The John 3:16

For God so loved the world …

If you were to walk up to 100 random people and say, “Tell me a Bible verse.” Of those who don’t insult you or walked away, the majority will tell you John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

I knew this verse well in my early walk as a Christian and as I’ve grown in my faith and knowledge of God’s word I noticed something interesting. There are more than one 3:16. In fact out of 66 books of the Bible 49 of them have a chapter 3 verse 16.

Through my reading of the word I noticed these 3:16’s were just as much God’s word as John 3:16 and I felt a pull to share some of them with you.

And this year, I did that. Granted there were 13 weeks I wasn’t here, but while I was, the 3:16’s have been my joy to speak to you. I did not get through all of them and I might revisit them from time to time, because in this year I didn’t even get through half of them. But I really felt my call on this theme was only for this year, so Next Sunday, I’m going to start something New.

But first let’s get into out final 3:16 for the year. John 3:16.

If you’ve known me for anytime at all, you know one of the most important parts of reading a single Bible verse in scripture is to know the context. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times

Never Read a Bible Verse.

And of course, if you know me you know that I mean, never read a Bible verse all by itself without knowing what the words around it say.

Because, if the only verse I ever read out of the whole Bible is John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Do I believe in God? Yep. So according to this verse I’m going to heaven.

That is why context is so import and why using scripture to interpret scripture is the best way to understand God’s word.

For example James 2:19

James 2:19 ESV

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

So if I read John 3:16 and Then James 2:19. I’m going to ask myself the question.

If demons believe too, then what must God mean by believe?

So, then I do what most other Christians don’t do. I look at the Greek. My greek isn’t very good, but I know where to look and what to study. Many other Christians, look to commentaries and pastors, or sermons. All good things. Don’t think that because I do it this way that it’s the way you have to do it. If you want to learn more about Greek, awesome, I got books. If you want to stick to the commentaries and sermons, just as good.

But here I go and look at the Greek word

πιστεύων pisteuo

This word means more than believe. I can believe something because I see it. I know this building is here because I see it and I’m in it. Do you know the one and only thing those demon’s James mentioned have that I don’t. It’s the only thing they have that I don’t. I don’t envy, but I will one day have it.

They have been in the actual presence of the All Mighty God. Of course they believe, but to cut the greek lesson short. The word believe John uses is a different Greek word than James uses. They are almost the same, but have different tenses. When John says believe he means, believe in faith even though you don’t see it all.

When James uses the word believe in relation to the demon’s he means those who believe because they have seen.

It is very important when we read the Bible to let scripture interpret scripture, and understand the context of what we are reading.

And what’s the best way to understand the context of what we are reading? Read the before and after of the verse in question.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Our reading today went to the end of the chapter, but what about before. Jesus is talking, but to whom is he talking? For the rest of the time, I highly recommend you have your Bible open to John chapter 3 and if you need a pen, pencil, or highlighter. There are some around. We’re going deep today.

John 3:1–15 (ESV)

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?

Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Ok, we have Jesus having a conversation with a guy named Nicodemus, a religious leader. They are meeting by night which means we can assume one of them doesn’t want to be seen with the other. Since we know from other scriptures that Jesus isn’t shy about talking to Pharisees, we can make the assumption that Nicodemus is nervous about having a serious conversation with Jesus.

Jesus informs Nicodemus that he must be Born Again in order to attain eternal life. He says that one must be born of water and spirit to get eternal life. We then ask the quick question, does that mean one must be baptized in order to be saved? Read the next verse. That which is born of flesh is flesh and spirit is spirit. Water and flesh must be synonomous here. So, while all believers should be baptized, it’s not a requirement for salvation, but a response to it. Jesus is talking about being born of flesh and spirit. He’s narrowing down that he is coming to offer salvation to human beings

Here I like the wordage Jesus uses here. I say to you, WE. Check that out. The grammar here is like Hey, I’m going to the store by myself, all alone, and we are going to get some groceries. Is this bad grammar or is this Jesus giving a subtle hint to the trinity. I and we used in the same sentence. pretty cool.

And finally Jesus gives a shout out to Numbers 21 and reminds Nicodemus that just like people were saved when a bronze serpent was lifted up, so will those who believe in him.

See in Numbers 21 the people of Israel were complaining again. And God sent snakes to bite them. Then God told Moses to make a bronze snake for people to look at, not worship, look at. If they believed God’s word, they would be saved. Look at the snake get better. Look at God on a cross, get better eternally.

That’s the before. Then after the 3:16

John 3:16–21 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,

because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

We know God sent his only son. Quick Greek study

μονογενῆ monogene

It means to come from, so if your bible says one and only, or only, or begotten, any of those are Okay. Jesus is emphasizing that there is only him that comes from the Father and that He is the Son.

He also assures Nicodemus that it’s not time for judgement yet. It’s salvation time still and still today. Judgement has not yet come, but one day it will.

Jesus even emphasizes that those who don’t believe do stand in judgement already and are found condemned. Only those who believe in Jesus are saved.

And finally, if you are consistently doing wicked things and avoiding God at all costs, you are more than likely not in the light of salvation, but still in the dark.

Likewise, if you are doing what is true, then it is likely that you are in the light of salvation.

There, we’ve just dissected Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus.

From this passage of scripture we learn that Jesus came to save Human beings, whom he loves, and the humans that believe in him will be saved.

We learned that the belief Jesus speaks of is not a see and believe, but a faith believe. We haven’t seen it all, but we believe based on the words of those who did see.

We also learned that Jesus said he came to offer salvation first. We know from elsewhere in scripture that one day he will come to judge, but that day is not in this passage and it is not right now either. So until Jesus returns we are to be out there helping others find faith in Jesus.

And whatever happened to Nicodemus, the guy who came to Jesus by night, so that no one would know?

John 19:38–40 (ESV)

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

It’s not night in this passage, close to, but still day. Nicodemus came forward with 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes. He was seen. No doubt in my mind. I wish we knew more from scripture about what happened to him after. There are legends outside of scripture that speak of him being baptized by John and Peter and then banished from Jerusalem. I hope all that is true. But outside of scripture we must know that none of it is inspired. Not to say that it’s wrong, but we must be wary of saying something is 100% true outside of scripture.

So, we just went deep on a good passage of the Bible. I really hope your understanding of Jesus, Nicodemus, and Salvation have all grown.

Starting Next week we are going to be starting a new study all about Jesus.

To the casual Bible reader Jesus shows up on the scene in Matthew Chapter 1. But when we dig in a little bit we can see that he was there from the very Beginning in Genesis chapter one.

And he doesn’t just show up there. In fact I challenge that Jesus is found in every book of the Old Testament. And the job of the OT is to point us to the coming Messiah. The job of the New Testament is to show the results of Jesus’ first coming and to point back to the gospels. So every week, we will have a passage from the OT and a Passage from the NT showing us Jesus and how he is more than just a good teacher. He is our Lord God and Savior. I recommended a journal before. I hope you take me up on that, because it will help. I don’t know how long this will take, or how deep we’ll go. We might take breaks from time to time, visit a 3:16 or a special event. But I’m looking forward to learning more and more about our Savior and I hope you are too.

Let’s pray