108. Not to Judge but to Save
John 12:47 For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
The world in this verse means the people in the world, all the people who ever lived or will live on the planet. “The world” here does not mean the world philosophy, the world way of thinking, the world as an abstract pawn of Sin and Satan. The people in the world (physical earth) must be saved out of the world (spiritual entity). The world is under condemnation and has the sentence of death placed upon it. There is no redeeming it, saving it or improving it; it can only be destroyed and melted with a fervent heat.
Thia distinction of the meaning of “world” is important: the world as a thing or a personality is condemned and cannot be saved; the world as the people in it are not condemned but saved. A familiar way of putting it is: “Hate the sin but Love the sinner.” Jesus condemns the world but not the people in it; Jesus saves the people in the world but not the world. The people in the world are saved from judgment, or damnation; they are saved from sin, death and the devil.
Jesus declares this to be true and it is; however, it is not preaching universalism in the sense that all people will be saved, but that all can be saved. Salvation is announced for all but they must believe Him for it to be activated. Jesus saves all from judgment, but if it is not believed these remain under the judgment of the world.
I am in the world, but not of the world, and that makes me a target of the promise. Jesus saves the world; that means me.