John 6:44 is a popular Calvinistic verse for numerous reasons. While John 6:44 is often used to defend Total Depravity, this verse (and the surround passage) is also used to defend three of the other points of TULIP. It says this:
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:44).
John 6:44 and TULIP Calvinism
When Jesus says โno one can come to meโ Calvinists see the idea of Total Depravity (and specifically, total inability).
When Jesus speaks about the drawing of the Father, Calvinists see this is as evidence of Unconditional Election.
Calvinists infer Limited Atonement from the contexts of these verses.
And when Jesus says that no one can come to Him unless it was granted to him by the Father, this is seen as proof for Irresistible Grace.
So although this verse could be discussed under any of those other sections, it will be discussed here because Total Depravity forms the foundation for those other doctrines. Besides, Calvinists tend to primarily use these verses to defend Total Depravity.
John 6:44 and Total Depravity
Here, for example, is what R. C. Sproul writes:
This statement is a universal negative proposition. It states a universal inability. The word can does not describe permission, but power or ability. To say no one can do something is to say they are unable to do it. The stark truth expressed by Jesus is that no person has the ability to come Christ on his or her own. For a person to be able to come to Christ, it must first be granted or โgivenโ to that person to come to Christ. God must do something for us to overcome our moral inability to come to Christ. We cannot embrace Christ in the flesh. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit, we cannot come to Christ (Sproul, Grace Unknown, 136).
Refuting the Calvinistic Understanding of John 6:44
Several things can be said against the Calvinistic understanding of John 6:44.
First of all, what Jesus says is absolutely true: no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws him. However, later in the Gospel of John, Jesus states that the Father draws all people (John 12:32; 16:8).
The work of God drawing people to Jesus Christ through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit is necessary. Nobody denies that. On our own, without this drawing work of God, no person would ever seek God or turn to Him.
But saying that God draws all people is not to say that God regenerates all people, or even that, as a result of Godโs drawing, people are unable to believe in Jesus for eternal life. As a result of Godโs drawing work, any person can believe in Jesus for eternal life, as Jesus Himself states (John 6:40, 47).
Does Drawing Mean Dragging? NO!
One will occasionally also run into Calvinists who try to say that the word Jesus uses for โdrawingโ (Gk., elkล) means โdragging.โ
Based on this, they may argue that sinners are dragged to Christ against their sinful will.
Of course, this sort or argument is rarely used by Calvinists because it contradicts their teaching that once a person has been regenerated by God, their will has been irresistibly changes so that they come willingly to faith in Jesus Christ.
Regardless, this sort of idea is not backed by the Greek either. While it is true that elkล can be used to drag someone against their will (cf. Acts 16:19; 21:30; Jas 2:6), when elkล is translated as โdragโ it is always with malicious intent. When used in this way, it carries the connotation of mistreating someone or dragging them away for punishment (BAGD, 251).
Clearly, Jesus is not referring to any sort of punishment or mistreatment by God in John 6:44, and so it cannot mean โdrag.โ Furthermore, this sort of dragging away for punishment is only when the word is used of a literal action.
When elkล is used figuratively, as it is John 6:44, it refers to โthe pull on manโs inner lifeโ (BAGD, 251).ย So the word โdrawโ in John 6:44 refers to Godโs pull or persuasive influence upon the heart and mind of the unregenerate.
To Draw Means to Attract or Woo
Support for this understanding is found right in John 6:45 as well where Jesus says that all will be taught by God. This is another way of explaining the work of God to draw people to Himself.
This teaching from God is carried out through conscience, creation, the convicting and convincing work of the Holy Spirit, and through special revelation such as that found in Scripture. Of course, not all who are drawn or taught by God respond positively to God.
Those who hear what God teaches, and learn from it, will respond by coming to Jesus in faith. This idea is supported by both Peter (1 Pet 1:23) and James (James 1:18), both of whom write that hearing and responding to Scripture is part of the process which leads up to the new birth.
In response to this, Calvinists will sometimes argue that if all are drawn by God, then all will receive eternal life from God. But to say that all who are drawn by God are also regenerated by God is to confuse offer of eternal life with the actual reception of it.
Just because God draws, calls, woos, or invites all people to believe in Jesus for eternal life, this does not mean that God universally and irresistibly regenerates all people. Though all are drawn, eternal life is given only to those who believe.
Does All Mean “All Children of God”?
Furthermore, some argue that the โallโ of John 6:45 refers only to โall children of Godโ (Piper, Five Points, 27-30).ย They often go on to say that Jesus can only be referring to the children of God since Jesus says in John 6:46 that no one sees God except him who is from God.
Of course, this is reveals a terrible misunderstanding of this text as well. Jesus is not referring to the children of God in John 6:46, but to Himself! It is He who has come down from God, just like the manna in the wilderness (John 6:41, 48), and therefore, His words can be trusted, and in His words are life.
John 6:44 then, far from being verses about exclusion and inability, are staggering statements from Jesus that in Him, all are accepted, all are invited, and all are welcome.
Jesus has come down from heaven, not to start another religious club for a secret set of special chosen ones, but to throw open the door to God for all people.
Jesus has come to reveal Him Whom no man has ever seen, so that through Jesus, God might draw all men to Himself.
God desires that all people have life, and so God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world, so that in Jesus we might see God, and might believe in Jesus for everlasting life.
If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.
Calvinists will occasionally argue that a deceitful heart means that a person cannot even think reasonably about what is right and wrong. Yet I find it ironic that many Calvinists will then try to reason with unbelievers about how they need Jesus, and also reason with non-Calvinists about the rationality of Calvinism.
Isaiah 53:6 says that all of us have gone astray, that each of us has turned to his own way.
Some point to Isaiah 64:6 and say that if even the works that humans view as righteous are like menstrual cloths in Godโs eyes, then how much more filthy are the normal, everyday works in Godโs eyes, not to mention the sinful deeds which we ourselves view with revulsion?
In this video, we’re only talking about $0.50, but I sometimes look at the millions of dollars our government and our churches spend on helping the rich in various ways, and I wonder what would happens if we used that money to help the poor and the homeless. 
In seeking to understand these verses, we must remember that the author of Ecclesiastes has a fairly pessimistic outlook on life, which is somewhat coloring his perspective on humanity. Nevertheless, this does not mean that what he says is not true. What he says is true: All people are sinners. Everybody sins. God has made us upright, but we seek out many schemes (Ecclesiastes 7:29). God made us inherently good, but each of us has turned away. We are sinful.
But nevertheless, this is still a far cry from the Calvinistic idea of total inability.
There are other verses throughout the Bible that say similar things. But there is a vast difference between Total Depravity as defined by the Calvinist and not being righteous in Godโs sight.
Third, we could simply say that Psalm 51:5 is poetic hyperbole. David is, after all, confessing his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba, and so in the midst of this confession, he my seek to exaggerate his own sinfulness by saying that he has always been sinning, even from conception.
As I was researching a text for my book on Calvinism, I stumbled across the Jewish tradition that David was born as the result of an alleged adulterous relationship. Have you ever heard of this idea that David’s mother committed adultery? I hadn’t either. But I researched it, and checked with several of my Rabbi friends, all of whom said that this is the traditional Jewish history regarding David and David’s mother.
As a result, David grew up in a family in which he was despised, rejected, shunned, and outcast as described in Psalm 69. He was treated with scorn and derision. The community followed the example of the family, and assumed that David was full of sin and guilt. If something turned up missing, they believed he stole it, and forced him to replace it. He was often the object of jokes and pranks, filling his plate with gall and his cup with vinegar.
