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Reading John 3:16, one of the most famous verses in the Bible, considering the context and some of the deep theology therein. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. What verse is that? That's right, John 3, 16. A lot of deep theology in this one when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.
Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3, with one of the most famous sections of Scripture this week, verses 16 through 21. The Apostle John wrote, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Now I preface this section by saying it was one of the most famous sections of Scripture.
That's really only because of John 3, 16, and maybe also 17, but not necessarily the whole section. Most people couldn't tell you what's in the rest of those verses. But when I have taught students, I have said there are three sections of Scripture that you should have memorized, and the memorization of those passages will help you in your evangelism.
When you go and you share the gospel with somebody else, you are equipped with questions and responses if you were to memorize these particular passages. And they are Ephesians 2, verses 1 -10, John 3, verses 16 -21, and Titus 3, verses 3 -7.
Those three passages, memorize those, and the memorization and knowing how to digest them and pick them apart and put them back together again, expositing the scriptures, know what's being said there.
Those will help you not only to share the gospel with others, but even also respond to their questions when they ask you. So this is one of those key passages that helps in the teaching of the gospel, especially to unbelievers.
Jesus is talking to an unbeliever. He's talking to Nicodemus. This is a continuation of the conversation that Jesus has been having with Nicodemus since the start of the chapter. Or is it? Is this still part of the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus?
Why do I ask it that way? Why do I ask that question? There's a possibility that verses 16 -21 were not actually said by Jesus. Now bear with me here for a moment. If you have a red-letter Bible, then verses 16 -21 are in red.
But as a matter of fact, from Jesus' answer in verse 10 all the way through verse 21, all of that would be in red because it's still part of Jesus' response to Nicodemus. At least that's what we've come to believe, that's what we've come to accept in the way that the Bible has been edited and presented to us.
But there's a possibility that Jesus' response to Nicodemus ended at the end or at the conclusion of verse 15, and then verses 16 -21 is John, not Jesus, talking. John is kind of putting a little theological interlude in here, and then he picks up with the narrative at verse 22.
This is not unlike John to do this, and it sounds very similar to some things that John said at the start of the gospel. Now why do I propose that it's possible that Jesus didn't actually say this? Well, it's because in the Greek, which is what John would have written his gospel in, that was the original language that this gospel was written in, it was written in Greek.
In the Greek, there were not quotation marks. So there isn't anything that indicates that Jesus is actually saying this, like there's not a closed quotation mark at the end of verse 21 that makes us go, oh okay, well that's the end of his answer to Nicodemus.
We have just assumed that Jesus is still speaking here because in verse 22 it says, after this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside as he remained there with them and he was baptizing.
So since John starts this next section with, after this, Jesus and his disciples, doesn't that mean right after Jesus got done talking with Nicodemus, so it's right after the end of the conversation, we're going from Jesus talking to the next event, doesn't it make sense to believe that these words in verses 16 through 21 came from Christ?
Well yes and no. It's perfectly reasonable to believe that. I'm not saying that your Bible is communicating something wrong to you, there's just the possibility that these letters shouldn't be in red.
The closed quotation mark comes at the end of verse 15 and not at the end of verse 21. The first person that I heard say this was R .C. Sproul, that Jesus probably did not speak verses 16 through 21, it probably didn't come from Christ, it came from John.
And the very first time I heard R .C. say that, I've heard him say it in several different contexts, but the very first time I heard him say it, I was like, oh come on R .C., you've been spending too much time in the ivory tower, right, you're starting to get too technical with the text instead of really appreciating what it says or understanding the context of it.
You know, I'm even saying that of R .C. Sproul. But as I heard him say it again, and I would hear him repeat it several other times in different contexts in his teaching, I started looking at it for myself and realizing what it was he was actually saying.
It's not that Jesus didn't say this, but at least as far as the quotation that we have, it wasn't John directly quoting Jesus, it was just John giving a theology lesson explaining the answer that Jesus had just given in verses 14 and 15, and I'll come back to that answer here in just a moment.
Now, of course, Jesus is speaking indirectly. Maybe these words aren't directly spoken by Christ, but they are indirectly being communicated by Christ, because all of the Bible is the word of Christ. Therefore, it's not necessarily unreasonable for us to conclude that these words are Christ's words.
All scripture is God breathed. That's what we have in Second Timothy 316. And Jesus told his disciples, which we'll have later on in the gospel of John, that he would send the helper to them, the Holy Spirit, who would teach them more.
So these things that John is writing, he is being guided by the Holy Spirit. It doesn't come from his own mind. It's not his own theology that he's imposing upon this. It's very much Christ guided theology.
But whether or not Jesus actually said this in his conversation with Nicodemus is up for debate. Now, let's consider the last thing that Jesus said to Nicodemus, at least as far as we got last week in our study of this particular chapter.
So in verse 14, Jesus said, 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. Let me go back a little bit more than that.
With Jesus saying to Nicodemus in verse 12, if I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man.
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. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Verse 16 is explaining verses 14 and 15 when Jesus said, the son of man must be lifted up. That's in verse 14. And also, whoever believes in him may have eternal life. That's verse 15. Then we have verse 16, which explains both of those statements.
God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. So Jesus is giving Nicodemus an answer, something that he would understand from the scriptures.
Nicodemus, being a Pharisee, understands the Jewish scriptures, has them more memorized than you and I do. OK, that's how well Nicodemus knows the scriptures. But he does not take them to heart. He may know them by heart.
He just does not take them to heart. He has a very external worship and not a fear of God. He does not understand Christ as the son of God, which is why he fails to understand the spiritual things that Jesus says to him.
He tries to rationalize them in a natural way, but they can only be spiritually discerned. So Jesus uses earthly means to communicate spiritual truths, and he shows how the scriptures were always pointing to him, even though he doesn't make that claim directly.
But he's trying to help Nicodemus see that all the scriptures are pointing to him, the son of man, the son of God, who has come to take away the sin of the world. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, OK, that's that story from Numbers with the serpents biting the people and they pray or they ask Moses for relief.
And so God says, we'll put this bronze serpent up on a pole and then anyone who looks at the serpent will be healed of their snake bites and they won't die. And so that's what ends up happening. So Jesus, using this story from Numbers, tells Nicodemus that just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, that whoever looks at it will be healed of of the curse that that was the snakes that God had sent into the camp.
They will be healed of the curse. So must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him, whoever looks upon him as the Israelites looked upon the bronze serpent, whoever looks upon Christ, who died on the cross for our sins would have eternal life.
And so then you have verse 16 explaining that further. God so loved the world that he gave his only son. See that in itself. That's explaining the whoever in verse 15. God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, it's expounding upon the whoever for Jesus used an example that came from the Jewish scriptures.
It was certainly something Nicodemus would have connected with, and he was expecting a Jewish messiah. Indeed, the messiah came from the Jews, but he was not just for the Jews. He was also a messiah for the Gentiles, Jews and Gentiles who ever believed in Jesus would have eternal life.
So Jesus is saying that it's more than just Jews who are going to be saved by this plan of salvation that God has through his son, through the son of man who will be lifted up, who will be crucified not too many more years from now, just two or three years from this conversation that Jesus was having with Nicodemus, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life, not just among the Jews, but also among the Gentiles.
So it was a radical statement for Jesus to say, whoever believes in him may have eternal life for the reader's sake. John may be saying in verse 16 or for Nicodemus sake, Jesus may be explaining to Nicodemus with verse 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
God so loved the world, not just the Jews, but all men in the world and from all men. God will save his people, whoever believes in him, whoever believes in Jesus, they are the ones who are going to be saved.
No one else, only those who believe Jesus did not die for everyone. Understand that plainly. And this verse is often taken out of context to make that very argument that Jesus came and died for everyone.
No, he didn't. If he died for everyone, everyone sins are atoned for. And that's simply not true. The only people who sins are atoned for are those who believe in him. But it's still a radical thing to consider that Jesus came for the world of men, not just people among the Jews.
Again, that's what Nicodemus's idea of the Messiah was, that he was someone who was going to save the Jews. And if anybody else was going to be blessed, because there's certainly passages in the Old Testament about Gentiles being blessed, non-Jews, other people in the nations being blessed.
If anyone else was going to be blessed outside the Jews, it was going to be because they bless they bless the Jews. If they were on the side of Israel, the side of the Jewish people, then God would, quote unquote, save them or bless them.
But this savior came for the Jews. And then by proxy, there were some Gentiles that would be included in that as well. But Jesus is pointing out here to Nicodemus that the son of man is coming, not just as a Messiah for the Jews.
He's coming for anyone who would believe in him, anyone from the world of men, whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Again, it's important to understand the context that verse 16 qualifies verses 14 and 15.
It is explaining what Jesus had just said to Nicodemus, that it's going to be more than just a savior for the Jewish people. He is going to be a savior for the world of men. Furthermore, a person will not be saved just because they were descended from the line of Abraham.
They will be saved because they believed in Jesus. And that's anyone who believes in Jesus, Jew or Gentile. That's what's being said in verse 16. It's not a statement that Jesus died for the whole world.
That's not what's being stated in John 3, 16. And the subject of this verse is God, the father, the subjects, not Christ. And it's not you and me. The subject is the father. Again, verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, God, the father so loved the world, not that he was pouring out his wrath upon the world, which is what Jews believed.
They believed the Gentiles, they were just going to be wiped out by the judgment of God. Whenever we read those precatory Psalms and David is talking about wiping out his enemies. Well, that's everyone who's not a Jew.
And we believe that God is just going to come pour out his wrath on the world. But the Jews he's going to save, he's going to save and he's going to establish a kingdom on earth. And there's going to be somebody from the line of David who's going to sit on that throne again.
And once again, Israel will be prosperous and we'll have no enemies who will ever come against us. That was the notion of the Jewish people at this particular time. But God loved the world. He was not going to pour out his wrath on everyone who was not a Jew.
There were going to be people from the world of men whom he was going to call out to himself. And he sent his son to be the propitiation for their sins, a propitiation for whose sins? Those who believe in Jesus.
First, John two to Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, that's a verse that's been used by universalists to say, ah, see there, John says that he's a propitiation for the sins of the whole world.
No, no, no. You can't take a passage out of context like that and put it in a vacuum. For John has said elsewhere that only who is going to be saved, only those who believe in him, whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
First, John 410 in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. And there the collective hour is talking about fellow believers, the church to whom John is writing.
Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Again, the propitiation for whose sins? Whoever believes in him. Jesus death on the cross is not a propitiation for the sins of everybody in the world. It can't be that because then everyone is automatically saved and they don't have to do anything.
There's no reason to believe in Jesus because I'm I'm saved since he's the propitiation for the sins of everybody in the world. There's a context. Even when we use that word world, it's being set against the Jews.
Jesus did not just come to save the Jews only, but he came also to save Gentiles, those whom God would call out from the world of men. Later on in the book of John, Jesus would go on to say, I have other sheep that are not of this fold.
I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. That's John 10, 16. And that's Jesus saying that it's not just among the nation of Israel, not just Jerusalem and Judea and the surrounding area that he is saving people from where he is saving people, but they are going to be from the world of men.
They are going to be of his flock and they will hear the voice of the shepherd and they will turn from sin and believe God is not pouring out his wrath on the world yet because he has those in the world whom he has loved to send his son to die for their sins so they might be called out from the world and they will be one flock, one shepherd.
Is that not beautiful? Is that not gorgeous? The mercy and grace of God that he has extended to those who would believe. And he knows who he knows, who his elect are. Jesus died not just for the people who are going to believe in him in his lifetime or in the time of the apostles going out with the gospel, but his death was to save those who lived before the cross whom God had shown mercy to and also those who were going to come to believe after the cross, hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ called out from the world to believe in Jesus.
They are the ones whom Christ was sent to save and they will listen to his voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. We are all still part of that fold and we are all still following the voice of the one whom God sent to be the propitiation for our sins so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Do you have more clarity now on John 3 16 and understanding what is being said in this particular verse? Well, there's more to it than even that. And we'll get into more tomorrow as we consider also verses 17 and 18.
Let us conclude with prayer. Our wonderful God, we thank you for the the love and provision that you have shown to us through your son, Jesus. We were but sinners in this world. We were destined to perish under the wrath of God when your judgment is poured out on all the godlessness and unrighteousness of men.
But you considered our need and gave your son and demonstrated your love for us in this that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us in this is love, not that we have loved you, but that you loved us and sent your son to be the propitiation for our sins.
So let us rejoice in that love today, knowing that our sins are forgiven and we are guaranteed an inheritance in Christ. May we recognize others who have likewise been called out from the world to be followers of Jesus because they heard the gospel and believed we are all together as one, one flock with one shepherd.
And may we also reach out with the gospel. So there are others whom you have elected for salvation. They will hear the gospel and turn from sin and be saved. All those who were meant to receive this propitiation, the blood of Christ, shed on the cross for our sins.
What a wonderful Savior.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book, 40 of the most popular Bible verses and what they really mean. Available in paperback or for your Kindle found at our website at www .utt .com.
Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.