Lesslie Newbigin on John 3:16

"God's love is known to us because he has given is only Son that whoever believes might have life. The uniqueness and the universality are counterparts of each other. To reject both in the alleged interest of mutual tolerance among the world's religions is to deny the message at its center. If there are many different revelations, then the human family has no center for its unity...Each of us is - n the end - shut up in his own world of ideas. He must find God in the depths of his own being because there is no action of God by which he gives himself to be known by us.

The uniqueness ("his only Son") corresponds to the universality ("whoever") because God is love in action."

(p. 43, Lesslie Newbigin, 'The light has come: An exposition of the fourth gospel')

Laws of ritual purity

The laws of ritual purity, however, do not concern forbidden acts. They concern human conditions or states which occur despite human volition. Sometimes they are the consequence of actions which in themselves are meritorious. To be in a state of ritual impurity is never a sin; but the suffer of ritual impurity has to be careful not contact sacred areas or objects until he has rid himself of his impurity by the prescribed method of purification.

For example, an Israelite attends a family funeral. This in itself is a meritorious act, showing family feeling and respect for the dead. but proximity to a corpse causes a seven-day ritual impurity, which must be removed if the Israelite has occasion to enter the Temple...Or a husband and wife have sexual intercourse. But this act, though meritorious, since it fulfils the commandment to be fruitful and multiply and 'makes the loved companions to rejoice', causes one-day ritual impurity to both husband and wife, which they must remove before their next visit to the Temple. Other impurities are incurred by natural processes: menstruation and childbirth; others by misfortunes: leprosy and abnormal genital discharges. not one of these conditions is sinful. Many mistakes...would be avoided if this were better understood.

What the dietary laws and the ritual purity laws have in common is that they form part of the priestly code laid down in the Torah for the Israelites as a priest-nation. It is significant that none of these laws is included in the Ten Commandments, or in any of the lists which were made from time t time (notably the rabbinic Seven Noachide Laws) to express basic human morality. neither the dietary laws (kashrut) nor the purity laws were regarded as obligatory for non-Israelites. Nations or peoples castigated in the Bible for immorality...were never accused of breaches of purity, but only of basic morality

(pp.vii-viii, Hyam Maccoby, Ritual and Morality: the Ritual Purity System and its place in Judaism)

Israels as priests

Israelites are regarded as a priestly nation. Their purity code is that of a dedicated order, and therefore it does not aply to the rest of mankind, who, however, can opt to become Jews, whereby they become liable to observe the purity laws and also, from the moment of conversion, contract and convey uncleanness. Rabbinic Judaism considers that all humanity, whether Jews or not, are in covenant with God and are bound to keep the laws of morality as summarized in the Seven Noachian Laws, the first code of international law. To become converted to Judaism is not a matter of salvation, but of dedication. Those who are born Jews must function as Jews, but for other members of humanity, Judaism is a choice; just as it is a choice for a Catholic to become a priest or a member of a monastic order, by which he will become a priest or a member of a monastic order...

The whole purity code found in the Torah and elaborated in the rabbinic literature is thus a protocol for a dedicated group living constantly in the presence of God, whose Tabernacle is in their midst. It is a kind of palace protocol or etiquette, observed in the court of a monarch, but not required outside the confines of the palace. Even for Jews, once the palace was destroyed, most of the rules became inoperative, though they continued to be studied...

The Hebrew bible knows nothing of unclean Gentiles or unclean Gentile lands.

(pp. 9-12, Hyam Maccoby, Ritual and Morality: The Ritual Purity System and its Place in Judaism