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by Sandy Shaw
John Chapter 3 verse 16 is a well known verse but even in the Church of Jesus Christ, how many know what it really means? I do not think even in my early days that I ever preached on this verse. This is a very different type of study from what I usually write but do check it out for yourself, because wrong believing will lead to wrong behaviour, and dodgy doctrine will affect our deeds. Our creed influences our conduct greatly.
Let’s go through the verse and see what it really says.
It has been used as a gospel verse, but is it?
Only those who have been rescued from slavery by God speak of His love. Have you ever noticed that in the Bible? So, is it only those who have been redeemed by God who can understand His love?
The love of God was not part of the preaching of the apostles when they evangelised, and that can come as a startling shock to many. In Romans Chapter 1 we read that we have a gospel of righteousness. In John Chapter 15, we read that God loves those who keep His commandments.
God LOVED – and we need to mention that the Greek word is AGAPE, and it has been suggested that the nearest English word is CARE. It is to respond to someone’s need – to pay attention to that need – and to do something about it.
It is not to fall in love with someone – nor to feel affection for someone – but it is to pay attention to their condition and do something about it.
World refers to the human race, or to human society. It is a sinful world and it is a fallen world and a rebellious world.
God gave His one and only Son. What does this mean? How did He give Him? To whom did he give Him? Why did He give Him? It means giving in death, and that death was on the Cross.
Whosoever can be translated ALL. It does not mean anyone in particular, but it does means everyone who believes.
Believes always involves and means – trust and obey. Confidence and obedience.
Perish really means destroyed, in an act of destruction. It means to be rendered useless. It is no longer useful for the purpose for which something was made.
In Matthew Chapter 10 at verse 28 we read of those who can destroy the body and soul in hell.
LIFE is the opposite of perish. This is life that is useful and fulfilling and that will be totally satisfying.
ETERNAL is both quantity and quality or everlasting and abundant.
GAVE – it is the aorist tense which means ONCE.
BELIEVES – It is continuous tense. It is not whoever once believed or believed once. It is whoever goes on believing. Faith is a continuing relationship of confidence and obedience.
HAVE is just as important a word in our verse because it means WILL GO ON HAVING. It is those who go on believing who go on having eternal life.
LOVED – again it is the aorist tense. God did it once. It is not in the present continuous tense. It is not goes on loving. It is LOVED. He has acted once on behalf of our rebellious sinful race – and praise God that He did.
Now many people read LOVED as ‘loving all the time’ and BELIEVE as meaning once!
“God once loved so that whoever continuously believes will never perish or become useless but have continuously eternal life.
“FOR” links us with what has gone before. It is an explanation of what has been previously mentioned. It is expanding what has been said. Do you recall what we looked at in our last study about Moses and the rebellion in the wilderness and the snakes and the serpent on a pole.
“SO” comes right at the beginning of the sentence. It does not mean, ‘so much’, or ‘so deeply’, or ‘so greatly’. It means THUS, or, in just the same way. For even so, God loved the world. This is the second occasion when God cared and acted in this way.
What was the previous occasion? It was in Numbers Chapter 21 when the people grumbled at the food God was giving them. It was keeping them alive and fit and healthy. God was angry and He sent snakes, and many died. The survivors realised that this was not a natural disaster. They confessed it to Moses. God refused to take away the snakes.
“Moses – make a bronze snake – attach it to a large pole – put it on the top of a hill. Tell the people that if they are bitten, if they go and look at that snake the venom will not be fatal.” God gave a way of escape.
It was just the same way that God loved the rebellious world and gave His son, Jesus.
His Son, Jesus Christ, is now our snake on a pole. In the same way – just so!
Our world is under a sentence of death, as they were, and God is NOT removing that sentence of death.
What He has done because He cared and acted is – He has given us a way out – a way of escape.
Where does the conversation with Nicodemus end? At verse 15! In verse 16 we do not have the words of Jesus, but we have the comment of John, and there are various substantial reasons supporting this.
Now, please do check all this out. What concludes this rather different study is a very modern translation or paraphrase, which I recently read, giving the sense and the meaning of John 3:16 – “Indeed, in just the same way, God the Father acted in love on another occasion, this time for the whole rebellious human race, by sacrificing his only Son so that all who go on believing and trusting and obeying him, might never be ruined beyond recovery, but go on having everlasting and abundant life.”
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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