the world Note the emphatic repetition: the whole human race is meant, as in John 3:16, not the Gentiles in particular.

not … to condemn This does not contradict John 9:39, -For judgment am I come into this world." Comp. Luke 9:56. Since there are sinners in the world Christ's coming involves a separation of them from the good, a judgment, a sentence: but this is not the purposeof His coming; the purpose is salvation. -Condemn" is too strong here for the Greek word, which is simply to judge between good and bad; but the word frequently acquires the notion of -condemn" from the context (see on John 5:20). Note the change of construction; not, -to save the world," but -that the world might be saved through Him." The world can reject Him if it pleases.

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