One of the most recognizable verses of Scripture is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Though this verse is often preached about and quoted, little time is spent on delving into the meaning of the verse. It means much more than the historical understanding that God sent Jesus to save humans on earth. The author will take a look at this verse with the following exposition.[1]
A cursory reading of John 3:16 informs the reader that God loved the world to such an extent that he gave a magnanimous gift to the world in order that humanity could receive eternal life. Though this verbiage amounts to a true statement, we cannot truly understand what the apostle means by these written words until we explore the meaning of the key words and phrases contained in this verse.
FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD…
The word for indicates that the writer is about to give a reason. The reason given is that God truly, infinitely, majestically, and perfectly loved the object of His love, the world. God is used here to refer to the Father, the first person of the Trinity.
The immensity of God’s love is indicated by the word “so.” God’s love depicted here is love in the sense that God the Father gave His Son who then voluntarily gave his life as a ransom for the sins of sinners (1 John 3:16). This gift manifests God’s love among humankind (1 John 4:9).
This phrase is fairly straightforward and easy to understand for the most part. However, one phrase, namely, the world, has become somewhat controversial because of the various meanings that have been assigned to the word “world.”
In the Christian Bible, the English word “world” is used in several ways to mean different concepts. For example, it means the physical “earth” (Matt. 13:35; John 21:25; Acts 17:24); the “universe” (Rom. 1:20); the “earth” in contrast to heaven (1 John 3:17); the human race (Matt. 5:14; John 1:9, 10, 3:16, 17, 19, 4:42); “gentiles” as distinguished from Jews (Rom. 11:12, 15); the “present condition of human affairs,” in alienation from and opposition to God (John 7:7, 8:23, 14:30; 1 Cor. 2:12; Gal. 4:3, 6:14; Col. 2:8; Jas. 1:27; 1 John 4:5, 5:19); the “sum of temporal possessions” (Matt. 16:26; 1 Cor. 7:31); and metaphorically as the “tongue” as a “world” of unrighteousness (Jas. 3:6).[2]
A considered reflection on the many usages of the word “world” in the Bible, leads to the conclusion that “world” is used here to mean all of humanity. Moreover, in light of the context of John 4:42, this refers to all humans regardless of race or nationality.
CAVEAT: although God loves every human being and gave the gift of His Son so that every human being is offered the opportunity to be redeemed and saved from their sins, yet this does not teach some sort of universal redemption and salvation where every human being shall be redeemed and saved from their sins. The third phrase of this verse qualifies this by stating that whoever believes in him, which means that though the gift of the Son is offered to all, the verse makes it clear that only those who believe in the Son through faith will receive the benefit of the gift, eternal life. The Bible clearly teaches that because of the depravity of the human souls, only those individuals that God has chosen in eternity for the regeneration of their souls, which Jesus taught to Nicodemus in John 3:1-15, will be able to seek God and believe in Christ through faith.
THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON…
The next phrase informs the reader that God the Father gave His only Son as a divine gift to the world. In the original writing, this portion of John 3:16 reads “that his Son, the only-begotten, he gave.” Written in this way, the object precedes the verb emphasizing the superior quality and preeminence of this gift over others and the verb he gave comes last receiving ordinary prominence.
The greatness of this gift is more astounding when one considers that the gift of God’s Son was His one and only Son―His only begotten Son.
The original writing of Scripture as noted above uses the term only begotten when referring to the Son. But what does “only-begotten” mean. There are various explanations for this. Some say that the Son means a child of God in the same sense that all believers are God’s children when God justifies and adopts them. But this cannot be so because that would make the word “only” meaningless. Others say that this term refers to the Son’s messianic office. But the context here and elsewhere in Scripture indicates that the sonship was present in eternity, consequently, this cannot refer to the messianic office which occurred in time. Still another assertion is that the only begotten refers to the incarnated human nature of Christ. But this is not possible since the incarnation occurred in time and the begotten Son was decreed in eternity.
The most likely meaning is the trinitarian sonship. The Son was begotten in eternity before His incarnation. The context of John 1:1 and 3:16-18 favors this understanding by teaching that the Son (the Word) was present in eternity while the incarnate Christ became present in time. A further technical discussion of the concept of “begotten” is beyond the scope of this article and will be addressed in a future article.
THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM…
This phrase speaks of the acceptance of the gift of the Son. God gave His Son to every human who will accept that gift. The manner of acceptance is belief in the Son. Any human individual who believes in the person of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, shall receive the gift with all its benefits and blessings. The Bible teaches that the individual must seek and hear the gospel truth, repent of all sins, and believe in the life and works of the person of Christ as revealed in Scripture through the justifying faith from God and that he or she must accept Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior.
Here in this phrase is the great gospel duty required of all those who seek the Christ. Each individual must believe. Not just cognitively acknowledge Him or know of Him but to sincerely believe that He is all and everything He and the Father say He is in the revealed word of God. This is not mere emotion or feelings. It is a heartfelt belief in the soul of each believer. It is the belief that leads to a life of obedience and commitment to becoming godly and Christlike in one’s mind, spirit, behavior, conduct, and demeaner.
SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.
Once an individual has believed in Christ, God justifies and adopts the believer and promises the believer his or her inheritance and eternal life with God in the new heaven and new earth at the second coming of Christ. God then sends the indwelling Holy Spirit as the guarantee of the promise of salvation (Eph. 1:13, 14), which will be finally consummated on Judgment day at the second coming of Christ. The promised salvation is received as a present certainty of a future reality which can never be lost. When a sinner becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, his or her salvation is as certain at that moment as it will be at its final consummation at the second coming of Christ when He judges the condemned individuals.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This verse makes clear to all that the first cause and the source of salvation is God’s unmerited love for all human beings. And salvation can only be found in Christ, the only Son of God. Only faith in Christ brings the sinner to eternal life and this happens only because the Father loves all human beings and desires that they all should not perish but have eternal life.
Believers must understand from this verse that our salvation does not come through our own merits and the Father does not reconcile to us because He deems us worthy. It is Gods infinite love and gracious mercy that sets aside merits, which we are incapable of providing anyway. God’s love is founded on the purpose of His will (Eph. 1:5). The deliverance of all believers to everlasting life is entirely because of God’s love.
The believers’ reconciliation to God was procured through the gracious gift of God, Christ Jesus. God by the purpose of His will loved humankind and gave His Son to die for believers and it is faith in Christ to which believers must look.
Though the Father offered life to all who believe in Christ, yet we must understand that not all who are offered the Son will accept God’s gift. Not all human beings but only the chosen elect of the Father will be regenerated so that they may seek Christ by faith. By this verse, we know that salvation and eternal life are certain for all human souls who believe in Christ through faith.
[1] Bibliographic note: Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. 5; William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary John; John Calvin’s Complete Commentaries.
[2] James S. Strong, The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Red Letter Ed., Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, no. 2889 (Thomas Nelson, 2001), 144,
