THE KING’S BUSINESS
begotten Son of God, the perfect man ifestation o f God (cf. John 14:9), to believe on Him, not merely as a Son o f God but as the only Son of God, the Son of God in an absolutely ufiique sense, the perfect revealing of God. That is what the Lord Jesus is, that is what every one who really loves the truth will see Him to be, By not believing on Him as such, one reveals the blindness and badness of His own heart, and is therefore judged because of his not believing on the Lord Jesus as what He really is. To “ believe on” any one means to put confidence in him as what he claims to be; to "be lieve on the name of the only begotten Son of God,” means to put confidence in the Lord Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. So believing on His name involves inevitably the accept ance o f Himself as what He offers Himself to be (John 1:12). According to this verse and the verses that follow, the great, God dishonoring, finally decisive and damn ing sin, is unbelief: Man is not lost merely because he has sinned; for God has provided a Saviour for sinners. He is lost because he refuses the Sav iour,, and thus persists in keeping his sins. Men do not perish because the race was ruined by Adam’s fall, they perish because they refuse the redemp tion offered to them in the second Adam, the Redeemer. If a man is overboard in the ocean and a lifeboat is right at hand and offers to save him and he refuses to let the lifeboat take him in, he is not lost because he was sinking in the ocean, he is lost because he refuses to get into the life boat: and no man is lost because he is sinking in the bottomless ocean of sin, but because he refuses to get into the lifeboat provided in Jesus Christ. V. 19. "And this is the condemna tion (rather, judgment ) that (the) light is (rather, hath) come into the world and men loved (the) darkness
•ate judgment for the one who, does not believe on Him. Every one who refuses to believe on the Lord Jesus hath been already, judged. It is not so much that a judgment awaits him in the future: he is judged now, he is judged the moment he refuses to believe. The full manifestation of that judgment lies in the future, but judgment is already passed upon him. Those are very solemn words, "Judged already.” The Revised Version very properly brings out the fact that there is a change of tenses in the second clause of verse 18, from the present tense used in the first clause to the perfect tense. This change of tenses is significant— for the believer there "is” no judgment, his is a continuous state of freedom from judgment, his whole life is secure from judgment be cause he is sheltered in Christ who died for him: but for the unebliever judgment " hath been” declared, his judgment is completed, he is separated from Christ and from the security that is in Him, because he has refused to" appropriate to himself the salva tion provided for him. by believing on the one who came to bring him salva tion. The judgment that comes upon him is self-executed, he has brought it on himself (cf. Luke 2:34). The last part o f the verse gives the reason why' he that believeth not hath been judged already, viz, " because he hath not believed on the name of the the only begotten Son of God.” Those who reject Jesus Christ bring inevit able judgment on themselves because in rejecting Jesus Christ -they have rejected the highest, indeed, the com plete, manifestation of God (cf. 1 John 4 :6 ; 5:10, 13). Names in the Bible reveal the character and nature of the person to whom the names belong, therefore the name stands for the per son as revealed. To believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God, consequently, means to believe on Jesus as He is revealed to be the only
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