John now gives his commentary on the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, explaining how it all works. "For God so loved the world". "so loved" is commonly taken to in the sense of "loved the world so much that He gave up His only Son". However, the "so" is perhaps better interpreted as "loved the world in this manner". Ie John is referring back to Jesus' words about the Son of Man being lifted up. The Father sent Jesus to the cross so that all who believe in Him will be saved. Just as through Moses God provided a way for the Israelites to avoid dying, so through Jesus He has provided a way for mankind to avoid eternal death.
"One and only Son" is sometimes translated "only begotten" son, but "one and only" is better as the Greek implies that the emphasis is on Jesus being the only Son.
Jesus did not come to condemn the world. Yet the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders reacted against Him, just as many today react against God. John explains this apparent paradox. Why do people refuse to accept salvation? The reason is that the path of salvation involves us recognising, acknowledging and repenting of our sin (Acts 2:38). This requires admitting our guilt and our weakness, something many are loathe to do. People may produce all sorts of clever sounding arguments, but at the root of rejection of Jesus will be an unwillingness to admit our need. For coming into the light shows us up as what we are really like.
When we do come to Jesus although it means our sins are shown up, we are not condemned (Rom 8:1), but those who refuse to come to Jesus are condemned already. People often object about why someone should go to hell simply for refusing to believe in Christ, They will not go to hell because they refused to believe, they will go because that is what their lives deserve. The tragedy is that they could have been saved if they had only believed. It is like a sick person dying because they refused to take the medicine that would have healed them.
"One and only Son" is sometimes translated "only begotten" son, but "one and only" is better as the Greek implies that the emphasis is on Jesus being the only Son.
Jesus did not come to condemn the world. Yet the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders reacted against Him, just as many today react against God. John explains this apparent paradox. Why do people refuse to accept salvation? The reason is that the path of salvation involves us recognising, acknowledging and repenting of our sin (Acts 2:38). This requires admitting our guilt and our weakness, something many are loathe to do. People may produce all sorts of clever sounding arguments, but at the root of rejection of Jesus will be an unwillingness to admit our need. For coming into the light shows us up as what we are really like.
When we do come to Jesus although it means our sins are shown up, we are not condemned (Rom 8:1), but those who refuse to come to Jesus are condemned already. People often object about why someone should go to hell simply for refusing to believe in Christ, They will not go to hell because they refused to believe, they will go because that is what their lives deserve. The tragedy is that they could have been saved if they had only believed. It is like a sick person dying because they refused to take the medicine that would have healed them.
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