Calvinism and John 6

(By Pastor Mark Fontecchio)

Question: How do you answer the Calvinist who uses John 6:37 to teach individualistic determinism in regard to salvation?

Answer: The question centers on the words of Jesus, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” The related statement is found in John 6:39, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”

When we consider the context of a passage, we must consider how this extends to how the Holy Spirit inspired the human author to write in the context of the entire book. It helps us to get the broader context of the book before focusing on a verse too much.

The assumption that the Calvinist makes is that the statement in the first part of John 6:37, “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me” and the statement of verse 39 is a direct statement about us and our individual salvation. The broader context of the entire book of John says that it is not.

Let’s answer the question by starting with the context of the entire book. We go to John 17:12 first. Jesus was praying to the father where He said, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” I want you to notice the same language that we see from John 6:39. In John 6 Jesus said, “‘He has given me.” Here in John 17 He said, “Those whom You gave me.” John 17 is part of the biblical context for interpreting John 6. Jesus says I have guarded them. In context He was talking about His disciples during their earthly ministry. If you think John 17 is about us, then you are going to struggle with the words where He said, “‘None of them is lost except the son of perdition.”

Jesus is talking about the original 11 Apostles, that He had guarded them. I don’t even believe He meant that statement in regard to their eternal salvation, but He meant it in regard to their physical protection.

Let’s look over at John 18 starting in verse 8, “Jesus answered, ‘I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.”’” Notice again this statement in verse 9, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.” It could be taken as a reference to salvation, except the context of the next verses tells us otherwise. Verses 10 and 11 teach us, “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?’” In John 18 and in John 17, “lost” is not being used to refer to salvation with the 11 disciples. It’s lost to the prison or lost to the sword. Physical protection by the Savior in order that they could fulfill their mission. Which is exactly what Jesus was talking about back in John 6:39 when He said that He would not lose what the Father had given to Him.

To say that John 6 is teaching individualistic determination is to fight against the context of the entire book. The Apostle John is telling us in John 18 that Jesus protected the Apostles from Roman violence and judgment in order to protect what Jesus said back in John 6 (the mission He was sent on to preach the Gospel).

John 17 is also often used to teach Calvinistic individual determination, but again most of the chapter is not about us. First, we read in verses 1 and 2 (said to refer to Calvinistic individual determinism), “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.” Notice this in verse 2, “He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.” Again, thought to be about us and used by many to refer to individual determination by God. Notice John 17:6, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” I hope you are starting to see the context of John, but let’s read a little more starting in verse 13:

But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

None of this is about us even though Calvinists often try to make it about individual election. How do I know it’s not about us? Remember that Calvinism dies in context, so all you have to do is keep reading. Verse 20 says, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” That’s us in verse 20, those who believe in the words of the Apostles. This teaches us that the first part of John 17 is not directly about us.

In John 6:37 this is the first time in the Gospel of John it mentions those given to the Father by Jesus, but it is mentioned again in John 6:39, John 10:29, John 17:2, John 17:6, John 17:9, John 17:11, John 17:12, John 17:24, and John 18:9. The context throughout John shows that the ones given refer to the 11 Apostles. Not to us as future believers. To answer the question in John 6:37 and 39, that’s why Jesus was talking about the ones given to Him by the Father. He’s talking about the disciples. This is why when Calvinists debate John 6, they often try to limit the teaching to only John 6, to keep it from being put into the broader context of the rest of the book.