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| Thou "hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation... After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands..." |
Introduction
John 3:16 is one of the most well known and popular passages of Holy Scriptures, and most often quoted. It is also the most misunderstood, and used to teach many lies and errors. Many have never been told the truth… they just parrot the ideas and fables promoted by many preachers. Many have not really sat down and meditate of what the Lord is saying in this passage. Let us pray that the Lord will teach us the glorious truth stated here.
b. Some observations
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.” There are 5 verbs:
- ‘loved’: ἀγαπάω agapaō (aorist active indicative) [tense, voice, mood]
- ‘he gave’: δίδωμι didōmi (aorist active indicative)
- ‘believeth’: πιστεύω pisteuō (present active participle), thus a verbal noun in English, i.e. believing one, in the present state of believing.
- ‘perish’ - ἀπόλλυμι apollymi (second aorist middle subjuctive)
- ‘have’ - ἔχω echō (present active subjunctive)… i.e. in possession of
c. Some common errors originate from this passage because it is not rightly understood, errors such as:
- God so loved the world… i.e. the whole of mankind, every single person without exception…
- God offers Christ as the Saviour of the world… to those dead in trespasses and sins…
- Those to whom God offers Christ, dead in trespasses and sins, have ability to accept Christ offered to them…
- The spiritually dead can, and must accept the offer, i.e. believe Christ, in order to obtain eternal life…
- Those dead in trespasses and sins must hear the gospel, believe the gospel in order to have eternal life…
- The gospel ministry is a necessary means to bring eternal life to those dead in trespasses and sins… etc, etc.
- All these errors have very serious and grievous implications upon the Person and character of God, the nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the spiritual state of man in his natural state, etc.
d. John 3:16 is a statement declaring certain immutable truths concerning God's love.
- The object of His love: the world, not just the Jews. Rev 5:9, 7:9.
- The evidence of His love: He gave His only begotten Son
- The assured blessing of that Divine love: everlasting life to His people dead in sin.
- The manifestation/evidence of that everlasting life: the believing ones in the Son of God
- The consequence of believing in Christ: should not perish… because they possess everlasting life.
## There is absolutely no offer of anything, much less any offer of salvation of any sort, to any one! It is a declaration concerning God's love.
1. God so loved the world
a. Yes, the world, and not just the Jews, but both Jews and Gentiles of the world. The Jews have a big problem!
- Rev 5:9 'And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.' See Rev 7:9 too. The 'world' embraces men 'out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.' That's the distributive sense of the word. It is not exhaustive, all and every man without distinction.
- The ‘world’ God so loved, is also the ‘world’ that God gave His only begotten Son to save; no more no less. There is the world that God so loved and saved by His Son (Jn 1:29, 3:16), there is a world that Jesus did not love nor pray for (Jn 17:9), there is a world that is in enmity against God (James 4:4). Know the difference!
- But the word 'world' also indicates their spiritual condition - a 'world' that lies in death and condemnation because of sins. That's the ethical sense of the word 'world'. His love was shown to such of the world.
- 'World' cannot possibly refer to all men of the world. God gave His Son to save His people; that's His explicit will and Christ understood it perfectly. Christ declared, 'For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.' John 6:38-39
- Jn 17:9 ‘I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.’ Christ came to save His people; God sent Him to save them. “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” Jn 17:2. ‘As man as’ no more and no less!
2. The evidence of His love: He gave His only begotten Son:
a. John 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 14 And 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.
- The eternal life-giving Word, the second person of the Godhead was made flesh - thus Jesus the Son of God was begotten. The begetting of the Son is prior to and precedes the giving of the Son. Jesus is God-man.
- The Son was publicly announced, and officially given at Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, ‘And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ Mt 3:16-17.
- The begetting of the Son of God, the eternal Word made flesh, recorded in Luke 1:31-35 “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’ The Word is eternal, the Son is begotten.
- Thus Jesus is uniquely the only begotten Son of God. None was begotten like him. See Heb 2:10-14.
b. God so loved because he gave His only begotten Son to save His people:
- Matthew 1:21 ‘And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.’
- John 17:1 ‘These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.’ All that God loved, Christ gives eternal life.
- Ga 3:13 ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.’ Transgression of the law brings condemnation and death.
- Heb 9:12 ‘Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.’ Christ obtained eternal redemption.
- God send His only begotten Son to secure eternal redemption for His people... that's the evidence of His 'so loved' the world. That eternal redemption secured the eternal life for His people.
3. The assured blessing of God’s love: eternal life.
a. This eternal life is not offered to any one. If this eternal life is offered to those dead in trespasses and sins, it would be a cruel mockery to them; for how would those spiritually dead be able to perform the spiritual act of receiving the offered eternal life? It is a cruel insult and mockery to offer eternal life to those dead in trespasses and sins. If God just offered eternal life to the spiritually dead, then He hadn’t so loved at all!
- God so loved, He NOT ONLY secured our eternal redemption through His Son Jesus Christ, He also freely and sovereignly APPLY that eternal redemption to each elect in effectually calling them out of their native state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation: in applying the righteousness of His Son to them, thus providing the ground for their regeneration unto life, and adopting them into the family of God, and giving the Holy Spirit to dwell in them.
- In their NATIVE state of condemnation, death, and slavery, God freely and sovereignly acted on the elect who are in enmity against Him, and effectually calling them into a state of justification, eternal life, and sonship!
b. God DOES NOT offer salvation, and wait for sinners in enmity against Him to accept His offer! He actively applies the eternal salvation secured and obtained by Jesus Christ to each individual elect personally, bring them out of the state of death to that of eternal life - with his elect contributing nothing at all, and assisting in nothing at all. No one accept life from his parents. He is born with life, being completely passive throughout!
- And once God has applied that eternal life secured by Jesus Christ to an elect, that elect is perfectly and completely fitted for eternal glory. That's salvation by free grace, pure and unadulterated.
- But God is not just interested in the eternal glory of His children. He cares for their well-being here on earth, waiting to enter into their eternal inheritance. The gospel ministry is ordained and appointed for that end.
4. The manifestation of that eternal life: the believing ones in the Son of God
a. ‘Whosoever believeth’ - (πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων - present active participle) means ‘every/each/all believing ones.’ All believing ones have/possess everlasting life! They believe because they have/possess eternal life.
- They are born of God, Jn 1:13.
- They have been born again by the Spirit of God – Jn3:3,6.
- They have been given eternal life by Christ – Jn 10:28, 1Jn 5:11.
- Believing the Son of God is the evidence and manifestation of the eternal life given by the Son of God.
5. The consequence of believing in Christ: should not perish… because they possess eternal life.
a. Sins bring condemnation and death, separation from God.
- Christ secured righteousness for His people; righteousness brings justification and life. See Rom 5:18,21 ‘Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.’
- Those clothed with Christ’s righteousness possess eternal life, and should not perish. See 1Pet 1:3ff.
