No form of the word repent, forgive, or mercy occurs anywhere in the Fourth Gospel.
Confess is used only with reference to confessing that Jesus is the Christ, and to John's confessing that he himself was not the Christ. It is never used in the context of confessing sins.
The word sinner is used only by the Pharisees.
Condemn is used only to say that Jesus came to save the world, not to condemn it, and that those who believe are not condemned.
Hell does not occur.
There is only one reference to damnation: "And shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:29).
2 comments:
Yes - the message of the Gospel - repeated - is very positive: about what to do, not what not to do.
Very simple - too simple for most people, who will always be asking "But what if?...".
Good observation. As you note, Jesus does not use the word sinner in the Fourth Gospel, but He does refer to sin. Interestingly enough, whenever He speaks of sin, He also tends to speak of freedom, which appears a great deal in the Gospel of John. I'm very much looking forward to your interpretations of the references to being free/freedom in John 8 (and other chapters).
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