Eternal lifeis onlyreceivedby faith in His cruel death and His glorious Resurrection. Verse John 1:29 opens John's testimony to his disciples. Of course, not all know that this has happened for them (and all humanity) and some who know, have rejected that truth. But the chapter does not close without a further contrast. "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them" What Does John 3:36 Mean? Nay, the Father has given all judgment to the Son. He bore witness that: "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John was to bear witness that Jesus Christ came from heaven as the . And in this He is sovereign. The Bible says, " He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God stays on him " (John 3:36). Answer: John 3:16 does not say that unbelievers have the ability of their own sinful free will, to receive Christ. If He spoke the truth, they were blasphemers. Thus we have traced, first, hearts not only attracted to Him, but fresh souls called to follow Him; then, in type, the call of Israel by-and-by; finally, the disappearance of the sign of moral purifying for the joy of the new covenant, when Messiah's time comes to bless the needy earth; but along with this the execution of judgment in Jerusalem, and its long defiled temple. And he answered, No. The person of the Son was there the object of divine and overflowing joy even then, although, of course, in the full sense of the word, the Holy Ghost might not be given to be the power of it for some time later; but still the object of worship was there revealing the Father; butJohn 7:1-53; John 7:1-53 supposes Him to be gone up to heaven, before He from heaven communicates the Holy Ghost, who should be (not here, as Israel had a rock with water to drink of in the wilderness outside themselves, nor even as a fountain springing up within the believer, but) as rivers flowing out. John 3:31-36 meaning. Hence, then, we have the Lord Jesus alluding to this fresh necessity, if man was to be blessed according to God. And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. It would not suit God, if it would suit man, that He, seeing all, should just pronounce on man's corruption, and then forthwith let him off with a bare pardon. Life is in the Son, and He who has the Son has life and there is no condemnation to those that have placed their faith in Him. Observe: not which was, but "which is." This is indispensable; for God is a Spirit, and so it cannot but be. and the more manifest from His lips to one who was a real impersonation of sin, misery, blindness, degradation. To this last the Lord attaches the deepest importance. His corporeal presence was not necessary; His word was enough. It is here life begun the first breathings and pantings of the soul for immortality; yet it is life, though at first feeble and faint, which is eternal in its nature, and which shall be matured in the full and perfect bliss of heaven. Shall never enter heaven.The wrath of God - The anger of God for sin. They had eyes, but they saw not; ears had they, but they heard not, nor did they understand His glory. His exaltation there is not without notice in the gospel, but exceptionally. We have had his name introduced into each part of the preface of our evangelist. Not only is there no healing to be extracted from the law by a sinner, but the law makes more evident the disease, if it does not also aggravate the symptoms. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (Verses John 3:1-6), But the Lord goes farther, and bids Nicodemus not wonder at His insisting on this need. There is but one unfailing test the Son of God God's testimony to Him. The word, which occurs only here in the Gospels, is not the same as that at the beginning of the verse, and shows that the faith there intended is the subjection of the will to the Son, to whom the Father hath given all things (John 3:35). The Lord, it is true, could and did go farther than the prophets: even if He taught on the same theme, He could speak with conscious divine dignity and knowledge (not merely what was assigned to an instrument or messenger). How were they not enjoyed in despised Samaria those two days with the Son of God among them! It is not only the nature, but the model and fulness of the blessing in the Son, who declared the Father. (John 3:36 KJV), He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. "The law was given by Moses." He saw him under the fig tree. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." If it was addressed first to Jewish-Christians (or, just as easily, to Christian-Jews - that is the earl. But the Lord reproaches him, the master of Israel, with not knowing these things: that is, as a teacher, with Israel for his scholar, he ought to have known them objectively, at least, if not consciously. Abideth on him. (Verse John 3:10). But then again, as science fiction wri ter Theodore Sturgeon once said, when asked why so much science fiction was garbage, 90% of everything is crap. He acts as such. Under all changes, outwardly, He abode as from eternity the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. Observe, that blessed as the light is, being God's moral nature, truth is more than this, and is introduced by grace. 22-24); (2) John's disciples are jealous (vss. But the wrath of God abideth on him; as the sentence of wrath, of condemnation, and death, and the curse of the law were pronounced upon him in Adam, as on all mankind, it continues, and will continue, and will never be reversed, but will be executed on him, he not being redeemed from it, as his final unbelief shows; and as he was by nature a child of wrath, as others, he remains such; and as the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, it comes upon the children of disobedience, and remains there; it hangs over their heads, and lights upon them, and they will be filled with a dreadful sense of it to all eternity. Nor was it yet complete. Each had his own; all are harmonious, all perfect, all divine; but not all so many repetitions of the same thing. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him." Nicodemus remonstrates but is spurned; all retire to their home Jesus, who had none, to the mount of Olives. "He that believeth on him is not judged: but he that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." He that believeth not the Son.Better, he that obeyeth not the Son. Wayne Jackson (1997), "The Role of 'Works' in the Plan of . Was this false and blasphemous in their eyes? For this is the work of God as well asthe command of God to all who are dead in their trespasses and sins: Believe in Him Whom He has sent, believe in Christ's finished work for the forgiveness sins and life everlasting. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. Here was a meeting, indeed, between such an one and Him, the Son, true God and eternal life. Let them learn, then, that as Son of man (for which nature they despised Him, and denied His essential personal glory) He will judge; and this judgment will be no passing visitation, such as God has accomplished by angels or men in times past. Our text divides into four sections: (1) Jesus baptizes, too (vss. (John 3:36 YLT), One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son wont see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. They could not deny Him to be man Son of man. No mere man, nor angel, not the highest, the archangel, but the Son. No charge could be remoter from the truth. Thus a despised Christ is not merely a crucified Son of man, and given Son of God, as in John 3:1-36, but Himself a divine giver in communion with the Father, and in the power of the Holy Ghost who is given to the believer, the source of worship, as their God and Father is its object for the worshippers in spirit and truth (though surely not to the exclusion of the Son, Hebrews 1:1-14). Home COMMENTARY What is the meaning of John 3:36? The one, like the other, contributes to this great end, whether the Son of man necessarily lifted up, or the only begotten Son of God given in His love. The word, which occurs only here in the Gospels, is not the same as that at the beginning of the verse, and shows that the faith there intended is the subjection of the . John 3:16 gives us the glorious hope of eternal life in heaven through the love of God and death of Jesus Christ. It was not so. Here, accordingly, it is not so much the means by which life is communicated, as the revelation of the full blessing of grace and communion with the Father and His Son by the Holy Ghost, in whom we are blessed. Do they receive Him not? And worship is viewed both in moral nature and in the joy of communion doubly. The wrath of God. If she turned aside to questions of religion, with a mixture of desire to learn what had concerned and perplexed her, and of willingness to escape such a searching of her ways and heart, He did not refrain graciously to vouchsafe the revelation of God, that earthly worship was doomed, that the Father was to be worshipped, not an Unknown. He has life; the man who disobeys has not, and while he disobeys shall not see life, for he cannot be a subject of a kingdom to whose laws he refuses allegiance. How singularly is the glory of the Lord Jesus thus viewed, as invested with the testimony of God and its crown! So, when someone testifies to . What sayest thou of thyself? "There are three who give testimony in heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." This is the same idea explained in Scriptures such as John 3:18-19, Romans 1:20, and Romans 3:11. John 1:20-25) John does not even speak of Him as one who, on His rejection as Messiah, would step into a larger glory. (Ver. But John was not merely an earthly witness pointing us to Christ. The Father and the Son were at work. Granted He was the Son of man; but as such, He had all judgment given Him, and would judge. Such was Jesus in person, contrasted with all who belong to the earth. behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. He tells Philip to follow Him. "But He said to them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of." He is a divine person; His manhood brought no attainder to His rights as God. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Nothing in the slightest degree detracted from His own personal glory, and from the infinitely near relationship which He had had with the Father from all eternity. He that believeth on the Son Who is a proper object of faith and trust; which, if he was not truly and properly God, he would not be: and this is to be understood not of any sort of faith, a temporary, or an historical one; but of that which is the faith of God's elect, the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; by which a man sees the Son, goes unto him, ventures and relies . Jesus in John 8:51 says "whoever . In our text, John hits it once more (and it won't be the last time! VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. Notably He is now applying it to the reconciliation of a people, who are also baptized by the Holy Ghost into one body. (ver. but He, who is the Word made flesh, is the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, and so competent to declare, as in fact He has. For if the Son (cast out, we may say, in principle from Judaism) visited Samaria, and deigned to talk with one of the most worthless of that worthless race, it could not be a mere rehearsal of what others did. Thus the Holy Ghost, given by the Son in humiliation (according to God, not acting on law, but according to the gift of grace in the gospel), was fully set forth; but the woman, though interested, and asking, only apprehended a boon for this life to save herself trouble here below. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. The issue of all is, that the will of man is the real cause and spring of enmity. The Son had not come to execute the judgments of the law they knew, nor even to promulgate a new and higher law. John then declared his own waning before Christ, as we have seen, the issues of whose testimony, believed or not, are eternal; and this founded on the revelation of His glorious person as man and to man here below. Nay, therefore it was they, reasoning, denied Him to be God. Shall not see life is contrasted with the present possession of the believer. This verse is the only place where God's wrath is mentioned in the gospel of John. His glorious person would have none now in relation to God but members of the family. "For God," He says, "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (Ver. The Spirit of God uses that word; it is thus invariably in conversion. Here He is not portrayed as the Son of man who must be lifted up, but as the Son of God who was given. Of course they are just as truly inspired as John's; but for that very reason they were not inspired to give the same testimony. Everlasting life could only be had by faith in Him, and might be thus obtained; whereas all those, who believe not in the Son of God, cannot partake of salvation, but the wrath of God for ever rests upon them.Barnes' Notes on the BibleHath everlasting life - Has or is in possession of that which is a recovery from spiritual death, and which will result in eternal life in heaven. (Ed. Nobody had gone up to heaven: God had taken more than one; but no one had gone there as of right. Clarke's Commentary. Nor would the rejected Christ, the Son of man; for if lifted up on the cross, instead of having the throne of David, the result would be not merely earthly blessing for His people according to prophecy, but eternal life for the believer, whoever. The results for the believer or unbeliever are eternal in good or in evil. (Verses John 5:17-18). (Verses John 4:20-30), The disciples marvelled that He spoke with the woman. In vain did any come to the Baptist to report the widening circle around Christ. If we give it careful thought, we can . He who believes in the Son has eternal life; buthe who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.". It implies, also, that it will continue to remain on him. There is no changing or bettering the old man; and, thanks be to God, the new does not degenerate or pass away. "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" It is the necessary aspect of love and holiness toward those who reject love, and wilfully sin. This last is the figure of a truth deeper than incarnation, and clearly means communion with His death. How little they conceived of what was then said and done! Grace begins, glory descends; "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." It becomes a question of man's own condition, and how he stands in relation to the kingdom of God. It will "abide" or "dwell" there as its appropriate habitation. The Christian here has a foretaste of the world of glory, and enjoys the same kind of felicity, though not the same degree, that he will there. God does not here condescend to call it His, though, of course, it was His and holy, just, and good, both in itself and in its use, if used lawfully. Pharisaic jealousy had wrought; and Jesus, wearied, sat thus at the fountain of Jacob's well in Sychar. This is all perfectly true, of course; and we have it elsewhere. So does his confession: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God: thou art the King of Israel. This we have had fully before. It was much, yet was it little of the glory that was His; but at least it was real; and to the one that has shall be given. What a witness all this to His person! Why is John 3:16 the most famous verse in the Bible? For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." It implies, also, that it will continue to remain on him. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. What more glorious proof than that the Holy Ghost is given not a certain defined power or gift, but the Holy Ghost Himself; for God gives not the Spirit by measure! The addition of "unto him" detracts, to my mind, from the exceeding preciousness of what seems to be, at least, left open. Today, the phrase "born again" can have any one of a host of meanings. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. But he that receiveth not the gospel published by him who is the Son of God, and doth not embrace him as his Saviour, and yield obedience to him, shall not be saved. Expressly had He told the man to take up his couch and walk, as well as to rise. The word here translated believeth not, is apeiywn, which often signifieth, one that is not obedient. The great fact of the incarnation is brought before us "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father"). As there is no way of escaping the wrath of God but by the Lord Jesus Christ, so those who will not believe must go to eternity "as they are," and bear alone and unpitied all that God may choose to inflict as the expression of "his" sense of sin. Understand the meaning of John 3:36 using all available Bible versions and commentary. The person who rejects the Son will spend eternity in hell. Hence it is that here the Son, according to the grace of God the Father, gives the Holy Ghost eternal life in the power of the Spirit. While that new life is a free gift, one that we can do nothing to earn, it does come with expectations. Compare 1 Peter 4:17; Romans 2:8; Romans 11:30, Romans 11:31. John 1:29; John 1:29John 1:34; John 1:34) of John Baptist's testimony here named; the first day (ver. 2) John 3:16 In The Bible. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL There is difference of manner for the world and His own ignorance and rejection. John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Very remarkable are the following words of the Jews (b) concerning the Messiah, whom they call the latter Redeemer: "whosoever believes in him "shall" live; but he that believes not in him shall go to the nations of the world, and they shall kill him.'' Further, it is connected intimately with the evidence of man's ruin by sin. Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleHe that believeth on the Son,. Who is a proper object of faith and trust; which, if he was not truly and properly God, he would not be: and this is to be understood not of any sort of faith, a temporary, or an historical one; but of that which is the faith of God's elect, the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; by which a man sees the Son, goes unto him, ventures and relies upon him, and commits himself to him, and expects life and salvation from him; and who shall not be ashamed and confounded; for such an one hath everlasting life; he has it in Christ his head, in whom he believes; he has a right unto it through the justifying righteousness of Christ, and a meetness for it by his grace; he has it in faith and hope; he has the beginning of it in the knowledge of Christ, and communion with him; he has some foretastes of it in his present experience; and he has the earnest and pledge of it in his heart, even the blessed Spirit, who works him up for this selfsame thing: and he that believeth not the Son; that does not believe Christ to be the Son of God, or Jesus to be the Messiah; or rejects him as the Saviour; who lives and dies in a state of impenitence and unbelief: shall not see life; eternal life; he shall not enter into it, and enjoy it; he shall die the second death. Did they charge Jesus with self-exaltation? Both of them were in relation to man on the earth; the one while He was here, the other from above. He also knew that Jesus would increase in honour and influence, for of his government and peace there would be no end, while he himself would be less followed. what does john 3:36 mean; unincorporated jefferson county, alabama map; Blog Post Title February 26, 2018. Here is John 3:16 in 22 different English Bible . Meanwhile there was a manifestation of goodness, active in love in the midst of evil, and toward such; active in the making known God and man, and every moral relation, and what He is toward man, through and in the Word made flesh. His opposition to sin, and its terrible effects in this world and the next. , , . He that comes from above from heaven is above all. And they do. It was not intended for other beings it was God's free gift to man, to the believer, of course. The evangelist has used this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus to bring forth some important points. Note.How flatly does this contradict the teaching of many in our day, that there neither was, nor is, anything in God against sinners which needed to be removed by Christ, but only in men against God! While both . But all that is historically related of the Lord Jesus inJohn 1:1-51; John 1:1-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36; John 4:1-54. was before the imprisonment of the Baptist. (Verses John 6:59-71) What and if they should see Him, who came down and died in this world, ascend up where He was before? Nevertheless, the heavenly part is little dwelt on, as John's gospel displays our Lord more as the expression of God revealed on earth, than as Man ascended to heaven, which fell far more to the province of the apostle of the Gentiles. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "shall abide upon him"; so some copies. Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Greek Scripture. (Verse John 3:16), Let it not be passed by, that while the new birth or regeneration is declared to be essential to a part in the kingdom of God, the Lord in urging this intimates that He had not gone beyond the earthly things of that kingdom. of In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men. But the chilling words that follow warn usthat whoever chooses to reject the clear teaching of the gospel of grace, will experience shocking and eternal consequences: "For he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.". VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. The question really is, whether man would trust God. If His time was not yet come, their time was always ready. For this, therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill Him; because He added the greater offence of making Himself equal with God, by saying that God was His own Father. Here, in suited circumstances to render the thought and way of God unmistakable, pure and boundless grace takes its own sovereign course, suitable to the love and personal glory of Christ. Accordingly, if the law raised the question of righteousness in man, the cross of the Lord Jesus, typifying Him made sin, is the answer; and there has all been settled to the glory of God, the Lord Jesus having suffered all the inevitable consequences. There is the nicest care to maintain His personal glory, no matter what the subject may be. Here the Lord was really owned by the multitudes as the great Prophet that should come; and this in consequence of His works, especially that one which Scripture itself had connected with the Son of David. Thus, in fact, we have the Lord setting aside what was merely Messianic by the grand truths of the incarnation, and, above all, of the atonement, with which man must have vital association: he must eat yea, eat and drink. Yet thousands choose to remain in this state, and to encounter alone all that is terrible in the wrath of Almighty God, rather than come to Jesus, who has borne their sins in his own body on the tree, and who is willing to bless them with the peace, and purity, and joy of immortal life. In the five porches, then, of this pool lay a great multitude of sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 2. Does anyone else find it odd that John Fetterman is hospitalized with Clinical Depression and is Co-Sponsoring Bills in the Senate? The verb means to persuade, to cause belief, to induce one to do something by persuading, and so runs into the meaning of to obey, properly as the result of persuasion. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary3:22-36 John was fully satisfied with the place and work assigned him; but Jesus came on a more important work. Disbelief is regarded in its active manifestation, disobedience. It is here we learn in what condition of His person God was to be revealed and the work done; not what He was in nature, but what He became. Such is the miserable condition of the sinner! 'Already' indicates that when you arrived on this planet, you were already an unbeliever, your sentence was then passed by God the Judge. Without it there is no divine understanding of Christ, or of His word, or of Scripture. The Lord and the disciples are next seen in the country district, not far, it would seem, from John, who was baptizing as they were. John 1:35-40) Our Lord acts as One fully conscious of His glory, as indeed He ever was. (Ver. It seemed natural: He had fed the poor with bread, and why should not He take His place on the throne? As this chapter sets forth the Lord Jesus with singular fulness of glory, on the side both of His Godhead and of His manhood, so it closes with the most varied and remarkable testimonies God has given to us, that there may be no excuse. In Him was life for this scene of death; and it is of faith that it might be by grace. Be they who they may now, as many as receive Him become children of God. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not, was reckoned among the readings less to be relied on; in which the, He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. So it's only really news when a great musician or band puts out a turgid stinker. It was not the time now to demonstrate in public power these coming, yea, then present truths. "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (Ver. The disciples come; the woman goes into the city, leaving her waterpot, but carrying with her the unspeakable gift of God. He is viewed as retaining the same perfect intimacy with the Father, entirely unimpaired by local or any other circumstances He had entered. (John 3:31) Referring to Jesus, John declares, "The one who comes from above is above allThe one who comes from heaven is above all" (verse 31). Fritzsche, p. 21). Categories . Heavenly things, therefore, could not but be natural to Him, if one may so say. (See on [1777]Joh 3:18 and [1778]Joh 5:24).shall not see lifeThe contrast here is striking: The one has already a life that will endure for everthe other not only has it not now, but shall never have itnever see it.abideth on himIt was on Him before, and not being removed in the only possible way, by "believing on the Son," it necessarily remaineth on him! Two resurrections, one of life, and another of judgment, would be the manifestation of faith and unbelief, or rather, of those who believe, and of those who reject the Son. Wouldn't being hospitalized for Depression mean you shouldn't be doing legislative work? Do any believe on His name? The same God who did not leave Himself without witness among the heathen, doing good, and giving from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, did not fail, in the low estate of the Jews, to work by providential power at intervals; and, by the troubled waters of Bethesda, invited the sick, and healed the first who stepped in of whatever disease he had. Yet thousands choose to remain in this state, and to encounter alone all that is terrible in the wrath of Almighty God, rather than come to Jesus, who has borne their sins in his own body on the tree, and who is willing to bless them with the peace, and purity, and joy of immortal life. Meanwhile, for Christian worship, the hour was coming and in principle come, because He was there; and He who vindicated salvation as of the Jews, proves that it is now for Samaritans, or any who believed on account of His word. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death unto life. A second and wholly new man appears the bread of God, not of man, but for men. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.'. His was an errand incomparably deeper, more worthy of God, and suitable to One "full of grace and truth." Burge favors the third view.
