Exposition of 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.” (John 3:16)
One of the most common errors in Christianity today is the belief that God loves everyone when, in fact, the Bible clearly states just the opposite. If we take the position that God loves everyone there is an obvious conclusion we must also believe: He will throw some of those that He loves into an eternal lake of fire. That is far worse than the truth. God does not love everyone and He will never send an object of His love to an eternal hell. Let’s go through some scriptures and discover the truth.
One of the most important things to remember when we are studying the Bible is context. Context means that we must always consider what is written before and after the word or passage of scripture we are studying. This is to make sure we are not assuming something that is not there. When we take something out of context we are assuming what it means without taking into consideration the meaning of the surrounding language. Context gives more clarification to the sentence or word.
Another litmus test for truth we must always use is comparing the subject we are studying to other places in the Bible that speak of the same thing. The Bible is its own interpreter. We must allow it to do its work by listening to its comments on the same subject in other places.
Many who assume that John 3:16 means that God loves everyone neglect these two disciplines. They neglect the context within the passage and fail to compare the language of John 3:16 to other places in the Bible that speak of the same subject. We know this is true because we hear people quote John 3:16 without any of the other scriptures that surround it. If you were to ask many who quote John 3:16 about the context or the surrounding scriptures you may get a blank stare.
In this article we are going to use both disciplines as we examine John 3:16. We are going to examine the “world” that God gave His Son for. We are also going to consider the “love” of God that He has for this world. Finally we will look at the context of John 3:16.
Does John 3:16 mean that God loves everyone? The World of John 3:16.
The word, “world,” is used over 250 times in the Bible. Over half are found in the New Testament. In the New Testament, the word, “world,” is translated from six different Greek words. They do not all refer to the same world. In Matthew 12:32 Jesus uses the word, ‘world’, twice. They are both translated from the same Greek word but they do not refer to the same world. Jesus said: “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” In this verse, the word, “world,” comes from the Greek word, aiōn. This word refers to an age or a period of time. Jesus is saying that there is no forgiveness for this sin in that present world, nor in the future world. Those are two different worlds, periods of time, or ages. Surely, John 3:16 doesn’t mean that God so loved a period of time that He gave His only begotten Son for it. Yet, they are both worlds, one then present and one to come.
In Matthew 24:14, Jesus said: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” The word, ‘world’, in this verse comes from the Greek, oikoumenē. This word means: land, part of the globe, specifically, the Roman Empire. For God so loved the Roman Empire that He gave His only begotten Son… does that sound right? Of course it doesn’t. Yet, if we make the assumption that every time the word, used it refers to all people we would have to believe it. Those are only two of the several worlds spoken about in the New Testament. But those two examples should be enough to show how important it is to consider the particular ‘world’ under consideration in any verse. Let’s consider some other examples that refer more specifically to the subject at hand.
In John 3:16, the word that Jesus uses for, “world,” comes from the Greek, kosmos. The definition of kosmos is simply: an orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration. It also refers to inhabitants of the world that are under consideration. Since there are different worlds of inhabitants, of peoples, of nations, we have to consider the particular world in the context of John 3:16. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world (kosmos), that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
What world is this kosmos of John 3:16?
To have a better understanding of kosmos, consider these examples. We have an orderly arrangement when we place the silverware on the table. It is a world of silverware in its proper place on the table for dining. We have an orderly arrangement when we set up the baseball field. The bases, the pitcher’s mound and the outfield are arranged in order on the field for the game. We have an orderly arrangement when we place the chairs around the table in their proper place. It is a world of chairs in their proper place for seating. As you can see, those are three different worlds of things in order, in their proper places. From the silverware, to the baseball field, to the chairs, they are all different worlds of things in their proper place. These are worlds we are all familiar with. We understand the kosmos of them all. Personally, I am more familiar with the baseball field world than the silverware world. My wife will agree.
Now consider ‘kosmos’ in the realm of people, in order, which is the primary point in John 3:16. For example, there is a world of people in heaven; there is a world of people on earth; there is a world of people in the U.S.; there is a world of people in the Roman Empire; there is a world of people who belong to God; and there is a world of people that do not belong to God. Those are all worlds of people in their proper place that you know about. Here are several verses (not all) that refer to worlds of people translated from the Greek, kosmos.
“For God so loved the world (kosmos), that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
“Love not the world (kosmos), neither the things that are in the world (kosmos). If any man love the world (kosmos), the love of the Father is not in him.” (I John 2:15)
“If ye were of the world (kosmos), the world (kosmos) would love his own: but because ye are not of the world (kosmos), but I have chosen you out of the world (kosmos), therefore the world (kosmos) hateth you.” (John 15:19)
“I pray for them: I pray not for the world (kosmos), but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” (John 17:9)
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world (kosmos), that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” (Ephesians 1:4)
It is obvious that all of these worlds are not the same. Yet, all come from the Greek, kosmos. Which kosmos did God so love because they are all worlds? Let’s consider each verse.
In 1 John 2:15, kosmos is used 3 times: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Here is a world that God’s people are commanded not to love. Yet, it is translated from the same Greek word, kosmos. Would this make sense: Love not the world that God loves? Of course it doesn’t. This kosmos is obviously a different world than John 3:16 yet it is translated from the same Greek word. This world that we are not supposed to love does not refer to every person on planet earth. It certainly does not refer to God’s people. It does not refer to the world of people in heaven. It refers to a fallen world, lust, sin, money, ungodliness and other ungodly things, even people, who promote and practice these things that are of this world. This is a world of things, and people, that God does not love and His people are not to love.
The word kosmos is used five times in John 15:19: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” This is the same world that John wrote about in the previous verse and it is a world that God’s people are not a part of. This world refers to people who do not love God or His people. We know this refers to people because this kosmos has feelings towards other people.
This verse, like many others in the New Testament, depict two separate worlds of people: a people of the world who do not love God or His people and a people that Jesus chose out of the world that belongs to Him. Are you beginning to see the different worlds of kosmos that are found in the Bible? This hatred of God’s people by the world has been proven historically by a host of martyrs, people who suffered and died for the Lord at the hands of those who hate Him and them. We witness it today. Christians have been, and will always be, persecuted by the unbelievers and haters of Christ and His people. The martyrs and those who martyred them represent two different kosmos. From text to text, passage to passage, these verses all agree: There is a world of people that love God, that love other people of God, that He loves… and there is a world of people who do not love God or His people. These two separate and diverse worlds are referenced all through the Bible, both in the Old and New testaments. Yet, many miss the language of God as well as the battle that continues all around us every day between these two worlds (kosmos). This battle is carried out in the realm of politics, social media, news media, public school agendas, music and a host of other platforms. Yet, it is the same battle between the two worlds.
Though we could use a lot more space and time on this truth I will give you one more example that I think is noteworthy. If we assume that John 3:16 means that God loves everyone then Jesus is at variance with His Father because in John 17:7 He declares that He is not going to pray for some people that, supposedly, God must love: “I pray for them: I pray not for the world (kosmos), but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” (John 17:9) Does this sound right: Father, I know that you love everyone but I am not going to pray for some of them? No, it does not make sense. Nor do any of the other verses I have cited if we believe that God loves everyone.
I have given you several worlds translated from kosmos:
1. A world of sinful things that His people are not supposed to love (1 John 2:15).
2. A world of people that hate Jesus and His people (John 15:19).
3. A world of people that Jesus would not pray for (John 17:9).
4. A world of people that love God and His people, that Jesus did pray for that were given to Him by the Father (John 17:9).
These are all different worlds, translated from the same word. If I asked you to choose which of these four worlds is the world of John 3:16 which one would you choose? If you chose 4 you would be correct. God so loved a world of people that the Father gave to Jesus, that love Him, that love other Christians, that Jesus prayed for, that He gave His only begotten Son to die for. These people are referred to in the Bible as the elect family of God; His sheep; my sheep; His people; my people. These are all the same people, the people of John 3:16. That is the only world that God gave His Son to die for.
God’s Love
We have considered John 3:16 in light of the word, God’s,“love.” The love of God towards His people is an amazing and wonderful thing. According to Paul, it’s greatness is beyond our human comprehension: “...May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18,19)
God’s love passes our knowledge. The word,“passeth,” means: to throw beyond the usual mark; surpasses. God’s love for His people goes beyond any mark of love we might have for anyone or anything. It surpasses our ability to fully understand it. Yet, we know it exists because
Now, let’s consider it in the light of God has declared it in His word. We feel it in our hearts. We experience it in our lives. We see it in Christ’s sufferings for us. Like the “world,” of John 3:16, false assumptions are also made about God’s love. Some assume the greater the love a person possesses, the more objects their love embraces. In other words, if my love is greater than yours, I love more things than you do. But that is not the way love works. It goes like this: the greater the love someone has for a particular person or thing, the more they are willing to sacrifice for it. That makes it personal and dynamic as opposed to generic and lethargic. Though God’s love is for many people, it is very personal. Another false assumption is also made about God’s love. It is simply this: Since God is a God of love He must love everyone. Is that true? While it is true that God is a God of love, it does not mean that God must love everyone. If it does then God must love Satan, the fallen angels and a world of sinful things and people the Bible tells us we are not supposed to love. From the language of Christ we know this cannot be true.
The exact phrase, “God of love,” is found in 2 Corinthians 13:11: “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” This verse declares that God is a God of love. This is true. But it does not say that God loves everyone. That is a human addendum found nowhere in the Bible. It also declares that He is a God of, ‘peace.’ If we assume that God loves everyone because He is a God of love then we must also assume that God is at peace with everyone because He is also a God of peace. Surely, this is not so. There is a spiritual war raging all around us. There are many agencies and beings involved in it that God is not at peace with. The fact that God is a God of love does not mean that He loves everyone and everything. It means that God is the source of all genuine love; He is the author of love wherever it is found; and all genuine love emanates from Him. Apart from God, there would be no love anywhere or in anyone. The same can be said of peace. But it does not mean that God loves everyone. Love, like peace and faith, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. God is the source of this fruit. These graces are given to His people when they are born from above. These are attributes of God possessed only by His people. (See Galatians 5:22,23) This love is not found in everyone. If it was everyone would love God, His people, His church, His Bible and His truths. God’s love is a confined circle between Him and His people. 1 John 4:19 presents this confining circle of love: “We love him, because he first loved us.”
The circle goes like this: Those that love God, were loved by Him first. Those that He loved first, love Him. Those that do not love Him, were not loved by Him. Those that were not loved by Him first, do not love Him or His people. That’s the circle of love. This circle cannot be broken or changed. Nothing can take a person out or put a person in it. A person’s love for God, and Jesus, is an evidence of their election and salvation, not the cause of it. He came first. His love came first. His sovereign choice came first. That is the love that brought Christ down from glory to die for those that the Father loved. This circle of love is simple and straightforward. We love Him because He first loved us. First…before the world was created; before we knew about Him; before we did good or evil. This Is a beautiful circle of love. Those who hate God and His people are not in this circle and no one can put them in it. Remember, Jesus said some did not love Him or His people. He never said that He loved them.
Someone might say, “What if someone loves God but He did not love them or choose them?”According to this verse, that is an impossibility. If someone loves God and His Son they were loved by God first and He sent His Son to die for them. God’s love for His people is specific. It is not a general love for all of humanity. The love I have for my wife is specific. It is not a general love for all women. Jesus died for specific people, not a mass of unknown individuals. Their names are in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 20:15). These are names, not generalities. Jesus is a person, not a generality. So are you. These names were written in His book before the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8) These are the specific individuals that the Father chose in love before the world began (Ephesian 1:4). He gave the names of these specific people to Jesus (John 6:38,39). Their names are written on the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16). He knew every one of these people personally when He died for them. When they drove the nails through His palms, they went right through their names. They were nailed with Him to His cross forever. That is the God of love.
Love is always towards an object, something specific. It is never toward something unknown. If I love something I must have knowledge of it. I must have a feeling towards it. I must know what it is. Does this make sense: God so loved people that He didn’t know and He gave His precious Son to die for them? Of course it doesn’t. How great is this love! He knew me personally before I was born and after I became a sinner He didn’t change His love for me.
Those who demand that God must love everyone are missing a beautiful and wonderful truth that John 3:16 is all about. Consider the love that your husband, your wife, your child or your parents have for you. Is it more wonderful to know that their love for you is special, specific, different, than their love for everyone else? Of course it is. That is what Jesus is telling us in John 3:16. God sent His son to die for you as an individual, not a mass of unknown people that He is waiting to meet if they make it to heaven.
God’s love is special, specific, unchangeable, everlasting. It passes our knowledge in that He gave His only Son for us. Who would you give your son for? To say, and believe, that God loves some and not others is not a boast. It is just a biblical truth. All are sinners. Yet, it was God’s good pleasure to rescue those He loved from the fall of Adam. As previously stated, the fact that God does not love everyone is found all through the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. You have heard the language of Jesus concerning those that hate God and His people. In the 139th psalm, David agrees: “Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.” (Psalms 139:21,22)
David wrote that under the inspiration of God, by God’s divine command. The Bible declares that David, the man after the Lord’s own heart, hates the people who hate his God. Is that a sin? Surely, God would not put that in His holy word if it was a sin to hate the haters of God. “Hey David, you shouldn't have written that in the Bible because God loves everyone, and you should too. Shame on you!” According to the Bible, God’s people should be grieved with those who rise up against Him. they should be grieved with the wicked and their deeds, the influence on our society, our children, the human traffickers, the rapists, the murderers, and the world that Jesus said we should not love. Yes, David is writing about the same people that Jesus spoke about, that John wrote about, that Jesus would not pray for. Are you getting the picture? That is not the world of John 3:16.
David hated them with a perfect hatred and God sealed that in His holy word. Perfect means: consuming and complete and carries the thought: to destroy. Is that people that God loves? Of course it isn’t. Someone might say that this only means that David loved those people less. That would be assumed because anything we hate, we love less. Yet, this is a perfect hatred. Jesus spoke of these same people. Listen to the words of Jesus: “He that hateth me hateth my Father also.” (John 15:23). Does this make sense: “He that hateth me hateth my Father also and we love them?” Or, that loves me less my Father loves less also?” Of course it doesn't.
This is a recurring theme that runs all through the word of God and many miss it because they believe that God must love all these wonderful people down here, even the ones mentioned above. I personally believe that the reason many miss this recurring theme, these two separate and distinct worlds, is because they believe that every person is redeemable. While it is true that many of God’s people fall into some of the sins of the fallen world it is also true that every person is not redeemable. Christ redeemed His people on the cross and they are redeemed. These are the only people who have remorse for sin, who will repent of their crimes. Many times we do not know who they are. In the end, God will separate the wheat from the chaff and burn the chaff. Meanwhile, we are not to love those who are practicing wicked works.
Here is another statement from Jesus: “But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.” (John 5:42) Only Jesus can look upon the human heart and know what is really there. Obviously, these were not in that circle of love. Many times we may not know… but Jesus does. Again, does this make sense: “But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you, and I love you.” Of course it doesn’t! This circle of love cannot be broken. That is what Paul is telling us:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
Nothing, and no one, has the power to take a single person out of God’s circle of love nor can they put anyone in it. Only God can do that…and He has. Suppose you had never heard of God and I told you about the God of love for the first time.
Which of these two statements best defines and elevates the God of love:
God loves everyone and He sent His Son to die for them all but in the end He is going to throw some of those He loves, that His Son died for, into an eternal lake of fire.
God loves a particular people that He gave to His Son to die for and they will all be with Him in glory one day.
Which one of those is the God of love? You can’t have both.
God’s love for His people is everlasting, eternal. That means that He has always loved them and His love has no end. That is what He told Jeremiah to tell us: “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3) That is the kind of love God has for His people, an everlasting love.
Listen to this circle of love in 1 John 4:7-10: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Can you pick out those who are in the circle and those who are not? Jesus told some that they did not belong in this circle, that they did not belong to God: “He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (John 8:47).
Hello Christians, you are special, you belong to God and some do not. Should that offend you? Does this make sense: “Ye are not of God but God loves you.” Of course it doesn’t because everyone does not belong to God, Jesus did not die for everyone, and God does not love everyone.
Paul writes the same thing: “That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Romans 9:8) Children of the flesh are children who are born of man, of Abraham, descendents of Adam, or any man. Therefore, just because a person is born human does not make them a child of God or loved of God. Children of the promise, of the new covenant, who are born from above, born of God, are counted of the seed of Christ and these are the people that God loves. The Bible also speaks of specific individuals that God does not love: “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Romans 9:13)
How simple is that? It is written, it was written before, before John 3:16. Paul is referencing Malachi: “I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,” (Malachi 1:2) Esau was a person that God did not love. It is without contradiction, God hated Esau. If we take the argument that this only means that God loved Esau less the next verse makes no sense at all: “And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.” (Malachi 1:3) I only loved Esaus less so I destroyed his heritage. Does that make sense? If Malachi 1:2 and Romans 9:13 mean that God only loved Esau less no one would be upset about it. Yet, in the Romans 9:14, immediately after Paul writes that God hated Esau, he gives the knee jerk reaction that some may have…especially those who believe that John 3:16 means that God loves everyone: “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” (Romans 9:14) That is the knee jerk reaction: “If God doesn’t love everyone, He is an unrighteous God because God is a God of love.” If you say that, Paul says this to you: “God forbid.”
Hello Christians, God is trying to tell you something: I love you with a special love and I sacrificed my Son for you alone. Did God write that just to confuse us? Would God declare that He loved Jacob and not Esau in the Old Testament, in Romans 9, and then declare that He loves everyone in John 3:16? Of course not. It is the human heart that demands that God must love everyone, that everyone deserves to be loved. Yet, no one deserves anything. On what merits does anyone deserve to be loved? We are all a bunch of sinners. It is a common error for mankind to try to define God. Yet, the thoughts of mankind are not God’s thoughts: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9)
When God declares that He loves some and not others He is telling us His thoughts. Those are not our thoughts. Those are His ways, not our ways. We cannot ascend high enough to comprehend how or why He loves some and not others or why He loves any of us. Remember Ephesians 3:18,19: His love passes our knowledge. He is telling us His thoughts so we may know Him better. The fact is, God doesn’t have to love anyone. Who are we to tell God who He must love? Can I tell you who you must love? Who are we to define God? Yet, He has defined His love in no uncertain terms: “Jacob have I loved.” Suppose I told you: “I love Mark, but I hate John.” You might wonder why, but you probably wouldn't question that I did. Why do people do that to God? Knowing this is such a blow to our human pride, Paul goes into a detailed explanation. His illustrations are very clear: “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” (Romans 9:11-14) Is God unrighteous if He loved Jacob and hated Esau. That is the question. Here is the answer: “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,” (Romans 9:15-23)
God raised Pharaoh up just to destroy him and show His sovereignty, to show His love for Israel over all the other nations. The illustration is simple: We are just a bunch of clay pots, earthen vessels. We are all made from the same lump of clay: Adam. The potter made them all. Some are made for honor. Some are made to dishonor. The potter does as He will with His clay. That is the illustration. Are the pots going to question the God who made them: “Hey God, this pot is telling you that you have to love all the pots or you are an unrighteous potter!”
One thing I love about this illustration is that the vessels of mercy never changed into a vessel fit for destruction and vice versa. His love never changes. God is sovereign concerning His love and His compassion. He is sovereign concerning His mercy and grace and to whom He will extend it. He is sovereign in everything. He can raise up a person just to destroy them. He is the potter. We are the clay. He fashions us according to His sovereign will. And there are vessels of wrath that He does not love fitted to destruction. And there are vessels unto honor, vessels of mercy, that he fashioned afore to glory. The thrust of John 3:16 is not a declaration of God’s love for humanity, for everyone. It is a declaration of how great His love is for His special people. He so loved these people that He sacrificed His own Son to save them. Rather than demanding that God must love everyone, His people should rejoice that He loves them that much. Especially in light of what we are by nature.
Cain is another person that God did not love. Do you remember him? He murdered his own brother because Abel was righteous. Doesn’t that agree with the two worlds we have been considering, a world that hate God and His people? Here is what the Bible says about him: “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.” (1 John 3:12) Cain was, “of that wicked one,” the devil.
Does this sound right: “Cain was of that wicked one and murdered his brother and God loves him.” Of course not! We heard the same language from Jesus about people He actually encountered: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it,” (John 8:44) They were also of that wicked one, of their father the devil. These, like Cain, are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. These are the same people as Cain. They will always do the deeds of their father. They will not change. We see them on the news all the time. We read about them in the paper. They are murderers, rapists, child molesters, human traffickers with no conscience, without natural affection, full of lust, adultery, drug traffickers, promoting the ideas of their father. They hate the children of God. They hate God and His Son. They hate the truths in God’s holy word that oppose them and their ideas. God does not love them and Jesus was not given for them. I am sure that God is tired of being misrepresented by those who demand that He loves these people.
Those who believe that God loves everyone are taken in the devil's snare. They are deceived. The devil wants everyone to believe that God loves everyone, that everyone has good in them, that people are not all that bad, that there is no war going on, that those people can be fixed. That gives them the edge they need to continue their agenda without interference. Remember John’s words: “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” (1 John 5:19)
All through the Bible God shows a difference between people He loves and those that He does not love. Some of the people that God loved were notable sinners. Jesus demonstrated a difference, a love for some that we might think He should not love. One of those was the woman taken in adultery. Jesus did not declare that she was of the devil. He encouraged her and admonished her to repent: “…And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11)
Those are comforting words of forgiveness that we do not hear when He encounters those later in verse 44 that were of the devil. Mary Magdalene is another example. Every time we read her name this commentary always follows: “...out of whom went seven devils...” Luke 8:2; Mark 16:9) That is how she was. But Jesus didn’t say she was of the devil even when there were seven that had possessed her. Why did Jesus cast the devils out of her and not those who were of their father the devil? That answer is easy: He loved her. She belonged to Him. She was a vessel of honor. He would later die for her…John 3:16.
I could give many other examples of Jesus showing a difference between individuals. He did that to prove His continual love for His own, even when they mess up. We mess up a lot. David did. Solomon did. Peter did. Moses did. Yet, God continually loved them. This is a love that goes beyond our human perception. The Bible makes it very clear: God does not love everyone. But those that He does love, He will love them forever and finally take them home to be with Him forever.
We have examined the several ‘worlds’ of the Bible. We have examined the ‘love’ of God. Finally, let’s examine the context of John 3:16.
THE CONTEXT OF JOHN 3:16
In the beginning of this article, I made this statement: “If you were to ask many who quote John 3:16 about the context of the surrounding scriptures you may get a blank stare.” Was that an unfair statement? If it was for you then I apologize. Yet, I know it is true for many because I have asked.
John 3:16 is a short conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was among the rulers of the Pharisees. He was ashamed to approach Jesus in the day for fear of his own peers. So, he approaches Jesus at night. He realized that Jesus must be of God because of His miracles. He was a believer. Yet, he wants to know more. He wants to know how, why and who Jesus really was. Jesus responds to him quite differently than Nicodemus expected. Rather than talking about how He performed His miraculous works Jesus changed the subject of the conversation from Himself to Nicodemus. He gave Nicodemus an insight into his experience, an explanation of his internal desire to know more about Him. I am sure Jesus was expecting him that night. The dialogue is both experimental and doctrinal. It concerns the internal desire of God’s people to know more about Jesus. That is where Jesus found Nicodemus that night in his faith. Nicodemus was a seeker. That is the work of the Holy Spirit within the heart. It is the Holy Spirit within a person that makes them hungry to know more about Jesus. In this short dialogue Jesus explains that to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, like many of God’s people, does not recognize what is happening to them when the Lord begins a work in their heart. Jesus is telling Nicodemus the reason he came in the first place: he was a born again person and he was beginning to see the kingdom of God. That is a great miracle of God that Nicodemus was beginning to experience. This conversation is not about God loving everyone. It is about what God is about to do for the particular objects of his love,those that seek Him, those that want to know more about Him, those who believe in Him. It is about the people who will be born again by the Holy Spirit, that Jesus will die for, and the evidence of both: they will believe!
Here is the conversation:
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (John 3:1-21)
As you can see, John 3:16 is not a declaration that God loves everyone. The statement about God’s love follows a qualification of who God loves: “whosoever believeth.” God loves believers. He gives them that belief by the Holy Spirit that takes up His residence in them when they are born again. Remember Jesus’ words: everyone doesn’t believe in Him; everyone doesn’t love Him; everyone doesn’t love His people. John 3:16 is not about those people. Nicodemus got the point. We know this is true because there are two other references about him in the Bible.
In John 7, Nicodemus defends Jesus: “Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” (John 7:51,52) Notice how the scriptures refer to him so that we might know that Nicodemus was not among those who wanted to kill Jesus.
In John 19:39 Nicodemus brings an expensive compound of myrrh and aloes for Jesus’ burial: “And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.”
Again, the scriptures identify him as the one that came to Jesus at night. Here, we see his love for our Lord. He wanted to be identified with Jesus’ death as all of His people desire to do. Those are the people that Jesus loves: the ones that love Him.
John 3:16 concerns a world of people that God loved before the world began; that He chose out of a fallen human race; that He gave His Son to die for and redeem; that love Him and believe in Him. They are secure in His love and will live with him forever. That is the love of God. That is what John 3:16 is all about.
- Elder Neil Phelan, Jr.