Observations.net

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.

Jesus is clear in what He spoke, but so many have struggled with this passage.

The heretical calvinists, not believing in the love of God and holding to absolute determinism, have taken this passage and run with it. Humans have been decreed by the calvinist god to be nothing more than wicked beasts who cannot feel guilt and cannot reason for themselves. The calvinist god must sovereignly decree which of these wicked beasts will be reformed. Only these chosen beasts will be given enlightenment. The rest will be left in darkness and cast into hell.

Alternatively, some non-calvinists have tried to water down the passage to make it more palatable. Jesus said this but He really meant that.

Instead, let's give the passage due respect.

Jesus, with His disciples, was confronted by the murmuring pharisees. The pharisees thought so highly of themselves and their intellectual reasoning. If anyone understood and could see the truth, it was surely them.

Jesus struck down their pride. John 9 tells us:

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words, and said unto Him, Are we blind also?

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Sinful humans need divine help to come to God. We have free will, but we are weak and pitiful. To the humble, to those willing to approach with child-like faith, God shines the light so that they might believe and be saved.

But for the self-righteous, for those who think too highly of themselves, God turns them over to the darkness of their own hearts.