Man’s Moral and Natural Ability, Part 8

If man cannot come to God without divine assistance from the Spirit of God, then just how much help from God is needed to get man to respond in faith to God because of his fallen nature?  How much help is needed by God to overcome man’s inability to come to Christ?

First, in verse 44 of John 6, Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

The key word is the word “draw.” How does the Father draw people to Christ? Some think of the “draw” as God’s enticement.  While the drawing may include a level of enticement or wooing, man still can choose to refuse it.  Thus God’s drawing becomes a necessary condition, but not a sufficient condition to bring people to Christ.

To put it in another way, it means that we cannot come to Jesus without God’s wooing, but the wooing or enticement of God does not guarantee that we will, in fact, come to Christ.

Those of the Arminian persuasion tend to view God’s enticement as such.  God does initiate the first move, they tell us, but man has the option of either going with it or rejecting it.

I do not agree with this. The Greek word for “draw” is elko, and according to Kittel, it means, “to compel with irresistible authority.”  A better rendering is “to compel.” This is much more forceful than to woo.

Here is how the word is used elsewhere.  Over in James 2:6, we read: “But you have dishonored the poor man.  Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?”  Guess which word is the same as the word “draws” in John 6:44?  It is the word “drag.” Do you see the force behind it?

Now try to substitute the word “woo” in James’ text: “Do not the rich oppress you and woo you into the courts.”  You see, it isn’t the same. There has to be force behind it – that is an irresistible force.

Also over in Acts 16:19: “But when her masters saw that their hope and profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.”  Guess the word in this passage? It is the word “drag.” How would this sound by using the word “woo?” “They seized Paul and Silas and wooed them into the marketplace.”  It doesn’t fit.

You see, when God works in a person’s heart and draws that person to Jesus, it becomes an irresistible force.  All whom God draws to Jesus will come. There are no exceptions! God’s “drawing” becomes both a necessary and sufficient condition in bringing people of His choosing to Christ.

End of Part 8