Bible Nugget #73, 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:

This is likely the best known verse of the New Testament. Note that God so loved the world. That includes everybody. Nothing in this verse or its context suggests this is merely a reference to God’s elect. In response to the need of the world that God loved, He gave His son for us. That is the provision. Note that the benefit promised, eternal life, has a contingency attached. Eternal life is available only to those who continue to believe, the significance of the “eth” on the word “believeth,” which represents the force of the present tense of the underlying Greek verb. Notice the expression “should not perish.” This is better understood as “may not perish,” translated to represent the subjunctive mood that marks the presence of the contingency–continuing belief. Those who will place their faith in Christ, who continue to believe, are having eternal life. This may not be exactly how you were taught to understand this verse in Sunday school or even in seminary, but that is the Gospel as presented in the Greek text. God promises eternal life now to those who continue to believe in His son, Jesus Christ, and it is they, and only they, who will never perish.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 1167 for John 3:16.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1188 or in Logos 5 Bible software for John 3:16.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

John 3:16. God. Je 31:3. Zc 9:17. Lk 1:78. 2:14. Ro **5:8. 8:3. 2 C *5:18-21. Ep *2:4-7. 2 Th 2:16. T *3:4-7. 1 J 3:1. **4:9, 10, 14, 19. Re 1:5. loved. Gr. agapaō (S#25g: Jn 3:16, 19, 35. 8:42. 10:17. 11:5. 12:43. 13:1, 23, 34. 14:15, 21, 23, 24, 28, 31. 15:9, 12, 17. 17:23, 24, 26. 19:26. 21:7, 15, 16, 20). FS96C1, Ge +4:1. Ps 36:7. 40:10. 103:8. Mt 5:43g. Mk **10:21g. Ro 8:39. 2 Th 2:16. 1 J 3:1, 16. 4:10. world. Gr. kosmos, Mt +4:8. ?**FS121J8. Metonymy of the Subject F/S 576. The world is put for its inhabitants, affirmed by some to denote without distinction, but not without exception. For other instances of this figure see Jn 7:4. Ac 17:31. 2 C *5:19. 1 J ?**2:2. 5:19. Re 12:9. See related notes and figures listed at Ge 24:10n. There is no viable reason within this text and its context to suppose that world is used in a special or limited sense. Some grammarians class the usage of world here as a Monadic Construction, because the world is an indivisible whole, the only such thing there is. “So monadic construction cannot be subjected to a division of the race as elect and non-elect. It is a single, indivisible unit. Thus there can be no predestination of the world as to destiny” (M. L. Lavender on John 3:16). Jn +*1:9, +29. 4:42. 1 J **2:2. **4:14. gave. FS96C1, Ge +4:1. Jn 1:14, 18. 5:43. 7:29. Ge 22:12. Is +*9:6. 55:4. Mt 7:11. Mk 12:6. Ro 5:10, 15. **8:32. 2 C 9:15. He 1:1, 2. 1 J 5:11. only. ver. 18. Jn 1:14. Ge 22:2, +=12. Lk %+7:12. begotten. Gr. monogenes, S#3439g, Lk +7:12. lit. the only one of a family, unique of its kind. Monogenes, applied to Jesus, expresses the unique and eternal relationship of the Son to the Father. As firstborn does not mean born first (Col 1:15n), neither does only begotten imply a begetting, birth, or origin in time. In His pre-existence, Jesus was always uniquely the Son of God (Ps 2:7. Is +*9:6. He 1:8). When used of Christ, only begotten speaks of “unoriginated relationship.” Only begotten “indicates that as the Son of God He was the sole representative of the Being and character of the One who sent Him” (Vine, Expository Dictionary, vol. 3, p. 140). It is a word picture which portrays the relationship of the Father to the Son in the terms of a Middle Eastern patriarchal family (Ge **21:12. 22:2, 12, 16. He 11:17). Isaac, termed Abraham’s only begotten son (He 11:17), though Abraham had a prior son Ishmael by Hagar (Ge 16:15) and later sons by Keturah (Ge 25:1-4. 1 Ch 1:32, 33), sustains a unique relationship to Abraham as the son of promise (Ga 4:23). The same picture, portrayed in parable (Mt 21:37), emphasizes the unique authority of Jesus as sent by the Father (Jn 20:21. 1 J 4:9), and our responsibility to receive the truth declared by Him (Jn 1:14, 18. 3:18. Mt 17:5). Pr 8:24. Col 1:15. He 1:6. 11:17. 1 J %5:18. Son. ver. +35, 36. Jn 1:34. +5:25. Ps **2:7. Is +*9:6. Ezk +2:1n. Mt 17:5. 21:37. 26:63. 27:43. Mk 1:1, 11. 9:7. Lk 9:35. 20:13. Ro 1:3. Ga 2:20. 4:4. He 1:2. 5:5. Re 2:18. that whosoever. ver. 15. Mt *9:13. 1 T *1:15, 16. Re *22:17. believeth. or, is believing (Young). “In the New Testament, when belief is said to lead to eternal life, as is the case here, the tense expressing continuous action is always used while the tense expressing a single action is never used. The stress is thus placed on a continuous faith rather than on an isolated moment of faith.—Thus never in these passages expressing belief in eternal life is one’s eternal security said to be guaranteed by a single, isolated act of faith” (George Allen Turner and Julius R. Mantey, The Gospel According to John, p. 99, who for the final sentence, given as footnote 20, cite E. A. Mills, “Terms for Belief in John’s Gospel”; thesis in Asbury Theological Seminary, 1952). See related notes (Mt 24:13n. Ga 2:20n. 1 T 4:1n. He 6:4n, 6n, 9n. 1 J 5:13). T#865. ver. *18, *+36. Jn **1:12. +4:39. +5:24, 44. 6:27-29, 35, 40, **47. 12:46. 14:4. 20:29, **31.. Dt 30:15. Is 28:16. 45:22. Mt 11:28. Mk 9:23. 16:16. Lk 7:50. Ac *10:43. 13:48. **16:31. Ro **1:16. *4:5, 11. 9:33. 10:4. Ga 3:7, 9, 11, 22. Ep **2:8-10. 1 T 1:16. **4:10. He 2:3. *6:12. *10:38, 39. 1 P 2:4-6. 1 J 5:10, 11. in him. Jn 15:4. 16:33. 1 J 5:12, 20. should not. or, may not (Young). The use of “should” confuses some English readers here because the English word “should” connotes a degree of doubtfulness, as if the text said “should not perish, but maybe he will.” The Greek text contains no such connotation here; “should” has no directly corresponding equivalent word in the underlying Greek text, but is used in rendering the verb “perish,” to represent the subjunctive mood (aorist tense, middle voice, third person singular) of the original. The subjunctive mood in Greek as used here does not express, as in English, doubtfulness or “conditions contrary to fact,” and can be used, in fact, in the strongest possible antithesis to doubtfulness in strong denial (subjunctive aorist with ou mē), as in He 13:5; Mt 5:18; Mk 14:25. See related notes listed at Ga 3:14n. This use of the subjunctive mood marks the presence of a stated contingency: continuing belief. perish. Gr. apollumi, Mt +2:13. Jn +*10:28. 11:50. Ps 1:6. 73:27. Mt 7:13. 18:11. Lk 15:4-6, 8, 9, 32. +*19:10. 23:35. Ro 6:23. 1 C 1:18. 2 C 4:3. 2 Th 1:8, 9. 2 P **3:9. but have. or, may have (Young). Again, the subjunctive mood reflects the presence of a stated contingency, which if met, renders the promise certain. Jn 6:47. 1 C *2:9. 2 C 1:19. everlasting. Gr. aionios, Mt +18:8. ver. 15. Jn 6:47, 51, 54. 17:3. Is 51:6. Mt +*25:46. T 1:2. life. Jn 4:10. 8:51. **10:28. Dt 30:15. Pr 8:35. Ezk 47:9. 2 C *5:15. Col 3:3. 1 J **5:11-13.

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2 Responses to Bible Nugget #73, John 3:16

  1. ken sagely says:

    psm 119.18 open thou mine eyes, that i may behold wondrous things out of thy
    law.

  2. ken sagely says:

    psm 119.18 open thou mine eyes,that i may behold wondrous things
    out of thy law.

    jn 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 encouraging cross references that always encourages you!
    1. 1.jn 4.14 we have seen and do testify that the father sent the son to
    be the saviour of the world.
    2. rom 8.32 he that spared not his own son, but delivered up for
    us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?
    3. lk 19.10 the son of man is come to seek and save the lost.
    4. rom 5.8 god commendeth his own love for us, in that,
    while we were yet sinners,christ died for us.
    5. 1 jn 4.14 we have seen and do testify that the father sent
    the son to be the saviour of the world.
    6. 2 pe 3.9 the lord is not slack concerning his promise, as
    some men count slackness: but is longsuffering to usward,
    not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
    to repentance.
    7.2 co 5.19 god was in christ,reconciling the world unto himself,
    not imputing their trespasses unto them.
    8. 1 jn 4.9-10 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.vs 10 herein is love, not that we loved god,
    but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

    psm 50.23 “whoso offereth praise glorifieth me”

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