In my exegetical series on several key passages from Paul’s letters (Rom. 9-11; 1 Cor. 15; 1 Thess. 4:13-18), we’ve seen that he believed in the ultimate restoration of all of God’s enemies. Paul connected this restoration to the eschatological resurrection that will happen at Jesus’ return. We also saw that Jesus himself, as recorded in the synoptic gospels, warned against assuming a limited scope of salvation, although he never said that everyone will be saved (Mk. 3:22-30; Matt. 5:25-26; 7:1-23; 18:21-35; Lk. 11:14-23; 12:57-59; 13:22-30). In John’s gospel, on the other hand, there is a saying attributed to Jesus (12:32) which has been taken as an explicit claim of universal salvation. Is this correct? Let’s take a look at the entire context, John 12:20-50, to see how the universalist interpretation fares.
“The hour has come”
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
At the close of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s gospel, we see that his influence hasn’t just reached Jewish people, but also gentile ‘God-fearers.’ There are “some Greeks” (Gk: hellēnes tines) who came to the temple to worship Israel’s God at Passover; having heard of Jesus, they ask to see him. This illustrates what John said in the previous chapter, that Jesus would be dying “not only for the nation [of Israel], but also to gather the scattered children of God into one” (11:51-52). These Greeks go to Philip, not only because he’s Jesus’ only disciple with a Greek name, but also because he’s from Bethsaida in the predominantly gentile region of upper Galilee (cf. Matt. 4:15).
Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.”
The glorification of Jesus, and the Father’s glory in Jesus, are major themes in the gospel of John (7:37-39; 8:54; 11:4; 12:16, 28; 13:31-32; 14:13; 16:14-15; 17:1, 4-5, 10). Now, however, it’s revealed that he must die in order to be glorified, which so far in John’s gospel he’s only hinted at (2:18-21; 3:14; 12:7-8). Jesus uses an agricultural metaphor to make his point: according to the ancient understanding of plant growth, seeds had to die before bringing forth fruit (cf. 1 Cor. 15:36-37). Likewise, the Son of Man must die in order to be glorified and bear more ‘fruit.’
How is this an answer to the Greeks’ arrival? Up to this point, John says several times that the “hour” of Jesus hadn’t yet come, because of which he couldn’t be arrested (2:4; 7:30; 8:20). From this point forward, however, it’s said that his hour has come (12:27; 13:1; 17:1). The Greeks’ arrival marks a turning point; it shows Jesus that his influence has grown beyond the nation of Israel, as he’d predicted (John 10:16; cf. 11:51-52). The purpose of his ministry to Israel has been fulfilled, and the time has come for him to die on their behalf.
“The one loving his life is losing it”
“Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”
Jesus says, “the one loving his life is losing it” (both verbs are in the present tense). This reiterates a point made earlier in John’s gospel: those who “love” darkness refuse to come to the Light, to keep doing their evil deeds (3:18-20); they are therefore in “death” because they refuse to come to the one who is the Life (5:24; 11:25-26; cf. 8:51; 14:6). This is a presently ongoing judgment, not something relegated to a future day of recompense. For John, just as the Messianic Age and its Life have broken into the present day (3:15-16, 36; 5:24; 6:40, 47, 54; 10:28), the judgment of the Messiah has also broken into the present day, and condemns those who refuse to come to him (3:18-21, 36; 5:22-24).
Elsewhere in John’s writings, the life of the Messianic Age — zōē aiōnia, literally “life of the Age,” but often translated as “eternal life” — is always said to be a present blessing (John 3:15-16, 36; 5:24; 6:40, 47, 54; 10:28; 1 John 3:15; 5:11, 13). Thus, when Jesus says that “the one hating his life in this world will keep it for life of the Age,” he still isn’t talking about a future day of recompense. The “world” (Gk: kosmos) is the unbelieving mass, and Jesus’ followers are taken out of it (John 1:10; 3:19; 7:7; 8:23; 9:39; 12:31; 14:17, 19, 27, 30-31; 15:18-19; 16:8-11, 20, 33; 17:6-18, 25; 18:36; 1 John 2:15-17; 3:1, 13, 17; 4:4-5; 5:4-5, 19). This is so that they can experience the “life of the Age,” which is characterized by intimate knowledge of God and Jesus (John 17:3).
Jesus not only says that his followers must hate their lives in this world; they also have to follow him and go where he goes, and the Father will honor them. Where is he going? This ties into the previous verses, where Jesus says that he’s going to die in order to be glorified (12:23-24). His followers must be willing to hate their lives to the extent that they obediently die like him, and just as the Father will glorify Jesus, he’ll also honor them.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.”
Like in the synoptic gospels, Jesus is troubled and wants to be saved from his fate (Mk. 14:32-39; Matt. 26:36-44; Lk. 22:39-44), but in John’s gospel, he’s shown to be far less anguished than in the others. This accords with the overall more exalted depiction of Jesus in this gospel. Even so, John is clear that Jesus’ psychē (the same word translated as “life” at 12:25) is severely distressed (Gk: tetaraktai; cf. John 13:21). When the Father speaks to him, even though he speaks for the crowd’s sake, they don’t understand it; this is because, as John goes on to say, their eyes have been blinded and their hearts hardened (12:39-41).
“I will drag all to myself!”
“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
This continues the theme that the Messiah’s judgment has broken into the present day, rather than being relegated to a future day of recompense (3:15-16, 36; 5:22-24; 12:25). “This world” is to be judged “now”! But the result of this judgment is unexpected: “I will drag all people [Gk: pantas helkusō] to myself.” Earlier in John’s gospel, it was said that the Father “drags” (Gk: helkusē) people to Jesus by teaching “all people” (Gk: pantas), so that they come to him and are raised up on the last day (John 6:37-40, 44-45). Does this really mean that every person will eventually believe and be saved? Does that even make sense in light of the rest of John’s gospel?
In fact, the rest of the gospel does anticipate this. John’s gospel, contrary to Calvinism, insists that God wishes everyone to believe and be saved. God sent John the Baptist to testify about the Light, “so that all people [Gk: pantas] may believe through him” (1:7); the Light enlightens “every person” (Gk: panta anthrōpon), even though some now reject him (1:9-11; cf. 3:19-20). God sent Jesus to save “the world” (1:29; 3:16-17; 4:42; 6:33, 51; 8:12; 12:46-47; 17:21-25), which in John’s writings always refers to the stubbornly unbelieving mass (see my commentary on John 12:25). God gave Jesus “all flesh” (Gk: pasēs sarkos), and he intends to give them all the “life of the Age” (17:2-3).
Yet John’s gospel also, contrary to Arminianism, affirms God’s persistence in saving all that he intends to save. All that the Father gives Jesus “will come” to him (Gk: hēxei; future indicative), and he “shall not cast out” anyone who comes to him (6:37). God’s will is that Jesus will lose none of what the Father has given to him, but will raise them all up on the last day (6:39). The Father doesn’t yet drag absolutely everyone to Jesus — indeed, the reason that Judas betrayed him is that God didn’t drag him (6:64-65) — but God will teach “all people” so that they are dragged to Jesus and raised on the last day (6:44-45).
Therefore, Jesus’ statement (at the climax of his public ministry) that he will “drag all people to myself” isn’t merely an accidental affirmation of universalism; it’s the culmination of John’s repeated statements that God desires all people to believe, and that he will persist until his desire is fulfilled. How does this square with judgment? Once again, John believes that the Messiah’s judgment has broken into the present day (3:18-21, 36; 5:22-24; 12:25). But this judgment isn’t hopeless, because we ourselves were once under the condemnation of “darkness” and “death”! (John 5:24; 12:46; 1 John 2:9; 3:14) The purpose of the Messiah’s judgment is “that all people may honor the Son even as they honor the Father” (5:22-23).
The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus said to them, “The light is in you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”
The crowd understands that Jesus’ saying about being “lifted up” is a reference to his death (12:32-33). However, they know from their Scriptures that the Messiah’s reign will be forever (Ps. 89:35-37; 110:4; Isa. 9:7; Ezek. 37:25). How then can he be “lifted up”? Rather than answering their question directly, Jesus responds that he, “the light,” won’t be with them for much longer (an implicit confirmation that he’s going to die), and so it would benefit them to pass from darkness to light and become “sons of light” (cf. John 1:9-13) while he’s still with them.
“He has blinded their eyes”
After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them. Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
John applies Isaiah 53:1 to explain why the crowds didn’t believe in Jesus. This shows that he, like other NT writers, understood the 4th Servant Song (Isa. 52:13-53:12) as a Messianic prophecy (cf. Matt. 8:14-17; Lk. 22:35-38; Ac. 8:26-35; Rom. 10:16; 1 Pet. 2:19-25). Jesus not only departed from the crowd; he actually “was hidden” (Gk: ekrubē) from them. This was presumably to ensure that they wouldn’t (yet) believe in him, and the prophecy would be fulfilled.
And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn — and I would heal them.” Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him.
Calvinists point to this citation as evidence that God ultimately doesn’t desire some people to believe and be saved. However, in the original context of the prophecy, God is sarcastically telling Israel’s corrupt religious leaders to keep doing what they’re already doing — seeing but not understanding, listening but not hearing — until he accomplishes his purpose of punishing Israel for its sins (Isa. 6:9-13). Afterward, he plans to teach them so that they do see and understand (Isa. 29:10, 18-24; 30:18-22; 35:4-5). The extended context of John’s citation, therefore, actually supports God’s intention of ultimately healing these people.
John says that Isaiah prophesied this because he “saw his [Jesus’] glory.” There are two possibilities here: either John is talking about his first citation (Isa. 53:1), which contextually speaks of the Messiah’s glory (Isa. 52:13; 53:11-12), or he’s talking about his second citation, which contextually speaks of Yahweh’s glory (Isa. 6:1-3). The first option might be preferred since it’s a prophecy about the Messiah specifically; on the other hand, the second citation is the closest antecedent, and John does see Jesus as having God’s glory (John 1:14; 8:54; 11:4; 17:5). Perhaps the ambiguity is intentional, and John sees Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of both prophecies, both the glory of the Messiah and the glory of God.
Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.
Just as God, through Isaiah, sarcastically told Israel’s religious leaders to keep on seeing and not understanding, and to dull the minds of the people (Isa. 6:9-10), the Pharisees are dulling the minds of the people by preventing them from confessing belief in Jesus. This is because they loved “the glory of people” (Gk: tēn doxan tōn anthrōpōn) more than “the glory of God” (Gk: tēn doxan tou theou). This is to be contrasted with Jesus, who, per John’s earlier statement, is the glory of God, the same glory which Isaiah saw (John 12:39-41).
“The word I spoke will judge him”
Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.”
John uses a common idiom, which means those who believe in Jesus “believe not [only] in him but [also] in him who sent me.” Of course, they do believe in Jesus, but their belief in him points to a deeper belief in the Father, by the Jewish principle that an agent (shaliach) of a person is to be regarded as the sender himself. Likewise, those who see Jesus see the one who sent him (the Father), because the Father is working and speaking in and through him; this is a major theme of John’s gospel (3:34; 5:17-20, 30; 6:38; 7:14-18; 8:16-18, 25-29; 10:37-38; 14:6-11). Finally, Jesus exhorts the crowds once more to believe in him, so that they “don’t stay in the darkness” (Gk: en tē skotia mē meinē); this continues the theme of presently ongoing judgment, and the possibility of rescue from that judgment.
“I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge…”
Elsewhere in John’s gospel, we’re told that Jesus will be judging the world, and indeed this judgment has already begun (3:18-21; 5:22-30; 9:39; 12:31). He’s using the same idiom as before: he “came not [only] to judge the world but [also] to save the world.” This makes little sense if the judgment is a hopeless judgment, as non-universalists believe, but that’s not what John believes about judgment. The very reason that Jesus judges the world is to drag all people to himself, so that all people honor both him and the Father! (John 5:22-23; 12:31-32) Furthermore, this passage confirms that “the world” which Jesus came to save includes those who now stubbornly reject him, contrary to Calvinism.
Jesus does talk about a judgment that will take place “on the last day,” the same day that all who are dragged to him (i.e., every person) will be raised (John 6:39-40, 44; 11:24). Those who reject Jesus will be judged, not by him, but by his “word.” The word krinō, “judge,” doesn’t necessarily imply punishment; it can simply mean to determine a course of action, or to deem someone right or wrong (e.g., Luke 7:43; 12:57; John 7:24; 8:15; Acts 3:13; 4:19; 13:46; 15:19; 16:4, 15; 20:16; 21:25; 25:25; 26:8; 27:1; Rom. 2:3; 14:5, 13; 1 Cor. 2:2; 7:37; 11:13; 2 Cor. 2:1; 5:14; Tit. 3:12).
“…for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
Once again, we’re told that Jesus speaks the very words of God, because God has given a command to him about what to say (cf. John 3:34; 5:30; 7:14-18; 8:25-28; 14:9-10). The “word” (Gk: logos) which will judge on the last day those who reject Jesus is therefore the same as God’s “commandment” (Gk: entolē), and this commandment is “life of the Age.” When Jesus raises everyone the Father has given him (i.e., all people) on the last day, those who rejected him in this life will be judged by the word that he spoke, and they’ll be shown to have been wrong. This judgment, however, will result in “life of the Age” — they’ll come to know God and Jesus, whom they formerly rejected (John 17:3).
Conclusion
At the climax of Jesus’ public ministry in the gospel of John, he makes a surprising claim: “if I’m lifted up from the earth, I’ll drag all people to myself” (12:32). Universalists take this as evidence that Jesus will ultimately save everyone, but is that correct? As it happens, the extended context in John’s gospel supports such an interpretation! God desires everyone to be saved through belief in Jesus (1:7, 9, 29; 3:16-17; 4:42; 6:33, 51; 8:12; 12:46-47; 17:2, 21-25), and he’ll persist in this intention until it’s fulfilled (6:37-40, 44-45).
Both the life and the judgment of the Messianic Age have broken into the present time (3:18-21, 36; 5:22-24; 12:25, 31), and the purpose of judgment is to bring all people to Jesus (5:22-23; 12:31-32). There will be a future judgment on “the last day,” when everyone is raised (6:39-40, 44; 11:24), but the result of this judgment will be “life of the Age” for everyone who now rejects Jesus (12:47-50; cf. 17:2-3). Thus, like Paul, John (and Jesus, if John’s gospel faithfully records his teachings) believed in the eventual restoration of all God’s enemies, and connected this to the resurrection of the dead (cf. Rom. 11:11-36; 1 Cor. 15:20-28, 51-57; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 5:10).
No comments:
Post a Comment