Bible Study Series: John 3:16-21. The most famous verse in the Bible is broken down for you, bit by bit.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together how to apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
For the Greek text, click here:
At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 3:16-21
16 For God loved the world in this way: that he gave the unique Son, so that the one who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to condemn it, but that the world may be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned; but the one who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the unique Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than light, for their works are evil. 20 Every person practicing bad things hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be exposed. 21 The one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be manifest, namely, that they are done in God. (John 3:16-21)
Comments
This passage probably carries on John’s reflections or meditation on who Jesus is, in view of God’s love and men’s hatred, and light and darkness, and judgment and life.
16:
This one may be the most famous verse in all of the Bible. Traditionally, it is translated as “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” …. But the Greek adverb houtōs (pronounced hoo-tohss) means “in this way” or “in this manner.” The traditional word “so” is a little weak. God demonstrates his love “in this way” or “in this manner.” “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, ESV).
“loved”: The Dictionary of New Testament Theology says that the Septuagint or LXX, (third-to-second century BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and pronounced sep-TOO-ah-gent) translated the Greek verb agapaō (pronounced ah-gah-pah-oh) in a variety of ways and can stand in even for eraō (pronounced eh-rah-oh) “strong desire.” Jonathan and David expressed friendship love that went deeper than a man’s love for a woman (2 Sam. 1:26; 18:1, 3, 20; 20:17). But God loves in his way, not in man’s way.
The noun agapē (pronounced ah-gah-pay) is divine. It starts with God, flows from him, and is offered back to him with our lives. We cannot ginger it up with our own efforts.
The noun agapē is sacrificial. Out of his agapē, God sacrificed his Son for us, and now we sacrifice our lives to him.
It means a total commitment. God is totally committed to his church and to the salvation of humankind. Surprisingly, however, total commitment can be seen in an unusual verse. Men loved darkness rather than light (v. 19), which just means they are totally committed to a dark path of life. Are we willing to be totally committed to God and to live in his light? Can we match an unbeliever’s commitment to bad things with our commitment to good things?
Agapē is demonstrative. It is not static or still. It moves and acts. We receive it, and then we show it with kind acts and good deeds. It is not an abstraction or a concept. It is real.
It is transferrable. God can pour and lavish it on us. And now we can transfer it to our fellow believers and people caught in the world.
Do I Really Know God? He Is Love
“world”: The Greek noun is kosmos (pronounced coz-moss). It could refer to the physical universe (17:5; 21:25). Or it could refer to humanity as a group. What we call humanity or humankind is, in John, the world. This is why God invades the kosmos. “The ‘world’ is the place or realm where God is at work, the place that is the main focus of God’s attention. God’s saving light invades the dark world. Jesus came to the dark world to save as many as those who believe in him and in his name. In sum, “it appears that the personification of the ‘world’ in John is the portrait of a class of people.” It is the dimension of a relational encounter between God and people (Klink, comment on 1:10, pp. 100-01).
“Son”: Let’s look into some more systematic theology (as I do throughout this commentary). Jesus was the Son of the Father eternally, before creation. The Son has no beginning. He and the Father always were, together. The relationship is portrayed in this Father-Son way so we can understand who God is more clearly. Now he relates to us as his sons and daughters, though, surprisingly, in John’s Gospel we are not called “sons,” but “children.” Only Jesus is the Son. In any case, on our repentance and salvation and union with Christ, we are brought into his eternal family.
6. Titles of Jesus: The Son of God
When Did Jesus “Become” the Son of God?
“believes”: It means to place your entire trust and faith in him, the Son. Remember the abbreviation: F-A-I-T-H = Forsaking All, I Trust Him.
Word Study on Faith and Faithfulness
“perish” could be translated as “destroyed.”
“eternal life”: this is more than mere existence. This is life of the next age, that age, which has broken into this age or right now. In other words, eternal life happens now, but we must be careful not to believe that everything in the new age, in everlasting life, is happening now. This is called over-realized eschatology (study of ends times and new ages). Not every new-age blessing becomes realized or accomplished right now. But let’s not remain negative. We get some benefits of the next age or new age right now. We get some benefits of eternal life, right now.
What Do Words ‘Eternity,’ ‘Eternal’ Fully Mean in the Bible?
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Let’s look at life by the book—by the prominent Greek lexicon.
It is the noun zoē (pronounced zoh-ay, and girls are named after it, e.g. Zoey). BDAG says that it has two senses, depending on the context: a physical life (e.g. life and breath) and a transcendent life. By physical life the editors mean the period from birth to death, human activity, a way or manner of living, a period of usefulness, earning a living. By transcendent life the lexicographers mean these four elements: first, God himself is life and offers us everlasting life. Second, Christ is life, who received life from God, and now we can receive life from Christ. Third, it is new life of holiness and righteousness and grace. God’s life filling us through Christ changes our behavior. Fourth, zoē means life in the age to come, or eschatological life. So our new life now will continue into the next age, which God fully and finally ushers in when Christ returns. We will never experience mere existence or death, but we will be fully and eternally alive in God.
Clearly, John means the fourth definition.
This verse, along with others (e.g. John 1:14), teach the incarnation, which literally means the act of becoming flesh. The Son of God took on human flesh.
Please see these posts for a systematic theological overview of Jesus’s life before, during, and after the incarnation.
1. Do I Really Know Jesus? His Entire Existence in One Image
7. Do I Really Know Jesus? Thirty Truths about His Life
Part seven is an easy-to-read list. There are many more parts in that series.
Finally, in v. 16 John, inspired by the Spirit to meditate on Jesus and his mission, says that God loved the world—the kosmos in Greek. God’s call of salvation, motived by love, goes out to the entire sea of humanity, God’s unredeemed creation. “Any attempt to restrict the word kosmos … to the elect ignores the clear use of the term throughout the NT. God gave the Son for the deliverance of all humanity (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19). This giving extends beyond the incarnation. God gave his Son in the sense of giving unto death as an offering for sin. The universal scope of God’s love would have appeared novel and quite unlikely to the Jewish reader of the first century … God’s love extends to every member of the human race. He died for all (cf. Rom. 5:8; 1 Jn 2:2)” (Mounce, comment on v. 16). I add one extra point: People hear the call of the Spirit-empowered gospel, which is efficacious in itself, but then they have to believe it and in Jesus’s name and person. “Whoever believes in him,” v. 16 adds. So the Spirit-empowered gospel is efficacious for those who believe it, because God graciously endowed humanity with sufficient free will to be able to resist it and not have faith in it (see vv. 17-18, below).
Klink: “In light of Jesus’s challenge with Nicodemus, such language rebukes an impotent religious system and offers a way beyond the darkness of humanity” (comment on v. 16).
I like how Borchert balances the Calvinist dogma and Arminian dogma:
The full perspective is that God is the initiator and principal actor in salvation, and we should never think that salvation originated with us (cf. 1 John 4:9–10). God, however, has given humanity a sense of freedom and requires us to make a choice. Accordingly, people are responsible for their believing. It is unproductive theological speculation, therefore, to minimize either the role of God or of humanity in the salvation process. The Bible and John 3:16 recognize the roles of both. (comment on 3:16)
17-18:
In these two verses we have two contrasts. Condemnation and judgment—the Greek verb can be translated either “condemned” or “judged”—are not for those who are saved, but the one who does not believe. It is probably best to translate it as “judged,” but I chose “condemned” because that is the nuance of this context. And at this time God’s judgment is the result of not believing in his Son. So judgment and condemnation are brought on people by their own unbelief. It does not have to be activated aggressively by God. The perceptive reader will note that John 9:39 says that Jesus came to for judgment. However, in that later verse, the point is result rather than the purpose of his coming (Mounce, comment on v. 17). Then he cites two Greek words indicating purpose (hina) and result (eis). Excellent distinction.
See 3:36 and comments there for more about judgment and condemnation. It is the natural outcome of refusing to believe in him.
Believing in his name means to believe in him, his person, his character, and his being—who he is, the Lord, the Son of God and the Messiah. The noun name stands in for the person—a living, real person. Let’s develop this thought, so it can apply to you.
What’s in a name?
You carry your earthly father’s name. If he is dysfunctional, his name is a disadvantage. If he is functional and impacting society for the better, then his name is an advantage. In Jesus’s case, he has the highest status in the universe, next to the Father (Col. 1:15-20). He is exalted above every principality and power (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-23; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8). His character is perfection itself. His authority and power are absolute, under the Father. In his name you are seated in the heavenly places with Christ (Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1). Now down here on earth you walk and live as an ambassador in his name, in his stead, for he is no longer living on earth, so you have to represent him down here. We are his ambassadors who stand in for his name (2 Cor. 5:20). The good news is that he did not leave you without power and authority. He gave you his. Now you represent him in his name—his person, power and authority. Therefore under his authority we have his full authority to preach the gospel and set people free from bondages and satanic spirits and heal them of diseases.
Remember that believing in his name is more than just intellectual assent or agreement with a doctrine. Belief has to go from the head to the heart (see 1:6-8).
19-20:
In these verses, John contrasts light and darkness with doing works for God (light) and doing wicked works (darkness).
“this is the judgment”: some translate it as “this is the verdict.” The world has been found lacking. Why? Jesus did not enter a neutral world. Generally, it was hostile and loved darkness more than light.
It may be difficult to believe but the same verb “love” in v. 16 (God loved the world) is the same word here in v. 19 (men loved darkness). It is the verb agapaō and the noun is agapē, and it goes a lot more deeply than a gooey feeling. It means total commitment or giving oneself over to something or someone.
So God gives his very best to the world, and doers of wickedness give themselves over to darkness. They don’t like the light because they do not want their darkness exposed. For give the blunt illustration, but cockroaches run from the light. No, I’m not saying humans are as low as cockroaches, but the idea is that bad things are done in darkness, and when the light is turned on, they run and hide. They choose darkness and refuse the light.
This happened at the origins of humanity:
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Gen. 3:8, NIV)
In the next verse, the god of this world (Satan) blinds people:
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:4)
21:
In contrast, I like the idea that God’s people want their works of light to be manifest or exposed, because they are done in God, not in themselves and for themselves. (I got the translation of the last phrase from Novakovic, p. 84. Excellent).
That verse reminds me of this one:
In this way, let your light shine before people, so that they see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 5:16)
No, we don’t do good works for self-promotion or boasting, but to glorify God. Good works are vehicle through which the light shines.
Once again, I really like Borchert here:
The close connection between doing and being—namely, between practicing good or evil works and the nature of a person—is an important theological concept in John because believing is not merely a matter of mental affirmation but of life commitment. The world hated Jesus and continues to do so not merely because of some intellectual reason but because the deeds of world-oriented people are evil (John 7:7; cf. Col 1:21).
The coordination of works and faith in Jas 2:14–26, which Luther found so difficult to accept, is an integral part of New Testament thought (e.g., Eph 2:8–10; Phil 2:12–13; Heb 9:14; 2 Pet 2:8). The latter text from 2 Peter reminds us that the New Testament writers perceived the contrast between the two as rooted in the Old Testament concepts of obedience and disobedience. It also was reflected in the connected ideas of evil deeds and darkness of works at Qumran (e.g., 1 QS 2:5–7; 5:10–11; 1 QH 1:27; 6:8–9; 1 QM 15:9). (comment on vv. 19-21)
“truth”: Let’s focus on the Greek noun. It is alētheia (pronounced ah-lay-thay-ah and is used 109 times). Truth is a major theme in the Johannine literature: 45 times.
BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, and the lexicon defines the noun in these ways:
(1).. “The quality of being in accord with what is true, truthfulness, dependability, uprightness.”
(2).. “The content of what is true, truth.”
(3).. “An actual state or event, reality.”
So truth gained from the world around us is possible. Our beliefs must correspond to the outside world (outside of you and me). But it goes deeper than just the outside world. We must depend on God’s character and his Word. That is the meaning of the first definition. God is true or truthful or dependable, or upright. Everything else flows from him.
GrowApp for John 3:16-21
1. God loved the world, true, but how has this love been revealed to you personally? What does it mean to you?
2. Have you ever run from God because you did not want your wicked deeds exposed?
3. Have you ever done the works of light for God? What are they?
4. What does practicing truth mean, biblically?
RELATED
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12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 