Born Again (33)

John 3:14-15 (B)

The verse also stresses the necessity of the crucifixion, saying, "the Son of Man must be lifted up." The aim is to make it possible for man to have eternal life (v. 15). Apart from the crucifixion of Christ, or the atonement of Christ, eternal life would be unavailable to mankind. And apart from looking upon the crucified Son of Man – apart from faith – there would be no way for a person to have eternal life.

In other words, the only way to have eternal life is to become a Christian. We will return to this thought later, but even at this point, this "must" alone has doomed all non-Christians to an everlasting hell. The "must" might also have reference to the immutable decree of God on the matter, as foretold through the prophets, and thus "must" be fulfilled.

Verse 15 explains the significance or the purpose of Christ's crucifixion. It is so that "everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." A better translation is "everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." The NASB preserves the word order and translates, "that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life."

The words "in him" should modify "eternal life" because John uses a different expression when he wishes to say "believe in him." Here the verb "to believe" is used absolutely, without reference to an object. Another instance is John 6:47, which says, "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life."

Although the verb does not refer to an object for believing, it is not difficult to ascertain from the context what one is to believe. Jesus complains in verse 11 that the people "do not accept our testimony," and in verse 12, that they "do not believe" him when he speaks about "earthly things," which include what he has just explained about the nature and necessity of a spiritual birth. Still less, he surmises, would they believe him were he to speak about "heavenly things."

Verse 13 refers to the fact that the Son of Man has come from heaven, something that cannot be said about any other man. Then, verse 14 says that he must be "lifted up" as typified by Moses and the bronze snake in the desert, so that those who look to him might have life. Thus, even though the verb for believing is used absolutely, even from this passage we can derive much information about the things that we are to believe. Briefly, we must believe the whole testimony of Jesus, about where he comes from, what he teaches, and what he has come to accomplish.

As for "eternal life," this is the first time the term appears in this Gospel, although John has already referred to "life" at the very beginning, saying, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men" (1:4). It is true that eternal life is life that will never end, but the term does not refer to duration, or the quantity of life, but its quality. It is the life that is found in Christ, the life that is found in God. It is resurrection life, the life that is proper to the age of come, but that is possessed and experienced in the present by those who believe in the Son of God.

Flesh is flesh, spirit is spirit – this is the kind of life that comes from God, and not by natural human birth. This is a different kind of life than flesh-life. As Morris writes, "Eternal life is life in Christ, that life which removes a person from the merely earthly. As we see from the earlier part of this chapter, it originates in a divine action, the action wherein one is born anew. It is the gift of God, and not a human achievement."

(to be continued)