THE GOSPEL OF JOHN # 8
John 3:16-21
For God So Loved the World
- Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
- Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
- Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
- Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
- John the Evangelist now makes the universal application of the words of Jesus found in the first 15 verses.
- First, with “God so loved the world” we note the word “loved” is from the Greek word agape and is a kind of love we are not able to fully appreciate or comprehend.
- “World” is cosmos in the Greek, and refers to all the peoples of the earth, not only the descendants of Abraham. The Gospel is to go to Gentiles as well.
- God loves His physical creation, yet even that perfect garden experienced corruption. And it too, has a built-in shelf-life. One day it will cease to exist.
- The “love” is intended to prevent perishing and give eternal life to those made in His image, those He has chosen..
- The “world” in the process of perishing may be saved.
- The saving is based upon one thing, and one thing only, the One sent, the Son of God.
- Judgment is also a central theme. The Light has come into the world yet the object of God’s love preferred darkness because their deeds were evil.
- It is the hating of the Light that brings judgment. Because of the doing of evil deeds, a fear of the Light develops. The Light is Jesus, and thus He will be hated.
- John the Evangelist knew of this intimately; all of the called apostles were martyred. He had already seen severed persecution. He himself alone is left.
- Only those who have been born anew will want to come to the Light.