The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him.
John 3:36 NET
John has made it clear that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God (John 1:14). And God sent him so that whoever believes in him would have eternal life (John 3:16). This divides humanity into two groups. Those who believe in the Son. And those who reject the Son. There is no middle ground.
John tells us here that the one who rejects the Son remains under God’s wrath. While this has a future component, remaining under God’s wrath also describes a current condition.
The third chapter of Genesis describes humanity’s fall. Exile from the garden of God was the result. Living apart from the life we were created for. And humanity remains in exile today, separated from the life of God and under his wrath. It is our default condition. And it remains our condition unless we believe in the Son.
The One Who Believes
But the one who believes returns from exile and is brought back into life in the garden, eternal life. But this eternal life is not just something for the future. The one who believes has it now. We have been delivered from God’s wrath and are even now experiencing eternal life.
Believing in the Son is what divides those who have eternal life from those who are under God’s wrath. So, what does it mean to believe? This is the Greek word pisteuō, “to believe, put one’s faith in, trust, with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow.”
To believe is more than intellectual ascent. To believe in the Son is to put your faith and trust in him. It involves the way one lives one’s life. As James says, it is a faith that results in actions (Jam. 2:14-26). Believing in the Son leads to a transformed life.
Believing about Jesus, even believing everything that the Bible says about him, is not enough (Jam. 2:19). If one does not believe in the Son, committing their life to him as Lord and doing the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21-23), then they have rejected him and remain under God’s wrath.
Don’t be satisfied with believing about Jesus. Believe in him and experience eternal life.
