“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”– John 4:23 ESV
Calvinism teaches that God draws the lost to Himself and this drawing is irresistible. This is based on the Calvinistic notion that God elects people even before time began (2 Timothy 1:9; Revelation 13:8) and that because of total depravity, which they define as completely dead (Ephesians 2:1-3), then God must draw the elect to Himself through His Son, and this drawing is by God’s sovereign choice (Romans 9:18).
The Arminian understanding is obviously different to say the least. We believe that God does indeed draw sinners unto Himself through the preaching of the gospel of His Son, but we believe that this drawing is not irresistible. In fact, reformation Arminianism holds the opposite: that the sinner can resist the Spirit and resist His conviction (Luke 7:30; Acts 7:51). While we believe that salvation is a work of grace, it is a gift that is to be received (Romans 6:23). Salvation is conditioned upon faith in the Lord Jesus and a person must exercise faith to be born again (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5-7). This salvation is conditional from start to finish upon our faith in the Lord Jesus (Romans 11:20-22; 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:21; 15:1-2; 2 Corinthians 1:24; Ephesians 3:17; Philippians 2:12-15; Colossians 1:21-23; 3:1-4; etc.).
John 4:23 is a powerful passage of Scripture that teaches that the Father is seeking. This is important to the Arminian understanding of both prevenient grace (pre-salvation, enabling grace as Robert Picirilli defines it) and to the preaching of the gospel itself. If the Father’s will is always done in regard to His drawing sinners to Himself, then Jesus’ words in John 4:23 make little sense. Why would the Father seek worshipers if He can just draw them irresistibly unto Himself? The more logical approach to John 4:23 is to allow it to state just what it says, that the Father is seeking worshipers. He seeks them through the preaching of the gospel of His beloved Son (Romans 1:16-17). Notice Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:21. Here Paul says that God is pleased to save people through the preaching of the gospel so long as they believe (John 6:29; Hebrews 11:6). God longs for people to repent (2 Peter 3:9) and His desire is for us to worship Him, and thus He sent His Son to die for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) that we might be saved through Jesus Christ and we can worship God through Him (Hebrews 13:12-15).
Truly, John 4:23 is in line with Arminian understanding of God’s desire for all the lost to be saved (John 3:16-17; 1 John 2:2) and His desire is fulfilled when people hear the gospel (Romans 10:14-17) and are saved through faith in the Lord Jesus (John 1:12-13). The Spirit works through the gospel to draw sinners unto the Savior (John 16:8-11) and the Spirit cuts people to the heart through the Word (Acts 2:37; Hebrews 4:12-13). People who place their saving faith in Jesus and repent of their sins (Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30-31; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:10) are the elect of God (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Peter 1:2). These elect are the ones whom the Father loves as His children (Romans 8:14-17) and it is these, the elect, who worship the Father in spirit and in truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking!
[Link to original post and comments on Roy Ingle’s website.]
