For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Introduction
If you have a red-letter bible you will see that John 3:16-21 is in red, meaning these are the words of Jesus. However in Greek there is no punctuation or quotation marks. Our punctuation insertions are translational helps. It is disagreed upon whether or not these are actually the words of Jesus, or whether this is the gospel writer’s commentary. I am of the persuasion that verse 16-21 is the gospel writer’s commentary. One big reason being that in verse 14 and 15 Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man. Then in verse 16-21 the language shifts to referring to Him as the Son of God. While both are accurate titles for Christ, Jesus often referred to Himself as “Son of Man”, but did not use the title “Son of God,” while the gospel writer uses that title often.
There is more we could say here, but I will leave it at that just so you know what perspective I’m coming from.
John 3:16 in Context
Before we really dive into the text, I want us to consider John 3:16 within its context, because along with the mass popularity of this verse comes much twisting of this verse. There are many today who rip this verse out of John chapter 3 and give it a meaning it doesn’t have. John 3:16 is a victim of great eisegesis. Eisegesis is a fancy word that describes the process of interpreting a text by reading into it what it does not say. This is opposed to exegesis, which is the process of interpreting a text by bringing out the meaning from the text itself, which of course is what we try to do. All that to say that John 3:16 is often a victim of eisegesis where free-will arminians promote this verse as a proof text against God’s Sovereignty in election. Because it is such a widespread problem I want to take a few moments to refute that from the text, hopefully for your benefit and edification.
First, Jesus has just explained in his conversation with Nicodemus that you must be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and that the new birth is the sovereign work of the Spirit. John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In no way does verse 16 contradict verse 8 in which we see the sovereignty of the Spirit going where it wishes.
Second, you will often hear people say, “whosoever means whosoever.” Well, yeah, but saying whosoever believes does not mean sinners dead in trespasses and sins can believe apart from the sovereign work of the Spirit, and according to their own free will. That has to be read into the text.
Third, based on the context, belief is a result of the sovereign work of the new birth. Belief is the fruit of regeneration. We don’t believe in order to be born again. We believe because we’ve been born again.
Finally, this verse is simply not discussing the matter of who or who doesn’t have the ability to believe. Other texts of Scripture do, but not this one. To use it to promote free-will arminianism is a misuse of the text. This verse is simply telling us that God loved the world in such a way that He sent His Only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. This says nothing about free-will or natural ability. It just doesn’t. So having given, what I hope is a very brief refutation of the misuse of this verse, let us now spend the rest of our time looking at what this verse is positively saying.
How God Loved the World: “so loved”
When it says, “For God so loved the world”, the word “so” is not meant to convey the intensity of God’s love, although there certainly is an intensity to God’s love. Rather it is saying, “this is how God loved the world,” or “this is the manner in which God loved the world,” or “in this way God loved the world.” We could say, “for God thus loved the world that He gave His only Son…” So, after Jesus just told Nicodemus in verse 14 and 15 how the Son of Man must lifted up as the serpent in the wilderness, John jumps in with this narration exclaiming to us: “This is how God loved the world: he gave His only Son…” So in our text today I want us to see how God loved the world.
Without Boundary: “the world” (the nations)
Here we understand “the world” to be an expansion from Israel to the nations. God’s love is not bound by ethnic roots, or national borders. He loves to the ends of the earth. By His “boundary-less love” we do not mean that God does not hate certain people or things, or that He is not wrathful in a righteous manner. We simply mean that His love is without boundary in regard to ethnic or national lines. Matthew 28, “go and make disciples of all nations.” Isaiah chapter 2, “the nations will flow to the mountain of God.” Isaiah 45:22, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!” Psalm 67, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be gald and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!”
We could go on with text after text, but I think you get the point here: God’s love and plan of salvation is a plan for the nations, it is a plan for the whole earth. It came along first through Israel as the vessel to carry along the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent and bring the knowledge of the glory of God to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, not just in Jerusalem, but the entire planet. In Daniel chapter 2 the Kingdom of God is a stone that becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth. God’s love is for the world. His plan is for the whole earth. It is without boundary, in this way.
I love what D. A. Carson says, and I will paraphrase here: God’s love is amazing not because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad.
The amazing thing here is not that God’s love is for the world and the world is big (because to the eternal God who is the creator of heaven and earth, the world is pretty small), but that His love is for the world and the world is so bad. One single sin of one single person is so vile and so wicked before a holy God it is worthy of wrath and judgment, and yet we have a world full of sinners who are full of sin and rebellion and vile wickedness, and yet God’s love is for the world! How can this be!? It’s so hard for us to love people when they do us wrong and treat us badly, and yet its far worse and on a far greater scale with God and yet He loves the world!
Without Reserve: “He gave His only Son…”
In the sense that God loved the world without reserve is seen in the action of giving, and in the gift that He gave – His Son.
The Action of Love: “He gave” – without reserve
God was not obligated to send His Son, He gave His only Son voluntarily. It was out of love that God gave His Son. Love acts on behalf of the beloved.
The cross was the display of God’s love. The atonement is the effect of God’s love. The cross didn’t make God love us, it showed us that God already did. God’s love for us existed before we were Christians, before we loved Him, indeed, before we were born.
The Gift of Love: “His Only (unique) Son” – without reserve
For God “so” loved the world… How much does God love the world? Look at what He gave. The measure that God loved the world is seen in the giving of His Son.
How do we know God loves us? He gave us His Son. Look at the cross. Look at what He gave.
God gave His “unique Son” – what God gave was His best – the treasure of Heaven. God did not withhold His best, but gave it freely. This might remind us of Abraham and Isaac, because Abraham and Isaac should remind us of John 3:16. Of course, God did not allow Abraham to go through with the sacrifice, because would provide, and He has in His own Son, Jesus Christ.
God does not accept sin or sinners, yet God loves sinners, so He dealt with sin and sinners in His Son Jesus Christ, on the cross. Love deals with sin. It doesn’t ignore or accept it, it deals with it.
If we had a true grasp of how wicked our sin was and how holy and righteous God was, it would probably make the hair on our neck stand up to hear that God loves sinners. Especially considering that God also righteously hates. “Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated.” Psalm 5 has similar language. And yet He loves sinners. This is no mere human love. This is divine love not possible to come from humans. God loves sinners, so He did something about their sin. If God loves you in a saving way, He deals with your sin. Has your sin been dealt with? Are you apathetic to the sin in your life?
Without End: “whoever believes should not perish but have eternal life.”
The term “whoever believes” is not a one time belief or a decision at one point in time. The Greek tense is present tense literally meaning “all the believing ones.” So we could say, “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son, that all the believing ones should not perish but have eternal life.”
Remembering the context of the conversation with Nicodemus, being born once gives you a temporary earthly life, but being born again gives you eternal life. Being given eternal life is not something that comes apart from Christ, but it is the gift of Christ Himself, for Christ is eternal life. Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life! God did not only give us His Son on the cross, but He truly gives us His Son forever. We are in Him. Life in Christ. On this earth, in eternity, forever. God loves us without end.
Jeremiah 31, “I have loved you with an everlasting love!” Psalm 107, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever!” If we’re going to live forever, we’re going to need God to love us forever, or else we won’t live forever.
Conclusion
So what ought we to do with all this love? Well first and foremost believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ!
For those of us who are believing, we don’t need to force applications out of a passage like this. Some texts are just meant to teach us and to heighten our worship of God. It is God’s love displayed in Jesus Christ without boundary, without reserve, and without end that saves sinners like us, not our love for God that saves us. Unfortunately our love is so often bound, reserved, and ended – both our love for God and love for others. It is not our loving God with all our hearts that saves us, but God’s loving us with all of His. And yet, I think it is fair to draw out the application that those of us who have been given this love of God in Christ, ought to love in the same way: without boundary, without reserve, and without end – as fallen, sin-tainted, and imperfect as it will be.
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