This post is written by Greg Kilgore as a companion for Unit 20, Session 1 of The Gospel Project for Adults, Volume 7: From Heaven to Earth (Spring 2023).
“Oh come on! God loves me. You are a Christian—you believe John 3:16. You know God loves everyone.” What would you say in a moment like that? There is no denying the fact that God loves the world. John 3:16 does clearly explain this wonderful truth. However, many people misunderstand the nature of God’s love.
John 3:16 is one of the most well-known verses in the entire Bible. Maybe John 3:16 was the first verse of the Bible you memorized. Even many non-Christians know and quote John 3:16. However, despite John 3:16 being one of the most known and quoted verses in the Bible, it may also be one of the most misundestood verses in all of Scripture. There are many who have distorted this verse and built a shaky theology and shallow belief about God based on their mishandling of this verse. They think that because “God loves the world,” He is going to save everyone no matter what they do or believe. What these people are actually doing is misusing this verse to justify their sinful lives.
Is John 3:16 really about God loving you so much that He does not care how you live your life? No! In John 3, Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, a man of great morality. As a religious leader, Nicodemus would have been looked up to. However, Jesus tells him that he is dead and needs to be born again. This new birth only takes place through Jesus Christ. Jesus is teaching Nicodemus why He came into the world—so that people might experience new birth, have eternal life, and escape condemnation.
Those who distort and misuse John 3:16 actually overlook a very important word. They overlook the very first word of the verse: “For.” This “for” connects back to the prior section. In the previous verses, Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that eternal life is found in believing in what Jesus has done. The “for” is connecting back to the work that Jesus must do.
Jesus used the example of Moses’s lifting up a serpent for the people’s deliverance to explain to Nicodemus how all who look to Christ will have eternal life. God graciously gave the people in the wilderness a way to be delivered (Numbers 21:4-9). In a small way, that deliverance pictured how Christ would be lifted up and that all who look to Him in faith and believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus must be lifted up on the cross so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. The good news of Jesus Christ is that those who have been infected by a poison that goes to the depth of our souls can look to the cross and find salvation in Jesus Christ. Yes, God loves the world, but this love does not mean that we may go on justifying sinful lifestyles. The love that God has for His people is a love that transforms.
Greg Kilgore is the Associational Missions Strategist for the Mid-Valley Southern Baptist Association in Fresno, California. He and his wife, Megan, have three children: Owen, Camille, and Judson Titus. Greg is a PhD student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he also teaches as an adjunct professor.
