John 3:36, commentary and pictures

Whoever puts saving trust in the Son already possesses unending life, while whoever refuses Him will not see life at all but remains under God's wrath. That life is not natural to fallen humanity and is not gained by forms or works apart from Christ, but is received only through Him on the condition of faith. The Son can give it because He came down from heaven above all, loved by the Father who has placed all things in His hand and given Him the Spirit without measure. Believing is not mere profession or theory but truly receiving Him, looking to the uplifted Saviour, abiding in Him and taking His word into the heart unto obedience and good works. Refusing Him is disobeying God and despising offered forgiveness, and the wrath that then abides will end in final remorse and destruction of soul and body, though salvation is freely offered to all with none shut out by arbitrary choice.

Setting and Speaker

The verse closes John's answer when his disciples complained, Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to Him. Jesus had come from Jerusalem to the region about Jordan, and day by day the crowds about John lessened while the people flocked to hear Jesus and the number of His disciples increased daily. Many came for baptism, and while Christ Himself did not baptize He sanctioned baptism by His disciples and thus set His seal upon His forerunner's mission. John's disciples in jealousy disputed with the Jews whether baptism avails to cleanse the soul from sin, maintained that the baptism of Jesus differed essentially from that of John, then disputed with Christ's disciples over the form of words proper at baptism and finally over their right to baptize at all. Through their words Satan tempted John to sympathize with himself at being superseded and to hinder the work of Christ, which would have sown dissension, envy and jealousy and seriously impeded the gospel, but with evidence of Christ's power before him John steadfastly refused ambition and directed the attention fixed upon him to Another. Christ taught this vital truth while a dispute about purification arose between John's disciples and the Jews, and controversy over such a minor side issue could divert people whose consciences were being affected and reached by truth.

The words conclude John the Baptist's testimony that Jesus is the One sent from heaven who speaks God's words with the Father's authority. They are part of his witness to Jesus as the Promised One that echoes Jesus' testimony to Nicodemus and clears the way for Christ's ministry. Those who held the words were spoken by the lips of Jesus Christ teach that His word is everything to the one who believes it, calling for acceptance and belief of His word. The verse settles dispute over whether Christ's baptism or John's baptism purifies from sin, showing that apart from Christ baptism and any other service is a worthless form, for faith in the Son brings everlasting life because the grace of Christ is what gives life to the soul.

The chapter belongs to the call to be born again and humble oneself under God, centered on God's gift of His Son as humanity's Mediator and Redeemer. It gives Christ's own testimony concerning righteousness and truth, providing a wonderful lesson that every man, woman, and child must have natural traits of character, temperament and disposition transformed into Christ's likeness or he cannot enter or be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven, a fact that never will change. John 3 is therefore to be read by those who have not been born again.

Promise and Warning

Whoever believes on the Son has everlasting life, while whoever does not believe on the Son shall not see life or have life, but the wrath of God abides and remains on him. Belief brings life and refusal leaves a person without life under abiding wrath, for the Son speaks God's words and has all things given into His hand. Everlasting life is bound to knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom God sent.

The life promised is possessed now, for whoever believes already has everlasting life. It is received by believing on Christ and receiving the truth in the heart. Trusting in the Son gives unending life now by taking the eyes off self and off sins and wretchedness and fastening them on the uplifted Saviour. That looking brings hope and peace and healing of soul from the Great Physician who heals body and soul.

Everlasting life is obtained only through Christ and is brought within human reach through Him on the stated condition of faith. Immortality is not naturally possessed or passed down from Adam, nor retained after sin. It was lost through sin and is received through Christ by those who meet its condition.

The verse is to be taken just as it reads as the ground of faith. It is the sure word of prophecy demanding implicit faith from all who claim to believe it. Its plain words are authoritative and contain in themselves the proof of divine origin.

The verse presents the law and the gospel together, binding the two up in a perfect whole.

Identity of the Son

The Son comes from above, from heaven, and is above all earthly men. He testifies what He has seen and heard, speaks the words of God, and God gives the Spirit to Him without measure and without limit. The Father loves Him and has given all things into His hand and placed everything under His authority. Receiving His testimony sets to its seal that God is true and honors God as true, while rejecting Him rejects the offer of Christ's righteousness and salvation. Receiving Christ as Savior and as personal Savior gives power to become sons and daughters and children of God and to be born of God.

He clothed His divinity with humanity and took a humble life of poverty so that humanity could touch humanity. In that lowliness He brought His great light to all, to the highest and the most lowly. The poor can have no excuse that He does not understand their trials.

Faith in the Son brings life because the grace of Christ is what gives life to the soul, and from His fullness believers receive grace for grace and everlasting life. Apart from Christ baptism and any other service is a worthless form that cannot purify from sin. Christ's sacrificial death is the source of spiritual and eternal life for humanity, and His death and resurrection give life and value to those who receive and trust Him as their personal Savior. He came as Redeemer and Mediator, lived a perfect life, and through believing in Him as personal Savior He provides life and strength to overcome evil. He is the One on whom a person's reception of life depends.

Nature of Believing

Believing on the Son is not mere nominal faith, a theory of truth, or a legal religion, but believing to a purpose that truly accepts God's gifts. It appropriates the richest gifts of God and receives power to become sons and daughters and children of God, born of God from His fullness grace for grace. It pleads for the gift in order to give to others, and its promise is impressed upon every opened, contrite heart, giving light and understanding to the simple.

Believing means taking the eyes off self, sins, wretchedness and hopeless condition and fastening them by looking to the uplifted Savior and trusting His merits and atoning blood. That looking brings hope and peace and forgiveness and healing of soul from the Great Physician who heals body and soul, and faith in His atoning blood is the life of the church. Believing means eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, which is abiding in Christ with Christ abiding in the believer. The flesh profits nothing, for His words are spirit and life, and where the Word is truly appreciated it will be obeyed.

Belief in Christ is joined with bearing fruit in good works, and words should draw people to Him. Believing means accepting Christ as a personal Savior, through whom people receive life and strength to overcome evil, for He came as Redeemer, lived a perfect life, and provides that strength. Receiving His testimony sets to seal and acknowledges that God is true, because He comes from above and speaks God's words with the Spirit without measure with all things given into His hand by the loving Father. Rejecting that testimony, even when faced with the works and witness confirming His divine mission, leads to eternal ruin, for it is also rejecting the offer of Christ's righteousness and salvation.

The question that most concerns every person is whether he believes with saving faith on the Son of God. This living reality is the real issue, set against disputes over minor forms and technicalities. It belongs together with a life in harmony with the divine law.

Unbelief and Divine Wrath

Disobedience to God's requirements shuts a person out from life, and the wrath of God remains upon the disobedient, while life is promised and blessing is given to the obedient. That wrath abides on everyone who refuses to accept Christ, refuses to forsake sin, and despises offered forgiveness and grace. By transgression of God's law the soul is cut off from God, and entire obedience to His law is the condition for escaping this wrath and receiving salvation.

The full realization of that wrath comes too late, when punishment brings only remorse and despair and hatred and bitterness against God. That experience is unquenchable fire, by which every unrepentant sinner will finally be destroyed in both soul and body. God's wrath hangs over all who remain separated from Him. Salvation requires accepting Christ's way and trusting fully in God rather than trusting in self or in the attractions of the world.

The contrast between life and abiding wrath is therefore the choice between receiving Christ and forsaking sin, or following Satan into sin and continuing in sin while refusing forgiveness and grace. Salvation is offered freely to all, and no one is excluded by arbitrary divine choice. What determines final destiny is whether a person accepts salvation through faith in Christ and lives in obedience to God's commandments.

Proclaiming and Living Verse

The words of John 3:31-36 are to be sounded by God's people throughout the length and breadth of the world, that all may discern the light and walk in the light. John 3 is to be read by those who have not been born again, as a call to receive the new birth and humble oneself under God. John 3:22-36 should be read carefully to bring thorough conviction and a work of repentance in the soul.

That careful reading leads to genuine daily conversion to the mind and will of Christ, and to speaking timely and earnest words to erring ones. It enables standing against Satan's deceptive effort to overcome every soul, and cooperating with the angels of God present to protect from rudeness in word or action. It attains the knowledge of Jesus Christ needed to stand in the investigative judgment and graduate to the heavenly school. Everlasting life is bound to knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom God sent, and that knowledge is the power and soul of true education.

Only the religion that comes from God leads to God. Wealth, intoxicating drink, worldly pleasure, title, rank, learning, and power cannot satisfy the restless craving of the human heart or give repose to the mind. Faith in Christ satisfies and gives rest, and the believer has in his heart a well of living water whose influence is felt by all with whom he is associated.