65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.



Ver. 65. Therefore said I unto you] Here some may object, if faith be not in man’s power, why doth he yet complain? and why are any destroyed for lack of faith? Hereunto I might answer with the apostle, "Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies, (or chattest) against God?" But for further satisfaction, know, 1. That faith was once in man’s power. 2. That no unbeliever doth what he might do to believe. 3. That unbelief is in a man’s power, who wittingly and willingly, and by his own election, forsaketh his own mercies, Joh_2:8; Mat_23:37; there. is an uncounsellable obstinacy in it.



Unless it be given him] That divine traction, then, Joh_6:44, is a free gift: there is no meritum ex congruo. Our effectual conversion is gratuita et inopinata, Eph_1:11. We cannot, concur or contribute toward it. Nothing can prepare for grace but grace. Neither can we bring forth good things any otherwise than as Sarah’s dead womb brought forth a child; it was not a child of nature, but of the mere promise.