Subject: Hebrews 6:6 explained |
Bible Note: DearBrother Tim, I could not call you my brother if I thought you believed the cross to be other than the focal point of Christianity, for we preach Christ and Him crucified. But what promted my latest post was your apparent (at least it seems to me) reluctance to deal with the text. For what reason did Jesus make the statement: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."? Some times we forget the verse immediately following: John 12:33 "But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. He did not make the statement for the purpose of informing us that every person who ever lived, or whoever will live, are drawn to Him as a result of His being lifted up for it is manifestly evident thar this does not occur. 32. If I be lifted up. Next follows the method by which the judgment shall be conducted; namely, Christ, being lifted up on the cross, shall gather all men to himself, in order that he may raise them from earth to heaven. The Evangelist says, that Christ pointed out the manner of his death; and, therefore, the meaning undoubtedly is, that the cross will be, as it were, a chariot, by which he shall raise all men, along with himself, to his Father. It might have been thought, that at that time he was carried away from the earth, so as no longer to have any interests in common with men; but he declares, that he will go in a very different manner, so as to draw upwards to himself those who were fixed on the earth. Now, though he alludes to the form of his death, yet he means generally, that his death will not be a division to separate him from men, but that it will be an additional means of drawing earth upwards towards heaven. I will draw all men to myself. The word all, which he employs, must be understood to refer to the children of God, who belong to his flock. Yet I agree with Chrysostom, who says that Christ used the universal term, all, because the Church was to be gathered equally from among Gentiles and Jews, according to that saying,There shall be one shepherd, and one sheepfold, (John 10:16.) John Calvin's Commentary on the Gospel of John. God Bless Tim, John |