Saturday, March 8, 2014

Getting to John

So what about John 3:16?  In my last post I discussed, briefly, what it means that Christ is the Son of God, but I noted that the question was asked in reference to John 3:16.  So, this time I want to look at what it means when we say, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in should not perish, but have everlasting life."  (John 3:16 KJV)  While this is one of the most well known verses of Scripture, I wonder sometimes if the common use of the passage has dulled us to its meaning.  So I would like to try and look at this passage in light of what I wrote in the last post, to hopefully help us come to a greater appreciation of what God has done for us.

First off, I want to look at the language of this post.  As has been commented on numerous times in the past (by other commentators), the English language has changed since the King James Version of the Bible was written.  This passage, as simple as it seems, is one of the passages where the change in language actually effects our understanding of the meaning of what is written.  You see, we no longer use the word "so" as commonly in the way the authors of this passage use the word.  A better understanding of the passage would be for us to read it thus:  "For God loved the world in this way, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life."  The idea is God is showing us the manner in which he loved the world, not the magnitude with which he loved the world.

Okay, so we're looking at a passage that demonstrates the manner of God's love.  But we're also looking at a passage in context of a conversation.  Jesus had just discussed the bronze serpent that Moses made as is recorded in Numbers 21.  Just as the serpent was the means by which God showed his mercy to the people of Israel, Jesus is here telling us the method by which God will demonstrate his love to the world.  On the one hand those who were bitten by serpents had but to look upon the one who was lifted up, the thing which was the embodiment of a serpent, and they would live.  In the other instance we have much the same thing, we, who have been contaminated with sin, bitten by the ancient serpent and are thus hopelessly headed toward death and damnation, have but to look upon him who is lifted up, who became the embodiment of the curse that plagues humanity, and we will also live, just as he does.

So the point of the text is that God demonstrates his love in that he gives his Son so that we who are condemned to death can look upon him and live.  Yet, the weight of the text comes here in the middle of the text.  That God gave his only begotten Son.  The ESV and HCSB both translate this as "one and only Son."  While a strict reading of the Greek renders the words "only begotten" I think these interpretations grasp something that can otherwise be lost in the English:  This is the Son, the only Son, and he alone comes from God.

I think the weight of the text is found here because of what it means when we consider the words of the text.  Here we have a passage that lays out the simple truth that God gave his Son as a payment for sin.  Anyone who looks upon the Son and believes in him will not perish, but we will have eternal life.  This is God's way of showing his love for us.  And this is powerful, weighty, wondrous truth.

Think about this with me:  Christ is the Word incarnate, the second person of the trinity, God in the flesh.  Christ is also the eternal begotten Son of God, he has been and will be eternally in fellowship with God.  Yet, as a demonstration of his love for us, God the Father placed his Son upon the cross so that the Son would be a curse on our behalf.  God, who cannot tolerate sin in his presence took the sin of the world upon himself so that he, willingly and without compulsion, broke his own perfect fellowship and sentenced his Son to death, so that he might reconcile the world to himself.

True God from true God bore the sins of the world, showing the world his love by doing so.  The reality of this is incomprehensible to us.  How can it be that God would allow his image to become the very image of sin in order to redeem humanity who had so wallowed in sin that there was none left righteous?  How can the one who can not tolerate sin allow his son to be so corrupted by the presence of sin so as to be a curse on our behalf?  How can the God who loved his Son perfectly be willing to allow him to bear our sin, so that instead of experiencing the endless love of God he bore the full wrath of God and endured the suffering of this wrath on our behalf?

The human mind cannot fully comprehend all it means that God demonstrated his love by giving his only Son.  Instead, all we can do is be thankful that God has done this on our behalf.  We can be thankful, giving praise to God for this amazing love, and recognizing that we have done nothing to earn such kindness.  We can respond in faith, looking upon him who was crucified and calling out to him for forgiveness, knowing that he has borne sorrow that we might know his joy.

What is the significance of John 3:16 in light of the fact that Christ is the only begotten Son of God?  Its significance is great and humbling.  There is nothing in us that forced God to choose to save us, there is nothing that made us worthy or deserving of love.  Yet, God is a God of love, showing mercy to those he chooses.  And to demonstrate that love to us he willingly sent his Son, who willingly came, and glorified himself by letting the Son of God become an object of ridicule, not only despised by the world, but also an object of the wrath of the Father.  This is the God we serve, one who could crush us, one who rightly sentences all men to death because of their sin, and one who, in great mercy, has called to the world and said, "Here is your only means of salvation, any who will may come."

Praise his great name forever.

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