JOHN 3:16-17, C. H. Cayce “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” This text tells us plainly that God gave His Son for the believer. He did not give His Son for the unbeliever. If God did not give His Son for the unbeliever, then Christ did not die for all the race, unless all the race are believers. To argue that the term “world” in this text embraces all Adam’s race, is to make the text contradict itself. As the text does not contradict itself, it follows that the term “world” does not embrace all Adam’s race, It necessarily follows, therefore, that it refers to the believers— the world of believers. Again, to make the term “world” embrace all Adam’s race would be a positive contradiction of Rom. 9:13, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” This tells us positively that God hated Esau. Then if Esau was a part of Adam’s race, He did not love all the race. Now, notice John 3:18-19, “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” The Saviour here tells us plainly that the condemnation is that men loved darkness rather than light. The condemnation does not rest in their unbelief, but in the fact that “light is come into the world, and they loved darkness rather than light.” This is where the condemnation rests. The Primitive Baptist, April 21, 1908.
C. H. Cayce [This] does not teach that belief is a condition in order to eternal life, or anything else. Belief is an evidence of life, and unbelief is an evidence that one is in a state of condemnation. Unbelief is a state of being. The condemnation does not rest in the fact that one does not believe. If you will read John 3:19 you will see that the condemnation rests in the fact that men loved darkness rather than light. The Saviour says that “this is the condemnation.” Their unbelief, then, was not the cause of their condemnation, but was the evidence of it. Not only is all this true, but it is also true that belief is not a voluntary act. No man ever believed any proposition because he wanted to. People believe when they receive evidence sufficient to convince their judgment that a fact exists, and not before. The Primitive Baptist, February 18, 1913.