Scrolling through FaceBook I came across a well meaning post where someone had quoted Paul Washer and I wanted to address some things in that regard.
The quote from Washer in regard to John 10:25-26 is:
"If this were written today by some of the most popular preachers alive, it would be totally and completely the opposite. It says 'you do not believe because you are not my sheep' and they would rewrite it as 'you are not my sheep because you do not believe.' There is a major difference in these two things."
This quote highlights some of the major problems with Calvinism and I felt like they should be addressed. So as soon as I saw it my thoughts went full steam ahead and I decided to blog them. I hope you will be able to perceive who is rewriting what because often people accuse others of what they themselves are doing. It's a funny quirk of human nature.
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Ah Calvinism. They are probably the best about twisting God's word to make it sound like it says what they think it should. Washer is letting his Calvinism hang out here, which is unfortunate.
The idea here hangs on the fallacy of ripping a certain scripture out of its God given context and seeking to make it stand alone for the purpose of making it say something it doesn't say. It's the primary tool of all false exegesis of Scripture. It always has been, and most likely always will be.
Of course this passage's immediate context is the surrounding verses, then the whole of the Gospel of John, and then of course the entire corpus of God's revealed word (the Bible).
The immediate context is Jesus' teaching about Himself being the true shepherd, and this fact being made obvious by two things: the works (not just miracles but including those) that He does in the Father's name (the Father's nature and character), and the truth that the true sheep of God hear His voice and follow Him (the inference being that those that aren't God's don't follow).
He is comparing Himself to those that came before (not the prophets, priests, and kings that were Godly men - but the false prophets, priests, and kings who claimed to be something they were not - a sort of human analogue of the false exegesis of scripture actually).
This part of John's Gospel comes immediately after Jesus performed a miracle in restoring sight to a man born blind. The Jewish religious leaders went absolutely nuts while the man born blind not only received his physical sight, he also got 'saved' as we call it in evangelical circles: he 'put his faith for salvation' in Christ.
John points out this miracle of Jesus and the subsequent contrasting spiritual judgments of the Jewish leaders on the one hand, and the man born blind on the other. The lesson is this: when faced with the reality of God being God, some will choose to believe and some will choose not to believe. There is no magical hand of Oz behind a curtain somewhere making this choice for them. It is truly their choice. Those that have listened to God in the past are more likely to listen to God in the future. They are the soft, receptive soil in the Parable of the Soils (really the parable of human hearts - see Matthew 13). Those that have turned their back on God in the past are more likely to turn their back on God in the future. (They are the hardened ground in the aforementioned parable - self hardened and then judicially hardened by God Himself).
This is supported by other parts of the word (Scripture interprets Scripture) and by understanding the Greek underneath our English translations. And of course, a good dose of common sense and logical thinking play a necessary part too. Calvinism claims to agree with the first, it fumbles around with the second, and often makes a mockery of the third. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm no fan of Calvinism.
Granted, this is a textual sound bite from Washer but understand what he is doing here. He is saying something about God that God has not said about Himself. Underneath this little sound bite is the Calvinistic idea of predestination. This is different than the predestination that God describes in the Bible. In the Calvinistic system (philosophy if you will), God has reached into the mass of lost mankind and decided to save some and pass over others - so out of the 'mass of perdition' (all lost mankind headed for hell) God has decided to send some to Heaven (the elect) and to refuse to save others from hell (the unelect).
Washer is saying in this sound bite that the ones that hear Jesus' voice are the elect, and the ones that don't hear cannot hear because they are the unelect (not Jesus' sheep).
Is this a valid interpretation of Scripture here? No even close.
So what is God saying here? Well, He's saying here what He says elsewhere. Consider John 10:24-26. The Jews (the religious leaders) are asking Jesus to tell them plainly if He is the Messiah. Jesus answers in v. 25 that He has already done so but they didn't believe Him. The mechanism that Jesus points to is the miracles He has been doing in His Father's name. Jesus says these speak for Him and testify about Him. And of course they do. To do something in the Father's name means in the Father's nature and character. This is the Hebraic connotation of what Jesus is saying. Jesus is truly the Messiah, God's Son, because He is doing what God has done and what only God can do.
Then comes the kicker of verse 26. Jesus says: "but you do not believe because you are not my sheep."
Washer and other Calvinists do something very subtle here, and I'm not entirely certain they realize they are doing it. Playing fast and loose with Scripture can become a bad habit and there is a point where one can think they are being true to God's revelation while in actuality being diametrically opposed to it.
See, Washer and other Calvinists treat this verse as if it says: "but you CAN'T believe because you are not my sheep." But that isn't what God has said (here or anywhere). He says that they "do not believe"... it is an indication of reality, not a pronouncement of the long shadow of the Calvinistic idea of predestination.
Prove it? Of course.
Let's expand the context out and let Scripture interpret Scripture. Consider for a moment John 12 with Jesus talking to the same group of people (the religious leaders of the Jews). I'll come back to John 10 in a moment.
John 12 recounts Jesus being anointed by Mary the sister of Lazarus in Bethany, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem before His betrayal, and then in vv. 37-40 John testifies to something very interesting and quotes the prophet Isaiah to back up what he says. I'll list the verses here for consideration:
37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1)
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” (Isaiah 6:10)
-- John 12:37-40
If you don't know your Bible you'll think this supports the Calvinistic idea of predestinaton: that God has hardened these people's hearts so that they (v. 39) 'could not' believe, and this in disregard to anything they have done. In the Calvinistic idea of predestination, God has decided for Himself who He will save and who He will not, and this decision has nothing to do with any actions, beliefs, etc. on the part of the people in question. The point here is always context, and not seeking to stop God short of what He is saying. Calvinism makes this error not only in John but also in places like Romans 8&9, Ephesians 1, etc.
Take a look at Isaiah 6 (and actually the whole of the Old Testament) and the sad story of apostate Israel and what God was finally forced to do with them. I'll give you the quick rundown and you can do the study for yourself to see that what I'm saying is true.
Isaiah chapter 1 makes the point that Israel has rebelled against God but had absolutely no valid reason for doing so. God had treated them tenderly like His own children, but they turned their back on Him. God didn't make them do this, they chose it:
2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. ”
4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
-- Isaiah 1:2-4
God didn't make them do this, they did it themselves in spite of God trying to draw them back to Him (read the books of Amos and Jeremiah as well - you will never really know your Bible until you know your Bible: all of it). Then look at what God says in 1:5 and following. He pronounces a judgment on Israel. They have hardened themselves, but God will finish it: He will confirm and strengthen what they have decided for themselves.
5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
-- Isaiah 1:5-7
Israel has drifted far, but there is always hope. If they return God will save them. But if not...
18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. ”For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
-- Isaiah 1:18-20
God's judgment is coming. They can continue to resist and perish, or they can relent. The rest of Isaiah up to chapter 6 is comprised of God telling Israel where they went wrong, condemning them for it, and then pronouncing judgments on them: the disasters that will befall them because of their rebellion. But in the midst of these He holds out hope to them for those that will change their minds and repent. This is God's very nature and character: He demonstrates who He is through His Holiness, and He demonstrates who He is through His mercy and willingness to forgive those that repent and trust Him.
Then in chapter 6 we have God calling out a represntative to be yet another prohpet to Israel, to pass along God's words to them so that they do not have to perish - so they can repent. And this person is none other than Isaiah. Chapter 6 of Isaiah is one of the great places where we get a peek into eternity (along with Ezekiel, Daniel, and of course the Revelation of Jesus Christ). Here in chapter 6 we have Isaiah's commissioning as a prophet of God. He sees a vision of God on His throne, he crumbles before God's Holiness because of his sin - God purifies him and then calls him as a prophet:
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
-- Isaiah 6:8
And what was to be Isaiah's mission? It was in particular one of judicial hardening. Listen to what God says:
9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
-- Isaiah 6:9-10
See, God has given Israel time to repent but they have refused. God wasn't making them rebellions. They were that way by their own choice and all the while God pronouncing judgments on them yet holding out mercy and forgiveness to those that would repent. Even though their sins were as scarlet, God was willing to make them white as snow if only they would return.
But now.. now God was done. God's attitude revealed in Scripture is this: if you continually harden yourself against His revelation of Himself, if you continually turn from Him and refuse to trust and obey Him, if you become truly obdurate (steadfastly, stubbornly rebellious) - then guess what? God will grant you what you wish. God will grant you what you wish. If you self harden in this way you are telling God that you want nothing to do with Him, so He eventually will say "not my will, but thine be done" and He will harden you Himself. You will have told God you don't want Him, and He will make that happen by withdrawing His grace.
This is what we have in Isaiah 6:9-10. God is not saving some and passing over others as Calvinism would have you believe. He is trying to save all but not all choose to be saved. For those that don't, God will eventually harden them beyond any chance of redemption. He will make them "ever hearing but never understanding" - "ever seeing but never perceiving" - He will callous (harden) their hearts, dull their ears, and shut their eyes.
Why?
10B. Otherwise they might see, hear, and understand and turn and be healed.
-- Isaiah 6:10B
See, God's salvation is sourced from His grace. That means it is an undeserved gift: something free of charge to those that don't deserve it. What we deserve is hell. But it's God's grace, from God's nature, on God's timetable.
If you refuse it as a pattern of life, God will someday cease to cast the pearls of His salvation before swine like you, and you will lose the ability to partake of God's grace because He will close you off from it. My hope for anyone reading this is that you won't take that road.
Okay, so this is the passage John quotes in John 12, and all of the context of Isaiah goes with it. God isn't hardening people willy nilly, He is hardening peope that time and time again have rejected His testimony about Himself, and along with that the call to return to Him.
John quotes this passage from Isaiah in his Gospel because the Jews of Jesus' day were doing exactly what the ancient Jews had done in the time of Isaiah. Such behaviour in the past reaped God's judgment and judcial hardening, and sure enough in Jesus' time the Divine reaction is exactly the same for the same type of people.
I want to close by going back to John chapter 10.
Has anyone picked up on the fact of the specific words Jesus uses when speaking with the rebellious Jewish leaders of His day? You aren't likely to know what I'm talking about if you only read English translations of the Bible.. you really need to begin to study some Greek if you haven't done so. It really opens up the New Testament to study it in the original language, or to get a decent preacher who will help you in that regard.
Look at our section of John chapter 10 and see the occurances of the word 'voice' (on a quick offhand count I come up with at least nine). Jesus keeps saying that the 'sheep' hear His 'voice' and follow Him, whereas those that aren't His sheep don't hear His voice.
I came across this line of thought in Lenski's commentary on John, and I think he's right on the money. Here are his ideas about why Jesus used the word 'voice' as opposed to other options as best as I can explain it.
It's interesting that Jesus uses the word 'voice' here (Greek 'phones') rather than the word 'word' (Greek 'logos'), because so often in Scripture Jesus is described as the 'word' (logos) of God and refers to His sayings as such.
This will sound more or less stupid, but Lenski thinks the reason Jesus uses this other word (voice) is because of what it means. I know, "duh". But think about it for a second. The Greek word for 'voice' means sound, tone, timbre.. it is a description of something familiar because of its quality, its characteristics.
I could have three identical sentences typed and printed out by three people, but I wouldn't know who did what just by reading them. But if the people read them in their own voices and I knew at least one of them, the determination would be obvious. I think Lenski is right on this.
Here is why this matters.
Jesus is saying the same thing about Himself and His works in relation to the Father. Jesus is saying that the things He has been doing testify to who He is. He is from the Father, and He and the Father are one. He only does what He sees the Father doing. Therefore, His voice is God's voice. The tie in with the quote from Isaiah and the idea of hardening is this: those that have remained true to God until the coming of the Messiah will recognize Him when He comes, because He and the God they serve are one and the same. Those that have not remained true to God will not recognize the Messiah because in actuality they have turned their backs on God and God has begun to harden them as punishment, just like he did to ancient Israel and thus the quote from Isaiah.
This is why Godly people like Simeon and Anna in Luke chapter 2:25-38 recognized Jesus for who He was even when He was a child: they were true God followers so they recognized God in the person of Jesus: they recognized His 'voice', His qualities - they knew they were beholding God in the flesh. But others, like the Jewish religious leaders, had not stayed true to God no matter what they said with their lips, so when God's salvation came they couldn't recognize Him. It is self determination enabled by Grace confirmed by God through and through. Romans 8:29-30 is the positive confirmation God gives from eternity to those that He knows will trust Him. It is what God says about predestination, and it differs from the Calvinistic one mightily.
They 'could not' hear, because previously they had decided not to hear. They 'could not', because earlier they 'would not'. It has never been true anywhere in God's word that someone 'would not' because they first 'could not'. That is blasphemy.
Prove it? It's hard to prove a negative so I'd simply say "read your Bible". But consider another word repeated in our passage of John 10. It's the word translated 'believe'.
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
-- John 10:25-26
If you don't go any deeper than your English translation you will most likely think that the word 'believe' here really means 'understand', or 'know', or 'perceive', etc. That's what English speakers usually think when we hear the word 'believe'. We take it to mean 'intellectual assent': 'to understand factually'.
Well, that isn't what this word means. The word is from the root 'pisteuo' which means 'faith', 'trust', 'personal adherance to', 'casting ones self upon', 'relying', etc.
We aren't talking about an intellectual ability to understand something and these Jews just don't get it. We're talking about their settled decision of the will in refusing to trust that Jesus is who He says He is. The first is a natural limitation of cognitive ability. The second is a choice that anyone who is concious and self aware can make. This is a criticial distinction and you won't see it unless you study and are honest with God's word.
The Amplfied Bible does a better job with the translation:
25 Jesus answered them, I have told you so, yet you do not believe Me [you do not trust Me and rely on Me]. The very works that I do by the power of My Father and in My Father’s name bear witness concerning Me [they are My credentials and evidence in support of Me].See the point? Those Jews that had not stayed in the fold of the Old Testament had blinded themselves to the identity of the Messiah, then God had begun to confirm their choice with His own judgments. So when God came in the flesh these people were truly no sheep of His. Because of their previous lack of fidelity to the Father, they would not pledge fidelity to the Son - they would not believe (an action of the will in line with their previous actions of the will).
26 But you do not believe and trust and rely on Me because you do not belong to My fold [you are no sheep of Mine].
John 10:25-26
So a last broad question in advance of an objection that could come up here: who can be Jesus' sheep? Can anyone be saved?
Look at what Jesus tells these people (the ones He just said weren't His sheep) in vv 37 & 38.
37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.
38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
-- John 10:37-38
Jesus, or I should say God, is still reaching out to them. He's saying, "OK, even though you are rejecting me in my person, at least start by believing the miracles (because only God can work true miracles), and by believing these you can know and understand that the Father is truly in me, and I'm in Him".
Jesus is reaching out to them, seeking to build a bridge of faith from them to Him based on the works of God He has been doing.
Here is the common sense and logic part. If the philosophy of Calvinism is true (I refuse to call it a 'theology' because it rejects key portions of God's revelation of Himself) isn't it rather useless and silly for God in the flesh to be holding out this bridge of faith to those He has supposedly already passed over for good? Would Calvinism have us believe that God is schizophrenic?
If Calvinism is true, isn't this also deceptive? Jesus is stating something to them as a true possibility, but if Calvinism's ideas of predestination are true then it isn't possible. In many instances like this Calvinism makes God out to be at best a soft deceiver, and at worst an outright liar.
And one last thing: do you not see how what Jesus is doing here: His dual acts of pronouncing judgment upon these people (you are no sheep of Mine) and yet holding out hope to them - a way back to Him by repentance and faith - do you not see that this is exactly what God did in the passage I referenced at length above from Isaiah? Of course you do... if you're honest.
Truly Jesus is who He says He is. Truly as He states in John 5:19
...“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Here's some friendly advice: drop the unGodly Calvinism and believe instead what God says about Himself, not what men say about God. Accept the God of the Word, then tell others about Him.
