What Does Jesus Mean in John 12:39 About People Being Unable to Believe?

Question: John 12:39 says “for this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says, ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.’” In this verse John is explaining the disbelief of the Jewish people who saw Jesus’ miracles and heard his preaching. He says that their disbelief was a fulfillment of the words Isaiah spoke.

This verse seems to imply that the Jewish people it refers to were physically incapable of believing and they were made this way solely to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. Is this the case? Did God make them unable to believe?

Answer: It could look like there is something physical that has been done to the majority of Jews in Jesus’ day to prevent them from believing (eyes cannot see, ears cannot hear), but it can’t mean that all these Jews became deaf and blind. It was their spiritual capacity to “hear” and “see” that is meant, and God is saying through Isaiah that He was preventing them from believing.

This is a little complicated because Scripture elsewhere makes it clear that no one is spiritually able to believe unless God does a work within them (John 6:44, Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up on the last day.”). Scripture everywhere makes clear that we are all responsible for our decisions, yet God determines our decisions (Romans 9:19, God judges but no one resists His will).

May I direct you to my article on this: https://thimblefulloftheology.com/daily-thoughts-from-romans-gods-will-mans-choice/