Post by M.R. Hagerty on Mar 1, 2023 1:18:21 GMT -7
John 3:17-36
17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized-- 24 for John had not yet been thrown into prison. 25 Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him."
27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28 "You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, `I am not the Christ,' but, `I have been sent ahead of Him.' 29 "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. 30 "He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 "He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 "What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 "He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. 34 "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. 35 "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:17-36)
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Commentary
John 3:17-18
17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,”
A righteous God visiting the created world necessarily implies judgment in a Judaistic sense because Judaism was a works-based approach where an assessment in terms of reward and punishment was implied. (This was not the intent of the Law from God’s perspective, as Paul later reveals in Romans and Galatians.)
So John gets this notion out of the way in the business of Christ coming into the world. It is that the world might be saved, not that it be brought to accountability. This is one of the most profound and rather realistic aspects of the entire story of the Bible. It is realistic in that it is fully expected from the kind of restorative God revealed in the OT. Most people think of the OT God as angry, exacting and ready to judge. But so much in Israel’s history reveals an intelligent, compassionate God who has a perfect plan for man’s life, and is full of patience and longsuffering in spite of man’s refusal to give him worship and obedience. It makes perfect sense that such a God would further endeavor to visit man to more clearly convey His love in the best terms possible, as opposed to being aloof, condescending and remote.
That the world might be saved through God’s own Son is a perfect image of that love and contrary to the world’s view of accountability. The world would never conclude that the lawgivers, kings and monarchs would effect an arrangement in which evil-doers would be redeemed from their due punishment by an arrangement that made the king’s innocent son pay the price.
That is why the whole story of salvation is so authentic. Man would never conceive something like this. The myths of Greco-Roman antiquity all have man getting the just desserts of his deeds. Such an arrangement bears the mark of being genuine because only a God working on principles separate from his creatures could establish such a remedy.
18 “. . . He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already . .”
Freedom from impending judgment is declared to be in Christ. But this is not saying that such a judgment was merely a myth, a mistaken notion of man. The second part declares that he who does not have the Son is “judged already.” At the very least this means that all men without Christ have committed sins worthy of judgment and have no other means of avoiding it. This is a truth about the world, the way things simply are. God is just and will not let offenses go unpunished, except within the Grace He alone provides.
There is, however, a more complicated explanation as to why those without Christ are condemned already – that all men come into the world under judgment until they gain the Son (” Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” Psalms 51:5).
This is very difficult because it sets up the idea that man is born into judgment without his cognitive awareness. He is indicted before he takes breath. This all bears on the subject of original sin, which did not get much discussion until Augustine. Yet so much of Paul in Romans is explained by this concept.
There is good reason to be repulsed by the notion of coming into the world without our consent and being condemned on the basis of someone else’s prior act. This is not a topic for beginners or for those less studied in NT theology. Conversely, it isn’t a subject that can easily be dismissed or tritely swept under the carpet.
Suffice it to say that whether the more complicated issue of original sin applies or the inevitable principle that all men will sin cognitively, man without Christ faces a foreboding destiny.
What is important here is the positive part of the principle – that man need not remain judged. This is the essence of the “good news” of the Gospel. What the Law could not do because of the weakness of man, is now available in Christ. The “sigh” of the OT believer at the desperation in meeting the dictates of the Law was met with the joy of incredible relief, that all of its requirements are now met in Christ and the believer need only ”have” Him. Good news indeed!
To “have” the Son would have been puzzling for an OT believer. There was no concept in Judaism of “acquiring” or possessing Messiah, except in the sense of having Him present among His people. Here, it is clear to Nicodemus that the inner freedom of being relieved of judgment depended on actually possessing Messiah in some sense yet unknown. Jesus was conveying what would later be explained in more detail – that possessing Christ is made possible by receiving the Spirit, who communicates the presence of Christ in the human heart.
This is reiterated by Jesus in “He who has the Son has the Father.” It follows that the three Persons reciprocate each other, hence he who has the Spirit has the Son, etc.
John 3:19-23
19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
Turning again to the subject of judgment, Jesus declares the basis for all final judgment. Light has come into the world not only in Christ’s coming but in ages past, and man is responsible. God was not slack in revealing Himself and his Word to mankind from the beginning. That revelation came and with respect to it, man can be brought to account.
Some will object that if this means the revelation in the Bible, there are hosts of people who have lived and died who have never heard or known of the Bible. How can these be held responsible for its light? Paul answers this by showing that God’s light came in two other forms besides His written word: revelation of His handiwork in nature, and the personal revelation of Himself to every man in their hearts (Rom 1:18-20.)
The judgment before God of the unbeliever will not be a long set of arguments outlining all the things a person has done wrong. It will simply be a case of looking for them in the Lamb’s Book of Life. When the name does not appear, the question as to why will be answered with, ”You loved the darkness rather than the light because your deeds were evil.” It will be an answer that will stop all mouths, because it will ring true at the very core. All other arguments will be a waste of time.
The mention of their deeds being evil is the very reason they did not wish to come to the Light. It would mean exposure and confrontation with one’s acts and attitudes and when such deeds are loved and enjoyed, they cannot bear the Light of truth.
20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
Here, two completely opposite attitudes. One based on evil deeds and the other based on the desire to please God with deeds that practice the truth. This is endemic of the consummate evil doer, that he seeks in all things to avoid exposure. This means that he is aware that the Light exists, that it is wholly opposite and can expose. But his heart is sold to evil and the fear of giving it up prevents him from acknowledging that something is wrong with the way of evil compared to the way things are supposed to be.
But this can also apply to the Christian who falls into sin. While indulging it and knowing it to be wrong, he fears the Light with respect to the exposure of his sins to others. He may even become cynical about the goodness of those who love the Light and rationalize the duplicity of his own allegiances. But true believers will come to see their folly and recognize the goodness of the Light they know to be true, and the former state will not become permanent.