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.
For every one that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light that his works may not be shewn as they are;
These words close the Lord's night talk with Nicodemus. He was a religious leader who came to Jesus in the dark. They explain why people stay away from Christ: the problem is not a lack of evidence but a fear of exposure.
The verse itself gives the reason — the deeds. The light touches the conscience first, not the mind.
The evil deeds that men do lead them to hate the light. That light exposes their deeds and disturbs their conscience. An uneasy conscience makes the light unbearable. The one who puts the truth into practice will not fear the light.
People choose darkness for what it hides. It hides their deeds from others, and from themselves.
In the darkness they can do a great many things that they are ashamed to do in the light. People can even deceive themselves in the darkness. But in the light they see that what they were proud of as good and virtuous deserves nothing but God's condemnation.
A man who turns away from something must first have noticed it. The refusal described here is not ignorance; it is an informed decision.
By turning from the light, they show that they know where the light is. It bears witness to their conscience, even though they do not stand in it and so get its good.
The verse says "hates," and history proved that word true. Writers link it to what men did to Christ in the end.
Why was Christ rejected by man, except that man hated God? That was the only reason that Christ was slain in this world. They hated God, and therefore they hated Him. They hated the light... and this is their sin, that they have put the Light out of the world.
The word takes in more than the openly immoral. It also takes in the self-satisfied man, who keeps his good opinion of himself by picking a flattering comparison.
A man can compare himself with the worst of sinners and give himself credit for the difference, when God is not in his conscience. But he pushes away God's judgment about himself. He never compares himself with Christ, and "does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed."
Their own deeds have left them unable to bear the light. Does that excuse them? Commentators answer no.
Man is responsible to make use of the light. He has made himself unable to do so, but that does not change his responsibility... A drunkard may drink himself into a state where he is unconscious and unable to do his duties. He is still responsible. Inability does not free a person from responsibility.
The block, then, is in the person, not in God.
But where was the hindrance? It lay in men, in their will, which loved darkness and hated the light. It did not lie in God. There can be no unwillingness to save in Him, who gave His only begotten Son to die for sinners.
The timing of Nicodemus' visit gives the words their edge. The Lord aimed them at the man in front of Him.
Nicodemus had come to the Lord by night, as though his deeds could not bear the light. So the Lord, it seems, aimed to reach his conscience. Just as they parted, He says, "For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed."
Yet his story did not stop at that first cautious visit.
You tell me, with a hint of scorn, that he came by night. Well, never mind, he came to Jesus, and that is more than you have done yet. There are three stages in his history. I call John 3 midnight, John 7 twilight, and John 19 daylight.
The dread of exposure assumes that exposure is the end of the story. It is not.
Light will show you your lost condition, for it exposes you... The next thing that light will do is to reveal that "God is love," and that He has given His blessed Son for your salvation. Light will reveal your guilt, and love will blot it all out.
- Cause — the deeds come first. Evil practice creates the uneasy conscience that makes the light unbearable.
- Cover — people choose darkness for what it hides. It even hides them from themselves.
- Contempt — this is not indifference but hatred, and the same hatred put the Light out of the world at the cross.
- Charge — "everyone" reaches the respectable man too. He measures himself against worse sinners instead of Christ. Inability he brought on himself is no excuse.
- Cure — the hindrance lies in man's will, never in God. The light that exposes guilt also reveals the love that blots it out. Nicodemus came at midnight and ended in daylight.