That the one who believes in him has eternal life is a recurring theme in John (see 3:15–16; 5:24; 6:40, 47; 20:31). “Believing” means “coming to Jesus” in obedience (6:35–37; cf. 12:35–36), and this is the same as “turning towards God.” It also means appropriating Jesus’ life that is available on the cross. “Believing” and “eating his flesh and drinking his blood” lead one to eternal life (6:53–54). “Believing” is also used in parallel with “seeing” (12:44–45). The crown and culmination of all Greek words for “seeing” is to be found in the word “believing.”5 “Believing” in John is synonymous to “receiving” and “knowing” in the sense of coming into intimate relationship with Jesus (1:12; 17:8). The purpose of God in exalting Jesus is that those who believe in the Son of Man lifted up on the cross should have eternal life (3:15).
“Eternal life” refers to the “life of the age to come” (cf. Dan 12:2). This life will be given at the resurrection of the believers on the last day (John 6:54) and therefore it is called the “resurrection of life” (5:29; cf. 5:25). Sometimes John uses the word “life” to denote “eternal life” (e.g., 6:33, 51; 20:31). It is the very life of God given by him to Jesus (5:26; 6:57; cf. 1:4) and is obtained now and in future by those who believe in Jesus. Jesus gives life to whom he wills (5:21) and it cannot be destroyed by physical death (11:26). It is the life of the kingdom of God given to those who are born of the Spirit (3:3, 5). Those who obey Jesus’ words and believe in the Father who sent him have already passed from death to life (5:24). Since Jesus is the giver of life (6:27), he himself is life (11:25; 14:6). The words “whoever believes in him” in 3:15–16 show the universal effect of Jesus’ exaltation on the cross and also the inclusive nature of God’s new community.
The universal effect of Jesus’ mission is obvious in Jesus’ continuous teaching to Nicodemus who remains still a silent listener (3:16–21). The conjunction “for,” and the reference to the availability of eternal life to everyone who believes in the Son (3:16) link the whole section with 3:13–15. The word “only Son [of God]” is synonymous to the title “Son of Man” in 3:14 (cf. 5:26–27). Jesus assures of God’s intensive love for sinful humanity, which, however, loves darkness rather than light (3:19). “God so loved the world” means “this is how [houtōs] God loved the world” (NJB): by handing over the Son of Man to be crucified to remove human sin and give new life (3:16).6
The manner and content of God’s love is expressed by the statement “. . . that he gave his only son.” Abraham’s offering of his only and beloved son, Isaac (Gen 22:2, 9–10, 16), prefigures God’s gift of his unique Son not only to be offered on the cross as a sacrifice to take away human sin (John 1:29, 36; 8:32; 1 John 4:9–10), but also to raise him up from the dead to grant new life for those who believe (Heb 11:17–19). God’s purpose of giving his Son is that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (3:16; cf. 3:15). Both “eternal life” and “perishing,” being end-time events, are opposed to each other. The former denotes salvation of the believers and the latter the eternal condemnation of those who do not believe in the Son. Human destiny has only these two ends. Such dualism is used in John to urge human beings to choose life (cf. Deut 30:18–19).
God giving his only Son is parallel to God sending his Son into the world. God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through the Son (3:17). The phrase “not to perish” (3:16) is interpreted as “not to condemn,” and the phrase “to have eternal life” (3:16) is interpreted as “to save.” The term “everyone” is read in 3:17 as a collective term “the world,” meaning the sphere of human life. The word “sending” has a missional thrust. The purpose of Jesus’ mission in the world is to save all people from eternal destruction and to give heavenly life to those who allow him to direct their lives. “The one who does not believe is condemned already” (3:18) implies that anyone who does not accept God’s provision for human salvation is already judged as guilty and hence is given up to death. Jesus did not come to judge the world, but to save it from the power of darkness (12:47). But the reason for eternal condemnation is the refusal to believe in the name of the only Son (cf. 1:12). Unbelief is the root of all evil deeds (cf. 16:9).
John refers to the descent of the Son of Man to the world (3:13–15), and then he speaks of the sending/giving of the Son to the world (3:16–18), and in 3:19–21 he speaks of the coming of the Light into the world (cf. 1:9–11)—all denoting the coming of Jesus into the world. In 3:19–21, John describes the Logos incarnate, Jesus, as the Light who came into the world (cf. 8:12; 9:5; 12:35–36, 46). Since human works are naturally evil, all people love to live in darkness rather than in light. Therefore they themselves fall under God’s judgment (3:19), an eschatological event that is in operation at present (3:18; 5:24). The Light not only shines and illumines (1:5, 9), but also exposes the evil deeds of humankind and therefore the world hates the Light and does not come to it (3:20).
In contrast, those who do the truth are recognized as those who love the Light and live in it (3:21). They exhibit their faithfulness to the covenant relationship of God by obeying his commandments. Doing good deeds is the same as doing the truth by living in the Light and in fellowship with God (cf. Matt 5:16). The coming of Jesus thus divides human beings into those who love darkness and perform evil and those who come to the Light and perform good deeds (cf. 1QS 3.1—4.26). Nevertheless, the division was caused not by the coming of Jesus into the world but by the response of the people to his coming.
The Baptist’s testimony to Jesus (3:22–30)
The phrase “after these” (3:22) links the mission of the Baptist with the mission of the Son of God (3:16–21). After Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean land, where he was staying with them and baptizing. Since Jesus was already in Judea, his move into the land of Judea seems irrelevant. Therefore some scholars suggest that 3:22–30 should be read after 2:12 and that 3:1–21 should be followed by verses 31–36. However, the word “land of Judea” can also mean “Judean countryside” (NRSV and ESV).7 Jesus and his disciples might have moved from Jerusalem into the countryside, where water was available for baptism. Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were (4:2).
Why should Jesus’ disciples baptize people, when the Baptist was already giving baptism at Aenon near Salim where there was much water (3:23)?8 Probably the crowd, which followed Jesus in larger number than that which followed the Baptist (3:26; 4:1), asked for baptism similar to that given by the Baptist. The disciples gave baptism with Jesus’ approval and in his name. The narrator comments that John the Baptist had not yet been put in prison (3:24). This comment means that Jesus’ ministry in Judea began before the arrest of the Baptist, whereas his ministry in Galilee began after his imprisonment (Mark 1:14).
There arose a controversy over the rite of purification between the Baptist’s disciples and a Jew, who might have been one of “the Jews” (3:25). Since baptism was treated as a rite of purification in Judaism, the Jew might have questioned the credibility of the Baptist’s baptism compared to the baptism given by Jesus’ disciples, which attracted more people. Because the Baptist’s disciples, at least some of them, were provoked to jealousy, they came to their master and complained that many were going to Jesus to be baptized.9 Without rightly understanding Jesus in spite of the Baptist’s earlier witness (1:29–34), they refer to Jesus in the third person, “He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified” (3:26a). They considered Jesus as a rival to the Baptist, whom they mistook as the Christ. This setting gives an occasion for the Baptist to intensify his witness to Jesus.
The Baptist speaks first proverbially by saying that no human can receive even one thing unless it is given from heaven (3:27), that is, “from God who dwells above in heaven” (cf.