Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Three

                                                                                                                                       Verse 9-16 continued

Jesus also taught that whoever would fail to believe in Him to be saved by grace would "perish." But that word "perish" does not mean that Christ will cast their living souls and spirits into an eternal lake of fire. In the end of the world, Jesus will cast only the spiritual dead into the lake of fire. Death is the exact opposite of life. Revelation 20:11-15.

The word "perish" that Jesus used means "to die" or "to be marred." Christ judges unbelievers when they physically die. Hebrews 9:27. Jesus alone has the right to make this judgment. For one to presume that Jesus casts the souls and spirits of those unbelievers He judges into an eternal Hell means that that presumption violates a commandment of Christ. Matthew 7:1-2. Christ withholds all of His final judgments until the end of the world. Revelation 20:11; John 12:47-48. In His final judgment, Jesus dissolves the systems of every person on earth and within the regions of the dead to separate their repentant, living souls and spirits for Him to resurrect to recreate in body, soul, and spirit to live on His recreated earth, and Jesus will cast their separated, dead natures into the eternal lake of fire. II Timothy 4:1; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 5:11-14; II Peter 3:9-13; Psalm 75:3; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; I Corinthians 15:22. Jesus meant by His use of the word "perish" that when marred humans die, God will dissolve their systems in the end of the world. II Peter 3:9-13. Moreover, Christ cannot cast living humans into the lake of fire because His Word teaches that He will cleanse from evil, preserve, recover, and recreate everything that He created in the first place. Ecclesiastes 3:14; II Peter 3:9-13; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Psalm 36:6; Romans 11:36; Revelation 21:5.

In John 12:25, Jesus used other words to teach this same doctrine which He also taught in Matthew 10:39; Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24 and Luke 17:33. When a teaching of Jesus repeats in all four Gospels, it has to be very important. In these verses, Jesus taught that those who attempt to save their earthly lives, with all their sins and spiritual deaths, will lose their lives. In the end of the world, Jesus will dissolve their earthly lives to separate their repentant, living souls and spirits from their evil, spiritual deaths. When Jesus recreates their living souls and spirits with new bodies to live forever on His recreated earth, they will be completely different persons than they were when they lived on the former earth. Christ will recreate them to be righteous. Christ will use His fiery wrath to purge all of their sins and evil from them, especially their excessive pride which caused them to reject faith in Him, and He will recreate them to be meek and righteous persons on the new earth. Matthew 5:5; II Peter 3:9-13; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 21:5. They will lose their former identities and personalities that they had on the former earth, and they will probably not even remember them. Revelation 21:1-5. In other words, their former lives on the earth will have perished.

But those humans who hate their earthly lives of sins and evil and repent of them, and who put their faith in Christ as their Savior from their sins and evil, He will save their lives by His grace while they are still alive in the flesh. I Corinthians 6:11; Revelation 1:5; John 5:24. The Holy Spirit will cleanse their living souls and spirits with the spiritual blood of Christ, and He will recreate their souls and spirits to be new, righteous persons, and He will give them the eternal life and righteousness of Christ Himself by which they can be accepted by God to live with Him forever in Heaven. II Corinthians 5:17; II Corinthians 5:21; John 17:24; Romans 8:17-24. Yet, the Holy Spirit possesses the ability to save by His grace and recreate all living humans who put their faith in Christ, and at the same time, He also holds the power to cause them to retain their former identities and most of their former personalities that they had on the former earth. In other words, Christ will save their lives. This is what Jesus meant when He said, "he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." John 12:25.