Not to Condemn – God Came Close
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” - John 3:17
We often rush past John 3:17, eager to quote it’s more famous predecessor. But here in verse 17, we glimpse the very heart of God. A truth so profound and so undeserved, it should stop us in our tracks.
He didn’t come to condemn.
Could He have? Yes. By every right, justice, holiness, authority. He could have come to declare us guilty. To draw the line, pronounce the verdict, and walk away. But that’s not who He is.
It’s not in His nature to condemn. The life of Jesus reveals this. He didn’t avoid the sinner, He sat at their tables with them. He didn’t shame the outcast, He touched their wounds. And He didn’t destroy the guilty, He knelt beside them and said, “Go and sin no more.”
Even when confronting hypocrisy, His goal wasn’t condemnation, it was restoration.
Condemnation separates It pronounces guilt and leaves us to carry it alone.
But Jesus came to heal the separation. To draw near to the ones who had run. To embrace the ones who had hidden. To redeem the ones who had given up hope of ever being whole.
God’s story through the ages tells the same tale.
In Eden, He came looking for Adam and Eve even after they disobeyed.
Through the prophets, He cried out, “Return to Me.”
And finally, in Jesus, He walked into our world, not to count our sins against us, but to carry them Himself.
He didn’t come to condemn.
He came to save.
To restore. To pull us out of shame and into relationship. To meet us in the darkness and bring us into the light. This is grace and mercy. This is God’s pursuit of you.
So today, if you feel unworthy, He already knows. If you feel ashamed, He still came for you. If you fear condemnation, listen again to His words.
“I did not come to condemn you. I came to save you.”
This God is the One who had every right to judge you, but He chose to love you instead.