No Condemnation

“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17)

In John 3:16, the verse just preceding our text, Jesus had told Nicodemus of God’s great love for mankind. Now the Savior is telling us that Jesus’ purpose in coming was to save, not to condemn. Man is already a condemned, guilty sinner. Jesus’ purpose was to rescue man from his condemned state, not add more condemnation.

The next verse, which we will examine tomorrow, tells us that those whose lives have never been changed by Christ are already under condemnation.

I heard someone say, “I’m not what I ought to be, and I’m not what I wanna be, and I’m not what I’m gonna be, but praise God, I’m not what I used to be.”