John Calvin Commentary John 3:19

"And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil." — John 3:19 (ASV)

And this is the condemnation. He counters the murmurs and complaints with which wicked men are accustomed to criticize what they imagine to be the excessive rigor of God, when He acts towards them with greater severity than they expected. All think it harsh that those who do not believe in Christ should be condemned to destruction.

So that no one may ascribe his condemnation to Christ, He shows that everyone ought to impute the blame to himself. The reason is that unbelief is a testimony of a bad conscience, and thus it is evident that it is their own wickedness which hinders unbelievers from approaching Christ.

Some think that He points out here nothing more than the mark of condemnation; but Christ’s purpose is to restrain the wickedness of men, so that they may not, as is their custom, dispute or argue with God, as if He treated them unjustly when He punishes unbelief with eternal death.

He shows that such a condemnation is just and is not liable to any criticism, not only because those people act wickedly who prefer darkness to light and refuse the light which is freely offered to them, but also because that hatred of the light arises only from a mind that is wicked and conscious of its guilt.

A beautiful appearance and luster of holiness may indeed be found in many who, after all, oppose the Gospel. But though they appear to be holier than the angels, there is no room to doubt that they are hypocrites, who reject the doctrine of Christ for no other reason than because they love their lurking-places by which their baseness may be concealed.

Since, therefore, hypocrisy alone renders people hateful to God, all are held convicted. For if they were not blinded by pride and did not delight in their crimes, they would readily and willingly receive the doctrine of the Gospel.