Do they receive Him not? The brethren of the Lord Jesus, who could see the astonishing power that was in Him, but whose hearts were carnal, at once discerned that it might be an uncommon good thing for them, as well as for Him, in this world. But Jesus finds him in the temple, and said, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. Doesn't John 3:16 mean that anyone can freely believe? For were it not God Himself in the person of Jesus, it had been no glory to God, but a wrong and a rival. His exaltation there is not without notice in the gospel, but exceptionally. John, therefore, who had been the honoured witness before of God's call, "the voice," etc., does now by the outpouring of his heart's delight, as well as testimony, turn over, so to say, his disciples to Jesus. What does the number 36 mean biblically? - KnowledgeBurrow.com The disciples come; the woman goes into the city, leaving her waterpot, but carrying with her the unspeakable gift of God. 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. He who believes is within the circle of the life of God, which is essentially eternal. 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. The present tense. How withering the words! This would make all manifest. Obedience, however, includes faith. (Verses John 5:17-18). His own love and person were warrant enough for the simple to lift the veil for a season, and fill the hearts which had received Himself into the conscious enjoyment of divine grace, and of Him who revealed it to them. (Comp. This is all perfectly true, of course; and we have it elsewhere. (Ed. The wrath of God abideth on him.Once only in the four Gospels does this term, so full of tremendous meaning, meet us, and that in the Gospel of fullest love, and in a context which speaks of the Fathers love to the Son, and of eternal life, which is the portion of all who believe on the Son. Thus we have here the other side of the truth: not merely what God is in life and light, in grace and truth, as revealed in Christ coming down to man; but man is now judged in the very root of his nature, and proved to be entirely incapable, in his best state, of seeing or entering the kingdom of God. But let them beware how they perverted it. God wants people to be saved (2 Peter 3:9 . What does John 3:36 mean in the bible? - Quora Here there could not be more, and He would not give less: even "grace upon grace." All rights reserved. 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. If, on the contrary, a soul has been taught of God the glory of the person of Him who was made flesh, he receives in all simplicity, and rejoices in, the glorious truth, that He who was made flesh was not made flesh only to this end, but rather as a step toward another and deeper work the glorifying God, and becoming our food, in death. What Does John 3:16 Mean - Lord's Guidance 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. 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). Abideth on him. "Believing" in John 3:16 - Apologetics Press Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same . Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. John Leslie LinkedIn: What Does a Cash Balance Plan Mean for You The first four chapters of John precede in point of time the notices of His ministry in the other gospels. 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. John 3:36 Translation & Meaning. In the beginning of the chapter it was rather an essential indispensable action of the Holy Ghost required; here it is the privilege of the Holy Ghost given. He is ever God; He is the Son; He quickens and raises from the dead. * The best text omits other expressions, evidently derived from verses John 1:15; John 1:30John 1:30. Yet, this obe- dience salvation formula is identically repeated in John 3:16. 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. The hour was one for faith, or unbelief. John gives us this point of contact with them, though in an incident peculiar to himself. Indeed, it is the total eclipse, not merely of law and remedial mercies, but even of promised Messianic glory, by everlasting life and resurrection at the last day. It is His person as incarnate first, then in redemption giving His flesh to be eaten and His blood to be drank. He saw him under the fig tree. Beholding Him as He walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God! He regularly attends Shreveport City Council and Caddo Parish Commission meetings. The one, like the other, contributes to this great end, whether the Son of man necessarily lifted up, or the only begotten Son of God given in His love. 03 Mar 2023 15:00:59 (Ver. On the third day is the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where was His mother, Jesus also, and His disciples. He could be declared only by One who was a divine person in the intimacy of the Godhead, yea, was the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. How Daniels Prophecy of 70 Weeks Connects to the End Times. There is no changing or bettering the old man; and, thanks be to God, the new does not degenerate or pass away. Nay, the Father has given all judgment to the Son. Sons they might have been in bare title; but these had the right of children. No doubt He must become a man, in order, amongst other reasons, to be a sufferer, and to die. Answer: John 3:16 does not say that unbelievers have the ability of their own sinful free will, to receive Christ. 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. The Son gives life, as the Father does; and not merely to whom the Father will, but to whom He will. Not Jacob was there, but the Son of God in nothing but grace; and thus to the Samaritan woman, not to the teachers of Israel, are made those wonderful communications which unfold to us with incomparable depth and beauty the real source, power, and character of that worship which supersedes, not merely schismatic and rebellious Samaria, but Judaism at its best. 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. Rather, he refers to the fame and influence of Christ. (VersesJohn 3:20-21; John 3:20-21). But as many as received him, to them gave he power [rather, authority, right, or title] to become children of God." All this clearly goes down to millennial days. Granted He was the Son of man; but as such, He had all judgment given Him, and would judge. (VerseJohn 4:1; John 4:1) It was strange to her that a Jew should thus humble himself: what would it have been, had she seen in Him Jesus the Son of God? JOHN 3:16 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Meanwhile, for Christian worship, the hour was coming and in principle come, because He was there; and He who vindicated salvation as of the Jews, proves that it is now for Samaritans, or any who believed on account of His word. Note on John 6:56.). John 1:26-27; John 1:26-27) For himself he was not the Christ, but for Jesus he says no more. (VersesJohn 6:1-21; John 6:1-21). I apprehend the words the Authorised Version gives in italics should disappear. John 4:1-6; John 4:1-6) What a picture of rejection and humiliation! The Bible says, " He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God stays on him " (John 3:36). So does his confession: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God: thou art the King of Israel. He bore witness that: "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John was to bear witness that Jesus Christ came from heaven as the . The word, which occurs only here in the Gospels, is not the same as that at the beginning of the verse, and shows that the faith there intended is the subjection of the will . Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary3:22-36 John was fully satisfied with the place and work assigned him; but Jesus came on a more important work. It implies, also, that it will continue to remain on him. The Father and the Son were at work. And he answered, No. (Verses John 7:40-53). Bridgeway Bible Commentary. Life eternal is to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. And as life is in the person of the Son, so God in sending Him meant not that the smallest uncertainty should exist for aught so momentous. Fritzsche, p. 21). For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. John 3:36 - I Believe - YouTube Bear in mind that one of the points of instruction in this first part of our gospel is the action of the Son of God before His regular Galilean ministry. 25-26); (3) John's joy (vss. It would not suit God, if it would suit man, that He, seeing all, should just pronounce on man's corruption, and then forthwith let him off with a bare pardon. 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. Art thou that prophet? Glory would be displayed in its day. The Lord meets him at once with the strongest assertion of the absolute necessity that a man should be born anew in order to see the kingdom of God. It will abide or dwell there as its appropriate habitation. Answer (1 of 13): John's Gospel is complex. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Hence, after having first unmistakably laid down the necessity of the cross, He next shows the grace that was manifested in the gift of Jesus. John 1:19-37; John 1:19-37) It is here presented historically. Nevertheless, Christ did come to His own things, His proper, peculiar possession; for there were special relationships. It is now eternal reality, and the name of Jesus Christ is that which puts all things to a final test. He is lost at the point of his birth. The original Greek word, apeithn, means "rejecting belief," "refusing obedience," or "refusing to be convinced.". How can such have relationship with God? 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. 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. John 7:37) It is not a question of eating the bread of God, or, when Christ died, of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. No doubt there are intervening applications; but such is the ultimate result of His work as the Lamb of God. If a man looks at the Lord Jesus as One who entered the world in a general way, and calls this the incarnation, he will surely stumble over the cross. "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" 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. It is not denunciation, but the most solemn sentence in the calmest manner. (Ver. The contrasts are as strong, at least, as the resemblance with the healing of the centurion's servant in Matthew 13:1-58 and Luke 7:1-50, which some ancients and moderns have confounded with this, as they did Mary's anointing of Jesus with the sinful woman's in Luke 7:1-50. (VersesJohn 3:7-8; John 3:7-8), It is hardly necessary to furnish detailed disproof of the crude, ill-considered notion (originated by the fathers), that baptism is in question. 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. 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. In these two points of view, more particularly, John gives testimony to Christ; He is the lamb as the taker away of the world's sin; the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. But even this sufficed not: the Son of man must be lifted up. Whoever lives a life of faith in the Son will experience the fullness . None else could do either work: for here we see His great work on earth, and His heavenly power. John was a voice crying in the wilderness: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." John 1:29-34) How rich it is, and how marvellously in keeping with our gospel! He holds a seat on the 'Already' indicates that when you arrived on this planet, you were already an unbeliever, your sentence was then passed by God the Judge. All translations of John 3:36 imply that this rejection of Christ is a deliberate action. Partner with StudyLight.org as God uses us to make a difference for those displaced by Russia's war on Ukraine. So, when someone testifies to . John 1:11-12; John 1:11-12) It was not a question now of Jehovah and His servants. Shine The Light. Of course it is the revelation of Christ; but here He was simply revealing the sources of this indispensable new birth. Why is John 3:16 the most famous verse in the Bible? Rest is not the question now at all; but the flow of the Spirit's power while Jesus is on high. 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. Christ here, it will be noticed, is not so much the quickening agent as Son of God (John 5:1-47), but the object of faith as Son of man first incarnate, to be eaten; then dying and giving His flesh to be eaten, and His blood to be drank. JOHN DEERE #M47886 LOT OF 2 WALK BEHIND MOWER WHEEL CAPS J215. He reminds them of his previous disclaimer of any place beyond one sent before Jesus. John the Baptist was the earthly witness that God used to present His dearly beloved Son to the world. "Bethlehem Ephrathah out of you will come for me whose origins are Nobody had gone up to heaven: God had taken more than one; but no one had gone there as of right. Scripture is, or may be, before man always. The law works no deliverance; it puts a man in chains, prison, darkness, and under condemnation; it renders him a patient, or a criminal incompetent to avail himself of the displays of God's goodness. So we see in the attractive power, afterwards dealing with individual souls. One must be born again. As there is no way of escaping the wrath of God but by the Lord Jesus Christ, so those who will not believe must go to eternity "as they are," and bear alone and unpitied all that God may choose to inflict as the expression of "his" sense of sin. He will have all honour the Son, even as Himself. 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. In love, God sent his Son to die for all in order to forgive and accept all, in Christ. Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 44:3, Isaiah 59:21, Ezekiel 36:25-27 ought to have made the Lord's meaning plain to an intelligent Jew. (John 3:36 KJV), He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. 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. Though He could not, would not deny Himself (and He was the Son, and Word, and God), yet had He taken the place of a man, of a servant. Unless a man or woman is born of the Spirit, born from above, they cannot be saved, because they are attempting to reach God the wrong way. The man went off, and told the Jews that it was Jesus: and for this they persecuted Him, because He had done these things on the sabbath. Man, under law, proved powerless; and the greater the need, the less the ability to avail himself of such merciful intervention as God still, from time to time, kept up throughout the legal system. "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." The issue of all is, that the will of man is the real cause and spring of enmity. The season finale saw two major developments on the "who are the parents of John II" mystery. They knew what they worshipped, but not the Father, nor were they "true." He is viewed as retaining the same perfect intimacy with the Father, entirely unimpaired by local or any other circumstances He had entered. Piety here is the same that it will be there, except that it will be expanded, matured, purified, made more glorious. Not only man under law has no health, but he has no strength to avail himself of the blessing that God holds out. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Except one were born of water and of the Spirit, he could not enter the kingdom of God. What can be more evident, or more instructive? All is fitly closed by the declaration, that "the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." "He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. This question is raised, or rather settled, by the Lord in Jerusalem, at the passover feast, where many believed on His name, beholding the signs He wrought. (b) Midrash Ruth, fol. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 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. Natural birth had nothing to do with this new thing; it was a new nature altogether in those who received Him: "Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." "He that believeth on him is not judged: but he that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 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! Our text divides into four sections: (1) Jesus baptizes, too (vss. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 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). "He was in the world, and the world was made by him." There is no more powerful way to deliver this message than to let John 3:16 speak for itself. 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. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment." The person who rejects the Son will spend eternity in hell. 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. There is no other way in which the new nature is made good in a soul. For He who spoke was divine. 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. "He came unto his own [things], and his own [people] received him not. The word, which occurs only here in the Gospels, is not the same as that at the beginning of the verse, and shows that the faith there intended is the subjection of the will to the Son, to whom the Father hath given all things (John 3:35). 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. But when the Lord speaks of His cross, and not God's judicial requirements only, but the gift of Himself in His true personal glory as the occasion for the grace of God to display itself to the utmost, then, and not till then, do we hear of eternal life, and this connected with both these points of view. There are many aspects to be considered. He 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 . John 3:19; John 3:19) Other things, the merest trifles, may serve to indicate a man's condition; but a new responsibility is created by this infinite display of divine goodness in Christ, and the evidence is decisive and final, that the unbeliever is already judged before God. But the Spirit would not confine His operations to such bounds, but go out freely like the wind. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. They had no common thoughts, feelings, or ways with the Father and the Son. These two positions are mutually exclusive. Nicodemus remonstrates but is spurned; all retire to their home Jesus, who had none, to the mount of Olives. Just as in John 4:1-54, so here it is a question of power in the Holy Ghost, and not simply of Christ's person. New believers also get familiar with this special truth in their relationship with God. Notably He is now applying it to the reconciliation of a people, who are also baptized by the Holy Ghost into one body. (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 no question here of every man, but of such as believe. How was this? Indeed, Jesus is God the Son, son of God the Father. And they haven't even carefully read what John 3:18 itself says. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. ( ) flesh, and dwelt among us." Both words are used in the phrase wrath of God, which commonly denotes a distinct manifestation of God's judgment (Romans 1:18; Romans 3:5; Romans 9:22; Romans 12:19). 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. They could not deny Him to be man Son of man. Thus it is a kind of transitional fact for a most important part of our gospel, though still introductory. And Jesus answers, "I that speak unto thee am he." If it was addressed first to Jewish-Christians (or, just as easily, to Christian-Jews - that is the earl. 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. But all that is historically related of the Lord Jesus inJohn 1:1-51; John 1:1-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36; John 4:1-54. was before the imprisonment of the Baptist. This is the truth; but the Jews had the law, and hated the truth. John 3:16 Meaning. Compare the future tense with the present "hath eternal life," and the simple life with the fully developed idea eternal life. What love! "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:18 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. he would not. And He did accept that place thoroughly, and in all its consequences. 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.'. This brings all to a point; for the woman says, "I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." This is indispensable; for God is a Spirit, and so it cannot but be. Had it been meant, it was no wonder that Nicodemus did not know how these things could be. But John was not merely an earthly witness pointing us to Christ. "The law was given by Moses." (Psalms 132:1-18) Then they wanted to make Him a king. His aspect as thus tabernacling among the disciples was "full of grace and truth." While that new life is a free gift, one that we can do nothing to earn, it does come with expectations. John is not saying that Christ in himself is not already as great intrinsically as he could possibly be. Thus, in His person, as well as in His work, they joined issue. Nicodemus was told: "Unless a person is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God." Unless one has a new birth, a spiritual birth, one cannot see God's kingdom.
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