JOHN 3:16 ("For God so loved the world")

JOHN 3:16

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Introduction

John 3:16 is probably the most well-known verse of Scripture there is. Every young man who fancies himself as a preacher heads straight to this verse for his text. Martin Luther says that John 3:16 is the Bible in miniature. John 3:16 is the Gospel in a nutshell, isn’t it? However, I’ll let you into an open secret. John 3:16 is not the easiest verse in the Bible to preach. It’s not the easiest to preach because it’s not the easiest verse to understand.

On the surface John 3:16 looks as smooth as a baby’s – face! But under the microscope it’s full of hidden valleys and crevasses.  However, be that as it may, I thought we might have a wee look at John 3:16 from two perspectives, viz., contextually and covenantally.

Contextually

Let’s begin by looking at the immediate context of this verse. It’s part of Jesus’ speech to Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews and he is the teacher of Israel. He has come to Jesus under cover of darkness. Notice what Nicodemus has already said to Jesus back in verse 2 of John 3, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.”

So Nicodemus is off to a good start. He’s recognized something special about Jesus on account of the signs. The Holy Spirit has already descended like a dove and remained upon Jesus, John 1:32-33. Jesus has already told Nathaniel that He saw him under the fig tree, John 1:48. Jesus has already turned water into beautiful wine at the wedding in Cana, John 2:9. Wine, as you know, is a picture of the Gospel, (e.g. Isaiah 55:1).

In John 2:11 we’re told that the “water into wine” was the beginning of the signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. Jesus has already cracked the whip by driving the moneychanger’s out of the Temple. He upended their tables and scattered their sheep and oxen. So, Nicodemus has come to Jesus under cover of darkness knowing these things. Jesus has been talking to Nicodemus about the kingdom of God. He’s been telling Nicodemus that he must be born again, born anew, before he can enter or even see the kingdom of God. Jesus has told Nicodemus about the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to regeneration. It’s the Holy Spirit who enables people to be born again. He regenerates.

So, that’s some of the immediate context of John 3:16. It’s part of a conversation Jesus had with a teacher of the Jews. Still looking at the context, let’s now look at the words of John 3:16 in the context of the actual conversation.

The verse opens with the word “for” – “For God so loved the world…” That little word “for” immediately alerts us that this verse doesn’t stand alone. That little word tells us that this verse is part of what has been said before it. However, before we look more closely at the preceding verses we should note that in the original Greek the very first word of this verse is “so”. Literally it’s “So, for loved God the world…” That little word “so” is so very, very important to our understanding of this verse. It’s not “For God loved the world…” It’s for God so, i.e., in this manner God loved the world. Or thus God loved the world, or, this is how God loved the world.

So the question immediately springs to mind: In what way did God love the world? Is that word “so” referring to what precedes it or what comes after it? Well, we’ve already taken note of the little word “for”. That little word “for” forces the reader to take the preceding verses into consideration. So the question is this: In what manner does God loves the world?
Has it to do with Jesus being lifted up like Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness? Or is it to do with God the Father giving His Son? Well, from what I can see it’s to do with God giving His only begotten Son. However, this giving is to be understood in the context of the preceding verses.

John 3:14-15 are the immediate preceding verses, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Of course the New International Version misses out the “should not perish” bit. However, in the Received Text all of verse 15 is repeated word for word in verse 16. The word “eternal” and “everlasting” are exactly the same word in the original Greek. We can see therefore the manner in which God loves the world. It is in the giving of His only begotten Son who will be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. So that’s how God loved the world. He loved the world by giving the world His Son. Therefore God’s love is a practical love, it’s a doing love, a giving love. God’s love is a sacrificial love.

What is meant by the word “world” in this verse? Well, surely it’s speaking of people in this context. It’s not necessarily talking about birds and bees and trees and seas. It’s primarily talking about people – all kinds of people, rich, poor, old, young, Jew and Gentile. However, it’s talking about fallen people, sinful people, people in need of salvation. We know this because we know why God gave the world His only begotten Son. God gave His Son so “that whoever believes in Him [His only begotten Son] should not perish but have everlasting life.”

So, right about now we and Nicodemus should be making the connection with Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. Numbers 21 records a time during Israel’s wilderness years when the Hebrews began to complain against Moses and God. They were complaining about the food God was providing – the Manna. Numbers 21:6, “So the LORD fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people and many of the people died.”

However, the people came to Moses confessing their sins to God. So God being God provided them an out – an escape from this temporal judgment. The LORD had Moses make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. The idea was that whoever was bitten could look at the brazen serpent and live! As God gave the Hebrews in the wilderness a brazen serpent to cure them from snakebites, so He is giving the world His only begotten Son. Those who looked at the snake on the stake escaped temporal judgment of the fiery serpents. Whoever looked at the snake on the stake escaped physical death.

But why has God the Father given His only begotten? So that those who look unto Jesus can escape eternal judgment, even eternal death God gave the whole world, and not just the Hebrews, His only begotten so that the world might not perish everlastingly, but rather have eternal life.

Covenantally

Let’s look at this in terms of God’s Covenant. Covenantally, there are God’s blessings for obedience and God’s curses for disobedience. The Hebrews were grumbling and complaining against God in the wilderness. Grumbling and complaining about the providence of God is disobedience. So God at that time sent them a temporal curse – fiery serpents.

Now, as you know, there are only two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Sacraments are signs and seals of God’s Covenant of Grace. The Lord’s Supper by its very nature is a clear picture of God’s providing for His people. It is God who provides the bread and wine. And it is God who provides the reality of what the bread and wine represent. In other words: A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers. That’s how our Catechism puts it.

Now, what happened to some of the Corinthians who treated the Lord’s Supper as a common meal instead of a holy meal? Referring to the Lord’s Supper, we’re told in 1 Corinthians 11:29, “For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” So, what happened to those who didn’t discern the Lord’s body in the Holy Meal? What was God’s judgment on them? 1 Corinthians 11:30, “For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” So, even though the Manna from heaven was not an Old Testament Sacrament, it was part God’s provision for His people in the wilderness. And those who treated it in an unworthy manner received God’s temporal judgment, as did the Corinthians regarding the Lord’s Supper.

However, the escape from the penalty was to look to God’s covenantal provision for their sin – Christ! God is ever faithful to His everlasting covenant. He provided those in the wilderness an out, an escape from the temporal punishment or chastening. Look at the brass serpent on a pole and be healed from the curse. All of mankind knows in its collective heart and individually that we grumble and complain against God’s providence, Romans 9:20. Therefore all mankind has a sense of guilt for its sin, Romans 2:15-16. All of mankind knows that there is to be a Final Judgment on the Last Day, Romans 1:18-19. But God has provided a means of escaping from remaining eternally cursed. That escape is in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! However, just as the wilderness Hebrews needed to look at the brazen serpent, so must the world look at Christ on His cross!

The brazen snake on a stake was a reminder of God’s curse as well as His blessing. For the LORD God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:14, “You are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field.” So, the serpent of the pole was a picture of the most cursed creature there is. But didn’t Christ on the cross become the curse? Didn’t He become the curse for us? Didn’t He become the curse to remove the curse from us? Paul says to the Galatians in Galatians 3:13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’”)

Now, I’ll try not to have us jumping all over the Bible. But keep in mind that Jesus is talking to a man who knows the Old Testament Scriptures. Nicodemus knows all about the LORD sending the fiery serpents in the wilderness. And he also knows what is written in Deuteronomy 21:22-23, “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”

We see Nicodemus a little later in John’s Gospel upholding God’s covenant stipulations regarding a man who was accursed by being hung on a tree. John 19:38-39 says, “After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.”

So, Nicodemus would most certainly make the connection between the brazen serpent hanging on a pole and the Son of Man hanging on a tree. For God so loved the world that He gave, (not a brazen serpent this time), but He gave His only begotten Son. As Aaron’s rod swallowed up the sorcerer’s rods, so the rod of God, which is Christ’s cross, swallowed up death.

God loved the world. The manner in which He loved the world was by giving the world a gift. The gift of God is Jesus Christ. The purpose for God giving His Son is that whoever looks believingly to Him should not keep on perishing forever, but rather keep on having life.

So, what we see then in John 3:16 is God’s everlasting Covenant revealed. We see that God eternal plan of salvation unveiled. The mind of God is visualized for us in this verse. Those in the world who look to Jesus Christ will not perish along with the cursed Serpent and his demons, but will receive healing from their sins. For, to look at Christ’s cross is to look at the removal of God’s curse. For Jesus Christ is the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world! It was our sin that brought the curse in the first place. And it was Jesus Christ who removed our sin from us in the last place.

The cross is the place where the curse is exchanged for blessing. The cross is the place where death is transformed into life. The cross is the place where light conquers darkness, where life conquers death. Death is swallowed up in victory at the cross!

It’s covenantal. God blesses obedience. God curses disobedience. Christ was obedient unto death. He was obedient for us. Therefore His life brings all the blessings of life for those who believe in Him. And His death brings all the curses of death to those who hate Him.

God’s love is a covenantal love because the God who is love is in eternal covenant with Himself. Therefore God’s love for the world is a covenantal love. As those who refused to look to God’s provision for healing in the wilderness perished temporally, so those who refuse to look to Christ and His cross will perish eternally. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that the people of the world see the manner in which God loved the world.

God’s love is covenantal. His love for the world is in the giving of His only begotten Son. This giving of His eternal Son was planned in eternity past. In other words, the Father had covenanted with the Son to do this before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8b speaks of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Which Lamb is that? The Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

Now, just one last, but important thing under the heading Covenantally. It’s to do with the words in John 3:16, “that whoever believes in Him.” Always keep in mind the context of these words. Jesus is speaking these words to Nicodemus, a man well-familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures. Keep in mind that Jesus has been telling Nicodemus that he must be born again to see the kingdom of God. John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” Now jump ahead to verse 5, “Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” “‘Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” “‘Unless one is  born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’”

Being born again is the same as being born of the water and the Spirit. It’s the Spirit that gives birth to spirit, flesh can only give birth to flesh. In other words, it’s the Spirit of God who must, if you will, do the work of a spiritual midwife. You can’t deliver yourself, God must do it! Flesh gives birth to flesh, those who are spiritually dead. But the Holy Spirit gives birth to those who are spiritually alive – those who are able to see and to enter the kingdom of God. 

Some have looked at the “water and the Spirit” there in verse 5 and have concluded that the water is speaking of baptism. Now, keep in mind that Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. And keep in mind that He is speaking to him Covenantally. Nicodemus knows that John the Baptist has been baptizing in the wilderness. If you need a verse for that try Mark 1:4, “John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”

Now, Nicodemus knows that the Holy Spirit is likened to water. He knows this because he knows the Old Testament Scriptures. E.g., Ezekiel 36:25-27 is a place that speaks of God’s Covenantal promise regarding His Spirit. Ezekiel 36:25-27, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.”

Notice the cleansing action being spoken of. “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you…” The Holy Spirit is the one who does the cleansing – “I will put My Spirit within you.” Therefore the “water and the Spirit” Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus in verse 5 is simply a reference to the Old Testament Covenant promises. And, keep in mind that Jesus is rebuking Nicodemus “the teacher of Israel” for not understanding these things. So, the “water and the Spirit” in verse 5 is simply referring to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit in bringing people to new life. And, of course, Covenantal baptism beautifully pictures this. As John the Baptist says in John 1:33, “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”

So you see the connection between the water and the Spirit. The sprinkling of water in baptism is a picture of what the Holy Spirit will do. According to God’s Covenantal promise, “The Spirit will cleanse you from all your filthiness.” Therefore the water in verse 5 is not so much the water of water baptism, rather it’s the Spirit who is pictured by the water in water baptism.

Anyway, meanwhile back at John 3:16. The “whosoever will” – the “whoever believes” – must be read in light of what we’ve just looked at. In other words, to be properly understood it must be read in context and Covenantally. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that a person must be born again before he can see the kingdom of God. He’s saying that he must be born of water and the Spirit before he can enter the kingdom of God. He is telling Nicodemus that only the Spirit can make a person born again. He is not saying that a person with the assistance of the Spirit can be born again. No. It’s all of God because that which is flesh can only give birth to flesh. Therefore if a person is going to believe unto everlasting life he must first be born of the Spirit! That is God’s Covenantal Plan of Salvation from all eternity.

God’s love for the world is demonstrated in the gift of His only begotten Son. His purpose for the gift of His only begotten Son is to have those He is saving believe in Him who takes away their sin. But they must be born again, born of water and the Spirit before they will truly believe. So, we might read John 3:16 periphrastically thus, “For God the Father loved the world by giving the world His Son, so that those born of the Spirit should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 3:16 is Trinitarian, isn’t it? Our salvation is the work of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore Jesus taught Nicodemus the Pharisee that man is not saved by his own works, rather by the triune God, i.e., the Triune God alone saves by His grace alone.

Conclusion

We’ve seen that in order for John 3:16 to be properly understood must be looked at contextually and covenantally.