Enabled or Allowed?

John 6:65 (NASB)
And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

John 6:65 (NIV)
He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

Now the Greek word translated as granted by the NASB, enabled by the NIV, and given by the KJV is "didōmi" (Strong's G1325). It means to give or let someone have something, and does not include in its meaning whether the one being given or allowed to obtain something is otherwise able to obtain it. Thus "enabled" is an agenda driven mistranslation.

The idea based on the context of John 6:65 is a person cannot come to faith in Christ, unless God allows him or her to believe. Thus if God has chosen to harden a person's heart, as depicted in Romans 11, then that person cannot come to put their faith in Jesus.

Some of Christ's followers actually did not believe Christ was the Messiah, and Jesus knew who did not believe, whether able to or not, and who would betray Him and was not able to believe because He had been hardened to be the "betrayer." Thus no one can come to faith in Christ unless (1) they have not hardened their hearts like soil #1 in Matthew 13, and (2) they have not been hardened by God for His purpose as in Romans 11, and (3) God has revealed the Gospel through His witnesses and they were receptive and open to good news of the gospel, i.e. they are "of My sheep." Recall that some receive the gospel with joy, but no deep commitment, and others also receive the gospel but do not make Christ the overriding priority of their lives. Thus no one can come to faith in Christ, that is faith that God might choose to credit as righteousness, unless it has been allowed by our sovereign God.

 

John 6:65 (KJV)
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.​

Same word in the inspired Greek text, ("didōmi" - Strong's G1325) which the KJV translates as "allowed" in Revelation 13:14. Also same Greek word is rendered "granted" by the KJV in three other verses. So the issue is not that the verse context indicates the Father must allow a person to believe in Christ, but whether to add in man-made doctrine.