“36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
The last verse we looked at summed up the perfect unity and the understanding of the relationship between the Father and Son. This is to show the unity of God with the working out of His mission on the world through Jesus Christ. The passage has been building to John’s main point as well as the main point of the chapter. It has been an argument as to why Jesus is the answer. Jesus comes from heaven (v.31), and because He comes from heaven He speaks of the things from heaven and bears witness to those things (v.32 and 34). Most will not believe, but some will and they are the ones who understand God is true (v.32 and 33). The last verse today sums up the whole chapter into one sentence that if people understand the rest of the gospel will open up in a new way. This is something John the Baptist always understood and that is why he was the voice crying out in the wilderness and this was the point that Jesus was trying to get across to Nicodemus.
In this verse John gives two different actions for people who believe and those who do not obey. This might seem at first reading to be two different actions but in the context of the verse they are an explanation of each other. John is contrasting those who receive with those who do not obey. The assumption is that those who receive will also obey. This is something that is lost on a lot of people. Receiving Jesus is not just a verbal assent but also an action of obedience. Those who truly receive the Son will also obey.
Then, the second contrast we have is having eternal life and those that will not see life. The difference here is that those who receive Jesus already have eternal life. This points to the reality in that eternal life is found in the Son which is something Jesus constantly reiterates throughout the gospel in different ways. He will be explained as the bread of life and the resurrection. Eternal life is not received after receiving Jesus but the very action of receiving Jesus is eternal life. There is no separation between the two. This becomes even more evident with the contrast between those who do not obey the Son because they shall not see life. Life is found in general in the Son. People can think of life as what we have here on earth, yet John does not show that. Instead, life and having life is realized through Jesus.
This definition of life gives way to the last aspect of this verse; those who do not receive and obey the Son have the wrath of God remaining in them. We as humans can think of anger as something that builds up inside of us. The wrath of God is not something that is building but something that is remaining as the final outcome here on this earth when we pass into the next life. The contrast to having life is not death but the wrath of God. In this definition eternal life comes from what we have with God. Our life is found in God, but outside of that, or rejecting that, we get wrath which is an expulsion from the presence of God.
For Christians, we must live as though we have eternal life. This means living in obedience to what Jesus taught and is continuing to teach us. In this seemingly long road home, it is easy to get discouraged or distracted yet we must fix our eyes on Jesus who is life. This is done through prayer, the reading of God’s word, soaking in that same word, and gathering together with other believers. If you are feeling like that life is slipping away, it is not. There is a neglect of the things that maintain our connection to eternal life and our connection to Jesus.
For non-Christians, there is no life found outside of Jesus. We are all dead without him going about a life that gives fleeting pleasures, but they are quick to go because they are not life in themselves. Jesus is eternal life. When you come to Him, He will allow you to see life and those simple pleasures will be more enhanced because they have been given the seasoning of life. You must receive Jesus, not just verbally assent, but also obey Him to see life.
Leave a Reply