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John 3:16

in John 3

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

KJV

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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This verse in John 3

Commentary

10 notes on this verse
He desireth to show openly herein, that He is God by Nature, since one must needs deem that He Who came forth from God the Father, is surely God also, not having the honour from without, as we have, but being in truth what He is believed to be. With exceeding skill does He say this, having joined therewith the love of God the Father to us, well and opportunely coming to discourse thereon. For He shames the unbelieving Nicodemus, yea rather, He shows that he is ungodly also.

This site's exposition

For God so loved the world

The verse the church has always set at its center states the gift's source, its scope, and its cost in a single sentence, so loved measuring the intensity rather than merely the fact of the love, the world naming humanity in its fallen state as the object rather than any select portion of it, and his only begotten Son the price paid to give whosoever believeth eternal life instead of perishing. The bench reads the verse as the whole prologue's logos theology turned into an offer: the Word who was with God and was God is now given, and the giving is love's own definition rather than merely its proof.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For God so loved the world,.... The Persic version reads "men": but not every man in the world is here meant, or all the individuals of human nature; for all are not the objects of God's special love, which is here designed, as appears from the instance and evidence of it, the gift of his Son: nor is Christ God's gift to every one; for to whomsoever he gives his Son, he gives all things freely with him; which is not the case of every man.

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

Whosoever believeth on him - With that faith which worketh by love, and hold fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end. God so loved the world - That is, all men under heaven; even those that despise his love, and will for that cause finally perish. Otherwise not to believe would be no sin to them.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Salvation has been of the Jews, but now Christ is known as salvation to the ends of the earth, a common salvation. Here is the great gospel duty, and that is to believe in Jesus Christ (Whom God has thus given, given for us, given to us ), to accept the gift, and answer the intention of the giver.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

For God so loved the world - Such a love as that which induced God to give his only begotten son to die for the world could not be described: Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle οὑτω, so, and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men. The same evangelist uses a similar mode of expression, 1Jn 3:1: Behold, What Manner of love, ποταπην αγαπην, the Father hath bestowed upon us. From the subject before him, let the reader attend to the following particulars.

on John 3:9-21

We have in these verses the second part of the conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and Nicodemus. A lesson about regeneration is closely followed by a lesson about justification! The whole passage ought always to be read with affectionate reverence. It contains words which have brought eternal life to myriads of souls. These verses show us, firstly, what gross spiritual ignorance there may be in the mind of a great and learned man. We see a "master of Israel" unacquainted with the first elements of saving religion.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

on John 3:14-16

Yet was the warrant in both cases to expect a cure equally rational and well grounded. As the serpent was God's ordinance for the cure of every bitten Israelite, so is Christ for the salvation of every perishing sinner--the one however a purely arbitrary ordinance, the other divinely adapted to man's complicated maladies.
Modern Voices2 voices

A commentator

R. C. Sproul

1939–2017

Chosen by God (1986)

The text says nothing, absolutely nothing, about who will ever believe.
There is something I want you to do for me: I have some enemies that deserve to perish, and I want you to go and die in their place, so that they can have eternal life.

How the passage was read

On John 3:1-21

On John 3:1-21

Nicodemus, and why “born again” baffled a teacher of Israel

Nicodemus is “a man of the Pharisees... a ruler of the Jews”: a member of the Sanhedrin, the seventy-one-member high council that governed Jewish religious life from Jerusalem. His night visit is respectful and searching, and he is the standing proof that the Pharisaic movement contained honest seekers; John follows his arc from this conversation to his protest on Jesus' behalf (John 7:50-52) and finally to the seventy-five pounds of burial spices (John 19:39).

Why does “ye must be born again” baffle “the teacher of Israel”? The tradition had rebirth language of its own, but for GENTILES: a convert to Judaism “has the legal status of a newborn child,” as the Talmud words the principle (Yevamot 22a). Rebirth was intelligible for an outsider entering Israel. Jesus applies it to a son of Abraham, a Pharisee, a member of the council: even Israel's teacher must be born of water and the Spirit, words that stand on Ezekiel 36:25-27's promise of clean water and a new spirit. The tradition's convert-rebirth is reception history; what Jesus claims from it is the verse's own Christian confession, new birth from above for everyone.

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Sources: Yevamot 22a (Babylonian Talmud: the convert as a newborn)

The words behind it

25 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Romans 5:8But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.978 works1 John 4:9–10This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.693 worksRomans 8:32He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?506 worksJohn 3:15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.498 worksJohn 11:25–26Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.453 worksJohn 6:40For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”395 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
John 3:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”374 works1 John 4:19We love because He first loved us.348 worksJohn 10:28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.316 works1 Timothy 1:15–16This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.286 worksRomans 5:10For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!262 worksJohn 1:29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!237 works2 Thessalonians 2:16Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,224 works2 Corinthians 5:19–21that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.211 worksEphesians 2:4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,202 worksMatthew 9:13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”186 worksRevelation 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,171 worksJohn 1:14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.164 works

Where this verse connects

2 approved connections.

  • Prophecy and fulfillment

    Genesis 22:2

    “Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

    Source: MannaFest topical index

  • A picture of Christ

    Genesis 22:2

    Take your son, your only son, whom you love

    Source: MannaFest topical index

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Romans 5:8

    But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

    it leads to

    • John 15:13

      Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

    • Romans 5:6

      For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

    • 1 Peter 3:18

      For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

    • 1 John 3:16

      By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

    • 1 John 4:9–10

      This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.

  • Through

    Romans 8:32

    He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

    it leads to

    • Romans 8:28

      And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

    • Psalms 84:11

      For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

    • 1 John 4:10

      And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Where this verse is studied

About John

The Word Made Flesh — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
The Word Made Flesh — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
John: the study guide →Read John 3 →
This page draws on 10 works. Open for the list.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 2; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel according to John; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Piper, God So Loved the World, Part 1 (sermon); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and R. C. Sproul, Chosen by God.

Read on in John 3 →