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Scott's Reference Library
John 3:14 through John 3:21 (NIV)
14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be
lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18Whoever 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. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved
darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does
evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed. 21But 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.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 14-18
Jesus Christ came to save us by healing us, as the children of Israel, stung
with fiery serpents, were cured and lived by looking up to the brazen serpent,
Numbers 21:6-9. In this observe the deadly and destructive nature of sin. Ask
awakened consciences, ask damned sinners, they will tell you, that how charming
soever the allurements of sin may be, at the last it bites like a serpent. See
the powerful remedy against this fatal malady. Christ is plainly set forth to us
in the gospel. He whom we offended is our Peace, and the way of applying for a
cure is by believing. If any so far slight either their disease by sin, or the
method of cure by Christ, as not to receive Christ upon his own terms, their
ruin is upon their own heads. He has said, Look and be saved, look and live;
lift up the eyes of your faith to Christ crucified. And until we have grace to
do this, we shall not be cured, but still are wounded with the stings of Satan,
and in a dying state. Jesus Christ came to save us by pardoning us, that we
might not die by the sentence of the law. Here is gospel, good news indeed. Here
is God’s love in giving his Son for the world. God so loved the world; so
really, so richly. Behold and wonder, that the great God should love such a
worthless world! Here, also, is the great gospel duty, to believe in Jesus
Christ. God having given him to be our Prophet, Priest, and King, we must give
up ourselves to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him. And here is the great
gospel benefit, that whoever believes in Christ, shall not perish, but shall
have everlasting life. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and
so saving it. It could not be saved, but through him; there is no salvation in
any other. From all this is shown the happiness of true believers; he that
believeth in Christ is not condemned. Though he has been a great sinner, yet he
is not dealt with according to what his sins deserve.
VERSES 18-21
How great is the sin of unbelievers! God sent One to save us, that was dearest
to himself; and shall he not be dearest to us? How great is the misery of
unbelievers! they are condemned already; which speaks a certain condemnation; a
present condemnation. The wrath of God now fastens upon them; and their own
hearts condemn them. There is also a condemnation grounded on their former
guilt; they are open to the law for all their sins; because they are not by
faith interested in the gospel pardon. Unbelief is a sin against the remedy. It
springs from the enmity of the heart of man to God, from love of sin in some
form. Read also the doom of those that would not know Christ. Sinful works are
works of darkness. The wicked world keep as far from this light as they can,
lest their deeds should be reproved. Christ is hated, because sin is loved. If
they had not hated saving knowledge, they would not sit down contentedly in
condemning ignorance. On the other hand, renewed hearts bid this light welcome.
A good man acts truly and sincerely in all he does. He desires to know what the
will of God is, and to do it, though against his own worldly interest. A change
in his whole character and conduct has taken place. The love of God is shed
abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, and is become the commanding principle of
his actions. So long as he continues under a load of unforgiven guilt, there can
be little else than slavish fear of God; but when his doubts are done away, when
he sees the righteous ground whereon this forgiveness is built, he rests on it
as his own, and is united to God by unfeigned love. Our works are good when the
will of God is the rule of them, and the glory of God the end of them; when they
are done in his strength, and for his sake; to him, and not to men.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a subject to which the world is very averse;
it is, however, the grand concern, in comparison with which every thing else is
but trifling. What does it signify though we have food to eat in plenty, and
variety of raiment to put on, if we are not born again? if after a few mornings
and evenings spent in unthinking mirth, carnal pleasure, and riot, we die in our
sins, and lie down in sorrow? What does it signify though we are well able to
act our parts in life, in every other respect, if at last we hear from the
Supreme Judge, “Depart from me, I know you not, ye workers of iniquity?”