Cheryl Schatz

Robin, You said: If the drawing is necessary, and if the Father desires to draw people to His Son, then of course, He must teach them about His Son. Yes, the Father does desire to draw believers to His Son. However, He only draws believers to His Son. None of those who were unbelievers in the Father was ever drawn to Jesus. In my next post which will be based on your questions, I will explain why that is. You said: A verse that comes into mind to illustrate this is, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”  (2 Cor. 4:6) If it’s true that “the god of this age has blinded” unbelievers, it makes sense that God must intervene somehow in order for His Son to be seen. 2 Corinthians 4:6 is written about believers not unbelievers. And 2 Corinthians 4:4 was written about unbelievers and not about believers. Every single person who came to Jesus in the gospel accounts was a God-fearing Jew or a God-fearing Gentile. The ones who did not fear God and who did not walk in obedience to the light that had been given them were hardened in their unbelief. None of them came to Jesus. Robin, you said: I have to admit that this sounds like a work of God that is not only necessary, but (to borrow a despised term!), effectual! God’s work IS absolutely necessary, however not everyone that He teaches will respond. They are required to learn. And the more that God teaches them, the more responsible they are. Luke 12:48 shows that God giving to a person can be negative since with the giving comes a requiring back. I have something to challenge you with – can you find anyone in the Scriptures you hates God, but who becomes a believer in Christ? It appears that God’s teaching is not effectual in those who hate Him. That doesn’t mean that He does anything wrong. It just means that there is a reckoning required from man.