John 3:16 has become a friendly verse that has caused so many people to think that nobody will every be condemned, simply because of what God did out of His love for us. But you can’t just stop there — you have to read it in its full context. For instance, I was translating John 3 from the Greek one night–did you know there’s so much more revealed in the Greek than in the English? There really has been a lot of emphasis lost in the translation–and I wanted to share part of it. You know John 3:16, right? “For God so loved the World that He gave His One and Only Son….” Did you notice that this verse actually starts off with a “Therefore” or “for this reason“? So what that means is that when people quote that verse alone, they’re actually taking it out of context.
Also, in John, the word “World” is often used as a system that’s opposed to God. So saying that “God loved the world” is saying that, a world that hates and rejects Him, God loved that one so much that He sent His One and Only Son–basically so that instead of being condemned, one might be saved through Jesus Christ (the Son) by trusting in (or believing in) Him.
HOWEVER, though the whole idea is for everybody to accept/believe in/trust in the Son and receive eternal life, and those who have, have received eternal life, verse 18 tells us that those who reject the Son HAVE ALREADY BEEN condemned.
So when you get non-believers who say, “Only God can judge me,” HE ALREADY HAS! And because you haven’t received the Son, your judgment is condemnation (in worldly terms, you’re not going to Heaven).
I was talking with somebody the other day who thinks he doesn’t need God or Jesus to get into heaven, but thinks he’ll get there himself because he shares his wealth, he gives to charities, he’s nice to and respects almost everyone (not so much Christians who believe and preach that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, though)…and here, 2 verses after and still part of the one verse that’s most known worldwide tells him that even though he does all these nice things for people, he’s condemned to death. He’s got a death sentence taxed onto his soul, and the only way to be saved from it is to believe in (put your trust into) Christ, the Son of God.
I mean, I decided to study this part because of the section where Jesus talks about baptism – being born again/from above with water and the Spirit as a necessity to get into and even see the Kingdom of God. So here, we have the whole conversion understanding:
- You stand condemned simply by rejecting the Son of God.
- God loves even those of y’all who reject Him so much, that He gave you a way to receive eternal life, and that life is through trusting/believing in His Son.
- To be saved from this condemnation (and yes, go to heaven when you die), you need to put your trust into Christ Jesus. (repent, believe)
- Then you must be baptized so that you may enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
The other day at our church, before the Youth Pastor baptized a student, he announced to the congregation that baptism is an outward symbol of an inward decision – I cringed! I HATE it when I hear people say that, because baptism is so much more, and it shows that they don’t have a clue of how important it is. I mean, if baptism is only that, then why do we continue to teach against sex outside of marriage? Isn’t sex just an outward symbol of their inward love for each other? Well, if you’re married, then you know that there’s so much more that happens during sex than just expressing your love (or lust) for the other person, and that there’s no such thing as “just sex” or “casual sex”. There’s a combining of people that occurs, a merging of body and spirit…Paul said that when you have sex with a prostitute, you’re actually becoming one with her (not one as New Age or the world describes it, but as when God said about marriage, the 2 become 1). Sex wasn’t created for people outside of marriage because such would be sin, but also because, as Paul says, it’s the one sin you commit against yourself, because you’re merging yourself with somebody else, and this is not created for somebody who’s not committed in a marriage relationship that hasn’t been joined by God.
Similarly, baptism is also a joining – it’s joining one into the Kingdom of God, and is necessary in order to enter into it. Same as trusting in the Son of God – it’s a joining into fellowship with the Father.
So if you haven’t believed in/trusted in the Son, then you’ve already been condemned. No need to try and be a “good person” in the eyes of the world or yourself, and you might want to be careful when you cry out, “Only God can judge me,” because you’ve already been judged, and the only way to be freed from this judgment is to believe in Christ through faith.
THAT’S how important it is.
“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also will the Son of Man be lifted up, so that all who put their faith in Him might have eternal life. For in this way, God loved the world, and therefore (and because He loved the world) He gave His One and Only Son, so that all who might believe in (put their trust in) Him might not perish (be destroyed), but have eternal life. For God didn’t send the Son into the world in order to condemn it, but in order to save the world through Him. (So) he who believes in Him (the Son) won’t be condemned; but he who does not believe HAS ALREADY BEEN CONDEMNED because he has not believed in (trusted in) the name of God’s One and Only Son…“
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