John 3:19 - For God So Loved (2024)

Verse (Click for Chapter)

New International Version
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.New Living Translation
And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.English Standard Version
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.Berean Standard Bible
And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.Berean Literal Bible
And this is the judgement, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.King James Bible
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.New King James Version
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.New American Standard Bible
And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.NASB 1995
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.NASB 1977
“And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.Legacy Standard Bible
And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.Amplified Bible
This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.Christian Standard Bible
This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.Holman Christian Standard Bible
“This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. American Standard Version
And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.Aramaic Bible in Plain English
This is the judgment: The Light has come into the world and the children of men loved the darkness more than The Light, because their works were evil.Contemporary English Version
The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. Douay-Rheims Bible
And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. English Revised Version
And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.GOD'S WORD® Translation
This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil.Good News Translation
This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. International Standard Version
And this is the basis for judgment: The light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light because their actions were evil. Literal Standard Version
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil;Majority Standard Bible
And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.New American Bible
And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.NET Bible
Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.New Revised Standard Version
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.New Heart English Bible
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.Webster's Bible Translation
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.Weymouth New Testament
And this is the test by which men are judged--the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness more than they loved the Light, because their deeds were wicked.World English Bible
This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. Young's Literal Translation
'And this is the judgment, that the light hath come to the world, and men did love the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil;Additional Translations ...

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) And this is the condemnation.--For "condemnation" read judgment; for "light" and "darkness," the light and the darkness. The object is salvation, not judgment (John 3:17); but the separation of the good involves the judgment of the evil. The light makes the darkness visible. Both were before men. That they chose darkness was the act of their own will, and this act of the will was determined by the evil of their deeds. "The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." (Comp. Note on John 1:5.)

The words are general, but they must have had, for him who then heard them, a special force. It was night. He had avoided the light of day, and like men who go forth to deeds of darkness under cover of darkness, he had come in secrecy to Jesus. His own conscience told him that he was in the presence of a Teacher sent from God (John 3:2); but he has checked the voice of conscience. He has shrunk from coming to this Teacher in the light of day, and has loved the darkness of the night.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - The above interpretation is confirmed by the explanatory sentence which follows, and which is obviously meant to explain the nature of the κρίσις, the process of the judgment of which he had spoken. This crisis, in the case of the believer, furnishes a clear and illustrious proof that the Son of God had primarily come to save, not to judge; while in the case of the unbeliever it was sufficiently manifested by the absence of faith in that which was so sublimely adapted to induce affectionate reverence and adoring trust. Now this is the judgment. The peculiar form of the sentence, αὕτη δέ ἑστιν ἡ κρίσις ὅτι, is found elsewhere in John (1 John 1:5; 1 John 5:11, 14). We are here reminded of the words of the prologue (John 1:5, 9, see notes), where the original shining of the Light in the σκοτία (the abiding state of darkness) ended in non-reception, non-perception of the Light. Subsequently it is said that the light - the archetypal light which illumines, shines upon, every man who comes into the world - came, i.e. in a new and more impressive manner, and by its coming, originated a process of judgment and discrimination among men. This utterance of the prologue is here shown to depend upon the words of the only begotten Son of God made flesh. The critical school make this correspondence with the prologue and with Johannine thought incontestable evidence that we have here John's meditation rather than the word of Jesus. There is, of course, an alternative interpretation. But it appears to us that it is equally rational and critical to see in the words of Jesus thus reported, the origin of the prologue. Light has come into the world, and made evident and established the awful fact that men loved (aorist, denoting a defined characteristic) the darkness (σκότος, used here and 1 John 1:6 for absolute darkness, the complete contradictory of the light), rather than the light. Lucke has urged that μᾶλλον here might mean magis, not potius, and that the Lord admits a certain amount of love for the light, though less than that for the darkness; but numerous passages of similar construction make it certain that potius, not magis, is the meaning (cf. John 12:43; Matthew 10:6; Mark 15:11; 2 Timothy 3:4). "The light," though so needed, and so lovely in itself, was not loved by men. It brought consequences from which "men" recoiled and revolted. They loved their own ignorance and peril. They shrank from the demands - from the repentance, the transformation of habit and character, the utter moral revolution that must be consequent upon the reception of the light. Darkness was loved, hailed, accepted, rested in. The process of the judgment was conspicuous in demonstrating this unholy love. If a man love the deformed, the misshapen, the defiled, and the corrupt thing, rather than the truly beautiful, this is a judgment passed upon his entire previous life and on his present character, which is the outcome and upshot of the life. If a man love sensual gratification, its objects and its means, rather than virtue and chastity and serene and sacred purity, this is in itself a terrific κρίσις - the announcement of his previous career of dissipation and folly. If a man love the darkness of unrenewed humanity rather than the uncreated light embodied, this is his κρίμα, and the process by which it is made evident is the κρίσις passing over him. The explanatory clause that follows gives great force to the previous assertion: For their works were evil. Their habitual conduct supplies permanence and energy to their perverse "love," and reveals its historical antecedent - their works (ἔργα) were "evil" (πονηρά). The love of darkness was the consequence of their wicked ways. The judgment of eternal law has fallen upon their violation of it. The great penalty of sin is sinful desire. A bias towards evil is originated and confirmes by sinful compliance. The blinding of the eye, deafening of the ear (cf. Matthew 13:10, and parallels), is the judicial result of their unwillingness to see or walk in the light of the Lord. Parallel Commentaries ...

Greek

And
δέ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

this
Αὕτη (Hautē)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

is
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

the
ἡ (hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

verdict:
κρίσις (krisis)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2920: Decision; by extension, a tribunal; by implication, justice.

The
τὸ (to)
Article - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

John 3:19 - For God So Loved (2024)

References