Born Again (35)

John 3:16 (A)

John 3:16 is one of the most famous verses in the Bible. It is so familiar that many people have no idea what it says, what it means, and what it implies. Thus it is also one of the most frequently distorted verses in Scripture. These interpretations are dangerous not only because they assert false ideas, but also because they obscure what the verse intends to convey, neutralizing its original force. Great crimes have been committed against John 3:16, and so it would be appropriate for us to take some time to dissect it. But first, let us read it again, even if we have read it many times before: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The atonement is already alluded to in verse 15 when it is said that "the Son of Man must be lifted up." When verse 16 says, "For God so loved the world," it is a revelation of the very mind of God, telling us why he sends Jesus Christ to die for sinners. He sends Jesus to suffer the pain and humiliation of incarnation, persecution, and crucifixion because of love – because he loves those whom he wishes to save from everlasting destruction and punishment.

It is common for people to impose their own human, and even sinful, ideas about love into places where Scripture refers to the love of God. The resulting heresies and licentiousness have proved devastating to true religion. Several central biblical doctrines are subverted and a confused message about the nature of God, his requirements, and his solution has been announced to the world.

God's love is not a feeling, but it is a policy of benevolence that results in actions performed for the benefit of those who are the objects of this love. This love is not promiscuous, but specific and effective. It consciously targets chosen individuals and it successfully accomplishes the acts of benevolence that it sets out to do. As God says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion" (Romans 9:15), and Paul affirms, "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden" (v. 18). And it is also written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (v. 13).

That God sends his Son out of love reminds us of the harmony within the Godhead. The Son does not come from heaven either against or apart from the Father's will, but it is the Father's love that sends him in the first place. Therefore, in the atonement, Christ does not offer himself as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of a reluctant God. Rather, the atonement is God's way to save those he loves, but at the same time to appease his own wrath and satisfy his own justice.

The foundation of our salvation is God's love for us. Another implication of this fact is that God is not moved by any faith or merit that he foresees in us. Neither is there anything deserving in us that makes him love us. His love is never separated from his will, so that he loves us not because he is overwhelmed by our goodness or potential, but he loves us because he chooses to love us.

(to be continued)