ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

John 6.40

Book: John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

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ASV:

"40. For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:40, ASV)

WEB:

"40. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”" (John 6:40, WEB)

KJV:

"40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:40, KJV)

YLT:

"40. and this is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who is beholding the Son, and is believing in him, may have life age-during, and I will raise him up in the last day.'" (John 6:40, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV:

"38. For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39. And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40. For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 41. The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. 42. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how doth he now say, I am come down out of heaven?" (John 6:38-42, ASV)

WEB:

"38. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39. This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. 40. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” 41. The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.” 42. They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’”" (John 6:38-42, WEB)

KJV:

"38. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 41. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 42. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?" (John 6:38-42, KJV)

YLT:

"38. because I have come down out of the heaven, not that I may do my will, but the will of Him who sent me. 39. 'And this is the will of the Father who sent me, that all that He hath given to me I may not lose of it, but may raise it up in the last day; 40. and this is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who is beholding the Son, and is believing in him, may have life age-during, and I will raise him up in the last day.' 41. The Jews, therefore, were murmuring at him, because he said, 'I am the bread that came down out of the heaven;' 42. and they said, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we have known? how then saith this one, Out of the heaven I have come down?'" (John 6:38-42, YLT)

Setting

  • Speaker: Jesus, in the Bread of Life discourse (John 6:22-59)
  • Audience: the Galilean crowd that had been fed in the feeding of the 5,000 the previous day (vv. 14, 22), now following Him across the Sea of Galilee + Jewish leaders increasingly hostile to His self-disclosure
  • Location: Capernaum synagogue, north shore of the Sea of Galilee (per John 6:24, 59)
  • Time period: events c. AD 29 (Passover season, per John 6:4); composed c. AD 85-95
  • Narrative context: the universal-offer side of the same discourse where Jesus claims the Father-drawing (6:44). The Bread of Life discourse holds both truths in tension: the particular truth that no one comes to the Son except the Father draws him (6:44, 65); and the universal truth that everyone who sees the Son and believes receives eternal life (6:40). The universal-offer is repeated four times in this discourse with the "I will raise him up at the last day" formula (vv. 39, 40, 44, 54). Verse 40 is the most explicit universal-offer statement.

Theological reading

John 6:40 is the universal-offer side of the Bread of Life discourse, the canonical complement to the particular-drawing side of John 6:44. The verse declares the Father's will (His revealed-and-binding purpose) that everyone (Greek pas) who sees (theōrōn) and believes (pisteuōn) in the Son receives eternal life and will be raised at the last day. The verse is structurally important for the Calvinism-Arminianism dispute and for the gospel's universal-offer theology.

The universal-offer / particular-drawing tension

Within John 6 alone:

  • 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me" (particular)
  • 6:39, "of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing" (particular + perseverance)
  • 6:40, "every one... that beholdeth the Son and believeth" (universal offer)
  • 6:44, "no man can come to me, except the Father... draw him" (particular)
  • 6:54, "whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life" (universal offer)
  • 6:65, "no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father" (particular)

The Bread of Life discourse holds both sides as simultaneously true. The Calvinist reading takes the particular-drawing texts as the deeper-controlling reality (the elect alone come; the universal-offer language is the means through which the particular drawing operates). The Arminian reading takes the universal-offer texts as the deeper-controlling reality (the offer is universal and resistible; the particular-drawing texts describe what happens for those who freely respond). The Molinist reading mediates via middle knowledge. See Calvinism vs Arminianism vs Molinism vs Open Theism and John 6.44 (rich hub) for the multi-position discussion.

The grammar, pas + present-participle

The Greek is pas ho theōrōn ton huion kai pisteuōn eis auton, literally "every-one [who is] beholding the Son and [who is] believing into him." The present participles indicate ongoing seeing-and-believing (not a one-time act but a continuing posture). The "eternal life" promised is not a future-only inheritance contingent on future-perseverance but a present-possession (Greek echē, present subjunctive of "have") that comes with the present-continuing faith.

The verb theōreō (θεωρέω), "to behold, gaze at, perceive", is stronger than the more generic blepō ("to see"). It connotes attentive perception with comprehension. The seeing required is not casual but contemplative + receptive.

Patristic and Reformed reading

Augustine (Tractates on John 25): the universal-offer of 6:40 and the particular-drawing of 6:44 are both the will of the Father; they operate together. The believer's seeing-and-believing is exactly the result of the Father's drawing, the two are inseparable.

John Calvin (Commentary on John): the verse establishes the promise of eternal life that is universally offered to all who believe, while the drawing of v. 44 establishes who actually believes. The universal-offer is genuine; the drawing is what makes it effective in particular cases.

Jacobus Arminius (and the Remonstrant tradition): the pas (every-one) of v. 40 is the central word of the gospel, the universal-offer is real and accessible to all who hear and believe. The drawing of v. 44 is prevenient grace operative universally. See Arminianism.

Apologetic deployment

The verse is the direct universal-offer text that defeats:

  1. Hyper-Calvinism (denying the universal gospel offer), the verse explicitly extends the offer of eternal life to pas (every-one) who believes. There is no Christian-orthodox basis for restricting the gospel offer.

  2. Universalism (all are saved regardless of faith), the verse conditions the eternal life on beholding and believing in the Son. The conditional structure forecloses unconditional universal-salvation readings.

  3. Works-righteousness frameworks (you must earn salvation), the condition is believing, not doing. The faith-alone soteriology has its central anchor here and in companion texts (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 3-4; John 3:16).

Evangelistic deployment

The verse is one of the principal closing-conversation verses for evangelistic conversations (see Closing Conversations §9, Diagnosis-Plus-Cure). After the Diagnostic Doorways have surfaced the soul's awareness of mortality / sin / meaning / etc., the closing offer is: "every one that beholdeth the Son and believeth on him should have eternal life." The offer is universal; the response is voluntary; the gift is eternal life now and resurrection at the last day.

Canonical-theological connections

  • John 3:14-16, the lifting-up of the Son + universal-offer-to-whoever-believes (parallel structure)
  • John 5:24, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life" (parallel)
  • John 6:37, 39, 44, 65, the John 6 particular-drawing companions
  • John 11:25-26, "he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live" (resurrection-and-life I-AM)
  • Romans 10:13, "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (universal-offer)
  • Romans 10:14-17, the gospel-proclamation-and-response chain
  • 1 Timothy 2:4, "who will have all men to be saved" (universal-offer-of-the-Father's-will)
  • 2 Peter 3:9, "not willing that any should perish"

Key words

See also

Quoted in