Already Condemned (John 3:17-18)

Already Condemned (John 3:17-18)

Jesus did not come to bring condemnation

Nicodemus believes that the Messiah will come to destroy the Gentiles and sinners. Jesus declares that God has sent not sent Him to condemn and destroy the world. Nicodemus is expecting the Messiah to remove the Roman rule and establish law-abiding Jews, like himself, as rulers of the world.

Jesus came to bring salvation

Jesus was sent by God to save the world. God did not send Jesus to establish the law-abiding Jews as rulers of the world. He was sent to bring broken, sinful, people into a right standing with God through the new birth.

The world is only saved through Jesus

Nicodemus is here confronted by the fact that a right standing before God is only found in Jesus and the new birth. The world is not saved through keeping the law or becoming Jews. Salvation is only through faith in Jesus. The only way to escape condemnation is to believe in Jesus. Nicodemus’ status as Jew who keeps the law will not save him. He must believe in Christ and be born again.

Those who do not believe are already condemned

Nicodemus believed that those who did not keep God’s law were the ones who were condemned; however, Jesus is here declaring that Nicodemus needs to be born again because he is the one who stands condemned. All those who have not experienced the new birth through faith in Jesus are already condemned. Nicodemus was born a child of wrath and must be born again through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-10.)

Jesus does not bring condemnation because the world is already condemned. God has already declared the whole world to be guilty, and we are born dead in trespasses in sin. Only through Jesus Christ can we be born again and have a new life. Only through Jesus can we be saved from the condemnation that already rests upon us.

Application

Are you born again?

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