Cheryl Schatz

My last class is finished and it has been a very intense time. Peter, I think that we are going to have to work on the top issues first. The issue we have discussed is about John 6:37 and the giving of the Father. What is the biblical history of the giving of people to Jesus? The foundation of the giving is in the OT: Malachi 3:16–18 16Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. 17“They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. The ones who will belong to Jesus are those who fear God. During the time of Jesus there are people given to Jesus. These are Jewish believers who have gone through the baptism of John and repentance. But is the giving limited to Jewish believers before the death of Jesus. If we can find non-Jewish believers who are God-fearing believers who are brought to belief in Jesus, then we have an on-going giving in the same way that Jewish believers were given to Jesus. Lydia is one of these believers: Acts 16:13–15 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. 14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us. Notice that it was the Lord who opened her heart to respond. Someone who belongs to the Father will respond immediately to Jesus because the Father opens up their heart to respond. Lydia’s response that she is to be judged faithful to the Lord, shows that she was a believer in God and faithful to the light that she had been given and now who showed her position as a God-fearer she immediately responded to the message of Jesus. God-fearing proselytes were told by Paul to “continue in the grace of God” as those who were already believers in the Father. Acts 13:43 43 Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. The last example is Cornelius. He is another one of these God-fearing Gentile believers who needed to believe in Jesus: Acts 10:22 22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.” When Cornelius was brought the message of Jesus, even as Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit descended upon those who had gathered to hear about Jesus. Peter sees the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s infilling and he says the “welcome to Him” is given to every nation without partiality. Acts 10:34-35 34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. So, the foundation is in the OT, the giving to Jesus is NEVER of unbelievers but of those who fear God, and it continues after the death of Jesus. Peter in your interpretation it appears that it is very important to you that the giving of people to Jesus ends at the death of Jesus. I would like to see your foundation for that view. Do you have an OT precedent for John 6:37 “the giving” as prophesied in the OT. Also do you have at least one witness of a NT verse that describes the coming “ending” of that giving to happen at the cross, or do you have a witness of a NT verse after the cross that describes the “ending” of the giving as a thing of the past? My views are solidly based on the Scripture and a refutation should have a solid base in the Scripture. In addition, a scriptural refutation should show why we should not take the Bible examples I have given as people given to believe in Jesus. I will await your scriptural answer. Thanks!