What Does John 3:16 Mean?

This article is part of the What Does It Mean? series.

A Conversation About Eternal Life

We find John 3:16 on billboards, shoes, hats, bumper stickers, t-shirts, signs at sporting events, and even the greasy “eye black” that quarterbacks use to reduce glare from the sun and bright stadium lights. But what does the verse mean?

John 3 records an interesting and important discussion between Nicodemus and Jesus. In it our Lord reminds Israel’s learned teacher that no one (not even a great rabbi like Nicodemus!) can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3, 5, 7).

Jesus then refers to two passages from the Old Testament to explain that he, the “Son of Man,” has come from heaven to bring salvation. He calls himself the “Son of Man,” a reference to a heavenly figure mentioned in Daniel 7, and compares himself to the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness (see Num. 21:4–9), saying that he, too, must be “lifted up” on the cross so that those who believe in him will have eternal life (John 3:13–15).

Then comes one of the most well-known verses in the Bible:

“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)

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Douglas Sean O'Donnell

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Our Problem

Now, to understand what this verse means, we first need to read what Jesus¹ says next: “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. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:17–19).

Notice that there is a worldwide problem. The world is already under judgment (“condemned already,” John 3:18), and people are heading toward destruction because they love to live in the shadows of sin (“people loved the darkness . . . because their works were evil,” John 3:19). So we have a big problem! Thankfully, though, we have a great God, who has made a way for us to be saved.

God’s Solution

God’s solution starts with his love. Jesus often showed compassion during his time on earth², and the Father, who is also full of love (“God is love,” 1 John 4:8), has acted out of that same compassion. His love is a verb—actually, three key verbs: he “loves” the world by sending (“send,” John 3:17), giving (“gave,” John 3:16), and therefore saving (“saved,” John 3:17).³ Here is a summary of what God has done:

The Father sent his Son to rescue us (John 3:17).⁴
The Father gave his Son as a sacrifice for us (John 3:16).⁵

Of course, our God is a Trinity, so the Father’s sending and giving correspond to the Son’s being sent⁶ and the Spirit’s work of new life.⁷

The Son willingly came (“he . . . descended from heaven,” John 3:13) to save sinners who are condemned to eternal punishment by dying on the cross (“the Son of Man” was “lifted up,” John 3:14).
The Holy Spirit gives us new life (birth from above!) by helping us understand and accept the gospel (John 3:5–8).⁸

We have a big problem! Thankfully, though, we have a great God, who has made a way for us to be saved.

An Open Invitation

Through this loving work, God—Father, Son, and Spirit—generously offers to all people everywhere at all times salvation from death and damnation (it is an open invitation to “whoever” in “the world,” John 3:16, Jews and Gentiles; see Rom. 1:16).

The invitation is open to all, and it is received by faith. We do not receive the saving love of God through our good works or by having a consistent church attendance record or a baptism certificate. Instead, in utter dependence, we come out of our darkness “to the light” (John 3:21)—Jesus! The word John uses for this is “faith,” in its various forms (belief, believe, believes),⁹ synonyms (receive, come to), and metaphors (eat, drink, etc.)—all abounding throughout John and especially in John 3:15–18 (5x!). For example, John 3:18 states, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned,” and John 3:16 says that “whoever believes in him should not perish but receive eternal life.” As Frederick Dale Brunner nicely summarizes, “One simply trusts this Giver, this Gift, and this Giving,”¹⁰ and continues to trust.¹¹ Of course, as said earlier, we come to believe in and continue to believe in the God-sent Son only because the Spirit opens our eyes to see Jesus as the “light of the world” (John 8:12; John 12:35–36), the Spirit gives us a “new heart” (Ezek. 36:26), and the Spirit breathes life into our dead and dry bones (Ezek. 37:9, 10).¹² As John states in his prologue, “All who did receive him, who believed in his name . . . were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12–13).

Embrace God’s Love!

John 3:16 is not just a famous verse about what God has done for us—it’s a call to action! What we do with Jesus determines our future:

If we believe in him, we receive eternal life.
If we reject him, we remain in our sins—dead (without “eternal life,” John 3:16) and damned (“already condemned,” John 3:18).

What we make of Jesus is a matter of life and death! “Oh world, embrace the love of God!”¹³

Notes:

For a short summary of the view that the narrator/evangelist (John) in John 3:16–21 is offering his “own commentary, which provides a theological summary of the implications of the first three chapters” (Grant R. Osborne, “The Gospel of John,” Cornerstone Biblical Commentary [Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2007], 57) and “a necessary interpretation of the dialogue that has just taken place,” see Edward W. Klink III, John, ZECNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 204–205. However, I find Hamilton’s rationale for arguing that Jesus is speaking in John 3:16 more convincing: “Jesus then offers further explanation to Nicodemus in verses 16–21. Because a clear break comes in verse 22, it seems that Jesus continues to speak through verse 21, and thus verses 16–21 are a clarification and elaboration from Jesus for Nicodemus.” James M. Hamilton Jr., “John,” ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 75.
E.g., Matthew 9:36, 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 6:34; 8:2; 9:22; Luke 7:13.
“For this is how God loved the world” (ESV marginal reading). “‘Love’ is a major theme in John, with three related terms occurring 116 times in his writings (56 in the Gospel).” Osborne, John, 57.
God’s sending the Son is a prevalent theme in John, with the word “sent” used for this purpose over forty times and the clause “The one who sent me” nearly thirty times! The concept (notably connected to the language of “love,” “world,” “only Son,” and life [“live”]!) is found also in 1 John 4:9: “In this the love of the God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
“God loved the world by giving Jesus to die in its place. There was nothing the world needed more than for God’s wrath to be assuaged, nothing more valuable to the Father than Jesus. There was no greater length to which anyone could go to show love, no way for greater love to be more convincingly demonstrated, than for ultimate value to be sacrificed for ultimate need to accomplish ultimate salvation.” Hamilton, “John,” 76.
Jesus is the “only son of God,” v. 18; cf. “God the only Son,” 1:18.
“The measure of the love of God is the gift of his only Son to be made man, and to die for our sins, and so to become the one mediator who can bring us to God.” J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1973), 114.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [that is, “born of water and the Spirit,” v. 5] he cannot see [and “enter,” v. 5] the kingdom of God” (v. 3; “You [plural] must be born again,” v. 7).
“The verb [believing] occurs ninety-eight times in John’s gospel and is found, strategically, at the pivot of the introduction (John 1:12–13) and in the purpose statement (20:30–31).” Andreas J. Köstenberger, A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters, Biblical Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan 2009), 292.
Bruner, John, 203.
“The word ‘entrusting’ is a wonderful present-tense participle [an -ing ending word] which means that it is an ongoing trust, like breathing, continually resting in the divine Love.” Bruner, John, 202–203.
“Jesus explains the new birth to Nicodemus in terms of the cleansing and renewing work of the Holy Spirit described in Ezekiel 36:24–27 (John 3:5) and the resurrection of the dry bones by the blowing of the Holy Spirit wind in Ezekiel 37 (John 3:8).” Hamilton, “John,” 74.
Klink, John, 209.

Douglas Sean O’Donnell is the author of Daily Liturgy Devotional: 40 Days of Worship and Prayer.

Douglas Sean O’Donnell (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the senior vice president of Bible editorial at Crossway. Over the past twenty-five years he has helped train people around the world to read and teach the Bible clearly. He has pastored several churches, served as a professor, and authored or edited over twenty books, including commentaries, Bible studies, children’s books, and a children’s curriculum. He also wrote The Pastor’s Book with R. Kent Hughes and The Beauty and Power of Biblical Exposition with Leland Ryken.

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