Posts by Yong Joo Park:
Have Eternal life or Remain Condemned
John 3:35-36
35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
I. God has placed everything in His Son’s hands (35)
See John 3:35.
35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
‘The Father loves the Son’ (35a, Matthew 3:17) is the cause of the following action: ‘has placed everything in his hands’ (35b).
Verses similar to 35b are Matthew 11:27, John 13:3, Matthew 28:18, and Ephesians 1:22.
‘has placed everything in his hands’ (35b) includes the fact that the reality of salvation is actually in the hands of Jesus [2].
See Matthew 11:27.
27 ‘All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
All things that have been committed to the Son (35b, Matthew 11:27a) include ‘knowledge’ (Matthew 11:27b) which means ‘experiential relationship’ or ‘eternal life’ (John 17:3). We discuss this again in Section II below.
II. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life (36a)
See John 3:36a.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
‘eternal life’ in v36a is defined in John 17:3.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent
Here, ‘knowledge’ is not just necessary information but the experiential relationship. In Jesus, our relationship with God is restored and we experience God.
Eternal life contains a present element and does not exclude a future dimension [2].
God’s Wisdom in Proverbs represents God the Son (Jesus, Proverbs 8:22-31). In Proverbs 8:35, God’s Wisdom speaks as follows.
35 For those who find me find life
and receive favour from the Lord.
‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life’ (36a) matches ‘those who find me find life and receive favour from the LORD’ in Proverbs 8:35. ‘me’ in Proverbs 8:35 may be replaced with ‘Jesus’.
III. Whoever rejects the Son remains condemned (36b)
See John 3:36b.
but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
In Proverbs 8:36, God’s Wisdom (God the Son) speaks as follows.
36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves;
all who hate me love death.’
36b matches Proverbs 8:36.
‘God’s wrath remains on them’ means not to become condemned but to continue in condemnation [2].
References
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011), Revised and updated edition. (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2011).
[2] Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 195.
The One whom God has Sent
John 3:34 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. v34 contains the Father (God), the Son (the Words of God), and the Holy Spirit (the Spirit) [2]. I. The One whom God has Sent See v34a. For the one whom God has sent […]
The One Who Comes From Heaven Is Above All
John 3:31-33 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has […]
He Must Become Greater
John 3:30 30 He must become greater; I must become less. I. Baptist John The word of God came to Baptist John son of Zechariah in the wilderness (Luke 3:2). He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3). Gloriously, so many people came […]
Baptist John’s Joy as the Friend of the Bridegroom in the Wedding
John 3:29 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. I. The bride belongs to the bridegroom (29a) See v29a. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. […]
A person can receive only what is given them from heaven
John 3:22-28 22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptised. 23 Now John also was baptising at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptised. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument […]
Works done in God
John 3:21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. The title of today’s message is “Works done in God”. ‘done in the sight of God’ in v21b could be expressed as ‘done […]
Whoever Lives by the Truth Comes into the Light
John 3:21a But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, I. Lives by the truth If we borrow the matching expression in the Old Testament for ‘lives by the truth’, it would be ‘to demonstrate one’s faithfulness”, “to act faithfully”, or “to act uprightly” [3]. II. Comes into the light To remember that […]
The Test by which Men are Judged
John 3:19–20 (NIV 2011): 19 This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. “This is the verdict” (19a) has often been […]
Choose Eternal Life or Condemnation
John 3:16–18 (NIV 2011) 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him […]
