"Born Again" in Paperback
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"Born Again" in PDF
"Born Again" is now available in PDF at:
http://www.vincentcheung.com/books/bornagain.pdf
It will also be available as a paperback book. This should be ready by tomorrow or even later today.
The PDF version contains footnotes that do not appear on this site. Other than to document the works cited, remarks that add to and support the main text are placed in the footnotes to avoid interrupting the flow of the discussion. Regular readers know that I used to include footnotes on this site as well, but this has become too cumbersome and so I have now abandoned the practice.
Remember that this site only offers a preview to whatever I am working on at the moment before its completion and final release. That is, I do not write for this site directly and I do not have it in mind as I write, and this is why, I suppose, some of the entries are not too blog-friendly and the series are sometimes too long for a blod, since on my end I am really writing a book, a sermon, or something else. Also because of this, corrections and updates are often made only to the PDF version of each title.
Coming up will be various articles, sermons, lectures, remarks and commentaries on select biblical passages, etc. For the sake of convenience (my convenience!), I might not specify what something is when I release it on this site. I will also be writing short devotional pieces that will then be compiled into books. Some of these will be loose and disconnected, but others might follow a planned outline to form a series. Those who have heard me rant against daily devotional guides and the people who use them will most likely receive an explanation for this in the preface of the first of these books, that is, if I remember to give it.
Born Again (49)
John 3:19-21 (D)
When we fail to keep it within context, the idea of self-condemnation can produce various unbiblical implications. If we must retain this term, at least we must say that God is the one who makes people think and behave in a way that condemn themselves. But it is often easier just to say that God makes them that way, keeps them that way, then condemns them for being that way, and that in all of this, he remains righteous and blameless. Just as a potter has the right to do whatever he wishes with a lump of clay, God has the right to make any kind of creatures he wishes and to do whatever he wants to them.
Unbelievers tell us not to judge them. "You narrow-minded bigots!" they would say to us, "You don't even know us!" We do not claim to know more than what God has revealed to us through Scripture, but Scripture gives us so much information about their thoughts and motives that it has rendered speculation unnecessary. From these three verses alone, we already know about their dispositions, the nature of their deeds, and why they do not come to Christ. God has given us a description of their very thoughts and motives, so we know what happens in their hearts, even at a deep spiritual level.
We do not play God or usurp his authority, but we merely repeat and expound on what he has already declared: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." And at the same time, precisely because we do not play God or usurp his authority, we dare not keep silent about his revelation to us or compromise its message before the world, when he has commanded us to preach to all nations.
Non-Christians want us to stop seeing things in black and white, in absolutes, and start seeing in shades of gray instead. But John gives us no such option. With him it is either belief or unbelief, life or death, love or hate, light or darkness, good or evil, true or false, and salvation or condemnation. He packs all of these ideas in verses 16-21, and he would repeat them and add several others in the rest of his writings. You are either a Christian or a non-Christian. You either believe in Christ, or you disbelieve in Christ. If you believe, you have eternal life, but if you disbelieve, you are condemned to hell forever. It is as simple as that.
Man is a sinner. He needs a savior. Jesus is the answer. Just reading John 3:1-21 is enough to make a Christian weep and tremble. His spirit responds to God's words (John 6:63), and his heart burns within him as he reads (Luke 24:32). But all of this feels dead to the damned. No, it is not that the words are dead – they are "living and active" (Hebrews 4:12) – but the hearts of the damned are dead.
What about you? Does all of this mean anything to you? Does all this talk about spirit, faith, life, and light sound meaningless and foolish to you? There is nothing wrong with the message, but there is something wrong with you. You are still dead in your sins, and you must be born again. Seek him today. Entreat him today. And it might be that he has chosen you even before the foundation of the world, so that he will now open your understanding, revive your spirit, and grant you new life in Christ.
(end of series)
Born Again (48)
John 3:19-21 (C)
Some commentators suggest that there is a sense in which the person who hides from the light is self-condemned. The illustration is used that the way a person reacts to an established work of art tells us something about the person rather than the work of art. The masterpiece serves as a standard and a reference point by which the person is judged, and rather than damaging its worth, the person who belittles the masterpiece is "self-condemned," at least when it comes to art appreciation. In a similar fashion, the person who does not come to the light betrays his true nature and motives, and according to the beginning of verse 19, this is how the process of judging occurs.
There is no problem with this – and indeed, if this is what the passage teaches there cannot be any problem with this – as long as we remember that the description is relative, so that we do not abuse the text by deriving from it some idea of human freedom, as if man is self-condemned apart from God. No, this would contradict the consistent teaching of Scripture, that God exercises complete control over all men, whether for good or for evil.
The text is relative because, although it indeed tells us how humanity is split by Christ as the standard and the reference point, it does not tell us why some are evildoers and why they remain such. Nothing in the text says that evil is self-caused or that men make themselves evil. In addition, in a context when Paul is talking about the elect and the non-elect, those whom God loves and those whom God hates (Romans 9:13), he mentions that it is up to God to make "some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use" (v. 21).
The Gospel of John itself refers to those who "belong" to God and those who "belong" to the devil, and nothing indicates that the people themselves are the ones who decide to whom they will belong. And we must not forget the passage, also in the Gospel of John, which says that some people cannot believe because God actively blinds their minds and deadens their hearts. So both the elect and the non-elect are made that way by God, and actively kept that way by God, and it is this that explains why they behave differently in John 3:19-21.
Moreover, although the idea of self-condemnation has some meaning in a very narrow context – it tells us how some people behave relative to a reference point – it cannot be pressed very far. It is not as if a person can create a hell and then send himself there. No, God decided to create it and send people there. A man would not even know how to go to hell after he dies unless God takes him there. Why, do you think that God would just hand him a map and expects him to find his way to hell by himself? No, John writes that the unbeliever is thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).
(to be continued)
Born Again (47)
John 3:19-21 (B)
Now, it is not as if these evildoers merely prefer evil, that while they commend the light and those who come to the light, they just feel that they must head toward another way. No, John says, "Everyone who does evil hates the light." They resent and detest the light. Some run away from it, and some actively oppose it. Paul lashed out at the light until the light struck back and made a believer out of him (Acts 9).
The evildoer "will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." You see, there is something wrong with him. There is something wrong with the non-Christian. There is something wrong with the person who hears the gospel but does not believe. There is something wrong with the person who argues against Christianity. And there is something wrong with the person who affirms a religion other than the Christian faith. There is nothing wrong with Christ or Christianity, but what is wrong is that the evildoer fears that his deeds will be exposed. The word rendered "exposed" can also mean to convict or to reprove.
This is the reason why people do not come to Christ and believe in him. It is not because there is something wrong on the side of Christianity, but it is because the unbeliever is evil, and he does not want to be exposed, convicted, and reproved. He resents and fears the light, and so he runs away from it and hides from it. Those who wish to retain their pride sometimes ridicule it, argue against it, and slander it by making up stories about it.
They would give themselves all sorts of reasons for not coming to the light, fearing that they would be exposed for the depraved individuals that they are. For example, some people might base their unbelief on a work of fiction, a novel based on old and refuted theories about the Christian faith. And often their arguments and theories even contradict one another. But they are desperate, and so they will hang on to anything to give them an excuse.
In contrast, "whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." The verse literally says, "whoever does the truth," or as in the NASB, "he who practices the truth." So in these three verses (v. 19-21), John gives us a picture of one who does evil and one who does the truth.
Although John is fond of contrasts and parallels, his description of these two persons do not exactly correspond at every point. The former does evil, but rather than saying that the latter does good, he says that this person does "the truth." In both his Gospel and his Epistles, "truth" is inseparably tied to the person and doctrine of Jesus Christ. Thus the person who welcomes the light is not just one who does good in general, but he is one who follows or practices the teachings of Christ.
He comes to the light "so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." Here is another point where the contrast is not an exact parallel. The evildoer does not come to the light because his deeds are evil, and he does not want to be exposed, convicted, and reproved. On the other hand, John does not say that the one who comes to the light wishes all to see that his deeds are good, but he wishes to make it known that his deeds have been "done through God," or literally, "wrought in God" (NASB). The one who comes to the light does so because God has been working in and through him. The verse thus teaches "a strong doctrine of divine election."
(to be continued)
Born Again (46)
John 3:19-21 (A)
We cannot judge what we cannot know, and so we admit that we cannot judge someone's thoughts and motives when we cannot know a person's heart. Further, we would be unjust to speculate about a person's thoughts and motives, and then make a judgment about him on such a basis. When we do this, not only do we sin against the man, but we sin against God, for we pretend that we can do that which only an omniscient judge can do, and thus we usurp his role and rob his honor.
All of this is true, but problems occur when we infer from this that we cannot have any reliable knowledge about the hearts of men, so that we can never make any authoritative statements regarding their thoughts and motives, or even to denounce their unbelief and sinful behavior. The inference is invalid, because even though we have no direct knowledge about the hearts of men, God knows all things, and he has told us something about what he knows concerning the evil thoughts and motives of the non-Christian.
And on this basis – not speculation but revelation – we can confidently expose the sinner's thoughts and criticize his motives. Of course, we do not know the sinner's heart in the fullness and with the precision that God knows it, but we can know as much as God has revealed to us. We must not speculate beyond what God has revealed, but at the same time, we must boldly apply what the Spirit has shown us about the sinner in the Bible.
In verses 19-21, the inspired apostle expounds to us not only the reactions of men toward Christ, but also their motives and reasons for these differing reactions:
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.
Morris thinks "verdict" is a misleading translation: "The word denotes the process of judging, not the sentence of condemnation." If we will read the passage carefully, we should notice that it is describing how the judgment is worked out rather than a pronouncement of judgment.
Of course, there is a judgment, and there is a pronouncement, but this passage has a different emphasis. It would be awkward to translate the word as "judging," but some versions make attempts to convey the meaning. For example, the NLT says, "Their judgment is based on this fact," and the GNT says, "This is how the judgment works."
First, John says, "Light has come into the world." This establishes the reference point by which people are judged. Their nature and their motives are uncovered by how they react and relate to the light. This light is Jesus Christ, who says elsewhere in this Gospel, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (8:12). Therefore, he is the reference point by which people are judged.
John continues, "…but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." He tells us men's reaction and the reason for this reaction. Jesus Christ, the light, has come into the world. But men love darkness instead. This is not because it is irrational to come to the light, and it is not because these men already have the light, or that they have something better. But they love darkness because their deeds are evil, because they are evildoers.
(to be continued)
Born Again (45)
John 3:17-18 (C)
Christians often hesitate to say for sure whether a non-Christian who has died has been condemned to hell. They say that this is something that rests solely in God's hands, and it is not known to us. However, if we have any respect for God at all, then we must say that the fate of each unbeliever is in fact known to us, for God has revealed it to us. When the non-Christian dies, he is thrown into an everlasting hell. There he will suffer conscious extreme torture – pain! agony! madness! – beyond anything that we have known or imagined, for an endless duration, and where each second's suffering is just as fresh as the one before.
The only reason to withhold judgment on the issue is the possibility that someone has become a Christian in the final seconds before his death. Of course, when this happens, the person has died as a Christian and not a non-Christian. But let us never hesitate to say that someone who has died as a non-Christian is now suffering extreme torment in hell. It might not make us very popular at funerals, but if those who attend do not believe, then they will likewise perish.
In light of what God and Christ have done to secure salvation, it is blasphemous to say that the Christian faith is not the only way to salvation or to escape condemnation. Remember what had to happen: God had to send his Son to die on the cross. If there was another way to secure salvation, if God had willed another standard for satisfying his own justice, then evidently even God himself did not know about it.
For someone to say that there are other ways to salvation would be to say that God was mistaken about his own nature and his own decree. And it is as if he walks up to Christ while he was on the cross and says, "What are you doing? We don't need you. You are being crucified for no reason." And a Christian who acknowledges that there might be other ways to God is doing the same thing. It is as if he walks up to Christ on the cross and says, "What are you doing? They don't need you. Nobody does. Don't you know that you are suffering for nothing?"
This is the implication of denying the exclusivity of the Christian faith. Accordingly, a church member who denies this doctrine should be repeatedly entreated, corrected, and rebuked. But if there is no repentance, and if he refuses to affirm that only Christians will enter heaven and all non-Christians are condemned to hell, and especially if he is vocal about this horrible blasphemy, then he should be excommunicated.
The person who denies the exclusivity of the Christian faith might consider himself compassionate toward other people, and he is unwilling to think of the great number of non-Christians as condemned. But under this cloak of humanistic love is his resentment against God and an utter disdain for the cross. The person who insists that only Christians are saved has nothing to answer for, but it is the one who says that there are other ways that must defend his blasphemy.
On the other hand, the more we emphasize and glory in the exclusivity of the Christian faith, that the only way to have eternal life and to escape everlasting hell is to believe in Jesus Christ, the more we honor God's love and Christ's sacrifice. We accept what he has provided with reverence and gratitude. At the same time, we dare not and wish not tell others that all will be well even if they mock God's love and spurn Christ's suffering. Few people are more wicked than those who say that even non-Christians can be saved, who blaspheme God and deceive men in the same breath.
I realize what God has saved me from and what he did to secure this salvation. So I am not about to turn against him by saying that all that he did for me was unnecessary, for indeed he has declared that faith in Christ is the only way. And whether as a church member or as a church leader, I am not going to let anyone blaspheme like this with impunity. But for such a person, the greatest punishment is yet to come, for "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31).
Even if you consider yourself a Christian, if you have compromised the precious and crucial doctrine that Jesus is the only way to salvation, then you have committed a terrible sin. If you have suggested or even entertained the idea that there might be another way to God, you are a great sinner. You have called God a liar, and it is as if you have spat on Christ as he hung on the cross, and joined the reprobates as they mocked his suffering.
Your contempt for God and for Christ disgusts me, and it is hard for me to think of a word insulting enough to describe someone like you. I would be ashamed to call you a brother or sister in Christ. You are unworthy to even be in the same room with those of us who affirm that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
And in fact, someone who blasphemes God and mocks the work of Christ like you might not be a Christian at all, but you might still be under condemnation, being prepared for everlasting hellfire. If you think that there is another way to salvation, then you should try it and see what happens when you die. But if you are unwilling to entrust your soul to a non-Christian way, then why do you suggest that other people can do it and be saved? You hypocrite!
Nevertheless, God is merciful, and even someone despicable like you can be forgiven, that is, if you will now repent and affirm the truth, that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, to salvation, to escape everlasting condemnation, and that all non-Christians will suffer in hell forever.
(to be continued)
Born Again (44)
John 3:17-18 (B)
Many people are eager to eliminate or explain away the teachings concerning condemnation in the Bible, and some of them would quickly seize upon a statement like "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world." They might infer from this that God has no intention to condemn anyone, or they might apply this to Christian evangelism and say that sermons that refer to the wrath of God are inconsistent with God's love and Christ's mission. Others would use verses like this to resist Christians who speak out about their sins.
We can unleash an avalanche of biblical passages that unmistakably assert God's wrath, his condemnation of the wicked, and his active punishment against unbelievers. But even if we ignore all of them for now, verse 18 is sufficient to destroy the above delusions, and false inferences and applications: "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
In other words, it is not that God will not condemn, but that the condemnation of sinners and unbelievers is already settled, already taken care of. The atonement does not have an opposite counterpart that Jesus must perform in order to secure the condemnation of the wicked. The verse refers to those who hold to a stubborn and persistent unbelief. They are non-Christians, and they will never become Christians. These people, the verse says, are "condemned already." There is no need for God to send his Son to do something special to make it happen. It is already a certainty.
If anything, the coming of the Son of God has made the condemnation of the wicked even more clear and certain. The verse says that the unbeliever is condemned "because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." Verse 36 says, "God's wrath remains on him." The verse speaks of God's judgment against the person as a present reality, and not something that is doubtful until the future.
Rather than dampening the Bible's message of condemnation, the verse seals the condemnation of the unbeliever. At the same time, it provides us with a strong statement regarding the exclusivity of the Christian faith. A person is condemned "because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." It tells us that if you are a non-Christian, then unless you become a Christian, you are condemned already. It does not matter what you do or what you become, as long as you remain a non-Christian, you are already under condemnation.
This teaching pervades John's writings. Here are only several examples: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him" (John 5:23); "He who hates me hates my Father as well" (John 15:23); "Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also" (1 John 2:22-23).
Notice those verses from 1 John. There John writes in the same way as he does in John 3:16-21. He states both the positive and the negative aspects of an idea, as if he wishes to eliminate all excuse and confusion. I could just say, "I am a man," but I make my emphasis and intention unmistakable when I say, "I am a man; I am not a woman." The same goes with "I am a Christian" as compared to "I am a Christian; I am not a non-Christian." In this way, John writes, "No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also."
No one who denies the Son has the Father. As Jesus says in John 14:6, "No one comes to the Father except through me." What am I getting at? There is no way that a person can be a non-Christian and approach the Father, but the only way to approach God is to become a Christian. In other words, no non-Christian religion can lead to God, but all non-Christians remain under God's condemnation – even if they are not atheists, but are Buddhists, Mormons, Muslims, Catholics, and so on.
You cannot disbelieve or reject Jesus Christ and still claim that you love God, or are accepted by God. You cannot say that you are not a Christian, but that you are finding God some other way – there is no other way. This is because to reject the Son is to reject the Father who sent him. Again, John writes, "We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son" (1 John 5:9-10). If you do not accept Jesus Christ, if you reject the Christian faith, then you have called God a liar, and God's wrath remains on you. But "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well" (1 John 5:1).
(to be continued)
Born Again (43)
John 3:17-18 (A)
Verse 17 closely follows verse 16, and continues to describe Jesus' mission, for which God has sent him to accomplish: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
To accurately understand this verse, we must first remember that it continues from verse 16, and should not be read apart from it. Verse 16 in turn follows verse 15, and should not be read apart from it. So, going back to verse 15, there it is said that Jesus would be "lifted up," and elsewhere John explains that this refers to "the kind of death he was going to die" (12:33). That is, verse 15 refers to the crucifixion, a central event in Christ's work of atonement. Although verse 16 most likely begins John's commentary, it is nevertheless a commentary on verse 15, and it does not change the subject but rather extends it. So it says that, out of love, God sends his Son to perform the work of atonement on the cross.
Keeping this in mind as we read verse 17, it makes perfect sense to say that "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." The present focus is the atonement, and of course the atonement is not mainly to condemn the world, but to save those for whom Christ dies, for whom he makes this atonement.
Because of this context, there is a particular sense in which God did not send his Son to condemn the world. The next verse says, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." Why, of course! Do you see it? We are able to understand all of this in precisely the sense in which it is intended as long as we keep in mind Christ's redemptive work as the background. He came to heal the sick, raise the dead, and save the sinners. He did not need to do the opposite – people were already sick, already dying, and already condemned.
Now consider John 9:39, where Jesus says, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some people might find a verse like this puzzling in light of what we have just read in John 3:17, but the difficulty is easily resolved because we have taken the time to observe the precise sense in which 3:17 asserts what it does. When we then take similar care to read John 9:39, we immediately notice that the two verses are in fact talking about different things, or "judgment" in different senses.
The word "judgment" does not have to mean condemnation, but among other things, it can mean distinction or separation. This is what we find in John 9:39, as the kind of "judgment" that Jesus has in mind here is such that "the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
At the background of this verse is the moving account of how Jesus healed a man born blind. The Pharisees were jealous and hostile, but when questioned by them, the man was grateful and loyal to the one who healed him. The Pharisees threw him out, but Jesus found him and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man asked, "Who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him." Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. What a beautiful picture of conversion! Can you see the Spirit of God working in him? No man, Paul writes, can say that Jesus is Lord unless by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, the Pharisees were hardened, and Jesus said to them, "Your guilt remains."
Wherever Jesus went and whatever he did, he caused a distinction to be made among men, and a separation between the believing and the unbelieving, the elect and the non-elect. Simeon had predicted, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35). And Jesus himself declared, "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).
But this is different from the emphasis in John 3:17. There the judgment is not a distinction made between people as they exhibit sharply different reactions to the words and works of Christ – that does not come up until verse 19. Rather, "to judge" in John 3:17 is contrasted against "to save," and this is why some versions use "to condemn" to translate the verb: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
(to be continued)
Born Again (42)
John 3:16 (H)
Then, here is a passage that we have already cited in another context, but it is very relevant for the present discussion, and so we will read it again:
"Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." (John 8:43-47)
In agreement with John 10 but without the metaphors, this passage tells us that a person cannot believe Jesus unless he already "belongs" to God.
Then, John 12:38-41 is even more explicit, or rather, it tells us something similar from another angle:
This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn – and I would heal them." Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
They cannot believe, because God actively prevents them! He imposes spiritual blindness and deadness upon them, and he withholds understanding and repentance from them.
Who, then, is the "whoever" in "whoever believes"? It is the person whom God sovereignly loves, and to whom he grants understanding and repentance. Rather than teaching man's freedom in salvation, the "whoever believes" in John 3:16 effectively shuts out all mankind from salvation except to those whom God sovereignly grants faith in Jesus Christ.
Thus once we take into context the whole of John's Gospel, John 3:16 teaches the exact opposite of what our opponents assert. Rather than teaching man's freedom in salvation, it altogether destroys it. If our thinking is conformed to Scripture, and if we are speaking as Scripture speaks, then to encourage men to believe, to have faith, is not to acknowledge their spiritual freedom and ability, but it is an unabashed declaration that men cannot save themselves.
To tell them that they need faith is to tell them that "with man this is impossible." And although "with God all things are possible," he does not make it happen for everyone. Moreover, although it is true to say that they can believe only when God grants faith to them, what we have established is even stronger than that – God must not only cause them to believe, but he must first stop working against them.
The problem is that our opponents do not take into account the context of John's Gospel. And this is why I call them dishonest and irreverent. They have too little respect for God and Scripture to hear all of what is said. And if they infer from a small phrase what is not really in the phrase, then they are not paying attention even to those few words. They are trying to catch what they want to hear, distort it to fit their opinions, and then they run with it and never look back.
Those who "belong" to God, those whom God has already given to Christ – "whoever" they are, they will surely come to Christ and believe. And Jesus promises that they "shall not perish but have eternal life" (v. 16). Thus he implies that those who do not believe will perish. Verse 18 will confirm this inference, and so we will mention this again when we get there. As for "eternal life," we have already expounded on this, albeit briefly, and now we must move on.
(to be continued)
Born Again (41)
John 3:16 (G)
Both items can be quickly resolved. First, the language itself does not warrant the inferences made. I can say, "Whoever becomes a fish can breath under water." The statement is true, but it does not mean that a person can become a fish anytime he wishes. In fact, any inference about one's ability is strictly invalid, since the statement contains no information about ability except for the fish's ability to breath under water. Whether or not it is possible for a person to become a fish, one can infer nothing about it from the statement itself, but it only informs us as to what would happen to a person who turns into a fish.
Moreover, even if it is possible for a person to become a fish, the statement says nothing about how this is possible, or whether it is within the person's own power to do so. God is certainly able to turn a man into a fish, but a man "cannot make even one hair white or black" (Matthew 5:36). A statement like the one that I have made tells us nothing about a person's ability, but information about ability must be obtained elsewhere.
Whenever we are talking about something that is impossible with man – such as for a man to turn himself into a fish – it means that it will either never happen, or God must make it happen by his omnipotence. One episode in Jesus' ministry makes exactly this point:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:23-26)
We only have time to note what is relevant to our discussion. Jesus says plainly that it is impossible for such a man to be saved, except if God makes it happen, since all things are possible with him. But what has happened to "whoever believes"? Jesus never said that everyone can believe, or that it is up to the person to believe, but only that whoever believes will not perish, but will have eternal life. Whether this person in Matthew 19 believes depends on God, not on him, since only God could make it happen.
In any case, the Gospel of John explains itself on this point, and does not leave us guessing. In John 10:26, Jesus says, "You do not believe because you are not my sheep." So a person is Jesus' sheep before he believes, and it is because he is his sheep that he believes. How does one become Jesus' sheep? Verse 29 says, "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." Jesus' sheep are what they are because they have been given to him by the Father, and remember, this is why they believe.
However, according to our opponents' theology, we freely decide to believe, and anyone can do it. Applying it to this passage, Jesus would have to say that we are the ones who give ourselves to him, and that we are the ones who make ourselves his sheep. Needless to say, this contradicts John 10, and therefore it is false doctrine.
(to be continued)
Born Again (40)
John 3:16 (F)
God's love is demonstrated in effective action. For the purpose of saving those whom he loves, God sends his Son. Verse 16 itself does not tell us the relevance of God sending his Son or what he sends the Son to accomplish. It only tells us that because he has been given, those who believe on him would not perish but have eternal life. This is because verse 15 has already informed us about his mission and how it relates to the salvation of men. It says that Christ would be lifted up so that those who believe would have eternal life. Verse 16, then, tells us what is at the back of this mission – God has sent his Son because he loves those whom he wishes to save.
We are so familiar with the verse that we might not realize it, but this verse tells us something that would be impossible for us to know other than by God's self-disclosure. As Paul writes, "For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us" (1 Corinthians 2:11-12). So we should regard it as a special gift to know, not only that God has sent his Son, but that he sent him because of love.
God has given something special, something unique, something precious, even his Son, in order to save those whom he loves. Not only does this tell us about the extent and intensity of God's love for those he saves, but it also teaches us that even his great love does not blind or nullify his justice. Rather, his love satisfies his justice. On the other hand, from this we also realize what it takes to satisfy this justice, and the divine wrath that our sins have incurred. And if this is what it takes to satisfy justice, we can be sure that this same justice will allow no one to escape everlasting hellfire who rejects the person and work of Jesus Christ.
We would prefer to revel longer in God's love and justice, and the perfect harmony between the two, but we must take time to deal with our opponents once again as they manipulate the next phrase to serve their own bias. John writes that God sent his Son out of love, so that "whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Our opponents differ in emphasis, but together, they have inferred from the text several unbiblical teachings, or rather, alleged support for unbiblical teachings that they already affirm.
First, coupled with their false interpretation of "the world," the term found earlier in the verse, they now infer from "whoever believes" that God loves every person the same way, and that Christ has died and made atonement for every person. Because I have already proved the biblical doctrine of a specific effective atonement elsewhere, I will not repeat the arguments here, as the topic is not the chief concern of this verse. Rather, I will just point out how the unbiblical doctrine of universal atonement cannot be inferred from it.
Second, it is suggested that to say "whoever believes in him shall not perish" implies that, since Christ has already accomplished his work of atonement, the salvation of each individual now depends on the person's free choice. A related implication is that the person is able to make such a free choice. Again, as I have also refuted human freedom elsewhere, here I will only point out how it is impossible to infer human freedom and ability from this verse.
(to be continued)
Born Again (39)
John 3:16 (E)
We can reinforce our point with yet another example. John 12:32 says, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." The word "draw" refers to a powerful and effective action from God by which he inwardly drives a person to come to Christ. If "all" must mean all human persons in all of history, then this must mean that all human persons in all of history will become Christians, or at least all those who live after Christ had been "lifted up." But then this promise or prediction would have failed even before the Acts of the Apostles.
And even if we weaken the verb "draw" to something like a gentle nudge, it is doubtful that all human persons after the crucifixion have been thus nudged to come to Christ, as many have died never having heard of him, and many who have heard were repulsed by the message of the cross. Add to this the fact that God deliberately withholds understanding and repentance from many, and even harden their hearts (Romans 9:18, 11:7), it is impossible to interpret "all" here as referring to all human persons in all of history, or even just in all the years after the crucifixion.
The meaning of the verse is clear if we will demonstrate even a little respect toward God and Scripture, and not abuse the text as our opponents do. Just a few verses earlier (v. 20-22), John writes that some Greeks had expressed an interest in seeing Jesus. This provides the context for us to understand "all men," that Jesus is again referring to the fact that the gospel will transcend racial, cultural, and national boundaries to reach all kinds of people.
This is repeated especially to counteract the stubborn notion that the Jews are automatically entitled to salvation just because they are the natural descendents of Abraham. This is the consistent and emphatic message of John and the other New Testament writers. Matthew, for example, cites Jesus as saying, "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 8:11).
When Jesus says that, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself," he is foreshadowing his later command to the disciples to no longer preach only to the people of Israel (Matthew 10:5-6), but to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). As he says in Luke 24:46-47, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." This is just another way of saying what we find in John 12:32. First, Christ will "suffer" ("when I am lifted up"), and then the gospel will be preached "to all nations" ("will draw all men").
This commission to perform worldwide ministry is repeated in Acts 1:8, and its fulfillment began just a number of days later in Acts 2, even before the disciples scattered away from Jerusalem. "God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven" (v. 5) gathered there on the day of Pentecost. Under Peter's preaching, thousands of them believed (v. 41), we assume that they brought the gospel back to where they lived.
We can make our point yet another way from Acts 2, since Peter cites Joel's prophecy, saying, "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people" (v. 17). Again, this cannot refer to all human individuals without exception, but consistent with what is obviously one of the main thrusts of Acts 1 and 2, the term refers to people of "every nation" (v. 5). As Peter says in verse 39, "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call."
Salvation is indeed for "all," but all of what? Peter says it is for all "whom the Lord our God will call." God is the one who chooses those who would be saved – indeed he will save all those whom he has chosen, and he has chosen not every individual in man's history, but people of all nations, even those who are far off, even as far as "the ends of the earth" (1:8). By extending the universal terms to include all human persons, our opponents have distorted all such verses, and obscured their important message.
Then, it is also likely that John is using the word "world" in John 3:16 to denote a humanity that is hostile to God, so that he loves even those who are now opposed to him, and he sends Christ to save them. This is consistent with what John teaches elsewhere, as when he writes in 1 John 4:10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (also v. 19).
The same idea appears in Paul, who writes, "Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:3-5). Again, that this could be John's meaning neither proves nor disproves the doctrines of divine election and definite atonement. The verse does not directly address them.
(to be continued)
Born Again (38)
John 3:16 (D)
There are many other examples in the Bible, but we will look at just one more. Just a few verses after John 3:16, we find the following, "He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony" (3:32). No one, the verse says, accepts Christ's testimony. This time, if we were to interpret Scripture as our opponents do, then we would have to conclude that "no one" in all of human history has believed or will ever believe in Christ. There has never been and never will be a Christian in all of human history.
And if "no one" must mean every human person without restriction and without exception, then it must mean that even as he writes this verse the apostle John himself has not accepted Christ's testimony. It is indeed strange, then, how he repeatedly encourages his readers to believe a testimony that he has rejected. Moreover, the way that our opponents would interpret this verse – that is, if we imitate their treatment of John 3:16 – would make John 3:32 contradict John 12:19. The former would make world evangelization futile, but the latter would say that the mission has already been accomplished.
If I were to ignore the context of everything that you say and take every universal term that you use as if it refers to every human person in all of history, I would make nonsense of your part of the conversation, and communication would break down. In addition, you could rightly accuse me of blatant disrespect for your speech and your person. You might even think that I am doing it on purpose to mock you or to annoy you.
Likewise, our opponents assume that "world" in John 3:16 must mean all human persons in all of history, and they accuse us of refusing to accept the verse just as it is written, but they are the ones who exhibit contempt for God and Scripture. In essence, they accept only one word from the text, and then assume the meaning that they desire for it without any regard for the context. On the other hand, we urge intelligence in interpretation, respect for the text, and reverence toward God by observing the context of the verse, including how all such universal terms are used throughout the writings of John, as well as the main theological concerns of the apostle.
The controversy that we are dealing with has to do with the biblical doctrines of divine election and definite atonement. Because I have addressed these doctrines elsewhere in great detail, I will not discuss them here. I am mentioning this just to point out that the verse neither proves nor disproves these doctrines. Even if the verse has some relevance to these doctrines, the focus is on something else.
John is counteracting the idea that salvation is exclusively or even mainly reserved for the Jews, or the natural descendents of Abraham. He has labored to build up this point from the very beginning, and throughout his Gospel there are comments, discourses, miracles, and other episodes to repeatedly reinforce the teaching. John 3:16 neither affirms nor denies that Christ has come to die for every individual. The question is settled in many places in Scripture, but not here. Whatever side we are on, if this has become our focus when studying the verse, then we have missed one of its main concerns.
John is stressing the transracial, transcultural, and transnational nature of salvation in Christ (1:13, 4:4-42, 8:31-47, 10:16). Along with the other New Testament writers, John is eager to announce that those who would receive eternal life will consist of "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language" (Revelation 7:9). I am deeply indignant that anyone must be diverted from reflecting on this aspect of the good news because of the incompetent, dishonest, and irreverent abuses that our opponents constantly inflict on this and other biblical passages.
(to be continued)
Born Again (37)
John 3:16 (C)
Let us take several examples from the Bible. The first one will just illustrate the need for context, and I have deliberately chosen something that has no immediate relevance to our verse. The example is Exodus 20:13, and there God declares, "You shall not kill." But what shall we not kill? Yes, humans. But what about vegetables? What about bacteria? These are not ridiculous questions, for once the context is ignored, these are indeed possibilities.
As with John 3:16, this verse has been subject to much abuse, and what usually happens is that a context, which defines and restricts the meaning, is imposed upon the text in the reader's mind without regard to the actual context in which the verse appears. This is why some people think that they can use this verse to oppose capital punishment, whereas other parts of the Bible explicitly command it. Others assert that this commandment would forbid us to eat meat, whereas the Bible explicitly permits it elsewhere. But if we cannot eat meat because we cannot "kill," and the killing here somehow includes animals, then how come vegetables and bacteria do not come under the same protection?
Of course, the commandment is more properly translated, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13, NIV), but we still need the broader context of Scripture to define murder, since some advocates suggest that it is murder to execute a criminal, and it is murder to kill a chicken. But somehow it is permissible to murder vegetables and bacteria.
Now let us come to a more relevant example, at least in terms of the expression used. We read in John 12:18-19, "Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, 'See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!'"
The Pharisees lament that "the whole world" has gone after Jesus. If we were to interpret Scripture as our opponents do, we must conclude that all human beings in all of history have become Christians. The work of evangelization is finished, and hell is completely empty except for the devil and his angels. And now that we think of it, why are the devil and his angels excluded from "the whole world," unless Scripture provides a context to justify this exclusion? Moreover, if we will forget about demons for now, if "the whole world" must mean every human person, then the Pharisees who uttered this statement must themselves have "gone after" Jesus. This would make their exclamation not a complaint, but a glad observation!
If our opponents do not adopt this absurd interpretation, it is because they are assuming a context that is different from the one that they use when reading John 3:16. Just by reading the surrounding verses, it becomes clear that "the whole world" in verse 19 refers to the "many people" in verse 18, and perhaps also "the crowd" in verse 17. If "the whole world" does not automatically and necessarily mean every human person in history, then neither can we simply assume when it comes to the "world" in John 3:16.
(to be continued)