It’s been a few weeks since the last Scripture memorization text, so I thought it would be good to allow Jesus’ words, spoken in direct response to those who objected to His teachings regarding faith and disbelief, speak again:
“No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.” (John 6:44-45)
Some texts are unpopular because they go against what is “comfortable.” Men’s traditions serve as a lens through which people read the words of Jesus, and these often get filtered out in the process. You’ve heard much about John 6:44; you know it completely undercuts the common views of most man-centered evangelicals and continues the thread begun earlier in the discourse regarding God giving the elect to Christ who then undertakes to be their perfect Savior. You know you have to eisegetically insert a break into the text to make those who are raised up on the last day a different group than those who are drawn. The advantage of memorizing verse 45 with verse 44, however, lies in this: v. 45 not only continues the theme of the preceding passages, in so doing it ties 44 in for us and once again closes the door to the many attempts men concoct to escape the meaning. Jesus has just said He will raise up those drawn to Him by the Father, and he then provides a scriptural basis. “They shall all be taught of God” is a rephrasing of being “drawn by the Father.” Drawing involves knowledge, revelation. God is the the only source of this “teaching.” Just as only the Father can draw, so only the Father can teach. But just as giving (v. 37) and drawing lead, infallibly, to coming, so to this teaching (since it is just another way of referring to drawing) leads to the same perfect result: the coming of all those who experience it to Christ. True regeneration never takes place in a vacuum; true faith cannot exist without an object. Just as one is drawn to the Son, so one learns from the Father. This learning involves true, saving faith in the only one who can save, Jesus Christ. Word and Spirit, together, inseparable, triune work of salvation! All glory, laud and honor!
