Who Does The Father Draw To Jesus In John 6:44?

John 6:44 says, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

People from different theological perspectives have debated this verse for generations. One theological perspective (Calvinism) believes the Father selects (predestines) those who are drawn to Jesus for salvation. Calvinism identifies those that God selects as the elect or the predestined.

Others, Calvinism says, God will not select to come to Jesus. According to Calvinism, they are not predestined for salvation. Those who are selected by God to believe in Jesus will be given eternal life. The rest cannot believe and will not be given eternal life.

I do not hold to the Calvinistic view of these verses.

My perspective is that those whom God gives to Jesus to be raised up on the last day to experience eternal life are those that believe in Jesus as the Christ not those who God selected to believe.

My view is Jesus teaches in the context of John 6:44 that the Father gives to him (Jesus) those who will be raised up on the last day for eternal life. God the Father gives them to Jesus because they believed in Jesus as the Christ not because they were predestined to believe.

John 6:37 says,

37All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away [cast away into everlasting condemnation on the last day [Daniel 12:2-3 - these verses must be understood with Daniel 12:2-3 in view. See also Acts 24:15 and John 11:21-27. The casting away would be into the lake of fire in Revelation 20].

Who are those the Father gives to Jesus?

We see in verse 40 that those the Father gives to Jesus are those who believe that Jesus is the Christ.

40For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son [title for the Christ] and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

They come to the Father by believing in Jesus as the Christ (John 14:6). Then, on the last day, the Father gives them to Jesus to be raised up to everlasting life. This is the age where there is no death (Revelation 21:1-5).

Let’s continue in John 6:35-39.

35Then 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. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” 37All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me [to establish the new testament of grace]. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose [lose is the same Greek word for perish in John 3:16 – none of those the Father gives Jesus will perish on the last day because those he gives Jesus have believed and therefore have eternal life] none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day [the last day is referring to what Michael the archangel said in Daniel 12:2-3 about some being awakened to eternal life and the others to eternal judgment - perish].

Remember, we are seeking to understand who those are the Father gives to Jesus to be raised up on the last day (John 6:37, 39).

Let’s keep reading, starting in John 6:40.

40For 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.”

Those the Father gives to Jesus to be raised up on the last day are those who look to Jesus when he is lifted up on the cross and believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Those who believe will have eternal life. They are given to Jesus by God on the last day to be raised up unto everlasting life.

This is not the Father predetermining who will believe and then giving them to Jesus to be raised up on the last day for eternal life.

Rather, it is the Father giving to Jesus those who have believed.

They came to the Father through belief in Jesus (John 14:6); then, on the last day (Daniel 12:2-3), the Father gives them to Jesus to be raised up for eternal life and they will live on the new earth where there is no death (Revelation 21:5).

Those who come to Jesus on the last day are those the Father gives to Jesus (John 6:37) to be raised up on the last day for eternal life. The Father gives them to Jesus because they have believed.

God the Father is not selecting who is to believe; rather, God is giving to Jesus those who did believe so they can be raised up on the last day.

41At this [the statement of Jesus in verse 40 about believing in him and having eternal life] the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

43“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44“No one can come to me [to be raised up on the last day] unless the Father who sent me draws [brings with love] them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Who are those who come to Jesus to be raised up on the last day?

Those who come to Jesus are those who are drawn by the Father.

This simply means that God the Father, with passionate love, brings to Jesus on the last day to be raised up (awakened – Daniel 12:2-3; John 11:24-27) those who have believed.

The word drawn in the Greek language means to passionately take from one place to another.

This passion can be fueled with anger, with effort, with fear, or with love.

Anger: Paul was dragged (the Greek word for draws) into the marketplace and out of the Temple by angry people (Acts 16:19; 21:30).

Effort: The disciples were unable to haul (the Greek word for draws) the fish they caught, though they put effort into it (John 21:6).

Fear: Peter fearfully removed (the Greek word for draw) his sword from its case or his belt to protect Jesus (John 18:10).

Love: God, with loving-kindness, desired to draw (the Greek word for draw) the people of Israel to himself; yet they refused to come.

In the Septuagint (the Jewish translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek language), the Greek word for draw in John 6:44 is the same Greek word for drawn in Jeremiah 31:3, where God says to the nation of Israel, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

Even though God drew the people of Israel to him in love, most did not respond in faith but with rejection.

Hosea 11:4 says, “I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.”

Let’s read all of these verses in Hosea 11:1-4.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. 3It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 4I led [drew] them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.”

We see in these verses that God drew the nation of Israel to him with loving-kindness; however, most of the people rejected God, choosing to worship Baal and images of false gods.

God, with passionate, deep love for the nation of Israel, drew the nation of Israel to himself, but they refused to come.

Calvinists teach that when God draws someone to Jesus for salvation his drawing can’t be resisted. This is called by Calvinist irresistible grace.

However in the previous verses, we see this drawing can be resisted.

Those who the Father draws to Jesus on the last day to be raised up for eternal life are those who did not resist believing in Jesus. Others resisted in unbelief.

Jesus said in John 12:32-33, “When I am lifted up, I will draw [with my love from the cross - Paul said the love of Christ for people in dying for them compelled him on his missionary journeys to take the good news of Jesus’ payment for their sins to all men , where God no longer counts people’s sins against them -2 Corinthians 5:14-19] all men unto me.”

Some believed, others did not.

Those who believed, the Father will draw [lovingly bring] to Jesus on the last day to be raised up to experience eternal life on the new earth. Those who do not believe will be cast away and will perish in the lake of fire (Revelation 20).