“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.” John 3:16.

The words, “God so loved the world” are the driving influence behind His having given “His only begotten Son.”

When we think of God loving the world, we think of His loving the entire earth and inhabitants. And we might see some sentiment in such a thought if we were to compare it to a person who builds a coffee table.

The builder of the coffee table would undoubtedly love the work of his hands, you don’t build something to hate it do you? He would take care of the table and tell others how he built it.

But if there were a fire burning his house down this man would rescue his wife and children first, not the table. He would rejoice that his family was saved without harm, not the coffee table. He could build another could he not?

Look around you, everything you see will be burned up one day. Everything you see is temporal except the human soul, which is eternal.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent Heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:10-13.

So you see, it is not the actual world, or earth that is meant here, rather it is the people inhabiting it. The world, even the cosmos are not what is important to God it is the eternal souls living within His creation that God loves.

The word world then is a metonymy for mankind, or the human race. A metonymy is the substitution of one word to represent another such as the word scepter to mean the king.

You see this metonymy in the patriarch Jacob’s prophetic blessing of his twelve sons before he died.

“The scepter [kingship] shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver [governor or government] from between his feet, until Shiloh [Jesus Messiah] comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” Genesis 49:10.

This was true of Judah until they rejected Christ as their Messiah and crucified Him. Within approximately forty years the Romans sacked Jerusalem and dispersed all of Israel – eventually throughout the world. Now after about 2,000 years they are once again a nation as prophesied in another place.

The last phrase, “…to Him shall be the obedience of the people” is a reference to Jesus’ return to rule, which will take place shortly.

With this in mind we can render the first phrase of John 3:16 in this manner, For God so loved mankind that He gave. So it was God’s love for mankind that He gave His only begotten Son.

God’s love has not ceased, He still loves everyone and is not willing that any should perish, which means, to be separated from Him for all eternity.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8.

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:15-16.

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” 1 John 4:9.

We can also see from the above verses that the love of God toward mankind was deep enough for Him to sacrifice His only begotten Son in our place. Jesus suffered the hell that rebellious men deserve.

“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He [Jesus] came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of Me – to do Your will, O God.”’” Hebrews 10:4-7.

The infinite value of Christ’s sacrifice cleanses those who accept Him as their Savior completely from all sin whether committed in the past or those they might commit in the future during their lifetime.

“But this Man [Jesus Christ], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified [set apart].” Hebrews 10:12-14.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” when reading this first phrase in other versions of the Scriptures always make sure that the words “only begotten” are not left out or changed.

While the term, only begotten Son, is true of Christ as God’s only Son born of a woman. It goes much further in meaning in that Jesus; God the Son is the only Man who displays everything that the unseen God the Father is.

“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”?’” John 14:9.

The true meaning of, only begotten, is that of a relationship without beginning from eternity past.

“… [God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son [Jesus], whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” Hebrews 1:2-3.

You or I might have an only begotten son or daughter, and they may be nearly an exact image of you, even having many of your own traits and DNA, yet they are not you.

Your child will have their own personality, sometimes even the opposite of your own. For this reason they may remain close to you for life, or they may rebel for no real reason.

Not so with Christ He was and is part of the eternal Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus never stopped being part of the Godhead, as a result to rebel against God He would have to rebel against Himself and everything He believed.

This would be similar to a sane man’s hands suddenly reaching up and strangling him of their own accord.

As a result of Christ’s obedience, not only in things which were right and good in the sight of God, but also in the things which were horrifying, such as the crown of thorns, the flogging, the beatings, spitting, mocking, the terrors of the cross and finally the unendurable separation from God as He paid the price of mankind’s sin.

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?” Psalm 22:1.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” Isaiah 53:10-11.

“He [God] has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:13-17.

In spite of the cruelty through which salvation for mankind was won, God has made it simple for men and women to take hold of that salvation, simple faith in God’s word that, “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

And those who believe are delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed, “into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

“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.” John 3:16.

“…should not perish” this does not mean that believers will not die; both they and unbelievers do so every day. No, perish in this sense means that they will not go into hell to await Judgment Day when they will be cast into the lake of fire.

When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sinning against God they died spiritually and were in peril of being cast into hell.

This spiritual death and eventual physical death, is a kind of first death wherein folks who die in their sins descend into hell.

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Ephesians 2:1-3.

All of us were born dead because of the sin nature passed down from Adam and Eve and all unbelievers are in peril of perishing in hell. The reason this can be likened to a first death is that there actually is a second death.

“Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:14-15.

You can see, if you understand this concept of all mankind being, “dead in trespasses and sins” that it is impossible for someone to work their way to heaven, or to be good enough for heaven since men are by nature dead to God.

This was God’s dilemma, how to accomplish the impossible in reconciling a finite sinful man with an infinitely righteous God. It turns out that the only way was for God Himself to make the infinite sacrifice to reconcile man to Himself.

It was through the death of Christ on the cross that the payment for sin was accomplished for those who will accept Him as that payment for themselves.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.

“…that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that no one needs to perish in eternal separation from Him.

But consider another important phrase in John 3:16, “…whoever believes in Him should not perish but have [present tense] everlasting life.”

Those who have accepted Christ as their Savior have right now everlasting life. You cannot have everlasting life and lose it because the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29.

“In Him [Jesus] you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30.

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:12-17.

God So Loved taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-30-16, updated on 4-13-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.