Commentary by John Calvin
John 3:35-36
35. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36. He who believeth in the Son hath eternal life; but he who believeth
not in the Son [72] shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on
him.
35. The Father loveth the Son. But what is the meaning of this reason?
Does he regard all others with hatred? The answer is easy, that he does
not speak of the common love with which God regards men whom he has
created, or his other works, but of that peculiar love which, beginning
with the Son, flows from him to all the creatures. For that love with
which, embracing the Son, he embraces us also in him, leads him to
communicate all his benefits to us by his hand.
36. He who believeth in the Son. This was added, not only to inform us
that we ought to ask all good things from Christ, but likewise to make
us, acquainted with the manner in which they are enjoyed. He shows that
enjoyment consists in faith; and not without reason, since by means of
it we possess Christ, who brings along with him both righteousness and
life, which is the fruit of righteousness. When faith in Christ is
declared to be the cause of life, we learn from it that life is to be
found in Christ alone, and that in no other way do we become partakers
of it than by the grace of Christ himself. But all are not agreed as to
the way in which the life of Christ comes to us. Some understand it
thus: "as by believing we receive the Spirit, who regenerates us in
order to justification, by that very regeneration we obtain salvation."
For my own part, though I acknowledge it to be true, that we are
renewed by faith, so that the Spirit of Christ governs us, yet I say
that we ought first to take into consideration the free forgiveness of
sins, through which we are accepted by God. Again, I say that on this
all our confidence of salvation is founded, and in this it consists;
because justification before God cannot be reckoned to us in any other
way than when he does not impute to us our sins.
But he who believeth not in the Son. As he held out life in Christ, by
the sweetness of which he might allure us, so now he adjudges to
eternal death all who do not believe in Christ. And, in this way, he
magnifies the kindness of God, when he warns us, that there is no other
way of escaping death, unless Christ deliver us; for this sentence
depends on the fact, that we are all accursed in Adam. Now if it be the
office of Christ to save what was lost, they who reject the salvation
offered in him are justly suffered to remain in death. We have just now
said that this belongs peculiarly to those who reject the gospel which
has been revealed to them; for though all mankind are involved in the
same destruction, yet a heavier and double vengeance awaits those who
refuse to have the Son of God as their deliverer. And, indeed, it
cannot be doubted that the Baptist, when he denounced death against
unbelievers, intended to excite us, by the dread of it, to the exercise
of faith in Christ. It is also manifest; that all the righteousness
which the world thinks that it has out of Christ is condemned and
reduced to nothing. Nor is any one enabled to object that it is unjust
that those who are otherwise devout and holy should perish, because
they do not believe; for it is folly to imagine that there is any
holiness in men, unless it have been given to them by Christ.
To see life is here put for "enjoying life." But to express more
clearly that no hope remains for us, unless we are delivered by Christ,
he says that the wrath of God abideth on unbelievers. Though I am not
dissatisfied with the view given by Augustine, that John the Baptist
used the word abideth, in order to inform us that, from the womb we
were appointed to death, because we are all born the children of wrath,
(Ephesians 2:3.) At least, I willingly admit an allusion of this sort,
provided we hold the true and simple meaning to be what I have stated,
that death hangs over all unbelievers, and keeps them oppressed and
overwhelmed in such a manner that they can never escape. And, indeed,
though already the reprobate are naturally condemned, yet by their
unbelief they draw down on themselves a new death. And it is for this
purpose that the power of binding was given to the ministers of the
gospel; for it is a just vengeance on the obstinacy of men, that they
who shake off the salutary yoke of God should bind themselves with the
chains of death.
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Footnotes
[72] "Qui ne croit point au Fils, ou, qui desobeit au Fils;" -- "who
believeth not in the Son, or, who disobeyeth the Son."
(Information on John chapter 3, verses 34-35, from the commentary on John's Gospel by John Calvin) |