Joh 3:16-21
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
(v.19) And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.
But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
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I mentioned that a few years back our house church group was studying this passage. We started to dissect verse 19. Here’s some jot notes of where the discussion went:
- What is the “judgement” that Jesus speaks about in this verse?
- People who don’t believe hide in the darkness; they don’t want to be anywhere near the Light
- But what happens when the Light comes – the people who love the darkness will be exposed; their deeds will be exposed
- What if the “judgement” is the fact that these people will not be able handle being in the Light? It will be torment to them. Because they don’t know the Light. They will fear it. There will be ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’.
- Is this “hell”? The presence of the Light (God in His glory) to people who love the darkness will be excruciating torment to them.
As a result of this ‘community hermeneutic’ (studying the Scripture together with a group of people) my paradigm has completely shifted in terms of what I use to measure what it means to be a Christian. Saying the sinner’s prayer does not guarantee that someone will not love the darkness more than the light. But you can sure see it in people when they do.