God is love. Throughout all eternity the three divine Persons have known and delighted in one another, living together as a Holy Family bound in perfect love. But the love of the triune God is also focused on his creation, and in particular on us human beings, creatures uniquely fashioned in his own image and likeness, and who therefore have the ability to know and love God. In our text Christ is telling us that God the Father has gone to extraordinary lengths to make this precious ability ours once again.
Christian or not, every student of history knows that the Bible’s majestic story of creation, fall, and redemption through Christ turned the Roman Empire upside down, laid the foundation for Western Civilization, and even today is transforming people and nations all over the world.
But here is something you may not have known: John 3:16—the most famous verse in the Bible—contains the whole message of the whole book in a nutshell. It’s like a beautiful pearl tucked deep inside a giant clam or oyster. Here, Jesus Christ himself gives us the heart, the core, the very essence of the Word of God.
So then: For folks who may be new to the Bible, here are a few thoughts designed to open up the rich meaning of this pearl of great price.
GOD: This is the Supreme Being whom we encounter in nature, conscience, and the sacred scriptures of the Jewish people, through whose holy prophets he was pleased to reveal far more than nature or conscience ever could. In these scriptures we learn that there is one God—the creator, possessor, sustainer, and ruler of the universe—eternally existing in three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here in John 3:16 Christ is specifically referring to God the Father: He who gave God the Son to the world.
SO LOVED: God is love. Throughout all eternity the three divine Persons have known and delighted in one another, living together as a Holy Family bound in perfect love. But the love of the triune God is also focused on his creation, and in particular on us human beings, creatures uniquely fashioned in his own image and likeness, and who therefore have the ability to know and love God. In our text Christ is telling us that God the Father has gone to extraordinary lengths to make this precious ability ours once again.
THE WORLD: The reference here is primarily to the family of man that God, in the beginning, created to rule with him over the earth, and to journey with him down the long corridor of history. The human father of this family was the man Adam. In the Garden of Eden God tested him, to see if he would love and honor his creator by believing and obeying his word. It was a test of great consequence, since, by God’s wise decree, Adam stood in Eden as the head and representative of both man and nature. Alas, it was a test that Adam failed, with the result that evil, suffering, and death invaded the very good world that God had made. In particular, because of Adam’s plunge into sin, all of his children would henceforth be born in a state of sin: alienated from the life of God, centered on self, driven by dark passions, hostile to God, and disobedient to God in thought, word, and deed. What’s more, because of their sin, many of those children stood—and now stand—beneath God’s righteous anger, and are in danger of eternal punishment. Yet despite the depth of its sin, God still loves this family, just as he did its father, Adam. Indeed, his love is so deep . . .
THAT HE GAVE: It is God’s nature to depend on nothing; it is man’s nature to depend on God. It is God’s nature (and joy) to give to man; it is man’s nature (and joy) to receive from God. As the Bible teaches, God is the One who gives life, breath, and all things to his beloved creations. Here in John 3:16 Christ is speaking of a very special gift. Indeed, he is speaking of the Father’s supreme gift to the sinful family of man: his uniquely begotten Son.
HIS UNIQUELY BEGOTTEN SON: Throughout all eternity the divine Father uniquely begets the divine Son whom he loves. The Son is “God himself from God himself.” With a view to saving sinners from eternal punishment; with a view to begetting them afresh as his own dear children; and with a view to uniting them forever with the Holy Trinity, the Father, in an act of supreme love, gave his Son to the world in the form of the God-Man: the Lord Jesus Christ. Through his incarnation the Son entered the world as a last and better Adam: as the head and representative of the eternal family that God is now creating.