In the church, we have expressions that bring immediate feelings of joy and worship which are beyond the short time it takes to say them. For example, we hear “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and our hearts get ready to participate in worship. “Alleluia” will lift up our spirits. We hear the words “Fifth Commandment” and we wonder if we have broken that one today yet. Just hearing the words “Psalm 23” gives us a feeling of peace knowing we are in God’s loving care. If the words “John 3:16” are written on a bumper sticker, Christians see it and know that this is the core of the Gospel and are reminded of God’s wonderful love and salvation. And so we become happy!

Today’s Gospel lesson contains the famous words of John 3:16, so let’s look closely at this passage today.

The first word is “For.” This is an unusual way to start a sentence; but it shows that this sentence is the explanation of the previous sentence. John 3:14-15 tell us that Jesus must die on the cross for our salvation. The reason for this is because God loves the world.

The next word is “God.” We know that this means God the Father, the First Member of the Holy Trinity, but when this Gospel book was first written, most Gentiles would have thought of their idols and false “gods.” Maybe Zeus or Athena or Baal. Modern people have other so-called “gods” which they look to for help and salvation. These “gods” are money, drugs, power, health, fun, and other things that promise help or escape. But in John 3:16, this is God the Creator of the world which he loves.

The word “so” shows the measure of God’s love. How do you measure love? It is measured by the action generated by that love. “So much that he gave his Son.” It is the measure of a father’s love. It is the agony of a father’s love who must at the same time love both his son and the world. It is the measure of giving up ones most precious treasure for the sake of something else which is equally loved. Only a parent or someone in love can understand this measure of God’s love.

In the Bible, the Greek word for “love” in this passage is “agape.” It is more than a friendship or erotic relationship. It is more than just a feeling of really liking something very much. Agape-love is a relationship that is faithful and dependable; it is a promise. It is love that is active in seeking the welfare of the one which is love. And that is what the love of God does: it seeks the welfare of the world.

In the Bible, the Greek word for world is “cosmos.” We think of the cosmos as the whole universe, but here it means the earth, or rather, the people of the earth, the whole earth. In other words, God loves the whole world and all people in it. He wants to save everyone and the salvation through the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus is meant for everyone in the world, not just the Jews, not just a few people, but for all. I am included, you are included, your neighbor is in it too. It is a call for world missions. When this Bible passage is used in evangelism, it means that God loves the person we are talking to, and it says that God loves that person and wants that person to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is that God “gave” his one and only Son. This is the action of God. Salvation is not based on what we do, but on what God has done. We are not saved because we keep the commandments or by doing something else. It is not based on how good we are. Nor is it a matter of how strong our faith is, as if faith were some sort of activity or doctrinal consent. Salvation is wholly the action of God. God’s action is that he gave his Child. This giving means that he gave Jesus to be a sacrifice. He gave Jesus into the hands of the Jews and the Romans who crucified him. He gave Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb to forgive the sin of the world that he loved.

The next section has an interesting translation history. The NIV says “his one and only Son,” and the King James Version says “his only begotten Son.” According to the Brown’s commentary on the Gospel of John, the word in Greek, “monogenes” means “one of a kind, unique, “mono” is one and “genes” is our English word genus which means kind or species. It only sounds like the word genesis or giving birth. The expression “his only begotten Son” emphasizes the incarnation and birth of Christ. In the Creed we say “conceived by the Holy Spirit” and “begotten, not made.” The KJV emphasizes the uniqueness of the incarnation and the uniqueness of Jesus being the true son of God. But it is completely accurate and just as meaningful to say that Jesus is the only, even one and only Son of God.

“Whoever” believes is saved. This does not limit salvation to those of a single denomination or a single race of people. It does not give a test about religious knowledge. Whoever “believes” is saved. A child believes in Jesus. I believe in Jesus and so do you. “Whoever” means that God wants to save everyone.

“Shall not, should not, will not, with result that it will not happen.” This is God’s plan, this is God’s promise, this is the purpose of Christ being sent to die on the cross. Whoever believes shall not perish eternally. The purpose and plan of God is that whoever believes shall have eternal life.

Finally, what is eternal life? When does it begin? Eternal life is that life which is given by Jesus to believers. That life starts when a person believes in Jesus as their Savior. It is the life we are already living now. It is living in faith. It is living in the light of the God. There is a period when our physical bodies die, but the resurrection is a continuation of that life which we already have in Jesus. We have that eternal life because God gave his Only Son as a sacrifice to die for our sin. John 3:16.

That is why Christians are happy and excited whenever we just hear the Bible reference of John 3:16. We know what it means. It is a bumper sticker to make us happy.

Amen.

(Greek)
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ' ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. 

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