Read: John 3:4-21
It is important to reflect on the well known quotation “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” (John 3:16). The whole passage within which this word is embedded proclaims the love of God. God is not like an oriental, capricious despot who punishes every infraction of the law, or punishes for not reason at all. The first thing to say about God is “love,” and not “judgment.” The gospel precedes the law, and the law is the “law of love.” God’s intention for the world is love, not revenge or vindication. God’s attitude toward the world is positive, not negative. Not only this passage, but the whole gospel of John proclaims this.
Now, there are passages in both the Old and the New Testament that speak of judgment and punishment for human sins. That God will pursue the fathers’ misdeeds far into the generations of the progeny is also to be found in the Bible. But if we stay with the message of John’s gospel, “love” is what characterizes God’s fundamental relation to the world.
And there is another point: God does not punish those who do not accept faith in Christ. “Those who do believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already.” It is not God who punishes and condemns, but the unbelievers who have brought judgment and condemnation upon themselves. They are condemned by their own decision “not to believe in the name of the only Son of God.”
Prayer: Loving God, let me never forget that you love me even if I cannot experience it. Amen.
Manfred Hoffmann
