Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

16. For ] Explaining how God wills eternal life to every one that believeth.

loved the world ] The whole human race: see on Joh 1:10. This would be a revelation to the exclusive Pharisee, brought up to believe that God loved only the chosen people. The word for ‘love,’ agapn, is very frequent both in this Gospel and in the First Epistle, and may be considered characteristic of S. John.

that he gave his only begotten ] This would be likely to remind Nicodemus of the offering of Isaac. Comp. 1Jn 4:9; Heb 11:17; Rom 8:32. See note on Joh 1:14.

everlasting life ] The Greek is the same as in the previous verse, and the translation should be the same, eternal life. ‘Eternal life’ is one of the phrases of which S. John is fond. It occurs 17 times in the Gospel (only eight in the Synoptics) and six times in the First Epistle. In neither Gospel nor Epistle is ‘eternal’ ( ainios) applied to anything but ‘life.’ On ainios, which of itself does not necessarily mean ‘everlasting’ or ‘unending,’ see note on Mat 25:46.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16 21. It is much disputed whether what follows is a continuation of Christ’s discourse, or the comment of the Evangelist upon it. The fact that terms characteristic of S. John’s theology are put into the mouth of Christ, e.g. ‘only-begotten’ and ‘the Light,’ cannot settle the question: the substance may still be our Lord’s, though the wording is S. John’s. It seems unlikely that S. John would give us no indication of the change from Christ’s words to his own, if the discourse with Nicodemus really came to a full stop in Joh 3:15. See on Joh 3:31-36.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For God so loved – This does not mean that God approved the conduct of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was earnestly desirous of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he still desires the Happiness of those who are sinful. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child. When we approve the conduct of another, this is the love of complacency; when we desire simply their happiness, this is the love of benevolence.

The world – All mankind. It does not mean any particular part of the world, but man as man – the race that had rebelled and that deserved to die. See Joh 6:33; Joh 17:21. His love for the world, or for all mankind, in giving his Son, was shown by these circumstances:

1. All the world was in ruin, and exposed to the wrath of God.
2. All people were in a hopeless condition.
3. God gave his Son. Man had no claim on him; it was a gift – an undeserved gift.
4. He gave him up to extreme sufferings, even the bitter pains of death on the cross.
5. It was for all the world. He tasted death for every man, Heb 2:9. He died for all, 2Co 5:15. He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, 1Jo 2:2.

That he gave – It was a free and unmerited gift. Man had no claim: and when there was no eye to pity or arm to save, it pleased God to give his Son into the hands of men to die in their stead, Gal 1:4; Rom 8:32; Luk 22:19. It was the mere movement of love; the expression of eternal compassion, and of a desire, that sinners should not perish forever.

His only-begotten Son – See the notes at Joh 1:14. This is the highest expression of love of which we can conceive. A parent who should give up his only son to die for others who are guilty if this could or might be done – would show higher love than could be manifested in any other way. So it shows the depth of the love of God, that he was willing. to give his only Son into the hands of sinful men that he might be slain, and thus redeem them from eternal sorrow.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Joh 3:16

God so loved the world, that He gave His-only begotten Son

The gospel in brief

Pliny declares that Cicero once saw the Iliad of Homer written in so small a character that it could be contained in a nutshell.

Peter Bales, a celebrated caligrapher, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, wrote the whole Bible so that it was shut up in a common walnut as its casket. In these days of advanced mechanism even greater marvels in miniature have been achieved, but never has so much meaning been compressed into so small a space as in that famous little word So, in the text. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The gospel

The text gives a deeper insight into the Divine character than the heavens which declare Gods glory and than those tender mercies of His providence which are over all His works.

I. THE DIVINE LOVE.

1. Its marvellousness. The world is

(1) not the wondrously perfect material universe;

(2) not the world of unfallen angels;

(3) not a world of creatures such as Adam was when pronounced very good. Then had there been no wonder. But

(4) the world the whole of which lieth in wickedness.

2. Its universality.

(1) Salvation is as common as sunshine, yet if a man will close his eyes the sun is of no use to him. So while salvation is for all many put it away from them.

(2) It was originally meant to be so. The Jews denied it because they erred, not knowing the Scripture. The promise to Abraham and renewed to Isaac and repeated by Isaiah was a universal one.

(3) Salvation extends to the most ignorant and the very worst.

II. The Divine Gift. He could give nothing dearer or greater. Some may excel others in kindness; but Gods love is such that in its manifestation it cannot possibly be exceeded. Christ is His unspeakable gift. He gave His Son.

1. To a humbling incarnation.

2. To a laborious servitude.

3. To an ignominious and sacrificial death.

III. THE DIVINE DESIGN.

1. What God wants to do.

(1) To save all men from perishing

(2) To give all everlasting life.

2. The condition upon which He will do it. Faith in His Son. (Mortlock Daniell.)

A triple ray of Gospel light

Here are three great testimonies like the three primary colours which make one white beam.

I. LIGHT UPON THE CHARACTER OF GOD.

1. God loves. The Indian or Chinese will not let you say God loves. It is an impeachment of His dignity and argues need. In a profound sense, however, of yearning for protection, of appreciating the souls of men, of finding a necessity for seeing them blessed, in the sense of pity, mercy, self-effacement, God loves. Had we said this it would have been a marvellous testimony; much more so had Paul or John said it. But love on the lips of Christ has a thousandfold more meaning.

2. God loves the world, the unregenerate world, as a mother loves her wayward no less than her worthy child, though the love be broken-hearted grief. So God loves the rebellious.

3. God loves the world with a distributive affection reaching the whosoerers.

4. God loves it with an affection so deep, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, as to give His only begotten Son. Love is ever giving, and the love of God says not of aught it possesses that it is its own. He keeps not His child. See, then, here in the first line of the Gospel that

(1) It reveals the heart of God.

(2) His habit of sacrifice.

(3) His compassion for every soul.

(4) His desire to save all.

II. LIGHT UPON CHRIST. What a problem has Christ been! The generations have never been able to forget Him. Men have never given Him a small name. The estimates of foes have betrayed their sense of His greatness, and the adoration of friends has lost itself in the endeavour to express it. Who is He? The ages have been a wrestling Jacob whose question has been, What is Thy name? Ask Himself.

1. The only begotten Son of God. The Son is of the nature of the Father–Divine in a sense no other being is. All the Divine fulness of the Godhead is in Him. And His life matches His name.

2. The gift of God: the property of each soul of man. There is no tie which has knit Him to our hearts that He has not knit. He takes our nature, conditions, duties, temptations, sorrows, curse, death. Ours

(1) By evident gift.

(2) By obvious sympathies.

(3) Ours so that all He has and is, the merits of His life, the atonement of His death, is ours.

3. The Saviour. Only Christ has borne this great name. Mohammed is prophet; Buddha is teacher only; Jesus is Saviour. A name

(1) written on the consciousness of every redeemed soul, and

(2) writ large in history.

III. LIGHT ON MAN. Low views of God go together with low views of man. You cannot lose your faith in God without losing your faith in man. Here we see

1. God loves each man, therefore each man is lovable; no heart without a beauty in it that charms the eye of God; no life without some possibility of glory in it which attracts His love.

2. We are capable of faith. There is a Divine dignity in man which lets him lift himself up to God and entrust himself into His arms, and put himself wholly under His guidance and in His power.

3. We are capable of everlasting life. Philosophy as we know it today is a theory of the graveyard only. If we cast away the Lord of life we have to believe in a destiny that is only a tomb. Christ has come that we might have everlasting life. (R. Glover.)

The love of God

I. THE FOUNTAIN OF GRACE IN GODS UNSPEAKABLE LOVE.

1. object. The world: man in his corrupt and miserable state (Joh 5:19).

2. The act.. The love of God is

(1) The love of benevolence (Tit 3:4).

(2) Of complacency (Psa 11:7; Joh 16:27).

3. The degree–So. We are not told how much. It is to be conceived rather than spoken of; admired rather than conceived.

Observe from all this

1. That love is at the bottom of all. We may give a reason for other things, but not for this love (Deu 7:7-8; Mat 11:26).

2. Love is visible in the progress and perfection of our salvation in Christ Rom 5:8). Light is not more conspicuous in the sun.

3. If there were any other cause it must be either

(1) in the merit of Christ; but this was the manifestation not the cause of God s love (1Jn 3:16), or

(2) in our worthiness; but this cannot be (1Jn 4:10; Col 1:24).

The uses of all this.

1. To confute all misapprehensions of God. Satan tempts us to view God as unlovely or to entertain unworthy thoughts of His mercy. But this shows us that He is fuller of love than the sea is of water.

2. To quicken our admiration of the love of God in Christ. Three things commend any favour done us.

(1) The good will of the giver.

(2) The greatness of the gift.

(3) The unworthiness of the recipient. All concur here.

3. To exhort us

(1) To improve this love. It is an invitation to seek after God.

(2) To answer it with a corresponding love.

(3) As love was at the bottom of all grace, so let it be of all duty.

II. THE WAY GOD TOOK TO EXPRESS HIS LOVE. There is a twofold giving of Christ.

1. For us (Rom 8:32). This mightily bespeaks Gods love and care for our salvation. In creation God made us after His own image; in redemption Christ was made after ours. This was the most convenient way to bring about His purposes of grace

(1) That our faith might be more certain.

(a) By His humanity He taught men by doctrine and example.

(b) By His dying He satisfied the justice of God, and so made a way for the course of His mercy to us (Rom 3:25-26).

(c) By His resurrection, which was a visible satisfaction to the world that His sacrifice was accepted (Rom 4:25).

(d) By His ascension the truth of eternal life was more confirmed.

(2) That our hope might be confirmed, being built upon Christs example and promises (1Pe 1:3; Joh 2:25; Joh 12:26).

(3) That our love to God may be more fervent.

(4) That our obedience may be more ready (Heb 5:8-9).

2. To us.

(1) Without Christ there is no recovery of what we lost, viz.,

(a) The image of God. This is restored by Christ, who is the pattern 2Co 3:18) and author (Tit 3:5-6). Till we are in Him we have not this great benefit (2Co 5:17).

(b) The favour of God which Christ died to recover (2Co 5:17).

(c) Fellowship with God (Gen 3:24; cf. Eph 3:12; Heb 4:16).

(2) Without Christ there is no removal of our mlsery–the death and curse, involved in sin. Christ finds us where Adam left us (Joh 3:18).

(3) Without Christ there is no obtaining our proper happiness. Man was made for God, and cannot be happy without Him (Joh 14:6; 1Jn 5:11).

The use of all this is

1. To confute the worlds opinion who measure Gods love by outward things.

2. To excite us to bless God for Jesus Christ (Rom 7:25; 1Co 15:57).

III. THE END OF THIS LOVE. Notice

1. The connection of our duty and privilege. We believe: God gives.

2. The universality of the proposal.

3. The condition.

4. The benefits negatively and positively considered. (T. Manton, D. D.)

The love of God

What subject can be so interesting as this? The gospel in general is a record of the love of God, but there the only begotten Son from the bosom of the Father gives us an epitome of the whole.

I. ITS OBJECT. If God so loved the world, then

1. He loved those who deserved no such love.

2. He loved those who could do nothing to purchase or to procure it.

3. He loved those by whom it was unsolicited and undesired.

4. He must manifest it in a way worthy of Himself.

(1) Was such a love verbal? There is a great deal of such which says, Be ye warmed, etc. Was it sentimental? There are a good many so exquisite in their sensibilities as not to be able to endure a case of woe. Had Gods love been such we had never been redeemed.

(2) Gods love was practical, bountiful, efficient.

II. ITS MANNER. He loved in a way worthy of Himself, and bestowed a gift which proved its greatness.

1. The supreme dignity and worth of the gift–His Son in a sense in which no other being is. Angels are sons because God has created them; Christians because God has adopted them. But Christ is Gods Son by eternal generation; Son in such a sense that He can say of the Father, I and My Father are one, and that the Father can say of Him, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.

2. The relation in which the gift stood to the Giver. He was one in whom the Father delighted, not as in a creature with a limited affection, but with a boundless complacency.

3. Does not this teach us that a less valuable gift could not expiate human crime, and that no other price could have been accepted. Had Christs teaching, example, etc., been sufficient His blood would not have been shed. But without shedding of blood is no remission.

4. The only begotten Son so loved the world that He gave Himself. The allegation that if Christ suffered under compulsion it were unjust is true. But Christ was Divine, and therefore independent, and consequently cannot be compelled to suffer. Hence He says, I delight to do Thy will. No man taketh My life from Me.

III. ITS END. It was glorious and justified the means–the salvation of the world. But this great benefit is not dispensed indiscriminately. There must be a cordial acceptance of Gods plan. Two ideas:

1. That of credence. Jesus must be believed to be what the record declares Him to be.

2. But such credence of this testimony that it is accepted by us, and that there is a personal reliance on Christ for salvation. It is with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.

3. Nor is this one act merely; it is an act repeated till a habit is formed, a habit which gives a distinctive denomination to the person–believer.

4. This salvation through faith is negative and positive.

In conclusion:

1. God so loved the world. Then

(1) He has so loved mankind as He has not loved other orders of creatures.

(2) He has carried this attribute m this manifestation to its utmost intensity. This cannot be said of His wisdom or His power.

(3) It was so vast, amazing, rich as to pay down a price that defies all the powers of human or angelic calculation.

2. Has God so loved the world as to give, etc.? Then

(1) Let us cherish views of the Divine character worthy of Him whose we are and whom we serve.

(2) How vital to salvation is faith!

(3) Have we the love of God?

(4) We ought to love one another. (R. Newton, D. D.)

Gods love and its gift

I. THE LOVE OF GOD.

1. If God so loved this guilty world, then what an unplumbed depth of grace must have been in His heart! For the object of His love is not the world in its first condition when He pronounced it very good, but the world ruined by sin and condemned for apostasy. There would have been no wonder had the world been drowned. Yet without any change in our claims or character He loved us. And this love is not a mere relenting which might lead to a respite, or simple regret which might end in a sigh. There is no merit in loving what is lovely. There is nothing about man but his misery to attract the Divine attachment. Mans sin is not his misfortune, but his fault. And the marvel is there is nothing God hates so much as sin, and yet no one He loved so much as the sinner.

2. If God so loved this little world, then surely His love is disinterested. This orb is truly a little one, yet it has called out emotion, which mightier spheres had failed to elicit.

3. If God loved this fallen world and not the world of fallen angels His love must be sovereign. Be not high minded, but fear. God spared not the angels that sinned, and if thou art spared thou hast no reason to boast.

4. The fervour and mightiness of this love arrest our attention–so.

II. THE GIFT OF GODS LOVE. We estimate the value of a gift by various criteria.

1. The resources of the giver. Our Lord declared that the poor widow gave truly more than the wealthy worshippers.

2. The motives of the giver. One may heap favours on a fallen foe to wound his pride.

3. The manner. If it be withheld until wrung out, or if it be offered in a surly spirit, it sinks at once in importance below the lesser boon offered in frank and spontaneous sympathy.

4. The condition of the recipient–whether rich or needy, and in what degree of need, and the extent to which the gift is adapted to him.

Now let the love of God be tested by these criteria.

1. The resources of the Giver are infinite; but in the donation of Christ you see the limits of possibility. If Christ be God what gift superior can be presented? or if He be the Son of God what richer love could be exhibited?

2. Gods motives were perfectly unselfish.

3. His gift is the only one that could have profited us.

4. What adaptation there is in it to mans dire need I

III. THE DESIGN OF GODS LOVE.

1. To rescue man from perishing.

2. To confer upon man the boon of everlasting life.

3. To do this for all who believe:

(1) of every character;

(2) country;

(3) rank;

(4) age. (J. Eadie, D. D.)

The love of God

I. THE OBJECT OF THIS LOVE. The world–not a part of it. The same reasons upon which His love of individuals is justified will justify His love to all.

II. ITS NATURE.

1. Negatively.

(1) Not a delight in the character of men. For an infinite being to sympathize with wicked natures He must be infinitely wicked.

(2) Not a mere emotion, for emotions do not influence the life without the will.

(3) Not fondness for particular persons. There was nothing in any man to warrant this fondness.

(4) Not an involuntary love as is manifest in what it did.

(5) Not an unreasonable state of mind which so often gives rise to a false affection.

2. Positively.

(1) It was the only kind of love that could have been important to man.

(2) It was a reasonable affection.

(3) It was good-will or benevolence.

(4) It was an unselfish kind of love.

(5) God did the good for the sake of the intrinsic and infinite value of the soul. Men had no claim upon Him, but there were infinite reasons why He should not destroy them.

(6) It was disinterested.

(7) It was a love of amazing strength. Here was a world of enemies at war with Him, yet He spared not His own Son.

(8) It was not for a single Christian as such, but for a world of sinners.

(9) It was forbearing.

(10) It was universal.

(11) It was holy.

III. THE REASON FOR THIS WONDERFUL MEASURE OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. Mankind had resisted this government. If God had seemed to connive at this, all other beings might have denied the justice of the law and disobeyed it also. What must be done? Gods relation to the universe demanded of Him either to execute the law or to make demonstration of His estimation of the law. It is easy to see that the honour of the law might be fully sustained by God Himself if He should show before the whole universe His approbation of the law. If God would take upon Himself human nature, and in this nature would stand right out before the universe, and obey the law and suffer its penalty, the law would be perfectly honoured. This was what was done in Christ. (Prof. Finney.)

The love of God

I. How was JESUS GIVEN BY THE FATHER?

1. By His designation and appointment unto death (Act 2:23; Isa 42:1).

2. In parting with Him and setting Him at some distance from Himself for a Joh 16:28; Psa 22:1-2).

3. In delivering Him into the hands of justice to be punished (Rom 8:32).

4. In the application of Him with all the purchases of His blood, and settling all this upon us as an inheritance (Joh 6:32-33; Joh 4:10).

II. HOW THIS GIFT WAS THE HIGHEST, FULLEST MANIFESTATION OF THE LOVE OF GOD THAT EVER THE WORLD SAW. This will be evidenced if you consider

1. How near and dear Christ was to the Father (Col 1:13).

2. To what He gave Him (Luk 22:22).

3. That in giving Christ He gave the richest jewel in His cabinet.

4. On whom the gift was bestowed.

(1) Not on angels; not on human friends, but

(2) upon enemies (Rom 5:8-10).

5. The freeness of the gift (1Jn 4:19).

Corollaries.

1. The exceeding preciousness of souls (1Pe 1:18; Mat 16:26).

2. Those for whom God gave His own Son may warrantably expect any other mercy from Him (Rom 8:32; 1Co 3:20-21).

(1) No other mercy can be so dear to God as Jesus is.

(2) As Jesus was nearer the heart of God than all, so Jesus is in Himself much more excellent than all of them (Rom 9:5).

(3) There is no other mercy you want but you are entitled to it by the gift of Christ (2Co 1:20; 1Ti 6:17).

(4) If God has given you Christ when enemies it is not imaginable He should deny you an inferior mercy now you are reconciled Rom 5:8-10).

3. If the greatest love hath been manifested in the gift of Christ, then the greatest evil and wickedness is manifested in rejecting Him (Heb 2:2-4). (J. Flavel.)

The love of God

I. GOD IS LOVE.

1. It is singular. He first loved.

2. It is personal.

3. It is compassionate. He pities the souls that sin has ruined.

4. It is comprehensive. It extends to all mankind.

II. ITS EXPRESSION.

1. In the gift. This includes

(1) the birth of Christ;

(2) His matchless life and example; and

(3) His sacrifice.

III. ITS RESULTS. It is implied

1. That all are lost.

2. That none need perish; and

3. That whosoever believeth in Him hath everlasting life.

IV. WE LIVE IN THE GLORIOUS DAY OF SALVATION! This should be the tidings of great joy to all people. The return of Christmas should revive our hope and rekindle our zeal to spend and be spent in the Masters service. (L. O.Thompson.)

The love of God

I. LOVE IN ITS GRANDEST SOURCE.

1. God can love and does love. We must beware of making God only an infinite man; yet love in Him must be the same in kind as love in us.

2. Love is more than a Divine attribute. It is as light of which all the attributes are colours.

3. How near this brings Him to our hearts. We admire other qualities; we only love the loving.

4. The Scripture represents everywhere this love as the fountain of redemption.

II. LOVE IN ITS PUREST FORM. It had nothing to attract it and everything to repel it.

1. The world was perishing; it was therefore not complacent, but compassionating love. It is one thing to help the happy and prosperous and another to succour the needy and miserable.

2. The world was guilty. It is harder to love those who add unworthiness to distress. Moral excellence may attract compassion to the wretched, but moral vileness disgusts. But God commendeth His love, etc.

3. The world was at enmity with God. That love is purest which withstands provocations and does good to the injurious. When we were enemies we were reconciled, etc.

4. The worlds misery and peril were caused by itself. It is always a sore strain on mercy when solicited for the wilful. How natural the reply: It serves you right! God says, Thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thy help.

III. Love IN ITS GREATEST STRENGTH That is a poor philanthropy which can pity without helping: but the philanthropy of God appeared in action. Love is as deeds, not words, desires, or feelings.

1. The love of God was practical in the most costly way. The test of love is sacrifice; the criterion of its strength is the measure of the sacrifice. The Cross was the self-denial of God.

2. Of all sacrifices the chief are those of persons. The highest sphere of value is in persons, not things, although the latter may be very precious.

3. God sacrificed the highest of all persons.

IV. Love IN ITS LOFTIEST PURPOSE. No purpose could be greater. We know the worth of life. All that a man hath will he give for his life. It is the condition of all else that is prized. Salvation is life, not in figure, but in fact. There is a life of the flesh, of the soul, and of the spirit. This life in all its perfection is the end of God. Beginning in the finest portion of our nature it will spread and strengthen until it possesses the whole of it. Man redeemed and renewed is to live to the utmost of his capacity of life. This life is everlasting. Sin brought death and separated from the tree of life: Christ restored access to it.

V. LOVE IN ITS WIDEST SPHERE. The world is not here used in a restrictive sense. It would be difficult to believe, did not facts prove it, that any could be so blinded as to make the world signify the Church. For the fact is, whenever the world is applied to a portion of mankind it always means the wicked. Wherever there is a man in the way to perish, there is the world God loved. There is nothing in the love or sacrifice of the Father and the Son to prevent the whole world being saved. God loved without limit of nation or condition. Conclusion:

1. You have here a pattern and spring of love. Be imitators of God as dear children. If God loved us, etc.

2. What a gospel–good news–is here! God loves you now in spite of all your sins and follies. The only title to love is to be perishing; the only condition of its blessings is to believe.

3. The subject casts a shadow by its very brightness on your unbelief, state, prospects. (A. J. Morris.)

The love of God

This affectionate compassion is set forth

I. BY COMPARISON OF THE PARTIES LOVING AND LOVED. God most high and holy loved the base and wicked world.

II. BY THE MEASURE OF IT. He so loved, that is, so infinitely, so transcendently, so incomprehensibly (Heb 12:3). Such as cannot be sufficiently expressed or conceived (1Jn 3:1).

III. BY THE FRUIT OF HIS LOVE. It was no lip love, but a giving love. Yea, but some things are not worth the giving, therefore

IV. BY THE WORTHINESS OF THE EXIT–His only begotten Son. And that to stand in our stead, and to die on the cross for us (Joh 3:14). Yea, but though never so excellent a gift be given, yet if it be not of use and profit to whom it is given, it doth not so testify love. Therefore

V. It is set forth by THE BENEFIT THAT COMES TO US BY IT.

1. Not perishing.

2. Having eternal life. But perhaps though this gift brings so great profit, yet they to whom it is given must take some great and extraordinary pains to get it, and then Gods love is not so great. Therefore

VI. It is set forth BY THE EASINESS OF THE MEANS whereby we are possessed of the profit of this gift, That whosoever believeth. Yet if this so worthy a gift, of such invaluable worth to the enjoyer, had been restrained to some few sorts of men, the matter had not been so much. Therefore

VII. It is set forth BY THE UNIVERSALITY, that whosoever, be he what he will, so he will but reach forth his hand to take this gift, he shall have it, and all the comfort of it. (J. Dyke.)

The Divine love

I. IN ITS SOURCE. God loved the world.

1. In its guilt, therefore His love was a love of benevolence. He could not take delight in it, but He did wish it well.

2. In its depravity. Therefore His love is self-moved–the world not as made by God, but as ruined by the devil; consequently there was nothing in it to attract the Divine love.

3. The world, not hell, consequently His love was sovereign-free as opposed to necessary. He could have loved fallen angels had such been His pleasure. But He took not hold on angels, but the seed of Abraham. Why? Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight.

II. IN ITS MANIFESTATION, in

1. The birth or incarnation of Jesus Christ (1Jn 4:9). This did not engender or excite His love, it only manifested it.

2. In His death or atonement (1Jn 4:10). The Divine love is not the effect, but the cause. The gods of heathenism received but never gave sacrifices.

3. In the Person of the only begotten Son of God.

III. IN ITS DESIGN.

1. It has in view the salvation of every individual.

2. It offers to every individual the supremest, most precious blessing God Himself can bestow.

(1) Endless life.

(2) The very life of God Himself.

3. It offers the supremest blessings on the easiest, cheapest terms. God the Father had a great deal to do, and God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; but man has nothing to do but to believe. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)

Immeasurable love

I. IN THE GIFT. Men who love much will give much. Little love forgets to bring water for the feet, but great love breaks its box of alabaster. Consider

1. What this gift was. The Fathers other self. What more could He give? Could you fathers give your sons to die for your enemy?

2. How God gave it: not as you, to some honourable pursuit in which you would not be deprived altogether of your sons company, but as an exile to be born in a manger, to toil as a carpenter, and to die as a felon.

3. When He gave: for there is love in the time.

(1) Jesus was always the gift of God. The promise was made as soon as Adam fell. Throughout the ages the Father stood to His gift. Every sacrifice was a renewal of the gift of grace. The whole system of types betokened that in the fulness of time God would give His Son. Admire the pertinacity of this love. Many a man in a moment of generous excitement can perform a supreme act of benevolence and yet could not bear to look at it calmly from year to year.

(2) It includes all the ages afterwards. God still gives.

II. IN THE PLAN OF SALVATION. What is it to believe in Jesus?

1. To give your firm and cordial assent to the truth of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.

2. To accept this for yourself. In Adams sin you did not sin personally, but by committing personal transgression you laid your hand upon it and made it your own. In like manner you must accept and appropriate the atonement of Jesus.

3. Personal trust.

III. IN THE PERSONS FOR WHOM THIS PLAN IS AVAILABLE. God did not so love the world that any man that does not believe in Jesus shall be saved. Whosoever believeth.

1. From the moralist to the utterly vile; from the greyheaded sinner to the boy or maiden.

2. It encircles all degrees of faith.

IV. IN THE DELIVERANCE. Whosoever believes shall not perish, though he is ready to perish. To perish is to lose all hope in Christ, all trust in God, all light in life, all peace in death, all joy.

V. In THE POSSESSION. God gives to every man that believes in Christ everlasting life. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Gods love for the world

I. THE DIVINE LOVE–WHAT IT IS.

1. The essence of His nature.

2. All His attributes are modifications and manifestations of His love.

3. His law, the order of creation, the arrangement of His providence are expressions of His love.

4. Love is the ground of His perfect happiness.

II. THE SPECIAL FRUIT OF THE DIVINE LOVE. IN THE GIFT OF CHRIST.

1. The origin of Christs mission was the love of God.

2. God gave His Son.

(1) In the councils of eternity.

(2) In His birth in time.

(3) In His death.

3. The relationship between the Father and the Son is the measure of the Divine love.

(1) Not an exalted creature.

(2) Not merely a Son.

(3) Not His Son only by incarnation.

(4) But His only begotten, well beloved, and everlasting Son.

III. THE RECIPIENTS OF THIS GIFT.

1. Not the elect world, which God loves with the love of complacency.

2. But the sinful world, which He loves with the love of compassion.

IV. THE OBJECT CONTEMPLATED IN THE BESTOWAL OF THIS GIFT.

1. To prevent dreadful evil.

2. To bestow unspeakable good. (A. Beith, D. D.)

Gods love to the world

This verse is one of the gems of the Bible, a star of the first magnitude. Observe three things.

I. HOW GOD IS AFFECTED TOWARDS THE COSMOS: He loved it.

1. Who is God? The God of the Bible.

2. What is the cosmos? The world of human life.

3. How they stood affected.

(1) Originally, in harmony.

(2) Latterly, in enmity.

(3) Now, through Christ, in harmony once more: without Christ, still at enmity.

4. New and Divine revelation: God is love.

II. HOW GOD MANIFESTED THIS AFFECTION.

1. What He gave–His Son.

(1) Only begotten.

(2) Well beloved.

2. How He gave.

(1) Lovingly.

(2) Freely.

(3) Wholly.

III. FOR WHAT PURPOSE WAS THIS AFFECTION MANIFESTED.

1. Negatively: that man might not loose himself utterly from God, duty, happiness. Thus was the pity of God manifested.

2. Positively: that man may have life, age during life. (Bible Notes and Queries.)

The love of God in the gift Of a Saviour

These words express the substance of the gospel. No speaker ever had the power of condensing great principles into so narrow a compass as the Lord Jesus.

I. THE PLAN OF SALVATION ORIGINATED IN THE LOVE OF GOD.

1. The idea that God is loving has been doubted or denied.

(1) By those who contend that the world ought to have been made happy and pure. To them the fact that He provides remedies is no proof of His goodness.

(2) By those who suppose that the Bible represents God as originally a stern and inexorable Being placated by Christ, and that now He is only mild and benignant to a few.

2. The text teaches that God was originally disposed to show mercy.

(1) No change has been wrought in His character by the plan of salvation. He was just as worthy of love and confidence before as after the atonement.

(2) God was originally so full of mercy that He was willing to stoop to any sacrifice except that of truth and justice in order to save man.

(3) The plan of salvation was not merely to save man, but to save the name, character, and government of God. This could only be done by allowing His Son to be treated as if He was a sinner, in order to treat the really guilty as if they were righteous, and so to identify the one with the other.

II. THE EXPRESSION OF HIS LOVE WAS THE HIGHEST THAT IT COULD POSSIBLY BE.

1. Such a gift as that of His only begotten Son is the highest conceivable gift, and this Christ intends to convey. The Bible represents God as having the attributes of a kind and tender Father. He loves when He says He loves, and is no cold creation of the imagination. When a man bids his son go into the tented field with every prospect of his dying for the welfare of his country, it is the highest expression of his attachment for that country.

2. But no man has ever manifested such a love as Gods. In a few instances a man has sacrificed his life for his friend, and not a few fathers and mothers endangered their lives for their children. But who has ever given the life of his child for an enemy? But God commendeth, etc. (A. Barnes, D. D.)

Christs mission a revelation of Gods love

I. LOVE IN ITS HIGHEST FORM. Love is a generic term and includes a large number of specific affections. There is a love of friendship, brotherly love, parental love, conjugal love, a love of country or patriotism, and a love of God, or religion. Love is a redeeming quality among the many miseries of our fallen state. It is like the silver ray of sun-light which gleams through the dark cloud when the storm is brewing in the sky. It is like an oasis in the desert, which is a scene of beauty and a home of life amid arid plains doomed to perpetual barrenness. It is like the wood which Moses took and placed in the bitter waters of Mara. It sweetens the cup of human experience. It is the only lasting bond of human society–the only guarantee of the perpetual bliss of heaven, and the only attribute in fallen man which is made an emblem of God, God is love. If love in human form and in a fallen world be so Divine, what must it be in God Himself? Love in man is but a ray from the sun; a drop from the ocean.

II. LOVE IN ITS SUBLIMEST MANIFESTATION. The object of my text is not general, but special. It is to assure us that while the love of God may be traced in every object in nature, and read on every page of Providence, as the colours of the rainbow may be found in every ray of silvery sun-light, yet the brightest and the fullest manifestation of it is in the mission of Jesus into the world to save sinners. In considering this subject, we must carefully bear in mind that Jesus Christ was not a mere man, but God who assumed a human form and nature. Few men in the time of the Saviours advent had any idea of the love of God. Mans true happiness must ever be found in God, and in other beings only as they are Godlike. But to find happiness in such a god as that of which the highest conception is realized in the mythology of Greece, the idolatry of Moab, or the dogmas of the Pharisees is out of the question. Jesus, however, came to overturn these errors and fearful misrepresentations of the Deity, and save the world by proving that God was kind and loving, just and faithful, and therefore deserving of mens love and trust. It is most interesting to study the character of God according to the teaching of Jesus. He represented the Divine Being as a Father who yearned for the return of his prodigal child, welcomed him home, receiving him with open arms and open heart, bidding all his household help him to tell the world his joy, Rejoice with me, for this my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found. He represented God as the Good Shepherd, who goes after the lost one until it is found, and bears it to His home upon His shoulders with rejoicing. He represented God as the Good Samaritan who saw men lying in their wounds, robbed by sin of hope and heaven, upon the point of death, and came to save them at his own expense.

III. LOVE IN ITS WIDEST FIELD OF OPERATION. This widest field is the world, for God so loved the world. It is evident that the text cannot mean merely to assert that God loved and admired the material world or the things of the world, as these need no salvation, and are not capable of being saved, and the love of God to the world, in the text, is said to have special reference to its salvation. As the pious Jew of old rambled among the ruins of his glorious temple, turning over with affection its broken columns, cherishing the very dust and stone thereof; so God in Christ, with His loving heart overflowing with sympathy and affection, seeks to gather the broken fragments of humanity together, and rebuild upon a surer basis the temple of man. As mother, sister, or wife walks in the field of blood after the day of dreadful slaughter, with tears of affection flowing from her eyes, the sigh of sorrow rising from her wounded heart and floating upwards to tell its grief to God, and with tenderness of touch turns over the forms of the dead, that she may press once more to her heart, now broken, the object of her warm affection; so God is represented as amid the carnage which sin has made of us, inspired by the love of which my text is speaking, toiling and labouring and suffering, having come to seek and to save those who were lost. God so loved the world! This is the source from which all our blessings flow.

IV. LOVE IN ITS NOBLEST INTENTION.

1. The sad condition of those whom it proposes to affects should not perish. The objects of His love are perishing–perishing, not in body but in soul.

2. The glorious state to which the love of God proposes to raise all He found in this sad condition, but have everlasting life. Life, even of a temporal character, is of so much value that men toil and labour and manifest the deepest concern, in order, not to perpetuate it, but merely to prolong it for a few years.

3. The simple way in which we may become eternally benefited by this saving work of God, whosoever believeth in Him. What an awful curse is unbelief!

4. The impartial manner in which these blessings are offered, whosoever. Were man to make a feast, his invitations would not be to every one, for his ability to provide would have a limit. The richest man could not make a feast for all. But God is not man that He should be deficient. (E. Lewis, B. A.)

Gods love for a sinning world

I. SIN IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING IN THE UNIVERSE.

1. It is the violation of an infinitely important law–a law designed and adapted to secure the highest good of the universe.

2. As sin is this it cannot be treated lightly. The entire welfare of a government and its subjects turns upon obedience.

3. The law of God must not be dishonoured by anything He shall do. He must stand by it to retrieve its honour.

4. Hence the expense. Either the law must be executed at the expense of the race, or God must suffer the worse results of disrespect to His law, or a substitute be provided who shall both save the sinner and honour the law.

II. HOW SHALL THE EXPENSE BE MET? Who shall head the subscription? The Father made the first donation.

1. He gave His Son to make the atonement due to law.

2. He gave His Spirit to take charge of this work.

III. FOR WHOM WAS THE GREAT DONATION MADE? By the world cannot be meant any particular part. The Bible and the nature of the case shows that the atonement must have been made for the whole. Otherwise no man could be sure that it was made for himself.

IV. WHAT PROMPTED GOD TO MAKE IT? Love. This love is

1. Not complacency, or it would have been infinitely disgraceful to Himself.

2. Not mere feeling, as in those who are carried away by strong emotion. But

3. Disinterested: for He had nothing to hope or fear; no profit to make out of the saved.

4. Zealous.

5. Most self-denying.

6. Universal because particular. God loved each, therefore all.

7. Most patient.

V. THE GIFT OF GOD MUST BE RECEIVED BY FAITH. This is the only possible way, Gods government is moral because the Saviour is a moral agent. Therefore God cannot influence us unless we give Him our confidence. Lessons:

1. Sinners may place themselves beyond the reach of mercy.

2. This involves them in the greatest responsibility.

3. This responsibility can only be discharged and the sinner saved by accepting the donation of Christ.

4. Accepting that donation let us give it to others. (C. G. Finney, D. D.)

Gods wonderful love

I. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.

1. Eternal: loved. Who can tell when it began?

2. Compassionate: the world.

3. Unspeakable: so

II. ITS MANIFESTATION.

1. Condescending.

2. Sacrificial.

3. Exhaustive.

III. ITS PURPOSE.

1. Broad: whosoever.

2. Limited: believeth.

3. Blessed.

(1) Negative: should not perish.

(2) Positive: have everlasting life. (R. S. MacArthur, D. D.)

The love of God self-originated

The ocean is always moving, but it is not self-moving. The cause of its movements is outside itself, in the moon, and in the wind. Did the wind and the moon let it alone, the Atlantic would for ever be a pacific ocean, quiet, restful, pellucid as an inland lake; it has no power to heave itself. But as for the shoreless sea of the Divine Love, it has the power to move itself; and it did move itself. It rolled in a grand irresistible current towards the shores of our world. Like the Divine Essence, the Divine Love possesses the power of self-determination. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)

Gods love for sinners

I remember the case of a young man who was afflicted with a frightfully loathsome disease. He had to be kept out of sight. But was he neglected? No. I need not tell you who looked after him. There was not a morning but his loving mother bathed his wounds and swathed his limbs, and not an evening that she wearied in her toil. Do you think she had not natural sensitiveness? I knew her to be as sensitive as any lady; but by so much more as she felt the loathsomeness of her work do you see the love that constantly upheld her in doing it. But oh! what is the loathsomeness of cankered wounds compared with the loathsomeness of sin to God? There is but one thing that God hates, and that is sin. Yet with all His hatred of sin how He hangs over the sinner! (S. Coley.)

The power of Gods love

We often hear of counter currents, but was there ever such a counter current as is implied here! One of the most important and wonderful ocean currents is the Gulf Stream. It takes its rise in the Gulf of Mexico and sweeps across through the heart of the mighty Atlantic to the Arctic Seas; and by its strong currents, more rapid than that of the Mississippi, it engulfs every other ocean stream that comes athwart its course, making it tributary to its own grand mission of washing the shores and ameliorating the climate of the sea-bound countries of Europe. So God loved the world. His love is a mighty stream of warm, generous commiseration sweeping with mighty force towards that moral Arctic Sea sin has made of our world. And such was the strength of the current that it swept into its own bosom the mighty stream of Gods love of complacency towards His only begotten Son, so that He was borne on its bosom into this world, where, by suffering and death, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him. (A. J. Parry)

The love of God

In human governments, justice is central, and love incidental. In the Divine government, love is the central element, and justice only incidental. God wishes to exhaust all means of kindness before His hand takes hold on justice. When the waves of penalty begin to come in in fearful tides, then He banks up against them. His goodness is the levee between justice and the sinful soul. (H. W. Beecher.)

God is love

God is love, and there is a something about love which always wins love. When love puts on her own golden armour, and bears her sword bright with her own unselfishness, she goeth on conquering and to conquer. Let a man once apprehend that God is love, that this is Gods very essence, and he must at once love God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A royal gift

Plutarch, the Greek historian, tells a story to this effect: An ancient king once gave a present of a large sum of money to a personal friend, and was gently taken to task for his generosity. What! was his astonished exclamation, would you not have me be liberal? Let the world know that when the king gives he gives generously, like a king. Upon this, he made a second present of equal value.

Faith in Christ is certain salvation

We lately read in the papers an illustration of the way of salvation. A man had been condemned in a Spanish court to be shot, but being an American citizen and also of English birth, the consuls of the two countries interposed, and declared that the Spanish authorities had no power to put him to death. What did they do to secure his life when their protest was not sufficient? They wrapped him up in their flags, they covered him with the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack, and defied the executioners. Now fire a shot if you dare, for if you do so, you defy the nations represented by those flags, and you will bring the powers of those two great empires upon you. There stood the man, and before him the soldiery, and though a single shot might have ended his life, yet he was as invulnerable as though encased in triple steel. Even so Jesus Christ has taken my poor guilty soul ever since I believed in Him, and has wrapped around me the blood-red flag of His atoning sacrifice, and before God can destroy me or any other soul that is wrapped in the atonement, He must insult His Son and dishonour His sacrifice, and that He will never do, blessed be His name. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Believe only

It is said that some years ago a vessel sailing on the northern coast of the South American continent, was observed to make signals of distress. When hailed by another vessel, they reported themselves as Dying for water! Dip it up then, was the response, you are in the mouth of the Amazon river. There was fresh water all around them, they had nothing to do but to dip it up, and yet they were dying of thirst, because they thought themselves to be surrounded by the salt sea. How often are men ignorant of their mercies? How sad that they should perish for lack of knowledge! Jesus is near the seeker even when he is tossed upon oceans of doubt. The sinner has but to stoop down and drink and live. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

We must believe or perish

When a shipwrecked sailor, left to the mercy of the waves, has no help within reach or view but a spar or mast, how will he cling to it, how firmly he will clasp it–he will hold it as life itself. If a passing billow sweep him from it, with all his might he will make for it again, and grasp it faster than ever. To part is to perish; and so he clings–and how anxiously! So the awakened sinner feels. The ocean of wrath surrounds him; its billows and its waves go over him. Hell yawns beneath to engulf him. The vessel is an utter wreck. All its floating timbers are very rottenness. Oh, how he strains his eye searching for a mast, a plank, a spar! His eye rests on the only hope, the only rock in the wide ocean of wrath, the Rock of Ages, the Lord Jesus. He makes for the Saviour–he clasps Him–he cleaves to Him. Every terror of sin and of unworthiness that strives to loosen his hold only makes him grasp with more terrible and death-like tenacity, for he knows that to part company is to perish. (R. B.Nichol.)

The love of God is a necessity of His own nature

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, etc. The life and death of Christ was but the working out of the love of God. The affection and the yearning of heart towards His erring creatures was just the same in God before Christ came, that Christ showed it to be while He was on earth. It is just the same still. There is no change in God, or in His love. Man nor woman need fear disappointment there. It has been the custom of some, a custom too much prevailing, to represent God as being under no manner of obligation to do anything for His creatures after they had broken His law. The trouble with this statement is that there is a great deal of truth in it; and yet it has been made in such a manner as to give a very wrong impression. In Gods own nature there is a necessity for His efforts for mans redemption. (H. W. Beecher.)

The word so

Come, ye surveyors, bring your chains, and try to make a survey of this word so. Nay, that is not enough. Come hither, ye that make our national surveys, and lay down charts for all nations. Come ye, who map the sea and land, and make a chart of this word so. Nay, I must go further. Come hither, ye astronomers, that with your optic glasses spy out spaces before which imagination staggers, come hither and encounter calculations worthy of all your powers! When you have measured between the horns of space, here is a task that will defy you–God so loved the world. If you enter into that, you will know that all this love is to you–that while Jehovah loves the world, yet He loves you as much as if there were nobody else in all the world to love. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The glory of the Gospel

It is not like a banquet, accommodated to the tastes and wants of so many and no more. Like a masterpiece of music, its virtues are independent of numbers. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Gods mercy is free

Let me tell thee that the mercy of God flows freely. It wants no money and no price from thee, no fitness of frames and feelings, no preparation of good works or penitence. Free as the brook which leaps from the mountain side, at which every weary traveller may drink, so free is the mercy of God. Free as the sun that shineth, and gilds the mountains brow, and makes glad the valleys without fee or reward, so free is the mercy of God to every needy sinner. Free as the air which belts the earth and penetrates the peasants cottage as well as the royal palace without purchase or premium, so free is the mercy of God in Christ. It tarrieth not for thee: it cometh to thee as thou art. It way layeth thee in love; it meeteth thee in tenderness. Ask not how thou shalt get it. Thou needst not climb to heaven, nor descend to hell for it; the word is nigh thee; on thy lip, and in thy heart if thou believest on the Lord Jesus with thy heart, and with thy mouth makest confession of Him, thou shalt be saved.

What is it to perish

What is it to perish? It is to die in our sins, without bright angels to smile upon us as they wait to carry us away from earth; to die without the Saviours glorious presence to cheer us in the valley of the shadow of death. It is to be turned away from the shut door of our Fathers mercy, because, like the foolish virgins, we are not ready when the bridegroom comes. To perish is to lose the smile of God, the company of the redeemed, the society of angels, the glories of the heavenly world, and, with no ray of comfort or gleam of hope, to be driven away into outer darkness, into misery and woe, without deliverance and without end. The thought of this awful perdition made Jesus weep over Jerusalem and say, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem: thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not. (Rev. R. Brewin.)

Whosoever

Whosoever has a finger for babes, and an arm for old men; it has an eye for the quick, and a smile for the dull. Young men and maidens, whosoever offers its embrace to you! Good and bad, honourable or disreputable, this whosoever speaks to you all with equal truth! Kings and queens may find room in it; and so may thieves and beggars. Peers and paupers sit on one seat in this word. Whosoever has a special voice for you, my hearer! Do you answer, But I am an oddity? Whosoever includes all the oddities. I always have a warm side towards odd, eccentric, out-of-the-way people, because I am one myself, at least so I am often said to be. I am deeply thankful for this blessed text; for if I am a lot unmentioned in any other catalogue, I know that this includes me: I am beyond all question under the shade of whosoever. No end of odd people come to the Tabernacle, or read my sermons; but they are all within the range of whosoever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Whosoever

When the great mutiny in India had been brought to a close, and peace was being made between the government and the rebels, the Queen caused a proclamation to be made throughout the rebel provinces that all who should lay down their arms, and come to certain appointed places by a fixed day, should receive forgiveness, with some exceptions. Ah! these exceptions. The poor fellows who knew they could not be forgiven, but must be put to death, never came. The love of God knows no exceptions; whosoever will ,nay come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Whosoever

Somebody said he would rather read Whosoever than see his own name, because he should be afraid it might refer to some other man who might have the same name. This was well brought out in a prison the other day, when the chaplain said to me, I want to describe a scene that occurred here some time ago. Our Commissioners went to the Governor of the State and got him to give his consent to grant pardons to five men on account of their good behaviour. The Governor said the record was to be kept secret; the men were to know nothing about it; and at the end of six months the criminals were brought out, the roll was called, and the President of the Commission came up and spoke to them; then putting his hand in his pocket he drew out the papers and said to those 1,100 convicts, I hold in my hand pardons for five men. I never witnessed anything like it. Every man held his breath, and was as silent as death. Then the Commissioner went on to tell how they obtained these pardons; that it was the Governor who granted them, and the chaplain said the suspense was so great that he spoke to the Commissioner and asked him to first read out the names of those who were pardoned before he spoke further, and the first name was given out thus, Reuben Johnson will come out and get his pardon. He held out the papers but no one came. He looked all around, expecting to see a man spring forward at once; still no one arose, and he turned to the officer of the prison and said, Are all the convicts here? Yes, was the reply. Then, Reuben Johnson will come and get his pardon. The real Reuben Johnson was all this time looking around to see where Reuben was; and the chaplain beckoned to him, and he turned and looked around and behind him, thinking some other man must be meant. A second time he beckoned to Reuben, and called to him, and the second time the man looked around to see where Reuben was, until at last the chaplain said to him, You are the man, Reuben; and he rose up out of his seat and sank back again, thinking it could not be true. He had been there for nineteen years, having been placed there for life; and when he came up and took his pardon he could hardly believe his eyes, and he went back to his seat and wept like a child: and then, when the convicts were marched back to their cells, Reuben had been so long in the habit of falling into line and taking the lock step with the rest that he fell into his place, and the chaplain had to say, Reuben, come out; you are a free man. (D. L. Moody.)

The naturalness of Gods love

When William Knibb had been preaching from this text in Jamaica, returning home he came up with an old black woman, and he said to her, What do you think of the great love of God? Simplicity is often allied to sublimity. Think, massa! she replied; Me think it be just like Him. So it is. St. Peter says, According to His abundant mercy He hath begotten us again. It is just like Him. It is as a father pitieth his children. (S. Coley.)

Christ not the cause but the manifestation of Gods love

The law of gravitation existed from the foundation of the world, it daily exerted its influence, keeping the stars in their orbits, and swinging them around their respective centres. The mysterious force, however, was unknown until discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, and published in his writings. It existed from the first; only a century or two ago was it made manifest. In like manner the love of God existed from eternity, from days of old. It burnt as hot in the days of Noah and of Abraham, as on the Incarnation morn or the Atonement eve. All through the ages it governed the world with a view to its final redemption. But in the Incarnation and Propitiation was it revealed, only then did it force itself upon the obtuse vision of the world. Ye have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from–out of–the Father, and am come into the world. Not only He came from God, but He came out of God. John the Baptist came from God. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)

The love of God as seen in the gift of Christ

A story has been often told of the fondness of parents for their children; how in a famine in the East a father and mother were reduced to absolute starvation, and the only possibility of preserving the life of the family was to sell one of the children into slavery. So they considered it. The pinch of hunger became unbearable, and their children pleading for bread tugged so painfully at their heart-strings, that they must entertain the idea of selling one to save the lives of the rest. They had four sons. Who of these should be sold? It must not be the first: how could they spare their firstborn? The second was so strangely like his father that he seemed a reproduction of him, and the mother said that she would never part with him. The third was so singularly like the mother that the father said he would sooner die than that this dear boy should go into bondage; and as for the fourth, he was their Benjamin, their last, their darling, and they could not part with him. They concluded that it were better for them all to die together than willingly to part with any one of their children. Do you not sympathize with them? I see you do. Yet God so loved us that, to put it very strongly, He seemed to love us better than His only Son, and did not spare Him that He might spare us. He permitted His Son to perish from among men that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The love of God in the gift of Christ

When Jesus looked at the poor widow He found a new rule of arithmetic. When she dropped in her two mites He said that she had given more than they all. What new rule was this? Many had given much, but the Lord looked at what they had left. This woman had given all. Try God by His own rule. He had but one Son–His only begotten. If He had taken every star from the sky, and manipulated those stars, and moulded them all into a gigantic body of which every star was an atom; and then if He had taken every seraph from His throne and made a mighty amalgam of all souls into one, and had put that giant mind into that gigantic body, and given that body and soul for man, it would have been as nothing to this. A word of His could have restored the dismantled heavens; but God Himself cannot make an only-begotten Son. (S. Coley.)

Gods provision of the sacrifice

Transport yourselves in imagination to Athens or Rome; observe closely the images of the gods, in motley crowds on either hand of you; see the rivers of red blood flowing towards them. No marvel that Pauls spirit was stirred within him as he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Come with me again to Jerusalem. Behold the image of the invisible God lifted up on Calvary. Does blood flow towards it No: blood flows from it. Here, then, we have hit upon the radical difference between paganism and Christianity. Blood to the image: that is the essence of paganism. Blood from the image: that is the essence of Christianity. The heathen gods demand a sacrifice, but never provide it; the gospel God both demands it and provides it. He gave His only-begotten Son. (J. G. Jones, D. D.)

Gods love and justice in sacrifice

King Zeleueus decreed that whosoever committed a particular offence should lose his eyes; and the first person found guilty was his own son. What a company would be gathered, and what an anxious inquiry there would be! What will the king do? Will he set aside the law because the offender is royal? Amid the hush of that gathered company the officer sternly commanded to do his duty dashed out one of the princes eyes. Stop, said the king, take the other from me. This was done. This will show that the love of the king was seen all the more from the justice of his administration. (S. Coley.)

Salvation

I. ITS ORIGIN IN THE LOVE OF GOD, which will appear after we consider that

1. Man by nature is in a state of degradation and spiritual death by reason of sin.

2. The essential means of salvation is the free gift of God.

II. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS LOVE. Observe

1. The gift.

2. The faithfulness of the Father in this transaction.

3. The part which the Son took in this stupendous work.

4. The necessity of this gift.

III. THE MEANS BY WHICH WE BECOME PERSONALLY INTERESTED IN THIS GIFT.

1. There must be repentance.

2. There must be faith. (J. Gaskin, M. A.)

The cost and cheapness of salvation

A preacher had gone down into a coal mine during the noon-hour to tell the miners of the glad tidings of salvation. Meeting the foreman on his way back to the shaft he asked him what he thought of Gods manner of saving men. Oh, it is too cheap, I cannot believe in such a religion as that. Without an immediate reply to his remark the preacher asked, How do you get out of this place? Simply by getting into the cage, was the reply. And does it take long to get to the top? Oh, no; only a few seconds. Well, that certainly is very easy and simple. But do you not need help to raise yourself? said the preacher. Of course not, replied the miner, As I have said, you have nothing to do but to get into the cage. But what about the people who sunk the shaft, and perfected all this arrangement? Was there much labour or expense about it? Yes, indeed; that was a laborious and expensive work. The shaft is a thousand feet deep, and it was sunk at great cost to the proprietors; but it is our way out, and without it we should never be able to get to the surface. Just so, and when Gods Word tells you that whosoever believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life, you say, Too cheap, forgetting that Gods work to bring you and others out of the pit of destruction was accomplished at a vast cost, the price being the death of His only-begotten Son. (W. Baxendale.)

Redemption through Christ

I. MEN NEED DELIVERANCE FROM DEATH.

II. GODS LOVE IS SO GREAT AS TO PROMPT TO DELIVERANCE.

III. THIS DELIVERANCE HAS BEEN WROUGHT OUT BY SELF-SACRIFICE ON THE PART OF GOD.

IV. THIS DELIVERANCE IS MADE OURS BY A PERSONAL FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. (C. D. Barrows.)

Redemption

I. THE DOCTRINE. God so loved, etc.

1. The first cause of redemption–the love of God to man. Christ died not that God might, but because He did love us.

(1) This is a doctrine distinctive of the Bible. You find it nowhere else. Men talk about the mercy of God, but if we give up the ideas of God obtained from the Scriptures how do we know that He is a God of love? What is there in nature to suggest it? There we see the reign of law: sin and suffer.

(2) The presence of such a truth in the Bible forms one of the most powerful vindications of its authority. If it contained nothing different from other books we might reasonably question its Divine origin.

(3) But familiarity has deadened the force and beauty of this great Bible truth in those who have heard it so often.

(4) Here, however, is the marvel of marvels–standing alone in the universe–that God loves a race that has defied and insulted Him.

2. The mode of human redemption. Gods love could not be a powerless thing dealing in fine sentiment and words of pity. It had a great end in view which could only be secured by an unparalleled sacrifice. He gave His only begotten Son.

(1) The designation of the Redeemer is peculiar and significant. Unlike other sons, He has a position of His own, and His name is an incidental but most powerful proof of His Divinity.

(2) The Redeemer was given, not to be a mere teacher or example, but to be the propitiation for sin.

3. The extent of human redemption. It would not be easy to find language more free and comprehensive than the world whosoever. All are not saved, but none need be unpardoned. An universal need is here universally provided for.

II. THE DUTY. God has lavished the love of His heart on us and requires the trust and love of ours. Nothing can be simpler or more common than trust, the childs first lesson and act. This is illustrated in the miracles of Christ. Only believe that Jesus has the will and the power to save and your confidence will not be disappointed.

1. Faith is different from knowledge. Yet there must be some knowledge. But there may be little knowledge and strong faith, and much knowledge and no faith. There are many well-instructed people who shrink from the thought of infidelity. Yet infidelity is the want of trust in God and Christ. Faith is the souls own rest in Jesus as its own Redeemer.

2. The text makes no distinction in the kind or degree of faith. It is doubtless better to have a firm than a weak faith. Still, if a man have faith at all he will be saved.

III. THE PROMISE. Eternal life.

1. A present realization.

2. More abundantly hereafter. Of this the unbeliever is deprived in time and eternity. He that believeth not is dead already. (J. Guiness Rogers, B. A.)

The Christians creed

I. Its first article is–GOD LOVES THE WORLD. Easy to say, impossible to realize in all its augustness. The great question is, What does God feel? Agnostics do not know whether He is force or Father. But when they cannot tell what you yearn to know Jesus comes, and there is light over all the darkness and despair of life. On any lips this would be a wonderful word, but in the lips of Christ love meant all that was in His own heart. Himself the embodiment of love, He lifts our eyes to heaven and says, God loves, not made, rules, judges, but loves; and not the Church, but the world, and every individual in it. Mankind is not a larger family for God to love than is yours for you.

II. Its second article is–GOD HAS GIVEN US HIS SON. Love is ever giving. It gives its best. Our best earthly gifts are our friends, and God gives us the best friend. And He is ours absolutely, individually, and for ever–all He is and all He has. Value the gift which cost God so much.

III. The third article is–WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN CHRIST, etc. The condition upon which we are to receive salvation is universally practicable. If there were any other it would shut some one out. All our training in this world is a training for faith. All the joys of life are joys of trust. It is not a question whether faith shall be the condition of salvation. It is a necessity in the nature of things. If you suspect any you shrink from them. Doubt is the great gulf fixed between you and God, but faith is the link which binds us to Him. All that is needed, therefore, is the entrustment of the heart to God. Conclusion: That is our creed.

1. Repent of treating it so negligently.

2. Be not ashamed of it.

3. Fear not its future. Man will want no new one until all that wakes up our need of Christ is destroyed. (R. Glover.)

The everlastings

I. The everlasting FATHER.

II. The everlasting SON.

III. The everlasting LOVE.

IV. The everlasting LIFE. (J. C. Jones.)

The morality of the Evangelical faith

I. In these words I find my religion, theology, ethics, and politics, politics being one of the chief branches of ethics.

1. The Divine love for mankind.

2. The mission of the love of God for salvation.

3. Faith in the Son of God the condition of salvation.

4. Eternal life the gift of Divine love to all who believe in Christ.

II. Evangelical Christians have claimed one of these truths as preeminently their own. Faith in Christ as the condition of salvation is the very heart of the Gospel. Whitefield the Calvinist and Wesley the Arminian differed on many points, but when a man asked, What must I do to be saved? each gave the same answer.

III. Luther maintained that justification by faith was the test of a standing or a falling Church. We go further. It is as necessary to preach that men are sanctified by faith. Faith is the root of morality as well as the condition of pardon. Heb 11:1-40., which illustrates the triumphs of faith, is an unfinished fragment. You must add to it the story of the saintliness, heroism, righteousness, and charity of sixty generations; even then it remains a fragment still.

IV. To believe in Christ–what is it? Not the mere acceptance, however cordial, of the Christian creed. It is to have confidence in Christ, unreserved, unqualified, unmeasured. Whatever dignity Christ claims, faith reverently acknowledges. Whatever relations He assumes to God and to man, it concedes. Whatever authority He asserts, it submits to. When He teaches, faith admits His teaching as absolute truth. When He commands, faith accepts His precepts as the perfect law of life. When He promises, faith relies on Him to fulfil. To admit some of Christs claims and to reject the rest; to listen to His declarations that His blood is shed for the remission of sins; to refuse to listen, or to listen incredulously, when He speaks as the moral ruler of the race, this is inconsistent with faith in Him. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)

The power of this gospel of love on its first proclamation

If we could but hear the words for the first time, and without prepossessions either of Pharisaic error or logical orthodoxy, hear them with nothing but consciousness of sin and thirst for life, before the love of God had been hardened into doctrine, and the only begotten Son has become a quarrel for the schools. Do your gods love you? asked a missionary of some Indians. The gods never think of loving, was the cheerless answer. The text before us was read. Read it again, asked the arrested pagan. That is large light, read it again. A third time the blessed words were repeated; and with this emphatic response, That is true, I feel it. On one occasion a missionary was dictating to a native amanuensis the translation of the First Epistle, and when he reached the passage, Now are we the sons of God, the poor child of heathenism burst into tears, and exclaimed, It is too much, it is too much; let me put it, Now are we permitted to kiss His feet. (A. J. Morris.)

Gods love for man

The missionary Nott was once reading and explaining this passage to some awakened Tahitians. One of his auditors asked: Is it then really true that God has so loved you and us that He gave His only begotten Son for us? Nott stedfastly affirmed that the gospel which he was preaching was really true; upon which the Tahitian cried out: Oh, and thou canst speak of such love without tears!–himself weeping from shame and joy. (R. Besser, D. D.)

The love of God

When Bonplau the botanist climbed one of the loftiest peaks of the Andes, he found it a volcano. The rim of the crater was covered with scoriae, and everything that looked like blasting and desolation, but just in one little crevice there was a tiny bright flower.
There it grew in beauty. Like enough the seed had dropped from a bird. The shower had fallen, the sun had shone, and the flower had grown there waving in the wind amidst surrounding desolation. The flower growing there on the rim of that fire funnel is something like the grand and beautiful love of God. He has planted flowers on the rim of perdition, on the very edge of that rim. (S. Coley.)

Whosoever

When John Williams sailed in his missionary ship, he said as he touched a shore where he had never been before, where no foot of white man had ever trod, wherever he preached for the first time he had this for his text. No text could bear him beyond this. He could stand anywhere, on any shore, and cry, God so loved the world. (S. Coley.)

Whosoever

I thank God for this word whosoever, remarked Richard Baxter, did it read, there is mercy for Richard Baxter, I am so vile, so sinful, that I would have thought it must have meant some other Richard Baxter; but this word whosoever includes the worst of all the Baxters that ever lived.

The universality of the atonement

Suppose a will is made by a rich man bequeathing certain property to certain unknown persons, described only by the name of the elect. They are not described otherwise than by this term, and all agree that although the maker of the will had the individuals definitely in his mind, yet that he left no description of them, which either the persons themselves, the courts, nor any living mortal can understand. Now such a will is of necessity altogether null and void. No living man can claim under such a will, and none the better though these elect were described as residents of Oberlin. Since it does not embrace all the residents of Oberlin, and does not define which of them, all is lost. All having an equal claim and none any definite claim, none can inherit. If the atonement were made in this way, no living man would have any valid reason for believing himself one of the elect, prior to his reception of the Gospel Hence he would have no authority to believe and receive its blessings by faith. In fact, the atonement must be wholly void–on this supposition–unless a special revelation is made to the persons for whom it is intended. (C. G. Finney, D.D.)

The personal appropriation of the atonement

During a revival season, a young man came to me in the inquiry room, and showed me a card like the following:
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT BELIEVING ON HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.
In the blank space, the young man had written his own name in full. Said he: My superintendent gave me this card on condition that I would write my name in the blank space. If I had known what it was, I never would have promised; for I have had no peace since that day. That night, on his knees, he found peace. Let the teacher prepare such cards, and try the plan. I have tried it with powerful effect. It makes this seem personal, and puts me in the place of whosoever. (A. F. Schauffer.)

A mothers lesson

A young soldier was shot on the battlefield, and dragged by a comrade aside to die. He shut his eyes, and all his past life flashed before him. It seemed but an instant of time. He looked forward and saw eternity, like a great gulf, ready to swallow him up, with his sins as so many weights sinking him deeper and deeper. Suddenly a lesson, which his pious mother taught him when a little boy at her knee, stood before him in shining letters. It was a lesson he heard repeated again and again and again; she was never tired of imprinting it on his memory before she died; it was her only legacy. In the gaiety of life he had forgotten it. He had lost his hold on it, but it had never quite lost its hold on him; and now, in the hour of peril, it threw out to him a rope of mercy. What was it? God so loved the world, etc. He caught the rope; it seemed let down from heaven. Lord, I believe, he cried; save me, or I perish! Till he died, a few hours after, he said little but this one prayer: Lord, I believe; save me, or I perish! a prayer never uttered by the penitent soul in vain. (Clerical Anecdotes.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 16. For God so loved the world] Such a love as that which induced God to give his only begotten son to die for the world could not be described: Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle , so, and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men. The same evangelist uses a similar mode of expression, 1Jo 3:1: Behold, WHAT MANNER of love, , the Father hath bestowed upon us.

From the subject before him, let the reader attend to the following particulars.

First, The world was in a ruinous, condemned state, about to perish everlastingly; and was utterly without power to rescue itself from destruction.

Secondly, That God, through the impulse of his eternal love, provided for its rescue and salvation, by giving his Son to die for it.

Thirdly, That the sacrifice of Jesus was the only mean by which the redemption of man could be effected, and that it is absolutely sufficient to accomplish this gracious design: for it would have been inconsistent with the wisdom of God, to have appointed a sacrifice greater in itself, or less in its merit, than what the urgent necessities of the case required.

Fourthly, That sin must be an indescribable evil, when it required no less a sacrifice, to make atonement for it, than God manifested in the flesh.

Fifthly, That no man is saved through this sacrifice, but he that believes, i.e. who credits what God has spoken concerning Christ, his sacrifice, the end for which it was offered, and the way in which it is to be applied in order to become effectual.

Sixthly, That those who believe receive a double benefit:

1. They are exempted from eternal perdition-that they may not perish.

2. They are brought to eternal glory – that they may have everlasting life. These two benefits point out tacitly the state of man: he is guilty, and therefore exposed to punishment: he is impure, and therefore unfit for glory.

They point out also the two grand operations of grace, by which the salvation of man is effected.

1. Justification, by which the guilt of sin is removed, and consequently the person is no longer obnoxious to perdition.

2. Sanctification, or the purification of his nature, by which he is properly fitted for the kingdom of glory.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

For God the Father, who is the Lord of all, debtor to none, sufficient to himself,

so loved the world, that is, Gentiles as well as Jews. There is a great contest about the signification of the term, between those who contend for or against the point of universal redemption; but certain it is, that from this term no more can be solidly concluded, than from the terms all and every, which in multitudes of places are taken in a restrained sense for many, or all of such a nation or kind. As this term sometimes signifies all persons, so, in 1Jo 2:21, the Gentiles in opposition to the Jews. Nor, admitting that

the world should signify here every living soul in the place called the world, will any thing follow from it. It is proper enough to say, A man loved such a family to such a degree that he gave his estate to it, though he never intended such a thing to every child or branch of it. So as what is truth in that so vexed a question cannot be determined from any of these universal terms; which must, when all is said that can be said, be expounded by what follows them, and by their reconcilableness to other doctrines of faith.

God so loved the world that he gave his Son to die for a sacrifice for their sins, to die in their stead, and give a satisfaction for them to his justice. And this Son was not any of his sons by adoption, but his only begotten Son; not so called (as Socinians would have it) because of his singular generation of the virgin without help of man, but from his eternal generation, in whom the Gentiles should trust, Psa 2:12, which none ought to do, but in God alone, Deu 6:13; Jer 17:5.

That whosoever, &c.: the term all is spoken to above; these words restrain the universal term world, and all, to let us know that Christ only died for some in the world, viz. such as should believe in him. Some judge, not improbably, that Christ useth the term world in this verse in the same sense as in 1Jo 2:2. Our evangelist useth to take down the pride of the Jews, who dreamed that the Messiah came only for the benefit of the seed of Abraham, not for the nations of the world, he only came to destroy them; which notion also very well fitteth what we have in the next verse.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

16. For God so loved, c.Whatproclamation of the Gospel has been so oft on the lips ofmissionaries and preachers in every age since it was first uttered?What has sent such thrilling sensations through millions of mankind?What has been honored to bring such multitudes to the feet of Christ?What to kindle in the cold and selfish breasts of mortals the firesof self-sacrificing love to mankind, as these words of transparentsimplicity, yet overpowering majesty? The picture embraces severaldistinct compartments: “THEWORLD”in itswidest senseready “to perish” the immense”LOVE OF GOD”to that perishing world, measurable only, and conceivableonly, by the gift which it drew forth from Him; THEGIFT itself”He soloved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” or,in the language of Paul, “spared not His own Son”(Ro 8:32), or in that addressedto Abraham when ready to offer Isaac on the altar, “withheldnot His Son, His only Son, whom He loved” (Ge22:16); the FRUIT ofthis stupendous giftnot only deliverance from impending”perdition,” but the bestowal of everlastinglife; the MODE inwhich all takes effectby “believing” on the Son.How would Nicodemus’ narrow Judaism become invisible in the blaze ofthis Sun of righteousness seen rising on “the world” withhealing in His wings! (Mal 4:2).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For God so loved the world,…. The Persic version reads “men”: but not every man in the world is here meant, or all the individuals of human nature; for all are not the objects of God’s special love, which is here designed, as appears from the instance and evidence of it, the gift of his Son: nor is Christ God’s gift to every one; for to whomsoever he gives his Son, he gives all things freely with him; which is not the case of every man. Nor is human nature here intended, in opposition to, and distinction from, the angelic nature; for though God has showed a regard to fallen men, and not to fallen angels, and has provided a Saviour for the one, and not for the other; and Christ has assumed the nature of men, and not angels; yet not for the sake of all men, but the spiritual seed of Abraham; and besides, it will not be easily proved, that human nature is ever called the world: nor is the whole body of the chosen ones, as consisting of Jews and Gentiles, here designed; for though these are called the world, Joh 6:33; and are the objects of God’s special love, and to them Christ is given, and they are brought to believe in him, and shall never perish, but shall be saved with an everlasting salvation; yet rather the Gentiles particularly, and God’s elect among them, are meant; who are often called “the world”, and “the whole world”, and “the nations of the world”, as distinct from the Jews; see Ro 11:12, compared with Mt 6:32. The Jews had the same distinction we have now, the church and the world; the former they took to themselves, and the latter they gave to all the nations around: hence we often meet with this distinction, Israel, and the nations of the world; on those words,

“”let them bring forth their witness”, that they may be justified, Isa 43:9 (say b the doctors) these are Israel; “or let them hear and say it is truth”, these are “the nations of the world”.”

And again c,

“the holy, blessed God said to Israel, when I judge Israel, I do not judge them as “the nations of the world”:”

and so in a multitude of places: and it should be observed, that our Lord was now discoursing with a Jewish Rabbi, and that he is opposing a commonly received notion of theirs, that when the Messiah came, the Gentiles should have no benefit or advantage by him, only the Israelites; so far should they be from it, that, according to their sense, the most dreadful judgments, calamities, and curses, should befall them; yea, hell and eternal damnation.

“There is a place (they say d,) the name of which is “Hadrach”, Zec 9:1. This is the King Messiah, who is,

, “sharp and tender”; sharp to “the nations”, and tender to “Israel”.”

And so of the “sun of righteousness”, in Mal 4:2, they say e,

“there is healing for the Israelites in it: but the idolatrous nations shall be burnt by it.”

And that f

“there is mercy for Israel, but judgment for the rest of the nations.”

And on those words in Isa 21:12, “the morning cometh”, and also the night, they observe g,

“the morning is for the righteous, and the night for the wicked; the morning is for Israel, and the night for “the nations of the world”.”

And again h,

“in the time to come, (the times of the Messiah,) the holy, blessed God will bring “darkness” upon “the nations”, and will enlighten Israel, as it is said, Isa 60:2.”

Once more i,

“in the time to come, the holy, blessed God will bring the nations of the world, and will cast them into the midst of hell under the Israelites, as it is said, Isa 43:3.”

To which may be added that denunciation of theirs k

“woe to the nations of the world, who perish, and they know not that they perish: in the time that the sanctuary was standing, the altar atoned for them; but now who shall atone for them?”

Now, in opposition to such a notion, our Lord addresses this Jew; and it is as if he had said, you Rabbins say, that when the Messiah comes, only the Israelites, the peculiar favourites of God, shall share in the blessings that come by, and with him; and that the Gentiles shall reap no advantage by him, being hated of God, and rejected of him: but I tell you, God has so loved the Gentiles, as well as the Jews,

that he gave his only begotten Son; to, and for them, as well as for the Jews; to be a covenant of the people, the Gentiles, the Saviour of them, and a sacrifice for them; a gift which is a sufficient evidence of his love to them; it being a large and comprehensive one, an irreversible and unspeakable one; no other than his own Son by nature, of the same essence, perfections, and glory with him; begotten by him in a way inconceivable and expressible by mortals; and his only begotten one; the object of his love and delight, and in whom he is ever well pleased; and yet, such is his love to the Gentiles, as well as Jews, that he has given him, in human nature, up, into the hands of men, and of justice, and to death itself:

that whosoever believeth in him, whether Jew or Gentile,

should not perish, but have everlasting life;

[See comments on Joh 3:15].

b T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 2. 1. c Ib. fol. 4. 1. Vid. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 91. 2. & Bereshit Rabba, fol. 11. 3. d Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 24. 1. Jarchi & Kimchi in Zech. ix. 1. e Zohar in Gen. fol. 112. 2. f Zohar in Exod. fol. 15. 1, 2. g T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 64. 1. h Shemot Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 99. 4. i Ib sect. 11. fol. 98. 3. k T. Bab. Succa, fol. 55. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

For so ( ). This use of is quite in John’s style in introducing his comments (John 2:25; John 4:8; John 5:13, etc.). This “Little Gospel” as it is often called, this “comfortable word” (the Anglican Liturgy), while not a quotation from Jesus is a just and marvellous interpretation of the mission and message of our Lord. In verses 16-21 John recapitulates in summary fashion the teaching of Jesus to Nicodemus.

Loved (). First aorist active indicative of , the noble word so common in the Gospels for the highest form of love, used here as often in John (John 14:23; John 17:23; 1John 3:1; 1John 4:10) of God’s love for man (cf. 2Thess 2:16; Rom 5:8; Eph 2:4). In 21:15 John presents a distinction between and . is used also for love of men for men (13:34), for Jesus (8:42), for God (1Jo 4:10).

The world ( ). The whole cosmos of men, including Gentiles, the whole human race. This universal aspect of God’s love appears also in 2Cor 5:19; Rom 5:8.

That he gave ( ). The usual classical construction with and the indicative (first aorist active) practical result, the only example in the N.T. save that in Ga 2:13. Elsewhere with the infinitive occurs for actual result (Mt 13:32) as well as purpose (Mt 10:1), though even this is rare.

His only begotten Son ( ). “The Son the only begotten.” For this word see on John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:18. The rest of the sentence, the purpose clause with – precisely reproduces the close of 3:15 save that takes the place of (see 1:12) and goes certainly with (not with as in verse 15) and the added clause “should not perish but” ( , second aorist middle subjunctive, intransitive, of , to destroy). The same contrast between “perish” and “eternal life” (for this world and the next) appears also in 10:28. On “perish” see also 17:12.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

The world [] . See on 1 9.

Gave. Rather than sent; emphasizing the idea of sacrifice.

Only – begotten Son. See on 1 14.

Have. See on ver. 15.

This attitude of God toward the world is in suggestive contrast with that in which the gods of paganism are represented.

Thus Juno says to Vulcan :

“Dear son, refrain : it is not well that thus A God should suffer for the sake of men.” ” Iliad, ” 21, 379, 380.

And Apollo to Neptune :

“Thou would’st not deem me wise, should I contend With thee, O Neptune, for the sake of men, Who flourish like the forest – leaves awhile, And feed upon the fruits of earth, and then Decay and perish. Let us quit the field, And leave the combat to the warring hosts.” ” Iliad, ” 21, 461, 467.

Man has no assurance of forgiveness even when he offers the sacrifices in which the gods especially delight. “Man’s sin and the divine punishment therefore are certain; forgiveness is uncertain, dependent upon the arbitrary caprice of the gods. Human life is a life without the certainty of grace” (Nagelsbach, ” Homerische Theologie “). Mr. Gladstone observes :

“No Homeric deity ever will be found to make a personal sacrifice on behalf of a human client” (” Homer and the Homeric Age, ” 2 372).

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For God so loved the world,” (houtos gar egapesen ho theos ton kosmon) “Because God thus (just like this) loved the world (the created universe);” After this manner or to this degree, that He “was in Christ,” reconciling the world unto Himself, 1Ti 3:16; 2Co 5:18-21; Eph 2:4-7.

2) “That he gave his only begotten Son,” (hoste ton huion ton monogene edoken) “So as(to the extent that) he gave his only begotten Son or heir,” Joh 1:18; Joh 3:17-18; Gal 4:4-5. As the virgin born Son of God He came; As the seed of woman He came; As the mystery of godliness He came; As the gift of God He came; As an expression of God’s love for the perishing souls of all men He came, not for the Jews only, Act 10:34-35; Isa 9:6; Mat 1:21-23; Gen 3:15; The Gk. term “monogene” is a compound word meaning specifically, exclusively, restrictively, and definitively, “only begotten,” as the prophesied Word foretold and affirms repeatedly.

3) “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,” (hina pas ho pisteuon eis auton me apoletai) ”In order that everyone trusting in (into) him may not perish; This is a purpose clause, specifically setting forth the intent and purpose for which God gave His only begotten Son, not one out of many. Negatively, it is asserted that it was in order that one might not perish, be damned, be forever lost, separated from God in hell, where the wicked shall be forever cast, Psa 9:17, be they Jews or Gentiles, Kings or paupers, presidents or dictators, or simple unbelievers, Luk 13:3; Joh 8:24; Rev 21:8.

4) “But have everlasting life.” (all’ eche zoen aiounion) “But (in contrast) that each one may have, hold, or possess eternal life,” through believing in (Gk. eis) into Him, not believing in His church, or good works, or reformation, not even believing in Baptist, none of which can any more save or help save one from hell than the rites, ceremonies, and rituals and traditions of the elders of Moses’ Law could save the Pharisees and Sadducees from hell; Though they vainly trusted them, instead of trusting or believing in Jesus Christ, as their Savior, Mat 5:20; Rom 10:1-4. The believer receives everlasting life, Joh 5:24; Joh 10:27-28; 1Jn 5:13. The unbeliever is condemned, Joh 3:18; Joh 3:36; Joh 8:24.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

16. For God so loved the world. Christ opens up the first cause, and, as it were, the source of our salvation, and he does so, that no doubt may remain; for our minds cannot find calm repose, until we arrive at the unmerited love of God. As the whole matter of our salvation must not be sought any where else than in Christ, so we must see whence Christ came to us, and why he was offered to be our Savior. Both points are distinctly stated to us: namely, that faith in Christ brings life to all, and that Christ brought life, because the Heavenly Father loves the human race, and wishes that they should not perish. And this order ought to be carefully observed; for such is the wicked ambition which belongs to our nature, that when the question relates to the origin of our salvation, we quickly form diabolical imaginations about our own merits. Accordingly, we imagine that God is reconciled to us, because he has reckoned us worthy that he should look upon us. But Scripture everywhere extols his pure and unmingled mercy, which sets aside all merits.

And the words of Christ mean nothing else, when he declares the cause to be in the love of God. For if we wish to ascend higher, the Spirit shuts the door by the mouth of Paul, when he informs us that this love was founded on the purpose of his will, (Eph 1:5.) And, indeed, it is very evident that Christ spoke in this manner, in order to draw away men from the contemplation of themselves to look at the mercy of God alone. Nor does he say that God was moved to deliver us, because he perceived in us something that was worthy of so excellent a blessing, but ascribes the glory of our deliverance entirely to his love. And this is still more clear from what follows; for he adds, that God gave his Son to men, that they may not perish. Hence it follows that, until Christ bestow his aid in rescuing the lost, all are destined to eternal destruction. This is also demonstrated by Paul from a consideration of the time;

for he loved us while we were still enemies by sin, (Rom 5:8.)

And, indeed, where sin reigns, we shall find nothing but the wrath of God, which draws death along with it. It is mercy, therefore, that reconciles us to God, that he may likewise restore us to life.

This mode of expression, however, may appear to be at variance with many passages of Scripture, which lay in Christ the first foundation of the love of God to us, and show that out of him we are hated by God. But we ought to remember — what I have already stated — that the secret love with which the Heavenly Father loved us in himself is higher than all other causes; but that the grace which he wishes to be made known to us, and by which we are excited to the hope of salvation, commences with the reconciliation which was procured through Christ. For since he necessarily hates sin, how shall we believe that we are loved by him, until atonement has been made for those sins on account of which he is justly offended at us? Thus, the love of Christ must intervene for the purpose of reconciling God to us, before we have any experience of his fatherly kindness. But as we are first informed that God, because he loved us, gave his Son to die for us, so it is immediately added, that it is Christ alone on whom, strictly speaking, faith ought to look.

He gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him may not perish. This, he says, is the proper look of faith, to be fixed on Christ, in whom it beholds the breast of God filled with love: this is a firm and enduring support, to rely on the death of Christ as the only pledge of that love. The word only-begotten is emphatic, ( ἐμφατικὸν) to magnify the fervor of the love of God towards us. For as men are not easily convinced that God loves them, in order to remove all doubt, he has expressly stated that we are so very dear to God that, on our account, he did not even spare his only-begotten Son. Since, therefore, God has most abundantly testified his love towards us, whoever is not satisfied with this testimony, and still remains in doubt, offers a high insult to Christ, as if he had been an ordinary man given up at random to death. But we ought rather to consider that, in proportion to the estimation in which God holds his only-begotten Son, so much the more precious did our salvation appear to him, for the ransom of which he chose that his only-begotten Son should die. To this name Christ has a right, because he is by nature the only Son of God; and he communicates this honor to us by adoption, when we are engrafted into his body.

That whosoever believeth on him may not perish. It is a remarkable commendation of faith, that it frees us from everlasting destruction. For he intended expressly to state that, though we appear to have been born to death, undoubted deliverance is offered to us by the faith of Christ; and, therefore, that we ought not to fear death, which otherwise hangs over us. And he has employed the universal term whosoever, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers. Such is also the import of the term World, which he formerly used; for though nothing will be found in the world that is worthy of the favor of God, yet he shows himself to be reconciled to the whole world, when he invites all men without exception to the faith of Christ, which is nothing else than an entrance into life.

Let us remember, on the other hand, that while life is promised universally to all who believe in Christ, still faith is not common to all. For Christ is made known and held out to the view of all, but the elect alone are they whose eyes God opens, that they may seek him by faith. Here, too, is displayed a wonderful effect of faith; for by it we receive Christ such as he is given to us by the Father — that is, as having freed us from the condemnation of eternal death, and made us heirs of eternal life, because, by the sacrifice of his death, he has atoned for our sins, that nothing may prevent God from acknowledging us as his sons. Since, therefore, faith embraces Christ, with the efficacy of his death and the fruit of his resurrection, we need not wonder if by it we obtain likewise the life of Christ.

Still it is not yet very evident why and how faith bestows life upon us. Is it because Christ renews us by his Spirit, that the righteousness of God may live and be vigorous in us; or is it because, having been cleansed by his blood, we are accounted righteous before God by a free pardon? It is indeed certain, that these two things are always joined together; but as the certainty of salvation is the subject now in hand, we ought chiefly to hold by this reason, that we live, because God loves us freely by not imputing to us our sins. For this reason sacrifice is expressly mentioned, by which, together with sins, the curse and death are destroyed. I have already explained the object of these two clauses,

which is, to inform us that in Christ we regain the possession of life, of which we are destitute in ourselves; for in this wretched condition of mankind, redemption, in the order of time, goes before salvation.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CHRISTS GOSPEL IN A SENTENCE

Joh 3:16.

IN thirty years pastorate in one church I have dared this text but once. This neglect is not from lack of appreciation, but, on the contrary, from a conviction that its understanding and interpretation are beyond me. It is the greatest text in the Bible; it is the loftiest peak in the range of Divine love; it is the clearest revelation of the Divine plan for the redemption of all people from the power of sin.

It is a rare thing that we get even a suggestion from another as to the divisions of a sermon. We have found it more satisfactory, and even more easy, to work out our own outlines than to employ borrowed ones. But in this instance Matthew Henrys suggestions are accepted with only slight changes, and we find in this text The Gospel Mystery Revealed, The Gospel Privilege Appointed, and The Gospel Benefits Promised.

THE GOSPEL MYSTERY REVEALED

For God so loved the world (Joh 3:16).

This love is the mystery of the ages. Writing to the Colossians Paul declares that he was

made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the Word of God;

Even the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to His saints,

To whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ (Col 1:25-28, R. V.).

Permit two or three remarks regarding this mystery.

First, Paul does not claim that he was alone in having it revealed to him, and considered himself the only minister of the Gentiles. On the other hand, he distinctly affirms that, although it had been hid for ages, in his day it had been manifested to Gods saints.

In the second place, we must understand what is the meaning of the Biblical word, mystery. It has been defined by one of the greatest thinkers as a truth undiscoverable except by revelation, never necessarily (as our popular use of the word suggests) a thing unintelligible or perplexing in itself. In Scripture a mystery may be a fact which, when revealed, we cannot understand in detail, though we can know it and act upon it. It is a thing only to be known when revealed. Ruskin, in his Modern Painters, has truly said, I know there is an evil mystery and a deathful dimnessthe mystery of the great Babylon, the dimness of the sealed eye and soul; but do not let us confuse these with the glorious mystery of the things which the angels desire to look into, or with the dimness which, even before the clear eye and open soul, still rests on sealed pages of the eternal volume.

This mystery of love is clear. This one text strikes light through it from side to side.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life (Joh 3:16, R.V.).

This Divine love is the marvel of men. Jesus truly said, No man hath greater love than thisthat a man lay down his life for his friends. Until He appeared, no man had ever conceived a God who would lay down His life for His enemies. The gods of the old mythology were gods of war and of reeking vengeance, and woe to those who crossed their path and then fell into their power. But, as John Watson says, By revelation, the Prophet carved a white marble in picturing a God who was holy, and then accomplished the unspeakable thing of making Him tender, compassionate and fatherly. Some one writing about this puts it thus, Certain it is that the servants of God, who have best served their generation and most enriched their fellow servants, are they who have been in the habit of speaking with God not as a Force but as friend with Friend. When I say, a Force, I am somewhat at large and almost think I am lost, but when I say, Father, I am at home and all my heart grows still.

I was in Gods nursery tonight as the evening was getting dim, And I sat with Gods children, and they were talking of Him; And another child was with them, though Him I could not see. They say that God has an elder Son, I think it was He.

Father, He said, first of all; though I could not see for the gloom,Yet the instant He said it I felt some one else in the room; And the room itself must have grown in a very little space, For the child called to Father in Heaven, and Heaven is a far-away place.

But oh, what an echo was left by that one single sound;It crept into every corner and wandered round and round;The very air felt holy wherever the echo came;Cried the children, Oh, that it were ever so. Hallowed be that Name.

The magnitude of this love increases our marvel. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. God so loved. There was not a man in it so low, nor a woman so loathsome, that he or she must be ruled out of the Divine love. Some one has said that far up in the Cumberland hills of England there lies Thirlmere lake. Round it are the hills, and above and beyond these hills, in the mountain fastnesses springs leap out and rivulets take their courses to the lake. Ninety miles down country lies the big city of Manchesterbig, busy, bustling and black. And yet, this beautiful lake sends through conduits and pipes its clear, limpid water to the last man and the last woman of the great metropolis. It yields itself with equal willingness to the rich and to the poor, to the educated and to the ignorant, to the moral and to the debased. So in the high hills of Gods love springs the life-giving waters of salvation that flow past Gethsemane and Calvary and pour their beneficent streams through all the world, that wheresoever a soul thirsts and dies, it may drink and live. This is the Gospel mystery revealed.

THE GOSPEL PRIVILEGE APPOINTED

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him (Joh 3:16).

To believe in the grace of Godwhat a privilege! Some speak of it as a duty. Matthew Henry has done so. It is not a duty; it is infinitely more than a duty, and infinitely better than any duty. It is a privilege to believe in the grace of God.

A speaker at an anniversary meeting of the British Society, a wealthy and distinguished layman, told how, when his father came to London he was a poor lad with his fortune yet to be made. In passing a house one morning, he was attracted by a girl who was washing the stone steps. Her face was bright and happy and she was singing snatches of religious hymns. Thereafter the lad walked that way, and almost every morning was rewarded by a vision of this happy face, and one day he made bold to ask her if she could direct him to a Christian church, explaining that he was a stranger in the city. Certainly, she answered, come to my church. The acquaintance thus begun grew into friendship and ripened into love and resulted in marriage. But, said he, father never forgot the vision nor the spot where first he saw the object of his love. Afterwards, when he made a great fortune, and was able to live in a mansion, he bought the house where the girl used to work as a servant. He took up those stone steps bodily and wrought them into his new mansion that he might have there a permanent memorial of the beautiful young life that had won him by its attractive dignity and sweetness.

But who can forget the service that Christ rendered us? Menial it was, and yet rendered willingly because of His love. And who can forget that the temple of all temples that He best appreciates now is the body in which we dwell; and inasmuch as His first service is the cleansing of the heart of stone, should we not inscribe it forever, in memory of His grace, with His new NameJesus Christ?

To trust in the Word of the Lord. Men want to know the way of salvation. There is but one answerChrist. He said, I am the Way. Men want to know how to come to Christ. The Word of the Lord is our guide. It contains His invitation, Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden. It; voices His promise, Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. It expresses His assurance, My grace is sufficient for thee. One of the difficulties about getting people saved, in these days, is in the profound ignorance of the Word of God. Preaching no longer has the power it once had when our ministers quoted copiously from the sacred Scriptures, and every auditor accepted the sentences as straight from the lips of an infinite Father. I know of no malady of the human heart for which the Word does not hold a full prescription. But I know of sin-sick souls a multitude who are in utter ignorance of what God hath said. The people perish from lack of knowledge.

Years ago a woman went to consult a famous New York physician about her health. She was a nervous wreck. The least difficulty worried and excited and exasperated her to the point of desperation, and it seemed as though her very reason would reel from its throne. In answer to the doctors questions she enumerated a list of her symptoms and disabilities, and then looked up expecting advice or prescription. He included both in one sentence, Madam, what you need is to read your Bible more. Go home and begin reading your Bible. Give an hour a day to it. Under no circumstances fail. And one month hence come back to me. At first she was inclined to be angry, but reflecting upon the circumstance that the prescription, at least, was not an expensive one, and that the physician was a man of note, she decided to take the advice. In one month she went back to the office. He looked at her full, round face and said, I see you are an obedient patient and have taken my prescription faithfully. Do you feel now that you need any other medicine? To which she answered, No, Doctor, none whatever. I am another person. I am made anew.

The Word of the Lord can work wonders for the bodies of men and mightier marvels still for their souls. It is the panacea for every sin; it is the cordial for every weakness; it is the balm for every wound. To believe in the Word of the Lordthat is the Gospel privilege!

To commit ourselves to the Son of God. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Carnegie Simpson, in The Fact of Christ, says truly, The foundation of Christianity is Christ. There are not two Christs, on the one or the other of which we may build. There is but one Christ. But He is found alike in outward history and in inward experience. And our Christianity must be built upon the complete Christ. The Christian religion, as Prof. Denney says, depends not only upon what He was, but upon what He is. The fact depends, in other words, upon the Christ who is a fact alike of history and of experience.

I am pleading now for the personal experience. No man will ever come into it until he commits himself to the Son of God. F. B. Meyer once said, The man who looks at the great ship in harbor, though he go not nigh her, may believe in her, but the man who buys his ticket and goes on board and starts for a far point on the other side of the world, has committed himself to her keeping and by that act has proven his confidence. Note the text, Whosoever believeth on Him.

You have heard the story of how, when Muncakszys Christ Before Pilate was on exhibition at Toronto, one day, when there were but few visitors present, a rough looking man came to the place and purchased a ticket from the lady at the door and passed in. He was so unusual looking that the doorkeeper kept her eye on him. He had the shambling gait of an old sailor. He walked toward the picture in careless fashion as though he intended to glance at it and come away. But suddenly he stood full before it, his eyes upon the face of the Christ. He had looked on it but a short time when he took off his hat. As the young woman watched him the hat fell from his nerveless grasp to the floor. He moved a step and took a seat. He looked long and earnestly. By and by the woman saw him put his rough hand to his cheek, and lo, he was brushing away the tears. For a full hour he sat there and then made his way to the door. As he passed out he said to the young woman, Madam, I am a rough, wicked sailor. I have never believed in Christ. I have only used His Name in oaths. But I have a Christian mother and she begged me today, before I went out to sea again, to come and look on this picture. It was only to grant her wish that I promised. I did not think that anybody really believed in Jesus, but as I have looked at that form and that face, I have thought that some man must have believed in Him, and I now believe in Him too, and am going out from this place to try and serve Him,

But yet again

THE GOSPEL BENEFIT PROMISED

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life (Joh 3:16, R. V.).

That is a great sentenceShould not perish.

It looks to release from the power of sin. These are days when men are disputing the character of sin. They are calling it error in thinking, mistake in conduct, defeat in our outreach for the perfect, etc. But the power of sin is not in dispute. The drunkards are all about us. The lecherous are being multiplied. The gambler, the highway man, the murdererthese make their appearance every morning in the press reports. Sin holds a multitude in its awful grasp. Men may strive to the utmost to whitewash its character, but its hellish spirit can never be questioned while crime stalks the land, while dastardly deeds multiply, and while lust and murder reign, and disease and death are everywhere in evidence.

John Wesleys mother once said of sin, Would you judge of the lawfulness or the unlawfulness of a pleasure, take this rule, Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the nerves, or takes off the relish for spiritual things; whatever increases the authority of body over your mind, that thing to you is sin.

Pastor Stalker tells of having stopped in Ramack, England, with an old farmer who was a kind of chief man in the congregation. His appearance was that of a typical grand old Highlander, strong and forceful. He had been preaching on Sin and on the way home the old farmer was talking it over, and his remark was, Aye, sin! sin! I wish we had another name for that because the word has become so common that the thing no longer pierces our consciousness. We make a jest of sin. God never did! Listen to His descriptions of it. In Genesis (Gen 18:20) He calls it very grievous. In Isaiah (Isa 59:2) He declares that it compels God to hide His face from man. In Proverbs (Pro 5:22) He insists that men are holden with its cords. In Psalm (Psa 17:12) He likens it to a crouching beast waiting to spring upon his victim and destroy him. In Nehemiah (Neh 9:37) He pictures it as an idol before which its devotees bow to their own debasement and comes into cruel bondage. The Psalmist speaks of it as something in his bones making it impossible for him to rest. Jeremiah affirms that it is that which makes the good things of life impossible to him. Micah declares sickness and desolation are its results. Solomon says it overthrows the sinner himself. Leprosy is its symbol, and eternal death is its fruit. Oh, to have release from the power of it! Is not that a privilege?

It is proffered here. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish (Joh 3:16).

But the end is not yet. There is a

GOSPEL BENEFIT PROFFERED

namely,

Salvation through all eternity. But hath eternal life. I do not know how to speak to you of eternal life. I do know that there are some high and holy moments in this present human life. I am compelled to believe that those are only a faint hint of what God has in store for those that love Him; and to prolong them even, for all eternity, what blessing in that thought!

You know that far to the North you reach a point where for solid months the sun never sets. But with the limitations of weariness of the flesh, that would hardly be to us one long day of inexplicable joy. Remove those limitations; make those weaknesses impossible; breathe upon men life in excelsis; create a new heaven and a new earth wherein God shall dwell in the midst of His people, wiping away every tear, dispensing forever with mourning, moving the last occasion for crying and pain, announcing once for all, Death shall be no more; then prolong that day from the markings of time to the unlimited eternity, and you have an expression of the Gospel benefit bestowed in Christ.

Oh, wondrous provisions of grace! Oh, wondrous thought of love! How can we continue to sin when such infinite happiness is prepared in our behalf, and proffered us? Men, women, are our hearts so dead within us that we do not respond to this? Has sin so deep a hold upon us that we will not give it up even for eternal salvation? I am loathe to believe it. General Booths daughter spoke once in my auditorium and told the story of how, at one time, night after night in a crowded room in Paris, she had attempted to speak and the multitude mocked and jeered her, for it was the multitude from the moral sewers. At last one night, with breaking heart, she came down from the platform and walked through the hissing crowd to a poor fallen girl who sat in the rear seat, and folding her arms about her, kissed her and said, My dear, oh, would to God I could love you to Christ! Pure lips like those had not touched her cheek for many years. She started to her feet, started quickly down to the front, and that night she gave herself to Christ, and was afterwards a worker in the Salvation Army.

What was it that led her to forsake her sin and turn to Christ? Love! She would have said, I was loved out of my sin and into the kingdom of grace. Isaiah declares, Thou hast in mercy taken my soul from the pit. J. Wilbur Chapman once called attention to the marginal reading, Thou hast in mercy loved up my soul from the pit. Oh, man! oh, my sister! that is what God wants to do for you to-night. Will you let Him?

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES

Joh. 3:16-21. These verses are confidently held by many to contain the reflections of the Evangelist, and not to be a continuation of our Lords discourse. But

(1) there is not the slightest indication of a transition from Christs words to a disciples comments on them; and
(2) we cannot think that our Lord would have let Nicodemus depart without a distinct assertion that the Son of man was none other than the Son of God, as the Baptist declared Him to be; and without further instruction in the mystery of redemption. Nicodemus was, we may believe, now a humble learner, and that now our Lords discourse flowed on uninterruptedly. The discourse is not, we may affirm, reported in full. The Evangelist, directed by the Spirit, recorded what was of universal interest and importance; and perhaps also we have at the close a condensation of our Lords utterance. St. John did not profess to have recorded every word spoken by the Saviour, any more than all His actions (Joh. 20:30; Joh. 21:25; Act. 20:35). God so loved, etc.The love, and not the wrath of God, is the source of redemption for mankind. Gave His only begotten Son (2Co. 9:15).It was during this conversation most likely that John first heard this striking title (1Jn. 4:9). Believeth upon ().Implying the idea of assured trust in the Son as the all-merciful and almighty.

Joh. 3:17. Condemn.Better judge (). It means originally to separate, and in the moral sense to separate good from evil. Passing from the act to the effect, it may mean to absolve; but as the usual effect of separation is to exclude the evil, the word has attached to itself frequently the idea of condemnation (Watkins). Judgment is not the end of Christs coming, but salvation. That the world, etc.How condemnatory of sectarian limitations of the power of Christs saving work!

Joh. 3:18-19. But though Christ did not come to judge, the effect of His coming is judgment. And this judgment is not an arbitrary act. It is the result of mens own choice. Those who remain in the bondage of sin shall taste the penalty of sin (Rom. 6:23). This is their judgment. This judgment is made imperative by the entrance of light into the world. It was then evident that men loved darkness rather than lightdarkness absolutely () in contradistinction to light.

Joh. 3:20-21. Here the explanation of this awful choice made by unrenewed humanity is given. He that doeth evil, etc.Doeth (), or practiseth, evil (), or bad actions. To see such actions for a moment in the light of eternal truth is to condemn them. Those who find pleasure in them therefore avoid the light. But he that doeth () truth, etc. implies effective realisationin good-doing the product remains (Godet). Right action is true thought realised (Westcott). Among mankind before Christ there mingle two kinds of men. With the appearance of Jesus their separation begins (Lcke). And with this word of hope to Nicodemushope that he was of the number of those doing truththe interview with him ends.

Joh. 3:22. After, etc.I.e. after the occurrences related from Joh. 3:13 in the previous chapter. The land of Juda means the country districts of Juda. No further record of this work, in which our Lord must have increased the number of His followers, is given, as Jesus did not baptise personally, but through His disciples (Joh. 4:2).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Joh. 3:16-21

The blessedness to which the Spirit leads us through regeneration.Faith in Christ, as St. John points out, is the means through which men attain to the new life (Joh. 3:15). We must surrender ourselves and trust in Him for all. But faith also is the gift of God. Of ourselves alone we cannot attain it; for sin has darkened our spiritual vision and weakened our spiritual power. But faith is given by the Spirit (1Co. 12:9). He transforms our naturethrough Him it is born anew. The darkness is cleared away from our spiritual vision, and spiritual strength is given to those who have no might. And thus the spiritually renewed are led to rejoice in

I. The unchanging divine love, which is revealed as the eternal spring of redemption.

1. It was not from an unwilling God that mercy was won for perishing men. God Himself is fons et origo of all the mercy and goodness and love which have been showered on men, sinful as they were, through the long course of history.

2. Nay, more: when no man could redeem his brother, or bring to God a ransom for him, God sent His only-begotten Son, gave Him up to live and die for mans salvation.

3. And the reception of and participation in this heavenly gift is assured to those who believe. And those who thus receive Christ and His salvation are led ever more joyfully to understand the mystery of the divine loveto realise that God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (Joh. 3:17).

II. Those who are spiritually renewed rejoice in having escaped from the terrible judgment of unbelievers.He that believeth not is condemned already, etc. (Joh. 3:18-20)

1. Those who turn away in unbelief from Gods dear Son bring judgment upon themselves, and shut themselves out from the divine mercy in Christ. They reject Christs expiation of the offended divine law, and the means by which the new spiritual life is alone begotten in men; thus the final judgment will simply be a declaration of their self-condemnation. They will stand self-condemned before the Judge (Rev. 6:16).

2. And, as a result of this rejection of Christ, the light of men, the unbelieving sink into ever deeper darkness, the heart becomes hardened, the dominion of evil is ever more firmly established. Evil becomes their goodthey devour iniquity (Pro. 19:28), wickedness is sweet in their mouths (Job. 20:12). And because of this they hate the light, for it intrudes on their peace, and threatens to snatch their pleasure from them. But the end is certain; it is condemnationeternal loss. Thus the Spirit brings before believers this terrible result of unbelief as a warning; and they are led thereby more fully and even tremblingly to rejoice in their salvation.

III. And, last, the blessedness of the new life is a cause of rejoicing.

1. It is free from the fear of judgment; for over the believer the Eternal Judge Himself has cast the shield of His grace. There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, etc. (Rom. 8:1). The eternal judgment will be but the open manifestation of Gods love to His people; and in the judgments and trials that overtake them here they realise not tokens of wrath, but of gracious chastisement.

2. And in the life of faith men ever seek the lightdesire ever more fully to know themselves, their weaknesses, their follies, their sinfulness; and to know Christ and the gospel of His grace, that those evils may, through the grace of His indwelling Spirit, be ever more eliminated. By the truth enlightened, they order their way and work to the honour of God, in all things seeking to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and to demonstrate that the life they now live in the flesh they live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them; they work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing and acknowledging that it is God who works in them, etc. (Php. 2:13), so that their deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.

Joh. 3:16-21. The office of the Holy Ghost.This office has two sides: the Holy Ghost gathers together and separatesunites and divides.

I. He reveals the love of God.

1. The object of this love: God loved the world.

2. The manner and kind of this love: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Song of Solomon 3. The condition of this love: whosoever believeth in Him.

4. The purpose of this love: God gives His Son that we may not perish, but that we may have eternal life. Not that He might judge the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

II. He executes judgment.

1. Through His continued pentecostal activity, in that He reveals the love of God in Christ to us poor sinful men, and to a lost world, and in that He shows the mighty so () of this love. He not only gathers the Church, but in so doing carries out a solemn judgment. It is a momentous fact that those who believe are not judged, whilst the unbelieving are judged already.

2. How is this judgment, this separation, effected? Attend first to the effect which the heart experiences in which the Holy Spirit witnesses to the love of God. Christ is the light which penetrates into the heart of man, and reveals the existing darkness. The man is dismayed, but he fears the struggle. He resolves to remain as he is. Thus arises the opposition to this apprehension by the Spirit. But because the Holy Spirit does not leave hold of the man who has been convicted, the opposition may gradually become hatred of the light that shines in on his darkness. The man then enters on the way of darkness, in which his deeds are evil, and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be detected, and lose their delight, etc.Appuhn in J. L. Sommers Evang. Per.

Joh. 3:16-21. The double office of the Holy Spirit.He is:

I. A guide to the way of salvation, Joh. 3:16-18; Joh. 3:21.

1. He holds up to our view the love of God in Christ.
2. He leads us to regard the Saviour as dear and beloved.
3. He enkindles faith in us.
4. He gives us assurance of life eternal.
5. He sanctifies and renews us.

He is further

II. A judge of those who contemn the great salvation.

1. He condemns the darkness of unbelief and those who love it.
2. He separates the unbelieving and carnally minded from the community of the faithful.
3. He represents to them their unbelief as the sole cause of their condemnation.Dr. v. Biarowsky.

Joh. 3:16. The love of God.John is veritably the apostle of love. He alone of all the apostolic band seems to have been chosen to understand somewhat the deeps of this divine love, so that he might tell it to men. The spirit of inspiration chooses fitting instruments; and we must assume that by nature and grace St. John was best fitted to make known the gospel of eternal love. Here, for the first time, he opens for us in his Gospel this eternal spring. Its presence had been implied before, when the revelation of Christ was spoken of; but now it is clearly made known. Notice:

I. The eternal spring of love.

1. It is God Himself. He is the fountain of love. Many glorious things are spoken of God. His eternity, the same yesterday, etc.; His almighty power, so that He speaks and it is done, etc.; His omniscience, His wisdom, are all brought before us, and evoke our adoration and praise.
2. But this feature of His nature is pre-eminent. It is said God is the righteous One, holy One, etc. But it is not said, He is righteousness, etc. It is said He is love. This is the attribute that runs through and dominates all the others.

3. How comforting is this revelation of the divine love. How it has altered mens ideas of God, and changed to them the face of the universe! How dark and terrible were mens thoughts of the heavenly Father in times of old, when they offered children in sacrifice, etc.
4. Now how changed is the face of the universe! Jesus has told us of the Fathers care and love for the fowls of the air, the lilies of the field. And nature now is to the Christian everywhere vocal of love divine. History we read with new light in view of this glorious revelation. And especially in the history of His dealings with men it shines conspicuous; throwing its golden light over all. But further

II. God first loved the world.

1. It would have been long ere the world would have come to love Him. But He first loved us, and our love would never have blossomed in response to His had He not loved us.
2. And first, what does this imply in its fulness? It implies an eternity of love. In the Son whom He loved from eternity He loved His people. Thus all through the course of the worlds history, even when He seemed to be coming only in wrath, God has been coming in love to men.

3. And we live in times when the most amazing proof of that love has been bestowed. He gave His only begotten Son, etc. And in all the Church and history of the Church that divine love speaks in convincing tonesin that word of salvation preached, in those ordinances, the observance of which tends to the souls spiritual health, in those gifts of the Spirit given freely to them who believe, in those promises that draw us near to the throne of grace,in all these the love of God is proclaimed to our wondering eyes.
4. How has that love cared for us and watched over us from infancy until nownot turned aside through waywardness, etc.! God first loved us!

III. Walk in the belief of His love and thus taste its joy.I. Believe on Him who is the gift and revealer of Gods love. Then love will cast out fear.

2. Love will also strengthen to labour. When the sun rises man goes forth to his work, and when the sun of love in Christ shines on a man he becomes diligent for God. Fear for eternity has vanished, and he labours joyously in time.
3. He who believes in Gods love fears not the storms of temptation or trial. Are they not in Gods hands? Shall they not work together for good?
4. Those who abide in love abide in God and God in them. Thus they can never perish. Abiding in Gods love through Christ they are eternally safesafe amid all the turmoil of time until the rest of the Fathers house is reached. This is heaven on earth, and therefore no condemnation.

Joh. 3:17. No condemnation.How great the truth revealed in those simple wordsGod sent His Son. Jesus Christ His Son came to earth sent by the Father in love to men. The end of His mission was salvation to our perishing race. This great truth is brought before us in two aspects.

I. No condemnation.

1. His Son was sent not to condemn. Nay, His very name was a sign and symbol of safety, He was called Jesusa Saviour.

2. The world lay justly under condemnation. It would have sufficiently vindicated the divine justice to have carried out a sentence of condemnation. And the history of all races and religions shows how conscious men were of being under condemnation,how they feared that it would be carried into effect.

3. But Gods ways are not mans ways. His love and pity for men found a way by which this condemnation might be averted.

4. His tender mercies are over all His works. This has been shown all down the history of the past. It is seen in His providential dealings with man. He has so ordered the course of nature that seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, etc. (Gen. 8:22), have visited the earth, made it fruitful. He has sent men rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, etc. (Act. 14:17). All this showed His loving care, and might have led men to expect that some further loving purpose lay behind.

5. This gracious purpose is seen in redemption, in His sending the Sonnot to condemn the world. But there is a further side of this purpose of God, and that is

II. Salvation.

1. No condemnation might still have left us far from God. There was an actual purpose of blessing beyond and above this, in God sending His Son. It was, that the world through Him might be saved. God could have destroyed, condemned the world without sending the Son. But it was necessary in order to the worlds salvation that He should come.

2. He came to save His people from their sins. It was sin that lay at the basis of alienation and condemnation; and Jesus came not in wrath but in love, to save men from it, by taking away, in His own sufferings and death, the sins of the world.

3. How great was this salvation which He brought. Moses was privileged to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and Joshua to lead the ransomed people into the Land of Promise. But the Son was sent to deliver the world from the bondage of sin, and bring unto all believers the promise of a heavenly inheritance.

4. God sent the Son for this great end. He is the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him (Heb. 5:9).

5. And He alone could undertake this office; for He is Emmanuel, God with us. He is God with menin all the fulness of the divine power. The Creator, the Preserver, etc., who took upon Him the form of a servant, but whose glory was manifest in the flesh. He is God for men. He was sent and came to stand in mans room. He has authority and power to do so. Men died in Him unto sin. Through faith in Him they live. And He is God in menin those who believe. Christ in us the hope of glory. Here is salvation. With Him in us and we in Him, how can we perish? Nay, a world shall be saved! The last shall not outnumber the saved. The purpose of God towards the world shall not fail (Act. 3:20-21).

Lessons.

1. Consider the greatness of Gods love in Christ! He might have destroyed the world, as at the flood, etc. But He chose the way of love, which meant the way of self-sacrifice and humiliation for the Song of Solomon 2. How shall they escape who neglect so great salvation? (Heb. 2:3).

3. Let the divine love constrain us to faith and willing submission. Thus shall we best glorify His name by believing in Jesus.

Joh. 3:20. Love not the darkness.Sin is darkness. It leads to men turning away from the light, i.e. from God, as Adam and Eve hid themselves from God when they had fallen.

I. Sin in its nature is darkness.

1. It is a denial of mans dependence on God, and an attempt to cut the life loose from Himto be as gods.
2. This ends in disobedience to the divine law, which is mans light; and in turning away from the source of that light.
3. All ways that lead from God lead to darkness and death.

II. The results of sin lead to ever-increasing alienation and darkness.

1. How terribly this has been brought out in the worlds history! Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people. And men became so accustomed to this state that they loved darkness rather than light.
2. Indeed the entrance of light became a pain. There were still ways in which it could make itself felt, through conscience, through the shame which men often felt at sin; for Gods image, though broken, was not entirely destroyed. But this entrance of the light brought pain. It brought restriction to the lower nature, which had now gained the ascendency, and it showed how far men had fallen, to what height they must attain.

3. Thus they came to love darkness rather than light, and this was their condemnation. Not that they were sinful and in darkness, but because they clung to it even after the light had come. And thus Christ, who came to save, becomes in the nature of things their Judge (Joh. 15:22-24).

III. The way of escape from the darkness of sin.

1. Awake, thou that sleepest, etc. (Eph. 5:14). The light has come.

2. Christ brings the true knowledge of God, of ourselves, and of the way of salvation.
3. The sun of righteousness has arisen, and with that rising the hope and promise of escape from the darkness of self and sin, to those who believe.

Joh. 3:22-24. Our Lords ministry in rural Judea.In Jerusalem our Lord came unto His ownthe very centre of the Theocracyand His own received Him not. He therefore turned His face again toward Galilee. But on the way He lingered in the rural parts of Judea with His disciples, attracting men to Him, and baptising, not personally, but through His disciples, those who believed on Him (Joh. 4:1). Who those disciples were we cannot well determine. Peter was not there, it would seem; for although a disciple, he had in the meantime returned to his avocation (Mar. 1:16-18). John the Evangelist was with Him, and perhaps one or two of the others already called. Probably, also, some who attached themselves to Him on this ministry. We notice:

I. The initiation of Christian baptism.

1. By the command, in Mat. 28:19, baptism was ordained as an universal possession for all peoplea means of grace designed for all ages.

2. In reply to the question why Christ Himself did not baptise but through His disciples, the answer which seems most conclusive is that He desired that all His people should have the assurance that baptism by the hands of His disciples is to be accounted as His baptism.

II. The earnest activity of the Saviour.

1. Work while it is called to-day was a prominent characteristic of His activity;
2. And in every place, at all times, He must needs be about His Fathers businessa happy example for all His true disciples never to neglect opportunities of proclaiming the truth of God.

III. The result of this activity.

1. It seems to have been phenomenalthe same baptiseth, and all men come to Him (Joh. 3:26). Disciples were gathered.

2. Here again to the babessimple countryfolkwere revealed the things which were hid from the wise and prudent in Jerusalem.

HOMILETIC NOTES

Joh. 3:16. The greatness of the divine love.A well-known proverb is, Like draws to like. But here there is an immense dissimilarity.

1. Who is God? The Being of beings, the Almighty, the Light of lights.

2. What are you?a shadow, a vapour. The greatness of faith.

1. In faith God has chosen His people to blessedness from the beginning (2Th. 2:13);

2. Through faith they can come by Christs blood to a throne of grace (Rom. 3:25);

3. Through faith they come to God (Heb. 11:7);

4. Through faith they have peace with God (Rom. 5:1);

5. Through faith they receive forgiveness of sin (Act. 10:43);

6. Through faith they are accounted righteous (Rom. 4:5);

7. Through faith they overcome the world (1Jn. 5:4);

8. The end of faith is the salvation of the soul (1Pe. 1:9). Happy and blest are they who have believed. The greatness of this word.Frederick of Denmark chose this verse as his sleeping cup. Receiving this great saying in faith he fell asleep in the Lord gently and blessedly. Monica, the mother of Augustine, used it as a heavenly pinion. Hearing it in the course of a sermon, she was so entranced that she began to cry out, Avolemus, Avolemus! (Let us soar upward). Abraham Buchholzer, a noted chronologist, held it before him as a shield against the temptations of the enemy. When, on a bed of sickness, he was oppressed with temptation he cried out without ceasing, Not lost, not lost! referring to this verse, Whosoever believeth shall not perish. Luther called this verse parva biblia (little Bible), because it contained in it the kernel of the whole of Scripture. And when it was repeated to him on his death-bed he said: It is my favourite cordial. Luther also wrote of this verse as follows: This is one of the best and most glorious of evangels, and were well worth being written in golden letters, not on paper, but where it may be, on the heart; and well would it be if it were the subject of daily meditation in every Christians prayer, to strengthen faith, to awake the heart to supplication; for these are words that can turn sorrow into joy, and make the (spiritually) dead alive, if only the heart would steadfastly believe them. We behold here the contents of evangelical doctrine and the paragon of consolation. If this saying alone is laid hold of truly by faith, it will enable a man in utmost peril to withstand all fiery darts, to be victorious in all temptations, and lay hold of life eternal. Do not shut yourself out; God does not desire that you should be shut out.From J. J. Weigel.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Joh. 3:16. The eternal love of God.God has not waited for us to love Him; before all time, before we were endowed with life, He thought of us, and thought of doing us good. What He meditated in eternity He has performed in time. His beneficent hand has bestowed every variety of blessings upon us; neither our unfaithfulness nor our ingratitude has dried up the fountain of His goodness to us, or arrested the stream of His bounty. O thou eternal Love, that hast loved me when I could neither know nor acknowledge Thee! immeasurable love! that has made me what I am, that has given me all I possess, and that has yet promised me infinitely more! O love without interruption, without change, that all the bitter waters of my iniquities could not extinguish! Have I any heart, O my God, if I am not penetrated with gratitude and love for Thee?Fenelon.

Joh. 3:16. Shall not the love of God constrain us to love Him?Are there yet amongst us those who have never felt the love of God as shown in the gift of His Son? Are there hearts which can warm to every benefactor but the greatest, throb kindly towards every friend but that One who died in mans stead, and give their quick sensibilities to every tale of heroism and philanthropy but that which describes how the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost? Indeed we must fear that there are yet many whose affections are in full play towards all but God; many who, in the domestic circle and the intercourse of life, show themselves possessed of fervent affections and acute sensibilities, but who are yet utterly indifferent in regard to the things done for us men and for our salvation. What shall we say to such? You have not, but surely you must wish to have, a lively sense of the love shown towards you in redemption. Then, when you go hence, read, in one of the Gospels, the account of Jesus Christs sufferings and death; read it with prayer that God would take away the heart of stone and give the heart of flesh; and we shall still hope for you that you will know the gushings of a thankful spirit, and feel a thrill of gratitude at the announcement that God so loved you as to give His own Son to die in your stead.Henry Melvill.

Joh. 3:17. The victory of eternal love.The result of all this is, that the suffering is efficaciousHe taketh away the sin of the world. The blood of bulls and of goats could never take away sin, but this Man has offered up one sacrifice for sins for ever. He taketh away; it is not merely, He bears the sin of the world. He takes it away by taking it upon Him. Many an unconscious victim had shed its blood for the sin of the world, and yet the sin remained. Many a great heart had borne the sin of the world, and had broken under the weight, and still the sin remained. There had been many that palliated the sin of the world, and yet it remained. It is possible to disguise the sin of the world, to drive it under the surface, to cover it with a fair exterior, to make excuse for it, but that is not to take it away. It is possible to fight with separate sins of the world, and in some measure to master them, but as long as any sin remains the sin of the world has not been taken away. But Jesus came not to deal with the sins of the world, but with the sin of the world. In human nature strictness in one direction often compensates itself by laxity in another, and men dream that they have overcome sin when they have gained a victory in some isolated fragment of the world of moral duty. But to exchange one sin for another, as Samson the Nazarite did, is not redemption. Nor is the mere escaping from the penalty of sin redemption. Redemption means the removal of sin, not merely of the punishment of sin; and He who dealt with sin effectually by taking it away was Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. The sin of the world, not the sins. The victory of Christ was over sin as a unity, the whole corruption of human nature which finds expression in separate sins. The sin of the world is regarded as heaped up in one tremendous pile, and that pile laid upon the head of Christ. That was the load which He staggered under. Think of the sin of one lifethe sin with which it is born, the sins of childhood, youth, manhood, age; the sins of broken vows, broken oaths, unfulfilled duties; and then multiply that one life by the numbers of all the world, and consider what a foe it was Christ came to reckon with, what a foe it was that He overcame in the body of His flesh through death.Dr. W. Robertson Nicoll.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

MORE HEAVENLY MYSTERIES

Text 3:16-21

16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

17

For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.

18

He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19

And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

20

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.

21

But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.

Queries

a.

Why did God so love the world?

b.

How is the unbeliever judged already?

c.

What is the significance of the contrast between doing evil and doing the truth?

Paraphrase

For God so dearly loved mankind, that He gave His Son, His Only-unique son, in order that everyone continuing to trust in Him may not be eternally separated from the presence of God, but may have eternal life. For Gods primary purpose in sending His Son into the world was not to sentence and condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through the agency of His Son. The man who continues to trust in Him is not condemned. The man who continues to disbelieve is condemned already because he has not trusted himself to the Only Son of God in whose name only is salvation possible. But this is the inevitable condemnation of the unbeliever, that the Light has come unto the world and men deliberately chose to love the darkness rather than the Light; for their works were evil. For everyone who practices worthless things hates and resists the Light and comes not unto the Light in order that his works may not be shown for what they really are. But the one who continually does the truth comes to the Light in order that his works may be made manifest because they have been wrought in God.

Summary

God, motivated by infinite love, sent His only Son unto fallen mankind, not to condemn but to save everyone who believes in His Son. The unbeliever brings condemnation upon himself by purposely rejecting the only life-giving light. The believer purposely manifests his works to glorify God.

Comment

Joh. 3:16 has been called the Golden Text of the Bible, Everymans Text, and other equally descriptive names. It is probably the most famous verse of the New Testament; and the most often quoted. In fact, Joh. 3:16-21 do contain the heart of Gods new will. We see in this Golden Text that God is love. Until we have experienced, in a measure, the same unselfish love, we cannot know God as we ought (cf. 1Jn. 4:7-12). We see (Joh. 3:16) Gods love wooing mankind back unto His glorious fellowship, for He made the initial advanceswe love Him only because He first loved us (cf. 1Jn. 4:19). This text shows God loving us, not for His sake alone, but for our sakes. True love seeketh not its own (cf. 1Co. 13:1-7). Gods love is that of a Father who is happy only when His prodigal child has returned to His fellowship (cf. Luk. 15:11-24). Augustine said, God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love . . . Love is the highest characteristic of God, the one attribute in which all others harmoniously blend. Although our finite minds cannot grasp the limitlessness of His love, we are informed of it in His revealed Word. Gods love for men is declared in both the Old Testament and the New Testament (cf. Deu. 7:13; Isa. 63:9; Hos. 14:4; Rom. 5:8; 1Jn. 4:10). Here are outlines of this famous verse by two famous men:

Wm. Hendriksen, author of New Testament Commentary Gods Love: 1. Its character (so loved, 2. Its Author (God), 3. Its object (the world), 4. Its Gift (his Son, the only-begotten), and 5. Its purpose (that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life).

R. C. Foster, author of A Syllabus of the Life of Christ Doctrinal Elements of Joh. 3:16: (1) Love of God (2) Jesus, the Son of God, deity of Jesus (3) Atonement (gave His Son) (4) Man lost in sin (5) Plan of salvation suggested (6) Eternal reward and punishment.

A few commentators have contended that Jesus words cease at Joh. 3:15, and that from Joh. 3:16 through 21 we have the reflective words of the author, John. There are two reasons for believing to the contrary, that these words are further words of teaching by Jesus to Nicodemus: (a) the conjunction for establishes a causal relation between this and the proceeding discourse (Joh. 3:1-15); (b) the close connection of thought, i.e., heavenly things concerning the scheme of redemption; and, further, there is not the slightest notice indicating that the record has passed from direct conversation in Joh. 3:15, over to the writers reflection in Joh. 3:16. Before passing on to the next verse, it will be well to note that perish does not mean annihilate. That the wicked who die merely cease to exist, or are annihilated, is absolutely denied by the Scriptures. The New Testament is plain and positive in its teaching that those who refuse to believe and obey and who depart this world in such a state look forward to a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire . . . (Heb. 10:27). The unsaved dead will be condemned to eternal punishment (cf. Mat. 18:8; Mat. 25:41; Mat. 25:46; Joh. 5:29; 2Th. 1:7-9; Jud. 1:6-7). We must also note that the promise of eternal life is to whosoever continues to believe in the Son. The word believe is in the Greek present tense, and indicates continued action.

From the sublime contemplations of the love of God, we are abruptly faced with judgmentcondemnation. Joh. 3:17, according to one commentator, is an attempt by Jesus to correct a Jewish misinterpretation of the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah. A long standing Jewish interpretation of Messianic prophecies held that the purpose for the coming of the Messiah was to condemn the world, i.e., to judge the Gentile nations which had oppressed Israel. Amos, the herdsman-prophet from Tekoa, seems to be crying out against such a gross misinterpretation (Amo. 5:18-20). The verse before us (Joh. 3:17) clearly teaches Christs primary purpose in the first coming into the world was to provide a way of salvation for mankind. Skeptics are quick to seize upon this verse and compare it with Joh. 5:22; Joh. 5:27; Joh. 9:39; Joh. 12:47-48 and declare the Bible contradicts itself. A moment of unbiased contemplation of all the passages dealing with the purpose of Christs coming will show there is no contradiction. Jesus came to save, not to judge the world. He came to judge the world (at the Incarnation) only insofar as it would not allow itself to be saved, He still judges (condemns or sentences) the world when His good news of salvation is rejected by men. This same principle is applied in our everyday living. It is possible for us to offer to share something with a fellow-man, and, when he deliberately rejects our offer, his rejection turns out as a judgment upon him. A favorite illustration of this same principle goes: A visitor was being shown around a famous art gallery by one of the attendants. In the gallery were masterpieces beyond all price, works of genius and fame. At the end of the tour the visitor said: Well, I dont think much of your pictures. The attendant answered, Sir, I would remind you that these pictures are no longer on trial, for they are masterpieces, but those who look at them are. When the Jews rejected Pauls message they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life (cf. Act. 13:46). The gospel is never on trial, but those to whom the gospel is preached are always on trial, Jesus Christ was not on trial as He faced Annas, Caiaphas, Herod and Pilate in successionbut these judges were being judged!

In Joh. 3:18 comes the wonderful news of pardon for the believer, and the awful sentence of doom for the unbeliever. This verse shows why God did not need to send His son to condemn the world. Since the Son was sent with the message of salvation, the man who disbelieves and disobeys brings about his own condemnation. On the other hand, the man who accepts the testimony of Christ and obeys His Word has passed out of death into life. The word kekritai is the Greek word for judgedcondemned and the word from whence comes the English critic, crisis, critique, etc. That this word means condemned here is evident from Joh. 3:17 where it is placed in apposition to saved. The tense of the Greek in Joh. 3:18 b shows that the unbeliever is condemned just as long as he continues to disbelieve and disobey. The men or women who even now refuse to surrender in loving obedience to the demands of the gospel walk the face of this earth with the sentence of eternal condemnation ever present upon them! God does not need a special day to determine a mans destinythat is determined by the mans own will and sealed at death. Notice that Jesus places all of mankind in only two categories: the believer and the unbelieverthe saved and the condemned. We cannot here enter into a lengthy discussion of the possibility of the unevangelized heathen being saved through ignorance of the gospel. Suffice it to say the New Testament indicates even the heathen has had sufficient law of conscience given to him so that he may be without excuse (cf. Rom. 1:18-32; Eph. 2:11-12). The point Jesus seems to emphasize for Nicodemus is that salvation is possible only through trust in Gods Son. Unless Nicodemus accepts the only way, he stands condemned, regardless of his Jewish blood and ancestry from Abraham. This point needs emphasis in every generation. Family ties, traditions and family religion will not avail unless they be conformable to revealed truth!

The next verse (Joh. 3:19) is very revealing! Jesus shows that the condemnation which abides upon the unbeliever is justit is what the unbeliever deservesand He further reveals the inner moral wrong which makes this condemnation deserved. The Greek word for loved in Joh. 3:19 is agapae which means a love of intelligence and purpose . . . a deliberate love. Thus a man who deliberately loves the darkness is morally rebellious and makes his own choice! When the light comes and convicts this man of his sins he will purposely reject the light and deliberately love the darkness. Such a man inevitably condemns himself and receives a just punishment (cf. 2Th. 2:9-12). Unbelief stems from a moral wickedness and not from ignorance! Paul recognizes as the basic cause of rejecting of the truth having pleasure in unrighteousness.

The Lord further shows that the one who has deliberately chosen the darkness cannot remain at peace with the light. This principle is expressed by JesusHe that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth (Mat. 12:30). The lover of darkness must hate the light. There are two different Greek words used for evil works in Joh. 3:19-20. In Joh. 3:19 the word ponera which denotes an active wickedness, and in Joh. 3:20 the word is phaula, which denotes worthlessnessthe one positive the other negative. Even the one who is useless and inactive in the cause of righteousness is evil in the Lords sight! The remaining words of Jesus in this 20th verse focus like a gigantic searchlight upon the very deepest recesses of the heart of the one who loves darkness. Such a man hates and wars against the light because the light reveals his works for what they really areevil, dishonest and worthless. The verb convicted (elencho) means more than reproved. It means expose, show up, bring to light, show what is actually the case (cf. Eph. 5:13). As Lenski says, We see here the inner, self-contradiction and self-condemnation of all such doers of evil who in unbelief act contrary to Christ and the gospel. They choose the worthless but they do not want its worthlessness revealed. They want to be undisturbed in thinking the worthless valuable. The evil-doer does not want others to see him, nor does he want to face himself. Jesus recognized this in the Pharisees who deliberately rejected His word when He said, Because I say the truth, ye believe me not (Joh. 8:45).

Now what of the man who does the truth? He gladly comes to the light. The man who abides in the truth purposely comes to the light that he may manifest his works to show that they have been wrought in God, He is not afraid to have the penetrating searchlight of truth play upon his works for they have God as their source and they are good works. The disciple of Jesus is to purposely show his good works before men that they may glorify the Father who is in heaven (cf. Mat. 5:16).

Thus ends Jesus conversation, as far as we know, with this teacher of Israel. We would like to know more of Nicodemus than what is briefly told in two later passages (Joh. 7:50-51; Joh. 19:39). The important Personage for us to know, however, is not Nicodemus but the One who is now teaching Nicodemus, even Jesus.

Quiz

1.

What is the nature of Gods love (cf. 1Co. 13:5)?

2.

Give three Old Testament references to the love of God.

3.

What reasons may be given for contending that Joh. 3:15-21 are a continuation of Jesus teaching?

4.

What is meant by the word perish?

5.

What was the primary purpose for Jesus coming into the world?

6.

How does the unbeliever bring about his own condemnation?

7.

Into what two categories does Jesus place all mankind?

8.

What kind of choice is made by the man who loves darkness?

9.

Name two types of evil as mentioned in these verses.

10.

How does the unbeliever contradict himself?

11.

Why does the doer of the truth come to the light?

SPECIAL STUDY NO. 2

Anticipating that there may be some question concerning the paraphrase of Joh. 3:16-21 we introduce here Special Study No. 2, This study is interjected in explanation of the substitution of only-unique in place of only begotten in Joh. 3:16; Joh. 3:18. It is hoped that the reader will come to a clearer understanding of the uniqueness and deity of Jesus Christ as a result of this Special Study.

The Study, in its entirety, is from an article by Sheldon V. Shirts entitled, He Gave the Only Son He Had.

HE GAVE THE ONLY SON HE HAD

THE MEANING OF monogenes.

The Greek word under fire is monogenes. Originally, Greek words with the common root gen carried the basic meaning to beget. But, as Schmidt proves, many words built upon that basic stem soon lost this early sexual sense. Thus centuries before New Testament days, genos, for example, was often used to mean simply a kind of something, So in the New Testament, Jesus parabolically likens the kingdom of heaven to a net that . . . gathered (fish) of every KIND (Mat. 13:47), and Paul speaks of divers KINDS of tongues and KINDS of voices (1Co. 12:19; 1Co. 14:10).

Monogenes comes from monos (only) and genos (kind)thus, the only one of its kind, as such authorities as Moulton, Milligan, and Thayer show. Of course, when we speak of human beings, the translation begotten makes sense, but the fact remains that that is not the pointthe emphasis is upon the persons uniqueness, he is the ONLY one. Thus Plato spoke of monogenes ouranos (the only heaven); and Clement of Rome described the legendary bird, the phoenix, as monogenes, not that is was the only bird begotten, but the only one of its kind, unique.

LATIN AND SEPTUAGINT USAGE.

Accurately, the earliest Latin translators rendered monogenes huios by filins unicus (unique son), not by filius unigenitus (only-begotten son). It took the dogmatic Arian disputes over Christs relation to God (318 A.D.) to give first occasion for claiming that Christ was Gods begotten Son, i.e. not a part of creation. And there began the inaccurate Latin rendering of unigenitus, (only-begotten).

In the Septuagint, the word occurs eight times, referring to an only child, or to that which was unique or alone (e.g., Psa. 22:20; Jdg. 11:34; Tob. 3:15). Twice the King James translators render the Hebrew equivalent as darling, showing that the word monogenes acquires a secondary meaning in the fact that what is unique is naturally of special value: an only son is a specially beloved son.

MONOGENES IN LUKE AND HEBREWS.

In the New Testament, monogenes appears nine times (always translated only in the Revised Standard Version). Only six times does the King James Version have it only-begotten. If the rendering only is so inadequate, why did the King James scholars so translate it three times? An examination of the passages will make it clear. In the story of the widow of Nain, the fact that her dead son had once been begotten was of course true but now of no consequence; the important thing here was that he was her only son! What a pathetic situation! The fact that she is a widow speaks of her past sorrow, but now (Luk. 7:12) the realization that the one and only prop of her life, the stay and hope of her widowhood, had been taken from her, shows realistically her present despair. Surely few greater misfortunes are conceivable than the loss of a widows ONLY son.

So we can understand the consuming grief of Jairus who fell at Jesus feet and besought him to come to his house, for he had an ONLY daughter . . . and she was dying (Luk. 8:41-42). Likewise, we share the concern of the father of the epileptic boy who cried, Master, I beg you to look upon my son, for he is my ONLY child (Luk. 9:38). Can anyone mistake the significance of monogenes in these passages? Not even the King James translators could!

But note the strange use of monogenes to describe Isaac in Heb. 11:17. Though the King James Version says only begotten, Abraham obviously had begotten other children (Gen. 25:1-2). But the point is: Isaac was the ONLY SON OF HIS KIND, as far as Gods promise to Abraham was concerned. Thus monogenes is justified, and the Revised Standard Versions rendering only son.

MONOGENES IN JOHNS WRITING.

To render monogenes in Joh. 3:16 as only is just as significant, and actually will more clearly reveal the great depth of Gods love for us than does the more cumbersome, less accurate expression of the King James Version. For God so loved the world that He gave the ONLY SON HE HAD!

But some insist, This is not true; Joh. 1:12 says, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God . . . To call Jesus Gods only Son is confusing and false; it strips Him of his divinity and makes Him no more than other men. Then, for a moment, call Him again Gods only begotten, if you mustand then notice that in the next verse, Joh. 1:13, all the sons of Joh. 3:12 have been born (Gr. begotten) . . . of God. Constant dilemma greets the one who cannot see beyond the horizons or a single word.

Let us see, with Schaff, in what ways all believers can be called Gods children in Joh. 3:12 and yet Jesus be Gods only son in Joh. 3:14 : (1) Jesus is the only Son in that there is none like him; they are many; (2) He is the Son eternally; they become (Joh. 3:12) sons within time; (3) He is the Son by nature; they are made sons by grace and adoption; (4) He is of the same essence with the Father; they are of a different substance. Note that Jesus never unites Himself with us by saying Our Father. Joh. 20:17 shows most clearly how He distinguishes Himself as the essential Son from all others as only adopted sons: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

NO REFERENCE TO THE VIRGIN BIRTH.

But does not only begotten refer to Jesus virgin birth? Never! In Joh. 1:14 Jesus did not become the Son; He became flesh to manifest Himself as Gods eternal Son, Who in the beginning . . . was with God and . . . was God (Joh. 1:1). Men became sons of God because the Son of God became man. When God sent his only Son into the world (1Jn. 4:9), He did not send one Who became a son only when sent, any more than when God sent forth the Spirit (Gal. 4:6) did He send forth one who became a Spirit only when sent. Jesus has been eternally in the bosom of the Father (Joh. 1:18); the Greek even better expresses a relation of closest intimacy and tenderest affection: they are in each others embrace.

THE ONLY SON MAKES A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE.

Thus Jesus is not merely the ONLY Son, but the precious beloved Son of Gods embrace, and still God gave Him up! Take all the tenderness, forgiveness and love in the relation of an earthly father to his only child, and in that earth-drawn picture you have yet but a faint approach to the fathomless love of God, as He so loved the world that He gave the ONLY SON HE HADand what a precious Sonan innocent Son to be slain for the benefit of guilty menthat He might redeem them from eternal condemnation. No clearer picture of the deity of Christ, or the love of God can be seen!

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(16) The last verse has spoken of every one who believeth. The thought went beyond the limits that Rabbis set to the kingdom of God. Its only limit is humanity. This thought is now repeated and strengthened by the might not perish, and the love of God is made the foundation on which it rests. Perhaps no verse in the Bible has been so much explained as this; perhaps no verse can be so little explained. Most young preachers have sermons upon it; older men learn that its meaning must be felt and thought rather than spoken. Still less can it be written; and this Note may not attempt to do more than indicate some lines of thought which may help to lead to others.

God so loved the world.Familiar as the words are to us, they were uttered to Nicodemus for the first time. They are the revelation of the nature of God, and the ground of our love to God and man. (Comp. Notes on 1Jn. 4:7-11.)

His only begotten Son.Here, once again, the Old Testament Scriptures suggest and explain the words used. Every Jew knew, and loved to think and tell of his forefather who was willing to sacrifice his own and only son in obedience to what he thought to be the will of God (Genesis 22). But Love gives, and does not require, sacrifice. God wills not that Abraham should give his son, but He gave His only begotten Son. The dread power that man has ever conceivedthat is not God; the pursuing vengeance that sin has ever imaginedthat is not God; the unsatisfied anger that sacrifice has ever suggestedthat is not God. But all that human thought has ever gathered of tenderness, forgiveness, love, in the relation of father to only childall this is, in the faintness of an earth-drawn picture, an approach to the true idea of God. Yes, the true idea is infinitely beyond all this; for the love for the world gives in sacrifice the love for the only begotten Son.

Believeth in.Better, believeth upon. The preposition is not the same as in the last verse. (Comp. Joh. 1:12.) There the thought was of the Son of Man lifted up, in whom every one who believes and can interpret spiritual truth, ever has eternal life. Here the thought is of the Son of God given for the world, and every one who believes upon, casts his whole being upon Him, and, like Abraham, in will rests all upon God, finds that God has provided Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering instead of human sacrifice or death.

Everlasting life.Better, as the same Greek word is rendered in the previous verse, eternal life. For the meaning of this word see Note on Mat. 25:46. It is of frequent use in this Gospel (seventeen times), and always used in reference to life.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

16. Whosoever believeth From this we learn: 1. That God loved the world before the atonement, and the atonement was the result of his previous love. 2. That in spite of that love the atonement was necessary, to save man from perishing. The atonement was God’s method, adopted by his love, of allowing man to exist and yet not be damned. 3. That the world for which Christ died was not part of the world, nor the elect world, but the whole world. 4. That faith, the faith which accepts Christ, is necessary to bring the atonement in application upon the soul so as to produce salvation. 5. That universal salvation would result but for the individual’s unbelief. 6. The doctrine of justification by faith is as clearly taught, though in different words, in the Gospels and in Christ’s teachings, as in any of the Epistles of Paul.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life’.

The message is now expanded. The reason that Jesus has come is because “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son”. This is the amazing new revelation that surpasses all that has gone before, that God was such that He had not only seen man’s need but has met it in the only way possible at greatest cost to Himself. ‘In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us, and gave His Son to be a propitiation for ours sins’ (1Jn 4:10).

A further interesting fact is that it is ‘the world’ that is in view. His love is reaching out to the world. Jesus is not just a Messiah for the Jews, He is the Christ for the world, the world that is in darkness (Joh 1:10). He has come to be a light to every man.

The point is that there was no other way by which salvation and deliverance could come to mankind, only by God’s giving of His only Son to die on the cross, ‘wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities — the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:5-6. See Luk 22:37 for Jesus’ own application of this chapter to Himself). This is the full meaning of the title ‘the Lamb of God’ (Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36).

Here Jesus’ distinctiveness is again being drawn out. ‘His only Son’, ‘the only Son from the Father’ (Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18), Who was in the bosom of the Father (in closest personal relationship) and Who made the Father known and revealed His glory (Joh 1:18), is the One Who will be offered up for sin.

And the purpose? Negatively, to save men from ‘perishing’. Positively, that they might have eternal life. In Plato’s Immortality to ‘perish’ meant to be destroyed utterly. He used it as the opposite of being an immortal soul. As Paul says, God alone has immortality (1Ti 6:16). We will no doubt read into this what we will.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Calls All Men In Joh 3:16-21 Jesus Christ makes His call to all men. This passage of Scripture contains perhaps the most well-known verse in the Scriptures, which is Joh 3:16, a verse that summarizes the ultimate theme of the Scriptures, and God’s call for mankind to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

When Jesus entered His public ministry, it is important to note that He never condemned the sinner of his sins (Joh 3:17). For example, Jesus did not condemn the woman taken in adultery (Joh 8:1-11), nor the Samaritan woman who had been with five husbands (Joh 4:1-42). Rather, He offered Himself to them as their Healer and miracle-worker in order that they might believe in Him as their Saviour. Although He rebuked the Jewish leaders because they despised Him and they looked down upon the sinners, He did not come to condemn mankind for their sins. He looked forward to His work of redemption on Calvary and loved them, knowing that their sins were about to be paid for on Calvary. God’s wrath was poured out upon Jesus Christ, so that He is no longer at war with sinful man, as we see in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Under the Old Covenant God dealt with His children Israel by using judgment for their sins. In a similar manner, we judge our children when they disobey simply because a child cannot understand the results of his sins. However, when our children become adults, we no long discipline our children; rather, we become friends, realizing that they understand the difference between right and wrong. We stand with our children when they become adults and are ready to offer advice. In a similar way, God judged Israel as His children under the Law because they could not understand God’s ways in the manner we understand under the New Covenant by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Like spanking a child, divine judgment was the only thing that Israel understood under the Old Covenant when breaking the Law. When Jesus came upon this earth and paid for the sins of mankind, past, present, and future, pouring out His Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who believe in Him, God could then call them His “friends” (Joh 15:15).

Joh 15:15, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

The Author’s Commentary Scholars popularly believe that Joh 3:16-21 contains a commentary on the discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus recorded in Joh 3:1-20. The author pauses from his narrative to give his readers the reason for God’s offer of eternal life, which comes from His love for mankind. John the apostle pauses a number of times in his Gospel to make such comments. For example, we see a similar commentary in Joh 3:31-36 as the author explains the words of John the Baptist recorded in Joh 3:27-30. Also, in Joh 18:9 the author makes comments in Joh 18:9; Joh 18:32 and Joh 19:35-37 of fulfilled prophecy in the midst of the narrative story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crufixion.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Joh 3:16 “For God so loved the world” Comments – One Sunday morning, a person that I had a crush on announced that she was engaged to a young man. So, with a broken heart, I drove home, lay on the floor and prayed these words, “Lord, it hurts so much to love.” The Lord immediately spoke this verse to me, “For God so loved the world.” In other words, God has felt the same hurt and rejection that I was feeling. I realized at that moment just how much God loved mankind, even every individual on earth. God loves people, and when we hurt other people, we are hurting the one He loves the most. I began to see people in a different way from then on and began treating them with much more thoughtfulness, now knowing how God felt about them, how much God loved them, and how dangerous it is to injure those whom He dearly loves.

Joh 3:16 “that he gave his only begotten Son” Comments – Here we see that giving is a natural result of true love. Giving comes from the heart of one who loves.

Joh 3:16 “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Word Study on “should not perish” Strong says the Greek word “perish” ( ) (G622) means, “to destroy fully,” and reflexive, “to perish, lose.” BDAG says it means, “perish, die.”

Illustration I was taking my son to Sunday School this morning and I felt compelled to ask him if he wanted to go into the church sanctuary with me or to go to his preschool Sunday School class. I gave him the choice because I love him and I wanted him to make the choice so that he would be the happiest. Love was the motive of me giving my son a choice. God allows us to choose whether to believe in Jesus or not because of His great love for us. Mankind was created with a free will because of God’s love for us (7 August 2011).

Joh 3:16 Comments (1) – Oral Roberts – Oral Roberts teaches a great truth from Joh 3:16. This most famous verse in the Holy Bible reveals that we are to give in order to expect to receive, as God did in this verse. God was motivated to give out of love ( For God so loved the world), which must also me our motive for giving. He turned His love into an act of giving ( that He gave). We see that God gave His very best ( He gave His only begotten Son). Finally, God’s reason for giving was to get in return a redeemed mankind ( that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life). We too are to learn to give our best out of love and to expect God to give us His best in return. [142]

[142] Oral Roberts, interviewed by Benny Hinn, This is Your Day (Irving, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.

Paul Crouch – Paul Crouch tells the story of how he went before the Lord in prayer one day because of the criticism that Trinity Broadcasting Network had been receiving as a result of its program ministers teaching Christians how to give, expecting to receive back from God. He told the Lord that he needed a word from the Lord regarding this teaching. The Lord replied, “Did I give My Son on the Cross and not expect anything in return?” Crouch then understood how God sent His Son Jesus Christ to the Cross because He expected to receive millions of sons as people trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior. [143]

[143] Paul Crouch, “Behind the Scenes,” on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program, 11 June 2004.

Ed Young – Ed Young readJoh 3:16 on his television program, saying, “For God so loved the world (the breadth of God’s love), that He gave His only begotten Son (the length of God’s love), that whosoever believeth in Him (the depth of God’s love), should not perish but have everlasting life (the height of God’s love).” [144] This paraphrase reminds us of Eph 3:18-19, “May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Only when we have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins can we begin to know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of God’s love, and this can come only by the indwelling Spirit of God, since Rom 5:5 says, “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” This means that God’s love now indwells us by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

[144] Ed Young, “Winning Walk,” ( Winning Walk Family, Houston, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program, 12 January 2003).

Arthur Blessitt – Arthur Blessitt said that at the Cross the worst of man met the best of God. [145]

[145] Arthur Blessitt, interviewed by Randy and Paula White ( Church Without Walls, Tampa, Florida), on “Praise the Lord,” on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program, 10 September 2002.

Joh 3:16 Comments (2) – Salvation is free for anyone who believes, but it did not come cheap. It cost the life of God’s Only Son. God’s Only Son was His greatest sacrifice. In Amo 8:10, the Lord says, “I will make it like mourning for an only son.” The greatest loss was that of an only son, and thus it brought the greatest mourning. See 2Sa 14:7; 2Sa 21:10.

Illustrations:

2Sa 14:4-7, “And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead. And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him. And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.”

2Sa 21:10, “And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.”

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Joh 3:17 Comments – Jesus came to earth because the Father sent Him (Joh 8:29). Jesus’ main purpose in coming to live with mankind was to please the Father by doing His will.

Joh 8:29, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Joh 3:18 Comments – Judgment has already been set before the foundation of the world. Those on the path of sin already have their judgment set. Jesus did not come to bring their judgment. Rather, He came to show us the right way.

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Joh 3:19 “and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” Word Study on “evil” – BDAG says the Greek word (G4190) means, “wicked, evil, bad, base, worthless, vicious, degenerate.”

Comments – One Sunday afternoon, I drove by a house on my way home from church. I felt inspired to turn around pull into the driveway of a house that was playing rock and roll music very loudly. I knocked on door. When the young man answered the door, I said, “I’m Gary Everett. You do not know me and don’t know you.” He said, “What church are you from?” I said, “I’m not from a church.” Then I said to him that I wanted to tell him about Jesus on this Easter day. He quickly took me back into his room. It was dark, but I could see drums in room. He flipped the light on and revealed a room full of musical band equipment from a rock and roll band. We talked for about fifteen minutes. He was not interested in the Gospel. He had been raised in church and had a Christian friend who witnessed to him. He had a hard heart. The windows were covered with aluminum foil in order to make the house dark. There was a dreary, demonic feeling about this place of darkness. I politely left. (April 3, 1983)

Joh 3:19 Comments – Liquor bars are dark and have no windows because the deeds that go on inside them are evil. The people in these bars love darkness. Job 38:12-13 says that daylight comes upon the earth to shake the evil people out of their darkness.

Job 38:12-13, “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?”

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Joh 3:20 Word Study on “evil” BDAG says the Greek word (G5337) means, “worthless, bad, evil, base.”

Joh 3:20 Comments – When we come to Jesus, our sins are revealed to us. We see how short we fall from being like Jesus Christ, our Lord and Precious Savior.

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Joh 3:19-21 Comments The Light of the World The motif of Jesus Christ as the Light of the world is introduced in the prologue of John’s Gospel (Joh 1:1-18), and developed further in Joh 3:19-21. God has given mankind light of the knowledge of Him since the beginning of time through general revelation from His creation. Jesus has come as the Light to give us specific divine revelation of God’s plan of redemption for mankind.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Joh 3:16. For God so loved the world, Our Lord here assures Nicodemus, that men owed the unspeakable happiness spoken of in the preceding verse, to the free and unutterable love of God the Father, who desired their salvation with such ardency, that he sent his only-begotten Son to bestow everlasting life on those who perseveringlybelieve in him; so far washe from sending him to condemn them, as he had reason to fear. This is one of those bright and heart-affecting passages in the gospel, which shines too strong to admit the least attempt at illustration in a commentator. Reader! may your soul and mine feel and experience its energy now and for ever!

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 3:16 . Continuation of the address of Jesus to Nicodemus , onwards to Joh 3:21 , [162] not, as Erasmus, Rosenmller, Kuinoel, Paulus, Neander, Tholuck, Olshausen, Maier think (see also Bumlein), an explanatory meditation of the evangelist’s own; an assumption justified neither by anything in the text nor by the word , a word which must have been transferred from the language of John to the mouth of Jesus (not vice versa , as Hengstenberg thinks), for it is never elsewhere used by Christ, often as He speaks of His divine sonship. See on Joh 1:14 . The reflective character of the following discourse is so fully compatible with the design of Christ to instruct, and the preterites and so little require to be explained from the standing-point of a later time, that there does not seem any sufficient basis for the intermediate view (of Lcke, De Wette, Brckner), that in this continued account of the discourse of Jesus, Joh 3:16 ff., John inserts more explanations and reflections of his own than in the preceding part, how little soever such a supposition would (as Kling and Hengstenberg think) militate against the trustworthiness of John, who, in recording the longer discourses, has exactly in his own living recollection the abundant guarantee of substantial certainty .

] so much ; see on Gal 3:3 .

] reason of the purpose stated in Joh 3:15 .

] loved , with reference to the time of the .

] i.e. mankind at large , [163] comp. , Joh 3:15 ; Joh 17:2 ; 1Jn 2:2 .

. ] to make the proof of His love the stronger , 1Jn 4:9 ; Heb 11:17 ; Rom 8:32 .

] He did not reserve Him for Himself, but gave Him, i.e. to the world . The word means more than (Joh 3:17 ), which expresses [164] the manner of the , though it does not specially denote the giving up to death , but the state of humiliation as a whole, upon which God caused His Son to enter when He left His pre-existent glory (Joh 17:5 ), and the final act of which was to be His death (1Jn 4:10 ). The Indicative following, , describes the act objectively as something actually done. See on Gal 2:13 ; and Klotz ad Devar . 772.

, . . .] Concerning the subjunctive, representing an object as present, see Winer, 271 [E. T. p. 377]. The change from the Aorist to the Present is to be noted, whereby the being utterly ruined (by banishment to hell in the Messianic judgment) is spoken of as an act in process of accomplishment; while the possession of the Messianic is described as now already existing (commencing with regeneration), and as abiding for ever. Comp. on Joh 3:15 .

[162] Luther rightly praised “the majesty, simplicity, clearness, expressiveness, truth, charm” of this discourse. He “exceedingly and beyond measure loved” this text.

[163] This declaration is the rock upon which the absolute predestination doctrine goes to pieces, and the supposed (by Baur and Hilgenfeld) metaphysical dualism of the anthropology of St. John. Calovius well unfolds our text thus: (1) salutis principium ( .); (2) dilectionis objectum (the , not the electi ) ; (3) donum amplissimum (His only-begotten Son); (4) pactum gratiosissimum (faith, not works); (5) finem missionis Christi saluberrimum .

[164] Weizscker in the Zeitschr. f. Deutsche Theol . 1857, p. 176, erroneously finds wanting in John an intimation on the part of Christ that He is the Logos who came voluntarily to the world. He is, however, the Logos sent of God, who undertook this mission in the feeling of obedience. Thus the matter is presented throughout the N. T., and the thought that Christ came is quite foreign thereto.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1610
THE LOVE OF GOD IN GIVING HIS SON FOR MAN

Joh 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

THE doctrine of our reconciliation with God through the death of his Son, is calculated to impress our minds with a deep sense of the love of Christ in undertaking for us; but, if not cautiously stated, it may give us very erroneous conceptions respecting the Father. If, for instance, we imagine that the Father needed the mediation of his Son to render him propitious, then we must ascribe all the glory of our salvation to the Son, and consider the Father merely as acquiescing in the Sons wishes, and shewing mercy to us for his sake. But the whole plan of our salvation originated with the Father: the very gift of a Saviour was the fruit of the Fathers love; and therefore, in contemplating the wonders of Redemption, we must trace them to their proper source, the love of God the Father.
To this view of things we are led by the text; in elucidating which, we shall not form any particular arrangement, but simply take the several expressions contained in it, and use them as so many mirrors to reflect light upon one central point, the love of God the Father in sending his only-begotten Son to die for us.

Consider then, first, the Giver

[If man confer a benefit upon his fellow-creature, we are not surprised; because there is no man so elevated, but he may need the assistance of his inferiors; nor is there any man so depressed, but he may, at some period or other, have it in his power to requite a kindness. But God is totally independent of us; our goodness extendeth not to him [Note: Psa 16:2.]; it is no profit to him that we are righteous [Note: Job 22:2-3.]: he would have been equally happy and glorious, though no creature had ever been formed; and he would remain so, if every creature in the universe were annihilated. How wonderful, then, was it, that he should condescend to look on us; yea, that he should take such an interest in our affairs, as to supply, at a most incalculable price, our pressing necessities! Even in this first view of his love we are lost with wonder.]

But our admiration will be greatly increased, if we reflect upon the gift

[It was his Son, his only-begotten Son, whom he vouchsafed to give. It was not a creature; no, not the first of all created beings, but his co-equal, co-eternal Son [Note: Mic 5:2.]; who from eternity had been in his bosom [Note: Joh 1:13.], and daily his delight [Note: Pro 8:22-30.]. A less gift than that would not have sufficed for our relief: and a greater, God himself was not able to bestow. In comparison of this, ten thousand angels would have been as nothing; yea, all the hosts of heaven would not have been more than a grain of sand is in comparison of the universe. Yet God, seeing our wants, sent his own Son to be a propitiation for our sins [Note: 1Jn 4:9-10.]. What manner of love was this! How incomprehensible are its breadth and length, and depth and height [Note: 1Jn 4:9-10. with Eph 3:18-19.]!]

Additional lustre will be reflected on this mystery, if we consider the manner in which he bestowed this gift

[He waited not to be solicited: indeed no creature could have asked for such a favour: the thought could not have entered into the mind of any created intelligence; nor, if it had occurred, could he have presumed to utter it. But God needed no suggestion from his creatures: his love prevented their requests [Note: God, instead of following our first parents with denunciations of wrath, gave, unsolicited, that promise, which was the foundation of hope to them and all their posterity. Gen 3:15.]; it even provided for their wants before those wants existed, yea, before the creatures themselves had any being. He himself is love [Note: 1Jn 4:16.]; and the exercise of mercy is his delight [Note: Mic 7:18.]. He neither had, nor could have, any inducement from without: all his motives were found within his own bosom: the displaying of his own unbounded love was a sufficient reason for his utmost exertions: he shewed mercy for mercy sake; and gave, because it was the joy of his soul to give.]

But how will this stupendous love be heightened in our esteem, if we take into consideration the persons on whom this gift was bestowed!

[It was not vouchsafed to angels, though angels needed it as much as we. This was a mercy reserved for fallen man, even for the world that lieth in wickedness [Note: Heb 2:16.]. To form an estimate of the world, let us look around us, and see to what an awful extent iniquity abounds: or, if we would have our judgment still more according to truth, let us look within our own hearts, and see what horrible abominations are harboured there. We know nothing of others, but by their words and actions: but we have a juster criterion within our own bosoms: we may search into our own thoughts and desires; we may discern the base mixture that there is in all our motives and principles of action: in short, we may see such a world of iniquity within us, as may well constrain us to say, with David, My heart sheweth me the wickedness of the ungodly, that there is no fear of God before his eyes [Note: Psa 36:1. Prayer-book translation.]: yes, in our own hearts there is an epitome of all the evil that is in the world: and, if we know any thing of ourselves, we shall stand amazed that God should look upon such a world as this, and give his only dear Son to save those who so richly merited his hottest indignation.]

We cannot do justice to this subject, if we do not further notice Gods ultimate design in bestowing this precious gift upon us

[We must, but for this marvellous effort of divine love, have perished in our sins. Having resembled the fallen angels in their sin, we must have resembled them also in their misery. But God would not that we should perish. Notwithstanding the greatness and universality of our guilt, he would not that we should suffer according to our desert; and therefore he interposed for our deliverance. But this was not all. He desired to restore us to our forfeited inheritance, and to bring us to the possession of everlasting life. It was not enough for him to save us from perishing; he must also renovate us after his own image, and make us partakers of his own glory. What stupendous love was this! That he should ever think of receiving such hateful creatures into his presence; that he should lay a plan for the exalting of them to thrones and kingdoms in heaven; and that he should even give his only-begotten Son out of his bosom to effect it! How infinitely does this surpass all the comprehension of men or angels!]

The condition which he has imposed for our participation of these benefits, yet further illustrates and magnifies his love

[Suppose God had said, Find me fifty righteous, or forty, or thirty, or twenty, or only ten, and for their sakes I will pardon and save all the rest [Note: Gen 18:24-32.]: we must have perished, because among the whole human, race there is not one righteous, no, not one [Note: Rom 3:10.].

Suppose that, instead of this, he had said, I will give my Son to die for your past offences, and will bring you back to a state of probation; whereby, if you fall not again from your righteousness, you shall be saved: the offer had been exceeding kind and gracious; but we should not long have reaped any solid advantage from it: we should soon have broken the covenant again, and been involved in the same misery as before.
Suppose God had said, I foresee that a renewal of your former covenant would be to no purpose; and therefore my Son shall work out a righteousness for you; and I require nothing of you, but to add to that a righteousness of your own, that the two righteousnesses together may form a joint ground of your acceptance with me: alas! we should have been in as deplorable a state as ever; for we never have done, nor ever can do, one single act, which, if weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, will not be found wanting.
But suppose God yet further to lower his demands, and to say, I will give you a complete salvation through the blood and righteousness of my dear Son; and I will require nothing of you, but only to render yourselves worthy of it; still had our state been altogether hopeless; for we can no more render ourselves worthy of such a mercy, that we can create a world.
This was well known to God; and therefore he proposed none of these things: he requires only that we should believe in his Son, and accept freely what he so freely offers. It is true, that, if even this depended on ourselves, we should perish: because without the grace of God we cannot exercise saving faith [Note: Php 1:29.]: but still this is the condition, which alone is suited to our helpless state; because it implies a total renunciation of all merit or strength in ourselves, and leads us to Christ, that we may find our all in him. O how does this enhance the love of God! And in what bright colours does that love appear, when viewed in the light which so many mirrors reflect upon it!]

If any thing can add to the lustre with which his love already shines, it is the extent in which the offers of these benefits are made

[There is not a human being upon earth, who shall not be a partaker of all these benefits, if only he believe in Christ. There is no limitation, no exception: God gave his Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Past sins, however numerous or heinous, are no bar to our acceptance with God, if only we accept his mercy on the terms on which it is offered. This is the uniform testimony of Holy Writ [Note: Isa 45:22; Isa 55:1 and Rev 22:17 and Joh 6:37.] O let us magnify God for his mercy; and be telling of the wonders of his love from day to day!]

Infer
1.

How aggravated must be the condemnation of them that reject the Gospel!

[Our Lord says, This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil [Note: Joh 3:19.]. Let this sink down into our ears: for, if such love cannot melt us into contrition, and such goodness bring us to repentance, we may well expect a most accumulated weight of vengeance at the hands of an offended God.]

2.

How groundless are the fears of many who embrace the truth!

[Many sincere Christians are troubled in mind; some on account of their temporal wants, and others on account of their spiritual necessities. But if God has delivered up his own Son for us, will he not with him also freely give us all things [Note: Rom 8:32.]? And if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life [Note: Rom 5:10.]. These are unanswerable arguments; and they should compose our minds under trials, of whatever kind.]

3.

How deeply should we all be affected by the love of God!

[Pungent indeed is that question, What could I have done more for my vineyard, that I have not done [Note: Isa 5:4.]? The more we consider how God has loved the world, the more we shall see, that he has indeed done all for us that he could do, consistently with our free agency, and his own honour. And when he has so loved the world, are we at liberty to forget him? Does such love call for no return? or are we to requite it only by increased impiety? O let every one of us say, What shall I render to the Lord? And let his love to us constrain us to devote ourselves unreservedly to him.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

XXV

THE GUILT OF SIN STATED AND THE REMEDY FOR SIN ILLUSTRATED

Harmony pages 21-24 and Joh 3:16-4:45 .

Continuing the study of the discourse of our Lord to Nicodemus, in Joh 3:16-21 , with Joh 5:40 ; Joh 7:17 , we have the guilt of unbelief and the reasonableness of its punishment. Joh 3:16-21 shows the condemnation because of the rejection of Christ and the light which he brought, and also their love of darkness rather than light: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” Joh 3:19-21 ; Joh 5:40 ; Joh 7:17 ; Joh 18:37 show the state of the will: “Ye will not come to me that ye may have life. If any man willeth to do his will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” To these scriptures may be added others which show intellectual pride, viz.: Mat 11:25 : “Hid from the wise and prudent and revealed it unto babes.” Rom 1:21 f: “When they knew him they glorified him not as God. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.” 1Co 1:18-21 : “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (For a detailed analysis of Sec. 22 of the Harmony see chapter XXII of this volume of the Interpretation.)

In Joh 3:22-23 the contemporaneous ministries of John and Jesus approach each other. Joh 4:1-2 shows the identity of their process of discipling. A certain brother once wrote me, who was troubled over Joh 4:2 , which reads, “Though Jesus himself baptizeth not, but his disciples.” This brother’s trouble was a novel one. He not only held to the theory shared by some other people that the apostles were neither baptized themselves, but he said they never baptized others, nor ever preached a sermon before the Pentecost in Act 2 . This text, Joh 4:2 , as commonly interpreted being in the way of his theory, he wanted to know if it might not be construed to mean that the baptism through the disciples took place after Pentecost. His suggested construction is quite impossible. This would be to wrest the Scriptures from their meaning rather than to interpret them. It is better to give up an unscriptural theory, than resort to such great violence to God’s Word. No commentator of any denomination would dare to put such a meaning on Joh 4:2 . Let us consider in this connection, Joh 3:22-23 ; Joh 4:2 . The connected reading is: “After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them and baptized, and John also was baptizing in Aenon, near to Salim, because there was much water there. When, therefore, the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself baptizeth not, but his disciples).” From this fairly connected reading the following things are evident:

(1) The ministries of John and Jesus were here simultaneous.

(2) John made disciples and baptized them.

(3) Jesus also at the same time made disciples and baptized them, only he made and baptized more disciples than John.

(4) Yet Jesus did not personally administer baptism as John did. His baptisms were performed through his disciples.

(5) The imperfect tense in Joh 4:2 shows continuous action, that Jesus was accustomed to make and baptize disciples.

This is all so plain it would seem impossible to misunderstand it. It is just as plain as that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” The brother’s unfortunate theory is wrong on every other point. It is difficult to understand how he could say that Christ’s apostles never preached a sermon before the Pentecost of Act 2 . In reply to this theory let us consider Mat 10:5-42 and Mar 6:12-13 ; Mar 6:20 . Here after Jesus had personally instructed his apostles in the things of the kingdom, he sends them out charging them, “As ye go, preach. What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light, and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops.” Mark says, “And they went out and preached that men should repent.” Then he tells how, later, they returned and reported to Jesus, “Whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught.” This commission, and the preaching done under it, and the report made of it, may be compared with the commission of the seventy and their report (see Luk 10:1-24 ). The brother contended also that it was only after his resurrection that he gave them a commission and commanded them to baptize. He is again mistaken. The commission to the twelve in Mat 10 , and to the seventy in Luk 10 , are as clean-cut commissions as the later ones in Mat 28 and Mar 16 . The chief difference between the earlier commissions and the later ones is that the former were limited to the Jews (Mat 10:5-6 ), and the latter was to all nations (Mat 28:19 ). The passages cited from John 3-4 show that they made disciples and baptized them as regularly under the former commission, when preaching to Jews as under the latter commission, when preaching to all nations, The command in each case is precisely the same. In Joh 4 they made and baptized disciples. In Mat 28 they are commanded to make and baptize disciples. While executing the first commission Jesus himself was their power, he being on earth. In executing the latter commission Jesus is to be yet with them, for he says, “Lo I I am with you all the days even unto the end of the world.” Only in this case he was not to be present in person, but in the Holy Spirit, the other Paraclete. In the ministry limited to the Jews during Christ’s lifetime, whether conducted by John the Baptist (Act 19:4 ), or by Jesus himself (Mar 1:15 ), or by the twelve apostles and the seventy (Mar 6:12 ), the duties commanded were the same repentance toward God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and baptism upon the profession of that faith, just as Peter on the day of Pentecost and later (Act 2:38 ; Act 3:19 ) and Paul (Act 20:21 ). Peter himself baptized sometimes through other disciples (Act 10:47-48 ), as did also Paul (1Co 1:14-17 ).

The design of John’s Gospel (Joh 20:31 ) was (1) to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and (2) that, believing on him, one might have everlasting life. This is beautifully illustrated in the incident of the Samaritan woman by which the gospel was introduced into Samaria. But this involves the history of the Samaritans as a background of the story. In 975 B.C. Jeroboam revolted and carried with him the ten tribes of Israel who afterward established their capital at Samaria, but in 721 B.C. the ten tribes were all led away captive to Assyria, except a small remnant of the very poorest of the population. The Assyrian government drafted a population from the heathen nations to fill the vacancy caused by this removal and then sent a priest to teach them of God, but they feared the Lord and served other gods. The descendants of this mixed population of Jews and heathen constituted the Samaritans of Christ’s day. In 588 B.C. Judah was captured and carried away to Babylon, upon which the poor was left in the land as in the case of Israel, but in 536 B.C. Judah returned under Zerubbabel and Joshua, after which the hierarchy was established by Ezra. When they went to build the Temple the Samaritans asked to help, but they were refused with scorn. Here the hostilities between the Jews and Samaritans commenced. The Samaritans built a temple on Mount Gerizirn to which the woman referred in her conversation with Christ. They also preserved the Pentateuch, with some corruptions, as their Scriptures. The hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans lasted till Christ’s day. The Samaritans would not receive the Jews into their homes if they were going toward Jerusalem, but they were more hospitable to those going north, or away from Jerusalem, This accounts for their reception of Christ and his disciples on their way to Galilee, as recorded in Joh 4 .

We will now take up the incident of Christ winning the woman at the well of Sychar. He had walked all the way from Judea and was weary and hungry. Thus he sat by the well. It was about noon and while he was there alone (the disciples having gone to Sychar to buy food) there came a woman to the well to draw water. Christ at once sets himself to the task of winning her. Let us note here the method of Jesus. First, he secured her attention by asking her for a drink. Second, he directed the thought from the matter in hand. Third, he attracted her by speaking where she did not expect it: “Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” Fourth, he at once introduced the spiritual correspondent to the thing in her mind: “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that speaketh with thee, thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water.” But her mind clings to the earthly: “Nothing to draw with; the well is deep; art thou greater than Jacob?” “But,” says Jesus “the water which I give is living water and quenches thirst forever.” It is living (1) because it is eternal. The water in the well was temporary. (2) Because it symbolized the Holy Spirit’s work. (3) Because it was not local and immovable but in him. (4) Because it ends in eternal life. All this seta forth the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. But she is still earthly in mind: “That I may come hither no more to draw.”

Our Lord then sets himself to the task of convicting her of her sin: “Go call thy husband,” upon which she makes her confession. Building upon that, Christ reveals her heart and her life to her by telling her of her sins, to which she at once responded with an element of faith: “I perceive that thou art a prophet.” The light is coming to her gradually, but just here a difficulty arises, the place of worship: “Is it Jerusalem or Gerizirn?” This is a subtle scheme of the devil to defeat the honest inquirer: “There are so many denominations, and so many conflicting claims, what can I do?” Christ’s answer is to the point. He demands more faith: “Believe me,” and then proceeds to lead her away from the limitations of fame and place in worship and to reveal both the nature of God and the characteristics of his true worshipers: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” Augustine said: “If, by chance, you seek some high place, some holy place, within thee erect a temple to God.” The poet has expressed it thus: Once for prayer and lonely thought, Fitting time and place I sought; Now in heart, I always pray, Am alone where’er I stray.

Upon this she expresses her faith in the coming Messiah, her as that Promised One: “I that speak unto thee am he.” Faith was consummated and the work was done. The Messiah was found and the impulse to tell it to others finds expression. The water pot is left and the city of Sychar hears the glad news of the promised Messiah. But the disciples, returning in time to witness a part of the conversation, wondered that he was speaking to a woman, especially a Samaritan woman, but they did not have the courage to express their surprise to him. At once the crowds were flocking from the little city to see the Lord for themselves and in the midst of these things his disciples plead with him to eat, but his meat was spiritual and more invigorating than temporal food. This furnishes the occasion for our Lord to call the attention of the disciples to the ready harvest of missionary work opened up by the conversion of this one soul. He exhorts them to look at the fields, to expect immediate results, to enter into the harvest, not of their own sowing. Here is emphasized the blessed truth that the various laborers in the kingdom should not only labor together, but they shall rejoice together. After all this he abode there two days and many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the testimony of the woman, but many more believed because of his own word. This distinction in faith is that of the distinction between hearing of the sun and feeling the sun.

After these two days he went on into Galilee and had a warm reception there, because the Galileans had witnessed what he did at the feast in Jerusalem.

It will be noted that Jesus “in His early ministry allowed himself to be regarded as the Messiah by his first disciples, and personally declared that He was the Messiah to the woman at the well, which many other Samaritans also personally believed. He never declared this to the Jewish rulers at Jerusalem till the very end, doubtless because such an avowal would lead them to kill Him, and so must not be made until His work in teaching the people and training His disciples should be completed.” Broadus, Harmony p. 24.

QUESTIONS

1. Show the guilt and reasonableness of the punishment of sin.

2. Where, in the history, do the contemporaneous ministries of Jesus and John approach each other?

3. What sentence of John’s Gospel shows the identity of their process of discipling?

4. What was a certain brother’s trouble and theory about Joh 4:27

5. What was the reply to his theory that the apostles were not baptized and did not baptize others?

6. What things are evident from Joh 3:22-23 ; Joh 4:2 ?

7. What was the reply to his contention that Christ’s apostles never preached a sermon before Pentecost?

8. What was the reply to his contention that Christ gave his com mission to them only after his resurrection?

9. What is the chief difference between the earlier commissions and the later ones?

10. What, from John 3-4, is evident as to these commissions?

11. What is the difference as to the power to execute under the commissions?

12. What were the specific duties commanded in all Christ’s commissions?

13. What is the purpose of John’s Gospel (Joh 20:31 )?

14. By what personal incident was the gospel introduced into Samaria?

15. Give a brief historical account of the Samaritans.

16. What were the issues between them and the Jews?

17. Why would Samaritans receive Jews going north more kindly than when going south?

18. Give the story leading up to the incident of the woman.

19. What four elements in Jesus’ method here noted?

20. Why was the water which he offered the woman “living water”?

21. How did Jesus convict her of sin?

22. What was the first manifestation of her faith?

23. What difficulty did she here suggest?

24. What was Christ’s answer to this difficulty; How does demand more faith?

25. What remarkable declaration from Jesus concerning the nature and disposition of God and the consequent nature and place of worship?

26. What said Augustine on this point?

27. What said the poet?

28. What was the next step in the development of her faith and what the response of Jesus?

29. At what point was she converted and how did she manifest it?

30. At what part of the incident did the disciples marvel and why?

31. Describe the results of this conversion.

32. What is the encouraging teaching from Jesus resulting from this incident?

33. What of the reception of Jesus into Galilee and why?

34. Why did Jesus allow his early disciples to regard him as the Messiah and so announce himself here to the woman, but never declared this to the Jews at Jerusalem till the end of his ministry?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Ver. 16. God so loved the world ] This is a sic so without a sicut, just as , there being nothing in nature wherewith to parallel it. The world, that is, all mankind fallen in Adam. This the apostle fitly calleth God’s philanthropy, Tit 3:4 , it being a sweet favour to the whole kind of us that any are saved by Christ.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

16. ] Many Commentators since the time of Erasmus, who first suggested the notion have maintained that the discourse of our Lord breaks off here , and the rest, to Joh 3:21 , consists of the remarks of the Evangelist. (So Tholuck, Olshausen, Lcke, De Wette; which last attributes Joh 3:13-14 also to John.) But to those who view these discourses of our Lord as intimately connected wholes , this will be as inconceivable, as the idea of St. Matthew having combined into one the insulated sayings of his Master. This discourse would be altogether fragmentary, and would have left Nicodemus almost where he was before , had not this most weighty concluding part been also spoken to him. This it is, which expands and explains the assertions of Joh 3:14-15 , and applies them to the present life and conduct of mankind.

The principal grounds alleged for supposing the discourse to break off here seem to be ( ) that all allusion to Nicodemus is henceforth dropped .

But this is not conclusive, for it is obvious that the natural progress of such an interview on his part would be from questioning to listening: and that even had he joined in the dialogue, the Evangelist would not have been bound to relate all his remarks, but only those which, as Joh 3:2 ; Joh 3:4 ; Joh 3:9 , were important to bring out his mind and standing-point. ( ) That henceforth past tenses are used; making it more probable that the passage was added after the great events alluded to had taken place. But does not our Lord speak here, as in so many other cases, proleptically , of the fulness of the accomplishment of those designs, which in the divine counsels were accomplished? Is not this way of speaking natural to a discourse which is treating of the development of the new birth, itself not yet brought in till the Spirit was given? See a parallel instance, with the Evangelist’s explanation, ch. Joh 7:37-39 . ( ) On account of this use of , Joh 3:16 ; Joh 3:18 , which is peculiar to John. But, as Stier well enquires (iv. 84, edn. 2), whence did John get this word , but from the lips of his Divine Master? Would he have ventured on such an expression, except by an authorization from Him? ( ) It is asserted that John often continues our Lord’s discourses with additions of his own; and Joh 3:31 , and ch. Joh 1:16 , are alleged as instances. Of these, ch. Joh 1:16 is beside the question; for the whole prologue is spoken in the person of the Evangelist, and the Baptist’s testimony in Joh 3:15 is merely confirmatory of Joh 3:14 , and then the connexion goes on with Joh 3:16 . On the untenableness of the view with regard to Joh 3:31 ff., see notes there.

It would besides give us a very mean idea of the honesty or reverence of one who sets forth so sublime a view of the Divinity and Authority of our Lord, to suppose him capable, in any place , of attributing to his Master words and sentiments of his own invention. And that the charge amounts to this, every simple reader can bear testimony. The obvious intention of the Evangelist here is, that the Lord shall have said these words . If our Lord did not say them, but the Evangelist, we cannot stop with the view that he has added his own remarks to our Lord’s discourse, but must at once pronounce him guilty of an imposture and a forgery . (See Stier, iv. 81 ff., edn. 2.) I conclude therefore on all these grounds that the words following, to Joh 3:21 , cannot be otherwise regarded than as uttered by our Lord in continuation of His discourse .

] The indefinite signifying the universal and eternal existence of that love which God Himself is ( 1Jn 4:8 ).

, the world , in the most general sense, as represented by, and included in, man, Gen 3:17-18 ; Gen 1:28 ; not, the elect , which would utterly destroy the force of the passage: see on Joh 3:18 .

The Lord here reveals Love as the one ground of the divine counsel in redemption, salvation of men, as its one purpose with regard to them .

] These words, whether spoken in Hebrew or in Greek, seem to carry a reference to the offering of Isaac; and Nicodemus in that case would at once be reminded by them of the love there required , the substitution there made , and the prophecy there uttered to Abraham, to which . so nearly corresponds.

absolute, not merely gave up, , Rom 8:32 ; where as Stier remarks, we have again, in the , an unmistakeable allusion to the , said to Abraham, Gen 22:16 .

] By the repetition of this final clause verbatim from Joh 3:15 , we have the identity of the former clauses established: i.e. the uplifting of the Son of Man like the serpent in the wilderness is the manifestation of the Divine Love in the gift of the Son of God: of Joh 3:14 , = in the strictest sense, . . of Joh 3:16 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Joh 3:16 . Several conservative theologians, Neander, Tholuck, Westcott, are of opinion that the words of Jesus end with Joh 3:15 , and that from Joh 3:16-21 we have an addition by the evangelist. There is much to be said in favour of this idea. The thoughts of these verses are explanatory rather than progressive. Joh 3:16-17 repeat the object of Christ’s mission, which has already been stated. Joh 3:18-19 declare the historic results in faith and unbelief, results which at the date of the conversation were not conspicuous. Joh 3:20-21 exhibit the causes of faith and unbelief. The tenses also forbid us to refer the passage directly to Jesus. In His lips the present would have been more natural. To John looking back on the finished story aorists and perfects are natural. Also, the designation “only begotten son” is not one of the names by which Jesus designates Himself, but it is used by the evangelist, Joh 1:18 and 1Jn 4:9 . . The love of God for the world of men is the source of Christ’s mission with all its blessings. It was this which prompted Him to “give,” that is, to give not solely to the death of the cross alluded to in Joh 3:14 , but to all that the world required for salvation, His only begotten Son. “The change from the aorist ( ) to the present ( ) is to be noted, the utter ruin being spoken of as an act, the possession of life eternal as an enduring experience” (Meyer, Weiss, Holtzmann).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

John

THE LAKE AND THE RIVER

Joh 3:16 .

I venture to say that my text shows us a lake, a river, a pitcher, and a draught. ‘God so loved the world’-that is the lake. A lake makes a river for itself-’God so loved the world that He gave His . . . Son.’ But the river does not quench any one’s thirst unless he has something to lift the water with: ‘God so loved the world that He gave His . . . Son, that whosoever believeth on Him.’ Last comes the draught: ‘shall not perish, but have everlasting life.’

I. The great lake, God’s love.

Before Jesus Christ came into this world no one ever dreamt of saying ‘God loves.’ Some of the Old Testament psalmists had glimpses of that truth and came pretty near expressing it. But among all the ‘gods many and lords many,’ there were lustful gods and beautiful gods, and idle gods, and fighting gods and peaceful gods: but not one of whom worshippers said, ‘He loves.’ Once it was a new and almost incredible message, but we have grown accustomed to it, and it is not strange any more to us. But if we would try to think of what it means, the whole truth would flash up into fresh newness, and all the miseries and sorrows and perplexities of our lives would drift away down the wind, and we should be no more troubled with them. ‘God loves’ is the greatest thing that can be said by lips.

‘God . . . loved the world.’ Now when we speak of loving a number of individuals-the broader the stream, the shallower it is, is it not? The most intense patriot in England does not love her one ten-thousandth part as well as he loves his own little girl. When we think or feel anything about a great multitude of people, it is like looking at a forest. We do not see the trees, we see the whole wood. But that is not how God loves the world. Suppose I said that I loved the people in India, I should not mean by that that I had any feeling about any individual soul of all those dusky millions, but only that I massed them all together; or made what people call a generalisation of them. But that is not the way in which God loves. He loves all because He loves each. And when we say, ‘God so loved the world,’ we have to break up the mass into its atoms, and to think of each atom as being an object of His love. We all stand out in God’s love just as we should do to one another’s eyes, if we were on the top of a mountain-ridge with a clear sunset sky behind us. Each little black dot of the long procession would be separately visible. And we all stand out like that, every man of us isolated, and getting as much of the love of God as if there was not another creature in the whole universe but God and ourselves. Have you ever realised that when we say, ‘He loved the world,’ that really means, as far as each of us is concerned, He loves me? And just as the whole beams of the sun come pouring down into every eye of the crowd that is looking up to it, so the whole love of God pours down, not upon a multitude, an abstraction, a community, but upon every single soul that makes up that community. He loves us all because He loves us each. We shall never get all the good of that thought until we translate it, and lay it upon our hearts. It is all very well to say, ‘Ah yes! God is love,’ and it is all very well to say He loves ‘the world.’ But I will tell you what is a great deal better-to say-what Paul said-’Who loved me and gave Himself for me.’

Now, there is one other suggestion that I would make to you before I go on, and that is that all through the New Testament, but especially in John’s Gospel, ‘the world’ does not only mean men, but sinful men, men separated from God. And the great and blessed truth taught here is that, however I may drag myself away from God, I cannot drive Him away from me, and that however little I may care for Him, or love Him, or think about Him, it does not make one hairs-breadth of difference as to the fact that He loves me. I know, of course, that if a man does not love Him back again, God’s love has to take shapes that it would not otherwise take, which may be extremely inconvenient for the man. But though the shape may alter, must alter, the fact remains; and every sinful soul on the earth, including Judas Iscariot-who is said to head the list of crimes-has God’s love resting upon him.

II. The river.

Now, to go back to my metaphor, the lake makes a river. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.’

So then, it was not Christ’s death that turned God from hating and being angry, but it was God’s love that appointed Christ’s death. If you will only remember that, a great many of the shallow and popular objections to the great doctrine of the Atonement disappear at once. ‘God so loved . . . that He gave.’ But some people say that when we preach that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that God’s wrath might not fall upon men, our teaching is immoral, because it means ‘Christ came, and so God loved.’ It is the other way about, friend. ‘God so loved . . . that He gave.’

But now let me carry you back to the Old Testament. Do you remember the story of the father taking his boy who carried the bundle of wood and the fire, and tramping over the mountains till they reached the place where the sacrifice was to be offered? Do you remember the boy’s question that brings tears quickly to the reader’s eyes: ‘Here is the wood, and here is the fire, where is the lamb’? Do you not think it would be hard for the father to steady his voice and say, ‘My son, God will provide the lamb’? And do you remember the end of that story? ‘The Angel of the Lord said unto Abraham, Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me, therefore blessing I will bless thee,’ etc. Remember that one of the Apostles said, using the very same word that is used in Genesis as to Abraham’s giving up his son to God, ‘He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up to the death for us all.’ Does not that point to a mysterious parallel? Somehow or other-we have no right to attempt to say how-somehow or other, God not only sent His Son, as it is said in the next verse to my text, but far more tenderly, wonderfully, pathetically, God gave-gave up His Son, and the sacrifice was enhanced, because it was His only begotten Son.

Ah! dear brethren, do not let us be afraid of following out all that is included in that great word, ‘God . . . loved the world.’ For there is no love which does not delight in giving, and there is no love that does not delight in depriving itself, in some fashion, of what it gives. And I, for my part, believe that Paul’s words are to be taken in all their blessed depth and wonderfulness of meaning when he says, ‘He gave up’-as well as gave-’Him to the death for us all.’

And now, do you not think that we are able in some measure to estimate the greatness of that little word ‘so’? ‘God so loved’-so deeply, so holily, so perfectly-that He ‘gave His only begotten Son’; and the gift of that Son is, as it were, the river by which the love of God comes to every soul in the world.

Now there are a great many people who would like to put the middle part of this great text of ours into a parenthesis. They say that we should bring the first words and the last words of this text together, and never mind all that lies between. People who do not like the doctrine of the Cross would say, ‘God so loved the world that He gave . . . everlasting life’; and there an end. ‘If there is a God, and if He loves the world, why cannot He save the world without more ado? There is no need for these interposed clauses. God so loved the world that everybody will go to heaven’-that is the gospel of a great many of you; and it is the gospel of a great many wise and learned people. But it is not John’s Gospel, and it is not Christ’s Gospel. The beginning and the end of the text cannot be buckled up together in that rough-and-ready fashion. They have to be linked by a chain; and there are two links in the chain: God forges the one, and we have to forge the other. ‘God so loved the world that He gave’-then He has done His work. ‘That whosoever believeth’-that is your work. And it is in vain that God forges His link, unless you will forge yours and link it up to His. ‘God so loved the world,’ that is step number one in the process; ‘that He gave,’ that is step number two; and then there comes another ‘that’-’that whosoever believeth,’ that is step number three; and they are all needed before you come to number four, which is the landing-place and not a step-’should not perish, but have everlasting life.’

III. The pitcher.

I come to what I called the pitcher, with which we draw the water for our own use-’that whosoever believeth.’ You perhaps say, ‘Yes, I believe. I accept every word of the Gospel, I quite believe that Jesus Christ died, as a matter of history; and I quite believe that He died for men’s sins.’ And what then? Is that what Jesus Christ meant by believing? To believe about Him is not to believe on Him; and unless you believe on Him you will get no good out of Him. There is the lake, and the river must flow past the shanties in the clearing in the forest, if the men there are to drink. But it may flow past their doors, as broad as the Mississippi, and as deep as the ocean; but they will perish with thirst, unless they dip in their hands, like Gideon’s men, and carry the water to their own lips. Dear friend, what you have to do-and your soul’s salvation, and your peace and joy and nobleness in this life and in the next depend absolutely upon it-is simply to trust in Jesus Christ and His death for your sins.

I sometimes wish we had never heard that word ‘faith.’ For as soon as we begin to talk about ‘faith,’ people begin to think that we are away up in some theological region far above everyday life. Suppose we try to bring it down a little nearer to our businesses and bosoms, and instead of using a word that is kept sacred for employment in religious matters, and saying ‘faith,’ we say ‘trust.’ That is what you give to your wives and husbands, is it not? And that is exactly what you have to give to Jesus Christ, simply to lay hold of Him as a man lays hold of the heart that loves him, and leans his whole weight upon it. Lean hard on Him, hang on Him, or, to take the other metaphor that is one of the Old Testament words for trust, ‘flee for refuge’ to Him. Fancy a man with the avenger of blood at his back, and the point of the pursuer’s spear almost pricking his spine-don’t you think he would make for the City of Refuge with some speed? That is what you have to do. He that believeth, and by trust lays hold of the Hand that holds him up, will never fall; and he that does not lay hold of that Hand will never stand, to say nothing of rising. And so by these two links God’s love of the world is connected with the salvation of the world.

IV. The draught.

Finally, we have here the draught of living water. Did you ever think why our text puts ‘should not perish’ first? Is it not because, unless we put our trust in Him, we shall certainly perish, and because, therefore, that certainty of perishing must be averted before we can have ‘everlasting life’?

Now I am not going to enlarge on these two solemn expressions, ‘perishing’ and ‘everlasting life.’ I only say this: men do not need to wait until they die before they ‘perish.’ There are men and women here now who are dead-dead while they live, and when they come to die, the perishing, which is condemnation and ruin, will only be the making visible, in another condition of life, of what is the fact to-day. Dear brethren, you do not need to die in order to perish in your sins, and, blessed be God, you can have everlasting life before you die. You can have it now, and there is only one way to have it, and that is to lay hold of Him who is the Life. And when you have Jesus Christ in your heart, whom you will be sure to have if you trust Him, then you will have life-life eternal, here and now, and death will only make manifest the eternal life which you had while you were alive here, and will perfect it in fashions that we do not yet know anything about.

Only remember, as I have been trying to show you, the order that runs through this text. Remember the order of these last words, and that we must first of all be delivered from eternal and utter death, before we can be invested with the eternal and absolute life.

Now, dear brethren, I dare say I have never spoken to the great majority of you before; it is quite possible I may never speak to any of you again. I have asked God to help me to speak so as that souls should be drawn to the Saviour. And I beseech you now, as my last word, that you would listen, not to me, but to Him. For it is He that says to us, ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His Son, that whosoever’-’whosoever,’ a blank cheque, like the M. or N. of the Prayer-book, or the A. B. of a schedule; you can put your own name in it-’that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have’-here, now-’everlasting life.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 3:16-21

16For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

Joh 3:16 “God so loved” This is an aorist active indicative (as is the verb “gave”), which here speaks of a completed act in the past time (God sent Jesus). Joh 3:16-17 deal primarily with the Father’s love (cf. 1Jn 4:7-21, esp. Joh 3:9-10). “Loved” is the term agapa. It was not used much in Classical Greek. The early church took it and filled it with specific meaning. In certain contexts it relates to the Father’s or Son’s love, however, it is used negatively of human love (cf. Joh 3:19; Joh 12:43; 1Jn 2:15). It is theologically synonymous with hesed in the OT, which meant God’s covenant loyalty and love. In Koine Greek of John’s day, the terms agapa and phile are basically synonymous (compare Joh 3:35 with Joh 5:20).

Interpreters must keep in mind that all words used to describe God carry human (anthropomorphic) baggage. We must use words that describe our world, our feelings, our historical perspective in an attempt to describe an eternal, holy, unique, spiritual Being (God). All human vocabulary is to some extent analogous or metaphorical. What has been revealed is surely true, but not ultimate. Fallen, temporal, finite mankind cannot grasp ultimate reality.

SPECIAL TOPIC: GOD DESCRIBED AS HUMAN (ANTHROPOMORPHISM) )

“so” This is literally “in such a manner” (i.e., Joh 7:46; Joh 11:48; Joh 18:22). It expresses method, not emotion! God demonstrated His love (cf. Rom 5:8) by giving (Joh 3:16) and sending (Joh 3:17, both are aorist active indicatives) His Son to die on mankind’s behalf (cf. Isaiah 53; Rom 3:25; 2Co 5:21; 1Jn 2:2).

“world” John used this Greek term kosmos in several senses (see note at Joh 1:10 and Special Topic at Joh 14:17).

This verse also refuted the Gnostic dualism between spirit (God) and matter. The Greeks tended to attribute evil to matter. For them matter (i.e., human body) was the prison house of the divine spark in all humans. John does not assume the evil of matter or flesh. God loves the world (planet, cf. Rom 8:18-22) and human beings (flesh, cf. Rom 8:23). This may be another intentional ambiguity (double entendre) so common in John (cf. Joh 1:5; Joh 3:3; Joh 3:8).

“only begotten Son” This means “unique, one of a kind.” It should not be understood as “only begotten” in (1) a sexual sense or (2) the sense that there are no other children. There are just no other children like Jesus. See fuller note at Joh 1:14.

“whoever believes in Him” This is a present active participle, which emphasizes initial and continuing belief. See Special Topics at Joh 1:14; Joh 2:23. This affirmation is repeated from Joh 3:15 for emphasis. Thank God for the “whosoever”! This must balance any overemphasis on a special group (racial, intellectual, or theological). It is not that “God’s sovereignty” and “human freewill” are mutually exclusive; they are both true! God always initiates the response and sets the agenda (cf. Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65), but He has structured His relationship with humans by means of covenant. They must respond and continue to respond to His offer and conditions!

SPECIAL TOPIC: ELECTION/PREDESTINATION AND THE NEED FOR A THEOLOGICAL BALANCE

“shall not perish” The implication is that some will perish (aorist middle subjunctive). Their perishing (amollumi, aorist middle subjunctive) is directly related to their lack of a faith response to Jesus (cf. Joh 11:25). God does not cause, direct, or will their unbelief (cf. Eze 18:23; Eze 18:32; 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9).

Many have attempted to take this term literally and thereby suggest an annihilation of the wicked. This would contradict Dan 12:2 and Mat 25:46. This is a good example of sincere believers forcing the Eastern highly figurative literature into a Western interpretive format (literal and logical). For a good discussion of this term see Robert B. Girdlestone’s Synonyms of the Old Testament, pp. 275-277. See Special Topic: Destruction (apolummi) at Joh 10:10.

Again, note how John thinks and writes in dualistic categories (i.e., perish vs. eternal life). The vocabulary and theological structuring of Jesus’ teachings are very different between the Synoptic Gospels and John. One wonders how much freedom (under divine guidance, i.e., inspiration) the Gospel writers had in preparing their evangelistic presentation of Jesus to their selected audiences. See Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth, pp. 127-148.

Joh 3:17 “to judge the world” There are several passages in John that assert that Jesus came as Savior, not Judge (cf. Joh 3:17-21; Joh 8:15; Joh 12:47). However, there are other passages in John that assert that Jesus came to judge, will judge (cf. Joh 5:22-23; Joh 5:27; Joh 9:39; as well as other parts of the NT, Act 10:42; Act 17:31; 2Ti 4:1; 1Pe 4:5).

Several theological comments are in order.

1. God gave judgment to Jesus as He did creation and redemption as a sign of honor (cf. Joh 5:23)

2. Jesus did not come the first time to judge, but to save (cf. Joh 3:17), but by the fact that people reject Him, they judge themselves

3. Jesus will return as King of Kings and Judge (cf. Joh 9:39)

Joh 3:18 This verse repeats the theme of a free salvation through Christ versus a self inflicted judgment. God does not send people to hell. They send themselves. Belief has continuing results (“believing,” present active participle) and so does unbelief (“has been judged,” perfect passive indicative and “has not believed,” perfect active indicative). See Special Topics at Joh 2:23; Joh 9:7.

Joh 3:19-21 “men loved the darkness rather than the light” Many people who have heard the gospel reject it, not for intellectual or cultural reasons, but primarily for moral ones (cf. Job 24:13). The Light refers to Christ (cf. Joh 1:9; Joh 8:12; Joh 9:5; Joh 12:46) and His message of God’s love, mankind’s need, Christ’s provision, and the required response. This is a recurring motif from Joh 1:1-18.

Joh 3:19 “This is the judgment” Judgment, like salvation, is both a present reality (cf. Joh 3:19; Joh 9:39) and a future consummation (cf. Joh 5:27-29; Joh 12:31; Joh 12:48). Believers live in the already (realized eschatology) and the not yet (consummated eschatology). The Christian life is a joy and a terrible struggle; it is victory after a series of defeats; assurance yet a series of warnings about perseverance!

Joh 3:21 “practices the truth” Since “the Light” (cf. Joh 3:19-20[twice],21) is an obvious reference to Jesus, it is possible that “the truth” should also be capitalized. Robert Hanna in A Grammatical Aid to the Greek New Testament quotes N. Turner in his Grammatical Insights into the New Testament, who translates it as “the man who is a disciple of the Truth” (p. 144).

Theologically this verse expresses the same truth as Matthew 7. Eternal life has observable characteristics. A person cannot truly encounter God in Christ, be filled by the Holy Spirit, and remain the same. The parable of the soils focuses on fruit-bearing, not germination (cf. Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8. Also note John’s discussion in Joh 15:1-11). Works do not earn salvation, but they are the evidence of it (cf. Eph 2:8-10).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. What is the meaning of the phrase “born again”?

2. What do you think “water” refers to in Joh 3:5 and why?

3. What does “believe” (saving faith) involve?

4. Is Joh 3:16 a passage about Jesus’ love for mankind or the Father’s?

5. How is Calvinism related to Joh 3:16?

6. Does “perish” mean annihilation?

7. Define “the light.”

CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS TO Joh 3:22-36

A. John’s emphasis on the full deity of Jesus Christ is communicated from the very beginning of the Gospel through dialogue and personal encounters. This chapter continues that format.

B. John, writing his Gospel toward the end of the first century, deals with some of the questions that had developed since the Synoptic Gospels were written. One of them has to do with the large following and apparent early heresies connected with John the Baptist (cf. Act 18:24 to Act 19:7). It is significant that in Joh 1:6-8; Joh 1:19-36; Joh 3:22-36 John the Baptist affirms his inferior relationship to Jesus of Nazareth and asserts Jesus’ Messianic role.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

loved. Greek agapao. App-135. A word characteristic of this Gospel. See p. 1511.

world. Greek. kosmos. App-129. See note on Joh 1:9. only, &c. See Joh 1:14.

Son. App-108.

everlasting. Same as “eternal” in Joh 3:15. See App-151.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

16.] Many Commentators-since the time of Erasmus, who first suggested the notion-have maintained that the discourse of our Lord breaks off here, and the rest, to Joh 3:21, consists of the remarks of the Evangelist. (So Tholuck, Olshausen, Lcke, De Wette; which last attributes Joh 3:13-14 also to John.) But to those who view these discourses of our Lord as intimately connected wholes, this will be as inconceivable, as the idea of St. Matthew having combined into one the insulated sayings of his Master. This discourse would be altogether fragmentary, and would have left Nicodemus almost where he was before, had not this most weighty concluding part been also spoken to him. This it is, which expands and explains the assertions of Joh 3:14-15, and applies them to the present life and conduct of mankind.

The principal grounds alleged for supposing the discourse to break off here seem to be () that all allusion to Nicodemus is henceforth dropped.

But this is not conclusive, for it is obvious that the natural progress of such an interview on his part would be from questioning to listening: and that even had he joined in the dialogue, the Evangelist would not have been bound to relate all his remarks, but only those which, as Joh 3:2; Joh 3:4; Joh 3:9, were important to bring out his mind and standing-point. () That henceforth past tenses are used; making it more probable that the passage was added after the great events alluded to had taken place. But does not our Lord speak here, as in so many other cases, proleptically, of the fulness of the accomplishment of those designs, which in the divine counsels were accomplished? Is not this way of speaking natural to a discourse which is treating of the development of the new birth, itself not yet brought in till the Spirit was given? See a parallel instance, with the Evangelists explanation, ch. Joh 7:37-39. () On account of this use of , Joh 3:16; Joh 3:18, which is peculiar to John. But, as Stier well enquires (iv. 84, edn. 2), whence did John get this word, but from the lips of his Divine Master? Would he have ventured on such an expression, except by an authorization from Him? () It is asserted that John often continues our Lords discourses with additions of his own;-and Joh 3:31, and ch. Joh 1:16, are alleged as instances. Of these, ch. Joh 1:16 is beside the question;-for the whole prologue is spoken in the person of the Evangelist, and the Baptists testimony in Joh 3:15 is merely confirmatory of Joh 3:14, and then the connexion goes on with Joh 3:16. On the untenableness of the view with regard to Joh 3:31 ff., see notes there.

It would besides give us a very mean idea of the honesty or reverence of one who sets forth so sublime a view of the Divinity and Authority of our Lord, to suppose him capable, in any place, of attributing to his Master words and sentiments of his own invention. And that the charge amounts to this, every simple reader can bear testimony. The obvious intention of the Evangelist here is, that the Lord shall have said these words. If our Lord did not say them, but the Evangelist, we cannot stop with the view that he has added his own remarks to our Lords discourse, but must at once pronounce him guilty of an imposture and a forgery. (See Stier, iv. 81 ff., edn. 2.) I conclude therefore on all these grounds that the words following, to Joh 3:21, cannot be otherwise regarded than as uttered by our Lord in continuation of His discourse.

] The indefinite signifying the universal and eternal existence of that love which God Himself is (1Jn 4:8).

, the world, in the most general sense, as represented by, and included in, man,-Gen 3:17-18; Gen 1:28;-not, the elect, which would utterly destroy the force of the passage: see on Joh 3:18.

The Lord here reveals Love as the one ground of the divine counsel in redemption,-salvation of men, as its one purpose with regard to them.

] These words, whether spoken in Hebrew or in Greek, seem to carry a reference to the offering of Isaac; and Nicodemus in that case would at once be reminded by them of the love there required, the substitution there made, and the prophecy there uttered to Abraham, to which . so nearly corresponds.

-absolute, not merely -gave up,-,-Rom 8:32; where as Stier remarks, we have again, in the , an unmistakeable allusion to the , said to Abraham, Gen 22:16.

] By the repetition of this final clause verbatim from Joh 3:15, we have the identity of the former clauses established: i.e. the uplifting of the Son of Man like the serpent in the wilderness is the manifestation of the Divine Love in the gift of the Son of God:- of Joh 3:14, = in the strictest sense, . . of Joh 3:16.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 3:16. , loved) The Son knows the Father, and the love of the Father: and alone [though but one] bears the best witness [of Him]: comp. Joh 3:35, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand.- , the world) [all] the men under heaven, even those who were about to perish (comp. , [autem] moreover-for indeed, Joh 3:19, And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light): as being those with whom He was otherwise [i.e. but for the atonement through His Son] angry: Joh 3:36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Were it not for this, their unbelief would not properly be a fault [guilt] fatal to unbelievers; [but as it is] they ought to have believed that the Son of God was given even for the sake of them also; therefore He was given for their sake. Comp. by all means ch. Joh 12:47, If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world-the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. Mich. Beckius, I heard an interpretation (as truly as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who knows I lie not, loves me) at an inn in Strasburg, in the year 1681, from a possessed woman, through whom Satan in the Latin tongue, in answer to that saying [of Scripture], which I brought against Satan to prove the universal love of God, even extending to that wretched woman still living in the world [according to the then prevalent superstition], whose name was Salome-replied in turn, with a horrible groan, in these words, The believing are the world [meant].-Disquis. hermen., p. 5.-) gave [to be crucified.-V. g.], in truth, and in earnest [in act and in purpose]: Rom 8:32, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how etc. And Christ gave Himself, Gal 2:20, The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me, in truth and in earnest.- , in Him) as having been [so] lovingly given by God.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 3:16

Joh 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish,-God showed his love to the world, to free man, the head of the world, by giving his Son to die for the world. He showed his hatred of sin by giving his Son to die for the sins of the world that man might be delivered from the dominion and penalty of sin. God loved man despite his rebellion and sin, and so loved him that he gave his Son to die to save man from the result of his rebellion against God. That the death of Jesus so satisfied the law that God might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:26). He at the same time showed man his love to him to excite in man a corresponding love to God. We love, because he first loved us.” (1Jn 4:19). If we love God we will keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. (1Jn 5:3). Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. (Rev 22:14).

but have eternal life.-And being freed from sin that separates from God and brings death they become the heirs of eternal life with God. Faith in Christ leads man to follow him that he may have life eternal. It does not mean a faith alone that does not lead to obedience. A dead faith will not bring everlasting life. But faith in God through Christ is the great living principle that leads through obedience unto life everlasting.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Martin Luther called this sixteenth verse the Miniature Gospel, because there is a sense in which the whole story of the Bible is told out in it. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The verse negates the idea that a great many persons seem to have: that God is represented in Scriptures as a stern, angry Judge waiting to destroy men because of their sins, but that Jesus Christ, in some way or other, has made it possible for God to come out in love to sinners. In other words, that Christ loved us enough to die for us and, having atoned for our sins, God can now love us and be merciful to us. But that is an utter perversion of the gospel. Jesus Christ did not die to enable God to love sinners, but God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.

This same precious truth is set forth in similar words in the fourth chapter of 1 John, In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 4:9-10). So the coming to this world of our Lord Jesus Christ and His going to the cross, there to settle the sin question and thus meet every claim of the divine righteousness against the sinner, is the proof of the infinite love of God toward a world of guilty men. How we ought to thank and praise Him that He gave His Son for our redemption! God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).

It could not be otherwise, because He is love. We are taught in 1Jn 4:8; 1Jn 4:16: God is love. That is His very nature. We can say that God is gracious, but we cannot say that God is grace. We can say that God is compassionate, but we cannot say that God is compassion. God is kind, but God is not kindness. But we can say, God is love. That is His nature, and love had to manifest itself. Although men had forfeited every claim that they might have upon God, still He loved us and sent His only Son to become the propitiation for our sins- God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of five times as the only begotten in the New Testament: twice in the first chapter of this gospel. In verse 14 we read, The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Also in verse 18, No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Then here is this sixteenth verse of the third chapter, God so loved that he gave his only begotten Again in verse 18, He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The only other place where this term is used is in 1Jn 4:9, God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. It is a singular fact, and shows how wonderfully Scripture is constructed, that that term is not only used five times in the New Testament, but He is also called the first begotten or the first born exactly five times in the same book.

Now only begotten refers to His eternal Sonship. The term, the first begotten, tells what He became in grace as Man for our redemption. When He came into the world God owned that blessed Man as His first begotten, saying, Thou art my [beloved] Son; this day have I begotten thee (Psa 2:7; Act 13:33; Heb 1:5; Heb 5:5). The term only begotten does not carry in it any thought of generation, but that of uniqueness-Son by special relationship. The word is used in connection with Isaac. We read that Abraham offered up his only begotten (Heb 11:17). Now Isaac was not his only son. Ishmael was born some years before Isaac, so in the sense of generation you would not speak of Isaac as the only begotten son. He is called the only begotten because he was born in a miraculous manner, when it seemed impossible that Abraham and Sarah could ever be the parents of a child. In the Spanish translation we read that God so loved the world that He gave His unique Son, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God in a sense that no one else can ever be the Son of God-His eternal Son-His unique Son. Oh, how dear to the heart of the Father! And when God gave Him, He not only became incarnate to bear hardship, weariness, thirst, and hunger, but God gave Him up to the death of the cross that there He might be the propitiation for our sins. Could there be any greater manifestation of divine love than this?

You remember the story of the little girl in Martin Luthers day when the first edition of the Bible came out. She had a terrible fear of God. God had been presented in such a way that it filled her heart with dread when she thought of Him. She brooded over the awfulness of the character of God and of some day having to meet this angry Judge. But one day she came running to her mother, holding a scrap of paper in her hand. She cried out, Mother! Mother! I am not afraid of God any more. Her mother said, Why are you not? Why, look, Mother, she said, this bit of paper I found in the print shop, and it is torn out of the Bible. It was so torn as to be almost illegible except about two lines. On the one line it said, God so loved, and on the other line it said, that He gave. See, Mother, she said, that makes it all right. Her mother read it and said, God so loved that He gave. But, she said, it does not say what He gave. Oh, Mother, exclaimed the child, if He loved us enough to give anything, it is all right. Then the mother said, But, let me tell you what He gave. She read, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Then she told how we can have peace and eternal life through trusting Him.

Am I speaking to anyone today who dreads the thought of meeting God? Do you think of your sins and say with David of old, I remembered God, and was troubled (Psa 77:3)? Let me call your attention to this word: The love of God has been manifest in Christ. If you will but come as a needy sinner, He will wash your sins away. But, you say, how can I be sure that it is for me? I can understand that God could love some people. I can understand how He can invite certain ones to trust Him. Their lives have been so much better than mine, but I cannot believe that this salvation is for me. Well, what else can you make from that word whosoever? God so lovedthat he gave that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He could not find another more all-embracing word than that. It takes you in. It takes me in. You have many another whosoever in the Bible. There is a whosoever of judgment: Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Whosoever there includes all who did not come to God while He waited, in grace, to save. If they had recognized that they were included in the whosoever of Joh 3:16, they would not be found in that of Rev 20:15.

Somebody wrote me the other day and said, A man has come to our community who is preaching a limited atonement. He says it is a wonderful truth that has been only recently revealed to him. Well, I could only write back that the term limited atonement has an uncanny sound to me. I do not read anything like that in my Bible. I read that He taste [d] death for every man (Heb 2:9). I read that he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our sins only, but for the whole world (1Jn 2:2). I read that all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6). And here I read that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I say to you, as I said to the writer of that letter, that there is enough value in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ to save every member of the human race, if they would but repent and turn to God. Then if they were all saved, there still remains value enough to save the members of a million worlds like this, if they are lost in sin and needing a Savior. Yes, the sacrifice of Christ is an infinite sacrifice. Do not let the enemy of your soul tell you there is no hope for you. Do not let him tell you you have sinned away your day of grace, that you have gone so far that God is no longer merciful. There is life abundant for you if you will but look up into the face of the One who died on Calvarys cross and trust Him for yourself. Let me repeat it again, Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Whosoever believeth. What is it to believe? It is to trust in Him, to confide in Him, to commit yourself and your affairs to Him. He is saying to you, poor needy sinner, You cannot save yourself. All your efforts to redeem yourself can only end in failure, but I have given My Son to die for you. Trust in Him. Confide in Him! Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.

A lady was reading her Greek Testament one day. She was studying the Greek language and liked to read in the Greek Testament. She had no assurance of salvation. While pondering over these words, whosoever believeth, she said to herself as she looked at the Greek word for believeth, I saw this a few verses back. She went back in the chapter, and then back into the last verses of chapter 2, and she read, Many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men (vv. 22-23). Oh, she said, there it is! Jesus did not commit himself unto them, and she stopped and thought a moment, and light from heaven flashed into her soul. She saw that to believe in Jesus was to commit herself unto Jesus. Have you done that? Have you said,

Jesus, I will trust Thee, trust Thee with my soul,

Weary, worn and helpless, Thou canst make me whole.

There is none in heaven, or on earth like Thee;

Thou hast died for sinners; therefore, Lord, for me.

Now, whosoever believeth in him should not perish. As you turn the pages of Holy Scripture you get a marked picture of those who refused this grace. To perish means to go out into the darkness, to be forever under judgment, to exist in awful torment. He wants to save you from that. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Have, that suggests present possession. He does not say, hope to have everlasting life. You will have everlasting life right here and now when you believe in Jesus, when you trust Him. Somebody pondered about this one day, and then he looked up and said, God loved-God gave-I believe-and I have- everlasting life. Everlasting life, remember, is far more than life throughout eternity. It is far more than endless existence. It is the very life of God communicated to the soul in order that we may enjoy fellowship with Him. This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (Joh 17:3).

In verse 17, as though to encourage the guiltiest to come to Him, He says, For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

I remember, years ago, a dear old man behind the counter in a big department store in Los Angeles where I worked as a lad. The old man was very kind to me. He saw that I was very green and knew not what was expected of me. He took me under his wing and cared for me. I soon got interested in finding out whether he was saved or not. My dear mother was never with anybody very long before she asked them the question, Are you saved? Are you born again? I became so used to hearing her ask that question that I thought I ought to ask it of people, too. I went to him one day and said, Mr. Walsh, are you saved? He looked at me and said, My dear boy, no one will ever know that until the day of judgment. Oh, I replied, there must be some mistake. My mother knows she is saved. Well, she has made a mistake, he said, for no one can know that. But the Bible says, He that believeth on him hath everlasting life. Oh, well, he said, we cant be sure down here unless we become great saints. But we must just do the best we can and pray to the Lord and the blessed Virgin and the saints to help, and hope that in the day of judgment it may turn out well and we will be saved. But, I said, why do you pray to the blessed Virgin? Why not go direct to Jesus? My dear boy, the Lord is so great and mighty and holy that it is not befitting that a poor sinner such as I should go to Him, and there is no other who has such influence as His mother.

I did not know how to answer him then. But as I studied my Bible through the years, I could see what the answer was. Jesus unapproachable! Jesus hard to be contacted! Why, it was said of Him, This man receiveth sinners (Luk 15:2). Though high in heavenly glory, He still says to sinners, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden (Mat 11:28). Yes, you can go directly to Him, and when you trust Him He gives you eternal life. He did not come to condemn the world. He came with a heart of love to win poor sinners to Himself.

And then the eighteenth verse is so plain and simple. Oh, if you are an anxious soul and seeking light, remember that these are the very words of the living God, He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now, do you see this? There are just two classes of people in that verse. All men in the world who have heard the message are divided into these two classes. What are they? First, He that believeth. There are those who believe in Jesus. They stand by themselves. Now the other class, He that believeth not. Every person who has ever heard of Jesus is in one of those two classes. You are either among those who believe in Jesus or among those who do not believe. It is not a question of believing about Lim; it is a question of believing in Him. It is not holding mental conceptions about Him, mere facts of history; but it is trusting Him, committing yourself to Him. Those who trust Him and those who do not trust Him-in which of the two groups do you find yourself? He that believeth in him-are you there? He that believeth not-are you there? Oh, if you are, you should be in a hurry to get out of that group into the other, and you pass out of the one and into the other by trusting in Jesus.

Are you in the first group? He that believeth in him is not condemned. Do you believe that? Jesus said that. He that believeth in him is not condemned.

I was in Kilmarnock three years ago and gave an address one night in the Grant Hall. A number of people had come into the inquiry room, and I went in afterward to see how they were getting along. A minister called me over and said, Will you have a word with this lad? I sat down beside him and said, What is the trouble? He looked up and said, I canna see it. I canna see it. I am so burdened and canna find deliverance. I said, Have you been brought up in a Christian home? He told me he had. Do you know the way of salvation? He answered, Well, in a way, I do; but I canna see it. I said, Let me show you something. First I prayed with him and asked God, by the Holy Spirit, to open his heart. Then I pointed him to this verse and said, Do you see those two classes of people? What is the first class? What is the second class? He answered clearly. Now, I said, which class are you in? Then he looked at me and said, Why, I am in the first class. I do believe in Him, but it is all dark. I canna see. Now look again, said I. What does it say about the first class? He did look again, and I could see the cloud lift. He turned to me and exclaimed, Man, I see it! I am not condemned. I asked, How do you know? He replied, God said so. The minister said, Well, lad, are you now willing to go home and tell your parents? Tomorrow when you go to work, will you be willing to tell your mates? Oh, he said, I can hardly wait to get there.

Now, suppose you are in the other group. Listen, He that believeth not is condemned already. You do not need to wait until the day of judgment to find that out. Condemned! Why? Because you have been dishonest? Because you have lied? Because you have been unclean and unholy? Is it that? That is not what it says here. What does it say? He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That is the condemnation. All those sins you have been guilty of, Christ took into account when He died. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isa 53:5). So, if you are condemned, it is not simply because of the many sins you have committed through your lifetime. It is because of spurning the revelation of the Savior that God has provided. If you turn away from God and continue rejecting Jesus, you are committing the worst sin there is. He came, a light, into the world to lighten the darkness. If you turn away from Him, you are responsible for the darkness in which you will live and die.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (Joh 3:19). Is it not strange that men would rather continue in darkness than turn to Him, who is the light of life, and find deliverance. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth [i.e., he that is absolutely honest with God] cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God (vv. 20-21). Are you going to turn away from the light today or are you coming into the light? Will you trust the blessed One who is the light of the world, and thus rejoice in the salvation which He so freely offers you?

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

perish

(Greek – ,” trans). “marred,” Mar 2:22, “lost,”; Mat 10:6; Mat 15:24; Mat 18:11; Luk 15:4; Luk 15:6; Luk 15:32. In no N.T. instance does it signify cessation of existence or of consciousness. It is the condition of every non-believer.

world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

The Amazing Gift of Love

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.Joh 3:16.

1. This is perhaps the favourite text in the Bibleone of the first texts which we learn as children, and one whose meaning becomes only the more precious to us as we grow older. For in these few simple words the whole Gospel is summed up. The depth of Gods love, the greatness of His gift, and the blessings which He freely offers to usall are made known to us every time that we repeat these words.

I suppose it is a common fact of experience that those who live within sound of church bells after awhile do not notice their striking; might I suggest that something similar may be true of the great bell-note that is struck for us in the opening clause of this text? Which of us is sufficiently sensitive or responsive to its vibrations? Which of us realizes sufficiently that these words proclaim a final truth, the culmination of religious thought, something never to be transcended?1 [Note: J. Warschauer.]

2. It is no accident that has given to this statement its unique place in the mind and heart of Christendom. The deepest thinker sees in this verse a summing-up of the Gospel; the humblest believer feels that it expresses the whole substance of his faith. The inspired writer gathers himself up, as it were, to a supreme effort, and presents in one majestic, sweeping, comprehensive sentence the essence of Christian belief. And there stands the declaration still in all its simple grandeur, in all its boundless love, in all its mighty power. Centuries have passed over it, and left no impress. Time has failed to impair its freshness; it is the same to-day as it was yesterday. That which it is to-day it will be for ever. For eighteen hundred years and more it has poured forth its blessings with unceasing flow upon the foolish and the wise, upon the sinner and the saint, upon the martyr and his murderer. Years have thrown no new light upon its meaning. The wisdom and learning of men, the meditations of the holiest and the best, have not added one jot to our comprehension of its mystery. Age upon age of opposition, of scorn, and of derision have as little succeeded in shaking its power. When we accept it in all its fulness, is it not still as much the source of joy as when it supported men, women, and children to a cruel death, gladly offering their lives in its defence? When we reject it, what can we offer in its place to support the weak or encourage the desperate? Is it not still the most sovereign balm to bind up the broken hearts of mourners; the surest stay of the dying? Is it not still the silver clarion, whose peal rises high and clear above the din of strifestirring wearied soldiers of Christ to renew their struggle with evil, whether within their own hearts or in the world? Is it not still the rock upon which Christianity is founded? Is it not in reality the sum and substance of Christianity itself?

For six nights Mr. Moorhouse had preached on this one text. The seventh night came and he went into the pulpit. Every eye was upon him. He said, Beloved friends, I have been hunting all day for a new text, but I cannot find anything so good as the old one, so we will go back to Joh 3:16; and he preached the seventh sermon from those wonderful words: God so loved the world. I remember the end of that sermon: My friends, he said, for a whole week I have been trying to tell you how much God loves you, but I cannot do it with this poor stammering tongue. If I could borrow Jacobs ladder, and climb up into Heaven, and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, to tell me how much love the Father has for the world, all he could say would be: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 1 [Note: Life of D. L. Moody, 128.]

At the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910, Dr. Tasaku Harada, President of the Doshisha College, said: As regards the aspects of the Christian Gospel and Christian life which appeal to the Japanese, in the first place I mention the love of God. Dr. Neesima used to say that he regarded the 16th verse of the third chapter of St. Johns Gospel as the Fujiyama of the New TestamentGod so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. If there are two words which have created the greatest transformation since the introduction of Christianity into Japan they are the words God and love. 1 [Note: World Missionary Conference, 1910, iv. 305.]

Fuji, it should be said, is not only the sacred mountain of Japan but the ideal of excellence. Its almost perfect cone can be seen from most parts of the main island, and it forms the background of many Japanese landscapes, whether actually visible or not.

3. These words explain to us the relation in which Jesus stands as Son of man, first to God and next to us; and they interpret to our understanding, as well as to our faith and affection, the method by which the Eternal seeks us and finds us, saves us from ourselves and our sins, grants us the quickening sense of pardon, and fills us with the calm and strength of His everlasting life. Selecting the familiar incident from the Hebrew Scriptures in which the brazen serpent is lifted up before the dying people, Jesus says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life: and then He adds the sublime statement, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Now, this revelation is inexhaustible in its significance. It is a gospel within a gospel; and though uttered almost as swiftly as a morning salutation, yet it comprehends the contents of all the Gospels. It is as when, beginning our study of the universe, we start with a sea-beach, a stone-quarry, or a flower-garden, and then rise from it to the everlasting hills, thence to the infinite splendours of the midnight sky, and afterwards, through telescopes of ever-increasing power, look into the depths of the immeasurable heavens, adding world to world, and system to system, till we are overwhelmed with the marvel and grandeur of the realms of God; so, beginning with this primal declaration of the only begotten Son who dwelt in the bosom of the Father, and learning some of its contents, we are led on and on in our investigation, charmed by its simplicity, gladdened by its wealth, and awed by its mystery, till, mastered by our effort to comprehend the breadth and length, depth and height of the message, even St. Pauls language is too poor to express our wonder and our praise: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever.

The comfortable words, as they are called, in the Order of Holy Communion (Mat 11:28; Joh 3:16; 1Ti 1:15; 1Jn 2:1-2), form an element peculiar to the English rite, being found elsewhere only in those liturgies which derive their inheritance through the channel of the English Reformation. They appeared for the first time in the Prayer-Book of 1549, and their insertion was apparently suggested to our Reformers by the recent issue on the Continent of a manual, based on the work of Luther, Bucer, and Melanchthon, which contained numerous hints for reform in liturgical worship, and has left traces of its influence in other parts of the Book of Common Prayer. All will agree that the step here taken by our Revisers was a distinct enrichment of our Service, and that they have introduced a most beautiful characteristic of our present liturgy. You remember the place at which the words occur. The congregation is invited to kneel and join in a united confession of sin; and then, after the absolution has been pronounced, the four words of comfort are recited to the people, assuring them of the reality and meaning of that spiritual exercise in which they have been engaged. At such a moment each speaks with an eloquence which the heart of the faithful worshipper can readily understand. No comment is added, because none is required, and any paraphrase would be felt to jar upon the ear. The actual language of Holy Writ has been incorporated into the scheme of our liturgy, and the utterances of our Lord and His Apostles are left to make good by themselves the force of their appeal.1 [Note: H. T. Knight. The Cross, the Font, and the Altar, 1.]

4. Let us distribute the text into parts for easier apprehension, and in such a way as seems to us best for the use of edifying. Dr. Warschauer proceeds in a direct line, taking the thoughts of the verse as they come(1) God, (2) a loving God, (3) a great Giver, (4) the Gift of the Son, (5) Belief, (6) Eternal Life. Dr. Eadie makes Gods Love the subject, and begins with the world as the Object of Gods love, takes next the Gift of Gods love, and ends with the Design of Gods love. Dr. Maclarens divisions are: (1) The great LakeGod so loved the world; (2) the Riverthat he gave his only begotten Son; (3) the Pitcherthat whosoever believeth on him; (4) the Draughtshould have eternal life. If any criticism should be made of so effective and attractive a division of the text, it would be that it misses the prominence due to the world. For it has to be remembered that the revelation to Nicodemus was twofoldfirst, that he, a Pharisee, had to be born again before he could enter the Kingdom of God; and, next, that the way was open not only to Pharisees, but to sinners, including sinners of the Gentiles, that is to say, to the whole world. And it is this second part of the great revelation that St. John is now giving us. Accordingly the next verse proceeds, For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.

Let us, then, in order to keep the world-wide offer in our mind throughout, adopt this method of exposition

I.God and the WorldGod so loved the world.

II.Christ and the Worldthat he gave his only begotten Son.

III.The World and Christthat whosoever believeth on him.

IV.The World and Godshould not perish but have eternal life.

I

God and the World

God so loved the world.

The introductory for shows that this verse presents itself as the reason of a previous statement. The reference in it is to a remarkable incident in the history of ancient Israel. They had, in one of their periodical fits of national insanity, so provoked God that He sent among them fiery flying serpents, and many of them were bitten and died. But to counteract the chastisement, and make its terror a means of salutary impression, Moses was commanded to frame a brazen figure of one of the poisonous reptiles, and place it on the summit of a flagstaff, so that any wounded Hebrew might be able to see it from the extremity of the camp. And every one, no matter how sorely he felt the poison in his fevered veins, if he could only turn his languid vision to the sacred emblem, was instantly healed. It is then asserted that salvation is a process of equal simplicity, facility, and certaintyeven so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him may have eternal life. But why are belief and salvation so connected; and how comes it that any one, every one, confiding in the Son of man, is rescued and blessedsaved from the death which he has merited, and elevated to a life which he had forfeited? This pledge of safety and glory to the believer has its origin in nothing else than the truth of the text: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

i. God

Jesus begins with God; God Himself, God in His totality; not with His attributes or qualities, but with Himself in His redeeming activity. God is; is the first and last; and Jesus who knows Him, and knows Him as no other visitant of our earth does, starts in His description of redemption not from man, in his weltering wickedness and glaring rebellions, but from God in His eternally loving thought of us. It is permissible to take the opposite order, beginning with the lowest and ascending to the highest; but it is wiser in this, as in all else, to follow the Master, and look first, not at man, his sinning and its fateful consequences, but at God and His love of the world, and what it leads to. Salvation belongs to the Lord. The righteous Lord delights in mercy, and Jesus knows it and affirms it, as the supreme and all-controlling fact in our interpretation of God and of His world.

1. There is perhaps no text that speaks so directly to the Christian heart. There is none perhaps that finds a more immediate or more enthusiastic welcome in our breast; because we feel that in it we have the answer to all the devious problems of intellect and the most pressing and urgent needs of our soul. For what after all is the great problem of all problems that come into the quiet of our own hearts? What is it that we most want to have assurance about? Surely in our deepest moments the thought that presses home most upon us is, What kind of a God is it we have to deal with? Is He a God who cares for us and loves us, or is He a God who moves so far away from us that we are, as it were, but the dust of the balance in His sight?

2. What, then, does the word God mean to us? There is probably no question that goes deeper to the root than this. We are not specially helped, certainly not in our religious life, when we have admitted that there must be a Supreme Power which has created and sustains the visible world. Granted that is so, such a Power has little to say to us. We might acknowledge its existence as we acknowledge the existence of some far-off fixed star, and with just as much or as little practical result, just as little effect upon our thought and life. Not that God is, but what God is, is what matters to us; nobody can be vitally interested in some far-off, great first cause, and we certainly are no better offworse, if anythingwhen we hear or use such empty phrases as the totality of being, instead of speaking of our Father in heaven.

ii. Gods Love

1. A God who does not care, does not count; if He is not interested in us, howto say it boldlyare we to be interested in Him? That is why, in practice, pantheism is hardly to be distinguished from atheism; you cannot worship a totality of beingyou cannot pray to a nameless Power that is heedless of your welfare, not concerned in human joy or despair. No, the assurance which mans soul craves is that which bursts upon him in this declaration, God so loved the world.

For a loving worm within the clod

Were better far than a loveless God.

He created the world, not in order to escape the boredom of eternity, but from love; He called souls into being, not for the purpose of conducting an endless series of aimless experiments, but in order that His love might have objects on which to bestow itself; He leads them, not through a gnat-like span of existence to the gloom of annihilation, but to the home of everlasting love. That conceptionand it alonegives us anything worth calling a religion; and because Christianity insists upon and emphasizes this conceptionGods love of the world and for the human soulit is the absolute religion.

If our endeavours, our struggles, our failures, our hopes, our aspirations, were nothing to the Eternal, what could the Eternal be to us? Here is a human document which came into my hands only a couple of days ago. The writer says: The conception of God that I now have is not the personal one that I had under the old belief. Instead of living under the daily notice of Gods favour or resentment, I find that we are but unnoticed units in all the vast millions of the universe. The result is that I am questioning the value of life. Can you wonder? I do not wonder at all! But if we feel that His eye is upon us, that our little lives mean something to His heart, that we matter to Him, and that His intention is for our good, then that very fact lifts our lives out of insignificance, makes the conflict worth waging, and enables the toiler, the sufferer, the witness for truth and right to say in the midst of seeming defeat and desolation, And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. God loves the world: all faith which stops short of that lacks the element which makes it faith indeed.1 [Note: J. Warschauer.]

2. God loves. Where, outside of Christianity, does anybody dare to say that as a certainty? Men have hoped it; men have feared that it could not be; men have dimly dreamed and strongly doubted; men have had gods cruel, gods lustful, gods capricious, gods good-natured, gods indifferent or apathetic, but a loving God is the discovery of Christianity. Neither the gross deities of heathenism, nor the shadowy god of theism, nor the unknown somewhat which (perhaps) makes for righteousness of our modern agnostics, presents anything like thisGod loves.

It seems to us a simple and purely elementary truth that God is holy love, but how could we have known anything about it without Christ and the revelation made by Him? Nature and history show us clearly the wise and mighty God, but where do they show Him as holy and loving?2 [Note: R. Rothe, Still Hours, 107.]

God is here set forth as a lover; loving men, all men, every man. God so loved the world. Let us then at once make an addition to the first avowal of the Apostles Creed, and say:I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and lover of the whole world. We sing, Jesus, lover of my soul. We have equal right and warrant to sing, God the Father Almighty, lover of my soul.1 [Note: H. Johnson, From Love to Praise, 10.]

iii. The World

This designation of the object upon which the Divine love rested and rests eternally is to be interpreted according to the usage of this Gospel, and that usage distinctly gives to the expression the world not only the meaning of the total of humanity, but also the further meaning of humanity separated by its own evil from God. And so we get, not only the statement of the universality of the love of God, but also this great truth, that no sin or unworthiness, no unfaithfulness or rebellion, nothing which degrades humanity even to its lowest depths, and seems all but to extinguish the spark within it that is capable of being fanned into a flame, has the least power to deflect, turn back, or alter the love of God. That love falls upon the world, the mass of men who have wrenched themselves away from Him, but cannot wrench Him away from themselves. They never can prevent His love from pouring itself over them; even as the bright waters of the ocean will break over some grim rock, black in the sunshine. Thus the outcasts, criminals, barbarians, degraded people that the world consents to regard as irrevocably bad and hopeless are all grasped in His love.

The first meaning of the Greek word for world (kosmos) is order. And as all order is more or less beautiful, the second meaning of the term is ornament. The word is found with this meaning in 1Pe 3:3,Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. After the word had for ages been employed by the Greeks in these acceptations, it occurred to one of the greatest thinkers that ever lived that there was no order so wonderful as the order of the universe, no ornament so ornamental, so real, as the great world. Hence he employed the word which signified order and ornament to designate the world. The Holy Spirit, who guided the holy men who wrote the New Testament, approving of his idea, adopted the Greek term in its Pythagorean sense. And thus it is that we read such expressions as the following:The invisible things of God from the creation of the (orderly and beautiful) world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

To the eye of most of the ancients, however, the sun and the stars, instead of being orbs greater and more glorious than our earth, were only luminaries or lamps to light us by day and by night. The earth was to them almost all the universe. And it was the earth especially which they called the world. This import of the term became stereotyped; and thus we read in the Bible: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

But this worldthe earthis the temporary home of a vast multitude of thinking beings, every one of whom seems to be more wonderful and glorious than the vast earth on which he moves and has his being. These thinking beings use the earth; the earth does not use them. They think of the earth; the earth does not think of them. They feel too,they feel the earth; the earth does not feel them. They live; the earth does not live. They are the lords of the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over it. They are men; and as they rise into the consciousness of what they are, they gradually reach the ideaWe are the world; the earth is beneath our feet. The men of the earth are a world upon a world. They are a thinking, feeling, will-endowed, moral world. They are the world. Hence it is that we read of all the world being guilty before God. God shall judge the world. And in this Gospel according to Jesus, our Saviour is His own herald, and says that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. The world, then, which is loved by God, is the world of men.

It is, we may add, the world of all men. The word world, when not expressly limited in its scope by the mention of the parties to whom it refers, or when not obviously limited by the nature of the case, must be understood in its simple, unrestricted, universal acceptation. It is not expressly limited here by the mention of any mere section of the race. The expression is not the fashionable world, the scientific world, the religious world, the commercial world, the literary world, the busy world. Neither is there anything in the nature of the case referred to,there is nothing in the nature of Gods love,that should lead us to suppose that it is confined either to the religious, or to the fashionable, or the scientific, or the commercial, or the busy, or the literary. It must be the whole worldthe world of all menthat is referred to.

It is true that the word world is sometimes hyperbolically used with a limited reference. Even the expression, the whole world, is sometimes thus used. We read that the whole world lieth in wickedness; although in that very passage we also read that they who believe in Christ are not lying in wickedness, but are of God. Jesus said to His disciples, If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Here the word world obviously means somewhat less than all men. It means the worldly. It means those who are characterized by the spirit which actuated men in general all over the world.

But in the text it is not used with limitation. It is the world of all men, without distinction or exception, that is meant. It is the same world which is called the whole world in that other precious little gospel which runs thus:If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The true extent of the import of the word may be seen in those other passages which assure us that there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, and who tasted death for every Man 1:1 [Note: J. Morison, Holiness and Happiness, 14.]

1. But what about election? There is nothing in this text about it. God so loved the worldnot a portion of the worldnot the elect. The elect are only a part of the world and chosen out of it. But this love of God is world-wide, for everybody, without a hint of election in it. It sweeps away out beyond election, and has no boundaries, no limitations, no reservations.

I believe in election. It is one of the great basal truths of Scripture, and a most blessed doctrine, charged with infinite stay and comfort for Gods believing children. It puts the Fathers everlasting arms about every child of His, and makes it certain he will never perish. But while it clearly and definitely includes somebody, it just as clearly and positively excludes nobody. It makes heaven sure for the chosen, but it keeps no one out of heaven. It is no chain gang bound about the necks of men, dragging some to salvation and some to perdition.1 [Note: H. Johnson, From Love to Praise, 17.]

2. This is the vital doctrine of election, the election of some for the benediction of the whole. I pray for these, that the world may believe. The elect are called not to a sphere of exclusion, but to a function of transmission. They are elected not to privilege, but to service; not to the secret hoarding of blessing, but to its widespread distribution. The elect are not circles, but centres, heat centres for radiating gracious influence to remote circumferences, that under its warming and softening ministry the world may believe in the Son of God. That is the way of the Master. He will work upon the frozen streams and rivers of the world by raising the general temperature. He seeks to increase the fervour of those who are His own, and, through the pure and intense flame of their zeal, to create an atmosphere in which the hard frozen indifference of the world shall be melted into wonder, into tender inquisition, that on the cold altar of the heart may be kindled the fire of spiritual devotion. I pray not for the world, but for these that the world may believe. Through the disciple He seeks the vagrant; through the believer He seeks the unbeliever; through the Church He seeks the world; through the ministry of Christian men and women the world is to be won for Christ.

iv. Gods Love of the World

God loves the world, the world of men, Gentile as well as Jew, Cornelius not less than Nicodemus, Scythian as well as Syrian, bond not less than free. God in His totality loves man in his totality, loves his welfare, which is purity and peace, faith and love, self-poise and perseverance, devotion to high ideals, and enduring joy. There is no difference. The Divine love is infinite as the Divine nature. It has no exclusions. Sin divides, degrades, excludes, but God is at war with sin. He loves the world. This is the glorious fact that sends its clear, pulsing light through all our human life. Oh, the joy, the unutterable joy of it! God loves the prodigal who in his wayward folly has lost the track to the Fathers house, the rebel who has defied His misjudged authority, the ingrate who has despised His goodness; and yet His love is such that it conquers their sin and ends their sinning, and brings them back to the Fathers home penitent, obedient, and grateful.

1. How can it be that God loves such a world? A partial explanation lies in the fact that it is Gods nature to love, that while others are by nature hard and unpitying, and even vengeful, God by nature is tender, sympathetic, and merciful. Yet it is the most tremendous statement that has ever confronted the human mind, the statement of Gods gracious love for the world. It is the most difficult statement for the belief of man to grasp.

2. There are those who are eminently disgusted with Gods world, who claim that we cannot have high moral perceptions and know humanity without feeling that humanity is despicable. There are those who would sweep the whole multitude of mankind into the sea and drown them; they have no patience with them and they have no hope for them. When, then, the theory is propounded that though God did indeed create this world and start humanity, He later cast off all thought of the world, having no further concern for humanity, the theory appeals to such persons, and they say that through such a theory they can understand the meaning of human life.

(1) But any such theory is apart from the supreme fact of revelation. That supreme fact teaches that, the very nature of God being love, His love insistently and persistently goes out to every one of His creatures. If it be asked how can it be possible that a holy God in His omniscience can thus love those who are wrong, incomplete, and unattractive, the answer is that in that omniscience lies largely our explanation of His love. The Eastern shepherd, because he knows each individual sheep of his flock, knows the needs of each individual sheep. Did not Longfellow say that it makes no difference who the man is, provided we know him, know his temptations and trials, we are sure to love him? Is it not also said that no man can hate another if he understands all his failures and distresses? The prejudice of man towards his fellow is based on mans ignorance of his fellow. Nothing in all this earth so awakens interest in the individual as acquaintance with the individual. The person who is actually hideous as a perfect stranger, as an acquaintance is found to have a past history and a present experience that appeal to pity and even to love. A. C. Benson, in Seen from a College Window, says: If the dullest person in the world would only put down sincerely what he or she thought about his or her life, about work and love, religion and emotion, it would be a fascinating document.

(2) Beyond Gods omniscience lies His realization of the possible development of each one of all His world. He never is ashamed of humanity and He never allows that He has made a mistake in creating humanity. He believes that deep down in every human heart there are possibilities of development into beauty and even into power. Throughout history He has been laying His hand upon all sorts of people in sheepfolds or on farms, in obscure villages, in streets of both small and great cities, and He has summoned them to great riches of character, and to great usefulness of service. Where others look in hopelessness, He looks in profound expectation. To Him humanity has expressed itself in the spirit and conduct of Jesus Christ, and He anticipates that man after man from all sections and tribes of the earth will measure up to the likeness of Christ; and He rejoices with abundant joy when the Magdalenes are restored, the lepers are healed, the dumb sing, the blind see, and the dead live again. God is always anticipating glorious transformations of character.

3. Do we realize that, when we say God loves the world, that really means, as far as each of us is concerned, God loves me? And just as the whole beams of the sun come pouring down into every eye of the crowd that is looking up to it, so the whole love of God pours down, not upon a multitude, an abstraction, a community, but upon every single soul that makes up that community. He loves us all because He loves each of us. We shall never get all the good of that thought until we translate it, and lay it upon our hearts. It is all very well to say, Ah yes! God is love, and it is all very well to say He loves the world. But what is a great deal better is to say, as St. Paul said, Who loved me and gave himself for me.

When we speak of loving a number of individualsthe broader the stream, the shallower it is, is it not? The most intense patriot in England does not love her one ten-thousandth part as well as he loves his own little girl. When we think or feel anything about a great multitude of people, it is like looking at a forest. We do not see the trees, we see the whole wood. But that is not how God loves the world. Suppose I said that I loved the people in India, I should not mean by that that I had any feeling about any individual soul of all those dusky millions, but only that I massed them all together, or made what people call a generalization of them. But that is not the way in which God loves. He loves all because He loves each. And when we say, God so loved the world, we have to break up the mass into its atoms, and to think of each atom as being an object of His love. We all stand out in Gods love just as we should do to one anothers eyes if we were on the top of a mountain-ridge with a clear sunset sky behind us. Each little black dot of the long procession would be separately visible. And we all stand out like that, every man of us isolated, and getting as much of the love of God as if there were not another creature in the whole universe but God and ourselves.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

After this he seems to have again paid a flying visit to Bathgate, the residence of his brother-in-law; for to this year belongs a beautiful anecdote told of him in that place. A young man belonging to the Church there was very ill, dying of consumption. Mr. Martin had promised to take his distinguished relative to see this youth, and Irvings time was so limited, that the visit had to be paid about six in the morning, before he started on his further journey. When the two clergymen entered the sick chamber, Irving went up to the bedside, and looking in the face of the patient said softly, but earnestly, George M, God loves you; be assured of thisGod loves you. When the hurried visit was over, the young mans sister, coming in, found her patient in a tearful ecstasy not to be described. What do you think? Mr. Irving says God loves me, cried the dying lad, overwhelmed with the confused pathetic joy of that great discovery. The sudden message had brought sunshine and light into the chamber of death.2 [Note: Mrs. Oliphant, The Life of Edward Irving, ii. 87.]

4. God so loved the world. The pearl of this wonderful statement is the measure it supplies of that eternal love which redeems sinful man. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. It is the earthly way of describing the sacrifice God makes of God, of His true and real self for man. Language could not more clearly or strongly declare the fact that God gives Himself, His essential self, to the temptation and toil, the suffering and anguish, of our limited and burdened life, that He may carry out His world-loving purpose.

The marvel of Gods love for mankind grows as we learn the degree of that love. It is the degree of it that is apocalyptic. The Old Testament had attempted to disclose the graciousness of God, telling men that like as a father pities, so God pities. Exterior nature too had tried to make known Gods healing and comforting power; abundant harvests telling of His affection, zephyrs breathing His soothing kindness, health-giving air and the recuperative tendencies within every normal body indicating that love is over mankind. But the degree of that love was never known to any man, however scholarly, until it was revealed when God out of desire to secure to man the highest possible good actually gave His Son for Man 1:1 [Note: J. G. K. McClure, Supreme Things, 19.]

Winds weary with the old sea tune

Slide inland with some cloud, and soon

From woods that whisper summer noon

Weigh their wight wings with odour boon.

So I, long salted in our ocean drear

Of disbelief that Essence can be won

By any form of thought invented here,

Felt such a gush of joy about

My heart-roots, as if in and out

Twas life-blood billowed; and as stout

As once we sent the battle-shout

Pitching clear notes against barbaric din,

Oh, brother, my souls voice against the rout

Of unbeliefs a man doth muse within,

Arising and protesting wild,

Spake, speaking out untruth defiled;

Spake, speaking in the truth exiled;

Spake, Little head and weary child,

Come home, God loves, God loves through sin and shame,

Come home, God loves His world.2 [Note: Richard Watson Dixon.]

II

Christ and the World

He gave his only begotten Son.

The evidence of the love of God is the advent of God into the sinful and suffering life of man, bearing sin vicariously as His way of eradicating it from the heart and will of the sinner. God, as St. Paul says, was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesusthe effulgence of the Fathers glory and the very image of his person, uniquely and inexpressibly related to Him as the only begotten SonHe, and not a stranger, nor a seraph; He, and not one of the ordinary sons of mencame into the world to save sinners; to enter into contest with the awful power of sin; to make an end of it, and to bring in an everlasting righteousness.

Here, then, in the life of Jesus are the only unerring measures of the love of God. He spared not Himself from the suffering and agony and sacrifice necessary to save them, but in love of them bore it for them, to rescue them from the stupor and death of sin, and lift them to a share in His life. He who sees Jesus in Bethlehem as a babe, in Galilee as a working healer and wise teacher, in Gethsemane and on Calvary as the Just One dying for the unjust, sees the Father, and knows and understands a little of the way in which He mediates the redemption of a lost world.

1. Let us seek, first of all, to get rid of misconceptions in this vital matter.

(1) One of the most prevalent notions of God is this: that God is a hard, inexorable Being, who has been made mild and forgiving only by the death of Jesus Christ. This great Gospel text teaches just the contrary. It represents God as in love with men already before Christ camewith all menwith every man. God so loved the world. And this is not any elect or select portion of the world, but the whole world of human beings that ever have lived, that live now or that ever will live on the face of the earth: not the world of the elect, but the world of sinners.

How can you appease love? How can a loving God propitiate Himself? Read this text with this thought of a propitiation of God injected into it, and see how it sounds. God so loved the world that he gave his beloved Son to abate his own wrath and to placate himself! Or, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that he might stop hating it. This is simply suicide by self-contradiction! What folly to talk of bribing to mercy One who is bent by every instinct and prompting of His heart to the exhibition of mercy! Will you bribe a mother to love her child?1 [Note: H. Johnson, From Love to Praise, 5.]

(2) But there is another false notion of God quite as prevalent in our day as the one just named, and probably quite as mischievous. It arises from the swing of the human heart to the opposite extreme of thought. God is conceived of as a Being whose love is so vast and sweeping as to make punishment at last impossible. Instead of being thought of now as a stern judge who will by no means clear the guilty, He is thought of as a Father too loving to punish, and so full of mercy that it will not be in His heart to deal with men according to any rigid standard of justice. But this notion is as false and unscriptural as the other, and to this notion as well as to the other the great Gospel text we have before us stands opposed. In the bosom of this heavenly message we not only find the beat of an infinite heart, but the imperial majesty of a holy will.

There is no more warrant for the dear God of sentimentalism than for the hard malignant God of railing unbelief, and there is no warrant whatever for either. Let us carefully read the text again. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish. Whosoever believes. But suppose men do not believe and will not believe. Do you not see the inevitable, irresistible next step? If men still will not believe, then they still will perish. Gods love does not save everybody, although it goes out to everybody. Some men will not take its great gift. And if the sacrifice is rejected, how can it help the sinner it is made for?

God is all Love, and nothing but Love and Goodness can come from Him. He is as far from Anger in Himself, as from Pain and Darkness. But when the fallen Soul of Man had awakened in itself a wrathful, self-tormenting Fire, which could never be put out by itself, which could never be relieved by the natural Power of any Creature whatsoever, then the Son of God, by a Love greater than that which created the World, became Man, and gave His own Blood and Life into the fallen Soul, that it might, through His Life in it, be raised, quickened, and born again into its first state of inward Peace and Delight, Glory and Perfection, never to be lost any more.1 [Note: William Law.]

2. God so loved the world that he gave. This is always and everywhere the sign and token of love, this generous need to give itself forth. Love is prodigala reaching out, an overflowing beyond the borders and boundaries of self; an imperious desire to make some sacrifice, to do something for the sake of the beloved. Wherever you meet this passion of affection, you will meet that same splendid impetus of self-giving. The one great passion of a poet like W. E. Henley is a love of his countrynot always wise but always genuineand it bursts forth into those exultant lines

What have I done for you,

England, my England?

What is there I would not do,

England, my own?

The story is told by Luther that when his translation of the Bible was being printed in Germany, pieces of the printers work were allowed to fall carelessly upon the floor of his shop. One day the printers little daughter coming in picked up a piece of paper on which she found just the words, God so loved the world that he gavethe rest of the sentence not having yet been printed. It was a veritable revelation to her, for up to that time she had always been told that the Almighty was to be dreaded, and could be approached only through penance. The new light thrown upon Gods nature by the scrap that had fallen into her hands seemed to flood her whole being with its radiance, so that her mother asked her the reason of her joyfulness. Putting her hand in her pocket, Luther tells us, the girl handed, out the little crumpled piece of paper with the unfinished sentence. Her mother read it, and was perplexed: He gavewhat was it He gave? For a moment the child was puzzled, but only for a moment; then, with a quick intuition, I dont know; but if He loved us well enough to give us anything, we need not be afraid of Him. Truly there are things hidden from the wise and prudent that are revealed to babes. How impossible is Spinozas demand that although God is not so much as interested in us, we ought to feel towards Him an overmastering love of the mind! And how absolutely true, on the other hand, is the insight which declares, We love him because he first loved us!1 [Note: J. Warschauer]

In the next verse, where the same subject is dealt with, a different expression is employed. There we read, God sent his Son. But here, where the matter in hand is the love of God, sent is far too cold a word, and gave is used as congruous with loved. It must needs be that the Divine love manifest itself even as the human does by an infinite delight in bestowing. The very property and life of love, as we know it even in its tainted and semi-selfish forms as it prevails amongst us, is to give, and the life of the Divine love is the same. He loves, and therefore He gives. His love is a longing to bestow Himself, and the proof and sign that He loves is that He gave his only begotten Son.2 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

3. He gave his only begotten Son. We cannot reach the bottom of this saying. The shallow sounding lines of men that are cast into that deep water do not touch the bottom, though some imagine that they do. What does it mean?His only begotten Son. There are some that would seek to minimize the force of that wonderful designation only begotten. They tell us that it does not always signify soleness, or even uniqueness; and they point us to the fact that Isaac is called Abrahams only begotten son although Ishmael was equally his child. But such an argument is not good enough even to be called sophistical. It has no point and no relevancy. Only begotten must of necessity mean both uniqueness and soleness. Isaac was Abrahams only begotten son from the standpoint from which the term was applied. He was so with reference to the promise and the seed of Abraham. He was the promised only begotten son of the sacred line, and that of course is the meaning which no sophistry, no amount of quibbling, can ever get rid of. As applied to Christ it means a relation to God, which is not, and can not, be shared by any other man or by any other creature in the whole universe of God.

The true test, as it seems to me, between a view of Christs nature which can be regarded as a legitimate development of historical Christianity and one which can only be looked upon as a new and different creed, is this, Does it admit the Divine Sonship of Christ in some unique, some solitary sense, or does it make Christ merely one of many sons of God?1 [Note: H. Rashdall, Doctrine and Development, 79.]

It is hardly denied that Brownings whole being was penetrated with this idea of Christ as the supreme revealer, the one paramount representative of God to man. And yet we have been told by his biographer that, though he uses the language of Christian Theology, his declarations cannot of course be understood in the sense of orthodox Christianity. Why of course? If we tried to get to the bottom of the old phrases in which orthodox Christianity has become stereotyped, we should find perhaps sometimes that the burning words of a nineteenth-century poet are after all only the present-day equivalent of the thoughts and words of a St. John in the first century, and of an Athanasius in the fourth. If there be any truth in the way in which I have attempted to explain this tremendous phrase, the only begotten Son of God, the thought which they contain is one of which Robert Brownings poetry is simply full.2 [Note: Ibid. 81.]

Why have we only one Christ? We have had many philosophers, and neither to Socrates, nor Plato, nor Aristotle among the ancients; neither to Bacon, nor Descartes, nor Spinoza, nor Kant, nor Schelling, nor Hegel among the moderns, could the palm of solitary, indisputable superiority be given. We have had many poets, and neither to Homer, nor Dante, nor Shakespeare, nor Milton, nor Goethe could the praise of unique and unapproachable excellence be awarded. We have had many soldiers, and neither to Alexander, nor Hannibal, nor Csar, nor Charlemagne, nor to any of the mediaeval and modern commanders could absolutely unequalled military genius be attributed. And so in every other department of human thought and action. No man is entirely unique. Every man has many compeers; Christ, and Christ alone, and that in the highest department, the religious, is unique, solitary, incomparable; and our question is, Why? Why has the Creator of men created only one Christ, while He has created myriads of all other kinds of men? That Creator is infinitely benevolent; He loves His creatures, He seeks their highest well-being. That well-being Christ has promoted not only more than any other man, but more than all other men that have ever lived. If one Christ has been so mighty for good, what would a multitude have accomplished? Yet God has given to our poor humanity only one, and if we persist in asking, Why? can we find a fitter answer than the answer that stands written in the history of the Word made flesh? God in giving one gave His all: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.1 [Note: A. M. Fairbairn, The City of God, 251.]

This has always been the Christian religion. There has never been any other Christian religion except thisnever. St. Paul believed this. This was his religion. God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law. God sent forth his Son. How can you reconcile that with Jesus Christ being only a very good man? Declared to be the Son of God with power. Does that sound like a very good man? Through whom are all things. Is that the sort of thing you would say about a man? Who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor. When was He ever rich as man? Never. From those four undisputed Epistles of St. Paulthe two to the Corinthians, Romans, and Galatiansit can be proved to demonstration that St. Paul believed that the Incarnation was the centre of the Christian religion. Take St. Peter and read what he says about the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls, to see what he believed. Take St. John. This is St. John: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Take the old Christian liturgiestake a hymn like the Gloria in Excelsis, which has come down to us from the beginning, and you find the same thing: Thou art the Everlasting Son. Take the Nicene Creed, which the early Church fought about with those who did not believe, and its final shape states that the Son was of the very substance with the Father, the same, identically the same substance with the Father.2 [Note: Bishop Winnington Ingram, The Love of the Trinity, 117.]

One of the most notable events of my freshmans term was the death of the Rev. Charles Simeon. He was persuaded, though much advanced in years and diffident concerning his own physical strength, to accept the office of Select Preacher for the month of November. He had prepared his four sermons; but when November came, he was lying on a sick-bed; and when St. Marys bell tolled for him, it announced, not his sermons, but his death. I heard those four sermons delivered by Mr. Simeons successor in his own pulpit. So far as I can remember, the first three were introductory to the fourth, and the fourth gathered up the whole course and showed how type and shadow and prophecy and all the preparatory portion of Gods dispensation found their fulfilment and explanation in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether my recollection of those particular sermons be correct or not, certain it is that the supreme position of Christ, as the Alpha and Omega of the revelation of God, as the way, the truth, and the life, as the true link between earth and heaven, as the one sufficient sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, as the one foundation of human hope laid by the love of God Himselfcertain it is, I say, that this supreme position of Christ was the point to which all Mr. Simeons teaching turned, the basis upon which his ministry was built. What was the difference between that teaching and the teaching which it strove to supersede? It professed no new discovery, it did not consciously embody any doctrine which was not already embodied in the Book of Common Prayer. The difference would seem to be expressible by the phrase, the preaching of a living Christ. The teaching purported to reproduce the words of the text, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, and to reassert the words of St. Paul, we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

A criticism of a similar kind may be made upon the teaching of a still more remarkable man, to some extent contemporary with Mr. Simeon; I mean John Wesley. What was the secret of the marvellous power of John Wesleys preaching? It owed much, I have no doubt, to his great natural endowments; much to his zeal and the strength of his convictions; but I believe that the ultimate analysis of the subject would show that, fundamentally, the secret of his power was his own clear hold upon, and his living exposition of, the doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God. I say the living exposition because this is just what is necessary to infuse life into the souls of others. Vivum ex vivo, say the physiologists: vivum ex vivo, ought to echo the theologians; and a man who has a living apprehension of the love of God, as manifested to mankind in the mission of Him who is called the only begotten Son, possesses in that apprehension a spiritual power, which it is more easy to regard with wonder than to measure or to restrain. The preaching of John Wesley can scarcely be reproduced; but the hymns composed by him and by his brother, who in this respect was even more remarkable than himself, will go far towards substantiating what I have now been saying.

Nor is it to be believed that the great movement of the Church of England which has taken place in the last half-century would have been the real and living thing which it has proved to be, if it had not rested upon Christ as the Incarnate Son of God. A superficial criticism may identify this movement with questions of forms, of vestments, of architecture, of chanting the Churchs offices; or, perhaps, with higher questions, such as the power of the Priesthood, the grace of the Sacraments, and other doctrines or practices, which, more or less, divide opinion. And, doubtless, it is true that as the movement described as the Evangelical was a reaction from the preceding condition of the Church, and contained a reassertion of doctrines which had been allowed to fall too much into abeyance, so the next great movement gained strength from the fact that in the fervour of the evangelical effort the symmetry of Catholic teaching had been to some extent lost sight of and injured. But allowing for all this, it may still be maintained that the real foundation of what is sometimes called the Catholic movement, equally with the Evangelical, was Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. Who can doubt this who has studied and loved Kebles Christian Year? Foolish things may have been said, foolish things may have been done; but these foolish things have not helped the movement; they have tended to mar and hinder it. The wisest and best teachers, whether they be called High Church or Low Church, Catholic or Evangelical, so far as their teaching is wise, earnest, and true, can adopt the words of him who hated divisions, and simply styled himself the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he wrote to one of the Churches, I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

The same thing may be said if we go back to the greatest movement of all which can be found in our English Church history, namely, the Reformation of the sixteenth century. A variety of causes, as we all know, conspired at that time to bring about a great religious change; a variety of smaller causes conspired to determine the precise form which the change should assume in this country: general dissatisfaction with the then condition of things, long-standing jealousy of the Pope of Rome, the increase of learning, the translation of the Scriptures, the growth of the seed which John Wyclif had sown, combined with political and local causes to overthrow the Church as it then was. The traces of destruction are clear enough; but what were the forces of conservation and growth? Surely these were to be found in the fact that the wisest and best amongst the Reformers held fast to the doctrine of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Truly the Church needed a strong foundation in those terrible days; the storms raged and the winds beat upon the house; and it fell not, because it was founded upon a rock, and that rock was Christ. In this supreme crisis of the Churchs history she needed no new doctrine, no new faith, no new machinery, but only a clearing away of all that tended to obscure the visage of her Lord and towards substituting the legends and inventions of man for the faith once delivered to the saints.

And if I wished for another illustration of the point which I am now pressing, I would seek it in a very different quarter, namely, in that wonderful book known by the title De Imitatione Christi. The title, as we know, is taken from one particular portion of the volume; but did you ever observe what an absolute misnomer it is as applied to the whole? To speak of imitating another implies that imitation is possible; a child imitates its father or its mother, or a man sees his neighbour do a charitable act and he follows his example, or the pupil imitates his tutor, hoping to become like him; and so when you read the history of Christ being kind and gentle, holy and devout and good; when you read of His being constant in prayer, or of His indignation against hypocrisy, and His compassion for the ignorant and fallen, or when you are told that when He was reviled He reviled not again, when He suffered He threatened not, and so forth throughout the whole human side of His history, you feel not only that you can try at least to follow His example, but that you ought and would like to do it; and if this were all, still more if Jesus Christ were such as Renan and others would represent Him to have been, you feel that there is at least nothing impossible in an imitation of Christ; but the Christ of Thomas Kempis is very different from our modern pictures of Jesus of Nazareth; it is not only Christ the man, to be followed as an example, as all good men should be, but Christ the Son of God, who in the plenitude of His love and condescension holds converse with the human soul. And because this is so, the title of the book may be called a misnomer; but also because this is so, therefore the book has its marvellous and unequalled power of influence and magical fascination; it is the record of the possible communion of the soul with God through Christ, which is unspeakably precious, just because Christ is infinitely higher than humanity, and is worthy of worship, but incapable of imitation.1 [Note: Bishop Harvey Goodwin, in The Cambridge Review, Nov. 24, 1886.]

4. Must we not say more and go further than this? Must we not say that in giving us Jesus Christ, God gave us Himself, just so far as we could receive this culminating gift? Is it not the fact that in Him we have the Way to God, the Truth about God, and the Life of God lived out among men? Is it not He who has made God real for us, by interpreting Godhead in terms of Fatherhood, so that henceforth we know God and have seen Him? He brings men to God as Teacher and Leader; but, even more wonderful, He brings God to men by visibly manifesting the Divine within Himself. In the face of so great a proof we can no longer doubt the love which prompted it. Men had thought of the Eternal as of some mighty Potentate, irresponsible in power, jealous of His own dignity, exacting obedience and praise and sacrifices; but in Christ they saw God willing to seek and to save, ready even, incredible though it might seem, to suffer and agonize for their sakes, loving men even in their disobedience and wilfulness, and giving Himself for them. God so loved the world that he gave Himself to us in His own dear Son.

Men readily concede that God gave us Jesus, but they do not seem to see with equal clearness that God gave Himself in Jesus, and that He still continues to give Himself in everything worthy of Jesus that is making the world better, nobler, kinder. I remember reading during the South African war that the greatest deaths were those of the mothers who died in their sons, the greatest gifts were those of the mothers who gave their sons, the keenest anguish was that of the mothers who suffered in their sons for the sake of England. Here is a figure of the word of God for the world.1 [Note: R. J. Campbell.]

(1) Here we come upon the doctrine of the Atonement, properly so called; that is, we are led to the recognition of the truth that the spiritual condition of the race of man has been changed, as the result of the Incarnation of the Son of God. Persons may of course easily misrepresent this doctrine, and say that it is derogatory to the character of the Almighty that He should require a human sacrifice to appease His wrath; that God is love and cannot be propitiated by the sufferings of the innocent; and that it is impossible for a man of honourable feeling to wish for a boon so obtained. But who preaches such doctrines as those which are thus reprobated? who does not maintain the doctrine of the text as the only ground of that of the Atonement, namely, that God so loved the world, that He even stooped Himself to save it?

What is the blood of Christ? asked Livingstone of his own solitary soul in the last months of his African wanderings. It is Himself. It is the inherent and everlasting mercy of God made apparent to human eyes and ears. The everlasting love was disclosed by our Lords life and death. It showed that God forgives because He loves to forgive.1 [Note: J. Clifford, The Secret of Jesus, 101.]

(2) Not only is the gift of the only begotten Son the gift of God Himself, it is also the gift of God Himself in sacrifice. In giving Jesus to us God made a real sacrifice and really impoverished Himself to give it. If God had not truly loved us, or if He had loved us only in a measure, would He not have kept His Son in blessed fellowship, living in His love and finding in it His highest joy and the satisfaction of all His needs? But no; the love which God had was the love which stopped short at no sacrifice, and therefore He gave to us His only begotten Son.

When we are asked, as we have been asked in Robert Elsmere, and in much literature that has preceded and followed it, why we do not get rid of the sternness and awfulness of religion and rest content simply with preaching the Fatherhood of God, our answer is plain. The one proof of Gods love that will ever convince the world is the Cross of Christ. Said the great German, If I were God, the sorrows of the world would break my heart. He knew not what he said. The sorrows of the world did break the Heart of hearts. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, even unto blood, even unto broken-heartedness. Why do you not say that God is Father and that all is to be well, and leave Christ out? Why do you not read the text, God so loved the world, that he gave to every one everlasting life? If any one proclaims that God is love, upon what facts is he to rest his arguments? Does he find the love of God in the mass of misery and vice in which the world around is weltering? Belief in the love of God has been maintained and propagated in the shadow of the Cross, and only there. Apart from that, where is the proof that God is a Father and not merely a force? In the Old Testament they did not know it, though there are passages that dimly shadow it. Christ came in time. The heart of the world was failing. Martyr after martyr, prophet after prophet had died without a token. He came to change the Cross into a throne, and the shroud into a robe, and death into a sleep, and defeat into everlasting triumph.2 [Note: W. Robertson Nicoll, The Lamp of Sacrifice, 251.]

I preach to-day the sacrifice of God.

Ride on, ride on, in majesty,

In lowly pomp ride on to die,

Bow Thy meek head in mortal pain,

Then take, O God, Thy power and reign.

That is the old theology, that is the faith which has converted the world, that is the faith of the martyrs, that is the faith of the writers of the New Testament, that is the faith of the missionaries who brought Christianity to what was then barbarous Britain, and I for one say, Thank God, that is my faith to-day.1 [Note: Bishop Winnington Ingram, The Call of the Father, 199.]

If God had done nothing, and I was asked to go and see a sister dying of cancer before my eyes, or to spend the night in the Cancer HospitalI was once up all night there with a man dying with cancer, until five oclock in the morningdo you suppose I could easily love God? I could not, because I could not feel that He had done anything or suffered anything. When some man says to me, Come, let us fight this difficult battle together; I will bear the worst with you; I will go and suffer with you, fight with you, bear the unpopularity with you, and all that is brought against you; I will fight side by side with youI honour that man, and I would go and follow him, stand by him, and I should feel that he had done something to show his sympathy. And when God, as I believe, comes down among all the cancer and the consumption and the misery, and says, I will come and bear it with you; I cannot explain to you now why it has to be borne, but I will bear the worst with you; I suffered more than I ask you to suffer, I can understand that; and when I am dying, or when I am with some one dying, it is everything to know that God knows of the suffering and death, and has borne it Himself. And, therefore, I say without the Incarnation I could not answer one of these questions that are put to me about the pain and misery and sickness we have in the world.2 [Note: Bishop Winnington Ingram, The Love of the Trinity, 113.]

(3) By looking thus upon the sacrifice of our blessed Lord, and the great law of vicarious suffering of which that was the highest manifestation, we gain a new sense of the love of God thus suffering for us; and it is thus that, if we would rise with Christ and share His Kingdom, we must also suffer and die with Him. At some time or other we all pray that we may sit down with Him when He comes into the inheritance of His glory, but to all of us He returns the same answer: Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And no doubt we can, if we are filled with His love and have learned to lean upon His Cross; but suffering will have no beauty in it unless it be sanctified by love, as indeed it has no virtue in it unless we bear it for a good end and from the constraining force of love. And thus we arrive at the true idea of our own life, which is that we should aim, not at freedom from suffering, but at elevation of character and a spirit of unselfish devotion.

Norman Macleod in his Highland Parish tells a wonderful story of loves redemptive sacrifice. Years ago a Highland widow, unable to pay her rent, was threatened with eviction. She set out, with her only child, to walk ten miles over the mountains to the home of a relative. When she started the weather was warm and bright, for the month was May, but before she reached the home of her friend a terrible snowstorm fell upon the hills. She did not reach her destination, and next day a dozen strong men started to search for her. At the summit of the pass where the storm had been the fiercest they found her in the snow, stripped almost to nakedness, dead. In a sheltering nook they found the child, safe and well, wrapped in the garments the mother had taken from her own body. Years afterwards the son of the minister who had conducted the mothers funeral went to Glasgow to preach a preparatory sermon. The night was stormy and the audience small. The snow and the storm recalled to his mind the story he had often heard his father tell, and, abandoning his prepared sermon, he told the story of a mothers love. Some days after he was hastily summoned to the bed of a dying man. The man was a stranger to him, but seizing the ministers hand he said, You do not know me, but I know you, and knew your father before you. Although I have lived in Glasgow many years, I have never attended a church. The other day I happened to pass your door as the snow came down. I heard the singing and slipped into a back seat. There I heard the story of the widow and her son. The mans voice choked and he cried, I am that son. Never did I forget my mothers love, but I never saw the love of God in giving Himself for me until now. It was God made you tell that story. My mother did not die in vain. Her prayer is answered.1 [Note: The Expository Times, xx. 301.]

III

The World and Christ

Whosoever believeth on him.

The purpose of God in the gift to the world of His only begotten Son is that whosoever believeth on Him may not perish but have eternal life. For He wills that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one Mediator also between God and man, Himself God, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. Personal trust in Jesus as the infallible Revealer of what God thinks and feels about us, and what He will do for the worst of us at our worst, kills the despair and self-torture born of sin, whilst it makes sin appear exceedingly sinful, lifts us into fellowship with the Divine, with right and purity and goodness and service, and compels us to feel that the God who suffers so inconceivably and mysteriously for us as He did will surely supply all our needs and make us sharers of His joy for ever. It is a new and renewing thought of God. The faith on Christ is love, the love is faith. Each works by the other, and both work on and towards righteousness, for Christ and righteousness are one; and to trust and love Him is to trust eternal right and love it and work for it; and so the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth on Jesus. The secret of Jesus is laid bare.

The other day, when I was in Northumberland, some one asked me in public, with evident sincerity, if it did not make a difference whether he accepted Christ or not; and when we had arrived at a mutual agreement as to what we meant by accepting Christ, we agreed about the question itself, namely, that it made all the difference whether a man accepted or rejected Him. To accept Him means to believe that truth and right are worth witnessing and, if need be, suffering for, in daily life, in the home, and the shop, and the office, and the factory; that to give is more blessed than to receive; it means a firm belief in the victory of goodness, all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding; it means the acknowledgment of the kingship of love. How far are we one and all from that consummation! Yet not so far but that we desire it, and in our best moments strive after it.1 [Note: J. Warschauer.]

1. St. John has in mind something more than merely intellectual assent.

(1) Believing does not, for example, mean here holding all that is taught in the Bible about Creation, about Adam and Eve, or about the Fall. Nor does believing here mean accepting all that is said about Christ in the Bible. A man might believe everything in the Bible and yet not believe on Christ in St. Johns sense at all; while, on the other hand, he might believe on Christ in St. Johns sense, and yet not believe other things in the Bible.

(2) Again, believing does not mean here the kind of belief implied in the acceptance or the recitation of a Creed. Many solemnly and sincerely recite a Creed, and bow at the Name of Jesus, who yet never believed on Jesus in St. Johns sense; while, on the other hand, a man may believe on Jesus, in St. Johns sense, and have Eternal Life, and yet conscientiously hesitate to recite a Creed, feeling that he could not honestly accept some of the points that are mentioned in it.

(3) Believing does not mean here simply holding a certain doctrine or theory of the Atonement. There have always been multitudes of people who have held the correct, orthodox view of the Atonementor the view which in their time was generally held to be orthodoxhave held it absolutely and passionately, and yet, in St. Johns sense, have never believed on Jesus, and never had Eternal Life; while there have been people who believed on Him in St. Johns sense, and had Eternal Life, but who never attempted to formulate any theory of the Sacrifice which was offered by Jesus once for all.

2. St. John includes an undoubtedly intellectual element, when he speaks of belief, as even this passage shows. His whole object in writing is to prove from the reminiscences of the life of the Lord that Jesus was the Word made flesh, that He was the only begotten Son of God, and that, though Son of Man, He was Divine. There is that intellectual element in St. Johns idea of believing. But the distinctive meaning of believe in St. Johns writings is not that intellectual element. That intellectual element underlies his thought, but it is not that which he is urging. In order to see what he means by using the word belief, we should look at what results from the believing. According to him, belief gives life. But what gives life is nothing but vital fellowship with God, and therefore by believing he means something which produces a vital fellowship with God. What is it that produces vital fellowship with God?

(1) It is the act of personal trust in Jesus as a living Person, in Jesus as the personal Manifestation of God the Father to the soul of Man. It is not believing this or that about Himthe intellectual side of Faith; it is casting ourselves upon Him, the Unseen, as a Reality, as the Reality, as the Reality of God.

Never shall I forget how in my early years I was distressed as to the meaning of the word believe as used in Scripture. It seemed to me to have a mysterious significance, associated with experiences that no ordinary youth could possibly have. I felt that if I myself should ever believe on Jesus Christ it must be through some strange in working whereby I should be lifted into special ecstasies, and given special visions. But one day I came upon the statement that the word believe is made up of two old words by and live, that to believe on a person is to by-live or live-by that person, that if I believe in Washington I live by the spirit that animated Washington, and that if I believe in Jesus Christ I live by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Whether or not this statement concerning the origin of the word stands the test of linguistic criticism is of minor significance; the fact remains, and ever will remain, whatever linguistic criticism may say, that any man who lives by another believes in that other. And when I realized this fact and I simply started out to do what I thought Jesus Christ would have me do in my place and in my time, I am sure that I began to answer to Gods desire, and that then in those earliest moments, whether I lived or whether I died, I was in Gods sight a believer.1 [Note: J. G. K. McClure, Supreme Things, 23.]

(2) To trust Christ is not merely to believe with the intellect the truth about Him, but to commit our hearts to His keeping. What all that is going to mean we cannot know at first, but there is in the life of every Christian one moment, which may or may not be remembered, when the turn is taken. In the life of every one who has really tried to make a high use of the years, there is always a point where the road ceases to descend and begins to climb upward. What has happened? Perhaps some fervent and rousing word has been carried home by the Holy Spirit. There has been a bereavementperhaps some one has died who is so cruelly missed that the rest of life seems dark and cold as the later hours of a winter day. There has been a disappointment, perhaps, in something on which the heart has been fixed, and for consolation it has turned to the Refuge and the Lover of souls. To one who sat dreaming in her garden, repeating the old enigmas, Was He? Was He not? If He was not, from whence came I? If He is, what am I, and what am I doing with my life? a voice seemed to speak. The voice spoke and said, Act as if I were, and thou shalt know I Am! She obeyed, and soon He revealed Himself. In this way and that is the story told, is the experience passed through; but in essence it is always the same. It is a committal for time and for eternity, for life and for death, to the Lord of all worlds. Then is the channel opened between the poor, narrow, needy life and the great lake of love. Then the Divine Lover has His way with the soul.

You believe God; that is good. You believe the Gospel; that is good too. Believe all that; but that is not the point. It is not believing the Bible, it is not even believing God, it is not believing the Gospel that gives the Everlasting Life that is spoken of. It is the definite act of self-committal to Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life, as the Manifestation of the saving Power and Love of God to you. It is that definite committal of yourselfan act of the soula going out, a reaching forth, a casting of yourself on Him. It is that act of faith, that believing in Him, that gives the fellowship with God which is Eternal Life.1 [Note: R. F. Horton, The Triumph of the Cross, 14.]

I sometimes wish we had never heard that word faith. For as soon as we begin to talk about faith, people begin to think that we are away up in some theological region far above everyday life. Suppose we try to bring it down a little nearer to our businesses and bosoms, and instead of using a word that is kept sacred for employment in religious matters, and saying faith, we say trust. That is what you give to your wives and husbands, is it not? And that is exactly what you have to give to Jesus Christ, simply to lay hold of Him as a man lays hold of the heart that loves him, and leans his whole weight upon it. Lean hard on Him, hang on Him, or, to take the other metaphor that is one of the Old Testament words for trust, flee for refuge to Him. Fancy a man with the avenger of blood at his back, and the point of the pursuers spear almost pricking his spinedont you think he would make for the City of Refuge with some speed? That is what you have to do. He that believeth, and by trust lays hold of the Hand that holds him up, will never fall; and he that does not lay hold of that Hand will never stand, to say nothing of rising. And so by these two links Gods love of the world is connected with the salvation of the world.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

3. Whosoever.Take together the two words world and whosoever. It need not be said that those are both universal terms. World is the most universal term that we have in the language. For instance, we sometimes mean by it the whole earth on which we dwell; sometimes the whole human family that dwells on the earth; and sometimes the world-age, or whole period during winch the whole family of man occupies the sphere. That is the word that God uses to indicate the objects of His love. But there is always danger of our losing sight of ourselves in a multitude of people. In the great mass individuals are lost, and it becomes to us simply a countless throng. But when God looks at us, He never forgets each individual. Every one of us stands out just as plainly before the Lord as though we were the only man, woman, or child on earth. So God adds here another word, whosoever, which is also universal, but with this difference between the two: world is collectively universal, that is, it takes all men in the mass; whosoever is distributively universal, that is, it takes every one out of the mass, and holds him up separately before the Lord. If this precious text only said, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, one might say, Oh, he never thought of me. He had a kind of general love to the whole world, but he never thought of me. But when God uses that all-embracing word whosoever, that must mean me; for whatever my name may be, it is whosoever.

Thank God, said Richard Baxter, for that whosoever. Had it beenLet Richard Baxter take, I might have doubted if I were meant; but that whosoever will includes me, though the worst of all Richard Baxters.

In the South Seas, in the beginning of last century, was a man of the name of Hunt, who had gone to preach the Gospel to the inhabitants of Tahiti The missionaries had laboured there for about fourteen or fifteen years, but had not, as yet, a single convert. Desolating wars were then spreading across the island of Tahiti and the neighbouring islands. The most awful idolatry, sensuality, ignorance, and brutality, with everything else that was horrible, prevailed; and the Word of God seemed to have made no impression upon those awfully degraded islanders. A translation of the Gospel according to St. John had just been completed, and Mr. Hunt, before it was printed, read, from the manuscript translation, the third chapter; and, as he read on, he reached this sixteenth verse, and, in the Tahitian language, gave those poor idolaters this compact little gospel: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. A chief stepped out from the rest (Pomare II.), and said, Would you read that again, Mr. Hunt? Mr. Hunt read it again. Would you read that once more? and he read it once more. Ah! said the man, that may be true of you white folks, but it is not true of us down here in these islands. The gods have no such love as that for us. Mr. Hunt stopped in his reading, and he took that one word whosoever, and by it showed that poor chief that Gods gospel message meant him; that it could not mean one man or woman any more than another. Mr. Hunt was expounding this wonderful truth, when Pomare II. said, Well, then, if that is the case, your book shall be my book, and your God shall be my God, and your people shall be my people, and your heaven shall be my home. We, down on the island of Tahiti, never heard of any God that loved us and loved everybody in that way. And that first convert is now the leader of a host, numbering nearly a million, in the South Seas.1 [Note: A. T. Pierson.]

Bengel, the accomplished expositor of Scripture, says, The ground I feel under me is this: that by the power of the Holy Ghost I confide in Jesus as an everlasting High Priest, in whom I have all and abound. Archbishop Whately said, Talk to me no more of intellect; there is nothing for me now but Christ. Bunsen said, I see Christ, and I see, through Christ, God. That brilliant preacher, Dr. McCall, of Manchester, said, I am no fanatic; rather I have been too much of a speculatist; and I wish to say thiswhich I hope you will all forgive me for uttering in your presenceI am a great sinner, I have been a great sinner; but my trust is in Jesus Christ and what He has done and suffered for sinners. Upon this, as the foundation of my hope, I can confidently rely now that I am sinking into eternity.2 [Note: J. Clifford, The Secret of Jesus, 96.]

IV

The World and God

Should not perish, but have eternal life.

1. Perishing.Pardon is not wrung from the Father by the Son. It is from the Fathers love that salvation flows. But this love of God to our sinful world does not form a contradiction to that wrath which suspends judgment over it. It is not in reality the love of communion with which God embraces the pardoned sinner; it is a love of compassion like that which is felt for the unhappy or for enemies, a love the intensity of which arises from the very greatness of the punishment which awaits the obdurate sinner. Thus the two ideas which form the beginning and end of the verseDivine love and threatening perditionare closely joined together.

(1) Perishing in its more obvious and terrible forms we have all seen. We have seen bright young lives clouded, over-darkened, devastated, destroyed. But there is such a thing as perishing respectably, and that is far more common. A man may succeed in life, and attain his low ambitions, and pass well among his fellow-townsmen, and yet when you contemplate him you know that he has perished, that his ideals are gone, that there is now no longer any communication between him and his Maker, that his soul is gone out of him. There are more who perish in silk and broadcloth than there are who perish in rags.

There is a danger, which only the mission of Jesus Christ averts, that men may perish. That is a danger which is as universal as the love of God, for it is the world that is in danger of perishing; and it is a danger which is as individualizing and specific as the love itself, for the world that perishes is made up of single souls. In that category you have a place, and I, and all our brethren. Whoever stands in the great class of the objects of Divine love belongs also to the class of those who are in risk of destruction. It does not become me to fling about the thunderbolts of God, or to threaten and lighten as He has the right to do; but I do believe that much of the preaching of this generation is toothless, impotent, unblessed, because men have got too falsely tender-hearted and sentimental to talk about the necessary issue of alienation from God. Be you sure of this, that in whatever form it may be realizedand that is of secondary importancethe worldand especially you that have heard the Gospel all your daysstands in peril of destruction. To perish, whether it mean to be reduced into non-being, or whether it mean, as I believe it means, to be so separated from the one Source of life that, conscious existence continuing, everything that made life beautiful and blessed and desirable is goneto perish is the necessary end of the man who wrenches himself away from God.1 [Note: A. Maclaren, Pauls Prayers, 187.]

(2) There is a terrible significance in that short negative clause should not perish butmost terrible. For, regarded in the light of the rest of the text, to perishwhat is to perish? It is to fall beyond the outermost sphere of Gods love, as to be saved is to be drawn into its innermost circle. To perish is to feel that the sweet attraction of all that is good, all that is lovely, has lost its hold on the soul, to feel that another horrible attraction working in a contrary direction is bearing the spirit away into the abyss of malignant sin and of eternal death. The fearful anticlimax of eternal life! The two are mutual alternatives: the absence of the one is the presence of the other. There is a strange antagonistic correspondence between the two. The punishment of the lost is not merely in proportion to sin, but seems to be in some proportion to the parallel eternity of the glory offered but refused. It is the punishment of beings to whom eternal life has been tendered but rejected, of beings who have had an option and taken their choice. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.

One day in America, near the Falls of Niagara, Moore saw this scene:An Indian whose boat was moored to the shore was making love to the wife of another Indian; the husband came upon them unawares; he jumped into the boat, when the other cut the cord, and in an instant it was carried into the middle of the stream, and before he could seize his paddle was already within the rapids. He exerted all his force to extricate himself from the peril, but finding that his efforts were vain, and his canoe was drawn with increasing rapidity towards the Falls, he threw away his paddle, drank off at a draught the contents of a bottle of brandy, tossed the empty bottle into the air, then quietly folded his arms, extended himself in the boat, and awaited with perfect calmness his inevitable fate. In a few moments he was whirled down the Falls and disappeared for ever.1 [Note: The Greville Memoirs, i. 254.]

The scene is terrible enough. But the perishing of a mans body is a light thing in comparison with the perishing of his soul.

(3) The light and the darkness, the Light of Light and the blackness of darkness, salvation and perditionbetween these two extremes the inhabitants of this earth occupy the middle place. We move on the neutral ground, between the armies of Heaven and the legions of Satan, in the debatable territorythis world is the region of our option and the scene of our free decision. Out of Christ there is no salvation to any man: neither in this world nor in the world to come. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the great name of Jesus. Faith in Him is, as He Himself is, the gift of God, but it is the gift of the Spirit inviting, persuading our will, not compelling it. To refuse these gifts is to perish; to reject them now is to be rejected at the last day. To lose them here is to learn their value by contrast hereafter and to weep their loss for ever.

In the Royal Academy of 1908 there was a picture by the Hon. John Collier which will always attract attention. It is called Sentenced to Death. We are introduced into the consulting room of a great physician, and facing us is a young man who is hearing from the doctor the result of his diagnosis. The doctor is telling him that he is a doomed man, that he will presently die. The young man sits there in the chair, faultlessly dressed, handsome, with all the promise of youth in his face, and there is no special look of illness except perhaps to a doctors eye. He has just received his sentence of death, and has strung himself to endurance.

I thought I saw in the intention of the artist the dawning of a vision in the young mans eyes, as if he were seeking for an inward hope, or trying to fix his thought upon a faith that he half knew. As I looked into his face how I longed, though it was only a picture, how I longed to tell him that if he believed in Jesus he had everlasting life, that he need not be afraid, he need not even be cast down. Believing in Jesus he has everlasting life. As I looked at the picture I so longed to tell him, that I turned my face away lest I should cry out in the room.2 [Note: R. F. Horton.]

2. Eternal Life.Eternal life comes, and can come, only by a vital fellowship with the Ever-living God; and the reason why this believing in Jesus brings eternal life is that it brings us into vital fellowship with God. Through Christ, through faith in Christ and the committal of the soul to Him, we find we have come into vital contact with God. We have touched the source of LifeEternal Life.

(1) It is called eternal life, which does not mean that it is a life in a future world; but it is called eternal life here and now, because here and now this life which means vital fellowship with God is established, and begins to run on into Eternity. A life begins here and now which continues there and thenbeyond and for ever. Believing in Christ means that we have come into contact with the very Fountain of LifeGod Himself, the Eternal and Ever-living God; and therefore, believing, you have eternal life. When we believe in Christ, eternal life has begun in us.

God does not help His children now and then, but now, always now. There is no then; it exists only in imagination. The only time we ever actually need God is now. If then troubles us in imagination and we wonder what will become of us then, let us learn to live with God now. Form the habit of using God and being used of God, and the imaginary and dreadful then will be swallowed up in the stream of now when the time comes. No clocks keep time to-morrow. Springs push and hands point now. Now is the appointed time for clocks as well as people. God never helped anyone to-morrow. He is a very present help. What is eternity but Gods now? Let us then live the eternal life with God now.1 [Note: M. D. Babcock, Thoughts for Every-Day Living, 44.]

(2) The end God has in view in such belief is our largest opportunity. He calls it eternal life. It is fulness of everything that makes man great and existence sweet. It is not mere immortality. Immortality simply gives the ennobled spirit its endless perfect province. Eternal life is realized when a man comes to his better self; when he is saved from being frittered away in frivolities, from being consumed by the canker of avarice, from being palsied by the mildew of idleness, from being enervated by luxury, from being crippled by the paralysis of doubt. Eternal life is rescue from perishing in selfishness, animalism, hate and pride, with all the other evils that destroy humanity. Eternal life is when a man, entering upon the path of truth and nobility, renders service to humanity, his body being obedient to every known law of health, his mind entering into fellowship with the highest thoughts of eternity, and his spirit communing with the spirits of the just and good on earth and of the just and good in heaven: when a man in his own time and place according to his own temperament reproduces in himself Jesus Christ.

We shall behold with our inward eyes the mirror of the wisdom of God, in which shall shine and be illumined all things which have ever existed and which can rejoice our hearts. And we shall hear with our outward ears the melody and the sweet songs of saints and angels, who shall praise God throughout eternity. And with our inner ears we shall hear the inborn Word of the Father; and in this Word we shall receive all knowledge and all truth. And the sublime fragrance of the Holy Spirit shall pass before us, sweeter than all balms and precious herbs that ever were; and this fragrance shall draw us out of ourselves, towards the eternal love of God, and we shall taste His everlasting goodness, sweeter than all honey, and it shall feed us, and enter into our soul and our body; and we shall be ever an hungered and athirst for it, and because of our hunger and thirst, these delights and this nourishment shall remain with us for ever, evermore renewed; and this is eternal life.1 [Note: M. Maeterlinck, Ruysbroeck and the Mystics, 76.]

3. What response are we making, or are we prepared to make, to the love of God? There was a book written not many years ago of which the title was: The Christian Life: A Response. It was a beautiful title, which put the Christian life in the true attitudeit should not be lived out of fear of hell, not lived to purchase heaven, but rather as a response to the love of God. What sort of response are we expected to make to the love of God?

(1) Gratitude.Perhaps you are familiar with the story of the brilliant unbeliever, Harriet Martineau. She said to a friend on some glorious morning, Doesnt such a day make one feel grateful? To which her friend quietly replied, Grateful to whom, my dear? Some of us have been tasting this summer the joys of travel in enchanting scenery, full of grandeur and manifold loveliness, and have experienced this sense of gratitude over and over again; but we have our answer to the question, Grateful to whom? Shall we not love Him who gave us these delights and all the satisfactions and stimulus of our lives because He loves us? How strange it seems to read of the late Professor Huxley, in the full career of joyful work, saying that at the end of every day he felt a strong desire to say, Thank you to some Power if he could only have known to whom to say it. It should not have been so difficult to say, Thank you, God!1 [Note: J. Warschauer.]

When Robert MCheyne and Andrew Bonar were in the Holy Land, they went to visit the Garden of Gethsemane. Dr. Bonar thus writes: The sun had newly risen; few people were upon the road, and the Valley of Jehoshaphat was lonely and still. We read over all the passages of Scripture relating to Gethsemane while seated together there. It seemed nothing wonderful to read of the wanderings of these three disciples, when we remembered that they were sinful men like disciples now; but the compassion, the unwavering love of Jesus appeared by the contrast to be infinitely amazing. For such souls as ours He rent this vale with His strong crying and tears, wetted this ground with His bloody sweat, and set His face like a flint to go forward and die. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Each of us occupied part of the time alonein private meditationand then we joined together in prayer, putting our sins into that cup which our Master drank here, and pleading for our own souls, for our far-distant friends, and for the flocks committed to our care.

(2) Adoration.The shepherds were quite right when they said: O come let us adore him! The angels were right when they sang: Glory to God in the highest! So we should come to the house of God and bow the head in adoring worship if we believe at all.

What a Sunday! At 8 a.m. we were present at the Lutheran Mass, if I may so call it. The altar, the candles, the comings and goings of the pastor, the litanies sung with responses, all astonished me. However, it is a beautiful idea that pervades all that, and one which we have lost sight of in our Reformed Churches, namely, adoration. We go to the preaching (au prche) and that is all.2 [Note: Coillard of the Zambesi, 162.]

(3) Purity.The love of God believed in must mean a life of growing purity. If we may have the Son of God within us; if He loved us, and gave Himself for us like that; if He has come like a good shepherd over the hills to find us, and has found us, then we must live a life, in His strength, of something like correspondence to His; we must confess the sins that we have done; we must be perfectly plain about what our life has been, and how careless and unworthy it has been, if we feel it has been so. Then we must not be content with that. Having got straight with God, we must ask Him to come to our heart.

Come to my heart, Lord Jesus;

There is room in my heart for Thee.

Look straight into the light, and you will always have the shadows behind. Yes, but more than that, you will see more clearly how to walk. Look straight into the light, and every year you will see more things that you must do, and more clearly the things you must avoid. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.1 [Note: Bishop Winnington Ingram, The Gospel in Action, 323.]

(4) Service.Lastly, there is the response of service. If He came down from heaven, and so loved the world, we must find a way in which to love our fellow-men as He loved us. Christs doctrines find their best meaning only in service! Who shall know so well what the Atonement means as they who are striving every day to bring its light into dark places? Who shall understand the mercy of God as those who are toiling helpfully amongst poor, weak-willed men, who, crushed by the hard laws of life, can be raised only by compassion? Who shall catch so full a glimpse of the wisdom of Gods purpose as they who, ministering to the needy, the ignorant, the hungry, find how strong are the moral forces which are born, not of constraint, but of love and of free will?

God loves the world. Therefore he loves the men of every nation, of every language, of every creed. He loves the man that jostles me in the street. He loves the man that overreaches me, and deprives me of my rights, or who insults or slanders me. And if I call myself a Christian, I must love them with a deep and holy love, and must be willing even to suffer in order to give light to their darkened eyes, and soften their hard hearts with brotherly affections. Otherwise I have no real fellowship with the Father and the Son. He that hateth his brother is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.2 [Note: James Drummond, Johannine Thoughts, 40.]

Are we ready for the Masters use? Do we really believe in the possibility of the worlds redemption? How spacious is our belief? How large is the possibility which we entertain? When we survey the clamant needs of the race, do we discover any hopeless cases? Where have we obtained the right to use the word hopeless? What evidence or experience will justify us in saying of any man, He is too far gone? In what atmosphere of thought and expectancy are we living? Are we dwelling in the Book of Ecclesiastes, or making our home in the Gospel of St. John? Let us ransack the city. Let us rake out, if we can find him, the worst of our race. Let us produce the sin-steeped and the lust-sodden soul, and then let us hear the word of the Master: Believe ye that I am able to do this? The first condition of being capable ministers of Christ is to believe in the possibility of the worlds salvation.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]

I shall never forget how Professor Elmslie, in the brief delirium before death, when his mind was wandering, came back over and over again to God is Love, God is Love; I will go out and tell this to all the world. They do not know it.2 [Note: W. Robertson Nicoll, The Lamp of Sacrifice, 247.]

Teach me to love the world as thou dost love,

Ready to give my dearest and my best,

Than self more dear, to save it from its sins,

And turn all hearts to thee. Oh! grant the faith

In thy beloved Son, thy holy Lamb,

Which wakes, within, the sleeping life of love,

And makes us one with him who died that men

Might share his life eternal, and might dwell

In thee, from whose exhaustless fulness all

Who look to thee in fervent prayer receive

Thy Spirits bounteous gift. But from that love

Which clings in fondness to the worlds bad ways,

And sinks the soul in its corrupting guile,

Save me, O God; for earth must pass away,

Ambitions pride, and all the idle glare

Of social rank, and wealths delusive charm.

That which we see is temporal, and soon

Must yield to times corrosive touch, and sink

To dark oblivion. But the things unseen,

Love, holiness, and truth, eternal stand

Before thy glorious throne, and speak thy word

Within the heart of man. To that blest word

Be all my powers subdued, that I may still

Show forth thy love which quickens and redeems.3 [Note: James Drummond, Johannine Thoughts, 42.]

The Amazing Gift of Love

Literature

Campbell (R. J.), New Theology Sermons, 81.

Clifford (J.), The Secret of Jesus, 85.

Curling (E.), The Transfiguration, 55.

Eadie (J.), The Divine Love, 1.

Fairbairn (A. M.), The City of God, 252.

Goodwin (H.), Hulsean Lectures for 1855, 19.

Horton (R. F.), The Triumph of the Cross, 1.

Ingram (A. F. W.), The Call of the Father, 199.

Ingram (A. F. W.), The Gospel in Action, 316.

Ingram (A. F. W.), The Love of the Trinity, 112.

Johnson (H.), From Love to Praise, 3.

Jowett (J. H.), Brooks by the Travellers Way, 148.

Knight (H. T.), The Cross, the Font, and the Altar, 11.

Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, New Ser., iv. 378.

McClure (J. G. K.), Supreme Things, 13.

Maclaren (A.), Expositions: John i.viii., 180.

Maclaren (A.), Pauls Prayers, 180.

Maclean (A.), Where the Book Speaks, 200.

Millard (B. A.), Optimism and the Vision of Cod, 108.

Milligan (G.), Lamps and Pitchers, 165.

Morison (J.), Holiness in Living and Happiness in Dying, 9.

Nicoll (W. R.), The Lamp of Sacrifice, 244.

Patton (W. J.), Pardon and Assurance, 89.

Percival (J.), Some Helps for School Life, 81.

Pierson (A. T.), The Heart of the Gospel, 23.

Prothero (G.), The Armour of Light, 19.

Reid (J.), Jesus and Nicodemus, 203.

Ryle (J. C.), The Christian Race, 57.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxxi. (1885) No. 1850.

Thomas (J.), Sermons (Myrtle Street Pulpit), ii. 309.

Cambridge Review, viii. Supplement No. 187 (Harvey Goodwin).

Christian Age, xxxviii. 386 (Parkhurst).

Christian World Pulpit, xxxvii. 349, xli. 101 (Harwood); xlvi. 187 (Clifford); xlvii. 340 (Armstrong); lvi. 264 (Peake); lxv. 376 (Jowett); lxix. 49 (Ingram); lxxiv. 339 (Warschauer).

Churchmans Pulpit: Christmas Day: ii. 259 (Rawnsley), 261 (Evans); Mission Work: xvii. 228 (Kramer).

Preachers Magazine, xxi, 109.

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

God: Luk 2:14, Rom 5:8, 2Co 5:19-21, Tit 3:4, 1Jo 4:9, 1Jo 4:10, 1Jo 4:19

gave: Joh 1:14, Joh 1:18, Gen 22:12, Mar 12:6, Rom 5:10, Rom 8:32

that whosoever: Joh 3:15, Mat 9:13, 1Ti 1:15, 1Ti 1:16

Reciprocal: Gen 22:2 – Take Deu 30:15 – General Psa 2:7 – this Psa 36:7 – How Psa 40:10 – lovingkindness Pro 8:4 – General Pro 8:24 – I was Pro 8:35 – whoso Isa 9:6 – unto us a son Isa 51:6 – my salvation Isa 55:4 – I have Eze 2:1 – Son Eze 47:9 – every thing Zec 9:17 – how great is his goodness Mat 7:11 – how Mat 17:5 – This Mat 21:37 – last Mat 25:46 – the righteous Mat 26:63 – the Christ Mat 27:43 – I am Mar 1:1 – son Mar 1:11 – Thou Mar 9:7 – This Mar 16:16 – that believeth and Luk 1:78 – tender Luk 9:35 – This Luk 20:13 – I will Joh 1:34 – this Joh 3:36 – that believeth on Joh 4:10 – If Joh 5:24 – He that Joh 5:43 – come Joh 6:29 – This Joh 6:47 – He that Joh 6:51 – the life Joh 7:29 – for Joh 8:51 – If Joh 10:28 – I give Joh 14:4 – and the Joh 20:31 – believing Act 16:31 – Believe Rom 1:3 – his Son Rom 4:11 – father Rom 5:15 – But not Rom 8:39 – love 1Co 2:9 – eye 2Co 1:19 – the Son 2Co 5:15 – that they 2Co 5:18 – all 2Co 9:15 – his Gal 2:20 – the Son Gal 4:4 – God Col 1:15 – the firstborn Col 3:3 – your 2Th 2:16 – which Tit 1:2 – eternal Heb 1:2 – spoken Heb 1:6 – And again Heb 2:3 – so Heb 2:9 – by Heb 5:5 – Thou Heb 10:39 – but Heb 11:17 – only 1Jo 3:1 – what 1Jo 3:16 – perceive 1Jo 4:14 – the Saviour 1Jo 5:10 – that believeth on 1Jo 5:11 – God Rev 2:18 – the Son

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE MAGNA CHARTA OF CHRISTIANITY

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

Joh 3:16

That is the great Magna Charta of Christianity. What is the meaning of it? I believe that it meets with a response not only in your hearts but in all the hearts of all mankind. We believe in God, and we believe in love. Not only in the beginning there was God, but God is, and if there is a God men ask that that God shall exhibit:

I. The highest quality known to human nature.What is that quality? It is the theme of all the poets, it is the inspiration of the greatest pictures of art, especially Christian art. What is the meaning of it? There is only one meaning of itthat the biggest achievement of man, springing from the deepest parts of his human nature, is love.

II. Christianity not a new thing.Now the mistaken conception people have got about Christianity is that Christianity was something that came into the world two thousand years ago, or nearly that, as a new thing, and that you can put on your letters Anno Domini. That is quite true in a sense, and yet really it is untrue. There is no date that you can put down Anno Domini, for He is from eternity. Before the foundation of the world God loved man, and placed love as the key of all the universe.

III. Love manifests itself.Some people think of love as a sentiment. Divine love is far deeper than that. And God reveals His love. How do you reveal your love? Exactly in the same way as you reveal your intelligenceby an incarnation. How is God to manifest Himself that He loves? In the stars? In the flowers? In a magnificent sunset? We all know that, but yet how far is He? If God loves He must come to us in personality, and if He did not the world would say: It is a mistake, and God has not revealed Himself yet as He can and as He ought. God was in Christ. That is the highest revelation you can haveGod in personality. And why was that? Do you not see what we had done? We were made all right, but we were spoiled by sin. Then the communion was broken, and if the communion is to be established again in personality, as it started in personality, it can only be done when Deity touches the eternal shore on one side and man on the other side, and redeems our human nature. That is what God did, and Christ took our human nature and redeemed it, and presented it perfect and spotless to God.

IV. Salvation by faith.Mark the textThat whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. People say they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by a speculative assent of something they call the intellect. That is not belief. Do you know what it cost God to believe in the redemption of men? It cost Him His only begotten Son. What did it cost Christ to save man? It cost Him a Cross, and yet men think they can be saved by the sentimental assent to the doctrines of Christianity. Christ never said: He that believeth in the doctrine of the Atonement shall be saved. He said, He that believeth in Me shall be saved. What does that mean? Belief with the intellect? Yes. Belief in the Atonement? Yes. What else? You have got to believe with the heart. What else? To believe with the will, and to do His Will. Christ asks you for your heartall you have got. I want you to give your intellect and lay it at the Cross; I want you to give your love and put it at the feet of the Crucified; I want you to be able to say, O God, not my will but Thy Will be done, and give your will to God. Then you will understand that he that believeth has communion with God and hath eternal life. Will you have it? How can you get it? Do you know what wants redeeming? It is human nature, and He has redeemed it. Will you give it back to him and get this new life? Will you understand that you have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ? I want you to go away believing in the doctrine that God is love, and that the highest life is that which is wholly consecrated to Him.

Rev. A. J. Waldron.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THREE MYSTERIES

There are three great mysteries which are conveyed in this text.

I. Here, first of all, is the mystery of the Divine love of the world.

II. Then there is the second mysterythe mystery of self-sacrifice in God, Who gave His Son.

III. Then I come to the third mystery, perhaps the most wonderful of allGods individual care for the soul.It is no Gospel to you or to me to be told that God so loved the world, unless I am told that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life, unless, as a sinner, I am told that whosoever cometh unto Him, He will in no wise be cast out.

Illustration

Do not believe that the world is so had as you are in your more despairing moments tempted to suppose. Remember the warning of him in the PsalmsI had almost said even as they; but lo! then I should have condemned the generation of Thy children. Carry a pure, simple heart within you wherever you go. Everywhere you shall find that the children of God are not so hard to seek; everywhere you shall find the tokens of that Blessed Spirit Who is ever working in the dark places of human life, drawing souls and hearts in ways unknown to us to God. And carry also in your hearts that thoughtyou in your loneliness, your difficulties at home or in your work, your depression, your sadness, or solitariness, are yet the object of Gods eternal care and love, that you may be able to see and to know that God is present with you, watching over you, keeping you, saying to you, as He said to Jacob, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

God’s Wonderful Love Story

Joh 3:16; 1Jn 4:7-19

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

We wish to give our whole attention today to one verse of Scripture. It stands before us as an unfathomable river of blessing. Some one has called Joh 3:16 “the Gospel in a nutshell.”

Let us notice for our first statement The Great Lover.

Who is it that so loves the world? It is God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, the Divine Trinity loves us, and yet Joh 3:16 is speaking particularly of the love of the Father because the verse says “God so loved * * that He gave His * * SON.” Let us then think of God, the Lover, for a few moments.

1. The common conception of God. To the carnal mind, God is often a tyrant who is driving men to hell. The heathen spend much of their time trying to propitiate an angry God. The medicine men and the dancers of wild tribes all imagine that God is a God of terror. We have read of as many as thirty-six thousand babes who have been ruthlessly murdered in order to appease the imaginary wrath of the Almighty.

In India the babes are thrown into the Ganges with the same argument. Even in a so-called Christian country, and sometimes in pulpits, God is described as a God of wrath, while His Son, Christ, is pictured as seeking to placate His anger, and to induce Him to love sinful men. Not for one moment would we overlook the fact of “the wrath of God” being “revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” However, by the side of this we would place the God of love, who was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

Even in Joh 3:16 there is a vision of the wrath of God in the word, perish. However, the verse, as a whole, is love superabounding over wrath. It is love finding the way out, and showing how God can be just and yet the Justifier of those who believe.

2. God’s part in redemption. God knew that man would sin, and therefore before He created him, He gave Jesus Christ to die for sin. The Bible says that Christ was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” God the Father is the great Lover of men. While He is a holy God, and cannot receive into His presence the unclean; while He is a just God, and cannot justify the guilty, yet He planned redemption in such a way that He could satisfy the righteous demands of the Law, uphold the honor of His justice, and save the lost. In all of this, one thing is seen, and that is our next point.

3. God, the Lover of men. As we think of the Almighty, the Creator, the Provider of the human race, we think of Him with a love that absolutely surpasses knowledge. It is in the Book of Titus that we find these words, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared * * according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” In this Scripture the Father and the Son are spoken of as our Saviour. We think of Jesus loving us, and He did, but God loved us supremely.

I. “GOD SO LOVED,” OR THE DEPTH OF HIS LOVE (Joh 3:16)

“So” is the biggest little word in the Bible. Included in the word “so” are all of the agonies of the Cross, and all of the riches of God’s grace; in the gift of His Son, are all the depths, the heights, the breadths, and lengths of grace.

In Eph 3:18-19 Paul is praying for the saints that they may “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.” Did you ever try to fathom an unfathomable depth? Did you ever try to know the unknowable? That is just what Paul prayed we might do. After his prayer he said, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory.”

How the little word “so” remains with us. We revel in its beauty. The love of God is a love that knows no end. It is a love that never fails. It is a love that loves unto the end. Many waters cannot quench His love. Neither can the floods drown it. This should all be true of our love to Him. It is certainly true of His love to us. “Having loved His own * * He loved them unto the end.” To know Him is to love Him, because our love is born of His love. We love Him because He first loved us. Because of His love, we ought also to love one another.

O what love now enraptures my soul,

O what grace doth my spirit control;

For the Saviour is mine, and His love-light doth shine;

And the billows of joy o’er me roll.

O My Saviour is more than a friend,

And His love knows no change to the end;

‘Neath the smile of His face, and the wealth of His grace,

All the beauties of Heaven do blend.

II. THE WORLD-THE OBJECT OF HIS LOVE

It is easy for us who are saved to want to monopolize God’s love. That God loved us, we know. That we love Him, we know. However, the love of Joh 3:16 is His own all-inclusive love. It is His love to all of the world.

1. God’s love to Israel set forth. In the Old Testament we read concerning Israel these words: “[He] did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; * * but because the Lord loved you.” Here is a gripping statement, God did not love Israel because of what Israel was numerically, nor in any other way. He loved them because He loved them. There is something about the love of God that is indescribable and incomprehensible. When God tried to tell His people why He loved them He simply said because He loved them. Call “because” a woman’s reason, if you want to, but here it is God’s reason.

2. God’s love to the Church set forth. Christ loved the Church, and bought it with His Blood. “For we know the love which God hath toward us.” In our Scripture for today there is much of the love of God toward His own. God loves, because God is love. God manifested His love toward us.

3. God’s love to the world set forth. In Rom 5:8 is this statement. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In Rev 1:5 is a verse that is, perhaps, still more striking: “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His Own Blood.” That is, God loved us before He washed us.

He loved me when, a sinner,

I trampled on His love,

He loved me still, though straying,

I spurned His Home above;

And still He loved; and loving,

For me He bled and died,

Then loving on and wooing,

He drew me to His side.

III. HE GAVE HIS SON-THE GIFT OF HIS LOVE

When we speak of the supreme Lover, we delight in speaking of the manifestations of His love, of the gift of His love, and of how He proves His love to us.

1. He loved us and gave all things richly to enjoy. When God created the Heavens and the earth, He commanded the earth to bring forth fruit. When God filled the earth with beasts and birds, fish and creeping things, in all of this He was working for man. He was storing the earth, and even the air with everything which man would need, and He saw that it was good.

2. He loved and gave us the Word. What a marvelous gift it is, God’s love letter is God’s revelation of things to come, God’s expression of His heart toward men.

3. He loved and gave us the Holy Ghost. In Luk 11:1-54 we read, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” What a gift is the Paraclete!

4. He loved and gave us His Son. He gave Him as a teacher. He gave Him as a healer. Jesus went about doing good. All of this was the gift of God. The supreme gift of the Son, however, was that He gave the Son to be our Sin-bearer. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

IV. “WHOSOEVER”-THE EXTENT OF HIS LOVE

There is one great joy, and that is that the love of God is all-inclusive. Rich and poor, peer and pauper, good and bad-all come under the word, “whosoever.”

An old blacksmith was trying to read Joh 3:16. When he came to the word, “whosoever,” his knowledge of letters was too circumscribed. He could not make the word out. He read, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that * *,” and then he desired so much to know the next word. He laid his book aside awaiting the return of his daughter from school. He put his finger on the word, when she came in, and said, “What is this, daughter?” She said, “It is ‘whosoever,’ and it means me, or you, or anybody else.” He clapped his finger down on the word as though it might get away, and said, “Thank God, that means me!”

1. Whosoever signifies that Christ tasted death for every man. No man is lost because there was no provision for his being found. No man is lost because his sins knew no atonement, Christ died for all.

2. Whosoever means that God sent His messengers to every man. The command was, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” None are excluded.

“None are excluded thence

But those who do themselves exclude;

Welcome the learned, the polite,

The ignorant, the rude.”

3. Whosoever includes every son of Adam. It is an all-embracing word. It is not a question of whether you are invited, it is a question of whether you want to believe. Sin and shame, in Him will find a Saviour who can save to the uttermost.

V. BELIEVING IN HIM, OR THE RECEPTION OF HIS LOVE

1. There are some who spurn God’s love as manifested in Christ. Isa 53:1-12 must stand before us as an exponent, not alone of God’s saving grace, but of man’s sinfulness of heart. Isa 53:3 says, “We hid as it were our faces from Him; * * we esteemed Him not. * * We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. * * We have turned every one to his own way.” Oh, how vile is the heart that rejects the Son of God! If men in their sin were rejecting an enemy, it would be different.

In the second chapter of Romans there is a statement like this: “Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” The man who despiseth God, despises the riches of His goodness, of His forbearance, and of His long-suffering.

2. Those who accept His love. Not all spurn it. In Acts it is told how “some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.” To believe in Him, is to turn to Him. We believe it was Robert L. Stevenson who wrote, “Oh, my friend, teach me to be thine.”

The story is told how when Caesar saw Brutus, his own familiar friend, come to him with a dagger, it quite vanquished him. How can we help but love Christ? How can we refrain from believing Him? “We love Him, because He first loved us.”

VI. “SHOULD NOT PERISH”-THE ASSURANCE OF HIS LOVE

1. Men are under Satan’s power. Jesus Christ came to open the prison bars, and to set the captive free. This was God’s gift, and He does not want men to remain trapped by the devil.

2. Men are sin-driven. There are not only dangers from without, which engulf sinners, but there is the power of the flesh within, the sinful self that holds men captive. God loved us, and gave Christ to deliver us so that we should not perish under the reign of self.

3. Men are hell-bound. The wicked shall be cast into hell, and all nations that forget God. God loved us and gave Jesus Christ, His Son, that we might not perish, and become engulfed in the powers and darkness of the pit.

We delight in that wonderful story of the Good Shepherd who went out after the sheep which was lost. He stayed out until he found it, and when he found it he put it upon his shoulders, and brought it home rejoicing. When we think of the love of God in Christ, we think of a love that will not let us perish, that will not let us go.

“O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee;

I give Thee back the life I owe,

That in Thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.”

Let us close with that wonderful statement which was written by the Holy Ghost, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is the love of God which assures us that we will never perish.

VII. “EVERLASTING LIFE,” OR THE CLIMAX OF HIS LOVE

How unfathomable is the word, “everlasting.” Some one has suggested that eternity might be described by a bird which carried the grains from every seashore to some distant planet, and this one grain each year until all was gone, and then eternity would just have begun. This life is everlasting.

1. There is included the city of gold, the new Jerusalem, the new heavens, and the new earth. These will be the abode of the saints forevermore. We shall dwell where sin and sorrow, sighing and sickness, penury and pain, can never enter. We shall dwell in the city of light. We shall walk in the Garden of God, and eat of the fruit of the tree of life, of the tree which bears twelve manner of fruit. We shall pass down by the river of the water of life, clear as crystal.

2. There is included the reunion of the saints. This is for all those who are in Christ, they shall live forever together, knowing as they are known forevermore. From the east, and from the west; from the north and from the south, they will come, and sit down together in the Kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with the redeemed.

3. There is included God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. No more of separation; no more of isolation, but eternal fellowship.

AN ILLUSTRATION

Love is Heaven’s great gift. God’s love in its endurance is well illustrated by a mother’s love.

The end came happily to Mrs. Ellen Brown because the son for whom she had waited and watched for ten years was at her side. Today he followed her to the grave.

Everybody in Newburgh knew the sad-faced little woman who had haunted railroad stations and boat landings for a decade. Often she went across to Fishkill to watch the arrival of the New York Central trains.

“I am waiting for my son,” she told those who questioned her. “He will come back to me some day,”

Richard Brown was only seventeen when he left his home. His mother never heard from him.

A month ago Mrs. Brown became grievously ill and was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital. The doctors knew that she would not leave it alive. Each morning she asked whether there was news from her son. They knew that it was the longing to see him that kept her alive.

A week ago Richard Brown returned to Newburgh. He went to the hospital. There was no surprise in the little mother’s face, but only a great joy.

From that time she failed rapidly. She died with her boy’s hand in hers, with peace and happiness in her heart.

-J. W. C.

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

6

The word so is from Hour, and means, “in such a manner.” The point is not how much God loved the world, but what kind of love He had. The answer is stated by telling how God manifested it, which was by the sacrifice He made for the sins of the world. God is the maker and owner of all that is in the universe, and no sacrifice could have been so costly that He would have been unable to produce it. But the value of the sacrifice (from the standpoint of its price or cost) is not the question. It is the fact that God gave up His only begotten Son. There was only one being in the universe who possessed that qualification. The subject is explained in detail at Luk 1:35, and I urge the reader to see and carefully consider that place, then come back to the present paragraph. Perish and everlasting life are put as alternatives for the responsible members of the world. There is no middle ground; every creature that God has formed is destined to experience one or the other of these lots endlessly, after the judgment.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Joh 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that every one that believeth in him may not perish, but have eternal life. In the preceding verses is recorded the first announcement of the Gospel by our Lord, the revelation of the mystery made manifest by Him who came out of heaven. John pauses to set his Masters words in the light in which he himself had afterwards beheld them. Jesus had said must be lifted on high, but had given no reason. His disciple, whose message to the church was God is love (1Jn 4:16), refers back the necessity to this truth. Whatever remains still hidden, so much as this is certain, that the humiliation and exaltation of Him who came down out of heaven were the expression of Gods love to the whole world. The Son of man is the Son of God, the only begotten Son; the one term expresses His fitness for the work, the other points to His dignity and to the greatness of the Fathers love. In this love the Father gave the Son: to what He surrendered Him is not here said; our Lords own words (Joh 3:14) fill up the meaning. The universality of the blessing is marked with twofold emphasis; designed, not for Israel only, but for the whole world, it is the actual possession of every believer. The words relating to faith are more definite than in Joh 3:14; for (see chap. Joh 2:11) to believe in Him points to a trust which casts itself on Him and presses into union with Him. The Divine purpose is presented under two aspects, not one only (as in Joh 3:15); it is that the believer may be saved from perdition, and may now possess eternal life.-This verse contains most of the leading terms of Johns theology. One only of these requires further comment, on account of the various senses in which it is employed by the Evangelist. The world does not in this verse designate those who had received and rejected the offer of salvation. It is thought of as at an earlier stage of its history; the light is not yet presented by the acceptance or rejection of which the final state of the world shall be determined.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here observe, 1. The original source and fountain of man’s salvation; and that is, God’s free and undeserved, his great and wonderful love.God so loved the world; he doth not say how much, but leaves it to our most solemn raised thoughts; it is rather to be conceived than declared; and admired rather than conceived. God so loved the world:

Hence note, That the original spring and first cause of our salvation is the free favour and mere love of God; a love worthy of God from whom it proceeds, even love inexpressible and inconceivable.

Observe, 2. The greatness of the gift by which God evidenced and demonstrated the greatness of his love to a lost world. He gave his only begotten Son: that is, he delivered him out of his own bosom and everlasting embraces. Now this will appear a stupendous expression of God’s love, if we consider that God gave him who was not only the greatest, but the dearest person to him in the world, even his own Son: that he gave him for sinners; that he gave him for a world of sinners; that he gave him up to become a man for sinners; that he gave him up to be a sacrifice for the sin of sinners.

Observe, 3. The gracious end for which God gave this great gift of his love to lost sinners: That whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Where note, 1. The gentle and merciful condition upon which salvation depends; Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish.

2. The infinite goodness of God in proposing such a vast reward unto us, upon our performing of this condition; He shall have everlasting life.

Learn hence, That faith is the way which God hath appointed, and the conditon which God hath required, in order to our obtaining salvation by Jesus Christ. This faith consists in the assent of the understanding, that Jesus is the Saviour of the world; in the consent of the will, to accept of Jesus freely and voluntarily, deliberately, advisedly, and resolvedly, for our Saviour; in accepting the merit of his blood, and submitting to the authority of his laws; it being in vain to expect salvation by Christ, if we do not yield subjection to him; he that thus believes in Christ, that submits himself to his ruling power, as well as commits himself to his saving mercy, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Joh 3:16-19. For God so loved the world, &c. Here our Lord proceeds to inform Nicodemus, that men owed the blessings above mentioned to the free and immense love of God the Father, who desired their salvation with such ardency, that he sent his only-begotten Son to bestow it upon them; and that it is designed for all that will accept of it in the way God hath appointed. God, says he, so loved the world, that is, all men under heaven; even those that despise his love, and will for that cause finally perish, that he gave his only-begotten Son, truly and seriously: and the Son of God gave himself, (Gal 2:20,) truly and seriously; that whosoever believeth in him With that faith which worketh by love, and holdeth fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end; should not perish Under the sentence of divine justice, as he otherwise must have done; but have everlasting life The life of grace, and the life of glory, through the mere mercy of God, and the infinite merits of his Son. For God sent not his Son to condemn the world To execute that vengeance upon them which their guilt might have taught them to fear; nor did he send him to destroy the Gentile nations, which prejudiced Jews have supposed would be one principal end of the Messiahs coming. God, says Grotius, is often described as an avenger in the Old Testament: therefore the guilty might reasonably expect, that when his Son came into the world, it would be to execute vengeance in his Fathers name. But that the world through him might be saved Even all, without exception, who will hearken to the overtures of the gospel. He that believeth on him With his heart unto righteousness; is not condemned Is acquitted, is justified before God, how many and great soever his past sins may have been, and however unpardonable according to the tenor of the Mosaic law: but he that believeth not Whatever his external profession and privileges may be; is condemned already Remains under the sentence of his former guilt; yea, and subjects himself, by his refusal of the only remedy, to still greater and more aggravated condemnation and wo; because, notwithstanding the incontrovertible evidence given of Jesuss divine mission, and of his being the true Messiah, he hath not believed in the name, the glorious name of the only-begotten Son of God Though expressly revealed to him, that he might believe in him. Though the name of a person be often put for the person himself, yet it may be further intimated here, in that expression, that the person spoken of is greatly magnificent; and therefore it is generally used to express either God the Father, or our Lord Jesus Christ. Doddridge. And this is the condemnation The cause of it, the crime that fills up the measure of mens iniquities, and is the principal reason of their speedy and final ruin; that light is come into the world Divine and glorious light, the day-spring from on high, the light of the glorious gospel, through the incarnation of the Eternal Word, and the preaching of his forerunner preparing the way before him; and men loved darkness rather than light Ignorance of the divine truth rather than the knowledge of it, folly rather than wisdom, sin rather than righteousness; because their deeds were evil And they had not so much fear of God before their eyes, or so much concern for their own everlasting salvation, as to resolve on a thorough reformation of their conduct.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

XIV.

The passage from Joh 3:16 to Joh 3:21 is supposed by Westcott, and by Milligan and Moulton, among the most recent writers on this Gospel, as well as by the writers whom Godet mentions, to contain reflections of the evangelist on the words of Jesus already spoken. On the other hand, Alford, Keil and others hold that these are the words of Jesus. The grounds on which the former view is maintained are the three referred to by Godet, and one or two others which may be closely united with them. As for these three, it must be admitted that they are deserving of serious consideration.

The argument from the past tenses cannot be pressed, as it might be in some other writings, for the tendency towards the use of the aorist instead of the perfect is manifest in the New Testament, and, in this case, the reference in Joh 3:16-17 is apparently to the act of love already accomplished, and besides, the of Joh 3:19 may be intended to cover a time before the appearance of the light, as well as the time of or after that appearance. The argument derived from , to which other peculiar expressions are added by Westcott, such as do the truth, is the only one of weight. It would seem not improbable that John may have taken this word from Jesus, but the use of it by Jesus in this early conversation with Nicodemus is a thing hardly to have been expected. Was it not too soon after His first coming forward as a teacher, and was it not unlikely that He would have employed this peculiar term for the first time in a conversation with such a man?

The argument derived from the fact that Nicodemus takes no longer any part in the conversation is of comparatively little force, because at Joh 3:14 Jesus passes from the earthly to the heavenly things, respecting which Nicodemus might naturally have been only a listener to what was told him. The connection of the 16th verse with what precedes by for is possible consistently with either view, but, considering the absence of any statement pointing to the writer as giving his own thought, it favors the assigning of the words to Jesus.

The natural and easy progress of the discourse, if they are thus understood, and the appropriate close which they form to all that is said, together with the antecedent probability that the evangelist would not so abruptly join his own words to those of Jesus, are the arguments which bear most strongly against those already mentioned. The only instance in which it may be regarded as clear that the evangelist in any such way weaves his own matter into the narrative, is in the latter part of ch. 12, and there he only gives a kind of summary, at the close of Jesus’ public work, of His teachings and their results.

This, however, is quite a different thing from an immediate joining of his own words to those of Jesus as if they belonged to the same development of thought. It is claimed, indeed, that the writer connects his own reflections with the words of John the Baptist at the end of this chapter. But even if this is admitted, it will be observed (a) that Joh 3:31 is not so closely connected with Joh 3:30 as Joh 3:16 is with Joh 3:15 (Joh 3:16 opens with , while Joh 3:31 has an independent construction); (b) that it is less difficult to suppose that Jesus used the words of Joh 3:16-21, than that John the Baptist used those of Joh 3:31 ff.; and (c) that the writer may more easily be supposed to have been ready to supplement what John said with his own thoughts, than to add words of his own to what Jesus had said. It may be added (d) that by thus closely joining his own reflections to the discourse of Jesus, he must have known that he was not unlikely to mislead the reader, and to make him suppose that Jesus had uttered those central words of the Gospel (Joh 3:16), which He had not uttered. Is it probable that, in the first case where he presented Jesus’ own testimony in words, he would have allowed himself to make such an impression?While it cannot be said, therefore, that Joh 3:16-21 are certainly not the words of John, there are strong grounds to believe that they are not, and the probability of the case must be regarded as favoring the assigning them to Jesus.

In the verses of this discourse with Nicodemus we meet, for the first time in this Gospel, the words . The careful examination of the use of this phrase by this author will make the following points manifest:

a) The phrase is used as substantially equivalent to . For example, when Jesus says Joh 5:24 : He that believeth hath eternal life, and in Joh 5:40 : that ye may have life, it cannot be doubted that the of the latter case is the of the former.

(b) The , according to John’s idea, is possessed by the believer as soon as he believes; comp. Joh 3:36,Joh 5:24, Joh 6:54. He that believeth hath eternal life; he that eateth my flesh hath eternal life. It is a thing of the present, therefore, and not merely of the future.

(c) That eternal life is thus present, is indicated by the explanation given by Jesus as to what it is, Joh 17:3 : This is eternal life to know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. The knowledge of God is eternal life, and this knowledge the believer has in this world (comp. 1Jn 2:13 : because ye know the Father,Joh 5:20 : we know him that is true).

(d) The eternal lifealso belongs to the future; comp. Joh 6:27, the meat which abideth unto eternal life; Joh 12:25, he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life; Joh 4:36, gathereth fruit unto eternal life;Joh 5:29, the resurrection of life.

(e) Eternal life, viewed with reference to the future, is connected in thought with expressions containing the phrase ; comp. Joh 6:51, If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread is my flesh; Joh 6:54, he that eateth my flesh hath eternal life; Joh 6:58, not as the fathers did eat and died, he that eateth this bread shall live forever. The conclusion which we may draw from these facts is, that, to the view of this author, eternal life is rather a permanent possession of the soul than a future reward; that it begins with the new birth, and continues ever afterwards, as well in this world as in the world to come; that it moves onward uninterruptedly, so that there is no sight or taste of death, Joh 8:51-52. In this sense, the adjective is qualitative, rather than quantitativeeternal life is a peculiar kind of life. But when we ask why this particular qualitative word is used to describe the life, the suggestions of this Gospel lead us to believe that it is due to the fact that the life endures that it never has any experience of deaththat it is endless. The qualitative word is thus also a quantitative one, and is used because it is quantitative. The endless life begins on earth.

The word judgment, in these verses, is possibly to be interpreted, with Meyer and others, in the sense ofcondemnation (), and possibly, with Godet and others, in its own proper sense. It is not to be doubted that, though means judgment, it sometimes has in the New Testament the idea of condemnatory judgment carried into it by the force of the context or of the subject under discussion. This is true of the word judgment in our language. That this is the meaning of in these verses is indicated by the contrast with the word save; by the contrast between believers and unbelievers, so far as the general representation of the New Testament writers sets forth their fate; by the fact that Joh 3:19 naturally suggests the idea of condemnatory judgment; and by the references to the final judgment as including all men, which are found elsewhere. The other view is favored by the fact that neither here nor in ch. Joh 5:24 ff., is the word used. This word is, however, found only twice in the New Testament (2Co 3:9; 2Co 7:3). does not occur in John’s Gospel, except in the doubtful passage, Joh 8:1-11. It is to be observed, also, that the tendency of the Johannean thought is towards the inward sphere, rather than the outward; and as his conception of eternal life is not of the future reward or blessedness, so much as of the spiritual life in the soul, never seeing death, so it would seem natural that his idea of the relation of the believer to judgment should be that of having its issues already decided in the soul by the possession of faith, and thus of escaping judgment in its more outward form. While recognizing the force of the considerations in favor of giving to the idea of judgment as distinguished from condemnation, the writer of this note believes that the other view is more probably the correct one. Viewed in relation to the decision as to destiny, the believer as truly as the unbeliever, it would seem, must be subject to this decision. In both cases alike, it is made, in the sense here intended, in the man himself. It is made already in each case, and no more in the one than in the other. But if the meaning is condemnation, it is true that the believer is not condemned, and that the unbeliever has been condemned already by and because of his unbelief. The 19th verse supports this meaning, for it represents the as being that which is connected only with the rejection of the light, with the loving of darkness, and with the deeds which are evil and are to be reproved (Joh 3:20). But the which relates to such works and the men who do them is a condemnatory judgment.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

Verse 16

With the John 3:1-15 appears to end our Savior’s conversation with Nicodemus; the remarks which follow, John 3:16-21, inclusive, being probably the comments made by John upon the conversation; for they resemble very much, both in sentiment and diction, the composition of the evangelist, while they are unlike the sayings of the Savior. Other similar cases of this character hereafter occur. For evidence of the effect which this conversation, and the Savior’s ministry in general, produced on Nicodemus, see John 7:50,51,19:39.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

3:16 {5} For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth {o} in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

(5) Nothing else but the free love of the Father is the beginning of our salvation, and Christ is he in whom our righteousness and salvation dwells: and faith is the instrument or means by which we apprehend it, and everlasting life is that which is set before us to apprehend.

(o) It is not the same to believe in a thing, and to believe about a thing, for we may not believe in anything except in God alone, but we may believe about anything whatever, says Nazianzene in his Oration of the Spirit.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

This best-known verse in the whole Bible expresses the gospel message more clearly and winsomely than any other. Almost every word in it is significant.

Jesus’ mission in the Incarnation (Joh 3:13; Joh 3:17) and the Cross (Joh 3:14-15) resulted from God’s love for human beings. The construction of the Greek sentence stresses the intensity of God’s love. He gave His best, His unique and loved Son. The Jews believed that God loved the children of Israel, but John affirmed that God loved all people regardless of race. According to one commentator, no Jewish writer specifically asserted that God loved His world. [Note: Odeberg, p. 116.] There is nothing in this verse or in the context that would limit "the world" to the world of the elect. This love of God is amazing not so much because the world is so big as because it is so bad (cf. Joh 1:9). The Father loves the world with the selfless love that provided the Incarnation and the Crucifixion. Gal 2:20 reveals that the Cross shows the Son’s love.

"The Greek construction puts some emphasis on the actuality of the gift: it is not ’God loved enough to give,’ but ’God loved so that he gave.’ His love is not a vague, sentimental feeling, but a love that costs. God gave what was most dear to him." [Note: Morris, pp. 203-4.]

Christians should not love the world with the selfish love that seeks to profit from it personally (1Jn 2:15-17).

The world stands under the threat of divine judgment because of the Fall and sin (Joh 3:36; Rom 1:18). God in His gracious love has reached out and chosen some people from out of the world for salvation (Joh 15:19; Rom 6:23). He does not take pleasure in pouring His wrath out on the lost, but He rejoices when people turn from their wicked ways to Him (Eze 18:23). The fact that God allows sinners to perish does not contradict His love. He has provided a way by which they need not perish because He loves mankind. His ultimate purpose is the salvation of those who believe in His Son.

The consequences of belief are new birth (Joh 3:3; Joh 3:5), eternal life (Joh 3:15-16), and salvation (Joh 3:17). The alternative is perishing (Joh 3:16; cf. Joh 10:28), losing one’s life (Joh 12:25), and destruction (Joh 17:12). To perish (Gr. apoletai) does not mean to experience annihilation but ruin, failure to realize God’s purpose, and exclusion from His fellowship. The only alternatives are life or perishing; there is no other final state.

Cessation of belief does not result in the loss of salvation.

"We might say, ’Whoever believes that Rockefeller is a philanthropist will receive a million dollars.’ At the point in time a person believes this, He is a millionaire. However, if he ceases to believe this ten years later, he is still in possession of the million dollars. Similarly, if a man has believed in Christ, he is regenerate and in possession of eternal life, even if he ceases to believe in God in the future." [Note: Joseph C. Dillow, The Reign of the Servant Kings, p. 200.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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