John 3:17,18 - To save the world through Him

3:17

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world”. Now this phrase, along with “do not judge” is often completely misunderstood. Often it seems to be taken to mean “Jesus did not come to tell me the way I am living my life is wrong”. Nothing could be further from the truth, in fact the exact opposite is the case. If we look at almost any aspect of Christ’s teaching it is quite clear that the way we are doing things at present is wrong. We are all sinners. Jesus did come to tell us we are wrong. In fact, the whole Bible tells us that we are wrong. When we are shown to be wrong we expect to be judged, penalised in some way. But Jesus did not come to penalise us, but to pay the penalty for us. The succeeding verses will make this even clearer.

3:18

John now sets out how things work. If we believe in Christ then we are not condemned. The exact reasons are not given here, for what John is focusing on in this chapter is the human condition, the attitude that we have. Nicodemus thought he had everything worked out, only to be told he could not be more wrong. We often think God has a duty to forgive us, and if He sends someone to hell then He had better have a good reason to do so! In fact, God has a very good reason, and it applies to every human being. The one who does not believe “stands condemned already”. Now we should address a common misconception. People sometimes say it is unfair that someone will go to hell because they have not believed in Jesus. No one goes to hell because they have not believed in Jesus, they go to hell because of their sin. They could have avoided going to hell by believing in Jesus. It is like someone who is ill with a fatal disease. The doctor offers them medicine that will cure them of the disease. If the person takes the medicine they will get better. If they do not take the medicine the disease will kill them. This is not the fault of the doctor, if the patient refuses to take the medicine then it is their own stupid fault for not taking the medicine. Likewise if someone refuses to believe in Jesus then it is not God’s fault!