Meditation on John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)


Recently the Lord impressed upon me to meditate on this familiar verse that we always shared with pre-believers. In a sense, this verse sums up the whole Gospel.

For God… The redemptive work was started by God (the Creator of the universe) and not other gods, man, or other created beings. God is the initiator.

So loved the world… The Greek word for love in this verse is Agapé (unconditional love). This benevolence love, however, is not shown by doing what the person loved desires but what the person who loves deems as needed by the one loved. God’s love for man is God doing what He thinks is best for man and not what man desires as man on his own would not know what is best for himself. It is God’s willful direction toward man.

The word ‘so’ emphasizes God’s overwhelming love for us. God does not merely love us. He loves us very very much.

God so loved (past tense) us even before we were born – a thought that is beyond comprehension. Even before we can respond to Him, He has chosen to love us. God in His foreknowledge already knew that man would sin against Him and even reject Him but yet He has made up his mind to love us irregardless of who we are or how terrible we are. Nothing indeed can stop Him from loving us.

God so loved the world (the object of His love) or mankind which consists of all individuals who are created in His image. He did not just love some groups of people but His love extends to all people.

That He gave His one and only Son… A natural response when you love somebody is to ‘give’ something to the person loved. When you give, you sacrifice something that belongs to you. Love results in giving. God’s act of love is to offer His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins that we may be reconciled back to Him. (Read on...)

When you buy something, you are willing to part with the cash in exchange for the item you value. To make the purchase, you must have desired the item more than the cash. So when God was willing to exchange His Son for us (as a price for our sin), it means that God values us as much as His Son if not more.

What is even more amazing is that God was willing to give His one and only Son for our redemption. God did not give us one of His many sons. He only has one Son, Jesus, and God chose to give His most priceless possession to us.

Any father would find it easier to sacrifice himself rather than his child – a pure paternal instinct. He would rather suffer in the place of his child. Therefore, it cost a lot more heartache to God the Father to see His Son dying on the cross for our sins. Yet God chose to pay the price. Many people thought that it is our sins that put Jesus on the cross. While it is true that our sins need to be dealt with because God is holy and the penalty of sin is death, God the Father chose to put Jesus on the cross to redeem us. He needed not have to do it but He chose to because of His great love for us.

Jesus responded in obedience. He humbled Himself, forsook His heavenly glory and came as a human to die on the cross. Pastor once shared with us this illustration: If someone were to ask you to become a cockroach just to reach out to the cockroach community, would you do it? The thought of it is unimaginable, humiliating or even disgusting. The truth is that for Jesus, being an immortal God, to become a mortal man is many times worse than that. To aggravate it, He came with a mission to die for us, not a natural death but a humiliating death on the cross. He laid down His life for us.

That whoever believes in Him… On man’s side, the gift of life is simply to be received by believing, not earned. It is not automatic and only those who receive Him personally as Lord and Saviour will be saved.

It is faith "in Christ" (object of our faith) that saves, not faith "in faith."

Shall not perish… There will be judgment when God will settle accounts with evil. Perish does not mean annihilation but rather a final destiny of “ruin” in hell apart from God. Those who refuses to acknowledge the Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour will be eternally separated from God.

But have eternal life. One either perishes or possesses eternal life. There is no in between. Eternal life is a new quality of life, which a believer has now as a present possession and will possess forever. It is a life united with Christ who is life, truth and joy.

Application Thank God for His overwhelming love for us. Invite others to partake of His love.


Andrew Koh