John 3:18 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

He that believeth on him is not condemned:— From the gracious design of God towards the world, mentioned in the preceding verses, our Lord concludes, that they who believe on the Son of God are not condemned; whereas they who do not believe, are condemned already for that sin; and justly, because their unbelief is owing to their own wickedness, and not to any defect in the evidences of his divine mission, which, through grace are sufficiently full to work conviction in every unprejudiced mind. The condemnation mentioned here, and strongly implied in John 3:15 is thought by Dr. Doddridge and many others to refer to that natural state of condemnationwherein fallen man stands. "And till men enter deeply into this important truth," says the learned expositor just mentioned, the "Gospel may indeed be their amusement, but I see not how it is likely to be their joy or their cure." We may just observe, upon the expression in the name of the only-begotten, &c. that though the name of a person be frequently put for the person himself, yet it seems further intimated in that expression, that the person spoken of is great and magnificent, and therefore it is generally used to express either God the Father, or God the Son, even our Lord Jesus Christ.