22
THE KING'S BUSINESS
death does avail for all (ch. 1 : 29; 1 John 2 :2 ) . By that death man’s sin is put away and a basis is provided upon which God can deal in mercy and does deal in mercy with all men. Every member of the human race is potentially justified through the aton ing death of Christ (Rom. 5:18, R. V .). Every member of the human race, every child of Adam, gets resur rection from the dead through Christ (1 Cor. 15 :22 ). In this sense every member of the race is saved ,(cf. 1 Tim. 4 :1 0 ), but whether this resur rection shall prove a resurrection unto life in the sense of true life, eternal life, Divine life, or whether it shall prove' a resurrection unto judgment depends entirely upon what the indi vidual does with Him through Whom he obtains the life and who was sent to be the Saviour of the world. That some will not accept the Son and therefore will perish is clearly implied in the 16th verse and definitely taught in the 18th to 20 th verses, as well as in other portions of Scripture (Rev. 2 0 :1 5 ;.2 1 :® ; 2 Thess. 1 :7 -9 ). Al though to these the issue of Christ’s mission will be condemnation, yet the object of His mission was salvation. This salvation that all who believe on Him, and only those who.believe on Him, receive is “ through Him.” He, and He only, is the channel through which God’s salvation flows to a lost world, and to. the lost indi viduals in that world- (cf. ch. 14: 6 ; Acts 4 :1 2 ). Not one single mem ber of the human race will be saved except “ through Him.” , It is for each individual to appropriate for Himself what is offered to all through Him. The way to, appropriate, we are told in the preceding and in the following verses, is through believing on Him. Unbelief changes our Lord’s mission of saving mercy into a mission of final judgment, (cf. vs. 18-20). Some one has said, “ Those rejecting the of fered crown must wear the burning chains.”
The word translated “ condemn” should rather be translated “ judge” (as is done in -the Authorized as well as the Revised in chapter 12 :47 ), but the word “ judge” is evidently used of a condemnatory judgment. John never uses the compound verb which properly means and is commonly translated •“ condemn” ; nor does he use any of its derivatives, though John does record Jesus as using it in chap ter 8:10, 11. But John frequently uses in a condemnatory sense the verb from which the compound verb is de rived, which properly means and is commonly translated “ judge” ; this is the verb used in this verse. Jesus’ mission was not to judge but*to save, but the time is coming when He shall come to judge (John 5:22-29; Acts 17 :31 ). In the later Jewish Messi anic anticipations the judgment of the nations by the Messiah seems to have been the most constant and the most prominent feature in the purpose of the Messiah’s coming and doubtless John had this in mind when he wrote the 17th verse. It was to save and not to judge that God sent the Son. . In this verse, John changes from “ gave” (v. 16) His only begotten Son to “ sent” the Son. In verse 16 the thought of gift and sacrifice is the prominent thought:, in this verse, the thought -of the Son in His repre sentative character, as an envoy sent from the Father, is the prominent thought. It emphasizes the idea of authority. There are two different Greek words; commonly translated “ send” in the New Testament. They both mean “ send” but have different shades o f meaning. The word here used is the verb from which the noun “ Apostle” is derived and it contains the “ thought of a definite mission and the representative character in the en voy.” “ It suggests official or authori tative sending.” , The other Greek word translated “ send” does not contain this idea. It (Concluded on Page 59)
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