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.

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.