John 3:14-21
This passage represents the conclusion of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus about rebirth and baptism, and in a sense answers Nicodemus’ final question “How can these things be?”
The answer begins with a reference to Numbers 21:6-9, where the Israelites in the desert, set upon by poisonous serpents, could save themselves only by gazing on a bronze serpent that Moses had fixed to a pole. The author sees this as a figure for the cross. Just as the Israelites could not save themselves, but could only obey God and gaze upon the uplifted serpent, so we can only be saved by gazing upon the crucified Christ. The word used here for “lifted up” (Greek upsoun) means both lift up and exalt. Hence the Son of man being lifted up means both Christ’s being lifted up to be affixed on the cross but also refers to his exaltation. That is, it refers to both crucifixion and resurrection. In the context of the conversation with Nicodemus, this means that the origin of the rebirth, that is baptism, which is performed on the faithful, is the crucifixion and exaltation of Christ. Entry into eternal life is thus inseparably bound to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and his exaltation by God thereafter.
Two concepts in v. 15 are of crucial importance for understanding John’s message.
The first is that one must “believe” in the exalted Son of man. But as will become clear in John, as it is clear in the remainder of the New Testament, the word for “believe” (Greek pisteuein) means not primarily intellectual assent but rather trust. That is, in gazing upon the Son of man, one must trust that in him God has shown he means well with us, and that we must shape our lives accordingly. Trust thus means to act on what one has accepted as true, to trust that what God asks of us in Jesus is meant for our good.
The second concept is “eternal life,” used here for the first time in John. While eternal life does mean life without end, it also means life in accord with the divine, eternal will. Thus one can already have eternal life, as will become clear in the following verses.
V. 16 gives the reason why those who believe in, who trust Jesus, have eternal life: Jesus, the only begotten son of God, has been sent by God himself as the proof of his love for all human kind — “the world.” That is why one must trust — believe in — this Jesus, because trust leads to action, and one must act in accord with God’s purpose, which is to love. Thus this verse also contains the definition of Christian love. It is not so much an attitude as it is an action. God shows his love by doing something: he gave his only Son. Again, the Greek word translated “gave” (didonai) intends both incarnation and crucifixion. It is in God’s act of sending his Son to save sinners that God shows his love. Those who therefore trust that Son, and shape their actions in light of God’s act in giving his Son, gain eternal life. Those who refuse such trusting acts have condemned themselves to separation from God and from the eternal life God gives to those who trust him through believing in, i.e. accepting, Jesus as his Son. Christian love therefore is more about action than about attitude. To love someone means to do good for them, as God did for sinful humanity when he gave his Son for us. To love one’s enemies therefore does not so much mean feeling good about them as it does doing good for them, helping them, however one may be emotionally disposed toward them.
Christ’s purpose in coming into the world is then explained further in v. 17. Because God’s sending of Christ was an act of love, Christ came not to judge/condemn (the Greek word krinein has both meanings) but to save. Thus Christ’s coming is not a sign of God’s wrath, but of his love. This may intend to counter a notion held by some Jews that the messiah would come to judge and condemn the gentiles.
Because this is why God sent Jesus into the world, if one trusts Christ, one has no judgment to fear (v. 18). Not to trust Christ, on the other hand, means already to have suffered judgment. That is, to trust in Christ means to do what God wants — that is eternal life. To reject Christ, and thus not do what God wants, is to oppose Christ and therefore God, and that is judgment/ condemnation — it is to live apart from God. Therefore judgment occurs as soon as one is confronted with Christ. Thus, for John, judgment begins already in the present, and is found in one’s attitude to the Son — trust or disbelief.
In v. 19, reverting to the analogy of light introduced in the Prolog (1:9), John explains further why rejecting Christ means one has already suffered judgment. Those who reject Christ show they prefer their own deeds of darkness, and hence avoid the light lest such deeds be exposed for what they are: opposition to God and his Son. Fearing the judgment of the light, they avoid that light, and in doing so pass judgment on themselves. This finally is the irony, and the tragedy, of the crucifixion: in the attempt to avoid trusting Christ, and so passing judgment on their own works of darkness, those who killed Jesus passed judgment precisely on themselves and the activities they wanted to maintain.
But some did in fact come to the light, some did trust Christ (v. 21), and they acted on that trust. As John says, they “did the truth” — note well, not believed the truth, but did the truth. They put their faith, their trust into action, and lived by it. Thus faith and works are inextricably bound together. It is by one’s acts that one brings one’s faith, one’s trust, into reality.
Paul J. Achtemeier is professor emeritus of biblical interpretation at Union Theological Seminary (now Union-PSCE) in Richmond, Va. He is the author or co-author of 14 books, as well as the former editor of the quarterly, “Interpretation.”
