WHOEVER
BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE
CHRISTIANITY
16“For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life.
17For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him.
18Whoever believes
in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
19And this is
the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness
rather than the light because their works were evil. 20For everyone who does
wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works
should be exposed.
21But whoever
does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his
works have been carried out in God.”
JOHN
3:16-21
COMMENTARY
After telling
the story of Nicodemus and Jesus, and the need of conversion from every man, known
here as ‘new birth’ or be ‘born again’, the author of this gospel attributed to
‘John’, makes a personal comment making a parenthesis in the narrative, explaining
why to believe in the testimony of Lord Jesus makes the difference between
salvation or damnation before GOD.
The author explains
how much GOD loves humanity, that HE sent his only Son, to be incarnated as a
human, in order to teach men, the will of the Father and open the way back to
GOD for every human who wants to repent and be forgiven by GOD.
HE also explains
that in his love, GOD shows patience toward us, because his interests is not to
condemn us for the evil we do, but to wait for us to repent and be saved from his
just punishment.
But the author
also gives a serious warning.
‘Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.’
Here, the word πιστεύων
(Pisteuon), translated as ‘believes’, comes from the word πιστεύω (Pisteuo)
which means to ‘have faith’, to ‘have trust, confidence’. It does not mean as
many people in the protestant world hold, to just to profess or verbally accept
that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of GOD. That would be useless. But it means
to trust his teachings, his guidance, in order to become righteous before GOD,
which implies a change of heart. A new birth, as Lord Jesus just had finished
explaining to Nicodemus. A new birth in the Spirit and Water (John 3:5). A
change in the spirit through our conversion, which implies the compromise to live
for GOD in the teachings of Jesus for eternity, a compromise sealed with water
baptism.
But then the author
also says, that whoever rejects Jesus, is already condemned, because he has not
believed in the Son of GOD.
Here, the
concept behind the condemnation of the ones who reject Jesus, it is BECAUSE
they have rejected GOD YHWH ALMIGHTY who gave testimony of the divine mission
of his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON (Matthew 3:17; 12:18; 17:5).
To reject Jesus
is a rejection of Him as sent by GOD, because we would be calling GOD YHWH a
liar.
That alone is a grave
offense to GOD ALMIGHTY.
But not only
this. Also, by rejecting Jesus, we will be rejecting his holy teachings, which
will destroy all opportunity of repentance and conversion towards the will of
the Father, bringing the condemnation that awaits to the evil doers.
And ‘John’
mentions this in verses 19 and 20, where he clearly says that the condemnation
of the ones who reject our Lord JESUS CHRIST, is not caused by a divine
resentment on GOD’s behalf, since HE loves us more than we imagine, and would
not condemn us for being ignorant, but only because we are evil.
The author of
this gospel explains that the ones who reject Jesus, do so, because they hate
being confronted with their evil actions, so they chose to ignore our Jesus and
his holy teachings, so that they can continue like pigs sleeping in the mud.
The ones who
reject Jesus, love sinning, and want to continue sinning as long as they can.
And that, will bring them the condemnation that all evil doers will receive at
the end of their lives.
But also, ‘John’
gives words of consolation.
He says that on
the contrary, the ones who accept Jesus, are because they walk in righteousness,
and are not afraid to come into the light of the Son of GOD (John 3:21).
With this, the
author of this gospel, also gives testimony of the capacity of men to be righteous
by themselves, and because they are righteous, they recognize the righteousness
of GOD in Christ.
“SO THAT IT MAY
BE CLEARLY SEEN THAT HIS WORKS HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT IN GOD.”
JOHN 3:21
Omar Flores.
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