Quotes & Notes on:
John 3:16
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John Wesley's Notes:
Yea, and this was the very design of God's love in sending him into the
world.
Whosoever believeth on him-With that faith which worketh by love, and
hold fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end.
God so loved the world-That is, all men under heaven; even those that
despise his love, and will for that cause finally perish. Otherwise not
to believe would be no sin to them. For what should they believe? Ought
they to believe that Christ was given for them? Then he was given for
them.
He gave his only Son-Truly and seriously. And the Son of God gave
himself, Ga 1:4, truly and seriously.
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
* God. Lu 2:14; Ro 5:8; 2Co 5:19-21; Tit 3:4; 1Jo 4:9,10,19
* gave. Joh 1:14,18; Ge 22:12; Mr 12:6; Ro 5:10; 8:32
* that whosoever. Joh 3:15; Mt 9:13; 1Ti 1:15,16
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Adam Clarke's Commentary:
For God so loved the world] Such a love as that which induced God
to give his only begotten son to die for the world could not be
described: Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of
meaning in the particle  , so, and
left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to
angels and to men. The same evangelist uses a similar mode of
expression, 1Jo 3:1: Behold, WHAT MANNER of love,
 , the Father hath bestowed upon us.
From the subject before him, let the reader attend to the following
particulars.
First, The world was in a ruinous, condemned state, about to perish
everlastingly; and was utterly without power to rescue itself from
destruction.
Secondly, That God, through the impulse of his eternal love, provided
for its rescue and salvation, by giving his Son to die for it.
Thirdly, That the sacrifice of Jesus was the only mean by which the
redemption of man could be effected, and that it is absolutely
sufficient to accomplish this gracious design: for it would have been
inconsistent with the wisdom of God, to have appointed a sacrifice
greater in itself, or less in its merit, than what the urgent
necessities of the case required.
Fourthly, That sin must be an indescribable evil, when it required no
less a sacrifice, to make atonement for it, than God manifested in the
flesh.
Fifthly, That no man is saved through this sacrifice, but he that
believes, i.e. who credits what God has spoken concerning Christ, his
sacrifice, the end for which it was offered, and the way in which it is
to be applied in order to become effectual.
Sixthly, That those who believe receive a double benefit: 1. They are
exempted from eternal perdition-that they may not perish. 2. They are
brought to eternal glory-that they may have everlasting life. These two
benefits point out tacitly the state of man: he is guilty, and therefore
exposed to punishment: he is impure, and therefore unfit for glory.
They point out also the two grand operations of grace, by which the
salvation of man is effected. 1. Justification, by which the guilt of
sin is removed, and consequently the person is no longer obnoxious to
perdition. 2. Sanctification, or the purification of his nature, by
which he is properly fitted for the kingdom of glory.
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Family Bible Notes:
Gave his only begotten Son; the highest expression of his infinite
compassion. Chap Joh 1:14.
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1599 Geneva Bible Notes:
Nothing else but the free love of the Father is the
beginning of our salvation, and Christ is he in whom our righteousness
and salvation dwells: and faith is the instrument or means by which we
apprehend it, and everlasting life is that which is set before us to
apprehend. (o) It is not the same to believe in a thing, and to believe
about a thing, for we may not believe in anything except in God alone,
but we may believe about anything whatever, says Nazianzene in his
Oration of the Spirit.
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People's New Testament Commentary:
There is no sweeter verse in the Bible. It declares: (1) That God is
love. (2) That he loved the world instead of hating it. (3) That he so
loved that he gave his Son. The Son did not come to appease the Father's
wrath, but the Father sent him because he loved so well. (4) That he
came to keep men from perishing.
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Robertson's Word Pictures:
For so (houtôs gar). This use of gar is quite in John's style in
introducing his comments (Joh 2:25; 4:8; 5:13, etc.). This "Little
Gospel" as it is often called, this "comfortable word" (the Anglican
Liturgy), while not a quotation from Jesus is a just and marvellous
interpretation of the mission and message of our Lord. In verses Joh
3:16-21 John recapitulates in summary fashion the teaching of Jesus to
Nicodemus. Loved (êgapêsen). First aorist active indicative of agapaô,
the noble word so common in the Gospels for the highest form of love,
used here as often in John (Joh 14:23; 17:23; 1Jo 3:1; 4:10) of God's
love for man (cf. 2Th 2:16; Ro 5:8; Eph 2:4). In Jos 21:15 John presents
a distinction between agapaô and phileô. Agapaô is used also for love of
men for men (Joh 13:34), for Jesus (Joh 8:42), for God (1Jo 4:10). The
world (ton kosmon). The whole cosmos of men, including Gentiles, the
whole human race. This universal aspect of God's love appears also in
2Co 5:19; Ro 5:8. That he gave (hôste edôken). The usual classical
construction with hôste and the indicative (first aorist active)
practical result, the only example in the N.T. save that in Ga 2:13.
Elsewhere hôste with the infinitive occurs for actual result (Mt 13:32)
as well as purpose (Mt 10:1), though even this is rare. His only
begotten Son (ton huion ton monogenê). "The Son the only begotten." For
this word see on Joh 1:14,18; 3:18. The rest of the sentence, the
purpose clause with hina-echêi precisely reproduces the close of Joh
3:15 save that eis auton takes the place of en autôi (see Joh 1:12) and
goes certainly with pisteuôn (not with echêi as en autôi in verse Jos
3:15) and the added clause "should not perish but" (mê apolêtai alla,
second aorist middle subjunctive, intransitive, of apollumi, to
destroy). The same contrast between "perish" and "eternal life" (for
this world and the next) appears also in Joh 10:28. On "perish" see also
Joh 17:12.
Albert Barnes' Commentary:
For God so loved. This does not mean that God approved the conduct
of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was
earnestly desirous of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he
still desires the happiness of those who are sinful. He hates the sin,
but loves the sinner. A parent may love his child and desire his
welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child. When
we approve the conduct of another, this is the love of complacency; when
we desire simply their happiness, this is the love of benevolence.
The world. All mankind. It does not mean any particular part of the
world, but man as man--the race that had rebelled and that deserved to
die. See Joh 6:33; 17:21. His love for the world, or for all mankind, in
giving his Son, was shown by these circumstances:
1st. All the world was in ruin, and exposed to the wrath of God.
2nd. All men were in a hopeless condition.
3rd. God gave his Son. Man had no claim on him; it was a gift--an
undeserved gift.
4th. He gave him up to extreme sufferings, even the bitter pains of
death on the cross.
5th. It was for all the world. He tasted "death for every man," Heb 2:9.
He "died for all," 2Co 5:15. "He is the propitiation for the sins of the
whole world," 1Jo 2:2.
That he gave. It was a free and unmerited gift. Man had no claim; and
when there was no eye to pity or arm to save, it pleased God to give his
Son into the hands of men to die in their stead, Ga 1:4; Ro 8:32; Lu
22:19. It was the mere movement of love; the expression of eternal
compassion, and of a desire that sinners should not perish forever.
His only-begotten Son. See Barnes for Joh 1:14. This is the highest
expression of love of which we can conceive. A parent who should give up
his only son to die for others who are guilty--if this could or might be
done--would show higher love than could be manifested in any other way.
So it shows the depth of the love of God, that he was willing to give
his only Son into the hands of sinful men that he might be slain, and
thus redeem them from eternal sorrow.
{n} "For God" 1Jo 4:9
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Jamieson-Faussett Brown:
What proclamation of the Gospel has been so oft on the lips of
missionaries and preachers in every age since it was first uttered? What
has sent such thrilling sensations through millions of mankind? What has
been honored to bring such multitudes to the feet of Christ? What to
kindle in the cold and selfish breasts of mortals the fires of
self-sacrificing love to mankind, as these words of transparent
simplicity, yet overpowering majesty? The picture embraces several
distinct compartments: "THE WORLD"--in its widest sense--ready "to
perish"; the immense "LOVE OF GOD" to that perishing world, measurable
only, and conceivable only, by the gift which it drew forth from Him;
THE GIFT itself--"He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son," or, in the language of Paul, "spared not His own Son" (Ro 8:32),
or in that addressed to Abraham when ready to offer Isaac on the altar,
"withheld not His Son, His only Son, whom He loved" (Ge 22:16); the
FRUIT of this stupendous gift--not only deliverance from impending
"perdition," but the bestowal of everlasting life; the MODE in which all
takes effect--by "believing" on the Son. How would Nicodemus' narrow
Judaism become invisible in the blaze of this Sun of righteousness seen
rising on "the world" with healing in His wings! (Mal 4:2).
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Spurgeon Commentary:
We have but to look to Jesus, and whoever we may be, we shall find
immediate deliverance from all our sins. One glance of faith brings a
present salvation. This gospel is for all mankind, and no man of woman
born need hesitate to trust his soul's eternal interests in the hands of
the Son of God. Whoever trusts him is and shall be saved.
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William Burkitt's Notes:
Here observe, 1. The original source and fountain of man's salvation;
and that is, God's free and undeserved, his great and wonderful love.
God so loved the world; he doth not say how much, but leaves it to our
most solemn raised thoughts; it is rather to be conceived than declared;
and admired rather than conceived. God so loved the world:
Hence note, That the original spring and first cause of our salvation is
the free favour and mere love of God; a love worthy of God from whom it
proceeds, even love inexpressible and inconceivable.
Observe, 2. The greatness of the gift by which God evidenced and
demonstrated the greatness of his love to a lost world. He gave his only
begotten Son: that is, he delivered him out of his own bosom and
everlasting embraces. Now this will appear a stupendous expression of
God's love, if we consider that God gave him who was not only the
greatest, but the dearest person to him in the world, even his own Son:
that he gave him for sinners; that he gave him for a world of sinners;
that he gave him up to become a man for sinners; that he gave him up to
be a sacrifice for the sin of sinners.
Observe, 3. The gracious end for which God gave this great gift of his
love to lost sinners: That whosoever believeth in him, should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
Where note, 1. The gentle and merciful condition upon which salvation
depends; Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish.
2. The infinite goodness of God in proposing such a vast reward unto us,
upon our performing of this condition; He shall have everlasting life.
Learn hence, That faith is the way which God hath appointed, and the
conditon which God hath required, in order to our obtaining salvation by
Jesus Christ. This faith consists in the assent of the understanding,
that Jesus is the Saviour of the world; in the consent of the will, to
accept of Jesus freely and voluntarily, deliberately, advisedly, and
resolvedly, for our Saviour; in accepting the merit of his blood, and
submitting to the authority of his laws; it being in vain to expect
salvation by Christ, if we do not yield subjection to him; he that thus
believes in Christ, that submits himself to his ruling power, as well as
commits himself to his saving mercy, shall not perish, but have
everlasting life.
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Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:
Though the Syrians were idolaters, and oppressed God's people, yet the
deliverance of which Naaman had been the means, is here ascribed to the
Lord. Such is the correct language of Scripture, while those who write
common history, plainly show that God is not in all their thoughts. No
man's greatness, or honour, can place him out of the reach of the sorest
calamities of human life: there is many a sickly, crazy body under rich
and gay clothing. Every man has some but or other, something that
blemishes and diminishes him, some allay to his grandeur, some damp to
his joy. This little maid, though only a girl, could give an account of
the famous prophet the Israelites had among them. Children should be
early told of the wondrous works of God, that, wherever they go, they
may talk of them. As became a good servant, she desired the health and
welfare of her master, though she was a captive, a servant by force;
much more should servants by choice, seek their masters' good. Servants
may be blessings to the families where they are, by telling what they
know of the glory of God, and the honour of his prophets. Naaman did not
despise what she told, because of her meanness. It would be well if men
were as sensible of the burden of sin as they are of bodily disease. And
when they seek the blessings which the Lord sends in answer to the
prayers of his faithful people, they will find nothing can be had,
except they come as beggars for a free gift, not as lords to demand or
purchase.
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The Fourfold Gospel:
Luther calls this verse "the Bible in miniature." It is a lesson
as to God's love: 1. Its magnitude--he gave his only begotten Son. 2.
Its reach--he gave it to a sinful world (Ro 5:8). 3. Its
impartiality--he gives it to whomsoever; that is, to all alike (Mt 5:45;
Re 22:17). 4. Its beneficial richness--it blesses with life eternal. 5.
Its limitations--it is nowhere said that God so loves that he will save
unbelievers. Love is the mutual and binding grace between God and man;
it may almost be said that in Christ it made God human and man divine.
John uses the word "eternal" seventeen times in his Gospel (Joh 3:15,16;
4:14; 5:24; 6:27,40,47,54; 10:28; 12:25; 17:2,3) and six times in his
first Epistle (1Jo 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11,13,20). He always applies it to
life. The Synoptists use it eight times (Mt 18:8; 19:16; 25:41,46; Mr
3:29; 10:17,30; Lu 10:25; 16:9; 18:18,30), applying it to life, and also
to fire, punishment, damnation, and habitation.
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