Some believers try to turn the teachings of Jesus and Paul into these mystical, cryptic messages that only “the true Christians” can rightly understand. Entire churches, denominations, and religious groups have been built around the “mystic” interpretation of certain Bible verses.

The Truth About John 6:44

For instance, John 6:44 is often explained in a mysterious way– God supposedly chose only certain people to “draw” to Jesus before He created the universe. Then the “drawing” is taught by these Christians to mean “regeneration” or “being born again.”

I want to make something very clear: Read the entire chapter of John 6 and you won’t find any of those things being discussed there. You won’t see Jesus talking about God choosing only to regenerate certain people before the universe was created. This is all interpreted into the text (eisegesis) instead of being learned out of the text (exegesis). Jesus says nothing at all about God’s actions in eternity past here.

Look at John 6:44 AND 6:45. The phrase “The Father draws them” in verse 44 is parallel in meaning to “Taught by God” in verse 45. In other words, God “draws” people to Jesus by ensuring that they are taught the truth about God. When people learn the truth of God’s qualities and character in the Scriptures, and the prophecies of the Hebrew prophets, they will be drawn to Christ as the fulfillment of these things.

This is in full harmony with other teachings in the Bible:

Romans 10:14, 17 (NIV): “…And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?….Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

John 5:46-47 (NIV): “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

Since the “drawing” is the same as teaching people the truth of God’s Word, we can see why Jesus later says, “I will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32) This does not mean God chose to predestine all people to be saved, but it does mean He has commanded to have the Gospel preached to all people. (Matthew 24:14)

John 6:45 seems to be one of the most overlooked verses in the whole Bible. Next time someone interprets John 6:44 in a “mystic” way, ask them to explain what John 6:45 means.

The Truth About Romans 8:29 and Ephesians 1:11

These passages are traditionally taught by many Christians to mean that God, in eternity past, before He created anything, decided that He would only save certain people, and would condemn all the other people to spend forever in Hell, being tortured and burnt by fire.

There are many reasons why this view is wrong, one of which is that it violates almost everyone’s sense of morality and justice. But an even more convincing reason for Christians to reject this doctrine is that it simply does not agree with the Biblical context of those verses.

Paul does tell us, at Romans 8:29 and Ephesians 1:11, that God predestined certain believers to be saved, even before creation began. Who are these predestined ones? Well, Romans 11:1-7 says they are the remnant of faithful Jewish believers, and Ephesians 1:12-14 shows that they are the first Jewish disciples.

The early Jewish Christians were predestined, to preserve a faithful remnant of Abraham’s offspring, and to ensure that Christianity got off to a great start. These were called “the remnant,” “those whom God foreknew,” and “the firstfruits.” Paul was included among these. That’s why he said God chose him before he was born. (Galatians 1:15)

All other people exercise free will and are not predestined. They are saved AFTER they choose to believe in the Gospel they’ve been taught. (Ephesians 1:13-14; John 12:32; 1 Timothy 2:4; Revelation 22:17).

The Truth About Romans 9:7-16

The context in Romans 9 is speaking of God electing people to continue the bloodline that would lead to the birth of His Messiah on earth, and the people who would be entrusted with the Sacred Scriptures (See verses 4-5).

Romans 9:7-16 is clear that God doesn’t factor in our actions or desires when choosing people for these special privileges, but Romans 9:30-33 does say salvation is based on faith.

So Romans 9:7-16 is referring to being chosen for special privileges, whereas Romans 9:30-33 is about people being saved. Two different topics are being discussed. The confusion comes in when people mix these topics up and claim the entire chapter is talking about individual salvation instead of people and nations being chosen for special privileges.

God didn’t select Isaac, Jacob, or Pharoah for their special privileges and positions based on the same criteria that humans would select them. Paul’s point is that we simply don’t know the reasons God elected these people over other people, for these privileges and positions.

Other reasons we know Romans 9:7-16 isn’t referring to individual salvation:

Paul writes that God elected Isaac over Ishmael. If this election is for salvation, then it would appear to contradict Genesis 21:17-20, which says God listened to Ishmael’s prayers and God stayed with Ishmael as he grew up.

Paul then quotes Malachi 1:2-3 to show that Yahweh “hated Esau,” but in Malachi this is referring to the nation of Edom, Esau’s descendants and has nothing to do with Esau as an individual person. The prophet Obadiah explains why God hated the nation of Esau: 

Obadiah‬ ‭1:10-14‬ ‭NIV‬‬: “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.”

God hated the nation of Esau because of how they treated the nation of Israel. God’s foreknowledge of what kind of people Esau’s descendants would become *may* have factored in on God’s decision to elect Jacob over Esau to carry on the bloodline of the Messiah and safeguard the Scriptures, but as Paul said, we simply do not know the reasons.

The Truth About Acts 13:48

There are many Christians who use this verse to “prove” that God “appoints” each person to salvation or damnation from eternity past. First off, though, notice that nowhere in the entire chapter does it say anything about God appointing these Gentiles from eternity past. People who teach this are reading their preconceived beliefs into this passage.

Go back earlier in Acts 13 and look at verses 22 and 26. It says God was looking for a person “after His own heart,” and also it adds that the Gentiles in this crowd were “God-fearing,” meaning that they already worshipped Yahweh, just like Cornelius, the Roman centurion in Acts chapter 10.

So given this context, Acts 13:48 is just saying these Gentiles had been appointed to eternal life because they were already worshippers of Yahweh, and they had “hearts after God’s own heart,” unlike the wicked Jewish leaders who were persecuting the disciples of Jesus.

Nowhere in this context will you see anything about God mysteriously electing to save these Gentiles before He created the universe.

The image used at the top of the blog post is considered to be in the Public Domain in the United States, as well as the country of origin, according to Wikipedia.