The Verse
John 3:16-21
For most of my adult life, whenever I’ve stayed in a hotel or motel, I look for the Gideon Bible. It used to be you could always find one: evidence that some dedicated Gideon had done a behind-the-scenes ministry that has touched thousands of lives. Today, some chains won’t allow the Bibles to be placed in their rooms. They’re afraid of offending their customers. These same chains usually make the “adults only” channels available, since they don’t offend anyone.
It’s funny that anyone would be offended by a book that no one forces you to take out of a drawer. The Bibles don’t cost the hotel owners anything; the Gideon pays for them. The guests don’t have to pay to read them. Take a candy bar out to the room fridge and it’ll cost you $3.00 but you can read the Bible all night long and it will cost you nothing. The Bibles contain no denominationally-biased notes—just the Bible. Usually, but not always, it’s the King’s James Version. Alternative versions include the New KJV and the Berkeley Version.
There is one feature that is distinctive to these Gideon Bibles. Most editions have several pages dedicated to presenting a single Bible verse in several languages. The Bible I have translates this verse into Afrikaans, Chinese, Finnish, Hindi, Icelandic, Tamil, and twenty more languages. What verse, out of all the verses in the Bible, merits this attention? It is the first verse of this passage, John 3:16.
With what is probably the first verse most Sunday school children learn, John begins his reflection on Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus.
John’s thinking was triggered by Jesus’ final word to Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up…” Jesus is referring to his coming crucifixion.
John had witnessed Jesus being lifted up. He had stood at the foot of the cross and watched Jesus die. At that time he probably asked himself, Why is this happening?
John gives a partial answer in this passage.
God, through an act of sacrificial love, provides the opportunity for new life.
To understand this, let’s look at some of the key issues John raises in this passage. He invites us to think about…
The World God Loves
The word John uses here is not “ge” (ghay) the word which is the root of words like geology or geography, the word referring to the physical world around us. John uses cosmos. Cosmos refers to the totality of humankind. By “world” John means that every man, woman, and child. Obviously those living in the first century didn’t know as much about the world as we know. Still, they knew it was a vast place, populated by various tribes and peoples. They knew something of the physical and cultural differences that exist on this planet. No matter how much disdain some felt for the so-called “barbarians” John was including them in this picture of the world.
But we have to take this further. John also uses cosmos refers to "society as alienated from God and under the sway of Satan." (1 John 5:19) This world is in intentional, active rebellion against him. It is a world shrouded in spiritual darkness. Just how powerful that darkness is can be seen in multiplied examples of “man’s inhumanity to man.”
Specifically we see that darkness in the Tucson shootings, in a father murdering his infant child in Columbus, in the ongoing war in the Middle East, in so many ways I could name…
But, for John, the clearest illustration of that darkness was found in an event that took place one Spring on a hill outside Jerusalem—the crucifixion.
With that in mind, we need to consider…
The God Who Loves
What is God's attitude toward a world in rebellion against him? God loves this world. To anyone who grew up singing, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world,” this hardly seems to be news. It would have been in the first century. Apparently no Jewish writer advanced the notion that God loved the whole world. The idea that God’s love is broad enough to include all of humankind appears to have been a distinctly Christian idea.
This love for the world is not simple affection. It is love which engages in sacrificial action. In fact, the measure of God's love (agapao) is seen in his sacrifice; He gave his only Son. The ISV renders: "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life."
The world God loves is in rebellion against him, yet God did not send his Son into that world to "judge it;" he sent his Son into the world to save it.
Verse seventeen further explains God's motivation for sending his Son. It challenges the conception of Christianity held by many of its critics.
Rather than seeking to populate Hell with as many people as possible, God devised and implemented the only escape plan. Because God's character demands it, He must judge; but he would prefer to show mercy. Ronald Youngblood says, "Judgment is never God's last or best word to those who believe in him, because 'mercy triumphs over judgment'' (James 2:13). God's love was not limited by culture, race, or geographical boundaries. His desire to save was extended to the entire world. He did not simply love the lovely people of the world; he loved all the people of the world. That love prompted an act of radical sacrifice.
Did you see The Passion of the Christ when it came out a few years ago? If not, you couldn’t have missed the controversy it has stirred. Many were angered by the film and critical of its producer/director Mel Gibson. One critic reviewed the film and complained, “Where is Christ’s message of love?” John would wonder how that critic could have possibly missed it.
Sadly, Gibson’s behavior since the film appeared has trashed his credibility but the message of the crucifixion stands.
The Bible tells us that the love of God for the world is displayed in many ways. It may be seen in the rain and the sunshine. The love of God is seen in the crops which allow us to feed our children. God’s love is seen in the gift of our children—and our grandchildren. But, for John, the clearest illustration of that love could be found in an event that took place one Spring on a hill outside Jerusalem—the crucifixion. Yes, the same event that illustrated the world’s darkness also illustrated God’s love.
The Possibility God Offers
John wrote his Gospel to encourage people to believe in Jesus. That was his aim. After making his wonderful declaration about God’s love, John turns to the issues of belief and unbelief.
Because of God's sacrificial actions on its behalf, humankind has an option: the choice between destruction and eternal life.
Men and Women may chose to continue on the path of unbelief by their refusal to commit to Jesus. This condition involves the utter loss of well being (Vine). This situation, which is merited, ultimately results in complete alienation from God.
We may wonder why anyone could possibly chose that path. John explains why:
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. [19] And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:19-20 (ESV)
While this is probably not John's intention, the statement is a kind of defense of God. God cannot be blamed for humankind's estrangement. He has sent the Light into the world, yet many preferred the darkness, reflecting their commitment to their sinful behavior.
During the nineteenth century Robert Ingersol was America's best known atheist. Ingersol traveled the country lecturing on why it was foolish to believe in God and to embrace the trappings of religion. Ingersol was once lecturing to a large crowd in the East.
He had just announced there was no God and, consequently, no final judgment. At that point, a very drunk audience member got up and shouted, "I sure hope you're right, Brother Bob, I'm countin' on it."
There are those who do not believe because they have not heard. There are those who do not believe because they do not understand or have been misinformed. That some might refuse to believe because they prefer the darkness seems incrediblebut human history substantiates the claim.
John tells us that those committed to sin hate the light. They avoid the light at all costs because they do not want their deeds to be exposed for what they are.
The tense suggests this is not a reference to that person who stumbles into sinful behavior, rather this is a person who "is in the habit of doing wrong" (Williams). Such a person avoids the light.
John finds their decision shocking. Look again at verse 18. They have refused to believe the very Son of God. John looked at Jesus and saw God’s grace and truth. It must have deeply hurt John to think that there were those who refused to honor Jesus. Yet, John knew there were those who did.
He also knew that those who walked the path of unbelief walked a path toward judgment. In fact, as long as they refused to believe they lived as if they had already heard the sentence read. Merrill Tenney pictures the state of these individuals in a way which helps us see their plight. John’s use of the term “perish” to describe their condition “…those without God are hopelessly confused in purpose, alienated from him in their affections, and futile in their efforts. Positive belief in Christ is necessary; all that one has to do to perish is nothing. It is loss of all that makes life worthwhile.”
This knowledge prompted John to write his Gospel to call men and women to faith. It ought to prompt us to take seriously the evangelism mandate. God’s love, the love which gave his Son to die for our salvation, should lead us to join John and all who have followed his example by intentionally calling others to believe on Jesus.
But John lets us know there is another option.
Men and Women may take the path of Belief--the acceptance of Jesus for who he is and a consequent commitment to him. Taking this option leads to eternal life. As John uses the term “eternal life” he is describing a new quality of life both now and in the age to come. It is not simply the promise of living forever, it is the promise of living with a spiritual richness which we cannot fully imagine. The character of this life is as significant as its duration. And John wants us to know that believers already possess this “eternal life”. They don’t yet experience all of its wonder but they have experienced enough to have their appetites whetted for more.
It’s important to understand that the avenue to this eternal life is belief. The word translated as believe (pisteuooneis) suggests "the complex thought of unqualified acceptance of, and exclusive dependence on," (Elwell) It goes beyond mentally agreeing with a claim, it involves reliance upon the truth of the claim.
In terms of the Christian gospel, it means accepting Jesus for who he is—God’s Son—and relying upon him—and him alone—for our hope of eternal life. Jesus had told Nicodemus that he must be born again—renewed through a power which comes from God in heaven. John is reminding us that Jesus is the one who gives that life to those who believe in him.
Those who take this option of faith escape the darkness; those who take this option do not waste their lives, they live their lives to the fullest; those who take this option walk the path toward a future of joy and hope.
They have this joy and hope because they have a new understanding of God. He is not a God who eagerly seeks opportunities to condemn us; He is a God who longs to save us. He is the God who gave his Son to make possible our salvation. He is the God who invites us to experience that salvation by simply believing on his Son.
Conclusion
The Gideons never tried to offend anyone by placing Bibles in those hotel rooms. They just wanted people to know about the love of God. We want you to know about that love and once you know about it to trust God for the life he offers.
