exactly - what does it mean?
what did Jesus draw to Himself?
it isn't spelled out clearly - but one thing for sure it does not say PEOPLE - why do we make scripture say something it doesn't clearly say?
so what did Jesus draw to Himself?
maybe our sins? - 2 Corinthians 5:21
maybe our punishment? - Romans 3:21-22
maybe people - but what scripture do we have that Jesus draws people to Himself? - we don't - we have scripture that says the FATHER draws people to Jesus - John 6:44
so take all scripture together and see what makes the most sense
Truthfrees,
I don't consider we can circumvent 'all people' as a translation of 'all' in John 12:32 as the context reveals. See these examples (from NASB):
- v. 25, 'He who loves his life';
- v. 25, 'he who hates his life';
- v. 26, 'If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me';
- v. 26, 'where I am, there My servant will be also';
- v. 29, 'So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered';
- v. 29, 'others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.”'
- v. 30, 'This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes';
- v. 32, 'will draw all men to Myself';
- v. 34, 'The crowd then answered Him. “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’?"
- v. 36, 'These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them';
- v. 37, 'But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him'.
What I have put in
bold in the context of John 12:32 demonstrates Jesus was addressing the people, the crowd, anyone, others, etc. We can't get around 'all' of John 12:32 meaning 'all people'. The issue surrounds the meaning of
helkuō (I draw).
I was alerted to this example in Richard Trench’s
Synonyms of the New Testament (1880/1953:72-74).
There are two Greek words, of theological importance, that show the difference between draw and drag. They are
surein and
helkuein. Both of these are in the infinitive form.
Surein is most often translated as ‘to drag’ and h
elkuein (to draw).
Surein includes the notion of violence (see Acts 8:3; 14:19; 17:6). However, h
elkuein does not have violence as its primary meaning, although it is seen in Acts 16:9; 21:30 and James 2:6.
Only by keeping in mind the difference which thus exists between these, can we vindicate from erroneous interpretation two doctrinally important passages in the Gospel of St. John (Trench 1880/1953:72).
He refers to John 12:32 and asks, ‘How does a crucified, and thus an exalted Saviour draw all men unto Him? Not by force, for the will is incapable of force, but by the divine attractions of his love’. In John 6:44,
helkuein rejects being ‘dragged to God’ as a machine but it relates to ‘potent allurements’ or attractiveness of love by the Father for the son.
The Septuagint of Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) uses the word, ‘The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have
drawn you with unfailing kindness”’.
Helkuein is predominantly the sense of drawing to a certain point. In surein, merely of dragging after one … likening a man to a fish already hooked and dragged through the water. [See Isa 3:16], which is forcibly dragged along with no will of its own; a dead body (Trench 1880/1953:73).
Compare John 21:6, 8, and11 where
helkuein is used for ‘a drawing of the net to
a certain point; by the disciples to themselves in the ship, by Peter to himself upon the shore.
However, at verse 8,
helkeuein is taken over by
surein, ‘dragging the net full of fish’ (ESV).
Oz
Bibliography
Trench, R C 1880/1953.
Synonyms of the New Testament. London. Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt, Gordon College, Wenham, MA March 2006. Available at:
https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/new_testament_greek/text/trench-synonyms.pdf (Accessed 27 March 2020).
