beloved57
Well-known member
A writer writes and I agree regarding John 3:16 and how its comprehended:
In a nutshell if Jn 3:16 means God loved everyone in the world without exception, the distinction being made in Jn 17 made between the world and them God loves is meaningless !
A critically important question which needs to be asked of those who hold to a false understanding of John 3:16, is ‘How is this verse, in particular, to be reconciled with John 17:23 where Jesus, praying to the Father concerning those that were given to Him, says:' “I in THEM, and Thou in Me, that THEY may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast LOVED THEM, as Thou hast loved Me.” Here, Jesus is saying that the unity of love between the Father and the Son, and all those who are of the Father and the Son, would be evidence to the world that the Father has loved all those whom He has given to the Son—those who believed, and those who would believe, in Jesus (see Jn. 17:20). Again, we see a distinction made between those that are of the world, and those whom the Father has loved. If world did mean every individual in John 3:16, this verse in John 17 would have been a prime opportunity for Jesus to re-affirm that popular assumption. Yet Christ says NOTHING in John 17:23 of the Father’s alleged love for the world, but rather distinguishes those He does love from the world! This reaffirms the fact that Christ said nothing in John 3:16 pertaining to any universal love of God for all humanity. There is no explicit reference to any universal love of God, nor can any rightly infer such a love from that verse, or any other Scripture. The truth of God aligns with all Scripture, for all Scripture is the truth of God. The Lord Jesus only speaks of God’s love being FOR THOSE WHOM HE HAS GIVEN TO HIS SON. The Lord speaks voluminously of those whom the Father had given Him throughout the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John (see Jn. 17:2,6,9,11,12,24), but never a word about any alleged love for all individuals without exception is in the least bit traceable.https://www.godsonlygospel.com/for-god-so-lovedwho-part-22
In a nutshell if Jn 3:16 means God loved everyone in the world without exception, the distinction being made in Jn 17 made between the world and them God loves is meaningless !