@Bible Highlighter Thread I started, FYI...
Thank you the invite.
As for my current thoughts on John 3:16:
Well, unfortunately, some Christians have tried to downplay and or even criticize the importance of verse numbers in the Bible. Yet, if you were to say John 3:16 to another Christian, they instantly would know what the other Christian was saying. John 3:16 is one of the heart core verses of the Bible if you were to trying to quickly explain what the whole Bible is about in a nutshell.
Lets read it again.
John 3:16 KJB
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 captures the motivation of God (His love for the world), and by the action of that love (in that He gave His only begotten Son). The
whosever believes in Him (the Son or Jesus) is anyone who freely wants to believe and trust in Jesus for salvation. For the
whosoever (any person) believes in Him shall not perish (i.e. perish with the second death or the Lake of Fire), but they shall have everlasting life (i.e. they will live eternally with God in the New Jerusalem city on the New Earth).
John 3:16 captures a basic basic quick snapshot of God’s plan for salvation for us without going too deep into the details (Unless one continues to read the rest of the gospel of John, and the rest of New Testament Scripture). If John 3:16 was the only verse in the Bible, or if we died on our death bed only knowing of John 3:16 for salvation… we would be saved. For it is true that He gave power to those who believe on His name to be the sons of God (John 1:12). But those Christians who live out their faith, and who are to study the Scriptures by God’s command (
2 Timothy 2:15), have more of a responsibility in believing in Jesus than simply believing on His name for salvation alone.
Faith or
belief in the Son (or Jesus) is like two sides of the same coin.
The 1st Side of the Coin of Faith:
Faith starts off as a belief or trust in Jesus Christ as one's Savior (John 3:16). We are first saved by God's grace through faith without the deeds of the law or works ALONE (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are saved initially and foundationally by God's grace and mercy like the receiving of a gift. We believe that Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was risen three days later for our salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) (Note: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is also known as the gospel or good news). We call upon the name of the Lord seeking forgiveness with Him (Romans 10:13, Luke 18:9-14). We receive or invite Christ into our life (John 1:12, Revelation 3:20). If a believer stumbles into sin on rare occasion, they do not do a good work to redeem that sin; But they go to God's grace by confessing their sins to Jesus Christ in order to be forgiven of it (See: 1 John 1:9, 1 John 2:1, Hebrews 4:16). This is all a part of how we are saved by God's grace through faith. No man can save themselves by Works Alone without God's grace. Many people who believe in God, and yet they have not accepted Jesus as their Savior think that God will outweigh their good deeds over their bad deeds. Salvation does not work like that. For they do not realize that their bad deeds will condemn them. They need to have their past slate of sins wiped out. This is where God's grace through faith in Jesus comes in.
But faith does not end with being saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Belief in Jesus or the Son does not stop there.
The journey of faith continues with...
The 2nd Side of the Coin of Faith.
(See my next post).