GraceTrax

JOHN 3:19 SAYS, “And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.” In that passage of Scripture, Jesus is teaching us about the accountability of judgment. Let’s take a closer look.   

In verse 19 we see that man is thoroughly accountable before God for two reasons:  First, “light has come into the world.” God has sent His light in order that all may plainly see. To illustrate that truth, think about what happens when you are out exploring. You’re out in the woods, early in the morning, and you notice an old piece of rotting wood. And you know how we are--we want to kick things around--so we kick that piece of wood and little insects and bugs frantically scurry about. You know what they’re doing when you kick that wood? They’re seeking darkness! They prefer the secrecy and the darkness, kind of like people. So when you kick that wood away and the light shines on them, they start scattering. But where are they headed? They’re seeking more darkness. They want to find darkness again, and moisture.  That’s exactly the way it is with us. God has sufficiently shown us His light, which makes us accountable—yet we flee from it in fear and annoyance.   

You’ve heard this before, but it bears repeating. There’s a difference between atheists and agnostics.  An atheist says, “I don’t believe in God.”  An agnostic says “I don’t know whether I believe in God or not.” If I had my choice between the two, I’d choose to be an atheist because an agnostic blames God for his unbelief. He says, “I’d believe in God but He hasn’t given me enough light to believe in Him.”  So what is an agnostic doing then? He is impugning the character of God. He’s assigning blame to God for his sinful unbelief. 

But in spite of that light, we see in verse 19 that people loved darkness. Though they had light given to them in their own conscience, they loved the darkness because their deeds were evil. They prefer darkness to light because light exposes things. Are you aware of the primary environmental quality of taverns and nightclubs? Darkness. People prefer dark places to practice their sinful lifestyle. They love darkness because it hides their deeds. 

When God shines His light on us, the sin is no longer hidden—it’s exposed. That’s why people love darkness and hate the light. Paul wrote about that in Romans 1:19-25. “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them for His invisible attributes—namely His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.” God is saying that His invisible attributes are clearly manifested by the things that He has created, so that we see His very nature. “They are without excuse,” Paul says, “for although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”  

Have you noticed on television all the commercials about poor helpless, endangered animals?  They feature nice little tearful songs? As I watch those, I’m thinking about how our nation is killing babies in the womb by the millions! But you’ll land yourself in more trouble for beating a dog than performing an abortion. They may throw you in prison for five years for animal mistreatment, but you can kill a baby in the womb!  It’s so convoluted that it’s unbelievable.  We are worshipping the creature more than the Creator—just like Paul wrote. That is happening right now, friends. We worship the lowest form of life. We exonerate the animals! But the highest form, human beings we despise. Some judges allow wild, serial murderers to rape and kill young women. Those rapists ought to die for their crime, according to the Word of God, but liberal judges release them from prison in two or three years because of overcrowding.  That is the mess we’re in, because we’ve so convoluted and suppressed the truth of God.  

People attempt to suppress God’s Word, push it down out of sight, but you can drink, you can do drugs, you can seek to suppress it, but it will pop right back up on you in the middle of the night, when your head is on the pillow and your conscience is alive and active. 

That lifestyle requires the Gospel to overcome. Nothing but the Gospel can overcome that kind of absurdity. “They exchange the glory of the immortal God for images, therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen.”  

In verse 20 we see man’s hatred of God, “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.” Man’s wickedness is repulsed at the light of God itself.  Stated plainly, man hates the light of God. In our lost condition, we’re repulsed by the things of God. Paul spoke of that repulsion and hatred on numerous occasions. In Colossians 1:21 he wrote, “and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds.” That’s the hostility of unredeemed flesh. Even we who have been saved must resist the hostility in our remaining flesh. Do you ever sense hostility in your mind and heart toward God? Have you ever thought, “Now, wait a minute!  God can’t do that to me!” That’s hostility.  

Romans 8:7 says “for the mind is set on the flesh, and is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot.” The unredeemed mind doesn’t even have the ability, the moral ability, to submit to the law of God.  That’s why you will never be saved until you get a new heart. When that old stony heart is taken out of you and God puts in a heart of flesh, that’s when the saving takes place and it’s a work of God. 

Finally, note verse 21, “But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” Did you know that when we stand before God at the judgment seat, there’s going to be a fiery judgment on works of all kinds: wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, and precious stone? The wood, hay and stubble are the works that will be burned up--though by the mercy of God, those who perform them will be saved. Those are burned up and they represent works wrought by impure motives--works done to please people, not God. So often we’re hypocrites, we want to be seen, we want to be known, just like the Scribes and Pharisees. Those works will be burned up, but the good works are the works that came from God. Paul says, “for it is God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” 

Those precious stones—that gold and silver—those will remain, because they came from God in the first place. The only thing that does remain originates from God and His holiness.  Everything else will be wiped away and designated to the lake of fire and destroyed forever.  But that which is from God will live on forever in the hearts and minds of men and women. They are the saints of God in heaven, because they believed in the right object—Christ. Escape the judgment to come. Believe in Christ alone. Let the accountability of judgment motivate you right now to ponder the condition of your soul.  

Part 1

What can this mean: Christ was made to be sin?

I wouldn't use such language if Scripture didn't use it. As a matter of fact, the phrase is part of an even more perplexing statement: "He [the Father] made him [Christ] to be sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). That is a deliberately shocking expression. It should jar our minds and offend our sensibilities.

God the Father made Christ the Son to be sin. That's not an easy statement to process, but it is pregnant with meaning. You'll never truly understand the doctrine of justification until you get a grasp on what that verse is saying.

But first...

Let's talk about what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that God made Christ to be a sinner. And that's clear by the phrase that follows immediately: "he made him to be sin who knew no sin." Of course Christ knew no sin by His own experience. He had no personal guilt. He was without any blame or sinful corruption whatsoever. But even as He "bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24), Christ remained "holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26).

Paul is not suggesting that the character of Christ was changed at the cross. He was not made into a wicked person, nor was He in any way tainted by sin. He died as "a lamb without blemish or spot" (1 Peter 1:19). And 2 Corinthians 5:21 is not saying anything that would change that truth. Those who teach that Christ literally became sinful on the cross have misunderstood how our sins were imputed to Him.

Some commentators want to go the opposite direction and tone down the expression Paul is using. They point out that in the Hebrew language, the same word is used for "sin" and "sin offering." So, they say, maybe Paul was employing a Hebraism. Perhaps the verse ought to be translated, "He made him to be a sin offering."

That might seem to make sense, and it would certainly do away with the stark offensiveness of the expression. Moreover, the statement itself would be true enough: Christ did become a sin offering.

But that's not what Paul means here, and that interpretation cannot be sustained linguistically, grammatically, or contextually.

"Made Him to be a sin offering"? Why Not?

In the first place, the Greek word translated "sin" in this text is hamartia, and it means "sin." It is never used in the New Testament to speak of a sin offering.

In the second place, the same word (hamartia) is used twice in the Greek text of 2 Corinthians 5:21. The sense of the term must mean the same thing both places. It would make utter nonsense of the verse to render it this way: "He made him to be a sin offering for us, who knew no sin offering."

In the third place, the word sin obviously stands in deliberate contrast with the word righteousness, and if the word is made to mean "sin offering," it destroys the parallelism.

So the translation is correct as it stands: "He made him to be sin." It cannot mean Christ literally became guilty; and it does not mean merely that He became a sin offering.

What, then, does it mean? I'll tackle that question in Part 2.