Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 36:71 (Autumn 2023)
Article: Does The “Drawing” Of The Father In John 6:44 Support Calvinism?
Author: Stanley Clark

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Does The “Drawing” Of The Father In John 6:44 Support Calvinism?

Stanley Clark

Houston, TX

I. Introduction

Calvinism maintains that in eternity past God elected, or chose, certain people for eternal salvation.1 Steele, Thomas, and Quinn summarized “Total Inability or Total Depravity” in this way:

Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not— indeed he cannot—choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit’s assistance to bring a sinner to Christ—it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation, but is itself part of God’s gift of salvation—it is God’s gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God.2

Electing individuals to be saved is considered necessary because man’s human nature was hopelessly corrupted at the fall. As a result, sinners are “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1–3). They are virtually spiritual corpses. They are unable even to respond to God until He regenerates those He has chosen. Once regenerated, they are able to exercise saving faith.

Palmer explains that for election to work it must be irresistible:

If it is true that God has unconditionally elected some to be saved…then of course, the Spirit has to work in an irresistible way. Otherwise, everyone because of his

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depravity would reject Christ, and then there would be no foreordination to eternal life. God could not be sure that those whom he elected would believe and be saved. The certainty of election means that the Spirit works certainly and that he accomplishes what God foreordained. Without the irresistible grace of God, there could be no foreordination or election.3

Palmer also explains that irresistible grace is critical to the entire system of Calvinism, or TULIP:

The five points of Calvinism all depend on each other. If T is true, then U is true, and so are L, and I, and P. They all hang or fall together [emphasis added].4