John 3:17 … How it is to be Saved (11/27/16)
“God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but rather that the world might be saved by his Way.” ~ Jesus (John 3:17)
If Jesus is arrogantly speaking in the 3rd person here – if he is indeed speaking about himself (in direct contradiction of his own teachings about God and worship and humility – see Matthew 18:3-4, Matthew 23:12, Mark 10:18, John 12:44-47, John 14:20 et al), then even so he must be professing a profound gentleness thereby – a perfect Love that is perfectly in harmony with the Love of his heavenly Father (see Matthew 5:48) and a perfectly non-condemning nature in alignment with the prefect Love of the same (see 1 John 4:18).
And that having been said, in all likelihood that is not what Jesus is saying here. In all likelihood (if we are going to do him the most honor while interpreting his words) Jesus is speaking not of himself as “the Son”, but rather is speaking of “the Son of Man” within all of us (see Matthew 8:20, Matthew 9:6, Matthew 16:28, Matthew 26:64 et al).
Indeed, “the Son of Man” was a term that was almost exclusively used by the authors of the ancient biblical manuscripts to refer to all of humanity – not solely to Jesus Christ. As such, when read in this more Christ-appropriate context, Jesus is saying here that God did not send us into the world to condemn the world, but rather sent us into the world to be a source of its salvation – via courageous acts of Love (see John 13:15-17, John 12:44-47, John 14:12 et al) – for all those living therein.
Amen … Let it be so.
;