On this basisJohn 7:1-53; John 7:1-53 proceeds. Governmental healing even from Him might only end in "some worse thing" coming. 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. 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. Breaking Down the Key Parts of John 3:30. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him." It is a golden verse that is often first introduced to young children when growing up. I apprehend the words the Authorised Version gives in italics should disappear. " Undeniably, these words of the Lord are truths. John 3:31-36) he speaks of His person in contrast with himself and all; of His testimony and of the result, both as to His own glory, and consequently also for the believer on, and the rejecter of, the Son. 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. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. Abideth on him. Without sign, prodigy, or miracle, in this village of Samaria Jesus was heard, known, confessed as truly the Saviour of the world ("the Christ" being absent in the best authorities, ver. ( ) flesh, and dwelt among us." Shall never enter heaven.The wrath of God - The anger of God for sin. John was not yet cast into prison. 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. Scripture is, or may be, before man always. This would make all manifest. The Word, God (and only begotten Son in the Father's bosom), He was eternally Son of God, too, as born into the world. Shine The Light. No doubt there are intervening applications; but such is the ultimate result of His work as the Lamb of God. Here, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." All translations of John 3:36 imply that this rejection of Christ is a deliberate action. Beholding Him as He walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God! The Son had not come to execute the judgments of the law they knew, nor even to promulgate a new and higher law. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 24 "Faithis a work of God in the sense it is that which God has ordered man to do"Guy N. Woods (1989), A Commentary on The Gospel of John (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company), p. 125. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary36. Home COMMENTARY What is the meaning of John 3:36? First, Jesus is visited at night by a Pharisee, Nicodemus, who is curious about His teachings. Piety here is the same that it will be there, except that it will be expanded, matured, purified, made more glorious. And as he was by nature a child of wrath, Ephesians 2:3, subject and exposed to the wrath of God, so that wrath abideth on him: being justified by faith, he hath peace with God, Romans 5:1. 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). Warning: spoilers for the Season 1 finale of 1923, "Nothing Left to Lose" beyond this point. The brethren of the Lord Jesus, who could see the astonishing power that was in Him, but whose hearts were carnal, at once discerned that it might be an uncommon good thing for them, as well as for Him, in this world. How Daniels Prophecy of 70 Weeks Connects to the End Times. 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. This was necessary for the kingdom of God; not for some special place of glory, but for any and every part of God's kingdom. To the Pharisees, indeed, his words as to the Lord are curt: nor does he tell them of the divine ground of His glory, as he had before and does after. This only secures His honour in those that believe God's testimony to Him, the Son of God; and to these He gives life, everlasting life now, and exemption from judgment, in this acting in communion with the Father. Indeed, it is the total eclipse, not merely of law and remedial mercies, but even of promised Messianic glory, by everlasting life and resurrection at the last day. This is the more striking, because, as we have seen, the world and Israel, rejecting Him, are also themselves, as such, rejected from the first. One must be born again. The wrath of God. (Comp. The Bible is an anthology - a compilation of texts of a variety of forms - originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. (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. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. And such was Jesus. How could either light or love rest in a scene of sin, darkness, and misery? But "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." "There are three who give testimony in heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." The Lord Jesus presents Himself as putting an end to all this now for the Christian, though, of course, every word God has promised, as well as threatened, remains to be accomplished in Israel by-and-by; for Scripture cannot be broken; and what the mouth of the Lord has said awaits its fulfilment in its due sphere and season. So bright was His glory, so concerned was the Father in maintaining it, so immense the blessing if received, so tremendous the stake involved in its loss, that God vouchsafed the amplest and clearest witnesses. A second and wholly new man appears the bread of God, not of man, but for men. This leads Philip to Nathanael, in whose case, when he comes to Jesus, we see not divine power alone in sounding the souls of men, but over creation. God never left Himself without witness; He did not even among the Gentiles, surely yet less in Israel. Hath everlasting life. hath everlasting lifealready has it. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." John 4:1-54 presents the Lord Jesus outside Jerusalem outside the people of promise among Samaritans, with whom Jews had no intercourse. The original Greek word, apeithn, means "rejecting belief," "refusing obedience," or "refusing to be convinced." This is the same idea explained in Scriptures such as John 3:18-19, Romans 1:20, and Romans 3:11. As the new birth for the kingdom of God, so the cross is absolutely necessary for eternal life. This chapter contains the most recognizable verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16. So it's only really news when a great musician or band puts out a turgid stinker. Pharisaic jealousy had wrought; and Jesus, wearied, sat thus at the fountain of Jacob's well in Sychar. (b) Midrash Ruth, fol. But even this sufficed not: the Son of man must be lifted up. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 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. John the Baptist tells his disciples that Jesus has come from Heaven and will teach of the things of Heaven, because He has firsthand knowledge of Heaven and of God. No man hath seen God at any time. 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. Still the Lord refused the crown then: it was not the time or state for His reign. The chapters we have had before us (John 1:1-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36) are thus evidently an introduction: God revealed not in the Word alone, but in the Word made flesh, in the Son who declared the Father; His work, as God's Lamb, for the world, and His power by the Holy Ghost in man; then viewed as the centre of gathering, as the path to follow, and as the object even for the attendance of God's angels, the heaven being opened, and Jesus not the Son of God and King of Israel only, but the Son of man object of God's counsels. The looking for signs and wonders is rebuked; but mortality is arrested. So only is man born of God. Published by at February 16, 2022. He hath it. But they learn that it was his divine Physician who had not only healed, but so directed him. Verse of the Day , God, My Praise (Study In God - All I Need-19). John was the one who recognised the glory of the Lord about whom he was testifying, and cried out, "Hemust increase and I must decrease." 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. Shall not see life - Shall neither enjoy true life or happiness here nor in the world to come. They were not to wonder then at what He says and does now; for an hour was coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those that have done good to resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to resurrection of judgment. This brings all to a point; for the woman says, "I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." The present tense. Subtitle: Theology Speaker: Dr. Toby B. Holt Broadcaster: First Presbyterian Church Event: Sunday Service Date: 5/20/2021 Bible: John 3; John 3:1 Length: 36 min. Commentary on John 3:22-36. Thus, as in the former case the Lord's dealing in Galilee was a type of the future, this appears to be significant of His then present path of grace in that despised quarter of the land. Thus former things pass away; the old man is judged, dead, and clean gone. While both . "For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world through him might be saved." The divinity of the Son is in this chapter proved as clearly as in 1 John v. 7. Categories . 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. Spite of the most express signs, and the manifest finger of God that wrote the ten words on tables of stone, the law sinks into comparative insignificance. For were it not God Himself in the person of Jesus, it had been no glory to God, but a wrong and a rival. So, when someone testifies to . 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. He that believeth he that obeyeth not Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible. The Father and the Son were at work. Man might pull Him down destroy Him, as far as man could, and surely to be the basis in God's hand of better blessing; but He was God, and in three days He would raise up this temple. (Ver. 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. Do any believe on His name? "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? Fortunately, the issue does not have to be decided. 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. New believers also get familiar with this special truth in their relationship with God. The Light, on coming into the world, lightens every man with the fulness of evidence which was in Him, and at once discovers the true state as truly as it will be revealed in the last day when He judges all, as we find it intimated in the gospel afterwards. All is fitly closed by the declaration, that "the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning, 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 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. The character is wholly different from the position and glory of Messiah in Israel, according to promise and prophecy. Nor could any question be more momentous. Nobody had gone up to heaven: God had taken more than one; but no one had gone there as of right. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." But it is important we should know how He entered the world. The hour was one for faith, or unbelief. The temptation is to hide your light. Coming after John as to date, He is necessarily preferred before him in dignity; for He was ( ) [not come into being ( )] before Him. It is not now the revelation of God meeting man either in essential nature, or as manifested in flesh; nor is it the course of dispensational dealing presented in a parenthetic as well as mysterious form, beginning with John the Baptist's testimony, and going down to the millennium in the Son, full of grace and truth. Further, if Jesus had made such a statement, He would have contradicted numerous other Bible passages that make it clear that salvation is by faith (John 3:16; John 3:36; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). In the beginning of the chapter it was rather an essential indispensable action of the Holy Ghost required; here it is the privilege of the Holy Ghost given. Here again, apart from this divine insight, the change or gift of the name marks His glory. His opposition to sin, and its terrible effects in this world and the next.Abideth on him - This implies that he is "now" under the wrath of God, or under condemnation. (Ver. But the Spirit would not confine His operations to such bounds, but go out freely like the wind. Flesh and world are judged morally. Understand the meaning of John 3:36 using all available Bible versions and commentary. Burge favors the third view. , , . John 7:25-31) He is going where they cannot come, and never guessed (for unbelief thinks of the dispersed among the Greeks of anything rather than of God). 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. (Comp. He who, living, was received for eternal life, is our meat and drink in dying, and gives us communion with His death. (36) Here too we have, in the words of John, thoughts which we have found already (John 3:15-16), and shall find again (), in the words of Christ Himself.He that believeth not the Son.--Better, he that obeyeth not the Son. for he knew He was the Christ. In short, the riches of God's grace are here according to the glory of the Son, and in the power of the Holy Ghost. John knew that Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man, who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. What can be more evident, or more instructive? 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. It is the divine allergy to moral evil, the reaction of righteousness to unrighteousness." (Tenney) . Shall not see life is contrasted with the present possession of the believer. The Father did not judge, but committed all judgment into the hands of the Son, because He is the Son of man. Alas! Besides this, goodness overflows, in that the Father is gathering children, and making worshippers. Then, resuming the strain of verse John 1:14, we are told, in verseJohn 1:16; John 1:16, that "of his fulness have all we received." 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 . Art thou Elias? The Jews, then, who could not help, and pitied not their fellow in his long infirmity and disappointment, are scandalized to see him, safe and sound, carrying his couch on that day. The Jews, with all their privileges, were strangers here. All is in the character of the Son of man. 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. 33. This is the same idea explained in Scriptures such as John 3:18-19, Romans 1:20, and Romans 3:11. He saw him under the fig tree. What does the 3 mean in math - We will be discussing about What does the 3 mean in math in this blog post. What Does It Really Mean That Your Body Is a Temple? This testimony differs from the rest in having a more permanent character. 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. Note on John 6:56.). Christ here, it will be noticed, is not so much the quickening agent as Son of God (John 5:1-47), but the object of faith as Son of man first incarnate, to be eaten; then dying and giving His flesh to be eaten, and His blood to be drank. While almost all entity Christ's clear command to all sinners is to believe His heavenly testimony: "For whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and will not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."