EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
John 3:16-21. These verses are confidently held by many to contain the reflections of the Evangelist, and not to be a continuation of our Lord’s discourse. But
(1) there is not the slightest indication of a transition from Christ’s words to a disciple’s comments on them; and
(2) we cannot think that our Lord would have let Nicodemus depart without a distinct assertion that the Son of man was none other than the Son of God, as the Baptist declared Him to be; and without further instruction in the mystery of redemption. Nicodemus was, we may believe, now a humble learner, and that now our Lord’s discourse flowed on uninterruptedly. The discourse is not, we may affirm, reported in full. The Evangelist, directed by the Spirit, recorded what was of universal interest and importance; and perhaps also we have at the close a condensation of our Lord’s utterance. St. John did not profess to have recorded every word spoken by the Saviour, any more than all His actions (John 20:30; John 21:25; Acts 20:35). God so loved, etc.—The love, and not the wrath of God, is the source of redemption for mankind. Gave His only begotten Son (2 Corinthians 9:15).—It was during this conversation most likely that John first heard this striking title (1 John 4:9). Believeth upon (εἰς).—Implying the idea of assured trust in the Son as the all-merciful and almighty.
John 3:17. Condemn.—Better judge (κρίνειν). “It means originally to separate, and in the moral sense to separate good from evil. Passing from the act to the effect, it may mean to absolve; but as the usual effect of separation is to exclude the evil, the word has attached to itself frequently the idea of condemnation” (Watkins). Judgment is not the end of Christ’s coming, but salvation. That the world, etc.—How condemnatory of sectarian limitations of the power of Christ’s saving work!
John 3:18-19. But though Christ did not come to judge, the effect of His coming is judgment. And this judgment is not an arbitrary act. It is the result of men’s own choice. Those who remain in the bondage of sin shall taste the penalty of sin (Romans 6:23). This is their judgment. This judgment is made imperative by the entrance of light into the world. It was then evident that men loved darkness rather than light—darkness absolutely (σκότος) in contradistinction to light.
John 3:20-21. Here the explanation of this awful choice made by unrenewed humanity is given. He that doeth evil, etc.—Doeth (πράσσων), or practiseth, evil (φαῦλα), or bad actions. To see such actions for a moment in the light of eternal truth is to condemn them. Those who find pleasure in them therefore avoid the light. But he that doeth (ποιῶν) truth, etc.—ποιῶν “implies effective realisation—in good-doing the product remains” (Godet). “Right action is true thought realised” (Westcott). “Among mankind before Christ there mingle two kinds of men. With the appearance of Jesus their separation begins” (Lücke). And with this word of hope to Nicodemus—hope that he was of the number of those doing truth—the interview with him ends.
John 3:22. After, etc.—I.e. after the occurrences related from John 3:13 in the previous chapter. The land of Judæa means the country districts of Judæa. No further record of this work, in which our Lord must have increased the number of His followers, is given, as Jesus did not baptise personally, but through His disciples (John 4:2).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— John 3:16-21
The blessedness to which the Spirit leads us through regeneration.—Faith in Christ, as St. John points out, is the means through which men attain to the new life (John 3:15). We must surrender ourselves and trust in Him for all. But faith also is “the gift of God.” Of ourselves alone we cannot attain it; for sin has darkened our spiritual vision and weakened our spiritual power. But faith is given by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:9). He transforms our nature—through Him it is born anew. The darkness is cleared away from our spiritual vision, and spiritual strength is given to those who have no might. And thus the spiritually renewed are led to rejoice in—
I. The unchanging divine love, which is revealed as the eternal spring of redemption.—
1. It was not from an unwilling God that mercy was won for perishing men. God Himself is fons et origo of all the mercy and goodness and love which have been showered on men, sinful as they were, through the long course of history.
2. Nay, more: when no man could “redeem his brother, or bring to God a ransom for him,” God sent His only-begotten Son, gave Him up to live and die for man’s salvation.
3. And the reception of and participation in this heavenly gift is assured to those who believe. And those who thus receive Christ and His salvation are led ever more joyfully to understand the mystery of the divine love—to realise “that God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).
II. Those who are spiritually renewed rejoice in having escaped from the terrible judgment of unbelievers.—“He that believeth not is condemned already,” etc. (John 3:18-20)
1. Those who turn away in unbelief from God’s dear Son bring judgment upon themselves, and shut themselves out from the divine mercy in Christ. They reject Christ’s expiation of the offended divine law, and the means by which the new spiritual life is alone begotten in men; thus the final judgment will simply be a declaration of their self-condemnation. They will stand self-condemned before the Judge (Revelation 6:16).
2. And, as a result of this rejection of Christ, the light of men, the unbelieving sink into ever deeper darkness, the heart becomes hardened, the dominion of evil is ever more firmly established. Evil becomes their good—they devour iniquity (Proverbs 19:28), wickedness is sweet in their mouths (Job 20:12). And because of this they hate the light, for it intrudes on their peace, and threatens to snatch their pleasure from them. But the end is certain; it is condemnation—eternal loss. Thus the Spirit brings before believers this terrible result of unbelief as a warning; and they are led thereby more fully and even tremblingly to rejoice in their salvation.
III. And, last, the blessedness of the new life is a cause of rejoicing.—
1. It is free from the fear of judgment; for over the believer the Eternal Judge Himself has cast the shield of His grace. “There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,” etc. (Romans 8:1). The eternal judgment will be but the open manifestation of God’s love to His people; and in the judgments and trials that overtake them here they realise “not tokens of wrath, but of gracious chastisement.”
2. And in the life of faith men ever seek the light—desire ever more fully to know themselves, their weaknesses, their follies, their sinfulness; and to know Christ and the gospel of His grace, that those evils may, through the grace of His indwelling Spirit, be ever more eliminated. By the truth enlightened, they order their way and work to the honour of God, in all things seeking to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and to demonstrate that the life they now live in the flesh they live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them; they work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing and acknowledging that it is God who works in them, etc. (Philippians 2:13), so that their “deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.”
John 3:16-21. The office of the Holy Ghost.—This office has two sides: the Holy Ghost gathers together and separates—unites and divides.
I. He reveals the love of God.—
1. The object of this love: God loved the world.
2. The manner and kind of this love: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Song of Song of Solomon 3. The condition of this love: whosoever believeth in Him.
4. The purpose of this love: God gives His Son that we may not perish, but that we may have eternal life. Not that He might judge the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
II. He executes judgment.—
1. Through His continued pentecostal activity, in that He reveals the love of God in Christ to us poor sinful men, and to a lost world, and in that He shows the mighty so (οὕτω) of this love. He not only gathers the Church, but in so doing carries out a solemn judgment. It is a momentous fact that those who believe are not judged, whilst the unbelieving are judged already.
2. How is this judgment, this separation, effected? Attend first to the effect which the heart experiences in which the Holy Spirit witnesses to the love of God. Christ is the light which penetrates into the heart of man, and reveals the existing darkness. The man is dismayed, but he fears the struggle. He resolves to remain as he is. Thus arises the opposition to this apprehension by the Spirit. But because the Holy Spirit does not leave hold of the man who has been convicted, the opposition may gradually become hatred of the light that shines in on his darkness. The man then enters on the way of darkness, in which his deeds are evil, and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be detected, and lose their delight, etc.—Appuhn in J. L. Sommer’s “Evang. Per.”
John 3:16-21. The double office of the Holy Spirit.—He is:
I. A guide to the way of salvation, John 3:16-18; John 3:21.—
1. He holds up to our view the love of God in Christ.
2. He leads us to regard the Saviour as dear and beloved.
3. He enkindles faith in us.
4. He gives us assurance of life eternal.
5. He sanctifies and renews us.
He is further—
II. A judge of those who contemn the great salvation.—
1. He condemns the darkness of unbelief and those who love it.
2. He separates the unbelieving and carnally minded from the community of the faithful.
3. He represents to them their unbelief as the sole cause of their condemnation.—Dr. v. Biarowsky.
John 3:16. The love of God.—John is veritably the apostle of love. He alone of all the apostolic band seems to have been chosen to understand somewhat the deeps of this divine love, so that he might tell it to men. The spirit of inspiration chooses fitting instruments; and we must assume that by nature and grace St. John was best fitted to make known the gospel of eternal love. Here, for the first time, he opens for us in his Gospel this eternal spring. Its presence had been implied before, when the revelation of Christ was spoken of; but now it is clearly made known. Notice:—
I. The eternal spring of love.—
1. It is God Himself. He is the fountain of love. Many glorious things are spoken of God. His eternity, “the same yesterday,” etc.; His almighty power, so that He speaks and it is done, etc.; His omniscience, His wisdom, are all brought before us, and evoke our adoration and praise.
2. But this feature of His nature is pre-eminent. It is said God is the righteous One, holy One, etc. But it is not said, He is righteousness, etc. It is said He is love. This is the attribute that runs through and dominates all the others.
3. How comforting is this revelation of the divine love. How it has altered men’s ideas of God, and changed to them the face of the universe! How dark and terrible were men’s thoughts of the heavenly Father in times of old, when they offered children in sacrifice, etc.
4. Now how changed is the face of the universe! Jesus has told us of the Father’s care and love for the fowls of the air, the lilies of the field. And nature now is to the Christian everywhere vocal of love divine. History we read with new light in view of this glorious revelation. And especially in the history of His dealings with men it shines conspicuous; throwing its golden light over all. But further—
II. God first loved the world.—
1. It would have been long ere the world would have come to love Him. But “He first loved us,” and our love would never have blossomed in response to His had He not loved us.
2. And first, what does this imply in its fulness? It implies an eternity of love. In the Son whom He loved from eternity He loved His people. Thus all through the course of the world’s history, even when He seemed to be coming only in wrath, God has been coming in love to men.
3. And we live in times when the most amazing proof of that love has been bestowed. “He gave His only begotten Son,” etc. And in all the Church and history of the Church that divine love speaks in convincing tones—in that word of salvation preached, in those ordinances, the observance of which tends to the soul’s spiritual health, in those gifts of the Spirit given freely to them who believe, in those promises that draw us near to the throne of grace,—in all these the love of God is proclaimed to our wondering eyes.
4. How has that love cared for us and watched over us from infancy until now—not turned aside through waywardness, etc.! God first loved us!
III. Walk in the belief of His love and thus taste its joy.—I. Believe on Him who is the gift and revealer of God’s love. Then love will cast out fear.
2. Love will also strengthen to labour. When the sun rises man goes forth to his work, and when the sun of love in Christ shines on a man he becomes diligent for God. Fear for eternity has vanished, and he labours joyously in time.
3. He who believes in God’s love fears not the storms of temptation or trial. Are they not in God’s hands? Shall they not work together for good?
4. Those who abide in love abide in God and God in them. Thus they can “never perish.” Abiding in God’s love through Christ they are eternally safe—safe amid all the turmoil of time until the rest of the Father’s house is reached. This is heaven on earth, and therefore no condemnation.
John 3:17. No condemnation.—How great the truth revealed in those simple words—God sent His Son. Jesus Christ His Son came to earth sent by the Father in love to men. The end of His mission was salvation to our perishing race. This great truth is brought before us in two aspects.
I. No condemnation.—
1. His Son was sent not to condemn. Nay, His very name was a sign and symbol of safety, He was called Jesus—a Saviour.
2. The world lay justly under condemnation. It would have sufficiently vindicated the divine justice to have carried out a sentence of condemnation. And the history of all races and religions shows how conscious men were of being under condemnation,—how they feared that it would be carried into effect.
3. But God’s ways are not man’s ways. His love and pity for men found a way by which this condemnation might be averted.
4. “His tender mercies are over all His works.” This has been shown all down the history of the past. It is seen in His providential dealings with man. He has so ordered the course of nature that “seedtime and harvest, summer and winter,” etc. (Genesis 8:22), have visited the earth, made it fruitful. He has sent men rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, etc. (Acts 14:17). All this showed His loving care, and might have led men to expect that some further loving purpose lay behind.
5. This gracious purpose is seen in redemption, in His sending the Son—not to condemn the world. But there is a further side of this purpose of God, and that is—
II. Salvation.—
1. No condemnation might still have left us far from God. There was an actual purpose of blessing beyond and above this, in God sending His Son. It was, “that the world through Him might be saved.” God could have destroyed, condemned the world without sending the Son. But it was necessary in order to the world’s salvation that He should come.
2. He came to save His people from their sins. It was sin that lay at the basis of alienation and condemnation; and Jesus came not in wrath but in love, to save men from it, by taking away, in His own sufferings and death, the sins of the world.
3. How great was this salvation which He brought. Moses was privileged to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and Joshua to lead the ransomed people into the Land of Promise. But the Son was sent to deliver the world from the bondage of sin, and bring unto all believers the promise of a heavenly inheritance.
4. God sent the Son for this great end. “He is the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).
5. And He alone could undertake this office; for He is Emmanuel, “God with us.” He is God with men—in all the fulness of the divine power. The Creator, the Preserver, etc., who took upon Him the form of a servant, but whose glory was manifest in the flesh. He is God for men. He was sent and came to stand in man’s room. He has authority and power to do so. Men died in Him unto sin. Through faith in Him they live. And He is God in men—in those who believe. “Christ in us the hope of glory.” Here is salvation. With Him in us and we in Him, how can we perish? Nay, a world shall be saved! The last shall not outnumber the saved. The purpose of God towards the world shall not fail (Acts 3:20-21).
Lessons.—
1. Consider the greatness of God’s love in Christ! He might have destroyed the world, as at the flood, etc. But He chose the way of love, which meant the way of self-sacrifice and humiliation for the Song of Song of Solomon 2. How shall they escape who neglect so great salvation? (Hebrews 2:3).
3. Let the divine love constrain us to faith and willing submission. Thus shall we best glorify His name by believing in Jesus.
John 3:20. Love not the darkness.—Sin is darkness. It leads to men turning away from the light, i.e. from God, as Adam and Eve hid themselves from God when they had fallen.
I. Sin in its nature is darkness.—
1. It is a denial of man’s dependence on God, and an attempt to cut the life loose from Him—“to be as gods.”
2. This ends in disobedience to the divine law, which is man’s light; and in turning away from the source of that light.
3. All ways that lead from God lead to darkness and death.
II. The results of sin lead to ever-increasing alienation and darkness.—
1. How terribly this has been brought out in the world’s history! “Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people.” And men became so accustomed to this state that they loved darkness rather than light.
2. Indeed the entrance of light became a pain. There were still ways in which it could make itself felt, through conscience, through the shame which men often felt at sin; for God’s image, though broken, was not entirely destroyed. But this entrance of the light brought pain. It brought restriction to the lower nature, which had now gained the ascendency, and it showed how far men had fallen, to what height they must attain.
3. Thus they came to love darkness rather than light, and this was their condemnation. Not that they were sinful and in darkness, but because they clung to it even after the light had come. And thus Christ, who came to save, becomes in the nature of things their Judge (John 15:22-24).
III. The way of escape from the darkness of sin.—
1. “Awake, thou that sleepest,” etc. (Ephesians 5:14). The light has come.
2. Christ brings the true knowledge of God, of ourselves, and of the way of salvation.
3. The sun of righteousness has arisen, and with that rising the hope and promise of escape from the darkness of self and sin, to those who believe.
John 3:22-24. Our Lord’s ministry in rural Judea.—In Jerusalem our Lord came unto His own—the very centre of the Theocracy—and His own received Him not. He therefore turned His face again toward Galilee. But on the way He lingered in the rural parts of Judea with His disciples, attracting men to Him, and baptising, not personally, but through His disciples, those who believed on Him (John 4:1). Who those disciples were we cannot well determine. Peter was not there, it would seem; for although a disciple, he had in the meantime returned to his avocation (Mark 1:16-18). John the Evangelist was with Him, and perhaps one or two of the others already called. Probably, also, some who attached themselves to Him on this ministry. We notice:
I. The initiation of Christian baptism.—
1. By the command, in Matthew 28:19, baptism was ordained as an universal possession for all people—a means of grace designed for all ages.
2. In reply to the question why Christ Himself did not baptise but through His disciples, the answer which seems most conclusive is that He desired that all His people should have the assurance that baptism by the hands of His disciples is to be accounted as His baptism.
II. The earnest activity of the Saviour.—
1. “Work while it is called to-day” was a prominent characteristic of His activity;
2. And in every place, at all times, He must needs be about His Father’s business—a happy example for all His true disciples never to neglect opportunities of proclaiming the truth of God.
III. The result of this activity.—
1. It seems to have been phenomenal—“the same baptiseth, and all men come to Him” (John 3:26). Disciples were gathered.
2. Here again to the babes—simple countryfolk—were revealed the things which were hid from the wise and prudent in Jerusalem.
HOMILETIC NOTES
John 3:16. The greatness of the divine love.—A well-known proverb is, Like draws to like. But here there is an immense dissimilarity.
1. Who is God? The Being of beings, the Almighty, the Light of lights.
2. What are you?—a shadow, a vapour. The greatness of faith.—
1. In faith God has chosen His people to blessedness from the beginning (2 Thessalonians 2:13);
2. Through faith they can come by Christ’s blood to a throne of grace (Romans 3:25);
3. Through faith they come to God (Hebrews 11:7);
4. Through faith they have peace with God (Romans 5:1);
5. Through faith they receive forgiveness of sin (Acts 10:43);
6. Through faith they are accounted righteous (Romans 4:5);
7. Through faith they overcome the world (1 John 5:4);
8. The end of faith is the salvation of the soul (1 Peter 1:9). Happy and blest are they who have believed. The greatness of this word.—Frederick of Denmark chose this verse as his “sleeping cup.” Receiving this great saying in faith he fell asleep in the Lord gently and blessedly. Monica, the mother of Augustine, used it as a heavenly pinion. Hearing it in the course of a sermon, she was so entranced that she began to cry out, “Avolemus, Avolemus!” (Let us soar upward). Abraham Buchholzer, a noted chronologist, held it before him as a shield against the temptations of the enemy. When, on a bed of sickness, he was oppressed with temptation he cried out without ceasing, Not lost, not lost! referring to this verse, “Whosoever believeth shall not perish.” Luther called this verse parva biblia (little Bible), because it contained in it the kernel of the whole of Scripture. And when it was repeated to him on his death-bed he said: “It is my favourite cordial.” Luther also wrote of this verse as follows: “This is one of the best and most glorious of evangels, and were well worth being written in golden letters, not on paper, but where it may be, on the heart; and well would it be if it were the subject of daily meditation in every Christian’s prayer, to strengthen faith, to awake the heart to supplication; for these are words that can turn sorrow into joy, and make the (spiritually) dead alive, if only the heart would steadfastly believe them.” We behold here the contents of evangelical doctrine and the paragon of consolation. If this saying alone is laid hold of truly by faith, it will enable a man in utmost peril to withstand all fiery darts, to be victorious in all temptations, and lay hold of life eternal. Do not shut yourself out; God does not desire that you should be shut out.—From J. J. Weigel.
ILLUSTRATIONS
John 3:16. The eternal love of God.—God has not waited for us to love Him; before all time, before we were endowed with life, He thought of us, and thought of doing us good. What He meditated in eternity He has performed in time. His beneficent hand has bestowed every variety of blessings upon us; neither our unfaithfulness nor our ingratitude has dried up the fountain of His goodness to us, or arrested the stream of His bounty. O thou eternal Love, that hast loved me when I could neither know nor acknowledge Thee! immeasurable love! that has made me what I am, that has given me all I possess, and that has yet promised me infinitely more! O love without interruption, without change, that all the bitter waters of my iniquities could not extinguish! Have I any heart, O my God, if I am not penetrated with gratitude and love for Thee?—Fenelon.
John 3:16. Shall not the love of God constrain us to love Him?—Are there yet amongst us those who have never felt the love of God as shown in the gift of His Son? Are there hearts which can warm to every benefactor but the greatest, throb kindly towards every friend but that One who died in man’s stead, and give their quick sensibilities to every tale of heroism and philanthropy but that which describes how “the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost”? Indeed we must fear that there are yet many whose affections are in full play towards all but God; many who, in the domestic circle and the intercourse of life, show themselves possessed of fervent affections and acute sensibilities, but who are yet utterly indifferent in regard to the things done “for us men and for our salvation.” What shall we say to such? You have not, but surely you must wish to have, a lively sense of the love shown towards you in redemption. Then, when you go hence, read, in one of the Gospels, the account of Jesus Christ’s sufferings and death; read it with prayer that God would take away the heart of stone and give the heart of flesh; and we shall still hope for you that you will know the gushings of a thankful spirit, and feel a thrill of gratitude at the announcement that God so loved you as to give His own Son to die in your stead.—Henry Melvill.
John 3:17. The victory of eternal love.—The result of all this is, that the suffering is efficacious—“He taketh away the sin of the world.” The blood of bulls and of goats could never take away sin, but this Man has offered up one sacrifice for sins for ever. “He taketh away;” it is not merely, “He bears the sin of the world.” He takes it away by taking it upon Him. Many an unconscious victim had shed its blood for the sin of the world, and yet the sin remained. Many a great heart had borne the sin of the world, and had broken under the weight, and still the sin remained. There had been many that palliated the sin of the world, and yet it remained. It is possible to disguise the sin of the world, to drive it under the surface, to cover it with a fair exterior, to make excuse for it, but that is not to take it away. It is possible to fight with separate sins of the world, and in some measure to master them, but as long as any sin remains the sin of the world has not been taken away. But Jesus came not to deal with the sins of the world, but with the sin of the world. In human nature strictness in one direction often compensates itself by laxity in another, and men dream that they have overcome sin when they have gained a victory in some isolated fragment of the world of moral duty. But to exchange one sin for another, as Samson the Nazarite did, is not redemption. Nor is the mere escaping from the penalty of sin redemption. Redemption means the removal of sin, not merely of the punishment of sin; and He who dealt with sin effectually by taking it away was Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. The sin of the world, not the sins. The victory of Christ was over sin as a unity, the whole corruption of human nature which finds expression in separate sins. The sin of the world is regarded as heaped up in one tremendous pile, and that pile laid upon the head of Christ. That was the load which He staggered under. Think of the sin of one life—the sin with which it is born, the sins of childhood, youth, manhood, age; the sins of broken vows, broken oaths, unfulfilled duties; and then multiply that one life by the numbers of all the world, and consider what a foe it was Christ came to reckon with, what a foe it was that He overcame in the body of His flesh through death.—Dr. W. Robertson Nicoll.