John 3:16-21

MORE HEAVENLY MYSTERIES

Text 3:16-21

16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

17

For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.

18

He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19

And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

20

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.

21

But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.

Queries

a.

Why did God so love the world?

b.

How is the unbeliever judged already?

c.

What is the significance of the contrast between doing evil and doing the truth?

Paraphrase

For God so dearly loved mankind, that He gave His Son, His Only-unique son, in order that everyone continuing to trust in Him may not be eternally separated from the presence of God, but may have eternal life. For God's primary purpose in sending His Son into the world was not to sentence and condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through the agency of His Son. The man who continues to trust in Him is not condemned. The man who continues to disbelieve is condemned already because he has not trusted himself to the Only Son of God in whose name only is salvation possible. But this is the inevitable condemnation of the unbeliever, that the Light has come unto the world and men deliberately chose to love the darkness rather than the Light; for their works were evil. For everyone who practices worthless things hates and resists the Light and comes not unto the Light in order that his works may not be shown for what they really are. But the one who continually does the truth comes to the Light in order that his works may be made manifest because they have been wrought in God.

Summary

God, motivated by infinite love, sent His only Son unto fallen mankind, not to condemn but to save everyone who believes in His Son. The unbeliever brings condemnation upon himself by purposely rejecting the only life-giving light. The believer purposely manifests his works to glorify God.

Comment

John 3:16 has been called the Golden Text of the Bible, Everyman's Text, and other equally descriptive names. It is probably the most famous verse of the New Testament; and the most often quoted. In fact, John 3:16-21 do contain the heart of God's new will. We see in this Golden Text that God is love. Until we have experienced, in a measure, the same unselfish love, we cannot know God as we ought (cf. 1 John 4:7-12). We see (John 3:16) God's love wooing mankind back unto His glorious fellowship, for He made the initial advanceswe love Him only because He first loved us (cf. 1 John 4:19). This text shows God loving us, not for His sake alone, but for our sakes. True love seeketh not its own (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7). God's love is that of a Father who is happy only when His prodigal child has returned to His fellowship (cf. Luke 15:11-24). Augustine said, God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love. Love is the highest characteristic of God, the one attribute in which all others harmoniously blend. Although our finite minds cannot grasp the limitlessness of His love, we are informed of it in His revealed Word. God's love for men is declared in both the Old Testament and the New Testament (cf. Deuteronomy 7:13; Isaiah 63:9; Hosea 14:4; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:10). Here are outlines of this famous verse by two famous men:

Wm. Hendriksen, author of New Testament Commentary God's Love: 1. Its character (so loved, 2. Its Author (God), 3. Its object (the world), 4. Its Gift (his Son, the only-begotten), and 5. Its purpose (that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life).

R. C. Foster, author of A Syllabus of the Life of Christ Doctrinal Elements of John 3:16: (1) Love of God (2) Jesus, the Son of God, deity of Jesus (3) Atonement (gave His Son) (4) Man lost in sin (5) Plan of salvation suggested (6) Eternal reward and punishment.

A few commentators have contended that Jesus-' words cease at John 3:15, and that from John 3:16 through 21 we have the reflective words of the author, John. There are two reasons for believing to the contrary, that these words are further words of teaching by Jesus to Nicodemus: (a) the conjunction for establishes a causal relation between this and the proceeding discourse (John 3:1-15); (b) the close connection of thought, i.e., heavenly things concerning the scheme of redemption; and, further, there is not the slightest notice indicating that the record has passed from direct conversation in John 3:15, over to the writer's reflection in John 3:16. Before passing on to the next verse, it will be well to note that perish does not mean annihilate. That the wicked who die merely cease to exist, or are annihilated, is absolutely denied by the Scriptures. The New Testament is plain and positive in its teaching that those who refuse to believe and obey and who depart this world in such a state look forward to a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire. (Hebrews 10:27). The unsaved dead will be condemned to eternal punishment (cf. Matthew 18:8; Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46; John 5:29; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9;Jude 1:6-7). We must also note that the promise of eternal life is to whosoever continues to believe in the Son. The word believe is in the Greek present tense, and indicates continued action.

From the sublime contemplations of the love of God, we are abruptly faced with judgmentcondemnation. John 3:17, according to one commentator, is an attempt by Jesus to correct a Jewish misinterpretation of the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah. A long standing Jewish interpretation of Messianic prophecies held that the purpose for the coming of the Messiah was to condemn the world, i.e., to judge the Gentile nations which had oppressed Israel. Amos, the herdsman-prophet from Tekoa, seems to be crying out against such a gross misinterpretation (Amos 5:18-20). The verse before us (John 3:17) clearly teaches Christ's primary purpose in the first coming into the world was to provide a way of salvation for mankind. Skeptics are quick to seize upon this verse and compare it with John 5:22; John 5:27; John 9:39; John 12:47-48 and declare the Bible contradicts itself. A moment of unbiased contemplation of all the passages dealing with the purpose of Christ's coming will show there is no contradiction. Jesus came to save, not to judge the world. He came to judge the world (at the Incarnation) only insofar as it would not allow itself to be saved, He still judges (condemns or sentences) the world when His good news of salvation is rejected by men. This same principle is applied in our everyday living. It is possible for us to offer to share something with a fellow-man, and, when he deliberately rejects our offer, his rejection turns out as a judgment upon him. A favorite illustration of this same principle goes: A visitor was being shown around a famous art gallery by one of the attendants. In the gallery were masterpieces beyond all price, works of genius and fame. At the end of the tour the visitor said: -Well, I don-'t think much of your pictures.-' The attendant answered, -Sir, I would remind you that these pictures are no longer on trial, for they are masterpieces, but those who look at them are-'. When the Jews rejected Paul's message they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life (cf. Acts 13:46). The gospel is never on trial, but those to whom the gospel is preached are always on trial, Jesus Christ was not on trial as He faced Annas, Caiaphas, Herod and Pilate in successionbut these judges were being judged!

In John 3:18 comes the wonderful news of pardon for the believer, and the awful sentence of doom for the unbeliever. This verse shows why God did not need to send His son to condemn the world. Since the Son was sent with the message of salvation, the man who disbelieves and disobeys brings about his own condemnation. On the other hand, the man who accepts the testimony of Christ and obeys His Word has passed out of death into life. The word kekritai is the Greek word for judgedcondemned and the word from whence comes the English critic, crisis, critique, etc. That this word means condemned here is evident from John 3:17 where it is placed in apposition to saved. The tense of the Greek in John 3:18 b shows that the unbeliever is condemned just as long as he continues to disbelieve and disobey. The men or women who even now refuse to surrender in loving obedience to the demands of the gospel walk the face of this earth with the sentence of eternal condemnation ever present upon them! God does not need a special day to determine a man's destinythat is determined by the man's own will and sealed at death. Notice that Jesus places all of mankind in only two categories: the believer and the unbelieverthe saved and the condemned. We cannot here enter into a lengthy discussion of the possibility of the unevangelized heathen being saved through ignorance of the gospel. Suffice it to say the New Testament indicates even the heathen has had sufficient law of conscience given to him so that he may be without excuse (cf. Romans 1:18-32; Ephesians 2:11-12). The point Jesus seems to emphasize for Nicodemus is that salvation is possible only through trust in God's Son. Unless Nicodemus accepts the only way, he stands condemned, regardless of his Jewish blood and ancestry from Abraham. This point needs emphasis in every generation. Family ties, traditions and family religion will not avail unless they be conformable to revealed truth!

The next verse (John 3:19) is very revealing! Jesus shows that the condemnation which abides upon the unbeliever is justit is what the unbeliever deservesand He further reveals the inner moral wrong which makes this condemnation deserved. The Greek word for loved in John 3:19 is agapae which means a love of intelligence and purpose. a deliberate love. Thus a man who deliberately loves the darkness is morally rebellious and makes his own choice! When the light comes and convicts this man of his sins he will purposely reject the light and deliberately love the darkness. Such a man inevitably condemns himself and receives a just punishment (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). Unbelief stems from a moral wickedness and not from ignorance! Paul recognizes as the basic cause of rejecting of the truth having pleasure in unrighteousness.

The Lord further shows that the one who has deliberately chosen the darkness cannot remain at peace with the light. This principle is expressed by JesusHe that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth (Matthew 12:30). The lover of darkness must hate the light. There are two different Greek words used for evil works in John 3:19-20. In John 3:19 the word ponera which denotes an active wickedness, and in John 3:20 the word is phaula, which denotes worthlessnessthe one positive the other negative. Even the one who is useless and inactive in the cause of righteousness is evil in the Lord's sight! The remaining words of Jesus in this 20th verse focus like a gigantic searchlight upon the very deepest recesses of the heart of the one who loves darkness. Such a man hates and wars against the light because the light reveals his works for what they really areevil, dishonest and worthless. The verb convicted (elencho) means more than reproved. It means expose, show up, bring to light, show what is actually the case (cf. Ephesians 5:13). As Lenski says, We see here the inner, self-contradiction and self-condemnation of all such doers of evil who in unbelief act contrary to Christ and the gospel. They choose the worthless but they do not want its worthlessness revealed. They want to be undisturbed in thinking the worthless valuable. The evil-doer does not want others to see him, nor does he want to face himself. Jesus recognized this in the Pharisees who deliberately rejected His word when He said, Because I say the truth, ye believe me not (John 8:45).

Now what of the man who does the truth? He gladly comes to the light. The man who abides in the truth purposely comes to the light that he may manifest his works to show that they have been wrought in God, He is not afraid to have the penetrating searchlight of truth play upon his works for they have God as their source and they are good works. The disciple of Jesus is to purposely show his good works before men that they may glorify the Father who is in heaven (cf. Matthew 5:16).

Thus ends Jesus-' conversation, as far as we know, with this teacher of Israel. We would like to know more of Nicodemus than what is briefly told in two later passages (John 7:50-51; John 19:39). The important Personage for us to know, however, is not Nicodemus but the One who is now teaching Nicodemus, even Jesus.

Quiz

1.

What is the nature of God's love (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:5)?

2.

Give three Old Testament references to the love of God.

3.

What reasons may be given for contending that John 3:15-21 are a continuation of Jesus-' teaching?

4.

What is meant by the word perish?

5.

What was the primary purpose for Jesus-' coming into the world?

6.

How does the unbeliever bring about his own condemnation?

7.

Into what two categories does Jesus place all mankind?

8.

What kind of choice is made by the man who loves darkness?

9.

Name two types of evil as mentioned in these verses.

10.

How does the unbeliever contradict himself?

11.

Why does the doer of the truth come to the light?

SPECIAL STUDY NO. 2

Anticipating that there may be some question concerning the paraphrase of John 3:16-21 we introduce here Special Study No. 2, This study is interjected in explanation of the substitution of only-unique in place of only begotten in John 3:16; John 3:18. It is hoped that the reader will come to a clearer understanding of the uniqueness and deity of Jesus Christ as a result of this Special Study.

The Study, in its entirety, is from an article by Sheldon V. Shirts entitled, He Gave the Only Son He Had.

HE GAVE THE ONLY SON HE HAD

THE MEANING OF monogenes.

The Greek word under fire is monogenes. Originally, Greek words with the common root gen carried the basic meaning to beget. But, as Schmidt proves, many words built upon that basic stem soon lost this early sexual sense. Thus centuries before New Testament days, genos, for example, was often used to mean simply a kind of something, So in the New Testament, Jesus parabolically likens the kingdom of heaven to a net that. gathered (fish) of every KIND (Matthew 13:47), and Paul speaks of divers KINDS of tongues and KINDS of voices (1 Corinthians 12:19; 1 Corinthians 14:10).

Monogenes comes from monos (only) and genos (kind)thus, the only one of its kind, as such authorities as Moulton, Milligan, and Thayer show. Of course, when we speak of human beings, the translation begotten makes sense, but the fact remains that that is not the pointthe emphasis is upon the person's uniqueness, he is the ONLY one. Thus Plato spoke of monogenes ouranos (the only heaven); and Clement of Rome described the legendary bird, the phoenix, as monogenes, not that is was the only bird begotten, but the only one of its kind, unique.

LATIN AND SEPTUAGINT USAGE.

Accurately, the earliest Latin translators rendered monogenes huios by filins unicus (unique son), not by filius unigenitus (only-begotten son). It took the dogmatic Arian disputes over Christ's relation to God (318 A.D.) to give first occasion for claiming that Christ was God's begotten Son, i.e. not a part of creation. And there began the inaccurate Latin rendering of unigenitus, (only-begotten).

In the Septuagint, the word occurs eight times, referring to an only child, or to that which was unique or alone (e.g., Psalms 22:20; Judges 11:34; Tob. 3:15). Twice the King James translators render the Hebrew equivalent as darling, showing that the word monogenes acquires a secondary meaning in the fact that what is unique is naturally of special value: an only son is a specially beloved son.

MONOGENES IN LUKE AND HEBREWS.

In the New Testament, monogenes appears nine times (always translated only in the Revised Standard Version). Only six times does the King James Version have it only-begotten. If the rendering only is so inadequate, why did the King James scholars so translate it three times? An examination of the passages will make it clear. In the story of the widow of Nain, the fact that her dead son had once been begotten was of course true but now of no consequence; the important thing here was that he was her only son! What a pathetic situation! The fact that she is a widow speaks of her past sorrow, but now (Luke 7:12) the realization that the one and only prop of her life, the stay and hope of her widowhood, had been taken from her, shows realistically her present despair. Surely few greater misfortunes are conceivable than the loss of a widow's ONLY son.

So we can understand the consuming grief of Jairus who fell at Jesus-' feet and besought him to come to his house, for he had an ONLY daughter. and she was dying (Luke 8:41-42). Likewise, we share the concern of the father of the epileptic boy who cried, Master, I beg you to look upon my son, for he is my ONLY child (Luke 9:38). Can anyone mistake the significance of monogenes in these passages? Not even the King James translators could!

But note the strange use of monogenes to describe Isaac in Hebrews 11:17. Though the King James Version says only begotten, Abraham obviously had begotten other children (Genesis 25:1-2). But the point is: Isaac was the ONLY SON OF HIS KIND, as far as God's promise to Abraham was concerned. Thus monogenes is justified, and the Revised Standard Version's rendering only son.

MONOGENES IN JOHN'S WRITING.

To render monogenes in John 3:16 as only is just as significant, and actually will more clearly reveal the great depth of God's love for us than does the more cumbersome, less accurate expression of the King James Version. For God so loved the world that He gave the ONLY SON HE HAD!

But some insist, This is not true; John 1:12 says, -But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. -' To call Jesus God's only Son is confusing and false; it strips Him of his divinity and makes Him no more than other men. Then, for a moment, call Him again God's only begotten, if you mustand then notice that in the next verse, John 1:13, all the sons of John 3:12 have been born (Gr. begotten). of God. Constant dilemma greets the one who cannot see beyond the horizons or a single word.

Let us see, with Schaff, in what ways all believers can be called God's children in John 3:12 and yet Jesus be God's only son in John 3:14: (1) Jesus is the only Son in that there is none like him; they are many; (2) He is the Son eternally; they become (John 3:12) sons within time; (3) He is the Son by nature; they are made sons by grace and adoption; (4) He is of the same essence with the Father; they are of a different substance. Note that Jesus never unites Himself with us by saying Our Father. John 20:17 shows most clearly how He distinguishes Himself as the essential Son from all others as only adopted sons: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

NO REFERENCE TO THE VIRGIN BIRTH.

But does not only begotten refer to Jesus-' virgin birth? Never! In John 1:14 Jesus did not become the Son; He became flesh to manifest Himself as God's eternal Son, Who in the beginning. was with God and. was God (John 1:1). Men became sons of God because the Son of God became man. When God sent his only Son into the world (1 John 4:9), He did not send one Who became a son only when sent, any more than when God sent forth the Spirit (Galatians 4:6) did He send forth one who became a Spirit only when sent. Jesus has been eternally in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18); the Greek even better expresses a relation of closest intimacy and tenderest affection: they are in each other's embrace.

THE ONLY SON MAKES A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE.

Thus Jesus is not merely the ONLY Son, but the precious beloved Son of God's embrace, and still God gave Him up! Take all the tenderness, forgiveness and love in the relation of an earthly father to his only child, and in that earth-drawn picture you have yet but a faint approach to the fathomless love of God, as He so loved the world that He gave the ONLY SON HE HADand what a precious Sonan innocent Son to be slain for the benefit of guilty menthat He might redeem them from eternal condemnation. No clearer picture of the deity of Christ, or the love of God can be seen!