Commentary on John 3 (1)
These three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are words that show through visible events how Jesus Christ, the Word (Ho Logos) in the beginning, worked after coming in the flesh and what will happen in the future.
Therefore, everything Jesus did was itself a message of God.
The Gospel of John tells us in advance that after Jesus died on the cross and rose again three days later, the work of salvation takes place by hearing the word of the gospel, receiving him as Lord, and gaining eternal life.
Therefore, we must understand that the words of John 3:16 do not mean believing in Jesus who came in the flesh, but believing and receiving Christ, who is now Emmanuel as spirit.
When it comes to the only begotten Son, many people only think of Jesus who came in the flesh.
However, Jesus, who came in the flesh, can be welcomed into one's home, but cannot be received into one's heart.
How can a person receive Jesus, who came in human form?
So, the question is whether you believe in Jesus, the Son of Man, or in Christ, the only begotten Son.
Just as Moses hung a bronze snake on his staff in the wilderness and those who were bitten by fiery snakes were cured just by looking at it (Numbers 21), after he died on the cross and was raised, the event of believing in Jesus Christ and gaining eternal life occurs.
However, among those who claim to testify of the Book of Revelation, there are many really funny things happening.
As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things.” (John 3:12)
Nowadays, there are many people who talk about what is happening in heaven without knowing about worshiping in the Holy Spirit and truth as those who have eternal life and are born again by receiving Christ as Lord on earth.
Jesus died for our sins and came as Christ with the Holy Spirit to become our Savior, so we who received the wages of sin receive the gift of eternal life in Christ. (Romans 6:23)
In addition, through the grace of redemption through the cross of Christ, we are saved from the world and the flesh, and we are formed in the image of God with a spiritual body and reach glory through his glory.
So, the new covenant is made within us, and we are freed from sin, death, and the flesh by the Spirit of the Lord, changed into His image, and enjoying the blessing of salvation from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
This is not something that will happen in heaven in the future; it is happening now on this earth.
Without knowing this, they only try to know what happened in heaven, and eternal life, heaven, and the wedding feast are all floating in the air. In the end, on earth, they only have their own zeal to believe in Jesus and enter there, and they cannot see the glorious freedom of the sons of God at all.
In addition to meaning that the only begotten son is the only son, it also means that he is unique.
“He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
In Christ, we receive eternal life by believing in him as Lord.
This eternal life is gained in the present.
Those who are born of water and the Spirit, that is, those who are born again, having already been transferred into him, have eternal life by believing in the only begotten Son.
If the Son of God is in you, you have life; if the Son of God is not in you, you have no life. (1 John 5:12)
The first resurrection is when those who died in Adam come back to life.
Then, we cannot even see the lake of fire, which is the second death.
So, I warn those who do not currently have resurrection (first resurrection) and do not currently have heaven, that if you die in your current state, you will end up in the lake of fire.
How can we stand on Mount Zion with the Lord without overcoming death and Hades, which were automatically transferred in Adam, with the life in Christ?
They talk like greased eels, asking what kind of tribe they are from, but they do not know what salvation is or how to stand on Mount Zion.
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:17-18)
Whom do you believe in? You must pay attention to the words, “he believes in the name of the only begotten Son.”
Christ, the Ho Logos, does not have only one name, Jesus.
Since a name expresses the very existence, the name Jesus alone cannot express the entire existence of the Word.
In the Gospel of John, his various names are recorded.
The names are expressed as light, life, the only begotten son, resurrection, living water, bread of life, good shepherd, truth, vine, etc.
Just as Jehovah revealed, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14), all the words said “I am who I am” are the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And in John 3:19, “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
Therefore, we should not just think that judgment will come later.
Right now, believers and non-believers are separated, just like trash is being collected separated by type , and those who have already received eternal life and those who will be burned by fire are being separated.
So the original word for judgment means to split (krino).
What makes the Gospel of John different from other gospels is that it is about receiving Jesus Christ and receiving life.
In chapter 16 of the Gospel of Matthew, Peter knows and confesses that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, but there is no indication that he received him.
Salvation in the Old Testament was achieved through the shadow of the law and the temple by believing, “Oh, the reality, Christ the Messiah, is coming. He will come soon.”
And when Jesus was in the flesh, it was salvation to believe, “Ah, this is the Messiah Christ, the Son of God, promised through the Old Testament.”
However, on this day when He came in the Holy Spirit to make all people His kingdom and priests, we must receive Christ through the Word as our personal savior.
That is why Calvin said that if Jesus Christ is not in you, the effect of his work will not be revealed.
Because Christ is within us, the effect of redemption through Jesus' bloodshed and death on the cross is revealed, and the Spirit of life works in Christ, which has nothing to do with sin.
Nevertheless, a person who has not even eternal life with Christ as Lord in Christ sees the Book of Revelation, the revelation of Christ taking place in heaven?
It is ridiculous for a person who does not know Christ but only Jesus to speak of the Book of Revelation.
Examples from the Bible show that when Jesus was on earth, he gave his disciples power to cast out demons and heal diseases (Matthew 10, Luke 10).
But now he says, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”. (Matthew 28:20)
Therefore, now we should not ask Christ his power, but if we believe in and seek Christ as Lord, his power will also be revealed in us.
When the Spirit of truth comes into us, the Lord becomes one with us, so the Lord said that whoever believes in me will do greater works than me. (John 14:12)
So, in Matthew 28:18-20, the Lord gave the disciples a great command and said that the Lord, who has all power in heaven and in earth, would be with them until the end of the world.
Jesus died as the Son of Man, rose again three days later, ascended to heaven, and sent the Spirit of truth within us, so that the words of the promise of the new covenant have now come true for us.
The will that the Lord repeatedly spoke of verily verily (John 14-16) has come true.
Therefore, we have been called into Christ and have become disciples of Christ by believing in Christ as Lord and have received the mission of being sent to the whole world.
Once again, I hope you will remember how great a blessing this secret is, the Gospel of John says, we accept the fact that Christ has made me one with him.
It is called reception to receive by faith the Word of God that Christ not only came as the Son of Man and died for our sins, but also was raised, and that he is now in us and we are also in him through the Spirit of truth.
This is the one who receives him and believes in the name of the Lord. (John 1:12)
So, John 3:19 is a word of judgment on those who love darkness more than light, even though Christ, the light, has come.
Because they only insist on human light and do not receive Christ, the true light, this itself becomes judgment.
Light is that important.
Light is an essential element of life.
Moonlight is light, but there is no work of life.
Human knowledge also acts like light to people, but like moonlight, it is lifeless.
God's light enables us to see Christ and have life and have it more abundantly.
Just as eyes are useless in a dark place without light, the eyes of knowledge we have become useless if God does not shine the light of knowing Christ.
That is why Jesus said that one must be born again to see and enter the kingdom of God.
So what is the evidence of being born again?
Just look at the words of Jesus Christ in Chapter 3 of the Gospel of John.
If I believe in Christ as Lord, know him and have life (John 3:36), and eat the bread of eternal life in him, I have been born again.
Just as the death of the cross and being raised was not something I did, but the Lord died and rose again, and I died and lived again with the Lord, it is the same principle to be born of water and the Spirit.
We do not go into the water on our own, come out again, die from our sins, live again, enter the Holy Spirit, become one with Christ, become one body, and drink one spirit, but by the grace of redemption accomplished by the Lord, if we hear and believe in the word of the gospel, we will be born again as children of God who have eternal life and become citizens of heaven..
Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.
Translated by Nancy Chung
COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION