“He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony. The one who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly.The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (vv. 31-36)

For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God. (vv. 20-21)

In John 3:22-36, John the Baptist explains why he must decrease. John encouraged people to repent of their sins and live a godly life. However, repentance of sins or human will to live a godly life does not make anyone the new creation. Our God showed mercy even to some evil men throughout the Bible, but their confession of sins did not make them reborn. The law reveals that all men are sinful. Even those who do not know the law of God are condemned because of their conscience (See Romans 2:12-16). But the law does not make one a believer. Causing guilt using the law can result in false confession of faith.

John the apostle carefully laid out his arguments in this book. He explains why Jesus had to be the second person of the Trinity. Jesus had to be God not to keep the law perfectly but to free His people and make them a new creation.

Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:16-19)

The gospel means the good news that Christ has brought to us. Sadly, the gospel that most theologians and ministers preach is not the true gospel. Those who claim to have read and studied many theology books and writings have a wrong understanding of the gospel. The men-made theology teaches that Christ kept the law perfectly to fulfill it and gained righteousness for the saints. This theory is called the Active Obedience of Christ (AOC). Theologians and ministers do not preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23). They preach Christ who perfectly kept the law. The conditional covenants were given so that people would eagerly wait for the Son of God. Where there is the law, there is always death.

The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. (Romans 7:10)

In the past, slaves were treated as possessions and could be put to death if they disobeyed their masters. The life of slaves relied on their obedience and their masters’ mercy. But the life of sons relies on fathers’ love. Therefore, our true freedom comes when the only Son of God makes us be born again as the adopted children of God. John the apostle explains that the Son achieved this by two means: water and blood. However, they are not separate because Christ is the living water turned into blood.

This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. (1 John 5:6)

The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. (John 3:35)

Whenever Paul mentioned Christ’s obedience, he connected it with His work on the cross. All his life, Paul preached Christ crucified, not Christ who kept the law perfectly.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)