A promise AND a warning

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:17

Politicians like to extract misleading soundbites from their opposition's news conferences and broadcast them on a never-ending loop in order to cast their opponent in a negative light.  As a tactic it works well because people prefer their information in small pieces that are easier to digest and don't require much time to process.  But we can be easily lead astray if our diet consists only of soundbites.

Like the verse immediately preceding it, John 3:17 is often consumed as a bite and not as part of a larger meal.  The sense you might get from John 3:17, and the way I usually hear it read, is no one needs to be concerned about the sin in their life because Jesus did not come to judge us, He came to save us.  The question should be asked however, save us from what?

Jesus did not come to condemn us because we already stand condemned.  Because of our sin we are like convicted criminals in prison just waiting to be ushered before the judge where our sentence will be pronounced and our punishment enforced.  That's why the very next verse says,

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And verse 36 of the same chapter says,

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.

Notice verse 18 says whoever does not believe is condemned "already".   And verse 36 says the wrath of God "remains" on him. "Remains" means it's already there.  God's wrath already rests on us and if we do not believe, it will remain on us.  That is the warning God gives us time and time again which I fear is glossed-over far too often, thereby giving people a false sense of security.

Hopefully this is a sobering reality.  The great news is that each of these warnings is preceded by a promise that "Whoever believes in him is not condemned" and "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life."  This promise is from God Himself that there will be no condemnation for those who believe and obey God's Son, Jesus Christ.  Christ came to save us from the judgement already resting on our heads.  He did this by serving the sentence our crimes required!

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:8-9