus was saying in John 6

The context of John 6 determines what is said in John 6. Not the context in John 5 or the context in john 17 or anywhere else. That's just basic reading isn't it?

[KimDroptiny]

I find it interesting that just as Calvinists harshly critique hyper-Charismatics for using scripture out of context (which they do) - yet the Calvinists do the same! Instead of looking at the full body of the Word of God, they pick individual verses. John 12:32 cannot be separated from John 6, "....I will draw ALL men unto Me....". Thank you Dr. Flowers for explaining things so clearly and humbly.

[connorsmith]

I appreciate your work Dr Flowers and I'm sure you are a much finer scholar than me, but I would say it's dangerous to force a meaning into a text that simply isn't there. I'm not a "calvinist" per se, however I do have to say that to rebrand this to mean "enable" or "grant" just simply ignores the meaning of the word. The root Greek word used for draw, 'helko', does not mean this anywhere in scripture. Rather, it is used in other places regarding drawing a sword (John 18:10), and often going even further away from 'enabling' and meaning to actually 'drag' someone, as in James 2:6 (dragged into court). To 'draw' is also used in a term of a sexually affectionate 'drawing' in Song of Solomon 1:4 (In Septuagint)- this in no way means to enable.

I am admittedly a bit of fence-sitter on matters like soteriology, but I'm not keen on twisting language to try and fit it into a particular theological camp. Rather, we should sometimes accept there are problem passages in our dogmatic positions at times.