Breaking the Word

The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven (is above all). He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him. (Jn 3:31-36)

The author is contrasting the one from above with the one who is of the earth. The one from above is certainly Jesus. But who is the one who is of the earth. I am sure the author here speaks of the plenty of people whose thinking and doing are from the earth. The people of the earth often competed with the one from above. They went to the extend of even rejecting the things from above.

The people from the earth do not trust what is from above and the result is destruction. This is not because the one who is above, that is God, is a tyrant but the road chosen by the people of the earth is only leading to destruction and decay. It is the choice of the man that takes him to evil and not the anger of God.

But the one who is from above speaks only of heavenly things. What he speaks is the word of God and not earthly and he brings the gift of God. The gift is the eternal life. This gift is given only to those who believe in the Son. Anyone who does not accept the Son is choosing a life of destruction which in tern seems to be the wrath of God. But the choice of the man.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God. (Jn 3:16-21)

God loved the world so much. World is the creation of God. He created everything in the world and the world itself. But there is evil in the world and the world being judged and condemned because the presence of the evil and God’s love does not let the world to go into destruction. God wanted his creation to be holy like him and be saved from the evil one.

The greatest act of God in this situation was to send his only son. The son has been commissioned to save the world and not to condemn it. He is not sent to judge the world either. So the mission of Jesus is very clear. He does not need to spend time in trying to verify the truth and facts and discern the realities to pass judgement on it. Whatever be the situation the son is sent only to save the world.

The world and in particular the people of this world are called to believe in Jesus whom God has sent into this world. All the judgement and condemnation and salvation depend on this act of faith in Jesus. Belief in Jesus was the only requirement.