John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NASB)This verse is a central tenant of biblical faith. It's so familiar that we see it on signs at football games, and the reference painted as graffiti on park rocks and occasionally on walls.
Even many who are virtually biblically illiterate are familiar with this verse. It's a good verse to know, but unfortunately many people misunderstand this verse, because they mis-define some key concepts. So in this study we will reestablish the truth we already know by unpacking this verse, but we will also we encounter the truth that we have neglected because we commonly forget to allow the Bible to define our terms.
Remember that the Bible always defines itself. The Bible is always its own dictionary. All we have to do is read it, understand it and believe it, and not try to redefine what the Bible already defines. Remember, the first key of authentic and successful discipleship is to always define every key term as God Himself defines it.
Truth #1: God Loves Us: True Love is consistent. Almighty God the Father IS Love (1 John 4:8), and He loves us, and God's behavior and actions are ALWAYS consistent with Who and what HE is. His love therefore, was the reason and motive that brought Jesus the Messiah into the world. God's desire is that none would perish, (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). He wants us to have eternal life. All of that is motivated by His Love towards us (cf. Romans 5:8)
Truth #2: What you already believe when you're going into Scripture will affect what you draw out from Scripture. We would all like to believe that we approach Scripture in a completely unbiased way. In reality though, we all approach Bible study with cultural and personal biases. What we already believe going into Bible study will affect how you interpret, how you emphasize and what you draw out from your Scripture reading. What you read into Scripture, (your Eisegesis) will affect how you draw out truth from Scripture, (the exegesis).
For example, we know that God is love, and we know that He calls us to love one another. At the same time, how we interpret and define the word love in our internal dictionary, will affect how we think, and how we believe that we are to interpret and obey this verse.
For instance, if our Eisegesis, what we read into Scripture with the preconceived belief that being loving means that we must not challenge, or that we do not correct, or never make anyone feel uncomfortable in any way, than that preconceived notion of what it means to Love will affect how we interpret Scripture and what we believe Scriptures telling us to do in our behavior toward other people. If our internal dictionary, (our Eisegesis), defines and interprets key ideas differently than God does in the Scriptures, then our exegesis, or what we draw out of Scripture could actually be leading us to disobey God and dishonor God without our realizing it, because we did not define key ideas the same way that God truly defines them in the Scriptures. This is why we are expressly told in Scripture:
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 NASB)
We cannot think like the pagan world and successfully obey God. It's impossible.
If we do not define things the way that God defines them, then we cannot agree with God, and if we cannot agree with God, then we cannot successfully obey God or walk in true intimacy and friendship with the Almighty, (Amos 3:3; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 1:8-9; Psalm 1:1-6; Isaiah 5:20-24; Romans 8:5-8; Philippians 2:5-8; Philippians 4:8).
Truth #3: God's Word defines true love. It nurtures and also disciplines. Just so that we are clear and do not mis-define love, (since it has been woefully mis-defined in the age of political correctness), the genuine characteristics of love are described in; (1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Hebrews 12:1-12; Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:11-12). Genuine authentic love CANNOT rejoice in, endorse, or celebrate what God calls iniquity, but true love can ONLY rejoice in, celebrate, and endorse TRUTH (1 Corinthians 13:6). The same Love that is patient and kind, that forgives, restores and perseveres, is the SAME Love but also corrects, disciplines and chastises us, for the sake of our ultimate well-being. Genuine authentic Love must do, and will do BOTH. Otherwise it's not love.
Before we get too far along, we must also remember the Biblical definition of TRUTH.
Truth #4: Jesus already defined what truth is: (Yeshua) the Messiah identified and defined truth for us. When he was speaking to Almighty God the Heavenly Father, Messiah asked Almighty God to sanctify His Disciples, (that's us), with God's Word, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth." (John 17:17 NKJV).
Please take notice, MESSIAH DID NOT SAY, Your Word WAS truth, but it changes over time. MESSIAH DID NOT SAY, Your Word WILL BE truth in the future, but it isn't yet. Notice that HE DID NOT SAY, anything close to, what was true in the past, will suddenly change and will suddenly not be true in the future, did He? No, on the contrary, what Yeshua the Messiah specifically said was that Almighty God's Word IS TRUTH. Perhaps just as importantly Messiah identified that it is God's Word, the Truth, which sanctifies the believer, (sanctified means to be set apart as belonging to God, for noble and holy use). So God's Word from Genesis to Revelation is God's TRUTH. That's why we don't want to define our key terms by the doctrines and traditions of men but by rightly dividing Scripture, because otherwise we will dramatically slow down our sanctification and growth process.
It is absolutely essential to recognize that Almighty God's definitions of sin have never changed. What God considered sin before Jesus died, God still considers sin today, and it would still be sin 1000 years from now. What God considered righteous before Jesus died is still considered righteous after Jesus rose from the dead. God's definition of right and wrong have never changed, and it will never change.
- Notice that God's Law is also identified as TRUTH (Psalm 119:142)
- Notice that God's Judgments (His estimations of right and wrong are TRUTH (Psalm 19:9)
- Notice that God's Commandments are identified as TRUTH (Psalm 119:151).
- Notice that His Word and His Ordinances are identified as being TRUTH and also EVERLASTING (Psalm 119:160).
- Notice that Jesus Christ the Messiah is the physical embodiment of these realities (John 14:6).
Truth #5: The gift of eternal life is absolutely available to every single human being. That's what whosoever means, but it's not absolutely unconditional. It means any human being without exception who believes. As we know, believing is the qualifier or the condition upon which we receive the promise.
Truth #6: Whosoever believes in Him... Will not perish, but shall have everlasting life.
- Always take careful notice of the key word or key words in the passages that you are studying: The way that you identify the key word or words is by looking for the outcome determining or life-changing words within a verse or passage. In John 3:16, the absolute key word is "BELIEVES." That's because within this verse, believing makes all the difference as to whether or not we truly have eternal life. Those who believe in Jesus will have eternal life, those who do not believe in Him will not have eternal life, but they will perish according to John 3:16. Since whether we BELIEVE or don't is what determines the outcome of whether or not we receive the blessings of this verse, then by necessity, BELIEVES is the key word in this verse.
- Getting this right makes all the difference between eternal life and death, so it is absolutely critical that we define BELIEVES, as Jesus Christ, and by extension God the Father defines BELIEVES. So what does it mean to believe from God's point of view? That is truly the key concept of John 3:16.
The Greco-Roman Catholic mindset is more opinion, thought and feelings based. Remember that theater and drama is central to Roman life, so in a very real sense, portraying something that doesn't really define how you live your life in order to make a point is considered perfectly acceptable in the Greco-Roman mindset.
The Greco-Roman mindset is more commonly defined by thoughts and feelings based on popular vote of what is commonly accepted as right. From the Greco-Roman mindset, one can be said to BELIEVE something if one mentally consents or accepts and makes an assertion that something is essentially true.
In the biblical language which is based on the Hebrew thought process, having thoughts, feelings and opinions that certain essential facts are true is NOT what it truly means to believe. From the biblical Hebrew mindset of the apostles, what we truly believe is proved or identified by what we routinely DO. In other words, from the Hebrew biblical mindset of the disciples, if I do not do what Jesus said to do, then I do not really believe Jesus. My actions, or what I do identifies what I truly believe. For example, that is why when a person who claims to be a brother or sister in Christ refuses to repent from their sin after repeated layers of intervention have been attempted, Scripture commands us to treat them as an unbeliever, because that's what their repeated choices and actions prove that they truly are unbelievers, because otherwise they would repent (Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5:9-11; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:4,6).
The bottom line is if I truly believe Jesus, then I'm going to obey Jesus. When I find that I'm disobeying Jesus, I will treat that as a serious problem. If I truly believe Jesus I will treat disobeying Him as sin. I will not make excuses for it, but I will define what I did as Jesus defines it. I will call it wrong and sin. I will confess what I did as being sin. I will ask Him to forgive me, and then I will take concrete steps to turn away from my pattern of disobedience, and then I will take concrete steps and established a lifestyle of agreeing with and obeying what Jesus Christ said. If I do not cooperate with God to make this my regular pattern of behavior, then I clearly am not an authentic believer in Jesus Christ.
Incidentally, the same principle holds true as it pertains to the rest of Scripture. If I claim to believe that the whole Bible is Scripture, and that the whole Bible is true, but I routinely disobey and do the opposite of what the Old Testament says to do, (even those things which I'm perfectly capable of doing), but I choose to ignore it, then the reality is I do not authentically believe that the whole Bible is true. My actions have proved what I truly believe, and my lack of actions have proved my disbelief. Our deeds demonstrate what we believe:
John 3:19-20 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19-21 ESV)
From the biblical, God centered, Hebraic mindset in which the apostles scribed what the Holy Spirit gave them to write in the Scriptures, it is absolutely impossible to authentically believe something and not behave according to what you believe. That's why you will read such examples like this in Scripture:
1 John 1:6-7 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7 ESV)
1 John 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:4-6 (NASB)
1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20 (NASB)
Romans 6:14-16 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Romans 6:14-16 (NASB)
[NOTE: The phrase, "Not under the law" is often MISREPRESENTED to suggest that Paul is saying that we are supposedly no longer under God's Law and Commandments, which is not true (cf.2 Peter 3:14-18; Romans 1:1-6:13). In the context of the entire book of Romans, the phrase "not under the law, but under grace, is specifically referring to the law of sin and death, and not referring to the law of God. Paul is NOT saying that we are not under God's law anymore, (because refusing to be governed by God's Law IS the definition of sin; 1 John 3:4, Matthew 7:21-23; Hosea 8:1; Daniel 9:11; Isaiah 5:20-24).
So, Paul was clearly saying that since we are under grace we are not under automatic obligation to obey our sinful nature to disobey God anymore. Instead, because of grace, we are now set free to obey God, becoming slaves to righteousness instead of being slaves to our sinful nature. Notice also, that which ever nature we obey identifies to which nature we actually belong, (Romans 6:14-16). That's important, please don't neglect that reality. So again, what you do and how you live identifies who you are, and to whom you truly belong].
James 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14 NASB)
James 2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26 NASB)
That is why it is said that God will judge and repay every person according to his DEEDS, notice he did not promise to reward us according to our fantasies or our wishes, but our deeds (Hosea 12:2; Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6; 2 Timothy 2:14). Do not deceive yourself, what you believe is identified and made evident by what you do, not just by what you think or say.
2 Corinthians 13:5 commands us to examine ourselves to make sure that we are in the faith. The only way that I can authentically identify what I believe is by carefully watching my pattern of behavior. If I truly believe Yeshua (Jesus) the Son of God, then I will obey Him. If I do not build a lifestyle of obeying Yeshua, then I simply do not truly believe Him.
If I truly believe that the Bible is God's written Word, then I will obey the Bible and do what it says to do. I will agree with what it says is good, and I will reject what it says to reject. If I do not, then in reality I simply do not believe God's Word, or the Word made flesh, Yeshua. It's that simple.
So with these biblical definitions clearly in view, I challenge you to ask yourself, do I really believe Yahweh Almighty God, and His Son Yeshua the Messiah? What does my behavior show that I believe?
Brother Michel Lankford
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