Gift of Love John 3:16; 13:34-35; 1 John 4

“For God so loved, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16, NASB).

When I was growing up the most known verse in the Bible was John 3:16. This is no longer true. Today the thing that people seem to be most concerned about is judging. People often say “judge not,” or “don’t judge.” This idea that one should not judge is taken from a misunderstanding of Matthew 7:1-6. In particular, people think that they are quoting verse one which says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” NASB). The subject of judging is not the purpose for this article. Rather, this article seeks to help us explore God’s love for the world. As we are in the advent season, we wait for the coming of the Lord. Because He comes Christians have, hope, peace, joy, and love. All of these are gifts from God. Love is the gift that holds all the gifts from God together. In order to understand God’s love let us begin by looking at John 3:16 in terms of its grammar and definition of the key words in the sentence.

When we examine this verse we discover that the word “God” is a noun, and it is the subject of the first clause of a complex sentence. The sentence is about God although people often make the word “love” the subject to be considered. Since God is the subject we can ask, What about God is being addressed? The writer is talking about something that God did. As we examine the sentence further we see that the word “loved” is the verb in the sentence. A verb tells us what action is taking place. God loved. Now these two words make a complete sentence but the writer continues to explain more. The author continues with the words “the world.” The word “world” is a noun and is the direct object in the sentence. It tells us who or what God loved. The next clause tells us more about God’s action on behalf of the world.

The second clause begins with the pronoun “He.” The word He refers to God because God is the antecedent to the pronoun He. The verb “gave” tells us what God did to demonstrate His love for the world. The word Son is the direct object, and the words “His only begotten” gives us a description of the Son. The author is talking about God’s Son; the only Son that God gives to the world in order to save the world. The third clause explains the purpose of God when He gives this only Son to the world. The word “whoever” is the pronoun subject and the word “believes” is the verb. It is what the world does to receive the love that God is giving. The world must believe in “Him,” that is the world must believe in the only begotten Son of God. Whoever believes will not perish, but they will have eternal life. Having said all of this, what does the verse tell us about the word love?

First, love is not something that God decided to do. God’s love is not based upon His feeling for us even though God does have feelings. What I mean is this: God did not love us and take action because God’s heart was broken because of our sins. God is proactive instead of reactive. This means that God does not respond because of what we do. Instead, that God is proactive means that God determined before humankind sinned what God would do.

The word “love” describes for us what God does for a perishing world. God’s action stems not from an emotional response’ rather God loves us because of who God is. In this sense love is a word that tells us something about the nature of God. Love is one of the attributes or characteristics of God. The writer, John, explains this is his epistle 1 John. He says, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:8, NASB).The clause “God is love” has God as the subject; the linking verb is the word “is.” In this clause the word “love” is a noun and is used as the predicate normative. This sentence can be written, “Love is God” without changing its meaning. We can conclude that love is an action of God that stems from the person of God. Jesus further explains this concept in Matthew 15:1-20; the true self comes from what is in the man; his heart.

God loves the world. This love comes not from an emotional response to what we do. Rather, God is immutable. God does not change because of time and circumstances. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8, NASB). God creates the world out of His love. God sustains the world out of His love. God creates humankind out of His love. God sustains us because God is love. God preserves mankind because God is love. How does God manifest His love for the world generally, and mankind specifically?

We need to establish that everything changed when humankind sinned. That sin affected the physical world is seen in the writings of the apostle Paul in Romans 8:18-25. He says, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ (Rom. 8:20-21, NASB). Thus, the physical world is in a state of corruption waiting for the glorification of humankind.

God preserves humankind and His love for us causes Him to take action to prevent the total destruction of humankind. God takes action to prevent the entirety of humankind from perishing. Because God is love, God gives mercy to perishing people that believe in the Son that He gives to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of those that believe.

God not only gives mercy. The same love that cause God to grant mercy to prevent total destruction also causes God to give grace so that humankind will be redeemed, regenerated, and restored to their proper standing and fellowship with God. At the end of the ages God will send his Son a second time to bring a new heaven and a new earth. God will make all things new. The world will no longer be a place of corruption, but a place where all will enjoy eternal life.

Now, let us ask ourselves a few questions about this word love. The first question is this: Where does love come from and how does one get love? The apostle John gives us the answer. He writes, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jn 4:7, NASB). A second question is: How do we know that God loves us? Verse nine gives us the answer. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so we might live through Him” (v. 10). The last question that we ask here, but not the last question that we might ask is this: How do we know that we have God’s love? Again, John gives us the answer. He writes, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit” (vv. 11-13, NASB).

The Greek language has four words that are translated to the English word love. In the New Testament the writers use the word “agape.” Agape is used to describe the love of God. It tells us how God relates to the world generally and to believers in particular. It also is the word that is used to describe the love that believers have for God and fellow believers. The Christian’s love is not limited to other Christians. Instead, Christians are to show forth the love of God to all people by acting on their behalf; meeting their needs when possible. Since the most important need a person can have is the knowledge of Jesus Christ who died for sins, our lives must be lived obeying His commandments and testifying to the name of Jesus Christ.