A close and detailed reexamination of John 3:16 -
Neuroscience: "The brain uses past learning as the guide for what to expect in the future. Because of prediction,
present experience and responses are shaped by the past. Predictions from early life can be
deeply encoded and enduring. Predictions based on the past allow for more efficient brain function in the present,
but can lead to mistakes."
The predicting brain: unconscious repetition, conscious reflection and therapeutic change - PubMed
Many have been taught a mistaken understanding of Jn 3:16. If we have been taught the mistake, the more we hear the same mistake, the stronger imprint it makes in the mind and the verse will always be understood in that mistaken manner, unless one uses determination to study the verse anew. It is not easy to shake off an oft-repeated belief that is wrong. The following is how most misunderstand Jn 3:16 -
"God loved every person in the world so much, that he gave his only Son, so that whosoever
will believe will not perish but have everlasting life." That is NOT what the verse states!
Here is a literal translation as well as a Dynamic Equivalence translation and it is
the present tense -
"for God did so love the world, that His Son--the only begotten--He gave, that every one who is
believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during." (John 3:16, YLT)
"‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who
has faith in him may not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, REB)
The text reads "the world" and
kosmos according to Thayer and the BDAG can have 8 different meanings. What in the context of Jn 3:16 would make this mean "every person in the world"?
Second, the KJV uses an archaic word "believeth -
verb archaic Third-person singular simple present indicative form of believe"
All the words
www.wordnik.com
"
Present indicative is a tense of
a verb that expresses action or state in the present time. It is used to express what occurs or is true at the time of speaking and of what is habitual or characteristic or is always or necessarily true, that is sometimes used to refer to action in the past, and that is sometimes used for future events.2 The present indicative is commonly used to express the present continuous, and to emphasize the present continuous, expressions..."
The verse does not read "whosoever will believeth", but "whosoever believeth". The word for future, "will"
is not seen in Jn 3:16 as it is in Rv 22:17 -
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev 22:17, KJV)
In current English, it is not "whosoever" but "everyone". In Webster's 1828 "WHOSOEVER, pron. [who, so, and ever.] Any one; any person whatever. Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Revelations 22." Even though you hear Rv 22:17 compared to Jn 3:16 as if they both say "whosoever will",
Jn 3:16 DOES NOT.
Jn 3:16 is a statement of existing fact, "believing" or "hath faith".
Rv 22:17 is an invitation. Trying to make Jn 3:16 into an invitation is to distort the grammar of the verse. What about the meaning of "world" here? We use the word "world" so often in a rather general sense, as in:
"She has been all over the world."
"Fast Food outlets seem to be taking over the world."
"The world was, and remains, shocked."
Is there anything in this John chapter 3 to lead us into thinking world here means every person in the world? I see no hint of that. But I do see a reason to see Jesus is using the word in an expansive way to indicate that God loves other people who are not Jews. Nicodemus would have the typical Jewish idea that only Jews are God's people(John 8:33, 39; Mt 3:9; Lk 3:8) and Jesus is setting him straight. Nicodemus has standing as a Jew: a Pharisee v1, a Ruler of the Jews v1, the Teacher of Israel v10. Peter also had the typical Jewish outlook at the first -
"And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." (Acts 10:28, KJV)
John, who wrote this gospel, also wrote Revelation where we get an idea of what he means by "world" in such a context as this, the context of Jesus giving His life. -
"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;" (Rev 5:9, KJV) John also uses "world" in a similar manner in 1 Jn 2:2... it is not just us Jews, but the whole world, Gentiles as well as Jews He is the blood atonement for.
The Apostle Paul also uses "world" to represent Gentiles -
"Now if the fall of them be the riches of
the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the
Gentiles; how much more their fulness?" (Rom 11:12, KJV)
The Arminian claims that Jesus died for every man who lived, lives or will live; but he saved no one; he merely provided a hypothetical salvation that becomes real if a man adds his faith to it. In other words, it is a merited salvation, earned by the person.
KEEP IN MIND - "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." (Jer 31:3, KJV)
(Can you imagine God loving all men with this everlasting love, and then sending them to hell?)
"...but I have hated Esau; I have made his hill country a desolation and his heritage a desert for jackals." (Mal 1:3, NRSV)
"As it is written, 'I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.'” (Rom 9:13, NRSV)
(It is clear God does hate some persons, whose identity we do not know. See Prov. 6:16-19)
Does the immutable God love one with an everlasting love, and then change and hate that one and send him to an eternal hell?
www.britannica.com
