“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (John 8:42-47)
Regarding this passage, it is most definitely not support for total depravity. I expend great effort in my LOTUS book explaining the philosophy of TULIP, of which the bedrock is found in the T, so I won’t go into a lot of detail regarding its philosophy. Nothing in Scripture teaches, or even asserts, total depravity as the Calvinist would like to claim. Consider this, if these people were totally depraved, and they could not believe in Jesus because they were not of the elect, and God didn’t give them the ability to understand, then answer me two questions:
1) Why do the Scriptures record Jesus began speaking in parables to hide His saying? (Matthew 13:13-15)
2) Why would Jesus need to hide His teachings if they were never able to believe anyways because they are totally depraved?
A logical answer to these two questions are impossible with a Calvinistic view of Total Depravity.
However, according to Liable Depravity (see my book “LOTUS: A Free Grace Response to TULIP”) and as Matthew 13:15 explains, Jesus begins speaking in parables because the Jewish leadership rejected His claim to be the Messiah. And once we understand the Jewish aspect of the Gospel records, we realize that prior to Jesus beginning His earthly ministry, there were believers in the coming Messiah. Remember that prior to the cross, and prior to Jesus’ public ministry, people were saved based upon their belief of the coming Messiah.
I say it like this, before Christ’s resurrection, people were saved by looking to the promise of the coming Messiah. After Christ’s resurrection, people are saved by looking at the work of the Messiah who came. However, there is a unique period in history where the Messiah was in literally, living in their midst. That means, there’s a lot of people who already were saved, believed in His coming, and these are the people that believed He was the Messiah.
Those who didn’t believe Jesus was the Christ either had never heard of Him and the prophecies before, or they didn’t yet believe in the coming Christ. This explains John 6:37 in that “all that the Father gives me, cometh to me.” Those that the Father gives to the Son during His earthly ministry, are those who were already believers. They were then spiritually transferred from the security of the Father to the security of the Son. I explain this clearly in my teaching, Illuminating John 6:44, below.
(Note that neither position mentioned above posits works, or a different Gospel message. Salvation had always been by faith-alone, in Christ-alone. So, while the “content” of the Gospel may change through dispensations, the “object” has always remained the same…Jesus)
Going back to the passage at hand (John 8:42-47), Jesus is telling these people quite plainly that because they rejected Him as the Messiah, they are spiritually blinded, as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, 700 years earlier. It’s not that God didn’t elect them, and they are totally depraved. Instead, it’s because they rejected Jesus’ claim of being the Christ that Jesus began speaking in parables, to keep them spiritually blind, as was foretold.
John 8:42-47 isn’t a passage supporting Total Depravity, rather it argues for Liable Depravity.
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