JOHN 3:16, A BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL EXPLANATION | TITAPASTOR'S MUSINGS | 2022

JOHN 3:16, A BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL EXPLANATION | TITAPASTOR'S MUSINGS | 2022 God, life, love, world, Son "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Why do you think God loves the world? God does not love us because we love Him or because we are good. God’s love for the world is not measured by how much the world loves Him or the worthiness of the world. The Bible says God loved us first. He made the first move and we love Him because He first loved us.Jesus described the “world” in John 15:18 and John 7:7 as hostile to Him and His followers and its works are evil. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:12 described the world as “having no hope and without God” and Peter in 2 Peter 1:4 called the world “corrupted by human desires.” The world, therefore, that God chose to love and to save from its evil works and rebelliousness is not a good world full of good people. Instead, it is a fallen world full of sinful humanity that is not worthy of the saving love of God. God was brokenhearted over man’s choice throughout history to sin and to rebel against him, but still He loved us. God’s love is incomprehensible. It is hard to understand why God loves the world even though it is corrupt and sinful. Paul agreed with this when he wrote in Romans 5:8: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loves the world, that means, everybody in the world, irrespective of race, color, nationality, or gender from all nations, tribes, cultures, and languages -- all people in the world! Jesus Christ, God’s Only Son, died for all people, but not everyone is going to have everlasting or eternal life. God promises everlasting life only to” whoever” -- to the person or people who will believe, that is, trust and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9 assures us “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; and John 1:12 says that God gave the right to be children of God to those who received His Son and believed in His Name. Those in the world who will not believe Jesus and reject God’s offer of salvation through Him, will perish. John 3:18 aptly states “he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:36 adds “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” The New Testament Bible describes condemned people as those who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ. Condemnation means separation from God, declared as guilty and doomed to punishment. If a person refuses to repent and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior before he or she dies, condemnation will mean judgment to eternal punishment in hell, which Jesus described in Matthew 13:42 as “furnace of fire” where “there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” The gift of eternal life comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ, who is Himself “the resurrection and the life." Everlasting or eternal cannot be expressed in number of years, because eternal is outside of and beyond time -- it is perpetual life—it goes on and on and on, with no end. Eternal life does not begin when we die. The Bible says that “eternal life” begins with our faith in Christ – at the time we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. John 3:36 tells us that “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life” – it did not say “will have everlasting life.” Believers have everlasting life now. Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” In summary, God loves us all in the world, irrespective of who we are and where we have been in our sinfulness. God loves us not because we are good, because the Bible states that we are all born sinners with sinful nature. God's love for us is unconditional – not based on who or what we are. Love is part of His nature. When He sent His Only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins at the cross, His offer of salvation was for everybody in the world. He wants to rescue the world from eternal punishment in hell because of His love, but His offer of salvation is conditional, it is only for those who will believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior, the Son of God Who died for the sins of humankind to bring them back to their relationship with God and to give them eternal life. Eternal life is granted to the believer while he or she is still live and continues to eternity after physical death.John 3:16 is God's gracious invitation to the fallen world to believe in Jesus Christ and live forever. It is the most important invitation one can receive from God, the greatest lover of people and an awesome giver of life.