John 3:1-21 (9)

Now let’s get to that most famous of Bible verses, John 3:16. It is so familiar that many people have no idea what it says, means, and implies. Thus it is also one of the most frequently distorted verses in Scripture. Wrong interpretations of John 3:16 are dangerous not only because they assert false ideas, but also because they obscure what the verse intends to convey, neutralizing its original force. Here it is: “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.” Other translations actually render it more literally: “God loved the world in this way: He sent His Son that every believing one will not perish but have eternal life.” So it’s not speaking of intensity, though God’s love is infinitely intense. The verse is actually speaking to discriminate between believers and unbelievers. God does not love the world in such a way that everyone will be saved. Only believers experience God’s gracious, saving love. I’ll elaborate more on this later.

So, proceeding here with caution due to what many people have set up as presuppositions about the love of God, let me say that God’s love is not a feeling, but a benevolence that results in actions performed for the benefit of those who are the objects of this love. This love is not general or casual, but specific and effective. The verse says that God loves “the world,” and this refers to the object and the scope of His love. However, there is a common textual distortion that has been so emphasized and promoted that it has become the majority view. The majority might claim that “the world” here must refer to every human person in the entire history of mankind. If “the world” indeed refers to every individual in history, then the verse would be saying that God loves everyone with the same degree of saving love and therefore sends Jesus Christ to die for each human person. Therefore, from God’s perspective, He has done all that He could do to secure potential salvation for every person. Salvation now depends on the person, on his own freedom of choice, and no longer on God. If this is what the text states and implies, then we ought to submit to it. But I don’t think this is what John wants us to think. Before I offer my thoughts on John’s intentions here, let’s analyze the context a bit more closely.

What does “world” mean? What do words like “anyone,” “everyone,” “many,” and “all” mean? The specific contexts define the meanings and restrict the scopes of these words. For example, if I ask, “Is everyone here today?” You all may reply, “Yes, everyone is here.” But of course, everyone is not here. Everyone of the members of our group might be here, but not everyone. I’m sure you get the idea. The words can convey a universal scope or a restricted scope. They are by no means absolutely universal. The context defines and restricts a seemingly universal term. The words “God so loved the world” are surrounded by other words, and the entire passage appears in the much larger text of the Gospel of John.

Before discussing this context, let me give an example from John 12:18-19. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, “Many people, because they had heard that He [Jesus] had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet Him. So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!’” The Pharisees lament that “the whole world” has gone after Jesus. If we were to interpret every rendering of “world” as meaning all people of all time everywhere, then we must conclude that all human beings in all of history have followed Jesus, because “the whole world” has gone after Him. Even the Pharisees who uttered this statement must themselves have “gone after” Jesus, since they are certainly among the members of “the whole world.” This is absurd.

The context helps us see that “the whole world” in verse 19 refers to the “many people” in verse 18, and perhaps also “the crowd” in verse 17. There are truly hundreds of additional examples, but let’s look at just one more. Keeping with John 3:32: “He testifies to what He has seen and heard, but no one accepts His testimony” (3:32). “No one,” the verse says, “accepts” Christ’s testimony. Who is “no one”? Has there never been a Christian in all of human history? If “no one” means every human person without restriction and without exception, then it must mean that even John himself as he writes has not accepted Christ’s testimony. Once again, this is silly to even talk like this, for the context is clear. Very few people, especially among His own countrymen, the Jews, accepted Jesus’ testimony that He is the Son of God.

And that brings us back to John 3:16. Here John is counteracting the idea that salvation is exclusively or even mainly reserved for the Jews, or the natural descendents of Abraham. He has labored to build up this point from the very beginning; throughout his Gospel there are comments, discourses, miracles, and other episodes to repeatedly reinforce this teaching. John is stressing the trans-racial, transcultural, and transnational nature of salvation in Christ (1:13, 4:4-42, 8:31-47, 10:16). Along with the other New Testament writers, John is eager to announce that those who would receive eternal life will consist of “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language,” which is John’s own language from Revelation 7:9. And John 3:16 neither affirms nor denies that Christ has come to die for every individual. That particular question is simply not addressed in this passage.

Here’s one more example of this non-exclusivity to Judaism. John 12:32 says, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” The word “draw” refers to the powerful and effective action (“draw water from a well” or “drag someone across the floor by their hair”) of God by which He inwardly drives a person to come to Christ. If “all” means all human persons in all of history, then this must mean that all human persons in all of history will become Christians, or at least all those who live after Christ had been “lifted up.” But then this promise or prediction would have failed long ago. And even if we weaken the verb “draw” to something like a gentle nudge (or “wooing”), it is doubtful that all human persons after the crucifixion have been nudged or wooed to come to Christ, as many have died never having heard of Him. Furthermore, Scripture says that God deliberately withholds understanding and repentance from many; therefore, it is impossible to interpret “all” here as referring to all human persons in all of history, or even just in all the years after the crucifixion.

The meaning of the verse is clear if we look at the context. Just a few verses earlier (v. 20-22), John writes that some Greeks had expressed an interest in seeing Jesus. This provides the context for us to understand “all men.” Jesus is again referring to the fact that the gospel will transcend racial, cultural, and national boundaries to reach all kinds of people. This is repeated especially to counteract the stubborn notion that the Jews are automatically entitled to salvation just because they are the natural descendents of Abraham. This is the consistent and emphatic message of John and the other New Testament writers. And in mentioning all of this, let me also add that the word “men” is not even found in the Greek text. It literally reads, “Draw all unto Myself.” So when Jesus says, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself,” He is talking about all kinds, foreshadowing His later command to the disciples to no longer preach only to the people of Israel (Matthew 10:5-6), but to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). And the saying goes, “Let Scripture interpret Scripture.” So we should read the parallel passage for John 12:32, which is Luke 24:46-47: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

The fulfillment of these passages comes in Acts 1-2. Acts 2:17 reveals Peter’s citation of Joel’s prophecy, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people.” “All people” does not refer to all human individuals without exception. Rather, it is consistent with the main thrust of Acts 1-2, that “all people” refers to people of “every nation” (v. 5), both Jews and Gentiles. As Peter says in v39, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Salvation is indeed for “all,” but all of who or what? Peter says it is for all “whom the Lord our God will call.” God is the One who chooses those who would be saved – indeed He will save all those whom He has chosen, and He has not chosen or called every individual in man’s history. But He has chosen and called people of all nations, even those who are as far off as “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Having reviewed some examples, then, it is also likely that John is using the word “world” in John 3:16 to denote a humanity that is hostile to God, so that He loves even those opposed to Him, and He sends Christ to save them. This is consistent with what John teaches elsewhere, as when he writes in 1 John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (also v. 19). “Our” sins include those of believers. Elsewhere, in 1 John 2:2, Christ’s substitutionary, propitiatory, atoning sacrifice is not only for our sins (Jewish believers), but also for the sins of the whole world (Gentile believers). And the same idea appears in Paul, who writes, “Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us (believers, or the elect), God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:3-5). So with this context study, we'll return to John 3:16 next time.

Romans 11:1-24 Men's Bible Study Primer

Here is the text for our study next week, Romans 11:1-24 (The Remnant of Israel), along with some thoughts to consider:

1I ask then: Did God reject His people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me'? 4And what was God's answer to him? 'I have reserved for Myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' 5So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Remember that Paul is addressing the question, "Why aren't all the Jews being saved?" with a three-part answer in chapters 9-11 in Romans. In chapter 9, he gave the answer regarding God's sovereign election to salvation of specific individuals (the invisible church) within the community (the visible church). This answer was not hard to understand, just hard to accept. In chapter 10, Paul explained that the Jews, despite the multitude of clearly received benefits, failed to believe the Gospel. They were fully accountable for this failure to believe. This second answer that Paul gave was neither hard to understand, nor hard to accept. It makes perfect sense, and we see it lived out today. Now in chapter 11, we get Paul's third answer. And it's hard to understand and hard to accept. It's hard to understand, because it deals with God's sovereign purpose in working with an entire nation - Israel. We're not just talking individual election here. And it's hard to accept, because God not only uses individuals to bring to pass His sovereign will, but He also uses entire nations and people groups to do the same. And we, living in the 21st century with a physical nation called Israel present in the world, may have difficulty figuring out exactly what Paul has intended to say with this 11th chapter of his letter to the church at Rome. Paul begins by re-asking a question that he posed in Romans 9 about God and His people. Again he answers that God has not rejected His people. God's people are those God has chosen, of whom Paul is one. Evidence of God's non-rejection of His people is found in the existence of Messianic Jews even today. That reality is solely by the grace of God and not by anything those Messianic Jews have done.

7What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, 8as it is written: 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.' 9And David says: 'May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. 10May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.'

How would you have written v7? Paul could have easily avoided the issue of God’s election and reprobation (hardening), just like most people avoid it today. But Paul once again emphasizes that the source of salvation is in the grace of God. Paul is claiming that God’s grace makes distinctions. In fact, he offers three Scripture passages to prove his case: Deuteronomy 29:3-4; Isaiah 29:9-10; Psalm 69:21-23. Paul does not want his audience to forget the important truths he taught in chapter 9. So he brings them back to light in a corporate reality and not solely in an individual reality.

11Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

Paul perceives that his audience may have trouble understanding what he is saying, so he gets to the purpose of the national election and reprobation. There is a purpose beyond anything we can really even understand to why most Jews reject the Gospel – that the Gentiles could be included in God’s salvation. Read Matthew 8:5-13 and 21:33-46. These passages show Jesus' realization in His short time on earth of this reality. Paul is doing two things in v11. First, he is denying that God’s hardening of Israel so that the Jews reject the Gospel is intended to cause them to fall beyond recovery. And second, he is denying that God is done with Israel. V12 parallels v15. Paul is saying that if blessing resulted to Gentile Christians all over the world because Jews rejected the Messiah, how much greater blessing is going to result for the Gentiles when Israel embraces the Messiah! Amazingly, God’s works of grace in the present and future are going to be greater than His works of grace in the past.

13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Paul is teaching Gentiles to have a heart of love for the Jewish people, including a longing to see them converted. Paul's intense love for his own countrymen is noted again here, as, although he recognized that his ministry was as "the missionary to the Gentiles," he saw his ministry to the Gentiles as a way to bless Israel. He was involved in the conversion of Jews as he spread the message of the Gospel to Gentiles. Brilliant!

17If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Israel is the olive tree, and God is the gardener. It’s an illustration that everyone with any biblical literacy would have understood when Paul was speaking. But as is typical with Paul's analogies, this one is unorthodox. Can you figure out what's wrong with it? Notice the phrase "contrary to nature" in v24. Here are 3 things we should display as a result of Paul’s teaching: (1) humility, (2) compassion towards Jews, and (3) awe towards God. Finally, what eschatological considerations regarding Israel and the Church do you notice here? Is there one entity or two entities with which God is working?

19You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.' 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Picture a Gentile believer in the audience, unconvinced that he should be humble and compassionate, saying, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. God chose me and not them. Why should I care about Israel, since it has been broken off so that I could be included?” Paul concurs with the fact, but he dissents regarding the attitude. He says, "If you have the right view of God, the God of grace, you now realize both the justice and mercy of God to the exclusion of neither." That’s what Paul shows in v22. Often times, the kindness (or mercy) and the sternness (or severity or wrath) of God are displayed simultaneously in the same event. Noticing both attributes of God’s character will drive us to “continue in His kindness.” It is a delight to fear the Lord.

23And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

If God, in the salvation of the Gentiles, made those who were not His people become His people, and grafted those who were not part of His olive tree into His olive tree, then how much more can God graft branches that originally came from His olive tree back into that olive tree. Paul has tremendous hope for the salvation of Israel, because God is able to save. Take 3 truths from these last 2 verses: First, God is sovereign in salvation and we are responsible to believe. Second, faith is the way of salvation, and God’s sovereignty is not an argument against the fact that we must believe the Gospel with saving faith. Third, when God saves us, He brings us into spiritual unity, one family, one body, one tree, one church. That’s His eternal plan unfolding.