When Christ says in John 6; ‘No man can come to me, except My Father which hath sent me draw him’ (v. 44), what does he leave to ‘free-will’? He says man needs to hear and learn of the Father Himself, and that all must be taught of God. Here, indeed, he declares, not only that the works and efforts of ‘free-will’ are unavailing, but that even the very word of the gospel (of which He is here speaking) is heard in vain, unless the Father Himself speaks within, and teaches, and draws. ‘No man, no man can come,’ he says, and what he is talking about is your ‘power whereby man can make some endeavour towards Christ’. In things that pertain to salvation, He asserts that power to be null…But the ungodly does not ‘come’, even when he hears the word, unless the Father draws and teaches him inwardly; which He does by shedding abroad His Spirit. When that happens, there follows a ‘drawing’ other than that which is outward; Christ is then displayed by the enlightening of the Spirit, and by it man is rapt to Christ with the sweetest rapture, he being passive while God speaks, teaches and draws, rather than seeking or running himself. (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
The words of Scripture are so powerful and one would think irrefutable on this issue at this point. When the text of Scripture says that “No man can come to me,” it means that no man has the ability to come to Christ apart from the exception that Christ gives. The word “can” is a word of ability. To put it clearly, the text could easily and accurately be translated as to say that “no man has the ability to come to me, except my Father which hath sent me draw him.” A will that could be free and yet had no ability would not be really free. Yet Christ is so clear that no man has the ability to go to the Father apart from the Father’s drawing that man. As Luther puts it, “what does he leave to ‘free-will’?”
John 6:43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “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. 46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
The text in modern English (NAS) is given just above. In this text the argument for ‘free-will’ is simply destroyed and the dust is wiped off from the place the argument was set forth. The Word of God gives us the words of Jesus Christ and what He taught on the subject. When Jesus says that no man can come or no man has the ability to come except that man is drawn by the Father, then the case is simply closed. The will is not free to come to the Father unless the Father brings the soul to Himself in His own way and in His own time.
The soul and will of man is not free to understand the things of God unless God Himself teaches that soul. The soul of man is not free to hear (spiritual hearing) the Father apart from the grace of the Father in giving this hearing. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, then, will not savingly benefit any soul apart from the Father teaching that soul and drawing that soul to Himself. In other words, the aspect of the soul which chooses (will) is not free to understand the things of God and is not free to hear the things of God in and of itself. Only those that are taught by the Father will hear and learn from the Father and go to Christ.
Luther’s words can hardly be put any better. “Here, indeed, he declares, not only that the works and efforts of ‘free-will’ are unavailing, but that even the very word of the gospel (of which He is here speaking) is heard in vain, unless the Father Himself speaks within, and teaches, and draws.” All the works and efforts of ‘free-will’ are to no avail in bringing the sinner to Christ. Even the very words of the Gospel are heard with no saving benefit or effect unless the Father speaks, teaches, and draws in the inner man. No human will is free to do these things to self or to another human. The scary part of this is that this is precisely what the vast majority of people in our day do. They try to tell people that they are free to make a choice for Christ when they want to do so. But when preachers tell people this, they are preaching a false gospel of the power of self rather than the power of God. When preachers try to talk people into making a decision, they are not teaching people of the inward teaching that must take place. To say this clearly, when preachers try to talk people into making a decision for Christ they are ignoring the real way that people are to come to Christ. Not only that, but they are telling people a way to be saved that Christ has said will not and cannot work for salvation. The teaching of ‘free-will’ is a dangerous teaching that contradicts Jesus.
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