John 3:17-21 (A) Condemn the World. It was but preliminary, of course; still it was a deep reality, the then present grace in the person of the Son, the Saviour of the world, who filled their once dark hearts with light and joy. And while He does not hide the privilege of the Jews, He nevertheless proclaims that "the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. What can be more evident, or more instructive? Now it is that the great question is decided; now it is that a man receives or refuses Christ. In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men. It is here life begun the first breathings and pantings of the soul for immortality; yet it is life, though at first feeble and faint, which is eternal in its nature, and which shall be matured in the full and perfect bliss of heaven. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." And so, in fact, it was and is. "Master, eat," said they. John is not saying that Christ in himself is not already as great intrinsically as he could possibly be. Shall neither enjoy true life or happiness here nor in the world to come. The Jews, with all their privileges, were strangers here. behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. The rejection of Christ is the contempt of God Himself, in that of which He is most jealous, the honour of the Saviour, His Son. Hell will "abide" on the person who does not believe in the Son. John Gorney Love this app and will recommend it to others as well. John 7:25-31) He is going where they cannot come, and never guessed (for unbelief thinks of the dispersed among the Greeks of anything rather than of God). Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. "For God," He says, "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Romans 2:8; Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8; Revelation 19:15) is not the fierceness of passion, nor is it the expression of fixed hatred. Jesus, therefore, answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. The Lord Jesus Didn't Bestow the Way of Eternal Life Upon Man. The disciples come; the woman goes into the city, leaving her waterpot, but carrying with her the unspeakable gift of God. He has life; the man who disobeys has not, and while he disobeys shall not see life, for he cannot be a subject of a kingdom to whose laws he refuses allegiance. Afterwards, John the Baptist explains why he's content to see his own ministry fade into the background. I apprehend the words the Authorised Version gives in italics should disappear. Compare Romans 1:5, the obedience of faith. Abideth on him. This is the same idea explained in Scriptures such as John 3:18-19, Romans 1:20, and Romans 3:11. he would not. Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Greek Scripture. "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. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "shall abide upon him"; so some copies. Granted He was the Son of man; but as such, He had all judgment given Him, and would judge. And they asked him, What then? But he that receiveth not the gospel published by him who is the Son of God, and doth not embrace him as his Saviour, and yield obedience to him, shall not be saved. Gospel of John of the New Testament, Chapter 3, Verse 16 (c) Shall not enjoy. Life eternal is to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. Could they, then, reject the Son, and merely miss this infinite blessing of life in Him? So only is man born of God. The chapter pursues this subject, showing that it is not only God who thus deals first, with the necessity of man before His own immutable nature; next, blessing according to the riches of His grace but, further, that man's state morally is detected yet more awfully in presence of such grace as well as holiness in Christ. Thus we feed on Him and drink into Him, as man, unto life everlasting life in Him. The Lord Jesus did, without question, take humanity in His person into that glory which He so well knew as the Son of the Father. hath everlasting life; he has it in Christ his head, in whom he believes; he has a right unto it through the justifying righteousness of Christ, and a meetness for it by his grace; he has it in faith and hope; he has the beginning of it in the knowledge of Christ, and communion with him; he has some foretastes of it in his present experience; and he has the earnest and pledge of it in his heart, even the blessed Spirit, who works him up for this selfsame thing: and he that believeth not the Son; that does not believe Christ to be the Son of God, or Jesus to be the Messiah; or rejects him as the Saviour; who lives and dies in a state of impenitence and unbelief: shall not see life; eternal life; he shall not enter into it, and enjoy it; he shall die the second death. Shall never enter heaven. If we give it careful thought, we can . Commentary on John 3:22-36. The Lord, in the latter part of the chapter (verses John 6:27-58), contrasts the presentation of the truth of God in His person and work with all that pertained to the promises of Messiah. God cannot require for justification (whether initial or "final") both a faith that works and a faith that does not work or is apart from works. John practiced law for 40 years and he now monitors local politics. The original Greek word, apeithn, means "rejecting belief," "refusing obedience," or "refusing to be convinced.". Meanwhile there was a manifestation of goodness, active in love in the midst of evil, and toward such; active in the making known God and man, and every moral relation, and what He is toward man, through and in the Word made flesh. It is here we learn in what condition of His person God was to be revealed and the work done; not what He was in nature, but what He became. Today, the phrase "born again" can have any one of a host of meanings. Thus the Holy Ghost, given by the Son in humiliation (according to God, not acting on law, but according to the gift of grace in the gospel), was fully set forth; but the woman, though interested, and asking, only apprehended a boon for this life to save herself trouble here below. Very remarkable are the following words of the Jews (b) concerning the Messiah, whom they call the latter Redeemer: "whosoever believes in him "shall" live; but he that believes not in him shall go to the nations of the world, and they shall kill him.''. He could have healed the man without the smallest outward act to shock their zeal for the law. If you've never seen it before, or if you haven't realized what the specific location of it is, this is the verse under that we talk about when we mention John 3:16. FOR HOME USE ONLY (for church or group use see links below)Buy this Video here:https://www.seedsfamilyworship.com/product/i-believe-john-336/Buy I Believe DV. So in the baptism with the Holy Ghost, who would pretend to such a power? He is under the eternal sentence of death. Just as distinct and beyond comparison is His testimony who, coming from heaven and above all, testifies what He saw and heard, however it might be rejected. but He, who is the Word made flesh, is the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, and so competent to declare, as in fact He has. There is the nicest care to maintain His personal glory, no matter what the subject may be. Compare 1 Peter 4:17; Romans 2:8; Romans 11:30, Romans 11:31. Footnotes. But the chilling words that follow warn usthat whoever chooses to reject the clear teaching of the gospel of grace, will experience shocking and eternal consequences: "For he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.". Hence it is that here the Son, according to the grace of God the Father, gives the Holy Ghost eternal life in the power of the Spirit. (ver. 0. what does john 3:36 mean. This is the more striking, because, as we have seen, the world and Israel, rejecting Him, are also themselves, as such, rejected from the first. Many people think that believing in the Son means believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that Jesus' way is the way of everlasting life. As Burge (pp. 29) on which, as it were, Jesus speaks and acts in His grace as here shown on the earth. 'Already' indicates that when you arrived on this planet, you were already an unbeliever, your sentence was then passed by God the Judge. See on Acts 5:29. There is no changing or bettering the old man; and, thanks be to God, the new does not degenerate or pass away. (VersesJohn 6:1-21; John 6:1-21). Verse John 1:29 opens John's testimony to his disciples. It is not John's business here to call attention to His Messiahship, not even when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask, Who art thou? So on the last day, that great day of the feast (the eighth day, which witnessed of a resurrection glory outside this creation, now to be made good in the power of the Spirit before anything appears to sight), the Lord stands and cries, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." This brings in the great counterpart truth, that even God present on earth and made flesh is not enough. Here we see Him accepting, not as fellow-servant, but as Lord, those souls who had been under the training of the predicted messenger of Jehovah that was to prepare His way before, His face. The Structure of This Text. From the very first, man, being a sinner, was wholly lost. Yet thousands choose to remain in this state, and to encounter alone all that is terrible in the wrath of Almighty God, rather than come to Jesus, who has borne their sins in his own body on the tree, and who is willing to bless them with the peace, and purity, and joy of immortal life. It seemed natural: He had fed the poor with bread, and why should not He take His place on the throne? * He says, One was among them of whom they had no conscious knowledge, "that cometh after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to loose." It was sabbath-day. (ver. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. All is fitly closed by the declaration, that "the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." (John 3:36 DBY), he who is believing in the Son, hath life age-during; and he who is not believing the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God doth remain upon him. Here there could not be more, and He would not give less: even "grace upon grace." (See Hebrews 12:2, Hebrews 13:11-13) Again, let me just remark in passing, that although, no doubt, we may in a general way speak of those who partake of the new nature as having that life, yet the Holy Ghost refrains from predicating of any saints the full character of eternal life as a present thing until we have the cross of Christ laid (at least doctrinally) as the ground of it. They spoke of the world; the world might hear them. The dreadful truth comes out: the Lord did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all men. Shall never enter heaven.The wrath of God - The anger of God for sin. Our text divides into four sections: (1) Jesus baptizes, too (vss. Man might pull Him down destroy Him, as far as man could, and surely to be the basis in God's hand of better blessing; but He was God, and in three days He would raise up this temple. Except one were born of water and of the Spirit, he could not enter the kingdom of God. The addition of "unto him" detracts, to my mind, from the exceeding preciousness of what seems to be, at least, left open. John 3:16 Meaning. But this, however worthy of God, and indispensable for man, could not of itself give an adequate expression of what God is; because in this alone, neither His own love nor the glory of His Son finds due display. Nor will the full force of this expression be witnessed till the glorious result of His blood shedding sweep away the last trace of sin in the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. John the Baptist tells his disciples that Jesus has come from Heaven and will teach of the things of Heaven, because He has firsthand knowledge of Heaven and of God. The verb means to persuade, to cause belief, to induce one to do something by persuading, and so runs into the meaning of to obey, properly as the result of persuasion. John was a voice crying in the wilderness: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." John pointed people to the Lord Jesus, for Christ Himself was sent to bear heavenly witness of the invisible God Who "loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.". Thus, in His person, as well as in His work, they joined issue. The evangelist has used this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus to bring forth some important points. Compare wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:16).
