“Qui credit in eum, non judicatur ; qui autem non credit, jam judicatus est : quia non credit in nomine unigeniti Filii Dei.”
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
“He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.”
“He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
The word we translate condemn, κρινη, signifies to judge, as well as to condemn. The Jews were mistaken in their proud conceit, that Christ came to judge and destroy all those that were not of their nation; thus, Joh 7:47, he saith, he came not to judge, but to save the world. Nor is this contrary to what he saith, Joh 9:39, For judgment I am come into this world; for that is ex accidenti, from the corruption of men, shutting their eyes against the light, and hardening their hearts against the offers and tenders of Divine grace. Christ will come in his second coming to condemn the world of unbelievers; but the tendency of his coming was not for condemnation, but to offer the grace of the gospel, and eternal life and salvation, to men in the world.
Is not judged. He that believeth, viz. by a faith working through charity, is not judged; that is, is not condemned; but the obstinate unbeliever is judged; that is, condemned already, by retrenching himself from the society of Christ and his Church. (Challoner)
4. Christ, in the close, discourses concerning the deplorable condition of those that persist in unbelief and wilful ignorance, v. 18-21.
3. Christ here discourses of the great design of his own coming into the world, and the happiness of those that believe in him, v. 14-18. Here we have the very marrow and quintessence of the whole gospel, that faithful saying (1 Tim 1 15), that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the children of men from death, and recover them to life. Now sinners are dead men upon a twofold account:— (1.) As one that is mortally wounded, or sick of an incurable disease, is said to be a dead man, for he is dying; and so Christ came to save us, by healing us, as the brazen serpent healed the Israelites, v. 14, 15. (2.) As one that is justly condemned to die for an unpardonable crime is a dead man, he is dead in law; and, in reference to this part of our danger, Christ came to save as a prince or judge, publishing an act of indemnity, or general pardon, under certain provisos; this saving here is opposed to condemning, v. 16-18.