Traditions, things passed on through time that people believe and often without question. This not only happens throughout secular history but also through Christian Church history. We as humans are often , I believe, either too scared or too apathetic to challenge the status quo. Because of this apathy, the Christian Church suffers the way it does. Instead of taking heed to 2 Timothy 2:15 we accept things without any careful study because of the majority acceptance. But this is why we are here today. We are here to study and to learn in-depth the things of our Christian faith. We are here to challenge the status quo of some of the things that are said or believed in the Churches today. Now, I am not saying that all tradition is wrong and not to be believed, but I am saying that there will be traditions that stand true and strong and there will be some, when challenged, that fall and are found to be simply not true. John 3:16 is one of the most wonderful and also often quoted verse in the entire Bible. It is a verse that you yourselves have memorized in Sunday school; or even if you were saved in your older years, it is a verse you have heard many times. You see the verse on billboards, bumper stickers, T-shirts, and Tim Tebow's face during the College football championship game a few years ago. But what does this verse mean? How is this verse normally seen today, and how was it seen in the past? Are we taking this verse for granted and feel no need to think deeper to what it possibly means? To look at it in isolation, without the surrounding context? I think so. I challenge you to put on your thinking cap and don't be afraid to challenge yourself in the study of this verse. I encourage you to read this and not let your emotions dictate you, but rather let the truth you learn dictate your emotions. For I am human like you and we do not like to be wrong, but if we claim Christ as our Lord then we must submit ourselves to the infallible Word of the living God. Here we go, lets get into the verse.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 ESV
Now before we get into John 3:16 specifically, lets not forget that there is a surrounding context that should at least be looked at. A quick overview of John 3:1-15 will be helpful to us. Basically in these verses we have the Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, come to Jesus and comment Him on His signs and even acknowledges that Jesus is a teacher come from God. Jesus goes on to then explain to Nicodemus that in order to enter or see the kingdom of God one must be born again. He explains that this being born again is accomplished by the Spirit of God, which is likened to the wind, in that the Spirit is free and you cannot see Him but rather you can see His effects. Or to put bluntly, the Holy Spirit is sovereign and free in who He causes to be born again. Jesus then rebukes Nicodemus because he is the teacher of Israel and does not know these things (Referring to Ezekiel 36:26-27). Now in verses 14-15, Jesus explains how the serpent in the wilderness which mosses lifted up was a picture of Himself, how He also must be lifted up, in order that, the ones who believe in Him will have eternal life. We then move into verse 16......
When hearing biblical teachings such as divine election or limited atonement, some seek to refute these teachings by finding refuge in a traditional and may I say, unbiblical understanding of John 3:16. They say something to the affect: "God can't elect certain ones to salvation or only die for the sins of some and not all because John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave His Son that WHOSOEVER believes in Christ would have eternal life. Therefore, God has done His part in offering the gift of salvation and simply leaves it up to us to receive the gift through faith. That's it. Done deal!" Or so it may seem....Although this interpretation of the text is a very common tradition (a tradition once held by yours truly), this text needs a little more focus than what people give it now a days.
Two arguments against limited atonement and divine election are typically made from this passage and these arguments are what we will be spending most our focus on here in this study. The arguments are made from the word "world" (kosmos, Κόσμος) and the word "whoever" or "whosoever" (depending on which translation you use)(pas ha pisteuon, Ράς ό ριστευόν). The former is believed to state that God loves every person in the world and argues that love for all implies atonement for all, hence, "..loved the world". The latter argues that anyone can be saved, therefore the atonement was made for all, hence, "whosoever".
Let's now set our attention on the first of our main two words, and that is "world" or "kosmos." As stated earlier, the first argument interprets "world" to mean every person in the world, and from this belief, it is inferred that God desires the salvation of every person in the world. It is then argued that since God desires the salvation of every person in the world, He must have provided a means by which every person in the world could be saved. It would be a little ridiculous for God to desire someone's salvation, but refuse to provide the means necessary for that person to obtain salvation (especially when He provides it for others). This argument may be refuted in a few ways. We will focus on a couple.
1) The argument that kosmos means "every person in the world" does not appeal to translation but to interpretation. That is, kosmos in its literal form in the greek does not refer to people but rather it refers to the created order of things. This does not say that kosmos cannot be used figuratively to refer to people, but it needs to be acknowledged that such a use is indeed figurative and not literal.(Context is king, and will determine how it's used).
An alternative argument (which this writer believes is accurate) derives the meaning of kosmos from the immediate context of John's argument. It is generally recognized by interpreters that John uses kosmos in a variety of ways (click for John's use of kosmos). Thus, we cannot assume any one meaning in any particular usage. An evaluation of the context of this passage reveals that in John 3:16 kosmos means "all believers, and believers only." This argument interprets this passage as an active defense of limited atonement (simply means Christ dying for the sins of the elect only). To make this argument from using the context, it is necessary to include the adjoining verses John 3:17-18, which includes the words: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 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." The logical argument is as follows:
a) God sent His son to save the kosmos.
b) God did not send His son to judge the kosmos.
c) Believers are saved.
d) Believers are not judged.
e) Unbelievers are not saved.
f) Unbelievers are judged.
g) Since unbelievers are judged and not saved, contrarily to the kosmos which is saved and not judged, unbelievers are not part of the kosmos in this passage.
h) Since believers are saved and not judged, just as the kosmos is saved and not judged, kosmos represents believers in this passage.
2) A second argument can be made in this passage about the word kosmos, and is drawn from John's conception of kosmos as a term intended to include different types of people rather than all individuals particularly. This argument (which has often been made) is understood that when John used the word kosmos he meant to emphasize the fact that salvation was no longer restricted to the Jews, but had been expanded to include the Gentiles as well. So then, it is concluded that when John said God loved the kosmos, what He meant was God loved Jews and Gentiles alike---generally, not individually. In the past, God had only exercised His redeeming love to save Israel. However, when Christ came, God extended that love to the Gentile nations as well. John simply was saying that God's love had been extended to additional people groups--not that individual Gentiles could not be saved before, but that the gospel call had not been issued to the Gentiles nations at large. Insofar as God's redeeming love previously had not been extended to every Jew (cf. e.g. Lev. 26:27-30; Ps. 5:4-6; Prov. 6:16-19), but only to those who were faithful (cf. Exod. 20:5-6), it should not be assumed that in Christ's death God extended this love to every individual, but only that He now began to extend the salvation to elect of every people group in the world (Rev. 5:9). (This interpretation does not imply a refutation of limited atonement.)
The second of our two words we will be focusing on in this study is word "whosoever"or "whoever". It is commonly argued that the "whosoever" nature of the gospel necessitates that everyone is able to respond positively to the gospel rather than only a limited group. We will refute this assumption in a couple ways:
1) Regardless of how few people are enabled to respond to the gospel, it is still true that whoever believes will be saved. Therefore, it is not necessary that everyone be able to respond positively to the gospel in order for the "whoever" nature of the goespel to be true.
2) Jesus stated that some people did not believe in Him because the Father had not granted them the ability to come to Him:
"'But there are some of you who do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, 'For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father'" (John 6:64-65)
Elsewhere, God specifically prevents people from believing the gospel. For example:
"God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth" (2 Thess. 2:11-12).
Since some people are not able to believe the gospel, the assumption that everyone must be able to believe is false. We must understand that the text does NOT actually discuss who does or who does not have the ability to believe.
Let's spend a little more time on the "whosoever" part of the text. Remember the New Testament was written in greek, koine greek that is. So for the true understanding of the text we must examine it in that light. It may be a surprise to some of you that in the original language of John 3:16, there is no word "whosoever". The word "whosoever" is expressing a phrase (not a word) in the greek, which is difficult to express smoothly in English. The greek phrase is Ράς ό ριστευόν (Pas ha pisteuon). Literally, the text reads "in order that every the one believing in Him, not perish, but have everlasting life." It says "every" or "all the one believing..." Do you see how hard that would be to express in English? In essence, it is saying "all the believing ones" and therefore It is basically saying that there is no such thing as a believing one who does not receive eternal life. In John 3:16 the emphasis is NOT AT ALL on the "whosoever" but on the "belief". The ones BELIEVING will not have the consequence of perishing but instead will have eternal life. Why? Because of the main verb in the phrase "because God GAVE His Son." God gave His Son for the purpose "that" (in order that) every believing one should not perish, but that every believing one should have everlasting life. NOTE: "that" in the greek is "hina" which means "in order that".
The text of John 3:16 actually speaks of a limitation of a particular redemption rather than a universal redemption, for it is clearly seen that not everyone will be saved, but only those who believe in Christ. The Father gave His Son for the purpose of those who believe. The Son is given so that the believing ones will not perish, but opposite to that, have eternal life. That is the purpose of the giving.
So what does this text tell us about who WILL believe or who CAN believe? The answer is: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! The text does not address the issue of who WILL believe or who CAN believe. The answer to who can and will exercise faith is for another study. (Or you may dialogue via email or on the comments, please don't be shy).
So why do people miss what John 3:16 teaches or read into what is not actually in the text (eisegesis)? It is because of how they and/or we have heard John 3:16 used over and over and over again. We have an ingrained, preconceived notion of what the verse says and therefore fail to question the assumption made instead of reading the text for what it actually says. It is TRADITION and if you dare question the modern traditional interpretation of this verse, you might be accused of questioning the very word of God. Even though questioning tradition can create a whole lot of emotion, we are here to study; to learn what the Bible actually says and not be afraid to see what God's word really tells us. Amen?
NOTE: If I perhaps was not clear on anything and you want me to expand or clarify, please do not hesitate to ask me. I have this blog so that I may learn also. Grace and Peace
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