Exegetical Quick Hitters on John 3:16

The following is summarized from Stephen Um's section in TGC'S roundtable entitled "God: Abounding in Love, Punishing the Guilty."


¹⁶"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

1) This verse should be treated as all other verses in an exegetical sense. Not stand alone. It must be balanced and interpreted immediately with verses 17 and 18, and broadly the entire Bible.

^"17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

2) The word "so" functions as an adverb. It doesn't mean a quantitative sense, but a qualitative. In this manor loved the world, NOT so much loved the world.

3) The Greek word for "world," cosmos is not referring to the "bigness" of the world but the badness of the world. The sinful nature of the world. The fallenness of the world.