The chapters we have had before us (John 1:1-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36) are thus evidently an introduction: God revealed not in the Word alone, but in the Word made flesh, in the Son who declared the Father; His work, as God's Lamb, for the world, and His power by the Holy Ghost in man; then viewed as the centre of gathering, as the path to follow, and as the object even for the attendance of God's angels, the heaven being opened, and Jesus not the Son of God and King of Israel only, but the Son of man object of God's counsels. Nevertheless, the heavenly part is little dwelt on, as John's gospel displays our Lord more as the expression of God revealed on earth, than as Man ascended to heaven, which fell far more to the province of the apostle of the Gentiles. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. John 1:26-27; John 1:26-27) For himself he was not the Christ, but for Jesus he says no more. 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. There is no other way in which the new nature is made good in a soul. * The best text omits other expressions, evidently derived from verses John 1:15; John 1:30John 1:30. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 1:29; John 1:29John 1:34; John 1:34) of John Baptist's testimony here named; the first day (ver. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him. Heavenly things, therefore, could not but be natural to Him, if one may so say. It is the revelation of God yea, of the Father and the Son, and not merely the detecter of man. Each had his own; all are harmonious, all perfect, all divine; but not all so many repetitions of the same thing. (Ver. His opposition to sin, and its terrible effects in this world and the next. And they do. This is the same idea explained in Scriptures such as John 3:18-19, Romans 1:20, and Romans 3:11. The disciples of John dispute with a Jew about purification; but John himself renders a bright witness to the glory of the Lord Jesus. John 5:19-29), It is evident, then, that the Lord presents life in Himself as the true want of man, who was not merely infirm but dead. He bows to, as he explains, the sovereign will of God. . Eternal lifeis onlyreceivedby faith in His cruel death and His glorious Resurrection. "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" This only secures His honour in those that believe God's testimony to Him, the Son of God; and to these He gives life, everlasting life now, and exemption from judgment, in this acting in communion with the Father. Eternal lifeis only received by believing that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that salvation is a gracious gift of God. So does his confession: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God: thou art the King of Israel. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary36. John knew that Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man, who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. John 1:11-12; John 1:11-12) It was not a question now of Jehovah and His servants. One must be born again for God's kingdom a Jew for what was promised him, like another. The Structure of This Text. His opposition to sin, and its terrible effects in this world and the next. He acts as such. 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. So, when someone testifies to . All is fitly closed by the declaration, that "the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." (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. John 3:17-21 (A) Condemn the World. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. The Lord Jesus presents Himself as putting an end to all this now for the Christian, though, of course, every word God has promised, as well as threatened, remains to be accomplished in Israel by-and-by; for Scripture cannot be broken; and what the mouth of the Lord has said awaits its fulfilment in its due sphere and season. Lastly, closing this part, we have another most remarkable contrast. It is not that He denies the truth of what they were thus desiring and attached to. It is not now the revelation of God meeting man either in essential nature, or as manifested in flesh; nor is it the course of dispensational dealing presented in a parenthetic as well as mysterious form, beginning with John the Baptist's testimony, and going down to the millennium in the Son, full of grace and truth. 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. Then He rebukes the carnality of His brethren. 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.". The same God who did not leave Himself without witness among the heathen, doing good, and giving from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, did not fail, in the low estate of the Jews, to work by providential power at intervals; and, by the troubled waters of Bethesda, invited the sick, and healed the first who stepped in of whatever disease he had. If we give it careful thought, we can . In vain did any come to the Baptist to report the widening circle around Christ. By and by He will apply it to "that nation," the Jews, as to others also, and finally (always excepting the unbelieving and evil) to the entire system, the world. The Lord, it is true, could and did go farther than the prophets: even if He taught on the same theme, He could speak with conscious divine dignity and knowledge (not merely what was assigned to an instrument or messenger). His corporeal presence was not necessary; His word was enough. The Father and the Son were at work. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.'. 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.''. In John He is One who could be described as Son of man who is in heaven; but He belonged to heaven, because He was divine. It will abide or dwell there as its appropriate habitation. Of course they are just as truly inspired as John's; but for that very reason they were not inspired to give the same testimony. They were not to wonder then at what He says and does now; for an hour was coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those that have done good to resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to resurrection of judgment. Abideth on him. As this chapter sets forth the Lord Jesus with singular fulness of glory, on the side both of His Godhead and of His manhood, so it closes with the most varied and remarkable testimonies God has given to us, that there may be no excuse. denotes a deeper and more permanent sentiment; a settled habit of mind; while is a more turbulent, but temporary agitation. (Comp. God never left Himself without witness; He did not even among the Gentiles, surely yet less in Israel. Of this we learn nothing, here. Scripture is, or may be, before man always. 42). "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them" What Does John 3:36 Mean? Footnotes. Answer (1 of 13): John's Gospel is complex. The last two views are more common. Truth and grace were not sought nor found in man, but began to subsist here below by Jesus Christ. "Master, eat," said they. So only is man born of God. Man, dead in sins, was the object of His grace; but then man's state was such, that it would have been derogatory to God had that life been communicated without the cross of Christ: the Son of man lifted up on it was the One in whom God dealt judicially with the evil estate of man, for the, full consequences of which He made Himself responsible. It is here life begunthe 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. (See on [1777]Joh 3:18 and [1778]Joh 5:24).shall not see lifeThe contrast here is striking: The one has already a life that will endure for everthe other not only has it not now, but shall never have itnever see it.abideth on himIt was on Him before, and not being removed in the only possible way, by "believing on the Son," it necessarily remaineth on him! It is the divine allergy to moral evil, the reaction of righteousness to unrighteousness." (Tenney) . Matthew, Mark, and Luke start, as far as regards the public labours of the Lord, with John cast into prison. He saw him under the fig tree. This phrase does not mean works performed byGod; rather, the intent is "works required and approved by God" (Thayer, p. 248). , , . The Christian here has a foretaste of the world of glory, and enjoys the same kind of felicity, though not the same degree, that he will there. Jesus not only could go up, as He did later, but He had come down thence, and, even though man, He was the Son of man that is in heaven. There is no more powerful way to deliver this message than to let John 3:16 speak for itself. Then, resuming the strain of verse John 1:14, we are told, in verseJohn 1:16; John 1:16, that "of his fulness have all we received." Most music is crap. Hence the Lord, while fully owning the labours of all preceding labourers, has before His eyes the whole boundless expanse of grace, the mighty harvest which His apostles were to reap in due time. So we see in the attractive power, afterwards dealing with individual souls. As there is an absolute necessity on God's part that man should be thus born anew, so He lets him know there is an active grace of the Spirit, as the wind blows where it will, unknown and uncontrolled by man, for every one that is born of the Spirit, who is sovereign in operation. The refusal of His precious blood will, on the contrary, make their case incomparably worse than that of the heathen who never heard the good news. John 1:29-34) How rich it is, and how marvellously in keeping with our gospel! He is lost at the point of his birth. All disciplinary action, every probationary process, disappears. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." (Verses John 3:1-6), But the Lord goes farther, and bids Nicodemus not wonder at His insisting on this need. It is not merely or most of all a great prophet or witness: He is the Son; and the Father has given all things to be in His hand. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL
It was not that they were better than their neighbours. (Verses John 7:16-18) , The Jews kept not the law) and wished to kill Him who healed man in divine love. As Burge (pp. (Verse John 3:10). Nevertheless the Son had taken the place of being the sent One, the place of subordination in the earth, in which He would say, "My Father is greater than I." But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." New believers also get familiar with this special truth in their relationship with God. The Lord Jesus said: " He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." " [T]he water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John the Baptist's work complete (John 3:22-36)While Jesus and his disciples were preaching and baptizing in Judea, John the Baptist was spending the closing days of his ministry preaching and baptizing further north, in the region of the Jordan Valley (John 3:22-24).Some of John's disciples were becoming jealous of Jesus' popularity, and John had to . It finds, of course, a present application, and links itself with that activity of grace in which God is now sending out the gospel to any sinner and every sinner. At once their malice drops the beneficent power of God in the case, provoked at the fancied wrong done to the seventh day. For nothing can be more observable than the way in which He becomes the centre round whom those that belong to God are gathered. 33. He is a divine person; His manhood brought no attainder to His rights as God. Details are not called for now, but just the outline of the truth. Verse of the Day , God, My Praise (Study In God - All I Need-19). It implies, also, that it will continue to remain on him. They could not deny Him to be man Son of man. Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleHe that believeth on the Son,. Who is a proper object of faith and trust; which, if he was not truly and properly God, he would not be: and this is to be understood not of any sort of faith, a temporary, or an historical one; but of that which is the faith of God's elect, the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; by which a man sees the Son, goes unto him, ventures and relies upon him, and commits himself to him, and expects life and salvation from him; and who shall not be ashamed and confounded; for such an one 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. He wanted nothing; He came to give yea, the very best, so to speak, that God has. Note on John 6:56.). Except one were born of water and of the Spirit, he could not enter the kingdom of God. "The law was given by Moses." Rather, he refers to the fame and influence of Christ. Note.How flatly does this contradict the teaching of many in our day, that there neither was, nor is, anything in God against sinners which needed to be removed by Christ, but only in men against God! Such is God's vindication of His outraged rights; and the judgment will be proportionate to the glory that has been set at nought. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." No doubt Jesus Himself had the Holy Ghost given to Him, as it was meet that He in all things should have the pre-eminence; but it shows yet more both the personal glory of Christ and the efficacy of His work, that He now gives the same Spirit to those who receive His testimony, and set to their seal that God is true. Two resurrections, one of life, and another of judgment, would be the manifestation of faith and unbelief, or rather, of those who believe, and of those who reject the Son. Afterwards, John the Baptist explains why he's content to see his own ministry fade into the background. He speaks of Himself as the Son of man in death; for there could be no eating of His flesh, no drinking of His blood, as a living man. They spoke of the world; the world might hear them. Did they charge Jesus with self-exaltation? Jesus (c. 4 BC - AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Roman born Jewish preacher and religious leader; he is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion.Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah (the Christ) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. (John 3:31) Referring to Jesus, John declares, "The one who comes from above is above allThe one who comes from heaven is above all" (verse 31). We have now the Word made flesh, called Jesus Christ this person, this complex person, that was manifest in the world; and it is He that brought it all in. Such is the miserable condition of the sinner! Nay, the Father has given all judgment to the Son. The original Greek word, apeithn, means "rejecting belief," "refusing obedience," or "refusing to be convinced.". He holds a seat on the But John was not merely an earthly witness pointing us to Christ. He borewitness that:"The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Spite of the most express signs, and the manifest finger of God that wrote the ten words on tables of stone, the law sinks into comparative insignificance. John 1:17; John 1:17) The law, thus given, was in itself no giver, but an exacter; Jesus, full of grace and truth, gave, instead of requiring or receiving; and He Himself has said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. (Verses John 4:31-38). This is the marked effect on the third day (ver. And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. 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. Title: "Born Again" - What Does This Term Actually Mean? As the Lamb of God (of the Father it is not said), He has to do with the world. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not, was reckoned among the readings less to be relied on; in which the, He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. (Ver. Therefore, it seems to me, He adds verse 24. It is a golden verse that is often first introduced to young children when growing up. Here is John 3:16 in 22 different English Bible . He gave them title to take the place of children of God, even to those that believe on His name. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Thus a despised Christ is not merely a crucified Son of man, and given Son of God, as in John 3:1-36, but Himself a divine giver in communion with the Father, and in the power of the Holy Ghost who is given to the believer, the source of worship, as their God and Father is its object for the worshippers in spirit and truth (though surely not to the exclusion of the Son, Hebrews 1:1-14). For the astonishing thought is, not merely that Jesus receives the Holy Ghost without measure, but that God gives the Spirit also, and not by measure, through Him to others. Here there could not be more, and He would not give less: even "grace upon grace." Nothing in the slightest degree detracted from His own personal glory, and from the infinitely near relationship which He had had with the Father from all eternity. hath everlasting lifealready has it. Still, such is the effect on man under law, that he could not take advantage of an adequate remedy. Hence, then, we have the Lord Jesus alluding to this fresh necessity, if man was to be blessed according to God. How blessed the contrast with the people's state depicted in this chapter, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, looking to "letters," rulers, and Pharisees, perplexed about the Christ, but without righteous judgment, assurance, or enjoyment! 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.'' VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. 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. In love, God sent his Son to die for all in order to forgive and accept all, in Christ. Bridgeway Bible Commentary. It is a present possession. What is there in God more truly divine than grace and truth? How were they not enjoyed in despised Samaria those two days with the Son of God among them! (Ver. How can such have relationship with God? Thus we feed on Him and drink into Him, as man, unto life everlasting life in Him. (ver. Shine The Light. God orders matters so that a favoured teacher of men, favoured as none others were in Israel, should come to Jesus by night. Life is in the Son, and He who has the Son has life and there is no condemnation to those that have placed their faith in Him. obedience to the faith, Romans 1:5.). There is but one unfailing test the Son of God God's testimony to Him. Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children Jonah 1:4-17; 3:3-5 The Lord blesses me when I obey Him. it was no lack of testimony; their will was for present honour, and hostile to the glory of the only God. Clarke's Commentary. They entered not into His words more than His grace, but thought and spoke, like the Samaritan woman, about things of this life. In a certain sense, the principle of John 4:1-54 was made true in the woman of Samaria, and in others who received Christ then. Accordingly there is a four-fold testimony to Jesus: the testimony of John the Baptist; the Lord's own works; the voice of the Father from heaven; and finally, the written word which the Jews had in their own hands. (Verses John 1:41-44), On the morrow Jesus begins, directly and indirectly, to call others to follow Himself. For this is the work of God as well asthe command of God to all who are dead in their trespasses and sins: Believe in Him Whom He has sent, believe in Christ's finished work for the forgiveness sins and life everlasting. All translations of John 3:36 imply that this rejection of Christ is a deliberate action.
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