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Historic Christianity vs Calvinism  /  Lecture 7: Interpreting Favorite Calvinist Passages  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 9
Finny’s central interpretive move in John 6–10 was that the conflict is Jew–Jesus, and that in Jesus’ time people “came to the Son through the Father” (Old Testament covenant knowledge), so the Father “gives” to the Son those who truly want to do God’s will (John 7) and “practice the truth” (John 3); what does this imply about God’s criteria for recognizing Jesus, and how does it confront the idea that faith is unrelated to a person’s response to truth and righteousness?
Another way to ask: Finny said in John 6–10, God “gives” to Jesus the people who truly want to do God’s will and live by the truth. What does that suggest about how God expects people to recognize Jesus, and how does it challenge the idea that faith has nothing to do with a person’s response to truth and doing right?

Direct Answer Finny implies that God “gives” people to Jesus in a morally and spiritually intelligible way: those genuinely seeking God, willing to do His will, and practicing truth recognize Jesus as the Father’s true messenger. This directly confronts the idea that faith has no connection to a person’s response to truth and righteousness.

Support from Transcript:

  • Finny sets the context: John’s middle chapters are dominated by “tensions…between Jew and Gentile” and especially “why the Jews don’t believe,” with long confrontations (John 5–10).
  • He cites John 3:20–21: evil-doers “do not come to the light,” but “he who does the truth comes,” saying this “doesn’t sound like unconditional election” but relates to the “type of person that you are.”
  • He cites John 7: “If anyone is willing to do His will…he will know of the teaching whether it is of God,” applying it to Jews evaluating Jesus.
  • He quotes Ben Henshaw: those who “truly wish to do the will of the Father…will immediately recognize” Jesus; “Such people will be given by the Father to the Shepherd as His sheep.”
  • He explains the historical logic: “the Jews of Jesus’ time came to the Son through the Father…through the Old Testament.”
Discussion Follow-ups How does this reading change evangelism among religious people—those convinced they “know God,” yet resistant to Jesus’ claims?

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