My question centers around verse 44 from John chapter 6. The verse reads: ” No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day.” After doing some research I discovered that the Greek word used for ” come” means to accompany and the Greek word used for ” draw” means to drag. What the verse seems to imply is that no one can accompany Jesus unless the Father first drags them to Jesus. I am wondering, in what way is a person ” dragged” to Jesus by the Father and what are the implications of this to us and how we perceive salvation?
The answer is in Romans 8:29-30 where the entire process by which we come to God is defined. Simply put, because He knows the end from the beginning God knew everyone who would choose to come to Him before He created Adam (He foreknew). Therefore He reserved a place for us in His Kingdom (He predestined) At the appropriate time in our lives He began drawing us to Himself (He called). When we responded He cleansed us of our sins (He justified) and at the Rapture/Resurrection He’ll give us new eternal bodies for life with Him (He glorified). The entire process is wrapped up in the event we call being born again. It began before the Creation, is complete when we kneel at the foot of the cross, and will be fulfilled in the Kingdom.
In John 6 the phrase “the father draws him” refers to the calling phase of Romans 8:29-30. He only draws those He already knows will choose to come because He’s seen them do it. That’s why Paul could say “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13) and Jesus could promise He would lose none of those the Father has given Him (John 6:39-40). There’s no fall out.
Various references in the New Testament speak of salvation, and they don’t always start at the first step. Since the Bible can’t contradict itself, we can refer to Romans 8:29-30 and see where they’re beginning. For instance in Ephesians 1:11 Paul wrote that we were predestined. That means he was speaking of step 2. And in Colossians 2:13-14 He said all our sins were forgiven at the cross. That’s step 4, our justification.