John 3:14-21
3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
3:17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
3:18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
3:19 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.
3:20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.
3:21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
[14]καὶ καθὼς Μωϋσῆς ὕψωσε τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου,
[15] ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
[16 ]οὕτω γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
[17] οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι᾽ αὐτοῦ.
[18 ]ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ κρίνεται, ὁ δὲ μὴ πιστεύων ἤδη κέκριται, ὅτι μὴ πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ.
[19]αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ κρίσις, ὅτι τὸ φῶς ἐλήλυθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἠγάπησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μᾶλλον τὸ σκότος ἢ τὸ φῶς· ἦν γὰρ πονηρὰ αὐτῶν τὰ ἔργα.
[20]πᾶς γὰρ ὁ φαῦλα πράσσων μισεῖ τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ·
[21]ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα φανερωθῇ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι ἐν Θεῷ ἐστιν εἰργασμένα.
Comments
The meaning of the passive vb σῴζομαι (see σωθῇ in v. 17) is worth pondering.
[15] ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν: πιστεύω,‘I trust, put faith in, rely on a person, thing or statement’ (cl. Gk: LSJ; in LXX the same meaning), c. dat. In later Greek, as here, πιστεύω can be construed with a prep. phrase, e.g., εἰς (‘to, towards’) + acc.
The generic phrase ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν, ‘whoever believes in him’ is repeated in vv. 16 and 18.
[16] οὕτω γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε: the demonstrative adv. οὕτω (‘thus’), by virtue of its initial position in the sentence, is emphatic. It is connected to the vb ἠγάπησεν hence: ‘SO MUCH did God love the kosmos that (ὥστε)…’ The latter conjunction introduces a clause of result, in this case expressing the actual (not the expected) result.
τὸν κόσμον: already in Homer, κόσμος means ‘order’; because the ancient Greeks considered order to be intrinsically beautiful, the noun also meant ‘adornment’ (cf. Engl. cosmetic). By 450 BC the term meant ‘world-order’ and also ‘social order’. In St John ‘the totality created by God’ (kosmos)includes humankind (see EDNT s.v. κόσμος, pp. 310-11, 312).
[17] ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι᾽ αὐτοῦ: κρίνῃ, pres. subj. < κρίνω, the basic (and archaic) meaning being ‘I choose, pick out, distinguish’. Among the many meanings in cl. Gk, ‘accuse’ (c. acc. pers. + gen. criminis); ‘pass a sentence upon, condemn someone’ c. acc. pers.
* In LXX κρίνω can mean—as apparently here—‘I act as judge over someone’, c. acc. pers., e.g. τὸν λαόν, ‘the people’ (Ex. 18.13, 22) (Muraoka s.v.1). The LXX meaning is close to the archaic sense ‘I choose, I distinguish’ [i.e. between innocent and guilty’].Thus in Jn 3:17: ‘not to judge mankind’.
σωθῇ, 3rd pers. sg. aor. subj., pass. vc < σῴζω (in cl. Gk there is an iota subscript or adscript whenever ζ follows ω—a trivial point perhaps]. (Already in Homer) σ. = ‘I save from death, keep alive’; the pass. vc occurs in a medical sense, ‘I am healed’ (in Hippocrates/ cl. & later Gk), hence the wish σῴζεο, ‘God keep you well!’ (in Hell. and late Gk): see LSJ.
* Possibly the meaning of ᾽ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος shades into the medical and thence into the metaphorical, ‘but in order that mankind might be healed’. The related adj. σῶς , of persons, ‘safe and sound’, ‘alive and well’ (LSJ).
[18] κέκριται: 3rd pers. sg. pf. tense, pass. vc. < κρίνω; see on v. 17.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 