John 3:16–21
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
John 3:16–21 needs to be read together to understand fully the significance of God’s love, provision, and his judgment on those who reject them (3:18b–19). Verses 16–17 tell us God’s purpose in sending Jesus is to save the lost and how a person is saved. Verse 18a reiterates how a person is saved and what that means, which is He who believes in him is not judged. Verse 18b tells us the consequence of not believing in the one who saves from judgment, which is to remain under judgment now and forever; it says, he who does not believe has been judged already.
Vs. 19: This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
Man’s salvation or immediate judgment is due to his choice to receive or reject God’s salvation. That on their own, sinful people stumbling in the darkness of sin, this world, and the evil power of Satan (John 12:35), love darkness and would, therefore, reject God’s love and choose their love of sin is no new revelation. But Christ did not leave the world God loves, and Christ died for (John 3:16) to depend on their own strength, but he obliterated every obstacle impeding people from being saved by faith in him while “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (John 1:29; Rom 5:10-11; 2 Cor 5:19, 20) so that by God’s love and grace, people can be personally reconciled to God by faith (2 Cor 5:20). By God’s salvific plan, people can see and understand the truth of salvation in Christ, and embrace it by faith. We are told, He who believes in Him is not judged . . . he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (vs. 18, 21).
Scripture declares the Light has come into the world, and “while I am in the world, I am the Light of the world” (John 9:5) who “enlightens every man” (John 1:9). Christ makes clear that his enlightenment is an invitation to salvation. “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light” (John 12:36), with the promise that “he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12).
Therefore, every person will be enlightened and grace enabled to understand and believe the gospel. If a person rejects Christ when enlightened (John 1:9; 12:36), he demonstrates that he loves darkness more than the opportunity to walk in the light of the truth and follow Christ. He treasures his present state and does not want to follow Christ or anyone: the Jewish leaders (Matt 26:3–4), the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17–22), and the man choosing to bury his dead (Matt 8:21) instead of following the prince of life come to mind as examples. They were unwilling to give up their present wealth, status, or the sin they enjoyed (Heb 11:24–25) for the Light because they loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
They loved their darkness, where they believed they were in control. They loved their sin and did not desire to be delivered from it; sin’s pleasure is deceiving. Although this immediate judgment does not mean there is no eschatological judgment, God’s judgment continues based on a person’s choice. The rejection of Christ, the Light of the world, when His grace provides an accessible opportunity so that we “may become sons of Light” (John 12:36), is the ultimate evidence that an individual loves the darkness.
Sin not only means to walk in darkness (John 12:35) but also to seek darkness. Even a believer who steps into sin will either come to the Light seeking forgiveness (1 John 1:9) or draw back from a close relationship with Christ, the Light of the world (John 8:12). Most evil is perpetuated at night. One who accepts sin flees from fellowship and the Light and retreats into the privacy of darkness to hide his sin. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
It was during Christ’s trial that Peter denied him three times (Matt 26:69–75). Peter started the night seated by the fire in the courtyard (Mark 14:54), warming himself and being situated as close to Jesus as possible so he could hear the trials better. Denial one was when “a servant-girl came to him and said, ‘You too were with Jesus the Galilean.’ But he denied it before them all, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about'” (Matt 26:69–70). His denial was apparently loud enough to be heard by others since “he denied it before them all” (26:70).
After that denial, he moved away from the light of the fire, where presumably, he would be less identifiable, and closer to the gate, where it would be easier to flee if needed (Matt 26:71–72). His previous desire to be physically closer to Christ was replaced by his greater desire for self-preservation once he saw danger and sensed its possible escalation. Denial two came when he was by the gate and spoke to another servant girl, but this time, he became more entrenched in his sin and incorporated an oath in his denial, thereby elevating the severity of his sin and denial (vs. 72) because oaths were ultimately to God. The girl’s accusation was toward Peter but was “said to those who were there.” He had not only moved further away physically from Christ, but he had also moved further away spiritually.
Denial three came when bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.” In response, he began to curse and swear. This does not mean he was cussing in the way we often hear; instead, he was invoking God as his defense. Similar to the phrase, “If I am lying, may God strike me dead.” The implication is that if God does not, that proves the person is telling the truth. Here, Peter was invoking God as his witness that he was truth-telling, all the time knowing he was lying to people, God, and about God.
His sin had driven him further from the light of the fire (his unwillingness to be identified as a follower of Christ), spiritually away from the one who is the Light of the world, and deeper into physical and spiritual darkness. That is the nature of sin, whether in an unbeliever’s life (John 3:19–20) or in a believer such as Peter. But, when Peter heard the rooster crow, “Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, ‘Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly” (Matt 26:74–75). He repented when he remembered the word from Christ.
Many hear the word of God but refuse to learn from it (John 1:11), but as many as hear and learn from God’s drawing by his word, they come to God and receive eternal life (John 1:12; 6:45). Hearing and remembering the work of God grants the opportunity to a believer to come to repentance, and an unbeliever to come in faith and repentance to salvation. In both cases, people must acknowledge their sins, which is something God’s grace enlightenment enables them to do (John 3:21; 1 John 1:9).
Judas is the quintessential example of someone who heard the truth of Christ but did not humble himself and learn. Even with unparalleled firsthand exposure to Christ’s love, teaching, miracles, deliverances, and saving power, he chose to shun it all, along with Christ’s goodness toward him personally for three years; he then hanged himself without repentance in remorse for his evil. His sorrow and remorse without repentance (2 Cor 7:10) led him from the Light of the world to the dark, dreadful hangman’s rope and eternal judgment. He abandoned the truth that he witnessed in Christ, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance” (Rom 2:4)?
Judas, with more firsthand knowledge and evidence than most of the world will ever have, almost inexplicably turned from Christ’s patience with him to a ghastly death at the end of a rope followed by eternal fire.[1] With Christ’s full enlightenment escorted by all of God’s grace enablements, he turned away and proved he loved darkness rather than the Light.
Based on his sinful nature, man always chooses darkness on his own (apart from God’s grace). But for those who choose evil, this passage reflects their judgment because, despite Christ, the Light of the world (John 12:35), coming into the world and enlightening every person (John 1:9) to show the love of God in providing redemption for everyone by faith, they rejected Christ, God’s revelation. He enlightened them to hear and know the truth (John 6:45) so they could leave the darkness and come into the light of God’s love and salvation (John 12:35–36). God drew them to himself (John 6:44:12:32) and the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin (John 16:8–9), by which God provided sufficient salvific grace for all to “work . . . for the food which endures to eternal life,” which all could and should do as seen in Jesus’s promise “which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27). Nevertheless, many chose to reject God’s love and the Light.
Rejecting Christ and his payment for sin (John 1:29) is a person’s choice to remain under God’s judgment because he loves and chooses his sin over Christ, a choice he did not have to make. Faith in Christ removes sin and its judgment (Rom 8:1), a choice anyone can make by God’s grace. Rejecting Christ means one chooses to remain under condemnation and hold on to earthly pleasures and sin rather than being delivered from it. Verse 19 reveals the condemnation that humanity is under because of their sin. Those who receive Christ are delivered, but the judgment continues for those who reject Christ. People who reject Christ’s message of light and life (John 1:4), under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and power of the gospel, make an informed and undetermined choice to continue their love affair with the life they’ve carved out instead of falling in love with Christ who is life (Matt 11:18; John 1:4; 14:15)
They are now judged, not as ones who are unenlightened and do not know the truth, the way of salvation, but as those with full knowledge necessary to be saved (Matt 4:16; 12:31–32; John 1:7–9: 6:45, 12:46). God’s salvific love opened the door for all to be saved. Even while in darkness, they are enlightened to walk in truth or remain in their sin (John 8:12). John 12:35–36 says, “Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you . . . While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” Once enlightened and prior to regeneration or salvation, each person is given a choice, with full understanding, and enabled to accept the truth of the gospel and Scripture and become a son of the Light or to reject it and return to the darkness of our sin and due judgment.
Christ’s light and the salvific love of God penetrated the darkness of sin and Satan with full provision so that people could know and choose the truth and be saved or remain in the cauldron of their pride, works, and wealth under the canopy of God’s judgment. Many who were given a chance to walk in truth and experience God’s love in salvation (vs. 21) desired their sin and earthly life over salvation truth and heavenly life (vs. 20) and chose to walk away (Luke 18:18–24). Many listened as though they wanted the truth, but their behavior and rejection of the revelation of God demonstrated they were not really truth seekers but lovers of their own wisdom, knowledge, and sinful darkness; in reality, they hated the light (John 6:27–30, 36). They did not want their deeds exposed because they were unwilling to repent or give up their perceived control of their lives: they had no desire for righteousness.
In contrast, by the grace of God, the sinner who practices truth by believing in God’s promise through Jesus (vs. 16–17, 21) comes to the light because he wants his deeds to be manifested and dealt with by God through repentance, trusting God’s revelation about Jesus, and the promise to be rescued from the domain of darkness and “transferred . . . to the Kingdom of His beloved Son” (Acts 26:18; Col 1:13). God’s salvation plan is that he presents revelation that Jesus is the Savior, and then the person believes God’s revelation about and through Christ. Then, God credits the believer with salvation–righteousness.
It should surprise no one that people make bad, even horrible, decisions that keep them on a dead-end, disastrous path when they could have chosen differently and experienced truly wonderful outcomes. For example, a person could choose drugs, premarital sex, abortion, or cheating when they could have chosen the opposite, just like people do every day. Many people have made costly, sinful choices; probably all of us have done so in some phase of our lives, only to make better choices at a later time. Humans often make a worse choice than they thought they could and should make for a short-term gain. Remember, Adam and Eve chose to sin in a perfect environment.
[1] Except for God endowing man with libertarian moral freedom, it would be absolutely inexplicable.