John 12 is a crucial and sobering chapter in which several of the themes that have been mounting throughout the gospel have come to a head. In this chapter we witness the central crisis point of the Father’s work in Jesus, Jesus’ physical departure from among the people, John’s reflection on the unbelief of the Jews in general, and the unity of the Father and Jesus. It is important to recognize these various themes to properly interpret verses 39 and 40 which are otherwise used to defend a predestinarian interpretation of John’s gospel.
In brief, the confrontation of Jesus with the Jews has come to its climax. His persistent challenges for the Jews to believe in him have come to their culmination. Because of their stubborn unbelief, even after their witnessing the Father’s undeniable work among them through his Son Jesus, the Jewish leadership who call God their Father, would now be hardened by God himself in the fashion of the hardening that occurred in Isaiah’s day (Is. 53:1, 6:8-13. cf. Rom. 9-11 and also the account of Moses and Pharaoh in Ex. 3ff.). This is ironic, because the Jews were “his own people” (Jn. 1:11), that is, “the people of God,” and yet as much as they might claim otherwise, according to Jesus they did not know their God. They did not have a vital faith relationship with their Father. (Jn. 5:37-38, 42, 5:30, 36, 6:27, 36-37, 41, 45, 52, 65, 7:15-17, 28, 8:19, 27, 37, 41-44, 47, 54-55, 10:26, 15:21-25, 16:3 / cf. Jn. 3:31-36, 4:10, 12, 22-26, 8:23, 27, 12:26-28, 49-50, 14:6-13, 20-22, 28, 31, 15:15, 16:15, 25-28, 32, 17:6, 10-11, 21-26) Yet it is important to see that even while this hardening is taking effect, Jesus once more presents the opportunity to believe. Jesus gives this final invitation in response to the questioning crowd after they heard the voice (v. 28) from heaven or an angel (v. 29) and his announcement of his death by being “lifted up from the earth.” (v. 32, ESV, CSB)
“Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light.” (Jn. 12:34-36a, CSB)
Clearly, those to whom Jesus is speaking may become “children of the light” (i.e., saved). He exhorts them to “believe in the light” precisely because there is still time and potential for them to believe in him and be saved. (cf. Jn. 8:12; 9:5; 11:9) But after this the situation worsens. Jesus does not merely withdraw from “the crowd,” but he intentionally hides himself from them. Nothing could be worse than the absence of the presence of grace, truth, love, and salvation himself from their midst. John records,
“Jesus said this, then went away and hid from them.” (v. 36b, CSB)
Or,
“When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.” (v. 36b, ESV)
What hope is there for them now? What was God going to do to those who rejected his Son? John records,
“Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”” (12:37, 38, ESV)
These words of Isaiah 53:1 were fulfilled in the unbelief of Israel. Did the words of Isaiah fate these people to their unbelief? Was the unbelief of the people predetermined due to Isaiah’s prophetic Word? Note the progression of their unbelief. John tells us plainly that “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.” (v. 37) And then in v. 39, after the initial questions from Isaiah 53:1, John tells us “Therefore they could not believe,” and then gives us the reason in the second quote from Isaiah 6:10.
“For again Isaiah said,
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.” (12:40, ESV)
The reason the people and the Jewish leadership don’t presently believe is because they refused to believe in the past. So now, at least for a time, they cannot believe due to God’s actions upon them to, as it were, “blind their eyes” and “harden their hearts.” Prior to this hardening they did not believe, which was an act of their own stubborness and refusal to acknowledge that Jesus was sent from the Father. Hence the rhetorical and indicting questions in the quote from Isaiah 53:1. Note that if the people were predetermined by God to their unbelief, the second part of this progression – the blinding and hardening – would not make sense. God would be blinding eyes and hardening hearts which he had already blinded and hardened, that is, caused not to believe! Rather, it is because the people and Jewish leadership freely refused to believe that God took the actions spoken of in Isaiah 6:10. This historical phenomenon of Israel’s rejection of Jesus and God’s response of hardening is what Paul takes great pains to explain in Romans 9-11. I will examine this text in a separate chapter, but we should also note here that Paul, like Jesus, after having been stubbornly rejected and persecuted by his own Jewish people, comes to his own crucial moment with them as recorded in Acts 28:23-28. There, Paul also quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10. The comments of Herman Ridderbos in his excellent commentary on John are informative here. He writes,
“…the Evangelist intends not merely to refer to the similarity between unbelief in Isaiah’s day and in Jesus’ day, but rather places this unbelief in the light of God’s ongoing dealings with his backsliding people in the whole history of revelation (cf., e.g., also Dt. 29:3,4)….Unbelief is not thereby blamed on God in a predestinarian sense, but is rather described as a punishment from God: he abandons unbelieving people to themselves, thus confirming them in their evil, blinding their eyes and hardening their hearts, as a result of which whatever God gives them to see and hear can no longer lead to salvation, that is, to repentance and healing.” 1
As long as this hardening remains in effect, the person’s cannot believe. God did with his people in Isaiah’s day, so much more, given his full revelation to this generation in Jesus, God must also judge and punish the unbelief of his people Israel. Ridderbos continues,
“By placing the controversy between Jesus and the people in the light of prophecy, the Evangelist traces the glory of Christ back to its ultimate preexistent state and reduces the blinding of the people to its final seriousness, to the divinely ordained judgment on the rejection of his Son (cf. 3:18f.). He allows this judgment to stand in all its severity without adding to it or subtracting from it. But he does this as an Evangelist. He does not present this judgment to his readers as the unalterable end of the decree that lies behind it. He rather cites from Scripture a prophetic oracle that has not lost its meaning but rather comes to full significance and supreme relevance precisely in the rejection of Jesus. It does so in accordance with the nature of prophecy as the word of God that permanently goes out to the world, a word that, even when it announces God’s judgment on the world that has become estranged from him, is never his final word, by which he would be turning definitively from the world and leaving it no future. He seeks to picture before the world’s eyes, and cause it to experience, the futurelessness of its existence apart from him – as a final call to return to him (cf. Is. 6:11-13). The Evangelist could not have conveyed to Israel a more severe judgment or made a stronger appeal than by thus calling to mind these words from the heart of Israel’s prophecy.” 2
The fact that the situation now required a hardening by God upon the nation does not preclude the possibility of believing among individuals (cf. Rom. 11). Again, this is indicated by Jesus’ prior discourse in verses 35-38, but it is also found in v. 42 which states, “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him…” (ESV) As far as each individual is concerned, whether among the people or “the authorities” (ESV) or “rulers” (CSB), there is always the possibility of belief. The fluid nature of belief that we see throughout John’s gospel is seen here also. Verses 42 and 43 continue, “…but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be banned from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than praise from God.” (CSB)
The point is that under the Calvinist presuppositions and doctrines they interpret this passage as support for unconditional election. They interpret the passage as stating that individual persons were predestined by God to their unbelief. That is, that the word Isaiah spoke indicates that certain individuals among the Jews were predestined to their response of unbelief in Jesus. They could not do otherwise than reject Jesus. But this would amount to imposing Calvinist presuppositions and doctrines upon the text, for as we have seen, the text has obvious indications that this is not its point at all. Let’s look at this more carefully.
It must be observed that there is an historically nuanced message inherent in the entire passage given the full scope of John’s gospel with respect to the purpose of the revelatory work of God among his elect or chosen people (i.e., Israel) culminating at that time in the person of Jesus. We must be sensitive to the nature of the prophetic word and historical context in which Isaiah first spoke these words and how John now adopts them as appropriate to capture the general response of rejection, especially of the Jewish leadership (e.g, Pharisee’s, scribes, etc., cf. Mt. 23), to Jesus’ message as the one sent by the Father. Indeed, John states that Isaiah said these things “because he saw his glory and spoke of him.” (Jn. 12:41) In saying this John highlighted the fact that in Jesus the Jews of Jesus’ day were experiencing the apex of God’s revelation to them and the world. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was the central point of all history. These Jews were living at the climax of salvation history – indeed, again, of all history! Jesus, their Messiah, was in their very midst. These Jews had an extensive history of dealings with the God who called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and established them as a nation. They often cited this history when arguing with Jesus when he challenged their wrong thinking, religious practices, and rejection of him. These Jews should have known and acknowledged what their God was doing in Jesus. Their claim to have Yahweh as their God and Father should have led to their acknowledgment and acceptance of Jesus if that claim and relationship with Yahweh was genuine. But it was not genuine, as Jesus pointed out. For if the relationship was genuine they would have come to him. The major portion of the gospel of John is about the rejection of Jesus by the people and the Jewish leadership. It’s about faith and unbelief. The people continually doubted Jesus’ claims and teachings despite his many miracles which confirmed the truth of those teachings and claims. John’s gospel is about Jesus having come from the Father and being one with the Father in his saving purposes. Those purposes included that he be “lifted up” so he could draw all men to him (Jn. 3:14; 12:32, cf. 6:44). Jesus wanted his people, especially the leadership, to see that he was from the Father – the very same God they claimed to worship – and to acknowledge who he is, that is “believe on his name.” But that was not to be, and Jesus’ ministry was coming to an end.
Therefore, Isaiah was speaking about the reaction of the Jews to Jesus and God’s intervention via a hardening because of their continued, stubborn unbelief and outright rejection of Jesus. The hardening is not arbitrary, nor does it refer to the predestination of certain people to salvation and others to reprobation. And it certainly does not support the Calvinist’s theistic determinism. For again, this blinding of the eyes and hardening of the heart would make no sense if God also predetermined the people’s rejection of Jesus. God would be judging the people for what he himself irresistibly caused to be the case. Rather, the passage is set from the perspective of continued unbelief implying that faith was the response the Father and Jesus were looking for from his people with respect to his revelation of salvation in his Son. Hence, the people were responsible for their own attitudes and actions. But now, given their stubbornness, the words of Isaiah apply and can be used to speak of God’s predictable reaction – hiding, blinding, and hardening.
Throughout the gospel, Jesus expected faith from his people and is astonished at their unbelief. They could have and should have believed. This is confirmed by the durative imperative in verse 37, “…they still did not believe in him.” (ESV) Note that Paul, in Romans, sees the situation in this same manner. It is one of stubborn unbelief (Rom. 10:3, 18-21) on the part of God’s people and Paul informs us that a hardening has occurred as a result. (Rom. 11:7-10, 25) Thus we read in John 12:39, “Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart…” So, in verse 37 we first have in effect that “they would not believe,” and only then in verse 39, “they could not believe.”
Again, this does not confirm an arbitrary predestination of certain individuals to salvation and others to reprobation, rather, it refers to God’s act of hardening given the faithless response of the Jews to Jesus. His own people stubbornly refused to believe in the present circumstance of the ultimate revelation of “the arm of the Lord” in Jesus Christ. (cf. Jn. 1:11) And yet, certain matters are predetermined. One of them is the divine judgment at the rejection of Jesus. The willful disregard of God’s revelatory grace in Jesus was now taking its predetermined course. Due to the persistent unbelief of the Jews, despite the fact that Jesus “had done so many signs before them” (Jn. 12:37), God would now harden them in their unbelief as he did with Pharaoh in Moses’ day to bring about salvation despite their inappropriate response to God. And most astonishing for the callous Jew, according to Paul in Romans 9-11 this hardening served the purpose of bringing salvation to the Gentiles. So, the hardening is not without purpose or arbitrary. Paul explains this in Romans 9-11. What we have here is an example of what it means for God to be soverign. He is the supreme ruler. He can and will accomplish his purposes despite the unwillingness of people to obey his commands, cooperate with his revealed will, and even attempt to thwart his will, purposes, and plans.
Therefore, God, who was revealed personally among them in Jesus, would now hide himself from his people. “When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.” (Jn. 12:36) These are sobering and severe words. If it is “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” (Heb. 10:31) it is even more fearful for him to hide himself from us! Therefore, we see that what is being spoken of here is not a predestination of certain people to reprobation and others to salvation, but the nature of a temporal hardening, an intervention of God in the form of “blinding their eyes” and “hardening their hearts.” We know that this does not have the deterministic meaning required by Calvinism precisely because the quote in Isaiah continues by indicating the original intention of God for his people – “…lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” (Jn. 12:40, ESV) Why would God express such a sentiment if he predetermined their unbelief? That very phrase shouts to us that the situation had a contingent nature about it. Indeed, just five verses further down from John’s Isaiah quote, we read in Isaiah 53:6 that the death Jesus was about to die was for us all.
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.” (ESV)
And to express his everlasting love we read in Isaiah 54:7-8,
““For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.” (ESV)
Furthermore, to fully understand the nature of God’s hardening of some people (mainly the Jewish leadership) as a result of their stubborn resistance to Jesus, we need also to recognize that there were individuals that did believe. We read in Jn. 12:42, “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him….” The phrase “even of the authorities” is telling. And although God hardened certain individuals – for what could the rationale of this hardening amount to except that God was dealing with individuals according to their unbelief – we do not have warrant to extrapolate from this the doctrine of Calvinist predestination. Rather, here we may observe a true biblical mystery in the workings of God. What is “beyond reason” here is how God deals with each individual and exercises his prerogative of hardening in justice and mercy. And yet those that are hardened can be referred to as a group. Paul writes, “…a partial hardening has come upon Israel.” (Rom. 11:25. ESV) Thus, it is said that he hardens Israel. Yes, he also hardened Pharaoh for the purpose of the salvation of his people. But the point is that the hardening is God’s response to stubborn rejection against his will and word. Note that it is not the cause of this rejection as in Calvinism.
Also, the point is that the hardening of Israel is temporal and reversible if they are to repent and believe. Paul makes this clear in Rom. 11:23. After stating that the hardening of Israel – the olive tree – has been for the salvation of the Gentiles (11:11), Paul says, “And even they [Israel], if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.” (ESV) Moreover, Paul argues in Romans 9 that we cannot “find fault” or “answer back” to God for his hardening because the very rationale behind his doing so is to extend his mercy, not limit it. This is made perfectly clear in Paul’s summary statement in Rom. 11:32, “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all.” (CSB)
What is important to note is that in our exposition of John 12 we have not generated theological incoherence or contradiction. Rather we have provided a biblically accurate and sound exegesis that results in logical, moral, and theological harmony. If there is any mystery here it centers in understand how God does what he does, rather than proposing that what God does results in logical, moral, and theological inconsistency.
In addition, we have a passionate summary from Jesus to the people that once again calls for belief in him and intimately equates the works and person of Jesus with the Father himself. The Father that Jesus speaks about is the one and only God who the Jews claim as their God, and rightly so, for God established them as his “chosen people.” But when the very “people of God” refuse to recognize the work of their own God and Father in his only Son, God must act accordingly in judgment and punishment as he continues to work out his purposes even through their rejection of their Messiah. Jn. 12:44ff. is also a clear statement of the reality of human freedom, personal responsibility, and spiritual culpability. These verses are incoherent with Calvinism’s theistic determinism and predestinarian soteriology. In Jn. 12:44-50 Jesus clearly states with passion his desire for all to come to the light and not remain in darkness.
“Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And the one who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said. I know that his command is eternal life. So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.””
Ridderbos comments that,
“He [Jesus] not only placed a radical choice before people but also pointed to the source of that choice, the reality “from above” that transcends the human inability and unwillingness to believe. The last word here, then, is not that of Israel’s unbelief but of Jesus’ self-witness as the one sent by the Father (vss. 44-50).” 3
There will be no other savior of the world. Jesus has come from their God and Father. The presence of Jesus transcended even human responses to him. But that same presence demanded a response. The time of decision had come upon them all, but many refused to believe. Therefore, God hardened their hearts so they could not believe while he accomplished his other purposes in the “lifting up” of Jesus and the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles. It is precisely because “the reality ‘from above’ that transcends the human inability and unwillingness to believe” has come down into our midst that the possibility and responsibility of believing is everywhere presupposed in Scripture. Faith is not founded in any human ability, but, because God comes to us in his Word, faith is made possible. And because God comes to us all in his Word, faith is made a possibility for all. On the basis of God saying, “believe in me,” he also provides the grace that enables the realization of that call. By virtue of the content of the gospel as directed to the person as calling for a response – one that they themselves are called upon to perform – this indicates to us that God has not and will not determine the outcome. Everything else regarding our salvation he has accomplished, except the decision of faith. By the presence of his Spirit in the proclamation of the gospel (i.e., “good news), God provides what enables (not causes) that decision, but that decision is ultimately ours. Salvation is not granted except through the response of faith. The biblical explanation as to why people do or do not believe is not that they were predestined to belief or unbelief, but that they refuse the grace of God offered in the Word of God to them. The text is clear. “Whoever believes in me (12:44, 46), and “…the one who rejects me…” (12:48)
I submit that this perspective on the nature and dynamics of salvation best interprets all the biblical data precisely because it can incorporate more of that data coherently. It is the comprehensiveness of the data coherently and consistently understood that convinces me that this non-Calvinist position is the more biblically accurate interpretation of Scripture on these matters.
1 Herman N. Ridderbos, The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 444.
2 Ibid., 445.
3 Ibid., 447.
The Truth of the Gospel 