John 3:19
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And this is the test by which men are judged: the light has come into the world and men have more love for the dark than for the light, because their acts are evil.
Webster's Revision
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
World English Bible
This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
Clarke's John 3:19 Bible Commentary
This is the condemnation - That is, this is the reason why any shall be found finally to perish, not that they came into the world with a perverted and corrupt nature, which is true; nor that they lived many years in the practice of sin, which is also true; but because they refused to receive the salvation which God sent to them.
Light is come - That is, Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, the fountain of light and life; diffusing his benign influences every where, and favoring men with a clear and full revelation of the Divine will.
Men loved darkness - Have preferred sin to holiness, Belial to Christ, and hell to heaven. חשך chashac, darkness, is frequently used by the Jewish writers for the angel of death, and for the devil. See many examples in Schoettgen.
Because their deeds were evil - An allusion to robbers and cut-throats, who practice their abominations in the night season, for fear of being detected. The sun is a common blessing to the human race - it shines to all, envies none, and calls all to necessary labor. If any one choose rather to sleep by day, that he may rob and murder in the night season, he does this to his own peril, and has no excuse: - his punishment is the necessary consequence of his own unconstrained actions. So will the punishment of ungodly men be. There was light - they refused to walk in it. They chose to walk in the darkness, that they might do the works of darkness - they broke the Divine law, refused the mercy offered to them, are arrested by Divine justice, convicted, condemned, and punished. Whence, then, does their damnation proceed? From Themselves.
Barnes's John 3:19 Bible Commentary
This is the condemnation - This is the cause of condemnation; or this is the reason why men are punished.
That light is come - Light often denotes instruction, teaching, doctrine, as that by which we see clearly the path of duty. all the instruction that God gives us by conscience, reason, or revelation may thus be called light; but this word is used especially to denote the Messiah or the Christ, who is often spoken of as "the light." See Isaiah 60:1; Isaiah 9:2. Compare Matthew 4:16; also the notes at John 1:4. It was doubtless this light to which Jesus had particular reference here.
Men loved darkness - Darkness is the emblem of ignorance, iniquity, error, superstition - whatever is opposite to truth and piety. Men are said to love darkness more than they do light when they are better pleased with error than truth, with sin than holiness, with Belial than Christ.
Because their deeds are evil - Men who commit crime commonly choose to do it in the night, so as to escape detection. So men who are wicked prefer false doctrine and error to the truth. Thus the Pharisees cloaked their crimes under the errors of their system; and, amid their false doctrines and superstitions, they attempted to convince others that they had great zeal for God.
Deeds - Works; actions.
Wesley's John 3:19 Bible Commentary
3:19 This is the condemnation - That is, the cause of it.So God is clear.
