What is the Catholic interpretation of John 12:32?

Upvote:1

This is a common argument from those outside the Church, that "All" means each and every individual. Protestants, in General, use "All" often times in the very same way your questions suggests, yet at other times, the word "All" is not used to mean each and every individual.

In this Scripture, the Church teaches that "All" means, All the men, from every Nation.

When Christ was lifted up on the Cross

When Christ was lifted up into heaven

When Christ is lifted up in the mass, all are drawn to him in his Eucharistic Presence from every Nation, one body.

As to the Wicked North Koreans, that is another topic having to do with those people who have not been evangelized. The Church teaches that there is hope for them.

Upvote:2

No, St. John does not mean "everyone" when he says "all things".

From lession 5 of St. Thomas Aquinas's commentary on Jn. 12:

  1. Here we may note that the Father draws and the Son also draws: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (6:44). He says here, I will draw all things, in order to show that the same action belongs to both of them. And he says, all things, and not "all men," because not all men are drawn to the Son. I will draw all things, that is, the body and the soul; or all types of men, such as Gentiles and Jews, servants and freemen, male and female; or, all who are predestined to salvation.

From his Catena Aurea on John 12, lesson 4, he quotes St. Augustine:

What is this all that He draws, but that from which the devil is cast out? He does not say, All men, but, All things; for all men have not faith. He does not mean then all mankind, but the whole of a man, i.e. spirit, soul, and body; by which respectively we understand, and live, and are visible. Or, if all means all men, it means those who are predestined to salvation: or all kinds of men, all varieties of character, excepting in the article of sin.

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