John Calvin Commentary John 6:65

"And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father." — John 6:65 (ASV)

Therefore have I told you. He again states that faith is an uncommon and remarkable gift of the Spirit of God, so that we may not be astonished that the Gospel is not received in every place and by everyone. For, being poorly equipped to use the course of events to our advantage, we think less of the Gospel because the whole world does not accept it.

The thought arises in our minds: How is it possible that most people would deliberately reject their salvation? Christ therefore gives a reason why there are so few believers, namely, because no one, whatever his intelligence, can arrive at faith by his own insight. For all are blind until they are illuminated by the Spirit of God, and therefore only those whom the Father deigns to make partakers of it actually share in so great a blessing.

If this grace were bestowed on all without exception, it would have been ill-timed and inappropriate to have mentioned it in this passage. For we must understand that it was Christ’s design to show that not many believe the Gospel, because faith proceeds only from the secret revelation of the Spirit.

Unless it be given him by my Father. He now uses the word give instead of the word he formerly used, draw. By this he means that there is no other reason why God draws than because out of free grace he loves us; for what we obtain by the gift and grace of God, no one procures for himself by his own effort.