John 3:16

by Grant Christiansen

In John 3:16 Jesus proclaims the most remarkable promise ever given to humankind: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (RSV) His promise is given irrespective of one's ability, ethnicity, gender, merit, performance, status or work; his promise is give to the most desperate and evil of men and women as well as to the best amongst us! The result of believing his promise is the deepest longing of the human heart: eternal life.

The promise begins with a simple word: for. "ForGod so loved the world...." The word for serves as marking the reason for what has just preceded. In John 3:14-15 Jesus had said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." (RSV) Jesus has likened his being lifted up on the cross to an ancient account of the Hebrew people's disobedience in grumbling against God after having been delivered from slavery in Egypt.

By Frank Tyler

[Editor’s Note: Few stories in the Gospel of John capture the imagination like the story of Nicodemus (John 2:23-3:21); few passages of Scripture are as important in understanding our salvation. As an evangelist I have always loved the story of Nicodemus, but was never comfortable with explanations of God’s love (John 3:16) that focus upon a New Testament or post-cross understanding. True, for you and I—with the events of the Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection historically fulfilled on a brutal Roman cross—we cannot escape the conclusion of God’s sacrificial love… but prior to the cross, how would Nicodemus, a scholar schooled in the Torah, understand Jesus’ meaning when He says, For God so (in this manner) loved the world (John 3:16)? The answer lies in understanding Jesus’ apologia to Nicodemus and his disciples. Beginning in verse 3:14, Jesus takes them back in time to God’s deliverance of Israel from the fiery serpents (Numbers 21:4-9), to a timeless and well known theme, the unfailing loyal covenantal love or “chesed” of God (Psalm 136). From this referent, Jesus challenges Nicodemus and his disciples to understand the manner of God’s love in lifting up (3:14) or giving His Son (3:16). Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s loyal covenantal love or “chesed” not just for Israel, but for the world, Jew and Gentile alike.

In a previously published article (Frank Tyler, John 3:16: The Manner of God’s Love, The True Vine Fellowship Journal 2018 (Sequim, WA: TTVF, 2018), 9-20), I wrote about the manner of God’s love in John 3:16. At that time, I understood Nicodemus as an unbeliever seeking Jesus out at night. This current article corrects my misunderstanding: Nicodemus and his disciples come to the light of God’s revelation: 1) that Nicodemus, as a new believer (John 2:23-25), might better understand what has transpired in his own life and 2) that his disciples might hear the good news from Jesus, Himself. Nothing refreshes the soul and mind like the correction of the Lord in His word. I hope you are as refreshed as I am!]

by Frank Tyler

Introduction

How many Christians both hear and quote from memory the following verse… perhaps hundreds of times?

For God so (ο ὕ τως) loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16; bold added for emphasis) [1]

As your brother in Christ, may I ask, if God soloved the world, and demonstrates His love through Jesus’ incarnation and crucifixion ( that He gave His only begotten Son) and then through Jesus’ promise of everlasting life [2] ( that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life ), then what is the manner of His love? Many say, “loved so much;” others might say, “loved sacrificially.” Following in the historical wake of our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection, these answers remain transparently true, and are rightfully the basis of many outstanding evangelistic tracts. However, in His witness to Nicodemus, Jesus had not yet been crucified; therefore, He was witnessing to an individual who could not have understood God’s love for the world based upon an event which had yet to transpire. If neither answer accounts for Jesus’ witness to Nicodemus, then what is the manner of God’s love that Nicodemus might understand within the immediate context of Jesus’ witness?