Respectfully, nevertheless, I don't think your conclusion (highlighted below) has been substantiated
Here John tells us that Christ enlightens every person coming into the world that they might be saved. He uses the singular, man, indicating every single man or person. There's no way around this. It proves grammatically that all can be saved. In this passage "all" grammatically is every single person."
So, based upon verse 4 (following), since everyone is from birth an unbeliever ( because, and if, I understand your interpretation correctly, then all must first "accept" Christ of their own volition in order to become saved), yet only those to whom it had first "given" can become saved (see Mar 4:11, below), Consequently, and by extension to that, those who do not become saved, do not, because it was not "given" to them.
[2Co 4:3-5 KJV]
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
[Jhn 12:40 KJV]
40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
That is why we are informed of the following
[Mar 4:11-12 KJV]
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all [these] things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them.
Hi Roger,
The argument is substantiated. It's a sound grammatical argument. No matter what you read anywhere else, that argument doesn't change and doesn't become unsound or invalid. It is a sound logical argument. There is no way around that. What that means is, if one finds other passages that seem to indicated differently, It's one's understanding of those passage that is at issue. They are misunderstanding that particular passage. So, when we see that John writes that Christ enlightens every person so that they can believe and then we see Jesus' words in John 6 saying, 'no one can come to Me unless the Father draws him', if we conclude that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him is a universal statement, we have misunderstood the passage. The reason we've misunderstood it is because that understanding runs counter to what John said in 1:6-9.
Again, let's look at the context.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
(2 Cor. 4:3-5 KJV)
Paul says that the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not. Many people think there are two kinds of people, those who believe and those who don't. However, there are actually three. There are those who believe, those who don't, and those who've never heard. The words "believe not" are actually the word believe or faith with the negative article in front of it. Literally, it means disbelieve. Someone who hasn't heard the gospel doesn't believe it, but, they also don't disbelieve it. They are simply unaware of it. Paul isn't speaking about these people. He's speaking about people who disbelieve the Gospel. To "not believe" or disbelieve the Gospel one must first hear the Gospel. They heard it and rejected it. These are the ones who have been blinded.
Moving on,
[Jhn 12:40 KJV]
40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
[Mar 4:11-12 KJV]
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all [these] things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them.
Let's look at these passages in context. Whose eyes were blinded, whose heart was hardened, and to whom was it given to understand?
Firstly, as pointed out, Jesus said that He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In that context it appears that some Israelites where given understanding and some were blinded. Do we find this elsewhere in Scripture?
9 And he said,
Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. (Isa. 6:9-10 KJV)
The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. (Isa. 44:13-21 KJV)
In this passage God has blinded Israel because they had a deceived heart and turned aside. This is what we see Jesus alluding to. Israel had turned from God. Jesus chastised them many times. We know that they killed their Messiah. Because they had turned from God, He had blinded them. So, the only ones who could recognize that Jesus was the Christ was those to whom it was given. That's why Jesus said, no one can come to me unless the Father draws him. However, that drawing was only for a limited time during His ministry because He said if He was lifted up He would draw all to Himself. However, even that blinding of Israel is temporary. Paul tells us that the blinding is only until the fullness of the Gentiles has come.
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; t
hat blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved:
as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Rom. 11:25-29 KJV)
Why blindness in part? Because to some it was given to understand and to others it wasn't.
So we see gain that this blindness is confined to Israel. It's not universal. Also, take note to who it is that Paul calls the elect. It's Israel.
So, we see from the context that Jesus was alluding to the prophesied blinding of Israel. He was not making a universal statement that certain people were blinded from understanding the Gospel and other weren't.
This is why it is imperative that we understand these passages in context. Christians have been taught to proof text. We're taught, this is what the Bible teaches, go here and here and here to prove the point. That's not how to understand Scripture. We have to read ever passage within the context in which it was written. Every verse of Scripture is a part of a larger whole. If we just keep ripping sentences from the Scriptures without context we're not going to make any progress as Christians. That's why these debates never end. People on both sides take passages out of context and toss them back and forth. The Scriptures are a cohesive whole and we must understand them that way if we ever hope to get an accurate understanding of Scripture.
