LOOKING TO PRAISE AND WORSHIP JESUS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. 18 No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

A Look At John 12:32

The following was taken from here...
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom35.ii.v.html

It is John Calvin's commentary on John 12:32.

Here it is -

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.)
The old Latin translation has, I will draw all things to me; and Augustine maintains that we ought to read it in that manner; but the agreement of all the Greek manuscripts ought to have greater weight with us.

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7 Comments:

Blogger mark pierson said...

Oooh, I'm so bad - a look at what Calvin had to say? Oh, the shame! I do hang my head! Alas! it is too bad no nonCal's read here any more. Now there be no one to boil me in oil for this terrible thing that I have done. What to do?

May 20, 2008 10:30 AM

 
Blogger Doulos Christou said...

Shame on you, Mark!

It seems to me that the only alternative understanding to Calvin's here is universalism - I'm not sure how our poor Arminian friends wiggle out of either the Truth or the "universally" acknowledged heresy.

May 20, 2008 11:24 AM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Wes, about a year ago there were nonCals commenting here all the time. If I had posted this then, well, the fireworks display would have made DC's Forth of July display look like firecrackers.

May 20, 2008 12:40 PM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

...Then, boom,boom, bang, bang!

Now, crickets.

May 20, 2008 12:43 PM

 
Blogger donsands said...

"how our poor Arminian friends wiggle out"

Some teach that Christ does draw all men to the Cross, to behold the gospel; the good news that their sins are forgiven. But, they have to believe it. And if they don't believe, then they will be accountable for not believing, and then condemn themselves.
Tony Evans teaches this, and I think a lot of DTS grads do.

"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,"

They would say this is a weak argument. All means all, they would say. As in 1 John 2 the sins of the whole world means whole world.


BTW, wonderful quote from John Calvin.

May 20, 2008 2:23 PM

 
Blogger jazzycat said...

Hmmmm, all and all this is an interesting post!

May 20, 2008 4:25 PM

 
Blogger Gojira said...

Shame on you, Mark!!!! LOLOLOLOL Good post

May 20, 2008 10:28 PM

 

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