AN EXPOSITION OF JOHN 3:13-21
God’s Redemptive Plan
I. THE PRE-EXISTENSE OF THE SON OF MAN. 3:13
In order to have information about the saving of sinners one must have been present in God’s Throne-room when the plan was . 2 Timothy 1:9
The Son of Man was in heaven before He came down and took on to dwell with men.
II. THE LIFTING UP OF THE SON OF MAN. 3:14-15
The lifting up of the Son of man is presented here as a .
In John’s Gospel the term to be always refers to the .
John 8:28; 12:32-33
Only as was God’s Son capable of taking upon Himself the penalty resting on the .
Though Christ is lifted up in the sight of all, he does not all. We read, in order that whoever believes may in him have everlasting life.
III. THE CHARACTER, OBJECT, GIFT, AND PURPOSE OF GOD’S LOVE. 3:16
The character of God’s love: God so loved. The tense used in the original (the aorist agapçsen) shows that God’s love in action, reaching back to and coming to realization in Bethlehem and at Calvary, is viewed as , great, central fact.
The object of God’s love: God so loved the world. The term world, is here used , that is: men from every tribe and nation; not only Jews but also Gentiles.
The gift of God’s love: God gave His only begotten Son. The verb he gave must be taken in the sense of he gave unto His only begotten Son as an for sin.
The purpose of God’s love: whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. God does not leave mankind to itself. He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, with this purpose: that those who receive Him with abiding and confidence may have life.
IV. THE OBJECT OF CHRIST’S FIRST COMING NOT TO CONDEMN BUT TO SAVE. 3:17
God’s redemptive purpose is not confined to the Jews but embraces the (men from every tribe and nation, considered as a unit).
At His coming Jesus will the living and the dead. 2 Timothy 4:1
V. THE WORLD IS DIVIDED UP INTO TWO GROUPS: THOSE WHO RECEIVE CHRIST AND ARE SAVED, THOSE WHO REJECT CHRIST AND ARE JUDGED. 3:18
The one who abides in Christ by faith is not ; that is, no sentence of condemnation will be read against him, he is fully acquitted.
The one who Christ by not believing in Him as God’s only begotten Son does not need to wait for the final judgment...he has been (and therefore stands) condemned .
VI. THE LIGHT (JESUS CHRIST) IS HATED BY THE WORLD (BY THE DARKNESS) 3:19
Christ who is Himself the , came into the realm of fallen mankind (darkness); and, though some accepted Him, by far the majority preferred the moral and spiritual darkness of because their deeds were evil.
Here is the cause of man’s unbelief: he the darkness, and therefore the light.
VII. THE WORLD HATES THE LIGHT BECAUSE IT EXPOSES MAN’S SIN 3:20
Whoever is in the habit of what is wrong hates the light, and does not to the light.
The reason the unbeliever hates the light is that he fears that by this light his sinful motives, attitudes and actions might be .
VIII. THE BORN AGAIN BELIEVER PRACTICES THE TRUTH AND COMES TO THE LIGHT 3:21
The characteristic of every true believer, “he comes to the .
It will be obvious that the believer’s have been produced by the Holy Spirit that indwells him giving God all the .
