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| "... whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” ... that is, every believing one has everlasting life. Even so, whosoever breathes has physical life. |
#John3_16
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.”
Some common fables drawn from this passage
because it is not rightly understood, errors such as:
i. God so loved the world, i.e. the world as
the whole of mankind, every single person without exception.
ii. God offers Christ as the Saviour to the
world, to those without salvation, i.e. still dead in trespasses and sin.
iii. Those to whom God offers Christ, still dead
in trespasses and sins, have the ability to accept Christ offered to them…
iv. The spiritually dead can, and must accept
the offer, i.e. believe Christ, in order to obtain eternal life.
v. Those dead in trespasses and sins must
hear, understand, and believe the gospel in order to have eternal life.
vi. The gospel ministry is a necessary means to
bring eternal life to those dead in trespasses and sins… etc, etc.
All these errors have serious and grievous
implications upon the Person and character of God, the nature of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual state of
man in his natural state, etc.
John 3:16 is a statement declaring certain immutable truths concerning God's love.
i. The depth, breadth, and height of His love,
“For God so loved…”
ii. The object of His love: the world. What’s
the world here? What is the world that He so loved? A world in enmity against
Him.
iii. The evidence of His love: He gave His only
begotten Son
iv. The assured blessing of that love: eternal
life to His people.
v. The manifestation or evidence of that eternal
life: the believing ones in the Son of God.
vi. The assured safety of the believing ones in
Christ: should not perish… because they possess eternal life.
vii. There is absolutely no offer of anything,
much less any offer of the salvation of any sort, to anyone!
"Grace alone" has an exact and precise
meaning; don't contaminate it with fables.
