John 3:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

One who sits in darkness for lack of light might perhaps receive forgiveness. But one who remains in darkness after the light has appeared bears witness against himself that his will is corrupt and disobedient.

Since what was said seemed unbelievable to many, for no one can prefer darkness to light, He also shows the reason why men fall into such misery.

What is this reason? "Because their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed."

Since Christianity requires not only right-mindedness but also an honorable life, and they wished to wallow in the mire of sin, those who do evil works did not wish to come to the light of Christianity or submit to My laws.

How did some act according to the truth so as to come to the light, that is, to Christ? And how did some love darkness? He finds all men sinners and heals all from sin. The serpent, in which the Lord's death was prefigured, heals those who had been bitten. Because of the serpent's bite, the serpent was lifted up, that is, the Lord's death for mortal men whom He found unrighteous.

How, then, should this be understood: "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (Jn 3:19)?

What does this mean? Whose deeds were good? Did You not come to justify the ungodly? But He says, "They loved darkness rather than light." Here is what He emphasized. Many loved their sins, but many acknowledged their sins. Whoever acknowledges his sins and reproves his sins is already acting together with God. God reproves your sins. If you also reprove them, you are joined to God.

There are, as it were, two things: the man and the sinner. What you call man, God created. What you call sinner, man himself made. Destroy what you made, so that God may heal what He made. You must hate in yourself your own works and love in yourself the works of God.

When what you have done becomes hateful to you, then your good works begin, because you reprove your evil works. The beginning of good works lies in the acknowledgment of evil works. You act according to the truth and come to the light.

What does it mean that you act according to the truth? You do not flatter yourself. You do not curry favor with yourself. You do not deal craftily with yourself. You do not say, "I am righteous," while being unrighteous. Then you begin to act according to the truth.

You come to the light so that your works may be made manifest, because they have been wrought in God. Your sin, which has become hateful to you, would not have become hateful if God had not illumined it for you. His truth revealed it before you.

But whoever still loves his sins after admonition hates the admonishing Light and flees from Him. He does this so that his evil works, which he loves, may not be revealed. But whoever acts according to the truth convicts his own evil works within himself.

He does not spare himself or forgive himself, so that God may forgive him. Such a man acknowledges the thing for which he desires to receive forgiveness from God. He comes to the light and gives thanks to Him for revealing what he ought to hate in himself.

He says to God: Turn Thy face away from my sins (Ps 50:11). With what face would he say this, if he did not immediately add: For I know my iniquities, and my sin is ever before me (Ps 50:5)? Let that be before you which you would not wish to be before God. If you place your sin behind you, God will turn it before your eyes. And He will turn it then, when repentance can no longer bear fruit.

Hasten, lest darkness overtake you (Jn 12:35), my brethren. Do not sleep concerning your salvation. Do not sleep while there is time. Let no one estrange himself from the temple of God. Let no one estrange himself from labors for the Lord. Let no one be distracted from unceasing prayer. Let no one abandon customary piety.

Do not sleep while the day stands. The day is bright. Christ is the day. He is ready to forgive sins, but only those who acknowledge their transgressions. He is ready to punish those who defend themselves, boast that they are righteous, and think themselves something when they are nothing.

Whoever abides in His love and in His mercy, and is free from mortal (lethalibus) and grievous sins, acts according to the truth of confession. Such sins are the crimes of murder, theft, and adultery. This does not count those sins that seem lesser, such as slander, evil thoughts, and lack of restraint in permitted things. Such a man comes to the light in good works. For many small sins, if they are despised, kill.

Tiny are the drops that fill a river. Tiny are the grains of sand, but if much sand is laid upon a man, it crushes and buries him. Water in the hold does the same thing as a rushing wave. Little by little it enters through the hold. If it seeps in for a long time and is not pumped out, it sinks the ship.

What does it mean to pump it out, if not to give oneself to good works, lest sins flood us? We do this by compunction, fasting, almsgiving, and forgiveness. Yet the path of this age is thorny and full of temptations. Let it not puff you up in prosperity, nor break you in adversities.

He who gave you the happiness of this age gave it for your consolation, not for your corruption. Again, He who scourges you in this age does so for your correction, not for your condemnation. Bear within yourself the Father who disciplines you, lest you experience the Judge who punishes you. We say this to you every day, and we must say it more often, for these words are good and saving.

Having a wholly corrupt soul, he closes his eyes before the light and voluntarily remains in darkness. Not only does he not go to the light himself, but, on the contrary, when the light comes nearer to him, he flees and turns away from his salvation.

Then Jesus Christ presents the reason why men loved darkness: "for their works were evil."

They fled from the light so that it would not reveal their works. Yet He came not to require an account of their deeds, but to forgive everything. All the more, therefore, should they have fled to the light.

By contrast, one who sincerely and zealously labors at his moral perfection, and who acts according to truth, desires still more to be illumined by the light of truth and goodness.

He willingly listens to and accepts true teaching. He does not fear exposure. On the contrary, by the light of true teaching he strives to examine his moral state and seeks that his works may be made manifest.

Throughout the whole second half of the conversation, Nicodemus did not interrupt the speech of Jesus Christ.

This shows that, by the preceding explanations of Jesus Christ, there had been formed in his soul both a humble awareness of his own insufficiency and faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

From this came his complete readiness to listen in faith to His divine word and receive it.

Later, indeed, Nicodemus appears as a most devoted disciple of Jesus Christ, though a secret one (7:50 and following; 19:39).

Judgment consists in the separation of the good from the evil. This separation takes place of itself when the Light appears in the world. Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed, because they are evil. But he who acts according to the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, because they have been wrought in God.

The essence of all that Jesus said to Nicodemus may be expressed in these words: "You await the Messiah as a conquering king, who will subdue all the nations of the earth to you. You expect to enter His kingdom simply because you are Jews, descendants of Abraham. But you are mistaken. The Kingdom of the Messiah is the Kingdom of God. Therefore it is not carnal, but spiritual, and unlike the kingdoms of this world. It is intended not for Jews alone, but for all men who desire to enter it.

To prepare men to meet the Messiah, John calls them to repentance and baptizes with water those who repent. But this is not enough for entrance into the Kingdom of the Messiah. One must also be baptized with the Spirit. One must be spiritually born anew. One must not only recognize one's sins and repent of them, but also restrain oneself from sins with all the powers of the soul. One must love God and men, and always, in everything, fulfill the will of God. One must submit one's will to the will of God so fully that it becomes one with it.

Such a union of one's own will with the will of God so changes a man's inner world and so renews him that he becomes as though another man, born again. Without such spiritual rebirth, accomplished with God's help, and without such baptism with the Spirit, no one can enter the Kingdom of the Messiah.

You marvel at this, and thereby show complete ignorance of what you, as a teacher of Israel, ought to know. But if you and those like you do not know this, why do you not believe Me? I speak to you of what I know from God and what I have seen with Him. For no one has ascended to Him except the Son of Man, who came from Him and abides with Him.

If you do not understand Me when I speak of what men must do here on earth to enter the Kingdom of the Messiah, will you understand Me if I say that, to open the Kingdom of the Messiah, He Himself must be lifted up on the Cross? This, of course, will seem incomprehensible to you. Yet it is necessary for the salvation of men, in order to open to them the entrance into the Kingdom of the Messiah.

Such is the will of the Heavenly Father: that His Only-begotten Son should suffer, and that those who believe in Him should not only constitute the Kingdom of the Messiah, but also inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. God sent His Son to save men, not to judge or punish them. And why judge? The time has come when every man pronounces judgment upon himself. He who believes in the Son of Man is justified and is not subject to judgment. He who does not believe is already condemned by his unbelief.

Yes, the coming of the Son of Man divides men like a ray of light suddenly shining forth. Those who live according to truth and love the light go toward this Light that has illumined them. But those who live by falsehood fear the disclosure of their evil deeds. They have so loved their darkness, which covers their deeds, and so hate the light that exposes them, that they will hate the Son of Man also. They will not come out of their darkness. Therefore they will not enter the Kingdom of the Messiah, even though they count Abraham himself as their ancestor."

The Evangelist does not explain what impression this conversation made on Nicodemus. It must be supposed that, if Nicodemus did come to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, it was much later, after many new miracles performed by Him. Evidently he did not dare to join himself openly to Christ's disciples. Nor was he among the secret disciples, to whom Joseph of Arimathea belonged. He appeared as one who honored Jesus only at His burial (see Jn 19:38-39).

In any case, Nicodemus was so struck by the wholly unexpected outcome of his conversation with the Teacher who had come from God that he could scarcely have kept silent about it. He probably related the substance of the conversation at least to his closest like-minded men among the Pharisees.

This significant conversation gives some occasion to draw incorrect conclusions from it. Many think that, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is enough to be baptized and to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. But they forget the exact meaning of the words of Jesus Christ. Rebirth of water and the Spirit, and faith in Him, are only the condition for entering the Kingdom of God. They do not guarantee entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Christ Himself said: Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven (Mt 7:21). The first interpreter of this saying, the Apostle James, says in his catholic epistle: What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe, and tremble. But do you wish to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? (Jas 2:14, 19-20).

By the word "light," which the evangelist John especially uses in reference to Christ and His teaching, he sometimes names Jesus Christ Himself. He is the source of spiritual light, the Teacher and Enlightener of the world and of every man coming into the world (Jn 1:4; Jn 8:12; Jn 9:5; Jn 12:46, and others).

At other times he means the teaching of Jesus Christ, which enlightens men, scatters errors, and communicates to man the higher and true knowledge of God and man, of virtue and vice.

This light came into the world to enlighten all and thereby grant salvation. But men, the Savior continues, loved darkness rather than light.

They did not wish to be enlightened by the light of truth, but remained in the darkness of errors because of the inclination of their heart. They loved it (cf. Jn 5:35; Lk 16:8; Acts 26:18, 23; 2 Cor 4:4).

This was always so (Jn 1:5), and it was so at the very coming of the Savior (Jn 1:9-11). It seems a strange phenomenon. The Savior shows its true cause in men's deeds: "because their works were evil."

The good ruler of the Jews was very much concerned with the fate of the Jews. The Savior explains to him what the lamentable fate of the Jews depends on.

The Savior often spoke about this: Mt 22:2; Lk 14:10; 10:4(?); Jn 16:4.

Those turn away from the light who, in their self-deception, set themselves above others. Among them alike are those who exalt human reason above all and deny every religion, and the Jewish Pharisees, who made gods of themselves and their ritual righteousness. They abandoned the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith (Mt 23:23).

In verses 20 and 21 it is observed that two different expressions are used to express the fact of doing good and evil: to do and to make. "He who does evil," ό φαῦλα πράσσων. "He who makes the truth," ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.

The latter verb, ποιεῖν, to make, has a more exalted meaning than the verb πρὰττειν. The latter embraces the whole range of ordinary, human, earthly deeds. To make the truth means to create something that has eternal significance. It means to clothe the abstract ideal thought of eternal good in real form.

These deeds of good bear the imprint of the source of every good, the will of God. They are manifestations of the eternal light shining in the darkness, the God of revelation. The man who manifests such deeds is "he who makes the truth." According to his strength, he helps create and establish truth in the world. He is the Lord's laborer in His vineyard.

The Lord does not need the raising of a majestic and unshakable building of truth in the world. It is needed for the happiness of mankind. Until it is raised upon the cornerstone, which is Christ, mankind cannot taste the happiness and joy in which every man would share.

But this building of truth is built from all human good deeds. Its Architect and Foundation is God, incarnate as the Word and giving life by His Holy Spirit.

Not many in Judea, Galilee, Samaria, and Syria yet knew the Lord Jesus. But among the corrupt Jewish people there were men who desired good. Therefore they hastened toward the light when He shone among "the people sitting in darkness" (Is 9:1; Mt 4:16).

This desire for light at once separated those who hastened to Him from those who hated Him, for "their deeds were evil." Those who hungered and thirsted for righteousness had preserved in their hearts the light of the revelation of the Old Testament. To this still incomplete moral wealth, increased by these men, the Lord added the great riches of the covenant of His goodness. He opened to them the joy of salvation and eternal life.

But from the worthless servant who hid the entrusted wealth in the ground, there was taken away what he did not know how to use. For "to him who has, more will be given. But from him who does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him" (Mt 25; see the whole parable, 14-30).

Such is the meaning of this all-embracing parable in relation to the Jewish people, and especially to the Pharisees and scribes. They "took away the key of knowledge; they did not enter in themselves, and those who were entering they hindered" (Lk 11:52).

"He who makes the truth," who thirsts for good and does it according to his strength, "comes to the light." Sometimes he comes as yet unconsciously. But the good living in his soul will surely lead him to the light and to our Lord Jesus.

Such were all those honest and good souls whom the Lord called to the apostleship and who surrounded the Lord as His disciples. Such, finally, were those crowds of people who were like sheep without a shepherd, and who listened to Him with delight (Mt 9:36; Mk 12:37).

The apostles and disciples of the Lord were only illumined by Him with the eternal light. But the Lord chose and called them because, before their election and calling, they had been striving toward good and thirsting for light and truth.