Letters From Timothy

This is it. The big three-one-six. On a sign held up by a guy in a rainbow wig, in a pamphlet, or maybe written in a bathroom stall, this is the most referenced reading in the entire Bible, and many would argue that it is the core of Christian teaching.

I think the message of verse 3:16 itself is pretty clear. But what about 3:17 and 3:18? Actually, they’re a little bit confusing. Verse 3:17 says that Jesus was not sent to condemn the world, but 3:18 seems to say that those who don’t believe in him will be condemned, or, in its own words, “already are.” What does this mean? It actually seems to hint at predestination: God knows that some people won’t accept Jesus and therefore they are already condemned even as they go about their daily lives. Well, that seems unfair. Actually, it seems to say the exact opposite of what 3:17 says: that Jesus clearly was sent to divide people into the saved and the condemned. If I may speculate, God’s motivation to send down Jesus may have been more complex than John 3:16 and 3:17-18 would indicate.

Throughout the Old Testament, when a person sins, God requests (well, demands) a sacrifice. Why? It’s not because God is some kind of ancient god or monster that feeds off of the blood of slaughtered animals. As Psalm 50 reads, God says “Were I hungry, I would not tell you, for mine is the world and all that fills it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?” Clearly, the last question is a rhetorical one. God does not eat the sacrifices that he asks His followers for in the Old Testament . Rather, He asks for the sacrifices as a way of punishing those that have sinned against Him. Livestock was the essence of trade and food and life for the peoples of ancient Israel. Killing an animal solely for God was definitely a great sacrifice for the one who made it. But the act was not just for punishment, it was also symbolic, as it showed repentance and faithfulness to God. Indeed, anyone who would kill off their main source of food and income must have been repentant and faithful. I believe that Jesus may have been a sacrifice God made to show his repentance, as well.

I’m going to pause for a moment here, because it looks like I’ve made what some could call a blasphemous claim. God showing repentance would indicate that God has done something wrong, and God is supposed to be perfect. Yet, the Bible seems to document times when God has made mistakes, or at least changed His mind. One of the earliest examples is in Genesis, Chapter 8, in the story of Noah’s Ark. God says to Himself, “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the desires of man’s heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done.” In the Book of Amos, Chapter 7, God repeatedly shows threatening visions to a prophet, who then begs God for mercy, after which God appears to change His mind and promise the threats will not come to pass.

So, if God can change is mind, then perhaps God can make mistakes. Of course God would still be infinitely wiser and smarter than man and woman, but He seems to be like a person as well, at least in the Old Testament. And since God is all-powerful, He has to take responsibility for His own mistakes. When He created man in Genesis, God seemed to not intend for humanity to be corrupted. But man sinned, and thus became capable of evil. But God could not doom all of humanity because of the evil they did because God shared responsibility for their evil. So, because He wished to repent of his sin, and, yes because He loved us, God made his own sacrifice, so that we no longer have to. And in that one symbolic gesture, that one great sacrifice of nothing less than Himself, God forgave the sins of mankind forever.

Keep in mind that all I have written here is just speculation, and (I sincerely hope) not necessarily blasphemous. God is beyond our comprehension, so it is dangerous to say exactly why He does one thing or another, because there is no way to really know. But, I do not believe that Jesus was sent to divide us into the saved and the unsaved, but to forgive us all out of God’s love. If you take nothing else from this letter, be sure you have that.

-Timothy