For God has not sent his Son into the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him.
God did not send His Son on a mission of judgment. This verse gives the reason for the sending. It raises two questions: what was God's purpose in sending Christ, and how wide is the offer?
The nature of the messenger tells you the nature of the message. One writer asks what lesser messenger would have been enough, if warning or punishment had been the point:
But for what purpose was God among men? There could be only one reason for this great event. Suppose He had wanted to send a message of warning, appeal, or command. A servant like the prophets would have been enough. He spoke to the fathers of old that way many times, and in many ways. Suppose He had meant to make an example of sinners by carrying out His righteous judgment on them. An angel or two would have been enough. That is what happened to the guilty cities of the plain. But when Emmanuel appears, men and angels must be silent and stand aside. Every ear must listen to Him. He comes to reveal the eternal purposes of God, and to declare and carry out the intentions of divine and infinite love.
The same Person who will one day judge came ahead of that day in a different character:
He has visited men before the day of judgment. We find Him giving, not judging. He deals with them in quite another way. The One who is to be the Judge came first to be the Saviour. He came in grace, seeking worshippers. He came to visit the hearts of men where they were — bad hearts. He came to such men not to judge them at all, but to deal with our souls about the very sins for which He would have had to judge us... Instead of coming to claim the debt, He comes to pay it. Both ways prove the debt was there, but the dealing is quite different.
Set this verse beside His return, and the difference between the two comings stands out:
Grace marked His first appearing in this world. Righteousness, and so judgment, will mark the second... God will then test everyone by the sure standard of what He righteously requires from man. The day of grace will have closed. The age of righteous government will have begun.
Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel, yet Jesus speaks to him of "the world." That word marks a change of scale:
God had before Him a far deeper work, one with everlasting consequences. So the people His grace reaches are no longer held inside the narrow limits of the land of Israel. If He is to show Himself now as a Saviour God in His Son, it suits His love to send out the good news to the world as a whole.
The verse says the world "might be saved." Writers are careful not to stretch that into a claim that everyone is saved:
When the apostle John brings in "the world," he shows this salvation is not for Jews only. It is world-wide. Not that all the world is saved, but He is the propitiation.
Judgment did fall on the world — but as the consequence of refusing Him, not as the reason He came:
The world's rejection of the Son of God does mean judgment. But that is the result of the Lord's coming, not the purpose of it... How solemn it is. The world, in rejecting the Son of God, has refused His great salvation and brought His judgment on itself. Despite the world's rejection of the Son of God, His salvation is still open to anyone who will come to the Lord. For He said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved."
- Purpose — Judgment needed no more than an angel. Warning needed no more than a prophet. Sending the Son shows the errand was love, not condemnation.
- Person — The One appointed to judge arrived first as Saviour, not to collect the debt but to pay it.
- Period — Grace marks His first coming. Righteousness and judgment mark His return, after the day of grace has closed.
- Reach — The purpose runs past the borders of Israel to the world as a whole, so the good news goes out to all.
- Response — "Might be saved" is a real offer, not a promise that all are saved. Judgment falls only where men refuse that offer. The door still stands open to anyone who enters by Him.
He that believes on him is not judged but he that believes not has been already judged, because he has not believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil.
Jesus has just told Nicodemus that God sent His Son to save, not to condemn. Now comes the reason anyone is lost: light came, and men turned away from it — so is ignorance judged here, or choice?
The Son did not come as a judge. But light shows whatever it falls on, and that alone divides people:
Still, the Son of God had not come to earth to condemn. Yet His presence did bring in condemnation, because He was the Light. Light makes everything clear, and so it brings all men to the test. Light acts by shining and by showing, and in its presence man reacts in one of two ways. If he is a doer of evil he loves darkness and hates light because it corrects him. If a doer of truth he welcomes the light and comes to it. These verses assume that the one who believes in Him is the doer of truth, and the one who does not believe is the doer of evil. The one comes to the light and there is no condemnation for him. The other stays in the darkness, and that is enough to condemn him.
Older translations read "this is the condemnation," while the ESV has "judgment." One writer looks at the Greek behind the word:
One Greek word, used twice here and nowhere else in John, is the strict legal term for passing an adverse sentence among men. How, where, could that be anywhere else in John? The other Greek word is never used in that sense anywhere in John. It means, and should always be translated, "judge," not "condemn," though for the guilty — and man is guilty — the effect is condemnation.
Even so, the outcome is not held back for a later date:
The word of God settles the solemn question now, for every gospel hearer. We do not have to wait until we reach the judgment seat.
The charge is not that men looked for God and could not find Him. Something in them was active:
The condemnation is that "the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light." They were not ignorant that the light was there; they loved and chose the darkness. The will was at work, and the heart was rejecting. So man hands himself over to the devil, and only then, and in that way, does the devil use his blinding power. The deceived soul then finds perhaps a hundred good reasons for rejecting what he never wanted to receive.
Conscience is not dead in such a person. It feels the light, and that is what makes the light unbearable:
Conscience feels the light, but that does not change the will. If the will stays set against God, conscience makes divine light unbearable.
The verse points to works — an actual life. Men shrink from what the light uncovers there:
It wakes up his conscience and brings the day of exposure before him. It reminds him of his life of running from God, his godless ways, his love of self, his uncleanness, his folly, disobedience and loose living. It puts God before him in a new but true light. It condemns his lust and pride and worldliness. It puts him in his rightful place as a poor devil-deceived, sinful, degraded object, a good-for-nothing child of wrath. He cannot bear this, so he turns away from its searching beams.
The reverse is equally simple, and it is the escape route hidden inside the verse:
An uneasy conscience makes the light unbearable. He who puts the truth into practice will not fear the light.
The verse ends by naming the reason: "their works were evil." Mercy was never the problem:
And this is the thing God lays to their charge. The light has come into the world, and they have loved the darkness because their works were evil. Could there be a more just ground of condemnation? The problem was not that they could not find pardon. They preferred darkness to light, so that they could continue in sin.
One writer applies the verse to the whole world, not just to single people:
It proclaims the world guilty before God and under His righteous judgment. This verse is our Lord's own statement about the condemnation the world comes under by rejecting Him.
- Light came. The Son arrived to save, not to sentence; but light, by its nature, shows what is there and so tests everyone it reaches.
- Light exposes. It names the running from God, the self-love, the pride. A guilty conscience cannot bear that.
- Will refuses. The failure is not lack of evidence. Conscience feels the light; the will still says no, and then invents reasons.
- Love decides. The charge is preference, not lack of pardon: men chose darkness so they could keep sinning.
- Judgment follows. The verdict is not put off to a future courtroom. The same light that condemns the man who hides welcomes the man who comes to it.