Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 1 Study # 12
October 15, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: God did send His Son into the world to save the world.
Introduction: In our study last week, we focused our attention upon the statement Jesus made about what God's intention was NOT for sending His Son into the world: it was NOT to judge the world. We also considered both the theological reason for Jewish misunderstanding of God's action in sending His Son, and the personal reason of the strong antagonism Jews had for all non-Jews. At this point in Jewish historical development, the majority were "Jonahs": hating the Gentiles and hoping for their destruction.
But, God had a greater reason for sending His Son: the salvation of that part of the "world" who "believed into Jesus".
This morning we are going to look into this issue of "that the world might be saved".
- I. The Clarification Of The Purpose Of God For Sending His Son.
- A. The "For" (gar, found in 62 of John's texts) is the fourth of John's uses and follows his pattern of use: to introduce "an explanation".
- B. The God did not send... .
- C. The God did send... .
- 1. This very same truth was repeated by Jesus in 12:47.
- a. In neither text/context did Jesus say that the world would not be judged by Him (John 5:22- 27).
- b. In both texts the focus is upon God's purpose for sending Jesus into the world at the time when, and in the place where, He is at the time of these declarations [we saw last week that Jesus is going to be sent into this world again, and in that time and place He will judge the world with great wrath].
- 2. At issue in this truth is the positive outcome of His coming: salvation [this is the first reference by Author-John to "salvation"].
- 3. In the very next occasion of John's reference to "salvation" (5:34), Jesus said that He was saying what He was saying "...so that you may be saved".
- a. The "you" is important here.
- b. The "you" to whom Jesus was saying these things are identified in 5:18 as the prelude to 5:19-47.
- c. These people are one of the elements in the composition of "the world": those who did not believe into Him in contrast to those who did.
- d. There is no promise here that His words will lead them to salvation, but the claim is that the words are the foundation of the faith that leads to salvation.
- 4. "...in order that the world might be saved..."
- a. The verb is an Aorist, Passive, Subjunctive: each aspect having something to contribute to the meaning of the statement.
- b. This verb with these characteristics does not eliminate the always-stated requisite for salvation: belief into Jesus.
- c. This verb's use in this Gospel tells us what "being saved" means.
- 1) In this text/context, it means to not be judged.
- 2) This means that we need to understand "judgment".
- a) It can mean one of three things.
- i. To be compared to a standard to see if the "judged" meets the standard (Matthew 7:2).
- ii. To have the conclusions of the comparison applied to the person subjected to the person (Luke 19:22-24; Romans 2:3).
- iii. To exercise the authority to compare others to the standard and to apply the outcomes to them (Matthew 19:28).
- b) In our current text, the particular meaning is revealed by the contrast between being judged or being saved.
- c) Thus we need to understand what it means to be "saved".
- i. At a minimum, it means to not have the outcomes of legal judgment applied.
- ii. But on the positive side, "to be saved" means...
- i) First, "to be forgiven" on the basis of the "lifting up of the only begotten Son of God" (i.e., the sacrifice of the Lamb upon the Cross).
- ii) Second, to be exempted from the consequences of Legal Justice: "the one believing into Him is not judged" (3:18).
- iii) Third, those who are "saved" participate in the "sheep metaphor" of John 10:9: "he shall go in and out of the sheepfold to find pasture", and this declaration is then expanded in 10:10 with the words, "...they may have Life and have it abundantly".
- iv) Fourth, in the context of John 3, "being saved" means having access to participation in the everlasting Kingdom of God, with all the elements of the Glory of God applied to the "saved person".
