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Listed on the right are the New Testament Expository Notes that can be downloaded from this website.

Some of the Notes contain copyright restrictions on the opening pages. However, this has since been removed and the Expository Notes or commentaries are now in the public domain. Anyone quoting from them in another publication is requested to acknowledge the source: i.e., Gordon Lyons at www.gordonlyons.co.uk

Example of Expository Notes

(Extract from the Gospel of John chapter 3.)

For God So Loved the World

John 3:16-21

John 3:16

This, perhaps, is the best known and best loved verse in the Bible. (16a) “For God so loved the world…” 18 (ESV; bold emphasis added, here and below)

The word ‘so’ emphasises the extent and degree of God’s love. It is immeasurable, imperishable, inextinguishable, inexhaustible.

He so loved the world… Thus, or In this manner, God loved the world…

(16a) “For God so loved the world…”

This is the demonstration of the height, depth and breadth of God’s love for the world. God so loved the world. God’s love is so great that it is beyond human comprehension. Nevertheless, it is the true expression of God’s intense, unfathomable and divine love for fallen, sinful men and women.

(16a) “For God so loved the world…”

Here we see that God’s love is not limited to one nation, race, colour, class or creed. God’s eternal and immeasurable love for fallen mankind extends to all nations and all classes of people on earth. No nation and no class or condition of people is excluded. God’s love is truly universal. Every single person who calls upon the name of the Lord will experience the fullness of God’s love in their hearts through the forgiveness of their sins. The Spirit of God does not limit himself to any one nation, race, colour, class, or condition of people. The Holy Spirit works sovereignly—wherever he will—upon the hearts and minds of men, women and children throughout the entire world. He convicts them of their sin, convinces them of their need, and converts them to Christ.

(16a,b) “For God so loved, the world that he gave his only Son…”

God so loved the world that he gave. He gave all that love could give. God gave that which was closest to his heart—that which he loved most dearly. He so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (or his Only Begotten Son). So intense was the love of God for the world—even for a sinful world—that he yielded up his one and only Son that sinners might be saved. (Rom. 5:6-11; 1 John 4:9-10)

(16c) “…that whoever believes in him…”

This relates to anyone without exception who believes: That is, anyone whom the Spirit of God effectually calls. It relates to anyone whom God’s Holy Spirit enables to understand the truths of the Gospel and whom he makes able and willing to believe. An unregenerate person remains spiritually dead. It requires the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit to regenerate him and to bring him to true repentance and genuine saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Isa. 55:1,6-7; John 6:37,40; 7:37-39)

(16c) “…that whoever believes in him…”

Anyone who believes wholeheartedly on the Son of God and on what he has accomplished on the sinner’s behalf… Anyone who accepts Christ as their Saviour and Lord…Anyone who commits themselves without reserve to the Lord Jesus Christ, and who follows him and his ways with all their heart and soul…Like every other element of salvation, saving faith is a gift of God. The Holy Spirit enables a person to see and understand the truth, and to repent and believe on Christ. However, although faith is God’s gift, all those who come to faith in Christ do so freely and willingly. Once the Spirit of God has enlightened their minds to the truth, they gladly and willingly embrace the one who is the Way the Truth and the Life. (Acts 16:29-31; Rom. 10:9-13; see also Matt. 11:25-30)

(16c,d) “…whoever believes in him should not perish…”

This is the solemn assurance and promise of God. No one who believes in God’s Son shall ever perish. God will never condemn him or consign him to a lost eternity. Through faith in Christ, the abiding wrath of God and the sentence of condemnation have been removed forever from the repentant sinner. He will never perish. He can never be lost. (John 3:36; 5:24; Rom. 8:1)

(16c,d) “…whoever believes in him should not perish but have…”

Believers have—i.e. they now hold or possess… Here, the verb (to) have is used in the sense of ‘to have and to hold’… as in the marriage covenant.

(16c,d) “…whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (ESV)

This is the gift of God. All those whom God’s Spirit calls to repentance and faith in his Son, receives the gift of eternal life.

Eternal life means much more than living for ever—although this is certainly included. In giving us eternal life, God is guaranteeing to us a heavenly inheritance. This inheritance includes a place in our Father’s house. It includes everlasting fellowship with our Father in heaven and with his Son. It includes the fullness of love, joy, peace and every other spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. It includes the absence of all sin, sorrow, suffering, pain, death and everything else that disturbs our communion with God in this present life. Such is but a foretaste of the joys laid up for the believer in his Father’s house above. (John 14:1-3; Rom. 8:16-17; Rev. 21:4)

John 3:17

In sending his Son into this world, it was not the purpose of the Father to condemn the world. The day of final judgment has yet to come. Christ came into this world to provide salvation and forgiveness of sins to all who would believe on him. The Father’s intention was that—through his Son—the message of eternal salvation should be proclaimed throughout the whole world. (Luke 19:10; John 12:47-48; 1 John 2:2; 4:14)

As we have seen, this does not imply the salvation of every single individual in the world. It implies merely that a countless multitude of individuals out of every tongue, tribe, people and nation will be brought to repentance and faith in the Son of God. The contrast is between the way of salvation provided under the old covenant through Judaism exclusively, and the universal proclamation of eternal salvation provided under the new covenant: namely, by means of the Gospel. Now, any individual whom God calls, of any nation, can receive God’s salvation through faith in his Son. There is no longer any need for them to accept the Jewish faith, or the rite of circumcision.

As has been noted, the term ‘world’ is not necessarily all-inclusive. Comparing Scripture with Scripture, it becomes evident that when God speaks of sending his Son to ‘save the world’, he means he has sent his Son to save individuals out of every nation on earth; i.e. his elect. This election accords with the sovereign will of a holy and righteous God.

John 3:18

Anyone who believes in the Son of God is no longer condemned. He no longer remains alienated from God and at enmity with God on account of his sin. Because of his faith in the Son of God as his Saviour and Lord, the repentant and believing sinner has been acquitted—or justified. Justification is the opposite of condemnation. Those whom God justifies cannot be condemned. (John 5:24; Rom. 8:1,28-34)

Anyone, however, who does not believe in the Son of God stands condemned already. He stands condemned because of the unforgiven sin in his life. He stands condemned for refusing to accept the atoning sacrifice for his sin that God has provided—Jesus, the Lamb of God. Such people—and this includes everyone who has not believed in Christ—remain under the enduring wrath of God. (John 3:36; Heb. 2:3; 12:25)

This verse tells us further that these people stand condemned because they have refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son (or ‘one and only Son’, or ‘only begotten Son’). To believe in the name of someone, is to believe in everything which that name represents. The name of Jesus means Yahweh [ is] Saviour. To believe in the name of Jesus, therefore, is to believe in him as God and as Saviour. Much more is implied. This, however, would be as much as the people would be required to understand about the name—and to believe.

Such terminology was not unfamiliar to Jewish ears. It is used in the Old Testament of the Lord God himself. Faith in the Name meant faith in the God whom the Name represented. The Name speaks of the character or attributes of the Almighty God. It represents the ‘I AM’—a phrase that all Jews knew referred to the unpronounced name of YHWH (or Yahweh; transliterated, Jehovah). (Exodus 3:13-15; 6:3; 34:14; cf. Lev. 24:11,16)

John 3:19

(19a) “And this is the judgment…” (ESV)

— Or this is the verdict and sentence of condemnation…

(19b) “…the light has come into the world…”

The light of life in Christ Jesus has come into this sin-darkened world. This penetrating and revealing light shines into every corner of a person’s life.

 In this context, ‘light’ is that which exemplifies and emphasises spiritual and moral purity, holiness, justice and righteousness, and which exposes and condemns fallen mankind’s sinful nature together with his sinful thoughts, words, deeds, inclinations and attitudes.

Verse 19 continues by declaring:

(19b) “…the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil." (ESV; bold emphasis added)

Instead of welcoming the Light of the world, most people hated or despised that Light. This Light was exposing their evil deeds—but they loved (cherished, enjoyed or delighted in) their evil deeds. (John 1:4,5; 8:12)

The word used here for love (Gk., agapao) is the same word used to express God’s love for the world. Sinful men and women loved their wicked and ungodly way of life so intensely that they detested the light that exposed their evil lifestyles and condemned their sins.

(19b)…and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (ESV; bold emphasis added)

The phrase ‘rather than’ implies that people were much more willing to cherish their sins than to seek God’s forgiveness. Their love for their evil way of life was greater by far than their love for God or for his Son. The way of righteousness, holiness and truth was a way with which they had no desire to become too closely acquainted. This, of course, was a judicial consequence of spurning repeatedly the grace of God and refusing wilfully to hear the word of God. (Rom. 1:28-32)

John 3:20

Verse 20 confirms what has just been said. Individuals who practise evil hate—or detest—the light. They have no desire to encounter the light. They know that this light exposes their sinful practices—and they do not want their deeds to be exposed by the light of truth and righteousness, and to be shown for what they really are.

In this context, to expose means not only to reveal, but also to judge—and to correct or punish accordingly. (Job 24:13-19; John 7:7; Eph. 5:12-14) In fear of exposure and judgment, therefore, these individuals continue to hide in the darkness: i.e., inexcusably, they seek to remain ignorant of the truth, stifling their consciences in the process, so that they can continue to practise their unrighteous and wicked deeds.

So long as they continue to practise their sins, however, they remain under the wrath and condemnation of an all-seeing and all-knowing God. One day, they will stand before God to give account for every evil thought, word and deed. They will give account also to God for their wilful and inexcusable rejection of God’s one and only Son—the one who is the Light of the world and the Light of life.

John 3:21

Those who live by the truth of God’s Word, come fearlessly into the light of God’s presence. For them, the Light of the world holds no terrors. He is their joy and all their delight. He is the one who provides them with light and life. He is the one who teaches them the truths of God’s Word. Therefore, those who seek to live by the light of God’s Word come gladly into the presence of their Father in heaven. (Ps. 1:1-3; Acts 17:11; 1 John 1:6-7)

As far as they are able in their present state, they endeavour to honour God’s Son by how they live. Therefore, they know that they have nothing to hide from the all-searching and all-seeing eye of the Lord. When they sin, they can confess their sin to their heavenly Father. From their knowledge of God’s Word of truth, they are aware that God has provided forgiveness for them through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 5:8-21; 1 John 1:9)