John 3:17

Joh_3:17-19

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world

Salvation

I.

WHAT IT IS THAT GOD HAS ACTUALLY DONE FOR US AS FALLEN SINNERS.

1. What is done? He hath redeemed us. Fallen by sin we are all by nature children of wrath, and according to the rules of justice uniter condemnation. Instead of allowing righteous wrath to take its course, God has interposed in arrest of judgment; not to do an unrighteous thing, not to exercise His mercy at the expense of His justice, but to open a door for lovingkindness. The everlasting Son took into union with Himself the nature that deserved the wrath and placed Himself beneath the falling thunderbolt which would have crushed the world. This was done 1800 years ago, and nothing can be added to it or diminished from it.

2. For whom is this work done?

(1) For God, in order that His love might flow out in acts of beneficence while at the same time His justice and purity might remain untainted.

(2) For the world. Every sinner therefore may put in his claim.

3. Has God actually saved any one? Is redemption the same as salvation? What is salvation?

(1) To have all my sins pardoned.

(2) To have my soul renewed unto holiness.

(3) To have my body transformed into the likeness of Christs glorious body.

(4) To reign with Christ. In this full sense none are saved. God has made provision and is acting on it, and men are being saved, but are not fully saved this side of heaven.

II. WHAT IS IT THAT GOD IS NOW DOING FOR US AS FALLEN SINNERS?

1. He is giving to one sinner after another repentance and forgiveness of sins and a character unto holiness commenced and progressive. During the whole of the dispensation this is the revealed work of the Holy Spirit.

2. To separate the elect from the mass of mankind as His purchased and sanctified ones.

3. He is giving the faith which secures all this, even freedom from condemnation and acceptance in the beloved.

4. Without this faith the old condemnation remains, and a fresh condemnation is added, that following on the rejection of salvation by the only begotten Son of God. (H. McNeile, D. D.)

No condemnation to the believer

I. THE PURPOSE OF GOD in sending His Son into the world. Consider

1. What that purpose was not. To condemn the world. He might have done so. The worlds iniquities had grown to a fearful height, and though for

1800 years the world has continued in rebellion, we dare not say that God sent His Son to condemn the world.

2. What that purpose was: that there should be wrought out in, and tendered to the world in, through, and by Christ, a salvation equal to the wretchedness and peril to which the whole race was exposed. Hence, then, it follows that no sinner need perish for want of a provision of Gods mercy and love.

II. HOW IS THAT INTENTION TO BE FULFILLED? By an act of faith.

1. What are we to believe?

(1) The lost and ruined state which we are in by nature. So long as we deceive ourselves on that point, or excuse it, we hold back from the remedy.

(2) Our own utter helplessness and destitution.

(3) The reality of the provision of Gods mercy in Christ.

(4) That the provision of the Gospel is actually tendered to every one.

2. How are we to believe?

(1) Not in that speculative way which regards the truth of God as an abstract matter.

(2) But in that practical and personal way which accepts this salvation for ones self.

(3) It is to lay our hand an the head of the Great Sacrifice which bears away the sin of the world.

Conclusion:

1. It was through believing a lie that man fell; it is by believing the truth that he is saved.

2. Deem not sin a light matter.

3. Accept Gods provision of grace

(1) thankfully;

(2) now. (G. Fisk, LL. B.)

Salvation and condemnation

I. SALVATION IS BY THE GIFT OF CHRIST.

1. Christ came not to condemn the world.

(1) Condemnation might have been expected

(a) From the condition of the world, without desire or effort for deliverance and rebellious against God.

(b) From the errands of other messengers sent in vengeance.

(c) From Gods foreknowledge of the way in which Christ would be received.

(2) But Gods ways are not ours. Had Gods design been no more than not to condemn, but merely to neutralize or stay approaching ruin, Christs mission would have been unspeakably precious.

(3) There are those who limit the effect of Christs mission to a period of undeserved forbearance, and are blindly satisfied with a temporary, unenduring good.

2. Christ came that the world through Him might be saved. The nature of this salvation is

(1) Atonement for sin.

(2) The bringing in of an everlasting righteousness.

(3) Exaltation to glory.

II. THE WAY IN WHICH MEN BECOME PARTAKERS OF THIS SALVATION.

1. Some men regard the world as saved, contrary to Scripture and universal experience.

2. Others regard God as disappointed in His great design. Not so. God has provided the salvation; man must voluntarily partake of it. How?

1. The glory must be given to God because

(1) The remote and originating cause is the Fathers love.

(2) The meritorious cause, Christs redeeming work.

(3) The energetic agency, the Holy Spirit. Thus salvation is through the concurrence and co-operation of the Trinity.

2. But what is the instrumental cause? Faith.

(1) Had God proposed that for righteous deeds He would save us, our case had been hopeless.

(2) So it would had He arranged to place us again under the covenant of works, promising that by the deeds of the law performed in our own strength we should inherit heaven.

(3) Equally so had our salvation been conditioned by a combination of Christs righteousness and our own.

(4) Or by our originating holy emotions of repentance and love.

(5) Knowing all this, God requires only that we should believe on His Son. This faith is His gift, the medium of Divine life and its active principle when communicated, involving self-renunciation, rational dependence on God, and trust in His grace in Christ.

III. THE REASON WHY MEN PERISH THOUGH SALVATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED.

1. Not because God passes them by or excludes them from life.

2. Not because there is no merit for them in Christs mediation.

3. Not because the Holy Spirit might have breathed upon them, but has not. But

4. Because the sinner will not believe. In this duty he fails.

(1) Under the sound of the gospel;

(2) Under the strivings of the Spirit;

(3) And though Christ stretches forth His hand all the day long.

5. Consequently he is condemned already by a double condemnation

(1) Through his relations and adherence to the first man.

(2) Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (A. Beith, D. D.)

The fundamental facts of Evangelism

Christianity is built on facts; those facts are connected with the history of a Person; that Person is the Son of God. Three such facts are here.

I. GOD SENT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD.

1. This fact implies

(1) Separateness of existence.

(2) Subordination of existence. These no philosophy has yet reconciled to the doctrine of Divine Unity.

2. This is the greatest fact in the history of the world, perhaps of the universe. It constitutes the great epoch in the annals of the race.

II. God sent His Son into the world NOT TO CONDEMN IT. This is not what might have been expected.

1. Because of the wickedness of the world: full of ingratitude, idolatry, corruption, and rebellion.

2. Because of all the treatment His other messengers had received. The world had rejected, persecuted, murdered His prophets. Might it not then be expected that Gods Son would come on a mission of judgment.

III. God sent His Son into the world TO SAVE IT. What is salvation? Not physical, intellectual, or local change, but a restoration in the soul of what has been lost through sin.

1. Supreme love to God--the life of the soul.

2. Constant fellowship with the great Father--the happiness of the soul.

3. Useful service in the universe--the mission of the soul. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Christ the Saviour of even the worst of sinners

He does not exclude the greatest sinners when they come to Him, but on the contrary He gives them His first attention, as a surgeon who has been called to a field of battle to dress the wounded always first goes to the most desperate cases. (Nauden.)

Christ the Saviour of the world

In September, 1878, a dreadful accident happened on the Thames, when an excursion steamer, named the Princess Alice was cut down by the Bywell Castle, an outward bound merchant steamship. More than seven hundred persons that day found a watery grave. Among the brave efforts that were made on that occasion to save the drowning people, one of the noblest was made by a man who was in charge of a small boat at some distance from the scene of the collision. Rowing with all his might into the midst of the struggling passengers, he pulled several of them one after another into his little boat, which was now full and in danger of sinking, and prepared to row away. But when he saw the white, upturned faces of many others, and heard their piteous cries, Oh, save me, sir! Dont leave me, sir! it is said that in agony he threw up his arms and cried, O God, that I had a bigger boat! O God, that I had a bigger boat! His heart was large enough to save all who were perishing, but his boat was too small; his power was limited. It is not so with Christ. He is the Life.boat of perishing humanity, and in Him there is room for the whole race, for He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (R. Brewin.)

The mission of Christ is plain

You can understand when the Prince of Wales went to America, all the country was excited, and it was said be had come for this purpose and that purpose. But when Christ comes He can tell us what He comes for. When the Prince of Heaven comes into this world He can tell us the nature of His mission. For the Son of Man comes to seek and to save that which was lost. (D. L. Moody.)

Salvation is for all who need it

I remember when Master Street Hospital, in Philadelphia, was opened during the war, a telegram came, saying, There will be three hundred wounded men to-night; be ready to take care of them; and from my church there went in some twenty or thirty men and women to look after these poor wounded fellows. As they came, some from one part of the land, some from another, no one asked whether this man was from Oregon, or from Massachusetts, or from Minnesota, or from New York. There was a wounded soldier, and the only question was how to take off the rags the most gently, and put on the bandage, and administer the cordial. And when a soul comes to God, He does not ask where you came from, or what your ancestry was. Healing for all your wounds. Pardon for all your guilt. Comfort for all your troubles. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)

The gospel the most glorious tidings

When the Romans, by conquest, might have given law to the Grecians at Corinth, in the solemn time of the Isthmian games, their general, by a herald, unexpectedly proclaimed freedom to all the cities of Greece; the proclamation at first did so amaze the Grecians, that they did not believe it to be true. But when it was proclaimed the second time, they gave such a shout that the very birds flying in the air were astonished therewith, and fell dead to the ground. But if you will have a better story, take that of the Jews, who, when at first they heard of Cyrus proclamation, and that the Lord thereby had turned the captivity of Sion, they confess that, at the first hearing of it, they were like men that dreamed; but afterwards their mouths were filled with laughter and their tongues with singing. Now, the peace that the Grecians and the Jews had was but the peace of a people or a nation, and a great blessing of God, too. But how much more reason is there that our affections should be strained to the highest pitch of joy and thanks, when we hear of the proclamation of the peace of conscience? that peace which is not of our bodies but of our souls--not of our earthly but of our heavenly estate? a peace that shall be begun here--that shall endure for ever hereafter; such a peace as will make God at peace with us, reconcile us to ourselves, and make us at concord with all the world. (J. Spencer.)

He that believeth on Him is not condemned

Preliminary judgments

I. THE STARTLING PHENOMENON. The judicial separation of mankind into two classes, the believing and the unbelieving, the workers of evil and doers of good (Joh_3:20-21).

1. When it occurred. At the appearing of Christ (Joh_3:19).

2. How it was effected. By the appearing of Christ, the light, the effects of which were

(1) Illumination, setting in bold relief what was previously obscure, viz., that there are only two varieties of character, the good and the bad Mat_4:1-2).

(2) Separation. Not by the direct action of Christ, but through the indirect action of the truth (Job_24:13).

(3) Arbitration. The man who comes to the light judges himself and separates himself from the darkness, declaring himself to be antagonistic to it. So with the man who turns from the light (Act_13:46). Thus by coming into the world Christ initiates a judicial process which will culminate in the great day (Mal_3:18; Mat_25:26).

II. THE SOLEMN EXPLANATION.

1. Of the behaviour of those who come not to the light.

(1) They love darkness not more than light, as though there lingered some appreciation, but rather than the light which they do not love at all (verse 20), because it is congenial to the works in which they delight Eph_5:11; Pro_2:13; Psa_82:5); to themselves as children of darkness.

(2) They hate the light as well as love the darkness; for prophesying evil 2Ch_18:7); for suggesting good (chap. 13:26, 27). Hence they shun the light (Job_24:14-16) like Lady Macbeth (Act_1:1-26. scene 5).

2. Of the conduct of those who came to the light.

(1) They have a natural affinity for it (Joh_18:37).

(2) They are not afraid of the light (Eph_5:8-13).

Lessons

1. If a sinner is condemned, himself only, and neither God nor

Christ, is to blame.

2. If a sinner refuses to believe the gospel, he must share in the judgment which will ultimately fall upon the world. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

The essence of the gospel

When our Lord shall come a second time, before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats. That will not be the first time that He has acted as a separator. It is always so whenever He comes. Now He finds out His chosen and calls them apart, and on the other hand unbelievers are discovered. Between the two is a deep gulf. Other distinctions, riches and poverty, etc., sink into insignificance.

I. CONSIDER TO WHICH OF THE CLASSES WE BELONG.

1. What is meant by believing in Christ, for such is the preposition here.

(1) Some believe concerning Him that He is the Messiah, the Saviour of men. But orthodoxy is not synonymous with justification.

(2) It is a step further when we believe Him. Believing Him to be Gods Christ, it follows as a matter of course that we accept His word as true; but this is not a state of salvation.

(3) Another form of faith is believing on Him, to lean upon Him, and take Him as the foundation of our hope. A form of saving faith.

(4) But believing in is something more. If I thoroughly believe in an advocate, I trust my case to him, and thus believe on him; but I also follow his rules to the letter, being fully convinced that they will lead to a right issue.

2. The connection of the text will help us to form a judgment as to whether we are believers in Jesus.

(1) Have you realized by a true exercise of faith Joh_3:13; Joh_15:1-27?

(2) Do you, as having trusted in Jesus, come to the light (Joh_3:21)? Is it your desire to know Gods truth, Gods will, Gods law?

3. Are we unbelievers?

(1) Instead of looking to the brazen serpent, are you seeking another remedy?

(2) Do you shut your eyes to the one only light?

II. CONSIDER THE CONDITION OF THE BELIEVER. He is not condemned, because he does not offer himself for judgment. He says, I plead guilty. Having done this, the believer sees the sentence laid upon the surety in whom he believes. This brings him peace. Then no more condemned, he seeks the light, and desires more and more to work in it.

III. CONSIDER THE CONDITION OF THE UNBELIEVER.

1. He offers himself for judgment. He has not believed in the Saviour, and confesses, I do not require Him. I am willing to stand my trial. If you ask for judgment you shall have it. God declares you to be condemned already.

2. He gives personal evidence to his own condemnation. He rejects the testimony of God concerning Christ. Is not that enough to condemn him?

3. He rejects a most exalted person. When men rejected Moses they perished without mercy; but when a man despises the Only begotten, we need call no witnesses against him.

4. He gives evidence against himself, for every man who rejects the true light always goes on to reject other forms of light, Gods Word and Spirit and his own conscience.

5. Consider the condemnation already pronounced.

(1) It is no matter of form.

(2) God has power at any moment to carry it into effect.

(3) There is no promise that He will not execute it this very day.

6. Consider the only way of escape--immediate faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Faith

I. THE OBJECT OF FAITH. To what faith looks.

1. How many make a mistake about this and think they are to believe in God the Father! But we come to this as a result of believing in God the Son.

2. Others look to the work of the Holy Ghost; but this is the effect of faith in Christ.

3. Christ is the sole object of the sinners faith.

(1) As God.

(2) In His perfect righteousness.

(3) As dying and dead.

(4) Is risen.

(5) As your substitute.

II. THE REASON OF FAITH Why and whence.

1. To his own experience faith comes as a sense of the need of a Saviour.

2. Really and originally it is the gift of God. The Spirit comes and shuts men up under the law to a conviction that unless they come to Christ they must perish.

III. THE GROUND OF FAITH. What it means when it comes. Not that a man is a sensible sinner, or an awakened shiner, or a penitent sinner, but simply because lie is a sinner.

IV. THE WARRANT OF FAITH. Why a man dares to trust in Christ. Just because Christ has bidden him. Faith is a duty as well as a privilege.

IV. THE RESULT OF FAITH. How it speeds when it comes to Christ. He that believeth is not condemned. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

No condemnation

I. THE SATISFACTORY DECLARATION. A verdict of not guilty amounts to an acquittal, so the sentence of not condemned implies the justification of the sinner. This is

1. A. present justification. Faith does not produce this fruit by and by, bug now.

2. A continual justification.

3. A complete justification, not half condemned and half accepted.

4. An effectual justification.

II. CORRECT SOME MISAPPRENENSIONS BY WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE CAST DOWN.

1. Some think they shall never sin again.

2. Others that they will have no more conflicts.

3. Others that they will be free from trials.

4. Others that the Fathers countenance will always be clear. None of these are guaranteed.

III. WHAT THE TEXT INCLUDES--the believer.

IV. WHAT THE TEXT EXCLUDES--the unbeliever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Regeneration--faith the instrumental cause

I. THE ESSENTIALNESS OF FAITH.

1. Affirmatively. Our Lord mentions only the relation of faith to the legal aspect of salvation. This was enough, for he who apprehends believingly the work of Christ as the ground of his justification will not fail to experience it as a regenerative power. Many stumble through the simplicity of faith. They suppose that something difficult is required. But faith is identical with that implicit unquestioning confidence a person ordinarily exercises almost unconsciously in relation to almost everything he appropriates to his use: the food he eats, the garment he wears, the medicine he takes, the bridge he crosses, the train by which he travels.

2. Negatively. Without faith salvation is impossible. It is not that the unbeliever shall be condemned, he is actually so. It is a solemn truth that, notwithstanding all that Christ has done for us, it will avail us nothing without personal faith, for God cannot save men without their will.

II. ITS NEGLECT BY SOME. The light here referred to is Christ (Joh_1:9; Joh_8:12).

1. Men are voluntarily in the state indicated by darkness. Men are not unbelievers by compulsion. They love darkness. What a perversion of natural taste and judgment would such a physical predilection imply! Truly the light is sweet, etc. Yet a course of conduct that would be deemed the grossest folly physically is followed by thousands spiritually.

2. This is not an absolute preference. A degree of love for the light is implied. Many who remain in darkness cannot help feeling a measure of admiration for the light in which they refuse to walk: they attend the ministry of it, grant their passive assent to it, and yet remain in the darkness of unbelief.

III. THE CAUSE OF THE NEGLECT: Love of sin.

1. How explicitly our Lord brings the responsibility of mens perdition home to themselves.

2. How sad that condemnation should be the portion of those who occupy a position so near salvation. Bunyan says there is a way to hell from the very gate of heaven. (A. J. Parry.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 3:17. Ἵνα κρίνῃ, that He may judge [“to condemn,” Engl. Vers.]) Although men accuse God of this. To judge, is by judgment to cast away into deserved destruction.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_3:17. Confirmation of Joh_3:16, in which ἀπέστειλεν answers to the ἔδωκεν, κρίνῃ to the ἀπόληται, and σωθῇ to the ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον of Joh_3:16. Considering this exact correspondence, it is very arbitrary with modern critics (even Lücke, B. Crusius) to understand the second τὸν κόσμον differently from the first, and from the τ. κόσμον of Joh_3:16, as denoting in the narrow Jewish sense the Gentile world, for whose judgment, i.e. condemnation, the Messiah, according to the Jewish doctrine, was to come (see Bertholdt, Christol. pp. 203, 223). Throughout the whole context it is to be uniformly understood of the world of mankind as a whole. Of it Jesus says, that He was not sent to judge it,a judgment which, as all have sinned, must have been a judgment of condemnation,but to procure for it by His work of redemption the Messianic σωτηρία. Deus saepe ultor describitur in veteri pagina; itaque conscii peccatorum merito expectare poterant, nlium venire ad poenas patris nomine exigendas, Grotius. It is to be remembered that He speaks of His coming in the state of humiliation, in which He was not to accomplish judgment, but was to be the medium of obtaining the σώζεσθαι through His work and His death. Judgment upon the finally unbelieving was reserved to Him upon His Second Advent (comp. Joh_5:22; Joh_5:27), but the κρῖμα which was to accompany His works upon earth is different from this (see on Joh_9:39).

The thrice-repeated κόσμος has a tone of solemnity about it. Comp. Joh_1:10, Joh_15:19.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 3:17 . οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν … διʼ αὐτοῦ . For whatever the result of Christ’s coming has been, in revealing a love of sin and bringing heavier judgment on men, this was not God’s purpose in sending His Son. The Jewish idea was that the Messiah would come “to judge,” i.e. , to condemn the world. κρίνω and κατακρίνω , though originally distinct, are in the N.T. sometimes identical in meaning, the result of judgment so commonly being Condemnation; cf. crime . But although the result is judgment, the bringing to fight a distinction among men and the resulting condemnation of many, yet the object was ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος . John repeats his favourite word κόσμος three times in this verse that there may be no possibility of missing his point, that so far as God’s purpose was concerned, it was one of unmixed love, that all men might be saved. The emphasis was probably due to the ordinary Messianic expectation which limited and misrepresented the love of God. Westcott remarks on this verse: “The sad realities of present experience cannot change the truth thus made known, however little we may be able to understand in what way it will be accomplished”. It might on similar grounds be argued that because God wills that all men be holy in this life, all men are holy.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not only the people of the Jews, but whosoever shall believe in him.

That is, to be the cause of the condemning of the world, for indeed sins are the cause of death, but Christ shall judge the quick and the dead.

Not Christ, but the despising of Christ doth condemn.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

not to condemn, &c.--A statement of vast importance. Though "condemnation" is to many the issue of Christ's mission (Joh 3:19), it is not the object of His mission, which is purely a saving one.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. For God sent not, c.] It was the opinion of the Jews that the Gentiles, whom they often term the world, עלמה olmah, and omoth haolam, אומות העולם nations of the world, were to be destroyed in the days of the Messiah. Christ corrects this false opinion and teaches here a contrary doctrine. God, by giving his Son, and publishing his design in giving him, shows that he purposes the salvation, not the destruction, of the world-the Gentile people: nevertheless, those who will not receive the salvation he had provided for them, whether Jews or Gentiles, must necessarily perish; for this plain reason, There is but one remedy, and they refuse to apply it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. It is a confirmation of the preceding statement; for it was not in vain that God sent his own Son to us. He came not to destroy; and therefore it follows, that it is the peculiar office of the Son of God, that all who believe may obtain salvation by him. There is now no reason why any man should be in a state of hesitation, or of distressing anxiety, as to the manner in which he may escape death, when we believe that it was the purpose of God that Christ should deliver us from it. The word world is again repeated, that no man may think himself wholly excluded, if he only keep the road of faith.

The word judge (πρίνω) is here put for condemn, as in many other passages. When he declares that he did not come to condemn the world, he thus points out the actual design of his coming; for what need was there that Christ should come to destroy us who were utterly ruined? We ought not, therefore, to look at any thing else in Christ, than that God, out of his boundless goodness chose to extend his aid for saving us who were lost; and whenever our sins press us — whenever Satan would drive us to despair — we ought to hold out this shield, that God is unwilling that we should be overwhelmed with everlasting destruction, because he has appointed his Son to be the salvation of the world.

When Christ says, in other passages, that he is come to judgment, (John 9:39;) when he is called a stone of offense, (1 Peter 2:7;) when he is said to be set for the destruction of many, (Luke 2:34:) this may be regarded as accidental, or as arising from a different cause; for they who reject the grace offered in him deserve to find him the Judge and Avenger of contempt so unworthy and base. A striking instance of this may be seen in the Gospel; for though it is strictly

the power of God for salvation to every one who believeth, (Romans 1:16,)

the ingratitude of many causes it to become to them death. Both have been well expressed by Paul, when he boasts of

having vengeance at hand, by which he will punish all the adversaries of his doctrine after that the obedience of the godly shall have been fulfilled, (2 Corinthians 10:6)

The meaning amounts to this, that the Gospel is especially, and in the first instance, appointed for believers, that it may be salvation to them; but that afterwards believers will not escape unpunished who, despising the grace of Christ, chose to have him as the Author of death rather than of life.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(17) To condemn the world gives to the English reader a stronger impression than that of the original Greek. The word (κρίνω, krino, the Latin c(k)erno, and the English dis-cern) means originally to separate, and in the moral sense to separate good from evil. Passing from the act to the effect, it may mean to absolve; but as the usual effect of separation is to exclude the evil, the word has attached to itself more frequently the idea of condemnation. Our word judge, which has itself something of this double meaning, is probably the best rendering in this context.

Part of the current belief about the Messiah’s advent was, that he would destroy the Gentile world. The authorised expositions of many texts of the Old Testament asserted this, and Nicodemus must ofttimes have heard it and taught it. God’s love for, and gift to, the world has just been declared. This truth runs counter to their belief, and is now stated as an express denial of it. The purpose of the Messiah’s mission is not to judge, but to save. The latter clause of the verse changes the order of the thought. It would naturally be “but that He might save the world.” The inversion makes prominent the action of man in willing to be saved.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. the world] Note the emphatic repetition: the whole human race is meant, as in Joh_3:16, not the Gentiles in particular.

not … to condemn] This does not contradict Joh_9:39, ‘For judgment am I come into this world.’ Comp. Luk_9:56. Since there are sinners in the world Christ’s coming involves a separation of them from the good, a judgment, a sentence: but this is not the purpose of His coming; the purpose is salvation. ‘Condemn’ is too strong here for the Greek word, which is simply to judge between good and bad; but the word frequently acquires the notion of ‘condemn’ from the context (see on Joh_5:20). Note the change of construction; not, ‘to save the world,’ but ‘that the world might be saved through Him.’ The world can reject Him if it pleases.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that believeth on him is not condemned,.... Whether Jew or Gentile, because a believer is openly in Christ; and there is no condemnation to those that are in him: and though the sentence of death passed upon all in Adam, and judgment came upon all men to condemnation in him; yet this sentence being executed on Christ, the surety of his people, who has been condemned to death, and has suffered it in their stead, his death is a security to them from all condemnation: and they are delivered by him from the curse and condemnation of the law: and having in conversion openly passed from death to life, they shall never enter into condemnation; and this is the happy case of every one that believes in Christ:

but he that believeth not is condemned already. The Persic version renders it, "from the beginning"; he remains under the sentence of condemnation passed in Adam upon him; the law accuses him, and pronounces him guilty before God; he is under the curse of it, and it is a ministration of condemnation and death to him; nor has he any thing to secure him from its charge, curse, and condemnation: this must be understood of one that is a final unbeliever, or that lives, and dies, in a state of impenitence, and unbelief:

because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God; whom God has sent to be the Saviour of lost sinners, and to deliver them from wrath to come; and there is no other name but his, whereby men can be saved; so that such that do not believe in him, must be damned.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Ver. I7. Not to condemn the world] Unless it be by accident, because they will not be saved; they will not have heaven upon Christ’s terms, they will not part with their fat and sweet (with the vine in Jotham’s parable, Jdg 9:13), no, not for a kingdom; they will not be constrained to live happily, reign eternally. {a}

{a} At Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus Cogi posse negat. Hor. Epist. 2.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To condemn the world - Not to judge, or pronounce sentence on mankind. God might justly have sent him for this. Man deserved condemnation, and it would have been right to have pronounced it; but God was willing that there should be an offer of pardon, and the sentence of condemnation was delayed. But, although Jesus did not come then to condemn mankind, yet the time is coming when he will return to judge the living and the dead, Act 17:31; 2Co 5:10; Mat. 25:31-46.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The word we translate condemn, krinh, signifies to judge, as well as to condemn. The Jews were mistaken in their proud conceit, that Christ came to judge and destroy all those that were not of their nation; thus, Joh 7:47, he saith, he came not to judge, but to save the world. Nor is this contrary to what he saith, Joh 9:39, For judgment I am come into this world; for that is ex accidenti, from the corruption of men, shutting their eyes against the light, and hardening their hearts against the offers and tenders of Divine grace. Christ will come in his second coming to condemn the world of unbelievers; but the tendency of his coming was not for condemnation, but to offer the grace of the gospel, and eternal life and salvation, to men in the world.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Not… condemn the world—The divine ideal, purpose, or object, is that the whole world should be saved. All that is necessary for this ideal to be realized is provided, on the basis that man remain a free agent, and that that free agency remain inviolate. If that free agent reject the offer of salvation by which he might be saved, he will be lost. Yet the purpose of the atonement was not to condemn but to save.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For notwithstanding your vain and selfish interpretation of the older revelationGod sent not his Son to judge (ina krimh , with a view to judge, to discriminate the evil from the good. "Judgment" in this sense may be identical with "absolution," and may also connote "condemnation," but in itself it leaves the issue undecided) the world. Observe that the word "sent" replaces the word "gave" of the previous statement (apostellw , not peupw ). The word carries with it "the sending on a special mission" (see notes on Joh_20:21), and arrests attention by denoting the immediate function of the Son of God"s mission into the world. He was sent, not to judge the world. This judgment is not the end of his manifestation. This statement is not without difficulty, because we learn from Joh_5:27, 28 and Joh_12:48 that there is a great function of judgment which will ultimately be discharged by him, and which does, indeed, follow from the contact of all men with his truth and light. This is confirmed by the declarations of our Lord in Matthew, (Mat_13:24-30, Mat_13:47) that the judgment would be delayed till the consummation of his work, but would then be most certain. (see Mt 25) But judgment is not the end or purpose of his mission. Judgment, discrimination of the moral character of men, is a consequence, but not the prime nor the immediate purport of his coming. Numerous passages from the Book of Enoch and the Fourth Book of Esdras, and the literal interpretation of Psa_2:9 Mal_4:1, etc., may be quoted to show the Jewish prejudices against which our Lord here protested. But God sent his Son that the world through him maybe saved. "Saved" is here the analogue and interpretation of the not perishing and the having of eternal life. Christ is "the Saviour of the world". (Joh_4:42) Hengstenberg says truly, "The Old Testament basis for the words is found Isa_52:10, "And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. His coming will, as he goes on to say, exercise a discriminating process and a saving energy. There will occur a further advent, when he will consummate both his judgment and his mercy. "In the Old Testament," says Lunge, "the Judge becomes Redeemer by judging; in the New Testament, the Redeemer becomes Judge by his redeeming." Through him the world may be saved from its ruin, by reason of individuals accepting his grace. The saving of humanity as a whole issues from the believing and living of men. God"s love of the world and his sending of his Son aim at the saving of the world as their Divine end. Salvation (swthria) is the largest of all the famous biblical terms which denote the restoration and blessedness of man. It means all that is elsewhere denoted by "justification," but much more than that. It connotes all that is included in "regeneration" and "sanctification," but more than these terms taken by themselves. It includes all that is involved in "redemption" and "adoption" and the "full assurance," and also the conditions of "appropriation the subjective states which are the human antecedents of grace received, such as "faith" and "repentance," with all the "fruits of the Spirit." These Divine blessings originated in the bosom of the Father, where the only begotten Son forevermore abides, and they are all poured forth through the Son upon the world in the coming of the Christ. He was sent to save.

Vers. 17-21. The Incarnation regarded respectively in its design and in its actual result.

I THE DESIGN OF THE INCARNATION. "For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

1. It was for the salvation of the world.

(1) There was no longer a merely particularistic dispensation, but one that included the whole race of man.

(2) It was not a mere design to include the race within an area of religious privileges.

(3) It was a design to save man

(a) from the guilt of sin,

(b) from the power of sin,

(c) and to give him an eternal inheritance in glory.

2. It was not for the judgment of the world. The Jews expected the kingdom for the Jews, and judgment for the Gentiles.

(1) The text does not imply that the Son of man will not judge the world in the great day. This will be his personal act.

(2) It implies that the advent of the Messiah would not, as the Jews fondly imagined, involve an immediate judgment of the Gentiles or nations.

(3) But the salvation brought by the Messiah, though not including judgment, was, by the act of men themselves, a preparation for judgment.

II THE ACTUAL RESULT OF THE INCARNATION A JUDGMENT. "To judge is to prove a man"s moral state by a detailed examination of his acts." The judgment is not condemnation, for it may he favourable or otherwise.

1. The application of the judgment. "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.

(1) Judgment does not touch the believer, because, being in Christ, there is no condemnation against him. (Rom_8:1) The death of the Surety is his guarantee against judgment.

(2) Judgment rests on the unbeliever by the very fact of his unbelief.

(a) The greatest sin is unbelief, because it is a rejection of God"s dear Son, his sacrifice, his work.

(b) This unbelief reveals the moral tendency of the man. It is a mistake to think that unbelief is a purely intellectual act. It is moral as well as intellectual.

2. The peculiarity of the judgment. "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light." The unbeliever unveils his moral state by rejecting Christ.

(1) The light which is Christ is offered, setting forth the revelation of God in the clearest manner. In that light men might well see

(a) themselves and

(b) Christ.

(2) The darkness is chosen because it is loved more than light.

(a) It is hard to conceive of a rational creature loving darkness, walking in it, having fellowship with the works of darkness, because, darkness suggests the idea

(a) of stumbling,

(b) of discomfort,

(g) of danger.

(b) The reason of their choice. Because their deeds were evil.

(a) Thus the evil life reacts upon the mental judgment.

(b) The unbeliever is resolved to continue in his evil, and there forewill not allow the light to fall upon him.

III THE CAUSE OF THIS SELF-EXECUTING RESULT. There is a twofold moral state.

1. Those who do evil hide from the light, because they dread its manifesting power. "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

(1) This displays the cowardice of man in unbelief. He is afraid of himself. He is afraid to see himself as he really is in the sight of God"s unerring Law.

(2) It displays the folly of man, for there is a day coming in which the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest. No sinner can escape from final judgment.

(3) It shows how the principle of unbelief is more moral than intellectual.

2. The true believer seeks the light, because he seeks the manifestation of his divinely done acts. "Right action is true thought realized" in the case of the "doer of truth.

(1) He recognizes the true source of all his holy deeds they are "wrought in God;" for God works in him to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Php_2:14, 15)

(2) He seeks to give God the glory of his obedience. (1Co_10:31)

(3) The manifesting light is

(a) lovely,

(b) comforting,

(c) stimulating.

The great purpose of God in the mission of his Son.

Consider it

I IN ITS NEGATIVE ASPECT. "For God sent not his Son," etc. This implies:

1. That God might have sent him for purposes of judgment.

(1) The world amply deserved this. The Jewish world had abused its great and special privileges, and the heathen world had not lived up to the light it possessed, and had become guilty and abominably wicked. Hypocrisy, infidelity, and vice were rampant.

(2) This would be strictly just. If the Son were sent to condemn and destroy the world, the ends of justice would be strictly answered; for even the Jewish world was disimproving under the preliminary dispensation of mercy, and loudly called for judgment.

(3) The world expected and feared this. The world, being guilty naturally, expected and feared punishment. It was suspicious of any communication from the other side. It feared that it might be a message of vengeance. It was so in Eden, and throughout the old dispensation and at the beginning of the new. Friendly angels were suspected of being the executers of justice, and even the Messiah himself was expected to appear as a Judge.

2. God did not do what he might have justly done. "For God sent not," etc.

(1) He had a sufficient reason for this. The reason doubtless was the gracious purpose of his love.

(2) The world is ignorant and guilty and selfish, so as to be blind to the gracious purposes and the merciful movements of Jehovah. The pure in heart can only see him.

(3) God moves in an infinitely higher groove than man. Therefore man"s surmises and. anticipations of the Divine purposes are often false, he is better than we think, and more gracious than we expect. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways," etc.

3. Much of Gods goodness to the world consists in not doing what he might justly and easily do.

(1) This is seen in nature. In thousands of instances we see how mighty forces would be destructive if not checked by the laws of nature, which are but the almighty and gracious and ever-present energy of the Divine will.

(2) This is seen in providence, as illustrated in the recorded dealings of God towards his people, as well as in the experience of all who seriously think and reflect in every age. "He has not dealt with us after our sins," etc.

(3) This is especially seen in redemption. "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world," etc. Although the world deserved this, God might have sent his Son for the purpose of judgment, but in his goodness he averted the calamity. He sent him not for this purpose.

II IN ITS AFFIRMATIVE ASPECT. "But that the world through him might he saved.

1. The gracious purpose of God in Christ is salvation.

(1) This is suggested by the fact of the Incarnation. God might have sent his Son into the world to judge it, to punish it. He had a perfect right to do this, but it is not likely that he would do it. The Incarnation does not seem essential to judge and punish. He could do this without it. The fact suggests that the Divine purpose was not vengeance, but salvation; not judgment, but mercy.

(2) This is proved by the mission of the Son in the world. It was "peace on earth, and good will to men." he appeared not with the sword of vengeance, but with the golden sceptre of mercy; and rather than kill any one physically or morally, he voluntarily submitted to be killed himself, and from death offered life to the world, even to his cruelest foes.

(3) This is proved by the effects of his mission in the world. The effects were not destruction, but reformation; not death, but life; not vengeance, but salvation. His ministry and Divine energy healed multitudes physically and spiritually. He cheered, quickened, and saved them.

2. The purpose of God is the salvation of the world, and the whole world. "That the world should be saved." His purpose is as gracious and universal as his love. It embraces the world. Without any distinction of nationality, race, character, education, or position, the purpose is worthy of God as a Divine Philanthropist.

3. The purpose of God is the salvation of the world through the Son. "That the world through him," etc.

(1) He is the Medium of salvation, the great Agent and Author of eternal salvation. Through him the world was created, is supported, and through him it will be saved. What he has done and is doing has made the salvation of the world possible, and through him already the world is potentially saved.

(2) He is the only Medium of salvation. He is the only Saviour. There is no other, and no other would do. If some one else would suffice, the Son would not be sent. The world could be condemned and destroyed through other means, but could be saved through the Son alone.

(3) He is an all-efficient Medium of salvation. The Divine purpose of salvation, in its self-sacrificing love, its greatness, universality, its difficulties, found in him an efficient Medium. He is equal to the task. He has authority to save: God sent him. He is mighty to save: the Son of God. An almighty Saviour by nature, by birth, by Name, by experience, and by ample proofs and Divine and human testimonials, he intends to save; he was sent fur that purpose, and his purpose and love are one with those of God who sent him.

4. The gracious purpose of God to save the world through the Son makes its salvation very hopeful "For God sent not," etc. In view of this, in spite of the world"s sin and terrible unbelief, we see infinite possibilities of its salvation. It is now a glorious possibility. Shall it become a practical tact? This is the Divine purpose. Shall it fail? God has answered, it shall not fail on his part. Let the world answer.

CONCLUSION.

1. What God did to the world was infinitely more difficult than what he might have done. He could easily punish it, but to save it cost him infinite sacrifice.

2. What he did, when contrasted with what he might have done, stands forth as a brilliant illustration of his grace and a monument of his love.

3. What he did will be a greater condemnation of the impenitent world then what he might have done. It has placed the world under obligations and responsibilities which neither time nor eternity can obliterate. The punishment of love will be more severe than the punishment of justice.

4. What he did will bring greater glory to his Name. He will be infinitely more glorious in the anthems of a saved world than he would have been in the wails of a lost one. B.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world - Although many accuse him of it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Mat 4:8")

condemn Or, judge, and so in Joh 3:18; Joh 3:19 cf. Joh 15:22-24.

saved (See Scofield "Rom 1:16")

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, That the salvation of sinners was the intentional end, and the condemnation of them only the accidental event, of Christ’s coming into the world. The design of Christ’s first coming into the world. The design of Christ’s first coming into the world was to save it. The end of his second coming will be to judge the unbelieving part of it.

Observe secondly, That unbelief is the cause of the sinner’s damnation; it is that sin which doth bind all other sins upon the sinner, and consigns him over to damnation; it is that sin which doth not only procure damnation, but no damnation like it; which is intimated in the next verse.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. τὸν κόσμον. Thrice for emphasis; characteristic of S. John’s style (comp. Joh 3:31, Joh 1:10, Joh 12:36, Joh 15:19, Joh 17:14).

οὐ … ἵνα κρίνῃ. Not in order to judge (comp. Luk 9:56). This does not contradict Joh 9:39. Since there are sinners in the world, Christ’s coming involves a separation (κρίσις) of them from the good, a judgment, a sentence: but this is not the purpose of His coming; the purpose is salvation (Joh 12:47). The Jews expected both judgment and salvation from the Messiah, judgment for the Gentiles, salvation for themselves. Jesus affirms that the result of the κρίσις depends on the faith, not on the race of each. Κρίνειν and κρίσις are among S. John’s characteristic words.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17.] The κόσμος,—the Gentile world,—was according to Jewish ideas to be judged and condemned by the Messiah. This error our Lord here removes. The assertion ch. 9:39, εἰς κρῖμα ἐγὼ εἰς τ. κόσ. τοῦτ. ἦλθον, is no contradiction to this. The κρῖμα there, as here, results from the separation of mankind into two classes,—those who will and those who will not come to the light; and that result itself is not the purpose why the Son of God came into the world, but is evolved in the accomplishment of the higher purpose, viz. Love, and the salvation of men. Observe, the latter clause does not correspond to the former—it is not ἵνα σώζῃ τὸν κόσμον,—but ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος διʼ αὐτοῦ:—the free will of the κόσμος is by this strikingly set forth, in connexion with vv. 19, 20. Not that the Lord is not the σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου (ch. 4:42), but that the peculiar cast of this passage required the other side of the truth to be brought out.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱόν κτλ. The “sending” of Jesus by God is a conception common to the Synoptists, to Paul, and to Jn. Two verbs are used, πέμπω and ἀποστέλλω, the former being more frequent in Jn., and the latter in the Synoptists, no distinction of meaning between them being traceable (cf. 17:18 and 20:21). Paul has πέμπω only (Rom 8:3); Lk. has πέμπω once (Luk 20:13), but the parallels Mar 12:6, Mat 21:37 have ἀποστέλλω. Elsewhere the Synoptists always have ἀποστέλλω of God sending His Son, e.g. Mar 9:37, Mat_10:4O, 15:24, Luk 4:43, Luk 9:48, Luk 10:16. It may be added that πέμπω is infrequent in the LXX, which generally has ἀποστέλλω. There is a fine passage in the Ep. to Diognetus (§ 7) about God “sending” His Son, in which both verbs are used.1 Westcott attempts to distinguish Jn.’s usage of πέμπω and ἀποστέλλω (see his Additional Note on 20:21), and so does Abbott (Diat. 1723d-g), who reverses the meanings that Westcott proposes. No distinction can safely be drawn.

For ἀποστέλλω in Jn. in similar contexts to the present (i.e. of God sending His Son), cf. 3:34, 5:36, 38, 6:29, 57, 7:29, 8:42, 10:38, 11:42, 17:8, 18, 21, 23, 25, 20:21 and 1Jn 4:9, 1Jn 4:10, 1Jn 4:14. For πέμπω cf. 4:34, 5:23, 24, 30, 6:38, 39, 44, 7:16, 28, 33, 8:16, 18, 26, 29, 9:4, 12:44, 45, 49, 13:20, 14:24, 15:21, 16:5.

τὸν υἱόν. The rec. text adds αὐτοῦ, with AΓΔΘ, but om. אBLTbW fam. 1.

This usage of ὁ υἱός absolutely, as contrasted with ὁ πατήρ, is common to all the evangelists, and by all of them is attributed to Jesus when speaking of Himself. See Mar 13:32, Mat 11:27, Luk 10:22, and Joh 5:19, Joh 6:40, Joh 8:36, Joh 14:13, Joh 17:1, besides Joh 3:36, 1Jn 2:22, 1Jn 4:14, where the evangelist thus describes Jesus. He uses ὁ υἱός absolutely, at this point for the first time. Cf. 1Co 15:28.

This verse is in close connexion with v. 16. The Divine purpose in redemption embraces all humanity. It is not confined to Jews only, or to elect nations or individuals, but embraces the whole world. This Divine intention may be thwarted by man’s abuse of his free will, but none the less it is directed to all mankind (cf. 1Ti 2:4, Tit 2:11).

But in the current Jewish eschatology2 Messiah was to come as the Judge of mankind, and so Jesus taught, both according to the Synoptists (Mat 25:31f.) and to Jn.: cf. Joh 5:27, where we have the Son given “authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man,” the context showing that the Last Judgment is indicated. So, again, in 9:39 we have εἰς κρίμα ἐγὼ εἰς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτου ἦλθον, the reference being indeed to a present rather than a future judging, but still the coming of Jesus being represented as εἰς κρίμα, as issuing in judgment. See further on 8:15.

How, then, is this to be reconciled with the universal purpose of love in the mission of Christ? Jn. is quick to supply the answer. The purpose of this mission in the mind of God was that every one who believed in Christ should have eternal life. Christ, as the Son of Man, is to be the Judge of mankind; he does not question that, and later on he says it explicitly (5:27). But His primary office is that of Saviour, and it was to save that He was sent. That some should reject Him is no part of the Father’s will; but if they do reject Him, they bring judgment on themselves. And so Jn. declares οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλʼ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος διʼ αὐτοῦ. This is repeated 12:47, where Jesus is represented as saying οὐ γὰρ ἦλθον ἴνα κρίνω τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλʼ ἵνα σώσω τὸν κόσμον. ἵνα σωσω, not ἵνα κρίνω (as Jewish-Apocalyptic believed), expresses the final cause of the mission of the Son of Man. Cf. Zec 9:9 ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι δίκαιος καὶ σώζων.

For the universality of this redemptive purpose, see 4:42 ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου, and the note there. It was one of the last prayers of Jesus that the world should come to recognise at last that God loved it, and that therefore He had sent His Son (17:23).

σωθῇ. σώζειν occurs only 6 times in Jn., σωτηρία once (4:22), and σωτήρ twice (4:42, where see note, and 1Jn 4:14).

In the LXX it generally represents ישע, which primarily means “enlargement” and hence “deliverance,” ישועה being, at last, almost equivalent to “victory,” and often used in the O.T. of the final Messianic Deliverance. In the N.T. σώζειν sometimes stands for deliverance from bodily sickness, or healing (see 11:12 and cf. Mar 5:28, Mar 6:56, Mar 10:52 etc.); frequently it carries with it the idea of rescue from physical death (e.g. 12:27, Mar 3:4, Mar 15:30); and in other passages the thought is of spiritual deliverance (e.g. 5:34, 10:9, 12:47, Mar 10:26, Mar 13:13), i.e. of the transition from death to life, conceived of either as present or as future (in an eschatological reference), wrought by the life-giving power of Christ, and applied to the individual soul by an act of faith. This, the deepest meaning of σωτηρία, is constantly present to the mind of Jn. See on 4:42 for σωτήρ.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sent [απεστειλεν] . See on 1 6. Sent rather than gave (ver. 16), because the idea of sacrifice is here merged in that of authoritative commission.

His Son. The best texts read ton, the, for aujtou, his.

Condemn [κρινη] . Better, as Rev., judge. Condemn is katakrinw, not used by John (Mt 20:18; Mr 10:33, etc.). The verb krinw means, originally, to separate. So Homer, of Ceres separating the grain from the chaff (" Iliad, " 5 501). Thence, to distinguish, to pick out, to be of opinion, to judge. See on Hypocrite, Mt 23:13.

World. The threefold repetition of the word has a certain solemnity. Compare Joh 1:10; Joh 14:19.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 17. “For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

For: the purpose of the mission of the Son, as it is indicated in this verse, proves that this mission is indeed a work of love (Joh 3:16). The word, world, is repeated three times with emphasis. Nicodemus must hear in such a way as no more to forget that the divine benevolence embraces all humanity. The universalism of Paul, in its germ, is in these Joh 3:16-17. The first clause, by its negative form, is intended to exclude the Jewish idea, according to which the immediate purpose of the coming of the Messiah was to execute the judgment on the Gentile nations. Our versions translate, κρίνειν, in general, with the meaning condemn; Meyer himself still defends this meaning. It is explained thus: “Jesus did not come to execute a judgment of condemnation on the sinful world.” But why should not Jesus have said κατακρίνειν, to condemn, if He had this thought?

What He means to say is, that His coming into the world has for its purpose, not an act of judgment, but a work of salvation. Reuss concludes from this saying that “the idea of a future and universal judgment is repudiated” in our Gospel. But the future judgment is clearly taught in Joh 3:27-28. The idea which Jesus sets aside in this saying, is only that the present coming of the Messiah has for its purpose a great external judicial act, like that which the Pharisee Nicodemus was certainly expecting. If a judgment is to take place as a personal act of the Messiah, it does not appertain to this coming. However, although the purposeof His coming is to save, not to judge, a judgment, but an altogether different one from that of which the Jews were thinking, was about to be effected because of that coming: a judgment of a moral nature, in which it is not Jesus who will pronounce the sentence, but every man will himself decide his own salvation or perdition.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.