Introduction
From time to time we consider familiar ideas and familiar understandings of the Bible to see if what we believe is actually what the verse teaches. Like many people, our ordinary tendency is to casually pass by the familiar without much consideration. This familiarity has bred ambivalence, which we hope to rectify today.
Today's example is John 3:16, a verse that even the most ardent atheist can quote. It is certainly one of the most, if not the most famous verse in the Bible.
Here's the passage:
Jn. 3:13-17 No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Background
First some background. To who is Jesus speaking? Well, it is Nicodemus, although we are confident that the conversation did not happen one-on-one, since John is writing of this encounter in his gospel. He must have been present, perhaps with other disciples as well.
So this teaching, directed at Nicodemus, is recorded for us. Some of the most profound teaching to ever escape human lips was told to a man with another agenda coming under the cover of night. Nicodemus brought Jesus some flattery:
Jn. 3:2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
But Jesus did not stop to address Nicodemus' statement. Instead, He replied with a declaration:
Jn. 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
The famous "born again" exchange then ensued, which confounded Nicodemus. He clearly has never heard such teaching before. Jesus chides him:
Jn. 3:10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
Jesus then changes the conversation:
Jn. 3:12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
Jesus speaks with authority regarding "heavenly things" because He came from Heaven. He knows about "heavenly things" because He's been there personally. He says,
Jn. 3:13 No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man.
He can speak of heavenly things because He is the one who came from heaven. Jesus is revealing profound truth to a coward, and we are the beneficiaries of this truth.
This brings us to the quoted passage.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The literal translation is
Thus, for loved God the world that the son the only begotten he gave, so that everyone believing in him not should perish but should have life eternal.
This missing word connects John 3:16 to the previous thought, making John 3:16 the result of the idea leading to it from 14-15. Let's requote that:
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
So the Son of Man must be lifted up, and everyone who believes gets born again. From this, predicated on this, in this manner, in this way... God so loved the world.
God loved the world, and it descends from the Son of Man lifted up. This is the specific way God loved.
As an aside, we should review the story of Moses and the serpent on the pole. The passage:
Nu. 21:4-9 They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go round Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
King Hezekiah (2Kg. 18:1-4) finally destroyed the bronze snake because Israel had made it into an idol.
But before this it was an agent of healing. The snakes (as in that ancient serpent [Re. 12:9], also 2Co. 11:3) were killing God's people, and the lifting up a representation of healing is a type of Christ. The murmuring Israelites in their sin were being tormented. The snake on the pole healed them and gave them life. Similarly, the unbeliever is tormented by his sin, and Jesus lifted up on the cross draws all men to Himself and heals them by giving them new life.
Other Definitions
- World (...so loved the world...) ...orderly arrangement, i.e. Decoration; by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively..
- gave (...He gave...) ...to give one to some one to care for his interests.
Let's fill in the expanded meaning:
Because of this, for loved God those whom He decorated the cosmos with, that the son the only begotten he provided to take care of us, so that everyone believing in him not should perish but presently experience life eternal.
We hope we have added the richness of this passage to your understanding.
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