Don’t Forget #17

It’s too bad #17 is so often neglected. Without #17, people misunderstand the ultimate goal.

#17 says “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  [John 3:17  NIV]

Many may be familiar with #16 that proceeds it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Wonderful. But I never quote #16 without adding #17. Why?

#17 gives us a clearer understanding of the reason for the goal.  #16 is the “what.”  #17 is the “why.”

1.  Imagine that God is an electric outlet on the wall. You are a lamp. How far away from the wall outlet can your plug be and still have power? An inch? Yard? Mile? Nebraska? It doesn’t matter how far the plug is from the wall, if it’s unplugged you don’t have power. If we have any distance between ourselves and God our lights go out. And “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23]

To God that’s just not acceptable.  Since we’re separated from him, we need help reconnecting. It’s beyond our ability, so God has to make the effort. He’s not going to do that without our permission. He is the perfect gentleman, and will never force himself upon us.

He saves those, who through their own free will, want to be with him.

John 1:12-13  “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

Matthew 10:32-33 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”

2. God doesn’t need to condemn us. We’re quite capable of managing that on our own. As long as we’re disconnected from that Divine source of power and life, our bulb begins to grow dim. Unless we make a deliberate effort to reach out, we remain disconnected, separate, floundering on our own or depending on equally flawed human beings, condemned to a self-imposed isolation from the author of life.

God does not send people to Hell. It’s just where we end up unless we’ve made other plans.

I talked about #16 and #17.  Here’s #18: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.“

Oh, but what about the mentally handicap, young children with a terminal diagnosis, the psychologically impaired, and the classic hypothetical family in Outer Mongolia who have literally never heard the name of Jesus?

I am confident that an all-loving God [see John 3:16-17 above and 1 John 4:7-8] has a way of compensating for those special cases. How? I’m not sure. But everything we know about him tells me he’s got this.

He is fair. He is generous. He is compassionate. I’m not concerned, although I appreciate the efforts of anyone who does what they can for these people to let them know how much God cares.

I always find it sad when militant atheists, who truly have no idea what they’re talking about, find it necessary to go on the attack against this love story. It’s almost as if they are allergic to #17, and #16, and so much of the rest of God’s character.

God has laid out a welcome mat for all who want to come home to him. He only bothers, because he loves.

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Dave Soucie lives, serves and writes in Indianapolis.

Copyright © 2023 by Dave Soucie.  All rights reserved [but permission is granted for non-commercial use only, with proper citation].