Daily Bible Nugget #500, John 3:16

The Nugget:

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.

My Comment:

On Valentine’s Day, I am prompted to post the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16. Far too many people are looking for love in all the wrong places!

My students indicated by the written compositions they wrote in my English class that they were well aware of the difference between love and lust. At this season of the year I posted some proverbs and quotations about love:

“In real love you want the other person’s good. In romantic love you want the other person.” Margaret Anderson

“Love is always an active concern for the growth and aliveness of the one we love.” Erich Fromm

“Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.” St. John of the Cross

“Love is the will to fellowship.” Eric Sauer

“When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute–and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.” Albert Einstein

For those who are Bible-believing Christians, the topic of love is most important. When Jesus was asked a question about what was the most important commandment in the Bible, he answered:

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus quoted the two commandments from Deuteronomy 6:5 and from Leviticus 19:18.

There is much more on the subject of love in the Bible. The short book of 1 John has much to say on the topic in chapter 3 and chapter 4.

Another passage about love–the right kind of love–is Hebrews chapter 13. Consider Hebrews 13:4,

Heb 13:4  Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. (KJV)

In more modern English,

Heb 13:4 Have respect for marriage. Always be faithful to your partner, because God will punish anyone who is immoral or unfaithful in marriage. (CEV, Contemporary English Version)

Heb 13:4 Let married life be honoured among all of you and not made unclean; for men untrue in married life will be judged by God. (Basic English Bible)

The point being made in the Bible is clearly that sexual relations are never proper or allowable before marriage. Premarital sex is sin, and will be judged by God in this life and the next. Women need to resist the temptation to give in to men who would have them disobey God’s Word in this matter. If any man wishes to engage in such activity with you, that is the wrong man for you. Christian young men ought never to engage in premarital sex. Anyone who has engaged in these sins must repent, change behavior, stop sinning, and get right with God. Not to do so is to lose your salvation (see 2 Corinthians 12:21 and 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10, 11).

Of course, the most famous love chapter in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13. Here are the most pertinent verses:

1Co 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
1Co 13:5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
1Co 13:6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
1Co 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)

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