John 3:16 > But wait, there's more!

16 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 All those who do evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Other than perhaps, "Jesus wept," John 3:16 is the best known and most memorized verse in the Bible. In fact, I believe most of those who would identify as Christians base their belief system on this verse. It's true that 3:16 is a good summary of the faith, yet anytime one single verse serves as the basis for any theological point it becomes misunderstood and dangerous. At the very least this full paragraph needs to be taken together.

16A God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son > wow. This does not say that God loved the people who He predestined to believe and be saved. It does not even say He loved the people of the world---It says He loved the world. When God created the earth and everything in it, He proclaimed all of it GOOD. Of course man screwed it up a bit, yet not so badly that God is not able to bring it back fully into the manifestation of goodness that He intended from the beginning. God did not send His son to save souls, He sent His son to save the world---everything. Will God be satisfied to save just portions of His creation, or just some of the people? or is His heart and love for "the world" such that He will succeed in redeeming all? Did God make the ultimate sacrifice knowing that only a small percentage of the people He created and loves will be saved? That's not what John 3:16 says.

16B that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life > When God first created man---indeed all creatures, Genesis says there was no death. With this ultimate sacrifice God restored the eternal life granted in the garden of Eden. What does it take to believe? Here, it is so straight forward and easy---just believe. It's like simply looking up at the bronze snake that was discussed earlier. Does it say we must get our bronze snake theology right? or even worship the snake? or live by the rules of the snake? There is no sinner's prayer here; just look up. Yes, that's way too easy, yet that's the point. God made a way where there was no way. What's this about "shall not perish?" When John wrote these words in the late first century hundreds of believers had died so he knew well that we do indeed die, at least our bodies do. Still, when does eternal life begin? at death? No, eternal life begins the moment we believe.

17 For God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to save the world through Him > Actually this ought to be the verse we all should memorize if we only chose to know just one. Again we see God's intent to save "the world." Will God fail? Will God destroy the very world He sacrificed His son to save? There is a lot of messed up belief on this. Why would God send His son to save the world if His soon intent was to destroy the world? This is a whole other can of worms, yet remember this verse when someone says it's all gonna burn. I recently spoke with someone I love, who is a hardcore fundamentalist Christian, who kept on and kept on hammering that God was a God of justice, and He would indeed condemn the world, and all those who do not repent and ask Jesus into their heart would be punished in eternal torment. Lots of western Christians believe that, yet how does that jive with this verse? Again, did God fail? Focus on the last phrase, it was God's plan to "save the world through Him." That is what I believe, that the world was saved, is being saved, and will be saved through Jesus. One more thing on this, was it Jesus's dying or His resurrection or His coming that saved the world? The answer is d, all of the above. It's a shame that we so often lose sight of the part that it was the sending and the giving that saved us.

Verse 18 causes a lot of confusion if presented on its own. The big question here is what does it take to believe? Literally thousands of differing denominations have been launched over this issue alone, so no one can say there is a consensus. Our only sure guide is to look at the heart and plan of God. Yes He is just and justice will be done, however His plan and heart was to save the whole world. I find it hard to believe that His path of grace is narrow. If believing means a hard to nail down system of saying just the right words and doing the right things then ultimately God fails in His mission. I can't believe that. Verses 19, 20, and 21 follow in the same vein; what does it mean to be in the light? If anyone seeks the truth, and strives to live a good life, how can they remain in darkness? Does the sun/Son only shine on a particular religion? how about on just a particular denomination? Or does the sun/Son shine over the whole earth---missing only those who make an overt choice to remain in the dark? If light is the analogy, light has few boundaries: it shines even into places where every attempt has been made to seal the doors and windows; light always triumphs over darkness. Light falls over all the earth, and God will fulfill His dream of restoration of all. God will not fail.