John 3:16

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 οὑτω, 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, Jo1 3:1 : Behold, What Manner of love, ποταπην αγαπην, 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.

3:16-21 Because there are no quotation marks around Jesus’ speech in the Greek text, translators debate where Jesus’ speech ends and John’s commentary begins; 3:16-21 might be John’s commentary. 3:16 The truth that God loved the world is basic to Christian understanding (1 Jn 4:9-10). God’s love extends beyond the limits of race and nation, even to those who oppose him (see “The World” Theme Note). • The Son came to save—not condemn (3:17)—men and women who habitually embrace the darkness (3:19-21).

For God sent not his Son into the world,.... God did send his Son into the world in the likeness of sinful flesh, being made of a woman, and made under the law; and which is an instance of his great love, and not of any disrespect to his Son, or of any inequality between them: but then this was not to condemn the world; even any part of it, or any in it: not the Gentiles, as the Jews thought he would; for though God had suffered them to walk in their own ways, and had winked at, or overlooked the times of their ignorance, and had sent no prophet unto them, nor made any revelation of his will, or any discovery of his special grace unto them; yet he sent his Son now, not to destroy them for their idolatry, and wickedness, but to be the Saviour of them: nor the Jews; for as impenitent and unbelieving, and as wicked as they were, he did not accuse them to the Father, nor judge and condemn them; he was to come again in power and great glory, when he would take vengeance on them, and cause wrath to come upon them to the uttermost, for their disbelief and rejection of him; but this was not his business now: nor the wicked of the world in general; to judge, and condemn them, will be his work, when he comes a second time, in the day God has appointed to judge the world in righteousness. But the end of his mission, and first coming is, that the world through him might be saved; even the world of the elect in general, whom God determined to save, and has chosen, to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, and has appointed Christ to be the salvation of; and who being sent, came into the world to seek and save them; and his chosen people among the Gentiles in particular: wherefore he is said to be God's salvation to the ends of the earth: and all the ends of the earth are called upon to look unto him, and be saved by him, Isa 49:6.