There is a teaching that has shaped almost all of Christianity. It is called original sin. It says that once Adam sinned, every human being after him was born with that same guilt — that we come into the world already broken, already guilty, already cut off from God. We're taught that we ourselves are helpless to turn from or repair the curse of sin.
This teaching has been repeated for centuries. It is assumed to be true. But Jesus never taught it. Not once. Others like Paul, Irenaeus, and Augustine made it up after he was gone.
So if the most famous explanation of what is wrong with us is wrong, then what is the real answer? Jesus gave his own answer, and it is sitting three verses after the most famous verse in the Bible. It is John 3:19. And it's worth paying attention to.
The Defining Factor
We read that Jesus was speaking to a man named Nicodemus — a religious leader who came to him at night, in the dark, fittingly enough. Jesus told him that God sent his Son into the world not to condemn it, but to save it. And then, three sentences later, he adds this:
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil."
— John 3:19
Look at that word "verdict." Jesus uses the Greek word krisis — a verbal noun from the root krinō -- it is where we get our English word "crisis." In Greek, krinō means "to separate, distinguish, or divide."
Readers of common translations fall victim to the English connotation of "judgment." Most readers hear "judgment" and immediately think, "God is angry and is punishing me."
When you read verdict or judgement here, think "defining factor." The krisis isn't a sentence handed down from heaven; it is the reality that light versus darkness is the great separator of humanity.
Jesus says he did not come to condemn (judge/punish) the world, but to save it. The "defining factor" isn't God's punitive wrath; it is the objective, self-evident reality of humanity's moral preference. Once the light appears, we automatically define ourselves by whether we move toward it or away from it.
The word "because" in the verse trips up many people. They read it and stop without connecting the dots of the full statement.
Loving Darkness
The Greek verb Jesus uses for "loved" is ēgapēsan. That is not a passive word. It describes an active, willing choice. Not weakness. Not a mistake. A preference.
Then notice what comes next.
"Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed."
— John 3:20
He's not saying we are evil in some abstract, detached sense. He is saying the darkness is useful to us. We want to hide. The darkness is a hiding place for the things we do not want seen. We do the deeds, the deeds need cover, the darkness offers cover, so we love the darkness more, which draws us deeper into the deeds. The verdict is not imposed on us. It grows out of what we already want.
It's not a stain we inherited or a nature we were born with that we cannot escape. It's a love we choose. The reason we need to repent — to turn back to God — is not that we were born guilty. It is that we run toward the dark.
Look Toward the Light
So task number one is this: examine yourself to see what you love. Not what you say you love. Not what you believe in your head. Ask God to show you yourself and you will begin to see the truth. It's the truth the light reveals. It's uncomfortable because you'll begin to see the truth about where you have been standing, but God rewards your desire for the light.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
— Matthew 7:7–8
The ancient Christian writing called The Cloud of Unknowing calls this desire "naked intent" — the pure, undivided desire and direction of the heart set toward God. Not a perfect life. Not a flawless record. A heart that is pointed in one direction and refuses to be turned aside.
The faith of intellectual assent is attractive. They want to feel better about themselves. They want God to fix their problems and keep them comfortable. But that is not what Jesus offers. What he offers is a line in the sand — a line that says: let nothing be more important than the one who made the light.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
— Matthew 6:33
Jesus puts it simply: seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Not second. Not when it is convenient. First. That is the line. Everything else — comfort, reputation, even the relationships closest to you — falls behind it. And compromising on that will not work. It never has.
Here is the good news that original sin took away from you. If the problem is a love you chose — a preference for the darkness — then it can be un-chosen.
If the only problem were an inherited stain with no remedy, we would be without hope. But the light doesn't merely expose the dark — it heals it. Jesus asks, "will you come into the light where the healing is?"
"But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul."
— Deuteronomy 4:29
An Example
King David is an ideal exhibit. He committed atrocities — adultery, murder, deception. He may have "loved the darkness" in that season; the darkness was useful to him, and he hid in some ways.
But David's defining trait was not those deeds; it was his refusal to stay hidden.
"When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.' And you forgave the guilt of my sin."
— Psalm 32:3–5
The question has never been whether there is light or if the light would come. The question was whether you would choose to stay in the dark. God is the light, and he knows the choice you face.
Find places in your life where you know you have been hiding — where the dark has been useful to you — and stand in the light of it. Let nothing be more important than the one who made that light. That is the line and the cost. And it is the only thing that has ever worked.
"For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."
— 2 Chronicles 16:9