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In John 3:36, If the Wrath of God Is God’s Temporal Punishment, Why Does John Contrast Believing in the Son for Everlasting Life, with “Not Seeing Life” and With the “Wrath of God Abiding on the Unbeliever”?
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The following is a listener supported ministry.
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From the Grace Evangelical Society.
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In the Bible, does the wrath of God usually refer to the lake of fire? Are there other options? What about John 3:36? Let's look at that today and talk about it with Katharine Wright and Ken Yates here on Grace in Focus. This is the radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Thank you for joining us today, friend. You can learn more about our organization@faithalone.com where you will also find our store full of books you might be interested in. Bob Wilkins latest book for instance is available. It is titled the Gospel is Still Under Siege and lots more@faithalone.org check it out today. And now with our discussion today, Katharine Wright and Ken Yates and we have.
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Some questions sent in from some of our listeners. Kathryn was relaying a really great question that we got and why don't you tell us who sent it in and what is the question?
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This is from Annette, really good friend of ours, and she's asking about John chapter 3, verse 36 and the issue of the wrath of God. And so she asks if the wrath of God is God's punishment that happens in time, why does John contrast believing in the Son foreverlasting life with not seeing life but the wrath of God abiding on him? And in John 3, verse 36?
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Well, let me read that verse so we can set the stage for the answer here. In verse 36, it's the last verse of John chapter 3, it says he who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. And as Annette was saying in her question in the first part, he talks about believing on the Son or in the Son for everlasting life. And at the end of the verse, and if you don't, the wrath of God abides on you. So you could look at it and say, okay, there's a contrast here either having eternal life or the wrath of God. Right.
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C
Well, I think to begin with, she rightfully says that wrath is the thing that's in time, which is a common argument that we make here at GES that when you see the word wrath being used in the scriptures, it is referring to here and now and not the lake of fire.
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Yeah, and this is a common question that we get when we travel around is people just assume that the wrath of God is a reference to hell. And so I'm sure they would point to a verse like this one, like Annette points out and say, well, you have a contrast between everlasting life and the wrath of God. And if everlasting life is you're saved from the lake of fire, then wrath of God would be the lake of fire. And that's the way, I think it's fair to say the vast majority of people within Christendom, the vast majority of people in our churches today, when they talk about the wrath of God, they think that that's referring to the lake of fire or what we would call hell, that people who are in the lake of fire are experiencing the wrath.
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Of God, they're being punished for their sins.
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Right. And there's all kinds of issues with that. Are people cast into the lake of fire because of their sin? We would say, no, people are cast in the lake of fire because they don't have life. But what do we make of Annette's question here? Is the wrath of God being contrasted here with being saved and thus having everlasting life? That's the issue here. And when we get to verse 36, and obviously the Gospel of John is the book telling us how to have everlasting life, that's another hallmark of grace evangelical society is that we maintain that the book of John is the only book written to unbelievers. It's the only book written for the purpose of telling unbelievers to have how to be saved from the lake of fire, how to receive eternal life. And not surprisingly, there it says in verse 36, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And we at GES would say, Amen to that, right? John 3, 16 just happened 20 verses earlier. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And so that's being repeated there. He who believes has everlasting life. Now, before we get to the wrath thing at the end, there is a phrase that occurs between these two, and it says, he who does not believe the Son shall not see life. Now there's the contrast, right? He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life. Now, I guess there's a okay, if you believe in him, you have everlasting life. If you don't believe in him, you don't have everlasting life. But one of the issues here is when it says, the one who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, does that also include in this life, or is it simply talking about, you won't receive everlasting life. If you don't believe in him, you will not receive everlasting life. That's where I come down. But I suppose someone could look at that phrase and say, if you don't believe in him, no, you won't have everlasting life and you won't have the experience of life here and now.
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So the idea of John 10:10, right? He came to give life and life more abundantly. So you won't see either.
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Yeah, you won't see life or the abundant life, right?
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Did you know that the Grace Evangelical Society offers an M. Div. Degree through our online seminary and tuition is free to those who maintain a three point grade average. It is a three year degree program and you can submit your application now to gain acceptance. Then stay apprised of our registration periods for upcoming semester terms. Program and application details can be found@gesceminary.org have a look at our MDIV degree. Become an approved workman. Find out how gesceminary.org now it just.
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Seems to me that he's basically saying if you don't believe in him, then you're not going to see life. Bob Wilkin wrote the GES Commentary for John in the one volume GES commentary, and his view is that this is talking about not the abundant life thing, but the eternal life. And he bases that on the first part of the chapter where Jesus says, if you don't believe in him, you won't see the kingdom.
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You see this in when he was speaking to Nicodemus.
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When he's speaking to Nicodemus, he says in verse three, Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, and how is one born again or born from above, how is it you believe in him? He cannot see the kingdom of God. And then he equates that or says very similarly. In verse 5, Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So entering the kingdom of God and seeing the kingdom of God are the same thing. And he equates that to seeing life here in verse 36. And that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense to me. Even though the other part of that is true, if you don't have eternal life, you're certainly not going to see abundant life, which is just a richer experience of the life that you have as a believer.
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So moving to the third part of the verse, right? Which is the question. This is in addition. So this is now Adding so not only will they not see life, and let's just go and say with Bob and you, that that's referring to the contrast. Okay. If you believe you have eternal life, if you don't believe you won't see life, you won't have eternal life. But in addition to that, the unbeliever abides in wrath.
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Yes. And Annette's question is, well, if you're talking about eternal life, if you don't have eternal life, then you're going to be in the lake of fire. Why wouldn't the wrath here be the lake of fire? And the answer would be abides. It's. It's a present tense.
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That's right.
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He says, you will not see life if you don't believe in him, you will not see life. And again, I think that's talking about. I agree with Bob that this is talking about eternal life. You will not be in the kingdom. And also right now, the wrath of God abides on him.
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Yeah. So the shall not see life is the future.
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Right.
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And then the abiding in wrath is the current state.
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Right. And so what we see here is something we see throughout the New Testament most clearly in Romans, where Paul says, when he talks about the wrath of God, he says the wrath of God in Romans 1 is revealed, is being revealed right now against all men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So the wrath of God is something that the unbeliever experiences now. And by the way, in Romans, a believer can experience the wrath of God, but here Jesus is simply talking about those who believe in him and those who don't believe in him. The ones who believe in him have eternal life by definition.
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Right.
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The unbeliever experiences right now the wrath of God.
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They're children of wrath.
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Right. Ephesians 2. Children of wrath by nature.
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So to Annette's question, because Annette rightfully says wrath is a present tense in these other passages, so she's trying to fit that into here. We would say even here in John, it is still the present reality of the unbeliever, that they are abiding in wrath. But that is not referring to the lake of fire.
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Right?
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Yeah.
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And even though it's talking about if you believe you have eternal life, the unbeliever will not see life. He doesn't have eternal life. And also he is abiding under the wrath of God. And of course, what we would say is that the unbeliever does slave to sin, is enslaved to sin. He's in the flesh. He doesn't have the power to escape it. He serves sin. He walks according to the flesh. And when you walk according to the flesh, what are you experiencing? All that the flesh brings, all that the power of sin brings. And that is the wrath of God. Where in Romans Paul says you're given over to it.
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Yeah, I think also as just a side comment, that evidently this is the only time the word appears in the.
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Book of John, the wrath of God.
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And so I just wanted to highlight that, that this is clearly not a big point for John in his gospel as he's dealing with the message of eternal life for unbeliever. I mean, obviously he mentions it here, but that's not the, you know, if he is contrasting the, you know, eternal life with lack of eternal life, with the wrath. And this is the only time he does it. And it's just, it's counterintuitive to his message. I would say that here the book is primarily dealing with, you know, what is it that the unbeliever must believe in order to be, to be saved, in order to receive eternal life. And so if this was a central point of his message, then certainly he would have brought it up more than one time.
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It's kind of interesting. In John 8 he talks about being set free. If you follow me, you'll be set free.
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That's true.
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So if you believe in him, you have eternal life. And if you follow him, you will be free indeed, you'll be free from the power of sin.
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And so going back to John 10:10.
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Right, exactly. Life and abundant life. Whereas the unbeliever obviously doesn't have that option. He cannot follow the Lord. He can't experience abundant life. So how would we describe him? He's abiding in wrath. He's abiding in the power of sin. Well, Annette, thank you for that great question and for all of us, until we meet again. Remember, keep grace in focus.
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The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.