John 6:38-39 - All that He has given Me I may not lose

Does John 6:38-39 have conditions?


John 6:38: "Because I-have-come-down from heaven not in-order-that I-may-be-doing My will, but the will of the (One) having-sent Me."

John 6:39: "And this is the will (of) the (One) having-sent Me: that (as to) all that HE-HAS-GIVEN (to) Me, I-MAY NOT LOSE (anything) from it, but I-will-raise it up in the last day."


I "may" not lose:

Jesus said about the Father: "all that HE-HAS-GIVEN (to) Me, I-MAY NOT LOSE (anything) from it" (John 6:39). 

The Greek word "I-MAY" is in the Subjunctive mood, which is the mood of possibility and potentiality, meaning that the action described may or may not occur, depending upon other conditions.

For example several chapters later it is written that Jesus said to the Father: "when I-was with them, I was-keeping them in Your name which YOU-HAVE-GIVEN (to) Me. And I-guarded (them), and NONE OF THEM PERISHED EXCEPT THE SON (OF) DESTRUCTION, in-order-that the Scripture might-be-fulfilled" (John 17:12).

So the initial statement by Jesus that "all that HE-HAS-GIVEN (to) Me, I-MAY NOT LOSE (anything) from it" (John 6:39) could allow for exceptions under certain conditions. 

The language of "NONE [oudeis 3762 in Greek] of them perished — EXCEPT [ei 1487 & mé 3361 in Greek] [...]" (John 17:12) suggests that Jesus actually did end up losing one (who thus perished), as the same language was used by Paul (to indicate how Paul actually did end up baptizing people), as Paul wrote: "I-give-thanks (to) God that I-baptized NONE [oudeis 3762 in Greek] (of) you, EXCEPT [ei 1487 & mé 3361 in Greek] Crispus and Gaius" (1 Corinthians 1:14).


↺ Click here to return to the Table of Contents.

Comments

Popular Posts