John 3:14 - 18 Once Saved?

The message of many frequently 

avoided New Testament passages.

by Anastasios Kioulachoglou

THE PRESENT TENSE IN ANCIENT GREEK. A
DEMONSTRATION USING JOHN 3:16

John 3:16 is perhaps one of the most frequently quoted
passages, especially when it comes to salvation. Here is the
passage together with some of its context:

John 3:14-18
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have
eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of
the only Son of God.”

Three times in the above five verses we meet the phrase
“whoever believes in him”, followed by a wonderful promise. Just
taking the most popular of these verses, John 3:16, we learn that
“whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”.
See that the word “believes” here is in the present tense, denoting
something that is a reality now. Many however, read the passage

as if it says: “whoever believed” i.e. once in the past. This is
obviously not what the passage says. This passage, as well as
those seen in the first chapter of this study, is in the present tense.
Therefore, such passages speak about something that is
happening now, about a present, an active, state and not about
something that happened once in the past. They speak about a
present reality instead of a past history.

In fact it is worth mentioning some facts concerning the
present tense in Greek. The website
http://www.ntgreek.net/present.htm has an abundance of
information on the matter, with lots of references and examples.
The basic conclusion (you can check it out in the above or in other
similar scholarly websites) is the following: as a rule, the present
tense in ancient Greek denotes duration. It can also denote
something that is happening currently in the present and will not
happen again but this is an exception to the rule and it becomes
very obvious from the context. The rule is that the present tense of a
verb denotes duration, i.e. denotes that something “goes on” happening.
Applying this rule, John 3:14-18 would read9:

John 3:14-18
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever goes on believing in him may
have eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
Son, that whoever goes on believing in him should not perish but have
eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him. Whoever goes on believing in him is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has
not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

The promises of John 3:14-18 are in no way promises to
people who once upon a time believed but eventually moved
_______________________
9 For more on this see David Pawson: “Is John 3:16 the gospel?”, pp. 38-45,
TerraNova Publications, 2007. 

away without returning. In contrast, they are to people who
believe now, in the present, and they go on believing.

Understanding that the present tense in Greek indicates
duration, i.e. that something goes on happening can really
revolutionalise the way we understand many passages. My
suggestion would be that whenever you see the present tense
(“believes”, “forgives” etc.) replace it, after checking the context,
with the construction “goes on” + the present participle ( for
example: “goes on believing”, “goes on forgiving” etc.). This will
perhaps change the way you read many passages.