❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
Believing in God means Believing in God’s Love
(John 3:16-21)
Mari Ikeda
Today, we’ll read John 3:16-21, continuing our reading of John’s Gospel. This passage today, as we read in advance last time in the end of the story of Nicodemus, is like a summary of the whole Bible. In my attempt to summarize the content in one sentence, I ended up with the message title today, “Believing in God means believing in God’s love.” Believing that God loves us is the start of our faith and the objective that takes more than our whole life to attain.
Before reading the text, although it’s not so important, I’d like to add an explanation about the interpretation of the passage today. There is a debate on whether this passage is Jesus’ words or John’s narration. Shinkyodoyaku, the Japanese translation version that we used to use until a few years ago, interprets this part as Jesus’ words that are continued from his conversation with Nicodemus, while Kyokaikyodoyaku, the Japanese version we use now and NIV interpret it as John’s narration. Judging from its wording and content, I think this passage is not Jesus’ words, but John’s narration. In either case, however, it doesn’t really matter for our interpretation of the content.
Now let’s start reading from v.16.
A. God is love (16)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
1. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”
As this verse by itself is a condensed summary of what the gospel is all about, let’s pick up one sentence at a time. The first half says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son….” I think English translates better here to reflect precisely what the original text means. The original text says, as NIV translates exactly, “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son.” As you see, the focus of this sentence is not on the magnitude of God’s love. It is not emphasizing that God’s love is big enough to give his son. Instead, it focuses on God’s concrete action, emphasizing that God’s love was so great even before he gave his son that he gave his son as a result of such a big love he had. Thus, we can also say this sentence speaks about the person of God and his nature.
Moreover, the word “world” in the phrase “God so love the world” has the meaning of “the world that goes against God.” The history of mankind is the repetition of rebellion and betrayal of people against God from the time of the Old Testament. But God loved us so much that he could not forsake us. That’s why he “so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.”
Here we see the essence of God’s love. God’s love forgives his enemies and willingly sacrifices what is most important to him or anything he could give. That is the nature of God itself. God is the only one who can teach us what love is. He is love himself. It is exactly what John tells well in the other part of the bible (1John 4:7-21), “God is love.”
2. “…that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
The second half of v.16 says, “… that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Here we can understand that God did not want us to die in our sin but to live with God eternally. In order to realize it, what God required us was just to believe in Jesus. He made it possible for anyone who believes in Jesus not to perish but to be saved.
However, if we put this the other way around, it sounds like saying, “if you don’t believe Jesus, you will only perish.” In Christian churches, we may often hear, “Those who believe will be saved, and those who do not believe will not be saved.” That is a misunderstanding.
The following verses, v.17-18, explain more about this. So let’s move on.
B. Does God condemn us? Does he not condemn us? (17-18)
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
1. Not to condemn, but to save
Here again, we have a difference in translation between Japanese and English for the word “condemn” in English, “judge” in Japanese. This happens because the word “judgment” in the bible can mean both “God’s verdict” and “conviction.” Because this passage uses the word to mean “conviction,” English translation is perhaps more precise.
Once God finds us guilty, we’ll be punished. To say in a little scary way, punishment means going to hell, which is worse than a physical death. In this sense, “to be judged” can be paraphrased as “to be condemned to perish.”
However, as we read in v.16, God wanted to save us from perishing. Likewise, v.17 says that God sent his son in order not to condemn the world but to save the world. This compassion of God has never changed since the time of the Old Testament, and even since Adam, the first man of the human race, fell into sin. God did not convict Adam who sinned, did not condemn those many people of the Old Testament who betrayed him, and did not punish the weak disciples in the New Testament, either. Rather, he had mercy on them all, loved them, and led them. Although God is our judge to do justice, he does not forsake sinners and try to lead them to a right path.
In Psalms in the Old Testament, it is said,
2 The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Psalm 14:2-3)
In the same way, Ecclesiastes says,
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
As these verses say, if God were to condemn sin as sin and punish sinners, we all were determined to be punished and perish, with no exception. That’s why God took action to show us mercy and save us all, instead of judging and punishing us. That was the event of Jesus’ Cross.
2. The question of whether or not you believe God is love
V.18 says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.”“Believing in him” means believing that Jesus is God’s one and only son and God himself, who sacrificed his own life for us. Eventually it means to believe that God is the one who has such a love for us, and that He loves us in such a way. As I said earlier, it means also to believe that God is love itself.
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned” means whoever believes in God’s love will be forgiven of their sin and made innocent although they are in fact guilty. It means that if we believe in God’s love, we can live in his love in the midst of our sin, even though we cannot be completely free from our sin.
Now then, what does it men, “whoever does not believe stands condemned already”? It means that if we don’t believe in God’s love, we have no choice other than remaining and suffering in our sin, which is punishment itself already. It is our problem whether or not we are saved, because God is always ready to save us all. He has invited us all, but entrusted to us the decision to accept the invitation.
Whether we believe in him or not, God loves all people and desired to save all. Therefore, we don’t believe him in order to gain his love. God never wants us to do that. Our faith is to believe that God has always loved us before we believe him. That’s why it is wrong to say, “those who do not believe will not be saved.”
Now, let’s read the last part, v.19-21.
C. We prefer darkness (19-21)
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
1. But we seek light
As we read the Old Testament earlier, we all have the tendency to prefer darkness to light. All of us are inclined to believe that we don’t need God’s mercy and we can live our life by our own strength. We try not to face the possibility that we may be wrong, and try to ignore the fact that we cause other people to suffer and cause ourselves to suffer in loneliness in the end. If we continue that way of living, we will only remain to “hate(s) the light, and will not come into the light for fear that (our) deeds will be exposed,” as said in v.20.
However, v.21 says, “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light.” In order for us to understand this, I think there is no better example than Nicodemus, whom we read last time. We can come to the light by approaching Jesus, even if we still doubt who he really is, even while we still cannot throw away our pride and don’t want to be noticed by others. It is to take a step forward to know Jesus even still in darkness and even under the cover of darkness, because we feel a vague light in him or a slight hope in him.
This is not something that happens only before the first decision to believe. Making our decision to believe God’s love only once is not enough, because we are so weak that we can forget and get lost easily. That’s why we need to follow Nicodemus’s example and to visit Jesus alone in darkness over and over again.
2. Because of God’s guidance
It is actually God’s work that we can seek Jesus repeatedly while we are still in our sin. The latter part of v.21 says, “so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” God gives us the heart to seek him. When Nicodemus decided to visit Jesus, when we want to know Jesus, it is not our power, but God’s work in us.
Believing that God loves us seems so easy, but it’s so difficult. When we face sufferings of ourselves and our loved ones, or when we see the depressing reality of this world, we easily have more doubts than hope and question if God really cares for us or He forgot and abandoned us. Thus, I cannot blame someone in despair who has lost hope in life and don’t believe that God even exists, because there are too many reasons in this world to make us feel that way.
However, even though it is like looking for a ray of light in the dark, Jesus surely guides us and teaches us, “There is a light,” just as He saved Nicodemus from darkness. This is the truth Jesus gave us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
(Prayer) Dear our Lord Jesus, please help us because we are weak. Help us understand more that you know us, forgive our sins and love us as your own children. When we lose sight of your love, use us for each other so that we can together remember you and strengthen our faith in you. Dear Jesus, we pray this in your name, Amen.
Summary
Christianity is often misunderstood by the teaching that “those who believe will be saved.” It creates unnecessary misunderstandings and fears that “those who do not believe will not be saved.” God loves us all whether we believe or not. Believing in God means believing that God loves us. It seems so easy, but it’s so difficult. It is like looking for a ray of light in the dark, but God is the one who guides us.
For Discussion
1. What does “Those who believe will not be judged. Those who do not believe have already been judged” mean (18)?
2. What does it mean that we tend to “love darkness more than light” (19)?