We sometimes talk abut wrapping our minds around certain subjects. Those subjects are usually broad or complex subjects, so the wrapping requires significant effort. Rarely do we hear someone say they had to wrap their mind around how to peel a banana. The subject of God’s love is no simple subject, but it is easy to think that we have done the difficult work of wrapping our minds around it, especially when it comes to John 3:16.

Our cultural familiarity with this verse is only blessing. Familiarity can breed contempt, but it’s much better to know about gravity and hate it than to actually be without it. Would that more people memorized John 3:16, painted it on signs, and hated it rather than not know it enough to hate.

John 3:16 makes a great gospel sound bite. After all, who is going to read the entire gospel of John? A soul full of eternal nutrition can be had in this one verse. And again, there is no reason for us to be ruffled because so many people don’t (yet) appreciate the treasure hidden in their chests.

Even, maybe especially, those in the church, mistake their memorization of the verse for mastery of it. When we look beyond the milk of John 3:16 to its meat, the bite becomes hard to chew. We do not have our minds wrapped around John 3:16 or the subject of God’s love. Indeed, in some sense, we never will, so the best we can do is to wrap God’s love around our minds. We can’t swallow the entire ocean before we understand it all, but we can at least swim in it.

So let’s roll up our theological pant legs and wade into this well-known water. Because it’s so well known, we’re going to take extra time in verse 16 before moving into the rest of the paragraph in the weeks to come.

It is part of a paragraph (as is every verse in the Bible) and it follows after three rounds between Nicodemus and Jesus in John 3:1-15. Nicodemus brought his assumptions to Jesus by night. He thought he had his mind wrapped around the kingdom of God and he wanted to find out how Jesus fit in. Jesus told Nicodemus that he, Nicodemus, didn’t fit in, not without belief. That belief isn’t possible without being born again, and being born again doesn’t happen without the sovereign work of God’s Spirit.

Nicodemus knew the Scripture, he knew and taught others about the kingdom, he knew (or should have known) the promise of the new covenant. But the promise wasn’t wrapped around him.

In this paragraph, verses 16-21, we read an explanation of the final promise in verse 15 that all who believe will have eternal life. This brings us to the first challenge of our John 3:16 familiarity.

Who said John 3:16?

I’ve been showing my cards since we started our study of chapter 3. I know at least two persons have paid attention, one who agreed and one who was well-irritated.

All red letter translations offer the same interpretation of verse 16, and it is an interpretation not a translation, printing the text in red and therefore indicating their committee conclusion that Jesus spoke these words as part of His extended answer to Nicodemus.

There are no quotation marks in the original Greek autographs and there aren’t other obvious indications either. No statement such as “Thus and so endeth the words of Jesus.” So, who said/wrote it?

I’ve come to believe that John begins his commentary on the conversation in verse 16. Here are the observational elbows that keep pushing me that direction.

• ”For” (οὕτως γὰρ) begins an explanation, and this explanation repeats the key point in verse 15. The climax of Jesus’ point came in verse 15 and it feels unnecessary for Him to say it again, though not repetitive for John to say it.
• ”Only-begotten” (or “one-of-a-kind,” μονογενής) is never used by Jesus in self-reference. He uses “Son of Man” (v.15) all the time. μονογενής is used only by John (1:14, 18, and also 1 John 4:9).
• Jesus also never says “ὁ θεὸς” (“the God”) as found in verse 16. Jesus refers to His Father as θεὸς but never with the article.
• Jesus also never uses the phrases “believe in the name” (v.18) or “practice the truth” (v.21) which are part of this paragraph.
• The cross is spoken of in the past tense. God “gave” (aorist) contrasts with the future “lifted up” in verse 14. Also, “gave” is different than “sent” in verse 17 which refers to the incarnation. Jesus hadn’t gone to the cross yet when talking with Nicodemus. From the apostle’s standpoint, however, past tense makes perfect sense.
• John often follows a narrative with his own explanation. See an example in this very chapter, 3:27-30 (from John the Baptist) followed by 3:31-36 (commentary from John the apostle).

None of these are absolutely conclusive, but they all point the same direction and together make a strong case.

So who said John 3:16? God did, through John. Even if it wasn’t originally from Jesus’ lips, even if John the apostle wrote it, God inspired it. The best evidence points to God revealing it through John. If you’re having a hard time wrapping your mind around that, we’re barely getting started.

Who are the “world” in John 3:16?

There are a couple reasons to ask that question. First, the word “world” in the New Testament refers to different things depending on context. Second, in this context, how does verse 16 fit with verse 8? Or, does God regenerate everyone He loves? Does He love those whom He does not give new birth by the Spirit?

The word “world” appears to have at least seven different uses in the NT. A.W. Pink identified them in his book, The Sovereignty of God, and they are worth a few minutes of consideration.

1. “Kosmos” is used of the Universe as a whole.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. (Acts 17:24)

Heaven and earth are included in this use of kosmos.

2. “Kosmos” is used of the earth by itself.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)

“‘Depart out of this world” signifies, leave this earth’ (Pink, 254), since He doesn’t leave heaven.

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Ephesians 1:4)

“This expression signifies, before the earth was founded—compare Job 38:4” (254).

3. “Kosmos” is used of the world system.

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. (John 12:31) Compare Matthew 4:8 and 1 John 5:19.

It’s this world system that we’re prohibited from loving (1 John 2:15-17).

4. “Kosmos” is used of the whole human race.

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. (Romans 3:19)

The Law doesn’t make the earth accountable, but humans living on the earth.

5. “Kosmos” is used of humanity minus believers.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. (John 15:18)

It’s unlikely that the inanimate parts of the world “hate” Christ or His followers, so “world” must be limited to the world of humans. And “Believers do not ‘hate’ Christ, so that ‘the world’ here must signify the world of un-believers in contrast from believers who love Christ” (254).

6. “Kosmos” is used of Gentiles in contrast from Jews.

Now if their (Israel’s) trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! (Romans 11:12)

“Now how the first clause in italics is defined by the latter clause place in italics. Here, again, ‘the world’ cannot signify all humanity for it excludes Israel!” (254)

7. “Kosmos” is used of believers only.

in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

See also John 1:29; 6:33; 12:47 (and possibly John 3:16-17).

This is persons, not the earth because of “their transgressions.” And unless we say that all persons are eventually saved, we must make a distinction.

There appear, then, to be seven uses of kosmos depending on context. So what is the context here? The context is Nicodemus who should have gotten it not getting it. Jesus told him that the reason he didn’t get it is because the Spirit hadn’t sovereignly give him new life. In addition, this love for the world moved the Father to give His one and only son, the greatest cost that could ever be paid, to bring eternal life to whoever believes.

Because of the cost, John Owen, in his book, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ takes over 10 pages to argue that world in John 3:16 simply means “elect.”

Isn’t that one of everyone’s least favorite theologian moves? (“Who is my neighbor?” “Who is ‘everyone’?“)

Part of the answer to “who is the ‘world’?” may be to consider God’s love. In particular, God does not love everyone the same. He does not love anyone as much as He loves His Son. He does not love any nation as much as He loves Israel. He does not love those who aren’t His children as much as He loves His adopted. We are going to need to get over our democratic demands for God.

However, we also don’t need to limit “world” in John 3:16 to only the elect. God can love, to some degree, all His creatures and creation, and yet love into predestination only some of them (see Ephesians 1:4-5). The giving of His Son has universal appeal, unrestricted by distinctions of nation and language and color and gender. He has a special place for Israel, but He has a place for people from every tribe and language and nation. In some sense, He loves the world, and in a special sense, He loves those whom the Spirit regenerates to belief and eternal life.

There are restrictions of God’s sovereign love. We must say that or we will be universalists, claiming that all will be saved, which plainly contradicts John 3:16 that describes the perishing ones. He condemns all who do not believe. They can only believe if they are born of God. This is not milk, nor are we in the shallow water anymore.

But please consider what water we’re in: the vast ocean of God’s love! The world runs on love! We cannot take this for granted that God is love. Verse 16 is John’s explanation (“For”) of why eternal life is available. The Son was lifted up because of God’s love!

What if John 3:16 wasn’t about love? What if the most famous verse of the Bible, that everyone memorized, was about something else? What if the world ran on God’s power?

God so controlled the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever could defeat Him in battle would win eternal life.

What if the world ran on God’s law?

God so governed the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever obeyed all His rules all the time would have eternal life.

What if the world ran on loveliness?

God so considered the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever was a lovely or worthy as His Son would have eternal life.

Beloved, these do not compare with the reality of our God! Our God does control the world in power, but by His power He defeats the serpent and death for us because of love. Our God does govern the world in perfect righteousness, but He fulfills the law in His Son for us for love’s sake. Our God does consider the condition of the world, but He makes us lovely by His love.

He didn’t create us to prove our weakness compared to His power. He didn’t create us to prove our disobedience by His Son’s perfect submission. He didn’t create us to prove our ugliness compared to His Son’s beauty. He created us to share the overflow of His love with us.

Even the sacrifice of His Son on the cross could be less than the good news as we (think we) know it. What if God wanted to make us the most obligated to Him as possible? What if God wanted to make sure that He always had something to hold over us? The sacrifice of His Son would be our ransom from death into eternal obligation. Instead, the world runs on love.

The world is not an overflow of a Trinitarian power struggle (think Islam), but of Trinitarian love. The world is not a universal beauty contest, with a pushy Father trying to prove how much better His Son is.