¹³ The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the one who came down from heaven—the Son of Man.

¹⁴ “Moses lifted up the snake in the desert.^[a] It is the same with the Son of Man. He must be lifted up too. ¹⁵ Then everyone who believes in him can have eternal life.”^[b]

¹⁶ Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world. He did not send him to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. But people who do not believe are already judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. ¹⁹ They are judged by this fact: The light^[c] has come into the world. But they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light. They will not come to the light, because the light will show all the bad things they have done. ²¹ But anyone who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that whatever they have done was done through God.

¹⁹ What the law says is for those who are under the law. It stops anyone from making excuses. And it brings the whole world under God’s judgment, ²⁰ because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our sin.

How God Makes People Right

²¹ But God has a way to make people right, and it has nothing to do with the law. He has now shown us that new way, which the law and the prophets told us about. ²² God makes people right through their faith in^[a] Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe in Christ. Everyone is the same. ²³ All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. ²⁴ They are made right with God by his grace. This is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ. ^25-26 God gave Jesus as a way to forgive people’s sins through their faith in him. God can forgive them because the blood sacrifice of Jesus pays for their sins. God gave Jesus to show that he always does what is right and fair. He was right in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins. And in our own time he still does what is right. God worked all this out in a way that allows him to judge people fairly and still make right any person who has faith in Jesus.