John 3:14-16 - "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Now the first thing we see right off the bat, and what a lot of the Christian world sees is: a person believes, and then they have eternal life. However if we look at the verses we see that Christ isn't saying that at all. He is simply stating that if someone believes in Him they will not perish. I will give an example that is relative to what Christ is saying but to the opposite direction.
We are all going to die. There is not way around that fact. Now, I can deny that all my life if I want to, and never accept or "believe" in the fact that I'm going to die, and I will still die. On the other hand lets say after I get out of my teenage years I finally come to realize that fact, and "believe" now that I will actually die one day. My belief in the fact that I will die does not confirm, or even initiate the dying process, nor is it necessary for my eventual demise. I'm dying whether I believe in it or not, but my belief in it is a testimony to the fact that I will indeed die.
Seeing it in this light we see that Christ is making a statement of fact. If you believe in Christ it is a testimony to the fact that you ALREADY have everlasting life not an initiatory action to BEGIN eternal life.
SECOND SIMPLE STATEMENT
I love when the bible explains itself and this is one of those moments.
John 3:18-21- "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."
I guess in however many times I've ready this passage of scripture I've never really grasped what these verses were saying. See, with these verses the previous verses gain new light. Now when we are talking about v. 16 we have a better framework for what is happening. A truer statement has never been made: "whosoever believeth in Him (Christ), should not perish but have eternal life." That statement of fact is expounded upon in these last three verses. The common mistake is to think that from v. 16 you can make a worldwide call to whomever for salvation, and anyone COULD make a choice to be "saved" that day. However, vs. 19-21 point out clearly: there are those who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil, and that they hate the light, neither will they come to the light. This is a group of people who , no matter how many times, or how many ways you preach the "light" of the gospel to them they will always flee from it because their works are evil, their hearts are evil, they are not children of God, and they will always run from Christ instead of to Him. There is no opportunity for them to "accept Christ" because they flee from Christ, and would never run to Him unless there has been a change in their heart (i.e. New Birth).There is, thought, the last group. This group is described as a people who "do the truth". When they hear the "light" of the gospel they are drawn to it light a moth to a flame because they are "wrought in God".
In conclusion I find the simplest way to explain John 3 is not a Greek lesson the word "kosmos", but rather the explanation Christ Himself gave: The ONLY people in the world that God so loved that will ever believe on Him, and have eternal life are those who "doeth truth" that are "wrought in God", and are drawn to the light.
