Either-Or

The New Testament message about Jesus is stated in dualistic terms:  either we’re for him or against him; either we follow him on the road to life or abandon him to take the path of destruction.  There’s no half-hearted, half-way response to Jesus; lukewarm religion nauseates him (Rev. 3:16).  John’s Gospel brings this out:  with Jesus it’s light vs. darkness; sight vs. blindness; truth vs. lies; freedom vs. slavery.

In John 3 it’s crystal clear that new birth is necessary:  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (3:3).  With­out God’s gift of new birth (1:12-13), people will be excluded from the eternal joy of life under King Jesus’ beautiful, benevolent reign.

John 3:16 puts the dualism bluntly:  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Either we trust in the saving Son of God lovingly sent to rescue us from sin’s guilt, or we turn away from Christ and perish.  John 3:36 is equally direct:  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; who­ever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

In John 4 the metaphor changes but not the message:  Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (4:14).  Worshipping Jesus as Messiah, as “the Savior of the World” (4:42), brings eternal soul-quenching satisfaction.  But without his “living water,” we’re spirit­ually parched and lost forever.

Some chafe at the New Testament’s binary vision:  “Such blunt polarity, such stark dualism—surely God must be more open-minded than that!”  But think:  Only dualism acknowledges the uniqueness of Jesus; only a binary vision of reality can show how mag­nificent the living, reigning, all-glorious Christ truly is.  If Jesus were presented merely as the religious leader for one of many life-path options, he’d be reduced to a non-spectacular figure with nothing to commend him as supreme.  Such a leader would not be worthy of worship.  Nor could such a figure ever meet our deep need for divine mercy or satisfy our deep longing for eternal joy.  Thank the Lord for dualism in John’s Gospel:  I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (14:6).