Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 3:17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
17. the world ] Note the emphatic repetition: the whole human race is meant, as in Joh 3:16, not the Gentiles in particular.
not to condemn ] This does not contradict Joh 9:39, ‘For judgment am I come into this world.’ Comp. Luk 9:56. Since there are sinners in the world Christ’s coming involves a separation of them from the good, a judgment, a sentence: but this is not the purpose of His coming; the purpose is salvation. ‘Condemn’ is too strong here for the Greek word, which is simply to judge between good and bad; but the word frequently acquires the notion of ‘condemn’ from the context (see on Joh 5:20). Note the change of construction; not, ‘to save the world,’ but ‘that the world might be saved through Him.’ The world can reject Him if it pleases.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
To condemn the world – Not to judge, or pronounce sentence on mankind. God might justly have sent him for this. Man deserved condemnation, and it would have been right to have pronounced it; but God was willing that there should be an offer of pardon, and the sentence of condemnation was delayed. But, although Jesus did not come then to condemn mankind, yet the time is coming when he will return to judge the living and the dead, Act 17:31; 2Co 5:10; Mat. 25:31-46.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 3:17-19
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world
Salvation
I.
WHAT IT IS THAT GOD HAS ACTUALLY DONE FOR US AS FALLEN SINNERS.
1. What is done? He hath redeemed us. Fallen by sin we are all by nature children of wrath, and according to the rules of justice uniter condemnation. Instead of allowing righteous wrath to take its course, God has interposed in arrest of judgment; not to do an unrighteous thing, not to exercise His mercy at the expense of His justice, but to open a door for lovingkindness. The everlasting Son took into union with Himself the nature that deserved the wrath and placed Himself beneath the falling thunderbolt which would have crushed the world. This was done 1800 years ago, and nothing can be added to it or diminished from it.
2. For whom is this work done?
(1) For God, in order that His love might flow out in acts of beneficence while at the same time His justice and purity might remain untainted.
(2) For the world. Every sinner therefore may put in his claim.
3. Has God actually saved any one? Is redemption the same as salvation? What is salvation?
(1) To have all my sins pardoned.
(2) To have my soul renewed unto holiness.
(3) To have my body transformed into the likeness of Christs glorious body.
(4) To reign with Christ. In this full sense none are saved. God has made provision and is acting on it, and men are being saved, but are not fully saved this side of heaven.
II. WHAT IS IT THAT GOD IS NOW DOING FOR US AS FALLEN SINNERS?
1. He is giving to one sinner after another repentance and forgiveness of sins and a character unto holiness commenced and progressive. During the whole of the dispensation this is the revealed work of the Holy Spirit.
2. To separate the elect from the mass of mankind as His purchased and sanctified ones.
3. He is giving the faith which secures all this, even freedom from condemnation and acceptance in the beloved.
4. Without this faith the old condemnation remains, and a fresh condemnation is added, that following on the rejection of salvation by the only begotten Son of God. (H. McNeile, D. D.)
No condemnation to the believer
I. THE PURPOSE OF GOD in sending His Son into the world. Consider
1. What that purpose was not. To condemn the world. He might have done so. The worlds iniquities had grown to a fearful height, and though for
1800 years the world has continued in rebellion, we dare not say that God sent His Son to condemn the world.
2. What that purpose was: that there should be wrought out in, and tendered to the world in, through, and by Christ, a salvation equal to the wretchedness and peril to which the whole race was exposed. Hence, then, it follows that no sinner need perish for want of a provision of Gods mercy and love.
II. HOW IS THAT INTENTION TO BE FULFILLED? By an act of faith.
1. What are we to believe?
(1) The lost and ruined state which we are in by nature. So long as we deceive ourselves on that point, or excuse it, we hold back from the remedy.
(2) Our own utter helplessness and destitution.
(3) The reality of the provision of Gods mercy in Christ.
(4) That the provision of the Gospel is actually tendered to every one.
2. How are we to believe?
(1) Not in that speculative way which regards the truth of God as an abstract matter.
(2) But in that practical and personal way which accepts this salvation for ones self.
(3) It is to lay our hand an the head of the Great Sacrifice which bears away the sin of the world.
Conclusion:
1. It was through believing a lie that man fell; it is by believing the truth that he is saved.
2. Deem not sin a light matter.
3. Accept Gods provision of grace
(1) thankfully;
(2) now. (G. Fisk, LL. B.)
Salvation and condemnation
I. SALVATION IS BY THE GIFT OF CHRIST.
1. Christ came not to condemn the world.
(1) Condemnation might have been expected
(a) From the condition of the world, without desire or effort for deliverance and rebellious against God.
(b) From the errands of other messengers sent in vengeance.
(c) From Gods foreknowledge of the way in which Christ would be received.
(2) But Gods ways are not ours. Had Gods design been no more than not to condemn, but merely to neutralize or stay approaching ruin, Christs mission would have been unspeakably precious.
(3) There are those who limit the effect of Christs mission to a period of undeserved forbearance, and are blindly satisfied with a temporary, unenduring good.
2. Christ came that the world through Him might be saved. The nature of this salvation is
(1) Atonement for sin.
(2) The bringing in of an everlasting righteousness.
(3) Exaltation to glory.
II. THE WAY IN WHICH MEN BECOME PARTAKERS OF THIS SALVATION.
1. Some men regard the world as saved, contrary to Scripture and universal experience.
2. Others regard God as disappointed in His great design. Not so. God has provided the salvation; man must voluntarily partake of it. How?
1. The glory must be given to God because
(1) The remote and originating cause is the Fathers love.
(2) The meritorious cause, Christs redeeming work.
(3) The energetic agency, the Holy Spirit. Thus salvation is through the concurrence and co-operation of the Trinity.
2. But what is the instrumental cause? Faith.
(1) Had God proposed that for righteous deeds He would save us, our case had been hopeless.
(2) So it would had He arranged to place us again under the covenant of works, promising that by the deeds of the law performed in our own strength we should inherit heaven.
(3) Equally so had our salvation been conditioned by a combination of Christs righteousness and our own.
(4) Or by our originating holy emotions of repentance and love.
(5) Knowing all this, God requires only that we should believe on His Son. This faith is His gift, the medium of Divine life and its active principle when communicated, involving self-renunciation, rational dependence on God, and trust in His grace in Christ.
III. THE REASON WHY MEN PERISH THOUGH SALVATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED.
1. Not because God passes them by or excludes them from life.
2. Not because there is no merit for them in Christs mediation.
3. Not because the Holy Spirit might have breathed upon them, but has not. But
4. Because the sinner will not believe. In this duty he fails.
(1) Under the sound of the gospel;
(2) Under the strivings of the Spirit;
(3) And though Christ stretches forth His hand all the day long.
5. Consequently he is condemned already by a double condemnation
(1) Through his relations and adherence to the first man.
(2) Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (A. Beith, D. D.)
The fundamental facts of Evangelism
Christianity is built on facts; those facts are connected with the history of a Person; that Person is the Son of God. Three such facts are here.
I. GOD SENT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD.
1. This fact implies
(1) Separateness of existence.
(2) Subordination of existence. These no philosophy has yet reconciled to the doctrine of Divine Unity.
2. This is the greatest fact in the history of the world, perhaps of the universe. It constitutes the great epoch in the annals of the race.
II. God sent His Son into the world NOT TO CONDEMN IT. This is not what might have been expected.
1. Because of the wickedness of the world: full of ingratitude, idolatry, corruption, and rebellion.
2. Because of all the treatment His other messengers had received. The world had rejected, persecuted, murdered His prophets. Might it not then be expected that Gods Son would come on a mission of judgment.
III. God sent His Son into the world TO SAVE IT. What is salvation? Not physical, intellectual, or local change, but a restoration in the soul of what has been lost through sin.
1. Supreme love to God–the life of the soul.
2. Constant fellowship with the great Father–the happiness of the soul.
3. Useful service in the universe–the mission of the soul. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christ the Saviour of even the worst of sinners
He does not exclude the greatest sinners when they come to Him, but on the contrary He gives them His first attention, as a surgeon who has been called to a field of battle to dress the wounded always first goes to the most desperate cases. (Nauden.)
Christ the Saviour of the world
In September, 1878, a dreadful accident happened on the Thames, when an excursion steamer, named the Princess Alice was cut down by the Bywell Castle, an outward bound merchant steamship. More than seven hundred persons that day found a watery grave. Among the brave efforts that were made on that occasion to save the drowning people, one of the noblest was made by a man who was in charge of a small boat at some distance from the scene of the collision. Rowing with all his might into the midst of the struggling passengers, he pulled several of them one after another into his little boat, which was now full and in danger of sinking, and prepared to row away. But when he saw the white, upturned faces of many others, and heard their piteous cries, Oh, save me, sir! Dont leave me, sir! it is said that in agony he threw up his arms and cried, O God, that I had a bigger boat! O God, that I had a bigger boat! His heart was large enough to save all who were perishing, but his boat was too small; his power was limited. It is not so with Christ. He is the Life.boat of perishing humanity, and in Him there is room for the whole race, for He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (R. Brewin.)
The mission of Christ is plain
You can understand when the Prince of Wales went to America, all the country was excited, and it was said be had come for this purpose and that purpose. But when Christ comes He can tell us what He comes for. When the Prince of Heaven comes into this world He can tell us the nature of His mission. For the Son of Man comes to seek and to save that which was lost. (D. L. Moody.)
Salvation is for all who need it
I remember when Master Street Hospital, in Philadelphia, was opened during the war, a telegram came, saying, There will be three hundred wounded men to-night; be ready to take care of them; and from my church there went in some twenty or thirty men and women to look after these poor wounded fellows. As they came, some from one part of the land, some from another, no one asked whether this man was from Oregon, or from Massachusetts, or from Minnesota, or from New York. There was a wounded soldier, and the only question was how to take off the rags the most gently, and put on the bandage, and administer the cordial. And when a soul comes to God, He does not ask where you came from, or what your ancestry was. Healing for all your wounds. Pardon for all your guilt. Comfort for all your troubles. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)
The gospel the most glorious tidings
When the Romans, by conquest, might have given law to the Grecians at Corinth, in the solemn time of the Isthmian games, their general, by a herald, unexpectedly proclaimed freedom to all the cities of Greece; the proclamation at first did so amaze the Grecians, that they did not believe it to be true. But when it was proclaimed the second time, they gave such a shout that the very birds flying in the air were astonished therewith, and fell dead to the ground. But if you will have a better story, take that of the Jews, who, when at first they heard of Cyrus proclamation, and that the Lord thereby had turned the captivity of Sion, they confess that, at the first hearing of it, they were like men that dreamed; but afterwards their mouths were filled with laughter and their tongues with singing. Now, the peace that the Grecians and the Jews had was but the peace of a people or a nation, and a great blessing of God, too. But how much more reason is there that our affections should be strained to the highest pitch of joy and thanks, when we hear of the proclamation of the peace of conscience? that peace which is not of our bodies but of our souls–not of our earthly but of our heavenly estate? a peace that shall be begun here–that shall endure for ever hereafter; such a peace as will make God at peace with us, reconcile us to ourselves, and make us at concord with all the world. (J. Spencer.)
He that believeth on Him is not condemned
Preliminary judgments
I. THE STARTLING PHENOMENON. The judicial separation of mankind into two classes, the believing and the unbelieving, the workers of evil and doers of good (Joh 3:20-21).
1. When it occurred. At the appearing of Christ (Joh 3:19).
2. How it was effected. By the appearing of Christ, the light, the effects of which were
(1) Illumination, setting in bold relief what was previously obscure, viz., that there are only two varieties of character, the good and the bad Mat 4:1-2).
(2) Separation. Not by the direct action of Christ, but through the indirect action of the truth (Job 24:13).
(3) Arbitration. The man who comes to the light judges himself and separates himself from the darkness, declaring himself to be antagonistic to it. So with the man who turns from the light (Act 13:46). Thus by coming into the world Christ initiates a judicial process which will culminate in the great day (Mal 3:18; Mat 25:26).
II. THE SOLEMN EXPLANATION.
1. Of the behaviour of those who come not to the light.
(1) They love darkness not more than light, as though there lingered some appreciation, but rather than the light which they do not love at all (verse 20), because it is congenial to the works in which they delight Eph 5:11; Pro 2:13; Psa 82:5); to themselves as children of darkness.
(2) They hate the light as well as love the darkness; for prophesying evil 2Ch 18:7); for suggesting good (chap. 13:26, 27). Hence they shun the light (Job 24:14-16) like Lady Macbeth (Act 1:1-26. scene 5).
2. Of the conduct of those who came to the light.
(1) They have a natural affinity for it (Joh 18:37).
(2) They are not afraid of the light (Eph 5:8-13).
Lessons
1. If a sinner is condemned, himself only, and neither God nor
Christ, is to blame.
2. If a sinner refuses to believe the gospel, he must share in the judgment which will ultimately fall upon the world. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The essence of the gospel
When our Lord shall come a second time, before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats. That will not be the first time that He has acted as a separator. It is always so whenever He comes. Now He finds out His chosen and calls them apart, and on the other hand unbelievers are discovered. Between the two is a deep gulf. Other distinctions, riches and poverty, etc., sink into insignificance.
I. CONSIDER TO WHICH OF THE CLASSES WE BELONG.
1. What is meant by believing in Christ, for such is the preposition here.
(1) Some believe concerning Him that He is the Messiah, the Saviour of men. But orthodoxy is not synonymous with justification.
(2) It is a step further when we believe Him. Believing Him to be Gods Christ, it follows as a matter of course that we accept His word as true; but this is not a state of salvation.
(3) Another form of faith is believing on Him, to lean upon Him, and take Him as the foundation of our hope. A form of saving faith.
(4) But believing in is something more. If I thoroughly believe in an advocate, I trust my case to him, and thus believe on him; but I also follow his rules to the letter, being fully convinced that they will lead to a right issue.
2. The connection of the text will help us to form a judgment as to whether we are believers in Jesus.
(1) Have you realized by a true exercise of faith Joh 3:13; Joh 15:1-27?
(2) Do you, as having trusted in Jesus, come to the light (Joh 3:21)? Is it your desire to know Gods truth, Gods will, Gods law?
3. Are we unbelievers?
(1) Instead of looking to the brazen serpent, are you seeking another remedy?
(2) Do you shut your eyes to the one only light?
II. CONSIDER THE CONDITION OF THE BELIEVER. He is not condemned, because he does not offer himself for judgment. He says, I plead guilty. Having done this, the believer sees the sentence laid upon the surety in whom he believes. This brings him peace. Then no more condemned, he seeks the light, and desires more and more to work in it.
III. CONSIDER THE CONDITION OF THE UNBELIEVER.
1. He offers himself for judgment. He has not believed in the Saviour, and confesses, I do not require Him. I am willing to stand my trial. If you ask for judgment you shall have it. God declares you to be condemned already.
2. He gives personal evidence to his own condemnation. He rejects the testimony of God concerning Christ. Is not that enough to condemn him?
3. He rejects a most exalted person. When men rejected Moses they perished without mercy; but when a man despises the Only begotten, we need call no witnesses against him.
4. He gives evidence against himself, for every man who rejects the true light always goes on to reject other forms of light, Gods Word and Spirit and his own conscience.
5. Consider the condemnation already pronounced.
(1) It is no matter of form.
(2) God has power at any moment to carry it into effect.
(3) There is no promise that He will not execute it this very day.
6. Consider the only way of escape–immediate faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Faith
I. THE OBJECT OF FAITH. To what faith looks.
1. How many make a mistake about this and think they are to believe in God the Father! But we come to this as a result of believing in God the Son.
2. Others look to the work of the Holy Ghost; but this is the effect of faith in Christ.
3. Christ is the sole object of the sinners faith.
(1) As God.
(2) In His perfect righteousness.
(3) As dying and dead.
(4) Is risen.
(5) As your substitute.
II. THE REASON OF FAITH Why and whence.
1. To his own experience faith comes as a sense of the need of a Saviour.
2. Really and originally it is the gift of God. The Spirit comes and shuts men up under the law to a conviction that unless they come to Christ they must perish.
III. THE GROUND OF FAITH. What it means when it comes. Not that a man is a sensible sinner, or an awakened shiner, or a penitent sinner, but simply because lie is a sinner.
IV. THE WARRANT OF FAITH. Why a man dares to trust in Christ. Just because Christ has bidden him. Faith is a duty as well as a privilege.
IV. THE RESULT OF FAITH. How it speeds when it comes to Christ. He that believeth is not condemned. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
No condemnation
I. THE SATISFACTORY DECLARATION. A verdict of not guilty amounts to an acquittal, so the sentence of not condemned implies the justification of the sinner. This is
1. A. present justification. Faith does not produce this fruit by and by, bug now.
2. A continual justification.
3. A complete justification, not half condemned and half accepted.
4. An effectual justification.
II. CORRECT SOME MISAPPRENENSIONS BY WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE CAST DOWN.
1. Some think they shall never sin again.
2. Others that they will have no more conflicts.
3. Others that they will be free from trials.
4. Others that the Fathers countenance will always be clear. None of these are guaranteed.
III. WHAT THE TEXT INCLUDES–the believer.
IV. WHAT THE TEXT EXCLUDES–the unbeliever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Regeneration–faith the instrumental cause
I. THE ESSENTIALNESS OF FAITH.
1. Affirmatively. Our Lord mentions only the relation of faith to the legal aspect of salvation. This was enough, for he who apprehends believingly the work of Christ as the ground of his justification will not fail to experience it as a regenerative power. Many stumble through the simplicity of faith. They suppose that something difficult is required. But faith is identical with that implicit unquestioning confidence a person ordinarily exercises almost unconsciously in relation to almost everything he appropriates to his use: the food he eats, the garment he wears, the medicine he takes, the bridge he crosses, the train by which he travels.
2. Negatively. Without faith salvation is impossible. It is not that the unbeliever shall be condemned, he is actually so. It is a solemn truth that, notwithstanding all that Christ has done for us, it will avail us nothing without personal faith, for God cannot save men without their will.
II. ITS NEGLECT BY SOME. The light here referred to is Christ (Joh 1:9; Joh 8:12).
1. Men are voluntarily in the state indicated by darkness. Men are not unbelievers by compulsion. They love darkness. What a perversion of natural taste and judgment would such a physical predilection imply! Truly the light is sweet, etc. Yet a course of conduct that would be deemed the grossest folly physically is followed by thousands spiritually.
2. This is not an absolute preference. A degree of love for the light is implied. Many who remain in darkness cannot help feeling a measure of admiration for the light in which they refuse to walk: they attend the ministry of it, grant their passive assent to it, and yet remain in the darkness of unbelief.
III. THE CAUSE OF THE NEGLECT: Love of sin.
1. How explicitly our Lord brings the responsibility of mens perdition home to themselves.
2. How sad that condemnation should be the portion of those who occupy a position so near salvation. Bunyan says there is a way to hell from the very gate of heaven. (A. J. Parry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. For God sent not, c.] It was the opinion of the Jews that the Gentiles, whom they often term the world, olmah, and omoth haolam, nations of the world, were to be destroyed in the days of the Messiah. Christ corrects this false opinion and teaches here a contrary doctrine. God, by giving his Son, and publishing his design in giving him, shows that he purposes the salvation, not the destruction, of the world-the Gentile people: nevertheless, those who will not receive the salvation he had provided for them, whether Jews or Gentiles, must necessarily perish; for this plain reason, There is but one remedy, and they refuse to apply it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The word we translate condemn, krinh, signifies to judge, as well as to condemn. The Jews were mistaken in their proud conceit, that Christ came to judge and destroy all those that were not of their nation; thus, Joh 7:47, he saith, he came not to judge, but to save the world. Nor is this contrary to what he saith, Joh 9:39, For judgment I am come into this world; for that is ex accidenti, from the corruption of men, shutting their eyes against the light, and hardening their hearts against the offers and tenders of Divine grace. Christ will come in his second coming to condemn the world of unbelievers; but the tendency of his coming was not for condemnation, but to offer the grace of the gospel, and eternal life and salvation, to men in the world.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17-21. not to condemn, &c.Astatement of vast importance. Though “condemnation” is tomany the issue of Christ’s mission (Joh3:19), it is not the object of His mission, which ispurely a saving one.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For God sent not his Son into the world,…. God did send his Son into the world in the likeness of sinful flesh, being made of a woman, and made under the law; and which is an instance of his great love, and not of any disrespect to his Son, or of any inequality between them: but then this was not
to condemn the world; even any part of it, or any in it: not the Gentiles, as the Jews thought he would; for though God had suffered them to walk in their own ways, and had winked at, or overlooked the times of their ignorance, and had sent no prophet unto them, nor made any revelation of his will, or any discovery of his special grace unto them; yet he sent his Son now, not to destroy them for their idolatry, and wickedness, but to be the Saviour of them: nor the Jews; for as impenitent and unbelieving, and as wicked as they were, he did not accuse them to the Father, nor judge and condemn them; he was to come again in power and great glory, when he would take vengeance on them, and cause wrath to come upon them to the uttermost, for their disbelief and rejection of him; but this was not his business now: nor the wicked of the world in general; to judge, and condemn them, will be his work, when he comes a second time, in the day God has appointed to judge the world in righteousness.
But the end of his mission, and first coming is,
that the world through him might be saved; even the world of the elect in general, whom God determined to save, and has chosen, to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, and has appointed Christ to be the salvation of; and who being sent, came into the world to seek and save them; and his chosen people among the Gentiles in particular: wherefore he is said to be God’s salvation to the ends of the earth: and all the ends of the earth are called upon to look unto him, and be saved by him, Isa 49:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For God sent not the Son ( ). Explanation () of God’s sending the Son into the world. First aorist active indicative of . John uses both from which comes (John 3:34; John 5:36; John 5:38, etc.) and (John 4:34; John 5:23; John 5:24; John 5:30, etc.) for God’s sending the Son and more frequently, but with no real difference in meaning. All the Gospels use in the absolute sense in contrast with the Father (Mark 13:32; Matt 11:27; Luke 10:22).
To judge ( ). Final clause with and the present (or aorist) active subjunctive of . The Messiah does judge the world as Jesus taught (Matt 25:31; John 5:27), but this was not the primary or the only purpose of his coming. See on Mt 7:1 for , to pick out, select, approve, condemn, used so often and in so many varying contexts in the N.T.
But that the world should be saved through him ( ‘ ). First aorist passive subjunctive of , the common verb to save (from , safe and sound), from which (Saviour) comes (the Saviour of the world, John 4:42; 1John 4:14) and (salvation, 4:22 here only in John). The verb is often used for physical health (Mr 5:28), but here of the spiritual salvation as in 5:34.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Sent [] . See on 1 6. Sent rather than gave (ver. 16), because the idea of sacrifice is here merged in that of authoritative commission.
His Son. The best texts read ton, the, for aujtou, his.
Condemn [] . Better, as Rev., judge. Condemn is katakrinw, not used by John (Mt 20:18; Mr 10:33, etc.). The verb krinw means, originally, to separate. So Homer, of Ceres separating the grain from the chaff (” Iliad, ” 5 501). Thence, to distinguish, to pick out, to be of opinion, to judge. See on Hypocrite, Mt 23:13.
World. The threefold repetition of the word has a certain solemnity. Compare Joh 1:10; Joh 14:19.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For God sent not his Son into the world,” (ou gar apesteilen ho theos ton huion eis ton kosmon) “For God did not commission his Son into the world (created universe),” with a condemning mandate.
2) “To condemn the world,” (hina krine ton kosmon) “in order that he might judge the world,” the world order. For He is holy and just and merciful. The world was under sin and condemned, perishing, already; He sent Him, not to destroy, but to save, Luk 9:56; 1Jn 5:19; Joh 8:11.
3) “But that the world through him might be saved.” (all’ hina sothe ho kosmos di autou) “But in order that the world order or the universe might be saved through him,” Luk 19:10; Joh 1:11-12; Joh 10:10; Joh 12:47; Rom 1:16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. It is a confirmation of the preceding statement; for it was not in vain that God sent his own Son to us. He came not to destroy; and therefore it follows, that it is the peculiar office of the Son of God, that all who believe may obtain salvation by him. There is now no reason why any man should be in a state of hesitation, or of distressing anxiety, as to the manner in which he may escape death, when we believe that it was the purpose of God that Christ should deliver us from it. The word world is again repeated, that no man may think himself wholly excluded, if he only keep the road of faith.
The word judge ( πρίνω) is here put for condemn, as in many other passages. When he declares that he did not come to condemn the world, he thus points out the actual design of his coming; for what need was there that Christ should come to destroy us who were utterly ruined? We ought not, therefore, to look at any thing else in Christ, than that God, out of his boundless goodness chose to extend his aid for saving us who were lost; and whenever our sins press us — whenever Satan would drive us to despair — we ought to hold out this shield, that God is unwilling that we should be overwhelmed with everlasting destruction, because he has appointed his Son to be the salvation of the world
When Christ says, in other passages, that he is come to judgment, (Joh 9:39😉 when he is called a stone of offense, (1Pe 2:7😉 when he is said to be set for the destruction of many, (Luk 2:34 🙂 this may be regarded as accidental, or as arising from a different cause; for they who reject the grace offered in him deserve to find him the Judge and Avenger of contempt so unworthy and base. A striking instance of this may be seen in the Gospel; for though it is strictly
the power of God for salvation to every one who believeth, (Rom 1:16,)
the ingratitude of many causes it to become to them death. Both have been well expressed by Paul, when he boasts of
having vengeance at hand, by which he will punish all the adversaries of his doctrine after that the obedience of the godly shall have been fulfilled, (2Co 10:6)
The meaning amounts to this, that the Gospel is especially, and in the first instance, appointed for believers, that it may be salvation to them; but that afterwards believers will not escape unpunished who, despising the grace of Christ, chose to have him as the Author of death rather than of life.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) To condemn the world gives to the English reader a stronger impression than that of the original Greek. The word (, krino, the Latin c(k)erno, and the English dis-cern) 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 more frequently the idea of condemnation. Our word judge, which has itself something of this double meaning, is probably the best rendering in this context.
Part of the current belief about the Messiahs advent was, that he would destroy the Gentile world. The authorised expositions of many texts of the Old Testament asserted this, and Nicodemus must ofttimes have heard it and taught it. Gods love for, and gift to, the world has just been declared. This truth runs counter to their belief, and is now stated as an express denial of it. The purpose of the Messiahs mission is not to judge, but to save. The latter clause of the verse changes the order of the thought. It would naturally be but that He might save the world. The inversion makes prominent the action of man in willing to be saved.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Not condemn the world The divine ideal, purpose, or object, is that the whole world should be saved. All that is necessary for this ideal to be realized is provided, on the basis that man remain a free agent, and that that free agency remain inviolate. If that free agent reject the offer of salvation by which he might be saved, he will be lost. Yet the purpose of the atonement was not to condemn but to save.
‘For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world should be saved through him.’
Other (mythical) gods came to the world to condemn it, never to save it, but God’s purpose in sending His Son was to save. He wanted to give men eternal life. He wanted to save them from ‘perishing’. And there was only one way to do so, by taking their deserved suffering on Himself. Notice the stress on the fact that Jesus is ‘God-sent’. His sending by the Father is a theme of the Gospel.
Thus God’s purpose towards the world is one of love. But this must not lead us into presumption. If we reject that offer of love and refuse to come to His light so that our sins might be revealed, because we love our sins too much, then we face the awful alternative of condemnation.
Joh 3:17. For God sent not his Sonto condemn the world; God is often represented as an avenger in the Old Testament: and as mankind had incurred his wrath by their iniquities, it might be expected that when he sent his Son into the world, it would have been to inflict punishments upon them, as the word rendered condemn also implies; but, on the contrary, the Son of God was sent to save the world and to give life, as the Syriac emphatically renders it.
Joh 3:17 . Confirmation of Joh 3:16 , in which answers to the , to the , and to the of Joh 3:16 . Considering this exact correspondence, it is very arbitrary with modern critics (even Lcke, B. Crusius) to understand the second differently from the first, and from the . of Joh 3:16 , as denoting in the narrow Jewish sense the Gentile world, for whose judgment, i.e. condemnation, the Messiah, according to the Jewish doctrine, was to come (see Bertholdt, Christol . pp. 203, 223). Throughout the whole context it is to be uniformly understood of the world of mankind as a whole . Of it Jesus says, that He was not sent to judge it, a judgment which, as all have sinned, must have been a judgment of condemnation , but to procure for it by His work of redemption the Messianic . “Deus saepe ultor describitur in veteri pagina; itaque conscii peccatorum merito expectare poterant, nlium venire ad poenas patris nomine exigendas,” Grotius. It is to be remembered that He speaks of His coming in the state of humiliation, in which He was not to accomplish judgment, but was to be the medium of obtaining the through His work and His death. Judgment upon the finally unbelieving was reserved to Him upon His Second Advent (comp. Joh 5:22 ; Joh 5:27 ), but the which was to accompany His works upon earth is different from this (see on Joh 9:39 ).
The thrice-repeated has a tone of solemnity about it. Comp. Joh 1:10 , Joh 15:19 .
DISCOURSE: 1611 Joh 3:17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
AN expectation generally prevailed among the Jews that their Messiah would interpose on behalf of their nation alone, and bring all other kingdoms into subjection to them. Our Lord took frequent occasions to rectify this mistake, and to shew, that he was to be the Saviour, not of one people only, but of the whole world. In this discourse with Nicodemus, he introduces this important subject in such a way as to inform his mind, without shocking his prejudices. Having explained to him the nature and necessity of regeneration, and shewn him, by reference to a well-known type, the way of salvation, he declares, that the whole world, Gentiles as well as Jews, were to participate the benefits of his coming; and that God, in sending him into the world, had as much respect to the welfare of the benighted heathens as of his chosen and peculiar people. To elucidate the words before us, we shall shew,
I.
That, supposing God to send his Son into the world, it was far more probable that he should send him to condemn the world than to save it
That God should ever send his Son into the world at all is such a mystery as must for ever fill the whole universe with amazement. But supposing him to make known his determination to do so, the probability certainly was that it should be for our destruction rather than our salvation
1.
Consider what was the state of the world at the time he did send his Son
[Had he seen the greater part of mankind lamenting their fall, wishing earnestly that some way could be devised for their recovery, and struggling, but with unsuccessful efforts, to get free from sin, we might have supposed that God would exercise mercy towards us, and open a way for our restoration through the sacrifice of his Son. But when the whole mass of mankind were up in arms against him, when not one of the whole human race (except a few whose hearts he himself had touched) desired reconciliation with him; yea, when all were utterly averse from it, and desired nothing so much as to live in sin with impunity, and wished for no better heaven than the unrestrained indulgence of their lusts; for what end could God send his Son, but to execute upon them the vengeance they deserved?]
2.
Consider for what end God had before sent messengers from heaven
[God had on some remarkable occasions commissioned angels to perform his will: and though, when sent to some highly-favoured individuals, they were messengers of mercy, yet, when sent to the avowed enemies of God, they were, for the most part, ministers of wrath to execute the most signal vengeance. Who can contemplate Sodom and the cities of the plain; who can call to mind the Egyptian first-born; who can survey one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers lying dead in the Assyrian camp; and not tremble at the thought of a messenger being sent from heaven? Suppose then we should hear that God was about to send his own Son from heaven to execute his will with respect to the whole world, and especially such a world as this; what would any one imagine, but that, as it was not a particular city or nation that God was about to punish, but a whole world, he had determined to employ his own Son; and that the judgments he was about to inflict, would be great in proportion to the power and dignity of the executioner? As for conceiving the idea that he should send his Son to save the world, it would not so much as enter into the mind of any created being.]
3.
Consider that God certainly foreknew the way in which the world would treat his Son
[If God had not certainly foreknown all future events, he might perhaps have reasoned thus: I have sent to that wretched world my servants the prophets, and instead of attending to them they have persecuted them even unto death: but if I should send them my Son, surely they would reverence him; they would not dare to lift up a finger against him; they would be so struck with wonder at my condescension and love, that they would return instantly to their allegiance. Rather therefore than they should perish, I will send them my Son to save them. But God knew that instead of reverencing his Son, they would no sooner see him, than they would exclaim, This is the heir; come let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. He knew full well that, however manifest the credentials of his Son, and however indisputable the evidences of his divine mission, they would not believe in him, but would cast him out of the vineyard and slay him. What then must we suppose God would say on such an occasion? Surely he would speak to this effect: If I could hope that they would reverence my Son, I would overlook all the injuries done to my prophets, and would even send my Son for their salvation: but I know they would all thirst for his blood; they would pluck me from my throne if they were able; and, if I should put my Son into their power, they would load him with all manner of indignities, and put him to the most ignominious death: shall I then, foreseeing these things as I do, put him into their power? No: that were unworthy of my majesty, and degrading to my Son. I may possibly send my Son; but, if I do, it shall not be to save the world, but to condemn them according to their desert.]
These considerations fully evince the improbability that God should ever use the mediation of his Son in a way of mercy towards us. Yet we must add,
II.
That, notwithstanding it was so improbable, God did really send his Son, not to condemn, but to save the world
The frequency with which we hear of this stupendous mystery, prevents the surprise which the declaration of it must otherwise excite. But, whatever the ignorance of scoffers, and the pride of infidels may suggest, be it known to all, that God did send his Son,
1.
To expiate sin
[God knew that it was impossible for man to atone for sin Yet it was also impossible that sin could be forgiven, unless an adequate atonement were offered to the Divine Majesty What was to be done? The angels, even if they were willing, were not able to undertake our cause. There was but one, even in heaven, that was competent to the mighty task of appeasing incensed Majesty, and of satisfying offended justice: there was none but Jesus, the best-beloved of the Father, who from eternity had lain in his bosom. And would the Father give him? Yes; He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. He prepared him a body, and sent him to be a propitiation, not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world What amazing love! Eternity will not suffice to explore and celebrate this stupendous mystery.]
2.
To work out a righteousness for us
[Mankind were as unable to provide for themselves a righteousness wherein they might stand before God, as they were to make an atonement for their past offences But, behold, God would not leave us destitute; he gave his Son to fulfil the law which we had broken, and, to bring in an everlasting righteousness, which should be unto all and upon all them that believe The name given him on this very account is, The Lord our Righteousness. Clothed in his unspotted robe, the vilest of returning prodigals may stand perfect and complete in the presence of their God Every one of them may say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.]
3.
To exalt us to glory
[It was not only to begin, but to carry on and perfect our salvation, that the Father sent his Son into the world. He is to be both the author and the finisher of our faith Having delivered our souls from the guilt of sin, and from the powers of darkness, he will raise up our bodies also from the grave, and exalt us to sit upon his throne for evermore Never will he cease from his work, till he has fully and finally accomplished it on behalf of his people How wonderful is this! Surely it almost exceeds belief: that, instead of condemning the world, God should send his Son to save it, to save it by laying down his own life a ransom for us, and by managing all the concerns of every one of his elect till he shall have finally established them in the possession of their heavenly inheritance! Hear, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth: yea, let all the choirs of heaven make it the everlasting subject of their highest praises ]
Address Those who are regardless of their own salvation
[Alas! how little effect do the wonders of redemption produce on the world at large! But what an aggravation of their guilt will it be to have poured contempt upon the Son of God! Surely Gods greatest mercy will prove their heaviest curse. The very devils will have more to say on their own behalf than they. Satan himself may say, I never had salvation offered me; I never sinned against redeeming love. But careless sinners are daily trampling under foot the Son of God, who lived and died to save them. O lay this to heart, and seek an interest in him who alone can deliver you from the wrath to come.]
2.
Those who are ready to doubt whether they ever can be saved
[Many such there are in the Church of Christ But did God send his Son to execute a work which he was not able to perform? or has Jesus discovered any backwardness to fulfil his engagements? Let not any be afraid: for if a whole world is to be saved by him, he cannot but have a sufficiency to supply all our wants, provided we commit ourselves entirely to him ]
3.
Those who are enjoying salvation
[While you are reaping the blessed fruits of the Fathers love, surely you will often say, what shall I render to the Lord? If he gave up his dear Son for my salvation, shall not I give up a bosom lust for his glory? Think how much you are indebted to him; and endeavour to glorify him with your body and your spirit which are his.]
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Ver. I7. Not to condemn the world ] Unless it be by accident, because they will not be saved; they will not have heaven upon Christ’s terms, they will not part with their fat and sweet (with the vine in Jotham’s parable, Jdg 9:13 ), no, not for a kingdom; they will not be constrained to live happily, reign eternally. a
a 17. ] The , the Gentile world, was according to Jewish ideas to be judged and condemned by the Messiah. This error our Lord here removes. The assertion ch. Joh 9:39 , . . . , is no contradiction to this. The there, as here, results from the separation of mankind into two classes, those who will and those who will not come to the light; and that result itself is not the purpose why the Son of God came into the world, but is evolved in the accomplishment of the higher purpose, viz. Love, and the salvation of men. Observe, the latter clause does not correspond to the former it is not , but : the free will of the is by this strikingly set forth, in connexion with Joh 3:19-20 . Not that the Lord is not the (ch. Joh 4:42 ), but that the peculiar cast of this passage required the other side of the truth to be brought out.
Joh 3:17 . . For whatever the result of Christ’s coming has been, in revealing a love of sin and bringing heavier judgment on men, this was not God’s purpose in sending His Son. The Jewish idea was that the Messiah would come “to judge,” i.e. , to condemn the world. and , though originally distinct, are in the N.T. sometimes identical in meaning, the result of judgment so commonly being Condemnation; cf. crime . But although the result is judgment, the bringing to fight a distinction among men and the resulting condemnation of many, yet the object was . John repeats his favourite word three times in this verse that there may be no possibility of missing his point, that so far as God’s purpose was concerned, it was one of unmixed love, that all men might be saved. The emphasis was probably due to the ordinary Messianic expectation which limited and misrepresented the love of God. Westcott remarks on this verse: “The sad realities of present experience cannot change the truth thus made known, however little we may be able to understand in what way it will be accomplished”. It might on similar grounds be argued that because God wills that all men be holy in this life, all men are holy.
sent. Greek. apostello. App-174.
to condemn = to judge. Greek krino. App-122. A characteristic word of this Gospel. See note on p. 1511.
through. Greek. dia. App-104. Joh 3:1.
17.] The ,-the Gentile world,-was according to Jewish ideas to be judged and condemned by the Messiah. This error our Lord here removes. The assertion ch. Joh 9:39, . . . , is no contradiction to this. The there, as here, results from the separation of mankind into two classes,-those who will and those who will not come to the light; and that result itself is not the purpose why the Son of God came into the world, but is evolved in the accomplishment of the higher purpose, viz. Love, and the salvation of men. Observe, the latter clause does not correspond to the former-it is not ,-but :-the free will of the is by this strikingly set forth, in connexion with Joh 3:19-20. Not that the Lord is not the (ch. Joh 4:42), but that the peculiar cast of this passage required the other side of the truth to be brought out.
Joh 3:17. , that He may judge [to condemn, Engl. Vers.]) Although men accuse God of this. To judge, is by judgment to cast away into deserved destruction.
Joh 3:17
Joh 3:17
For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.-The world was in a state of condemnation before God on account of their sins, and God sent his Son to open the way for their return to God that they might return and be saved. God did not send his Son in the world to condemn the world-they were already in condemnation for their sins. He sent him to save them from their sins-to bring them from under the sentence of condemnation. Those who believed not in Christ were already condemned. He came as a light into the world, and men rejected him because they loved darkness and remain in condemnation or under judgment. In coming to Christ a man makes his own works manifest as wrought in God through Christ.
world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”)
condemn Or, judge, and so in Joh 3:18; Joh 3:19 cf. Joh 15:22-24.
saved (See Scofield “Rom 1:16”)
God: Joh 5:45, Joh 8:15, Joh 8:16, Joh 12:47, Joh 12:48, Luk 9:56
but: Joh 1:29, Joh 6:40, Isa 45:21-23, Isa 49:6, Isa 49:7, Isa 53:10-12, Zec 9:9, Mat 1:23, Mat 18:11, Mat 1:23, Mat 18:11, Luk 2:10, Luk 2:11, Luk 19:10, 1Ti 2:5, 1Ti 2:6, 1Jo 2:2, 1Jo 4:14
Reciprocal: Psa 40:10 – lovingkindness Isa 9:6 – unto us a son Zec 4:9 – and Mat 27:43 – I am Luk 20:13 – I will Joh 3:34 – for God Joh 7:29 – for Joh 8:11 – Neither Joh 9:39 – For Joh 10:10 – I am Joh 10:36 – sent Joh 11:42 – that thou Joh 14:4 – and the Joh 17:3 – and Jesus 2Th 2:10 – that they 1Ti 1:15 – worthy Jam 3:15 – wisdom
7
The world was all under the guilt of unbelief before Jesus came into it (Rom 11:32), therefore his coming was not for the purpose of pronouncing condemnation upon it; that had already been done. But the condition called for something to counteract it, and the Son of God was sent among mankind for that purpose.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
[Not to condemn the world.] In what sense (beside that which is most common and proper) the Jewish schools use the word the world; we may see from these and such like instances:
I. The whole world hath forsaken the Misnas, and followed the Gemara. Where something may be noted in the story as well as in the grammar of it.
So Joh 12:19; Behold the world is gone after him. We very often meet with All the world confesseth; etc. And The whole world doth not dissent; etc. By which kind of phrase, both amongst them and all other languages, is meant a very great number or multitude.
II. When they distinguish, as frequently they do, betwixt the poor of their own city; and the poor of the world; it is easy to discern, that by the poor of the world are meant those poor that come from any other parts.
III. “R. Ulla requires not only that every great man should be worthy of belief, but that the man of the world should be so too.” It is easy to conceive, that by the man of the world is meant any person, of any kind or degree.
IV. But it is principally worthy our observation, that they distinguish the whole world into Israel; and the nations of the world; the Israelites and the Gentiles. This distinction, by which they call the Gentiles the nations of the world; occurs almost in every leaf, so that I need not bring instances of this nature. Compare Luk 12:30 with Mat 6:32; and that may suffice.
V. They further teach us, that the nations of the world are not only not to be redeemed, but to be wasted, destroyed, and trodden underfoot. “This seems to me to be the sense: the rod of the exactor shall not depart from Judah, until his Son shall come to whom belongs the subduing and breaking of the people; for he shall vanquish them all with the edge of his sword.” So saith Rambam upon that passage in Genesis_49.
“‘The morning cometh, and also the night,’ Isa 21:12. It will be the morning to Israel [when the Messiah shall come]; but it will be night to the nations of the world.”
“R. Abin saith, That the Holy Blessed God will make the elders of Israel sit down in a semicircle, himself sitting president, as the father of the Sanhedrim; and shall judge the nations of the world.”
“Then comes the thrashing; the straw they throw into the fire, the chaff into the wind; but the wheat they keep upon the floor: so the nations of the world shall be as the burning of a furnace; but Israel alone shall be preserved.”
I could be endless in passages of this nature out of these authors: but that which is very observable in all of them is this; That all those curses and dreadful judgments which God in his holy writ threatens against wicked men, they post it off wholly from themselves and their own nation, as if not at all belonging to them, devolving all upon the Gentiles and the nations of the world. So that it was not without great reason that the apostle asserteth, Rom 3:19; “Whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them which are under the law.” Which yet they will by no means endure.
Christ, therefore, by this kind of phrase or scheme of speech, well enough known to Nicodemus, teacheth him (contrary to a vulgar opinion, which he also could not be ignorant of), that the Messiah should become a Redeemer and propitiation, as well to the Gentiles as to the Jews. They had taught amongst themselves, that God had no regard to the nations of the world; they were odious to him, and the Messiah, when he came, would destroy and condemn them: but the Truth saith, “God so loved the world, that he hath sent his Son not to condemn, but to save the world.” This very evangelist himself is the best commentator upon this expression, 1Jo 2:2; “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world”; i.e. not for us Jews only, but for the nations of the world.
Joh 3:17. For God sent not the Son into the world that he may judge the world; but that the world through him may be saved. The thought of the last verse is expanded. There it was the gift of Gods love that was brought before us; now it is the mission of the Son. To may perish (Joh 3:16) here corresponds may judge the world, to have eternal life answers may be saved. This alone is sufficient to show that the word judge, though not in itself equivalent to condemn, has reference to a judgment which tends to condemnation. The Jews believed that Messiah would come to glorify Israel, but to judge the Gentiles; the solemn and emphatic repetition of the world rebukes all such limitations, as effectually as the words of Joh 3:3 set aside the distinctions which were present to the thought of Nicodemus.It may seem hard to reconcile the first part of this verse with Joh 5:22; Joh 5:27, Joh 9:39, Joh 12:48. We must, however, recognise a twofold purpose in Christs coming. He came to save, not to judge the world. He came to judge the world in so far as it will not allow itself to be saved; and this judgment is one that takes place even now (because even now there is wilful unbelief), though it will only be consummated hereafter.
Observe here, That the salvation of sinners was the intentional end, and the condemnation of them only the accidental event, of Christ’s coming into the world. The design of Christ’s first coming into the world. The design of Christ’s first coming into the world was to save it. The end of his second coming will be to judge the unbelieving part of it.
Observe secondly, That unbelief is the cause of the sinner’s damnation; it is that sin which doth bind all other sins upon the sinner, and consigns him over to damnation; it is that sin which doth not only procure damnation, but no damnation like it; which is intimated in the next verse.
Ver. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
For: the purpose of the mission of the Son, as it is indicated in this verse, proves that this mission is indeed a work of love (Joh 3:16). The word, world, is repeated three times with emphasis. Nicodemus must hear in such a way as no more to forget that the divine benevolence embraces all humanity. The universalism of Paul, in its germ, is in these Joh 3:16-17. The first clause, by its negative form, is intended to exclude the Jewish idea, according to which the immediate purpose of the coming of the Messiah was to execute the judgment on the Gentile nations. Our versions translate, , in general, with the meaning condemn; Meyer himself still defends this meaning. It is explained thus: Jesus did not come to execute a judgment of condemnation on the sinful world. But why should not Jesus have said , to condemn, if He had this thought?
What He means to say is, that His coming into the world has for its purpose, not an act of judgment, but a work of salvation. Reuss concludes from this saying that the idea of a future and universal judgment is repudiated in our Gospel. But the future judgment is clearly taught in Joh 3:27-28. The idea which Jesus sets aside in this saying, is only that the present coming of the Messiah has for its purpose a great external judicial act, like that which the Pharisee Nicodemus was certainly expecting. If a judgment is to take place as a personal act of the Messiah, it does not appertain to this coming. However, although the purposeof His coming is to save, not to judge, a judgment, but an altogether different one from that of which the Jews were thinking, was about to be effected because of that coming: a judgment of a moral nature, in which it is not Jesus who will pronounce the sentence, but every man will himself decide his own salvation or perdition.
3:17 {6} For God sent not his Son into the world {p} to condemn the world; but that the {q} world through him might be saved.
(6) Christ does not condemn, but rather despising Christ condemns.
(p) That is, to be the cause of the condemning of the world, for indeed sins are the cause of death; however, Christ will still judge the living and the dead.
(q) Not only the people of the Jews, but whoever will believe in him.
John further clarified God’s purpose in sending His Son by explaining what it was not. It was not to judge or condemn (Gr. krino) humankind. Judging as John spoke of it here is the opposite of saving (cf. Joh 3:18; Joh 5:24). God could have condemned human beings without the Incarnation. Jesus will judge everyone, but that was not God’s purpose in the Incarnation. Rather it was to provide salvation for everyone through His death on the cross.
How can we reconcile this verse with Joh 9:39 where Jesus said that He came into the world for judgment (cf. Joh 5:27)? Judging was a secondary duty involved in saving, which was Jesus’ primary purpose (cf. Dan 7:13-14). Jesus came into an already condemned world to save some. He did not enter a neutral world to save some and condemn others. Anyone who brings light casts a shadow, but the bringing of shadow is only an attendant circumstance that is inevitable when one brings light.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
THE END FOR WHICH GOD SENT HIS SON
1.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)