All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
The crowd in this chapter had seen Jesus and still refused to believe Him. He does not argue with them. He states two certainties: everyone the Father gives Him arrives, and everyone who arrives stays. So how does anyone know they are one of the given, and what does Christ promise the one who comes?
Two halves, one key
The verse joins God's choosing to Christ's open welcome. Commentators warn against pulling the two apart.
William KellyThis is the key, and it has two sides. We only know the truth when we hold both. Take one side and leave out the other, and the teaching is incomplete. The result is likely to be error on one side or the other... The theologian who sees only the divine decrees pays little attention to the encouragement the Lord gives to the person who comes to Him. The man who argues for what he calls free will tries to cancel out the statement that all the Father gives to Christ will come to Him — if he does not ignore it altogether.
Why anyone comes at all
Some heard Christ and rejected Him; others heard and believed. The first half of the verse explains the difference.
F. B. HoleThere is the sovereign grace of the Father, which has given certain people to the Son, and every one of them comes to Him. As far as they themselves are aware, many different things draw these happy people to Him, and those things differ in almost every case. Yet beneath it all, as the ultimate explanation, lies this gift of the Father to Christ — a love gift, we may call it.
That gift also explains why the unbelief around Him could not make His coming a failure.
Hamilton SmithIf blessing depends on man's responsibility, then it is all over; no one will be blessed. But, as always, when man stands fully exposed, God falls back on the purposes of His own heart. He will not allow all to perish; nor will He allow that the coming of the Son of Man shall be all in vain.
Coming is the proof
How can anyone know they are among those the Father gives? One writer settles it with a single question.
Robert F. KingscoteSuppose I ask someone who has no peace with God, "Have you come to Christ?" If that person can answer, "Yes," then I can say: "This shows that you are one whom the Father has given to Christ. He said, 'All that the Father gives me will come to me' — and you have come to Him."
No character excluded
The promise asks nothing but coming. Hamilton Smith names the kinds of people it covers.
Hamilton SmithWhatever their nationality or their character — Jews or Gentiles, fallen women or hardened thieves, Pharisees or tax collectors — if they only come to Christ, He will receive them. Their coming is the proof that they are the Father's gift to the Son.
Why He will not refuse
The next verse gives the reason: He came down to do the will of the One who sent Him. So refusing anyone would mean refusing His Father.
F. B. HoleAll that the Father has given come, and the Son casts out none who come. This is not only because of His own grace and personal love for them. It is because they are the Father's gift, and because the very purpose of His coming down from heaven was to carry out the Father's will, and so reveal the Father's heart... There is no possibility of any slip between the Father's gift and the Son's reception.
The reach of "never cast out"
The wording is a promise about the future as much as the moment of arrival.
H. H. SnellWhen He said, "whoever comes to me I will never cast out," it meant three things. First, I will receive him. Second, I will hold him fast. Third, I will never give him up — "never cast out."
Summary
- Gift — The Father gives people to His Son as a love gift. That gift is the deepest reason anyone comes.
- Guarantee — Between the Father's giving and the Son's receiving there is no gap, no slip, no lost case.
- Grounds — Christ receives you out of obedience as well as kindness. He came to do His Father's will, and turning you away would break it.
- Range — No nationality, record, or reputation shuts anyone out. The promise asks only that you come — and coming is itself the proof of the Father's gift.
- Grip — "Never cast out" means received, held fast, and never given up — a welcome that has no expiry.