“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.
“No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
“draw” = to drag like a net.
Jesus repeats what He had just said in verse 37, but this time with more force. Before He implied that to come to Him, one must be drawn by the Father to Him, but now He explicitly states it. It is impossible for someone to come to Christ for salvation unless God draws him. This is called the doctrine of the divine initiative in salvation. Men like to feel independent and capable of coming to Christ based on their own will, but such is not the case; it is impossible for man to come to Christ unless God first draws him. Godet states: “the God who sends Jesus for souls, on the other hand, draws souls to Jesus. The two divine works, external and internal, answer to and complete each other. The happy moment in which they meet in the heart and in which the will is thus gained, is that of the gift on God’s part, of faith on man’s part.” The divine initiative requires a human response. God says “come” but we must exercise our will in doing so. Mt 23:37; Rev 22:17
Mt 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
Re 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
But God’s grace is also overflowing in this area of the exercising of our will, for He even works in us “to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13) Calvin talks of “an effectual movement of the Holy Spirit, turning men from being unwilling and reluctant into willing.”
Php 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.