John 6:60-66 - Does This Offend You?
- Chad Werkhoven
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Unless the Father has enabled you to understand, you'll find Jesus offensive.
John 6:60–66 (NIV)
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Canons of Dordt
Point 4 - Irresistible Grace
Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work
Regeneration, is the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive
so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures,
which God works in us without our help.
But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God’s work is done,
it remains in human power whether or not to be reborn or converted.
Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work,
one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing,
a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not less than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches.
As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way
are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe.
And then the will, now renewed,
is not only activated and motivated by God,
but in being activated by God is also itself active.
For this reason, people themselves,
by that grace which they have received,
are also rightly said to believe and to repent.
Summary
I'll bet you could hear a pin drop after Jesus got done talking. For a few moments, nobody probably said a thing; they didn't need to... their eyes told the story as they glanced at one another. 'Did he just say what I think he said? That we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood to be saved?'
Finally one of them mustered up some words and muttered one of the biggest understatements of all time, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Jesus, of course aware that His disciples were grumbling about this, seized the teaching moment. His disciples needed to see past the present and realize that the flesh counts for nothing.
Rather, it was His words He had spoken which were full of the Spirit and life. Jesus here makes clear the metaphorical nature of His earlier remark that one must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Eating and drinking are the primary means by which physical life is sustained, but since our physical lives are temporal, eternal life comes from shift one's focus from his physical appetite to eating and drinking 'food' which sustains eternal life: the words Jesus speaks.
Dig Deeper
Jesus knew more than that His disciples were grumbling about the difficulty of His teaching; He knew something darker and more sinister. John writes that Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him. That fact in and of itself is enough food for thought for a lifetime of pondering!
In fact, many of them would turn Jesus' foreknowledge into history right then and there, by turning back and no longer following Him. What a tragic moment - to be so close to the Son of God and the salvation that comes through Him, only to turn back because His teaching is hard to accept.
His teaching is hard to accept. Not just hard, but impossible. Jesus tells us that as those who would not accept it had one foot out the door. No one, said Jesus, can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.
It's this statement from Jesus that lies at the heart of this doctrine we call irresistible grace. It is not in human power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work... As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who enabled His elect to come to Jesus;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your focus would not be on your appetite for the things of this world, but that you would hunger for the words Jesus has spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 2 Corinthians 5
After being a believer and reading the Bible my whole life, almost 70 years, I don't ever remember reading John 60:66. I thought Judas was the only one who turned away!