Purposes of Christ's Death, No. 9

Today, it is the purpose statement in that most familiar of all verses that we will examine, along with the purpose statement in the verse following it:

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. (John 3:16, 17 NET)

The purpose statement in the verse 16 is obvious--"so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life". God sent his unique Son into the world so that all who believe on the Son will have eternal life instead of the condemnation that is due them on account of their sin. And this is the way God loved the world--He provided a way, through the death of His own Son, for all people who believe to be taken out from under the sentence of condemnation that they are already standing under (see verse 18), and given eternal life instead.

Verse 17 tells us two things: something that was not God's purpose in sending His Son, and something that was His purpose. He did not send His Son to condemn the world. Judgment of the world is not Christ's purpose, at least not in this first advent. Instead, He came with another purpose: He came as Saviour of the world. He saves the world by providing the means for all believers to have eternal life rather than condemnation.

Christ's death was intended so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life instead of condemnation, and the world will be saved in this way.