John 3:1-21 - Born Again
The Common View
"God so loved the world!" This is no doubt something many people hear/say, and emphasize greatly to all they talk to about the Gospel. Many often approach the entirety of the Bible with the thought in mind, "God loves everybody", and then go through the Old Testament, and are already confused about who God is. Verse 16 of John 3 is most likely one of the most misused, twisted, and also ignored verses in the Bible. How? How can it be so misused and yet so ignored at the same time? Many misuse it greatly, in that they find it, twist it to say God loves everybody, period, no doubt, nobody's going to hell, and then go on to some other passage. At the same time they are twisting it, they are ignoring the context entirely. Many would find it harsh, and "unbiblical" to say God doesn't love everybody. But, I say it without doubt, God doesn't love everybody. How can I hold this position, having viewed this verse, which clearly says, "God so loved the world"? Simple. The context demands it. The entire context of the New Testament demands it, and the Old Testament alone can prove that God doesn't love everybody.
There are two major ideas of this verse which people take: The first is that of the position in which people say that God wants you to have health, wealth, and prosperity. This is already taking the text way out of it's intended place, in that such things are nowhere mentioned in the text itself, and also proves the ignorance of what the love of God is. The second group takes things even further, and says that God doesn't hate any religion. In fact, He accepts all religions. He'd just prefer that people have His. Both are utterly unbiblical, as will be proven.
It is actually quite amazing, to see how much people can read into one verse, and yet, how much they can take out of the verse, or rather, the context. It is amazing to see how people can twist something so clear and direct, and make it say what the entire Bible speaks against. However, this note is not about John 3:16, but the base of the chapter itself. Without the context, the 16th passage is almost too confusing to even consider.
What the Text Actually Says
Verse 1: "Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews..." This text starts with a man coming to Christ, as most know, named Nicodemus. This, of course, wasn't like other encounters Christ had, in that this man was a Pharisee, yet, he was not coming to accuse Christ, or to trip Him up, but to gain a better understanding of what Christ said. Now, of course, we don't know at this point whether he was truly coming to learn the Truth, but surely, he was quite curious, in that he came under the cover of darkness (verse 2), perhaps so he wouldn't be seen. Obviously, he Pharisee buddies weren't too fond of Christ when they would come later to accuse Him, and it is likely they never liked Him at all, so coming to Him in any sense except to attack Him would be odd, and most likely, unpopular amongst the group of heretics.
Verse 2: "this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.'" Again, he came at night, so obviously, what he had to say was something he would want to say in private, or perhaps, at least, without the hearing of the crowds, as he was a "ruler of the Jews."
Now, looking to what Nicodemus said, it seems that he is asking some sort of question, in a roundabout way. Now notice the first thing he says: "we know that You have come from God as a teacher..." (emphasis added). The miracles weren't the first thing he noted. The fact that Christ had come from God Himself, and as a teacher, was something entirely new to him. Looking at people like Moses and Joshua, neither of them were teachers. Moses wrote down the Law, but he never sat down with the people and explained it to them as Christ did. Joshua lead the sons of Israel into battle, and gave them God's commands, but nowhere does he teach them as Christ did. Many people, like Catholics and Charismatics, overlook this important factor, because they look to the miracles. But Christ did not come to bring miracles into the sight of men (John 12:27, 18:37), but to give the Truth- to teach them the Truth. The Apostles did not base any of their writings on the miracles of Jesus, but in Christ Himself, "who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age..." (Gal. 1:4, cf. John 8:32). The Apostles weren't know as "Miracles workers by the miracles of Christ", but "of Jesus Christ by the will of God" (1 Cor. 1:1), and "a bond-servant of Christ Jesus" (Rom. 1:1). Who was Christ? Why was He here? He came to save those who believe in Him from sin, not to work many miracles to convince them of the Truth. The miracles were merely there to show that He is the Son of God, and the miracles of the Apostles, to prove they were sent personally by Christ. If miracles were the focus... they would be the focus of Scripture. The New Testament, at least. But, I'm going off onto another note here. Back to the text at hand... It is very important to see Christ as the teacher here, rather than a miracle worker. If one sees Him as a teacher, they are then going to listen to what He... teaches. If they simply see Him as a miracle worker, then they will only look to His miraculous works for Truth, and find little to nothing, because the miracles only came with the Truth. They themselves didn't even prove the Truth, but rather, they proved that the messenger was from God. Obviously, Nicodemus knew Christ was from God, by the miracles He did, but He was a teacher from God.
Verse 3: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" Most might think at first, "What kind of answer is that?" Nicodemus came, simply seeming to affirm that He was from God, as a teacher. What did this have to do with the Kingdom of God? Now, one must first remember that no thoughts were/are hidden from Christ- no intentions are foggy to His knowledge. (See Matt. 9:4, 12:25; Luke 6:8, 9:47.) But what was Christ getting at here? What was He saying? So, Nicodemus asks a logical question...
Verse 4: "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?'" That question makes sense, right? Why would Christ, an obviously knowledgeable teacher, tell him he needs to be born again? This question, however, quickly reveals the tendency of man to go to what he sees. He instantly went to the physical aspect, as many people do today, pursuing to find the "science" behind something, as it were.
Verses 5-8: "Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'" Now, the first phrase here is a bit confusing to some. What does it mean to be "born of water and of the Spirit"? Does this mean that, if you are cleaned up with water, you are able to enter into the Kingdom? To be born of water is similar to what was said in Ezekiel 36:25-27: "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." God did not literally sprinkle water on them, but rather, He saved them from their sin. Their idols, and heart of stone, would be removed, and a heart which serves God would be placed in them. The same goes for believers, in that when we were sinners, we worshiped many things except God, and our hearts were as stone, utterly against the Truth. Only God Himself could clean us, as we were stubborn. Only God could remove this stone, and place a real, good, God-honoring heart within us. We can truly take no credit for our Salvation, in any sense, in that it is God who paid the price, brought the Truth to us, and changed our hearts. (See Jer. 17:9, Romans 7.) But if we aren't saved from this sin, we live according to the flesh, that is, we are still enslaved to sin. If we live according to the flesh, we are living utterly in sin, apart from Christ, for ourselves. Those who live in the flesh are of this world, and this is their home, with hell being their fate. But those who live in Christ, and are saved from sin through the Salvation given by God the Father, we do not live according to this world. We are aliens here (1 Pet. 1:1), and this is not our home forever. As Christ Himself said later in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
Now, in verse 7, Christ points out something that should be obvious: Mankind is depraved. It should be obvious to those who know the Truth, that men were in need of salvation. A savior. This is not shocking to those who see the reality of this earth.
He also points out, in verse 8, that we don't know who is and is not saved. This is something many, many people forget. People often say things like, "Well, he's going to hell" or "God could never save him." On the contrary, no man has the knowledge of how the Spirit works. Can any man tell you where the Spirit is working, and when, and how? Nay, the Spirit is as the wind, going wherever it does. If we think we can judge when any person is determined for hell, we must be forced back to what Christ says here. We dare not judge any man, as this is the position of God alone (Rom. 12:19).
Verse 9: "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can these things be?'" Obviously, to some extent, Nicodemus understood what was being said. Yet, he couldn't believe it. Christ still wasn't making sense entirely to him. These things he had not heard (more on this soon).
Verses 10-12: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?'" Christ now asks a wonderfully logical question: Who are you again? Nicodemus was supposed to be a... teacher. Is this not what Nicodemus called Christ? So, shouldn't he already know this, as they were both teachers? Are these things news to him? They are, actually, yet they shouldn't be. Nicodemus was supposed to enlighten the Jews of the Truth, not be ignorant of them himself. And how perfectly this fits with pastors and teachers these days. Many claim to know the Truth, and to preach it, yet how many actually do? How many actually know the deeper things of the Truth? Surely, to be a teacher, one must know not only the milk of God's Word, but also the meat- that which is a result of much study (1 Cor. 3:2). And if Nicodemus, or any man for that matter, doesn't heed the words of God Himself, how would miracles convince him? How could heavenly things be told to one who doesn't even understand the earthly things? This man, who claimed to be a teacher, knew nothing of what Christ was saying. Perhaps, if Nicodemus had come for some "advanced teaching", it was shot down quite quickly here.
Verse 13: "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man." Christ is the only One who could understand the heavenly things here. Nicodemus, nor any man, can never expect to know the heavenly things apart from Christ. Only Christ, who was brought down to earth, and was brought up to heaven, can understand these things. Many people try to find the heavenly things apart from Christ, looking all over for the deeper things, only finding lies and heresy.
Verses 14-15: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." Now what could this mean? Why would Christ pull something out of the Old Testament to speak of the concept of being born again? Look at what He was speaking of: "And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived" (Num. 21:9). this bronze serpent was the only source of cure for the sons of Israel, after they had sinned against God, and were now poisoned by the venom of snakes. It is interesting to note that one would go to a bronze serpent, to be healed from the venom which came from a deadly serpent. I shall not go further into that, but I thought it should be mentioned here. Anyway, this bronze serpent was a source of healing, or rather... salvation. Christ is the salvation for all mankind. He is, as it were, the bronze serpent, and is our only source of a cure for our sin. If the Israelite back in that time had tried to find another cure... he would have died. There is no salvation, but Christ alone. Anything else leads to eternal death. (See John 1:4, 8:12, 12:35-36, 14:6. Actually, the entire reason for the New Testament is to point towards the salvation from sin through Christ.)
Verse 16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Now we come to the 16th verse. Now, hopefully the context is known at this point. One must be born again, which means, we were sinners. "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17). Does this mean God loves everybody? Does God hate sinners. Yes. "There are six things which the LORD hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers" (Prov. 6:16-19). Sounds like sin to me. I have dealt with this before, in another note (see Thoughts on Hatred), but I think it should be mentioned briefly here as well. Saying that God loves everybody is against this verse itself, actually, in that it says "that whoever believes in Him shall not perish..." So, those who don't believe in Him will perish. Why will they perish? Because He hates sin, and will have His vengeance, as was mentioned earlier.So why does it say "everybody"? Does that means He loves sinners, and hates them at the same time? Or loves sinners less? Nay. The context demands that He loves His chosen- those who believe in Him- and other passages, many passages, say that He hates sinners. The verse 18, as well, says that there is judgment. This text is clearly pointing in one direction: God loves those who believes in Him, and He gave His only Son to die for their sins. Though this is not a note in which I will dive into predestination, it is evident here. If God hates sin, and all men were sinners (Rom. 3:23), how could He love anybody? Because He chose who He'd save. So then He sent His Son to die for all (past, present and future) believers, those who believe in Him.
And another error many fall into, is the idea that this love of God is "fluffy", as it were. This love is no frivolous love, but a perfect, righteous, and holy love. This love is great, in that no one deserved the love of God, yet He gave it to a select few. And the weak things of the world He saved (1 Cor. 1:27).
Verse 17: "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." Contrary to what many believed at the time, God sent Christ into the world to save, not judge. The first advent was for salvation. However, as was mentioned, judgment will come.
Verse 18: "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Those who claim God loves everybody fall into another issue, in that the passages right after 16 talk about judgment. Proof, yet again, that they don't look into the context. Those who believe in God, and are saved through the blood of Christ, are not judged. This is because Christ took our judgment, in its entirety. We are no longer guilty before God, through Christ. How? Because it is no longer I who live, but Christ in me. Therefore, it is no longer I who sin, because I cannot sin if God lives in me. It is the flesh that sins. And this is not a license to sin, but all the more reason to serve God! (cf. Gal. 2:20; Rom. 7.) Those who deny Christ, however, and hate God, and are still sinners, are those who are as good as judged. They will stand before the judgment seat guilty, standing alone, left only with their works, which are as filthy rags before the Almighty (Is. 64:6). God has saved those whom He loves, through Christ, and those whom He hates with a perfect hatred, He has set judgment for. They are as good as dead. Yet, we do not know who these are, the elect, and those destined for hell, as Christ clearly pointed out earlier. We, as humans, do not know how the Spirit of God works. We don't know who is and who is not saved, and we should live accordingly. We do not live, saying and thinking, "Well, obviously God hasn't saved that guy" because we do not know. Hitler, the prime example of those trying to determine at least one man they are certain of who went to hell, may be in Heaven. We do not know. No one is beyond salvation until they are dead. After death comes judgment, from our viewpoint. These aspects of God (predetermination, sovereignty, etc.) are things we fall back on when we think He is unjust, or lacking in any degree... not what we look to first.
Verse 19-20: "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." Here Christ sets the ground on which people are judged. Those who love darkness (evil, sin) are those who are judged. Anyone apart from Jesus Christ is as good as dead, and deserves judgment from God, and will be judged, because they not only denied Christ, but hate Him. "I don't hate Jesus!" some say, continuing "I just don't like what He says." Those who deny what He says, hate Him, because they hate what He is. Those who think they don't need a Savior are the very ones who need one the most, in a sense. Now, why would one not like what Jesus says? What He did? Because they fear what that results in. "[Their] deeds will be exposed." For a sinner, this is actually horrifying. They are willing to put their sinfulness on display before mankind, but before God, they don't want these things to be seen, because that would then justify their being judged. And this also goes with what was said earlier, in that we who are saved are no longer the sinner- we no longer sin. If we were still a sinner, we wouldn't be saved from God's rightful judgment, as it says here. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light..." That means what it says. Who ever sins hates Christ, and whoever hates Christ has rejected the Truth, and whoever rejects Truth is as good as judged. It is also somewhat humorous, that sin thinks it can hide from God. It is so boastful in and of itself, yet when it is about to be shown for what it is, it hides. If we are those who are saved, we don't fear our sin anymore, because it was taken in full by Christ. Every one of my sins were paid for, so now I stand blameless before God, through Christ. That is when we come to...
Verse 21: "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” This is our position as believers. We are no longer the ones sinning, because we love the Light. We are boastful, not in sin, but in Christ. We boast of our good works, because they have been "wrought in God." These have come from God, for God, so how can they be sinful in the least? How can these be flawed? That then should make the desire to live righteous, holy and Godly lives, all the greater, because all our good deeds are brought about by God, for Himself, and we cannot fail. When we seem to fail, then we fall back on Romans 7, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin" (vs. 24-25, NIV). If we are ever ashamed of the good work we do, we are ashamed of God's work in us. And this is quite clear that our works do not justify us before God, but rather, are a result of being justified before God through Christ. (cf. Matt. 7:22; James 2:14-26.) These works have been brought about by God, and God alone, by His grace, through the Christ. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" (Rev. 5:12).
"God so loved the world!" This is no doubt something many people hear/say, and emphasize greatly to all they talk to about the Gospel. Many often approach the entirety of the Bible with the thought in mind, "God loves everybody", and then go through the Old Testament, and are already confused about who God is. Verse 16 of John 3 is most likely one of the most misused, twisted, and also ignored verses in the Bible. How? How can it be so misused and yet so ignored at the same time? Many misuse it greatly, in that they find it, twist it to say God loves everybody, period, no doubt, nobody's going to hell, and then go on to some other passage. At the same time they are twisting it, they are ignoring the context entirely. Many would find it harsh, and "unbiblical" to say God doesn't love everybody. But, I say it without doubt, God doesn't love everybody. How can I hold this position, having viewed this verse, which clearly says, "God so loved the world"? Simple. The context demands it. The entire context of the New Testament demands it, and the Old Testament alone can prove that God doesn't love everybody.
There are two major ideas of this verse which people take: The first is that of the position in which people say that God wants you to have health, wealth, and prosperity. This is already taking the text way out of it's intended place, in that such things are nowhere mentioned in the text itself, and also proves the ignorance of what the love of God is. The second group takes things even further, and says that God doesn't hate any religion. In fact, He accepts all religions. He'd just prefer that people have His. Both are utterly unbiblical, as will be proven.
It is actually quite amazing, to see how much people can read into one verse, and yet, how much they can take out of the verse, or rather, the context. It is amazing to see how people can twist something so clear and direct, and make it say what the entire Bible speaks against. However, this note is not about John 3:16, but the base of the chapter itself. Without the context, the 16th passage is almost too confusing to even consider.
What the Text Actually Says
Verse 1: "Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews..." This text starts with a man coming to Christ, as most know, named Nicodemus. This, of course, wasn't like other encounters Christ had, in that this man was a Pharisee, yet, he was not coming to accuse Christ, or to trip Him up, but to gain a better understanding of what Christ said. Now, of course, we don't know at this point whether he was truly coming to learn the Truth, but surely, he was quite curious, in that he came under the cover of darkness (verse 2), perhaps so he wouldn't be seen. Obviously, he Pharisee buddies weren't too fond of Christ when they would come later to accuse Him, and it is likely they never liked Him at all, so coming to Him in any sense except to attack Him would be odd, and most likely, unpopular amongst the group of heretics.
Verse 2: "this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.'" Again, he came at night, so obviously, what he had to say was something he would want to say in private, or perhaps, at least, without the hearing of the crowds, as he was a "ruler of the Jews."
Now, looking to what Nicodemus said, it seems that he is asking some sort of question, in a roundabout way. Now notice the first thing he says: "we know that You have come from God as a teacher..." (emphasis added). The miracles weren't the first thing he noted. The fact that Christ had come from God Himself, and as a teacher, was something entirely new to him. Looking at people like Moses and Joshua, neither of them were teachers. Moses wrote down the Law, but he never sat down with the people and explained it to them as Christ did. Joshua lead the sons of Israel into battle, and gave them God's commands, but nowhere does he teach them as Christ did. Many people, like Catholics and Charismatics, overlook this important factor, because they look to the miracles. But Christ did not come to bring miracles into the sight of men (John 12:27, 18:37), but to give the Truth- to teach them the Truth. The Apostles did not base any of their writings on the miracles of Jesus, but in Christ Himself, "who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age..." (Gal. 1:4, cf. John 8:32). The Apostles weren't know as "Miracles workers by the miracles of Christ", but "of Jesus Christ by the will of God" (1 Cor. 1:1), and "a bond-servant of Christ Jesus" (Rom. 1:1). Who was Christ? Why was He here? He came to save those who believe in Him from sin, not to work many miracles to convince them of the Truth. The miracles were merely there to show that He is the Son of God, and the miracles of the Apostles, to prove they were sent personally by Christ. If miracles were the focus... they would be the focus of Scripture. The New Testament, at least. But, I'm going off onto another note here. Back to the text at hand... It is very important to see Christ as the teacher here, rather than a miracle worker. If one sees Him as a teacher, they are then going to listen to what He... teaches. If they simply see Him as a miracle worker, then they will only look to His miraculous works for Truth, and find little to nothing, because the miracles only came with the Truth. They themselves didn't even prove the Truth, but rather, they proved that the messenger was from God. Obviously, Nicodemus knew Christ was from God, by the miracles He did, but He was a teacher from God.
Verse 3: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" Most might think at first, "What kind of answer is that?" Nicodemus came, simply seeming to affirm that He was from God, as a teacher. What did this have to do with the Kingdom of God? Now, one must first remember that no thoughts were/are hidden from Christ- no intentions are foggy to His knowledge. (See Matt. 9:4, 12:25; Luke 6:8, 9:47.) But what was Christ getting at here? What was He saying? So, Nicodemus asks a logical question...
Verse 4: "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?'" That question makes sense, right? Why would Christ, an obviously knowledgeable teacher, tell him he needs to be born again? This question, however, quickly reveals the tendency of man to go to what he sees. He instantly went to the physical aspect, as many people do today, pursuing to find the "science" behind something, as it were.
Verses 5-8: "Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'" Now, the first phrase here is a bit confusing to some. What does it mean to be "born of water and of the Spirit"? Does this mean that, if you are cleaned up with water, you are able to enter into the Kingdom? To be born of water is similar to what was said in Ezekiel 36:25-27: "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." God did not literally sprinkle water on them, but rather, He saved them from their sin. Their idols, and heart of stone, would be removed, and a heart which serves God would be placed in them. The same goes for believers, in that when we were sinners, we worshiped many things except God, and our hearts were as stone, utterly against the Truth. Only God Himself could clean us, as we were stubborn. Only God could remove this stone, and place a real, good, God-honoring heart within us. We can truly take no credit for our Salvation, in any sense, in that it is God who paid the price, brought the Truth to us, and changed our hearts. (See Jer. 17:9, Romans 7.) But if we aren't saved from this sin, we live according to the flesh, that is, we are still enslaved to sin. If we live according to the flesh, we are living utterly in sin, apart from Christ, for ourselves. Those who live in the flesh are of this world, and this is their home, with hell being their fate. But those who live in Christ, and are saved from sin through the Salvation given by God the Father, we do not live according to this world. We are aliens here (1 Pet. 1:1), and this is not our home forever. As Christ Himself said later in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
Now, in verse 7, Christ points out something that should be obvious: Mankind is depraved. It should be obvious to those who know the Truth, that men were in need of salvation. A savior. This is not shocking to those who see the reality of this earth.
He also points out, in verse 8, that we don't know who is and is not saved. This is something many, many people forget. People often say things like, "Well, he's going to hell" or "God could never save him." On the contrary, no man has the knowledge of how the Spirit works. Can any man tell you where the Spirit is working, and when, and how? Nay, the Spirit is as the wind, going wherever it does. If we think we can judge when any person is determined for hell, we must be forced back to what Christ says here. We dare not judge any man, as this is the position of God alone (Rom. 12:19).
Verse 9: "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can these things be?'" Obviously, to some extent, Nicodemus understood what was being said. Yet, he couldn't believe it. Christ still wasn't making sense entirely to him. These things he had not heard (more on this soon).
Verses 10-12: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?'" Christ now asks a wonderfully logical question: Who are you again? Nicodemus was supposed to be a... teacher. Is this not what Nicodemus called Christ? So, shouldn't he already know this, as they were both teachers? Are these things news to him? They are, actually, yet they shouldn't be. Nicodemus was supposed to enlighten the Jews of the Truth, not be ignorant of them himself. And how perfectly this fits with pastors and teachers these days. Many claim to know the Truth, and to preach it, yet how many actually do? How many actually know the deeper things of the Truth? Surely, to be a teacher, one must know not only the milk of God's Word, but also the meat- that which is a result of much study (1 Cor. 3:2). And if Nicodemus, or any man for that matter, doesn't heed the words of God Himself, how would miracles convince him? How could heavenly things be told to one who doesn't even understand the earthly things? This man, who claimed to be a teacher, knew nothing of what Christ was saying. Perhaps, if Nicodemus had come for some "advanced teaching", it was shot down quite quickly here.
Verse 13: "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man." Christ is the only One who could understand the heavenly things here. Nicodemus, nor any man, can never expect to know the heavenly things apart from Christ. Only Christ, who was brought down to earth, and was brought up to heaven, can understand these things. Many people try to find the heavenly things apart from Christ, looking all over for the deeper things, only finding lies and heresy.
Verses 14-15: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." Now what could this mean? Why would Christ pull something out of the Old Testament to speak of the concept of being born again? Look at what He was speaking of: "And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived" (Num. 21:9). this bronze serpent was the only source of cure for the sons of Israel, after they had sinned against God, and were now poisoned by the venom of snakes. It is interesting to note that one would go to a bronze serpent, to be healed from the venom which came from a deadly serpent. I shall not go further into that, but I thought it should be mentioned here. Anyway, this bronze serpent was a source of healing, or rather... salvation. Christ is the salvation for all mankind. He is, as it were, the bronze serpent, and is our only source of a cure for our sin. If the Israelite back in that time had tried to find another cure... he would have died. There is no salvation, but Christ alone. Anything else leads to eternal death. (See John 1:4, 8:12, 12:35-36, 14:6. Actually, the entire reason for the New Testament is to point towards the salvation from sin through Christ.)
Verse 16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Now we come to the 16th verse. Now, hopefully the context is known at this point. One must be born again, which means, we were sinners. "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17). Does this mean God loves everybody? Does God hate sinners. Yes. "There are six things which the LORD hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers" (Prov. 6:16-19). Sounds like sin to me. I have dealt with this before, in another note (see Thoughts on Hatred), but I think it should be mentioned briefly here as well. Saying that God loves everybody is against this verse itself, actually, in that it says "that whoever believes in Him shall not perish..." So, those who don't believe in Him will perish. Why will they perish? Because He hates sin, and will have His vengeance, as was mentioned earlier.So why does it say "everybody"? Does that means He loves sinners, and hates them at the same time? Or loves sinners less? Nay. The context demands that He loves His chosen- those who believe in Him- and other passages, many passages, say that He hates sinners. The verse 18, as well, says that there is judgment. This text is clearly pointing in one direction: God loves those who believes in Him, and He gave His only Son to die for their sins. Though this is not a note in which I will dive into predestination, it is evident here. If God hates sin, and all men were sinners (Rom. 3:23), how could He love anybody? Because He chose who He'd save. So then He sent His Son to die for all (past, present and future) believers, those who believe in Him.
And another error many fall into, is the idea that this love of God is "fluffy", as it were. This love is no frivolous love, but a perfect, righteous, and holy love. This love is great, in that no one deserved the love of God, yet He gave it to a select few. And the weak things of the world He saved (1 Cor. 1:27).
Verse 17: "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." Contrary to what many believed at the time, God sent Christ into the world to save, not judge. The first advent was for salvation. However, as was mentioned, judgment will come.
Verse 18: "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Those who claim God loves everybody fall into another issue, in that the passages right after 16 talk about judgment. Proof, yet again, that they don't look into the context. Those who believe in God, and are saved through the blood of Christ, are not judged. This is because Christ took our judgment, in its entirety. We are no longer guilty before God, through Christ. How? Because it is no longer I who live, but Christ in me. Therefore, it is no longer I who sin, because I cannot sin if God lives in me. It is the flesh that sins. And this is not a license to sin, but all the more reason to serve God! (cf. Gal. 2:20; Rom. 7.) Those who deny Christ, however, and hate God, and are still sinners, are those who are as good as judged. They will stand before the judgment seat guilty, standing alone, left only with their works, which are as filthy rags before the Almighty (Is. 64:6). God has saved those whom He loves, through Christ, and those whom He hates with a perfect hatred, He has set judgment for. They are as good as dead. Yet, we do not know who these are, the elect, and those destined for hell, as Christ clearly pointed out earlier. We, as humans, do not know how the Spirit of God works. We don't know who is and who is not saved, and we should live accordingly. We do not live, saying and thinking, "Well, obviously God hasn't saved that guy" because we do not know. Hitler, the prime example of those trying to determine at least one man they are certain of who went to hell, may be in Heaven. We do not know. No one is beyond salvation until they are dead. After death comes judgment, from our viewpoint. These aspects of God (predetermination, sovereignty, etc.) are things we fall back on when we think He is unjust, or lacking in any degree... not what we look to first.
Verse 19-20: "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." Here Christ sets the ground on which people are judged. Those who love darkness (evil, sin) are those who are judged. Anyone apart from Jesus Christ is as good as dead, and deserves judgment from God, and will be judged, because they not only denied Christ, but hate Him. "I don't hate Jesus!" some say, continuing "I just don't like what He says." Those who deny what He says, hate Him, because they hate what He is. Those who think they don't need a Savior are the very ones who need one the most, in a sense. Now, why would one not like what Jesus says? What He did? Because they fear what that results in. "[Their] deeds will be exposed." For a sinner, this is actually horrifying. They are willing to put their sinfulness on display before mankind, but before God, they don't want these things to be seen, because that would then justify their being judged. And this also goes with what was said earlier, in that we who are saved are no longer the sinner- we no longer sin. If we were still a sinner, we wouldn't be saved from God's rightful judgment, as it says here. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light..." That means what it says. Who ever sins hates Christ, and whoever hates Christ has rejected the Truth, and whoever rejects Truth is as good as judged. It is also somewhat humorous, that sin thinks it can hide from God. It is so boastful in and of itself, yet when it is about to be shown for what it is, it hides. If we are those who are saved, we don't fear our sin anymore, because it was taken in full by Christ. Every one of my sins were paid for, so now I stand blameless before God, through Christ. That is when we come to...
Verse 21: "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” This is our position as believers. We are no longer the ones sinning, because we love the Light. We are boastful, not in sin, but in Christ. We boast of our good works, because they have been "wrought in God." These have come from God, for God, so how can they be sinful in the least? How can these be flawed? That then should make the desire to live righteous, holy and Godly lives, all the greater, because all our good deeds are brought about by God, for Himself, and we cannot fail. When we seem to fail, then we fall back on Romans 7, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin" (vs. 24-25, NIV). If we are ever ashamed of the good work we do, we are ashamed of God's work in us. And this is quite clear that our works do not justify us before God, but rather, are a result of being justified before God through Christ. (cf. Matt. 7:22; James 2:14-26.) These works have been brought about by God, and God alone, by His grace, through the Christ. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" (Rev. 5:12).
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