Hard Sayings - "God so loved the world ..."

Note: This will not be a popular post. Perhaps you might want to just skip this one and wait for the next.

Right after "Judge not", there's John 3:16 as one of the best known verses in the Bible. You'll hear it over and over again. You'll see it plastered on signs, bumper stickers, even in the end zone at football games. So ... what could possibly be so difficult about this verse? We all know what it means. Or do we? What does it say?

¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God" (John 3:11-21).

Okay, let's look at a few facts about this passage. First, I need to point out something that it does not say, despite our favorite attempts to make it do so. John 3:16 does not say, "God loved the world so much that He ..." I know; we all like that version. But it's not an accurate rendition of the text. When John writes "so" in this text, it is in the sense of quality, not quantity. We use the word that way at times as well. Imagine someone building some furniture. They ask for help while they glue a piece to another, and they ask you to "hold it just so." That is, "just this way", not "just this much". The word used in this verse is in terms of manner, not quantity. The best rendition, then, is "God loved the world in this manner ..." As such, the text does not actually say that God loved the world.

I know. That will cause ripples, murmurs, complaints. But the text is not a comment on God's love for the world, but a comment on the character of God's love. Look at it from this perspective. Imagine someone asked Jesus, "So ... does God love the world?" Jesus would say, "Well, God loves the world in the sense that He gave his only Son." Does this, then, mean that He loves the entire world? Well, in truth John 3:16 is limiting that love, not expanding it. What is God's purpose in giving His Son? "Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." So, the full answer to the question is that God specifically loves those who believe in His Son.

How can that be? Why would I suggest such a thing? Look at Jesus's High Priestly prayer in John 17. In verse 9 He makes a startling statement. "I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours." If the love of God for the world is universal, what could Jesus possibly be thinking? Why would He not pray for the world He loves? I submit it's because He loves His own. Or how about God's statement regarding Jacob and Esau? God specifically states, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (Mal. 1:12; Rom. 9:13). Doesn't sound like the warm, universal love we like to imagine, does it? Logically this makes sense as well. The Church is described as "the Bride of Christ". Now, what bride would want her husband to love everyone equally? Should there not be a special love reserved for the Bride that is not for everyone else?

I believe that God loves the world. I'm not suggesting that He doesn't. I am suggesting that the manner of love He has for the world is different than the love He has for His own. I am suggesting that John 3:16 does not speak of a universal love for the world, but a love that is expressed by the giving of His Son and finally given to those who believe. He loves the world. He provides "common grace". "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). I am not suggesting this is not true. What I am suggesting is that the love God has for His own is incomparable to the love He has for the world, and to mix or mistake the two is a grievous error. In other words, like the other "hard sayings", I'm simply suggesting you "think it through".

Why? Because the mistaken version we give of God's love is one of the most common arguments against God in general and Christianity in particular. "If God loves everyone, why would anyone go to Hell?" "If God loves everyone, why is there evil in the world?" "What kind of loving God requires people to believe in Him?" The answer? A God who loves His own in particular, not a God who "loves everybody equally". That God does not exist.

One final thought. Remember, I started this series with this: "Feel free to discard my view." I retain that offer. If you do, however, you'll need to come up with new answers to the very, very tough questions about how a God who loves everyone equally could allow what we see in the world today.