36 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.”
There are only two options about the Father’s sending His Son to earth: to believe in His Son or reject Him as the Savior. This last verse in chapter 3 emphatically restates 3:18.
Verse 36 is a climax to chapter 3. It is a striking application of what was said above. The apostle laid out two mutually exclusive alternatives to enter eternal life: believe or disbelieve.
36 He who believes in the Son
Faith in the Son as God’s envoy to earth is the only way to possess eternal life. The use of the word “Son” shows the uniqueness of the relationship of Jesus to the Father.
has everlasting life;
The one who believes in the Son has and holds eternal life. In other words, the moment a person believes, he already has eternal life. Eternal life begins at the point of salvation (1 Jn 5:9-12).
The Greek word “has” indicates that eternal life is a present possession of those who believe in Christ. The person who believes has undergone a decisive experience of passing from eternal death to eternal life. This means that the one who believes passes through the portal of eternal death to eternal life at the point of salvation. We can have eternal life while we are physically alive on earth.
and he who does not believe [rejects] the Son
Unbelief in the Son has an implication—that person will never possess eternal life. It is important to see the literal meaning of “does not believe”; the Greek word for this phrase means to disobey or reject the Son.
“Not believe” is not the usual word for believing in the gospel of John. The idea here is to “obey not.” This word carries the idea of refusal to submit, to revolt against the message.
shall not see life,
Revolt against the Son’s message cuts one off from eternal life at the point one dies. Not only will the unbeliever never have eternal life, he will not even “see” it.
but the wrath of God
This is the only use of the Greek word for “wrath” in the gospel of John. This word does not mean a sudden burst of temper. Rather, it conveys the idea of settled displeasure. God has a predetermined attitude toward those who reject Christ as Savior because He cannot violate His own nature.
abides on him.”
The person who rejects the Son will spend eternity in hell. Hell will “abide” on the person who does not believe in the Son. He is under the eternal sentence of death.
This verse is the only place where God’s wrath is mentioned in the gospel of John. A person does not have to do anything to become lost. He is lost at the point of his birth. Hell begins at birth, not when we die. The person who does not believe has the wrath of God on him while he lives; he will receive unalterable wrath from God for eternity in hell.
Hell abides on the person who does not believe in the Son. That sentence to a Christless eternity is only removed when a person trusts Christ as Savior.
PRINCIPLE:
God’s wrath rests on those who do not believe.
APPLICATION:
God does not give people the option of straddling the fence when it comes to Christ and His work. There must be a clear, unequivocal decision to believe on Him. Unbelievers are already under God’s condemnation. There must be a way to get out from under this state. God cannot tolerate anything that is inconsistent with His absolute nature.
People do not have to do anything to become lost. They do not have to commit a “gross” sin or a pattern of sinning. They are in a state of being lost from the beginning. The beauty of this situation is that God Himself provides the solution. He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross for those sins. It is our option to accept it or not.
There is no neutral ground when it comes to making a decision about Christ. Either we pass judgment on ourselves as unbelievers or we accept Christ by believing who He is and what He did. Every person on earth is at the crossroads of making this decision about Christ. Our attitude toward Christ is what matters to God.
For a critique of Lordship Salvation on this verse, go here: https://versebyversecommentary.com/articles/problem-passages/john-336-critique-of-lordship-salvation-tom-stegall/
and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life,…
If the unbeliever will not see life, then doesn’t it mean that he will not live? He will die the second death.
That’s the only way I see of understanding this phrase.
And these two Scriptures seem to confirm that.
John 6:50-51
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.
John 8:51 Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.
Mark, the contrast is to “everlasting” life here, which is God’s life which lasts forever. Unbelievers do not have God’s life in them. There are a number of Greek words for life in the New Testament. There is a Greek word for physical life (bios), but the word here is zoj, which has an ethical connotation. i.e., the opposite of death. The contrast is between eternal or spiritual life, quality of life with God, and spiritual and eternal death, not physical death. The idea of death in the Bible is separation. In this case, those without Christ will be separated from Him for eternity.
In your response, you stated this. “The contrast is between eternal or spiritual life, quality of life with God, and spiritual and eternal death, not physical death.”
However, that is not what I saw when I looked at the Greek word for death.
John 6:50
This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die (apothane).
The Greek word apothane is used 13 times in the New Testament. And in EVERY single case, it is talking about physically dying, not “eternally dying.”
And the same thing is true for the Greek word death in John 8:51.
Mark, your study of the Greek words for death is inadequate:
DEATH,
A. Nouns
1. thanatos (θάνατος,), “death,” is used in Scripture of:
(a) the separation of the soul (the spiritual part of man) from the body (the material part), the latter ceasing to function and turning to dust, e.g., John 11:13; Heb. 2:15; 5:7; 7:23. In Heb. 9:15, the KJV, “by means of death” is inadequate; the RV, “a death having taken place” is in keeping with the subject. In Rev. 13:3, 12, the RV, “death-stroke” (KJV, “deadly wound”) is, lit., “the stroke of death”:
(b) the separation of man from God; Adam died on the day he disobeyed God, Gen. 2:17, and hence all mankind are born in the same spiritual condition, Rom. 5:12, 14, 17, 21, from which, however, those who believe in Christ are delivered, John 5:24; 1 John 3:14. “Death” is the opposite of life; it never denotes nonexistence. As spiritual life is “conscious existence in communion with God,” so spiritual “death” is “conscious existence in separation from God.”
“Death, in whichever of the above-mentioned senses it is used, is always, in Scripture, viewed as the penal consequence of sin, and since sinners alone are subject to death, Rom. 5:12, it was as the Bearer of sin that the Lord Jesus submitted thereto on the Cross, 1 Pet. 2:24. And while the physical death of the Lord Jesus was of the essence of His sacrifice, it was not the whole. The darkness symbolized, and His cry expressed, the fact that He was left alone in the Universe, He was ‘forsaken;’ cf. Matt. 27:45–46.”*
2. anairesis (ἀναίρεσις, 336), another word for “death,” lit. signifies “a taking up or off” (ana, “up,” airo, “to take”), as of the taking of a life, or “putting to death”; it is found in Acts 8:1, of the murder of Stephen. Some mss. have it in 22:20. See anaireo, under KILL.¶ In the Sept., Num. 11:15; Judg. 15:17, “the lifting of the jawbone.¶
3. teleute (τελευτή, 5054), “an end, limit” (cf. telos, see END), hence, “the end of life, death,” is used of the “death” of Herod, Matt. 2:15.¶
B. Adjective.
epithanatios (ἐπιθανάτιος, 1935), “doomed to death” (epi, “upon,” thanatos, A, No. 1), is said of the apostles, in 1 Cor. 4:9.¶
C. Verbs.
1. thanatoo (θανατόω, 2289), “to put to death” (akin to A, No. 1), in Matt. 10:21; Mark 13:12; Luke 21:16, is translated “shall … cause (them) to be put to death,” lit., “shall put (them) to death” (RV marg.). It is used of the death of Christ in Matt. 26:59; 27:1; Mark 14:55 and 1 Pet. 3:18. In Rom. 7:4 (passive voice) it is translated “ye … were made dead,” RV (for KJV, “are become”), with reference to the change from bondage to the Law to union with Christ; in 8:13, “mortify” (marg., “make to die”), of the act of the believer in regard to the deeds of the body; in 8:36, “are killed”; so in 2 Cor. 6:9. See KILL, MORTIFY.¶
2. anaireo (ἀναιρέω, 337), lit., “to take or lift up or away” (see A, No. 2), hence, “to put to death,” is usually translated “to kill or slay”; in two places “put to death,” Luke 23:32; Acts 26:10. It is used 17 times, with this meaning, in Acts. See KILL, SLAY, TAKE.
3. apago (ἀπάγω, 520), lit., “to lead away” (apo, “away,” ago, “to lead”), is used especially in a judicial sense, “to put to death,” e.g., Acts 12:19. See BRING, CARRY, LEAD, TAKE.
4. apokteino (ἀποκτείνω, 615), to kill, is so translated in the RV, for the KJV, “put to death,” in Mark 14:1; Luke 18:33; in John 11:53; 12:10 and 18:31, RV, “put to death.” See KILL, SLAY.
Note: The phrase eschatos echo, lit., “to have extremely,” i.e., “to be in extremity,” in extremis, “at the last (gasp), to be at the point of death,” is used in Mark 5:23.¶
DIE, DEAD (to be, become), DYING
1. thnesko (θνήσκω, 2348), “to die” (in the perf. tense, “to be dead”), in the NT is always used of physical “death,” except in 1 Tim. 5:6, where it is metaphorically used of the loss of spiritual life. The noun thanatos, and the verb thanatoo (below) are connected. The root of this group of words probably had the significance of the breathing out of the last breath. Cf words under DEATH.
2. apothnesko (ἀποθνήσκω, 599), lit., “to die off or out,” is used (a) of the separation of the soul from the body, i.e., the natural “death” of human beings, e.g., Matt. 9:24; Rom. 7:2; by reason of descent from Adam, 1 Cor. 15:22; or of violent “death,” whether of men or animals; with regard to the latter it is once translated “perished,” Matt. 8:32; of vegetation, Jude 12; of seeds, John 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:36; it is used of “death” as a punishment in Israel under the Law, in Heb. 10:28; (b) of the separation of man from God, all who are descended from Adam not only “die” physically, owing to sin, see (a) above, but are naturally in the state of separation from God, 2 Cor. 5:14. From this believers are freed both now and eternally, John 6:50; 11:26, through the “death” of Christ, Rom. 5:8, e.g.; unbelievers, who “die” physically as such, remain in eternal separation from God, John 8:24. Believers have spiritually “died” to the Law as a means of life, Gal. 2:19; Col. 2:20; to sin, Rom. 6:2, and in general to all spiritual association with the world and with that which pertained to their unregenerate state, Col. 3:3, because of their identification with the “death” of Christ, Rom. 6:8 (see No. 3, below). As life never means mere existence, so “death,” the opposite of life, never means nonexistence. See PERISH.
3. sunapothnesko (συναποθνήσκω, 4880), “to die with, to die together,” is used of association in physical “death,” Mark 14:31; in 2 Cor. 7:3, the apostle declares that his love to the saints makes separation impossible, whether in life or in “death.” It is used once of association spiritually with Christ in His “death,” 2 Tim. 2:11. See No. 2 (b).¶
4. teleutao (τελευτάω, 5053), “to end” (from telos, “an end”), hence, “to end one’s life,” is used (a) of the “death” of the body, Matt. 2:19; 9:18; 15:4, where “die the death” means “surely die,” RV, marg., lit., “let him end by death”; Mark 7:10; Matt. 22:25, “deceased”; Luke 7:2; John 11:39, some mss. have verb No. 1 here; Acts 2:29; 7:15; Heb. 11:22 (RV, “his end was nigh”); (b) of the gnawings of conscience in self reproach, under the symbol of a worm, Mark 9:48 (vv. 44 and 46, KJV). See DECEASE.¶
5. koimao (κοιμάω, 2837), in the middle and passive voices, its only use in the NT, signifies “to fall asleep.” It is connected etymologically with keimai “to lie down,” the root ki— signifying “to lie.” Hence it is used metaphorically of “death,” Matt. 27:52, etc. It is translated “be dead” in 1 Cor. 7:39. See ASLEEP.
6. apoginomai (ἀπογενόμενος, 581**), lit., “to be away from” (apo, “from,” ginomai, “to be, become”; apo here signifies “separation”), is used in 1 Pet. 2:24 of the believer’s attitude towards sin as the result of Christ’s having borne our sins in His body on the tree; RV, “having died unto sins,” the aorist or momentary tense, expressing an event in the past.¶
Note: Apollumi, “to destroy,” is found in the middle voice in some mss. in John 18:14, and translated “die.” The most authentic mss. have apothnesko (No. 2, above).
DIE, DEAD (to be, become), DYING
1. thnesko (θνήσκω, 2348), “to die” (in the perf. tense, “to be dead”), in the NT is always used of physical “death,” except in 1 Tim. 5:6, where it is metaphorically used of the loss of spiritual life. The noun thanatos, and the verb thanatoo (below) are connected. The root of this group of words probably had the significance of the breathing out of the last breath. Cf words under DEATH.
2. apothnesko (ἀποθνήσκω, 599), lit., “to die off or out,” is used (a) of the separation of the soul from the body, i.e., the natural “death” of human beings, e.g., Matt. 9:24; Rom. 7:2; by reason of descent from Adam, 1 Cor. 15:22; or of violent “death,” whether of men or animals; with regard to the latter it is once translated “perished,” Matt. 8:32; of vegetation, Jude 12; of seeds, John 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:36; it is used of “death” as a punishment in Israel under the Law, in Heb. 10:28; (b) of the separation of man from God, all who are descended from Adam not only “die” physically, owing to sin, see (a) above, but are naturally in the state of separation from God, 2 Cor. 5:14. From this believers are freed both now and eternally, John 6:50; 11:26, through the “death” of Christ, Rom. 5:8, e.g.; unbelievers, who “die” physically as such, remain in eternal separation from God, John 8:24. Believers have spiritually “died” to the Law as a means of life, Gal. 2:19; Col. 2:20; to sin, Rom. 6:2, and in general to all spiritual association with the world and with that which pertained to their unregenerate state, Col. 3:3, because of their identification with the “death” of Christ, Rom. 6:8 (see No. 3, below). As life never means mere existence, so “death,” the opposite of life, never means nonexistence. See PERISH.
3. sunapothnesko (συναποθνήσκω, 4880), “to die with, to die together,” is used of association in physical “death,” Mark 14:31; in 2 Cor. 7:3, the apostle declares that his love to the saints makes separation impossible, whether in life or in “death.” It is used once of association spiritually with Christ in His “death,” 2 Tim. 2:11. See No. 2 (b).¶
4. teleutao (τελευτάω, 5053), “to end” (from telos, “an end”), hence, “to end one’s life,” is used (a) of the “death” of the body, Matt. 2:19; 9:18; 15:4, where “die the death” means “surely die,” RV, marg., lit., “let him end by death”; Mark 7:10; Matt. 22:25, “deceased”; Luke 7:2; John 11:39, some mss. have verb No. 1 here; Acts 2:29; 7:15; Heb. 11:22 (RV, “his end was nigh”); (b) of the gnawings of conscience in self reproach, under the symbol of a worm, Mark 9:48 (vv. 44 and 46, KJV). See DECEASE.¶
5. koimao (κοιμάω, 2837), in the middle and passive voices, its only use in the NT, signifies “to fall asleep.” It is connected etymologically with keimai “to lie down,” the root ki— signifying “to lie.” Hence it is used metaphorically of “death,” Matt. 27:52, etc. It is translated “be dead” in 1 Cor. 7:39. See ASLEEP.
6. apoginomai (ἀπογενόμενος, 581**), lit., “to be away from” (apo, “from,” ginomai, “to be, become”; apo here signifies “separation”), is used in 1 Pet. 2:24 of the believer’s attitude towards sin as the result of Christ’s having borne our sins in His body on the tree; RV, “having died unto sins,” the aorist or momentary tense, expressing an event in the past.¶
Note: Apollumi, “to destroy,” is found in the middle voice in some mss. in John 18:14, and translated “die.” The most authentic mss. have apothnesko (No. 2, above).
I was trying to understand your explanation which switches from death meaning physical death but then meaning spiritual death. It is a very confusing explanation.
So I was trying to put your answer into John 6:50 to see if I could make sense of it.
John 6:50
This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die (apothane).
Okay, so if a believer eats the bread (Jesus) he will not die. And in this verse, it means to not die a second physical death since all believers die the first “physical death.” And that is what this Greek word always means. Surely, it must mean that.
But it seems like you are saying that it also means to eat the bread (Jesus) and “not die” spiritually. Is that what you are saying? Could you try to make your answer easier to understand, as I am quite confused. This statement, for example, was not really accurate: “The idea of death in the Bible is separation.” That answer is not entirely correct since death in the Bible means the separation of the body from the soul which is physical death. And even believers suffer that death. And death in the Bible can also mean spiritually dead: meaning separated from God.
So with your explanation, are you combining the two meanings in John 6:50? If that is what you are saying, then that wouldn’t make sense. Why would Jesus say that anyone may eat of Him and “not die spiritually” or eat from Him and not be spiritually separated from God? That really would not make sense.
For example.John 6:50
This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die spiritually.
You can see how awkward and inappropriate that looks.
Mark,
Here is the argument: The manna which was given to your fathers to maintain them in physical, earthly life, could not assert its power against death, and maintain them continually in life. Your fathers died physically. The bread which comes down from heaven does not give physical life; it is not sent for that purpose, but the life which it is given to maintain, it maintains in continuance and precludes death. Taken in connection with the context, the words interpret themselves.
This “eating” uses the Greek aorist tense: It is a singular event, a decision to believe and appropriate the gift of eternal life. ἀποθάνῃ (aorist, active, subjunctive, third person, singular)
to die. The word ἀποθάνῃ is modified by μὴ (adverb) in Jn 6:50, (μὴ is within the current clausal unit, before ἀποθάνῃ). “Died” in the previous verse referred to physical death; here the same verb refers to spiritual death. Anyone who partakes of Christ has the life that is eternal. This future hope is combined in this discourse with a present fulfillment, for Jesus will shortly say that those who eat the bread of heaven will not die but will live forever (vv. 50–51). Eat refers metaphorically to believing savingly in Jesus, which alone rescues sinners from eternal death (cf. 3:16; 11:26). Appropriating Jesus as the Bread of Life is the theme of the next section of this sermon.
In terms of figure of speech, this is a litotes, that is, to “not die” here is to live forever. The individual is no longer under the sentence of death.
God’s intention is that we shall eat of this Bread, and the intended result of this eating is that we shall escape death. As the food, so the eating and its effect both in the case of the manna and in the case of the Bread of Life. Those who eat only the earthly bread prolong only their earthly life and finally die in temporal death and never attain more. Those who eat of the Bread of Life obtain the spiritual and heavenly life, which passes unharmed through temporal death and enters into eternal blessedness. “He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die,” John 11:25, 26. “And not die” refers to spiritual and eternal death. This death we who eat of the Bread of Life escape; this death they who spurn the Bread of Life fail to escape. Note the strong contrast in the two verses 49 and 50: “and they died”—“and (shall) not die.”
Grant Osborne says this: With logical precision, Jesus concludes the discourse with the death-life antithesis of verses 49–50. Their ancestors who had only manna perished (v. 49), while those in Jesus’ time who eat the bread that “comes down from heaven” will not die (v. 50). Like all perishable things (see 6:27), manna kept the Israelites alive for a while but was unable to sustain them long term. All who ate it eventually died. There is only one path to everlasting life, to eat “the bread that comes down from heaven.” God is the true and only source of this new everlasting life, and the Jews of Jesus’ day missed it because of their opposition to Jesus. He is the only bread that one can “eat and not die.”
Without going into much detail, here is my summary of the many kinds of death in the Bible: Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body (Jas 2:26). Spiritual death is the separation of man from God (Ge 3:7-13). Sin separates us from God (Isa 59:2). Spiritual death: Eph 2:1; Ro 5:12; 6:23; 1 Co 15:23. Sin separates us from the life of God (Eph 2:1-3). The Second Death is eternal separation from God (Re 20:11-15; He 9:27).