Friday, December 18, 2015

No one can come to me Unless

"No one can come to me UNLESS ...." (Jn 6:44, 65)
I. They simply choose to do so - Pelagianism
II. They get nudged/woo'd by the Father - Arminianism
III. The Father DRAWS them - JESUS.
The BEST word an omniscient God's perfect Son could think of to use to make HIS point here was a word that consistently has only one meaning in scripture - to compel, draw/haul forcibly, irresistibly. The Greek word ἑλκύω (helkuo), used in Jn 6:44, means literally, "to haul, to drag". In it's figurative usage in the New Testament it means to legally, forcibly compel and or, to persuasively attract, draw into.
When we consider the other 6 passages in which we see helkuo used in scripture, in NONE of them is the meaning anything less or other than irresistibly drawn, compelled, pulled, dragged. See Jn 18:10, 21:6; Acts 16:19, 21:30; Jas 2:6.
Strong's Concordance defines helkuo:
"Short Definition: I drag, draw, pull, persuade;
Definition: I drag, draw, pull, persuade, unsheathe."
FACT;
What Jesus did NOT say was "No one can come to me unless THEY so choose"!
- man centred theology denies what Jesus affirmed. HIS truth was about what GOD does and must do. Most professing believers are very confused in their SELF-exalting, God denying affirmations of what THEY did/do.
The Greek word "can" is δύναμαι, and means "have power, able, ability".
In Jn 6:44, 65 Jesus emphatically, expressly, openly DENIED what most professing believers affirm! By denying that ANY person "CAN" - is able to come to Him in faith, UNLESS God the Father does something whereby HE "helkuo's" them to Jesus BY "granting" it to them to come, Jesus in the most obvious way possible, denied the very premise of libertarian free-will!
"No one can ...UNLESS GOD..." leaves NO room for the person himself to simply choose to do so!
As IF coming to Jesus Christ in true repentant faith, understanding He IS LORD, Saviour, Emmanuel - is in fact no different than a choice to eat toast or cereal! My goodness, what passes for sound doctrine these days among professing believers
....For good reason are we called "sheep" ...and it's not really the endearing compliment many might suppose it is. Sheep are very dumb 😐
To an expert fisherman, Jesus said "I will make you a fisher of men" ! That fisherman got the analogy! In THOSE days they fished by trawling with a big net - fish had no chance! Even by hook and line, many a fish will thrash about attempting to resist. But unless there is a faulty hook or line, or an inept fisherman, all its resistance is futile! One way or another, once hooked, it's getting DRAWN in - Dan 4:35! 😇
>>>GOD is not an inept fisherman.
May God give light."
                        -  John Michael Platagia

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