One of the most famous Scriptures in the Bible is John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 叫一切信他的不至灭亡, but have everlasting life”. This is the reason, why God sent His Son to the world. But there is written more, which is often not talked about and many Christians are not so familiar with as verse 16, but does explain why God gave His only begotten Son and what it means to believe in Jesus Christ, so that you shall not perish but shall have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son
因为神如此爱世人, 他赐下他的独生子, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 但有永生 (约翰 3:16)
Because God so loved the world, God sent His only begotten Son to the earth to save mankind. Jesus came in the likeness of man and consisted of flesh and blood. Jesus was born of the Seed of God, instead of the seed of man. Therefore the sinful nature (邪恶的), was not present in the flesh.
然而, Jesus was able to become disobedient to the words and the will of God and sin, 就像亚当一样, who was created perfectly in the image of God, but had the ability to sin. Because why else did the devil tempt Jesus if Jesus couldn’t sin? (哦. 希伯来语 2:14; 4:15 (另请阅读: '我会给你全世界的财富’)
Jesus had to come in the likeness of man and become a Partaker of flesh and blood, because otherwise Jesus couldn’t become a Substitute for fallen man and take the sin of the world upon Him and legally enter Hades to destroy the devil and deliver the prisoners of war and take them with Him.
And so Jesus came in the likeness of man and was in all points tempted, just like we are, 但耶稣并没有犯罪 (希伯来语 2:14-15; 4:15 (另请阅读: '耶稣是完全的人吗?‘ And ‘What is the difference between the sacrifices of Jesus Christ and the sacrifices of animals?’)
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and whosoever believed and obeyed the words of God and looked at the serpent, wouldn’t die but live, Jesus Christ also had to be lifted up, that whosoever believed in Jesus Christ would not perish but have eternal life (哦. 数字 21:6-9, 约翰 3:14-15).
God has not sent His Son into the world to condemn the world
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. 信他的人不被定罪: 但不信的人罪已经定了, 因为他不信神独生子的名 (约翰 3:17-18)
This was the purpose of the coming of Jesus to the earth, to call, 首先, 神的子民, the house of Israel, to repentance and to believe in Him, 弥赛亚, so that they would not perish and go away into everlasting punishment but would receive eternal life. And after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the same salvation came to the Gentiles.
Jesus came to the earth to save mankind and not to judge mankind, since it was not His time to judge the world. 然而, the time of His judgment will come on the Day of Judgment (哦. 马修 16:27; 25:31-46, 约翰 12:47-48, 2 彼得 2:9; 3:7, 启示 20:11-15 (另请阅读: 耶稣来到世上是为了什么审判?)
As long as Jesus has not returned and the Day of Judgment has not come, the people on earth still have the ability to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ and receive eternal life, because Jesus still saves and still gives eternal life to those, 信他的人. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done. Jesus gives everyone the ability to be saved and to receive eternal life.
God has sent His Son into the world, that the world through Him might be saved
那些, who believe in Jesus Christ, 神的儿子, and believe in Him as Savior and put their trust in Him, shall listen to Jesus and obey His words and do His words in their lives.
靠着在基督里的信心和重生, they have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness, where the devil is the ruler and reigns, into the Kingdom of Light, 耶稣基督为王并掌权的地方. They shall no longer live in fear and condemnation, but because of the acquittal and redemption in Christ, they shall live in freedom. Free from sin and the bondage of the devil and death (罗马书 6:16-22, 歌罗西书 1:13-14, 希伯来语 2:14-15).
They know, that by faith in Christ, which means that they put their trust in Christ, they shall not be judged but shall receive eternal life. Because they believe in the Word and the Word says, that whosoever believes in Jesus Christ shall not perish but receive eternal life (哦. 约翰 3:16-21; 5:24, 罗马书 8:1).
You don’t just believe with words, but the works you do testify in your life if you really believe in Jesus Christ and put your trust in Him and if you belong to Jesus or not (哦. 詹姆士 1:22-27; 2:14-26, 马修 5:16; 7:15-20)
People can say they believe in Jesus, while they don’t put their trust in Him and are not saved.
You believe, by believing and obeying the words of God and the words of Jesus, which derive from God, and doing the words of God in your life and standing on the Word (另请阅读: 'The hearers vs the doers’).
“Why do you call Me Lord, 主, but do not what I say?”
If you believe in Jesus the Christ, 永生神的儿子, and you love Jesus, then you will submit to Him and you will do what He says.
有很多基督徒, who call Jesus their Lord, but they don’t do what He says. They walk in pride and rebellion in the vanity of their mind and rely on their own knowledge, 智慧, abilities, 和见解, and decide for themselves what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong, and what you can do and what you can’t do. They do what they want and give their own interpretation of the Scriptures, so that they can persevere in sin, and don’t care about the will of God. 但在神的国度却并非如此 (另请阅读: 'Faith without content' 和 ‘Shall I find faith on the earth?’).
He that believes not in Jesus Christ is condemned already
He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, 因为他不信神独生子的名. 这就是谴责, 那光来到了世界, 人们喜爱黑暗胜过光明, 因为他们的行为是邪恶的 (约翰 3:18-19)
那些, who don’t believe in Jesus the Christ, 弥赛亚, the only begotten Son of God, and don’t put their trust in Jesus, are already condemned and live in condemnation. And the condemnation is that the Light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, 因为他们的行为是邪恶的. And so their evil deeds testified that they loved darkness rather than light.
The words of people don’t testify if they believe the Light and walk in the light, but their works do testify whether they believe in the Light and have been transferred from the darkness into the light and walk in the light or not.
If people say that they believe in Jesus, but walk in darkness, because of the evil works they do, then their wicked works (罪) testify that they love darkness rather than light.
They shall not go to the Light and shall not abide in the presence of those, who belong to the Light and walk in the light, since they don’t want their evil works to be exposed, because they love their evil works and don’t want to repent.
Every one that does evil hates the Light, but he that does truth comes to the Light
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, 免得他的行为受到责备. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, 使他的行为得以显明, 它们是在神里面创造的 (约翰 3:20-21)
And so those, who do evil, and don’t live according to the will of God in obedience to the Word but live in unbelief and sin, hate the Light and don’t go to the Light, because they don’t want their evil works to be exposed and rebuked.
但那些, who believe in Jesus Christ the Way, the Truth, 光, 和生活, and put their trust in Him and repent and through regeneration belong to Him, shall submit to Jesus and obey His words. Because they obey His words and do the truth, they go to the Light, so that their works may be made manifest that they are wrought in God and they belong to God.
They don’t live in unbelief and condemnation, but they live according to the Word and the Spirit in freedom in obedience to God and walk in the light, in the truth of God and shall come boldly to the throne of grace and live in communion with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
‘成为地球之盐’
