Jesus Warns Unbelievers^(A)

¹³ “·How terrible for [^LWoe to] you, Korazin! ·How terrible for [^LWoe to] you, Bethsaida [^Ctowns in Galilee where Jesus ministered]! If the ·miracles [powerful deeds] ·I did [^Lthat occurred] in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon [^Ccities in Phoenicia notorious for their wickedness], those people would have ·changed their lives [repented] long ago. ·They would have worn rough cloth and put ashes on themselves to show they had changed [^L…sitting in sackcloth/burlap and ashes; ^Csigns of sorrow and deep remorse]. ¹⁴ But ·on the judgment day [^Lat the judgment] it will be ·better [more bearable/tolerable] for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum [^Ca town in Galilee where Jesus lived and ministered], will you be ·lifted up to [honored/exalted in] heaven? No! You will be thrown down to ·the depths [the place of the dead; hell; ^LHades; Is. 14:13–15]!

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me [Matt. 10:40; John 13:20], and whoever ·refuses to accept [rejects] you ·refuses to accept [rejects] me. And whoever ·refuses to accept [rejects] me ·refuses to accept [rejects] the One who sent me.”

⁴⁷ “Anyone who hears my words and does not ·obey [keep] them, I do not judge, because I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for those who ·refuse to believe in [reject] me and do not accept my words. The word I have ·taught [spoken] will ·be their judge [judge them] on the last day. ⁴⁹ The things I ·taught [spoke] were not from myself. The Father who sent me ·told [commanded] me what to say and what to ·teach [speak]. ⁵⁰ And I know that eternal life comes from what the Father commands. So whatever I say is what the Father told me to say.”

⁶ Jesus Christ is the One who came by water [^Clikely a reference to Jesus’ baptism] and blood [^Ca reference to his death]. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit ·says that this is true [is the one who testifies/bears witness; Mark 1:11; John 1:32–34], because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ ·So [or For] there are three ·witnesses^[a] [who testify/bear witness]: ⁸ the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three witnesses ·agree [^Lare one]. ⁹ ·We believe people when they say something is true. But what God says is more important [^LIf we accept the witness/testimony of people, the witness/testimony of God is better], ·and he has told us the truth about his own Son [^Lbecause this is the witness/testimony God has given about his Son]. ¹⁰ Anyone who believes in the Son of God ·has the truth that God told us [or has the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit; or has the testimony of the eyewitnesses (see 1:1–4); ^Lhas the witness/testimony in himself]. Anyone who does not believe makes God a liar [1:10], because that person does not believe ·what God told us [^Lthe witness/testimony that God witnessed/testified to] about his Son. ¹¹ This is ·what God told us [^Lthe witness/testimony]: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life, but whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

We Have Eternal Life Now

¹³ ·I write this letter [^LI have written these things] to you who believe in the [^Lname of the] Son of God so you will know you have eternal life. ¹⁴ And this is the ·boldness [confidence] we have ·in God’s presence [^Lbefore God; 3:21]: that if we ask God for anything ·that agrees with what he wants [^Laccording to his will], he hears us. ¹⁵ [^LAnd] If we know he hears us ·every time we ask him [in whatever we ask], we know we have what we ask from him [3:21–22; Mark 11:24].