by J. Christian Andrews
March 13, 2015
For God So Loved the World
A number of years ago, we adopted a miniature schnauzer. We named him Clive Staples because of his academic pose on the front seat of Susan’s car on the way home from the adoption kennel. Little did we know how neurotic he would turn out to be. I suspect much of his psychosis is earned. It appears he was quite abused in his early life. He came to us with an eight inch burn mark on his side. There are numerous BB pellets imbedded beneath his skin. He is terrified of fire, cords, newspapers, and popping sounds. It seems as he ages he gets worse instead of better. When he is frightened, he will find a corner in the house as far away from the fear source as possible to hide. Now it seems he has developed some sort of separation anxiety. He does not like it when the suitcases come out and packing begins. Even though it is just I going away on a short trip with Susan staying home, he gets freaked out and behaves in ways out of his odd norm.
One of the most known Bible verses is John 3:16. Even if it cannot be quoted, a great many people are able to name it when asked to name a verse from the Bible. On its surface, John 3:16 has a wonderful feel good message. After all, who does not want to know and believe that God loves us: “for God so loved the world”? And following that, what is not good about hearing of God’s sacrificial gift of His own Son? These facts about God make this verse not only the most know, but also possibly the favorite.
At the risk of minimizing God’s love, there is, however, more to this verse. The whole story really presents us with an awful option. God’s love is real, so very real. God’s sacrificial gift is also real, so very humanly and painfully real. God, the creator of the universe knew, knows, that there is a very real problem with the human heart. He is keenly aware that the human heart would rather follow its own leading, would rather find pleasure in the things of the world, would rather create its own code for life than desire and savor the things of God. God is keenly aware of the separation between Him and us that results from this rebellious broken nature, but He also loves us too much to just let that separation continue. To heal the divide and to bring us back into relationship with Him, He did give His Son to be the final and perfect sacrifice to take away sin.
There is, however, one requirement in the gift. There is nothing we can do to earn the gift. There is nothing that our reason can assent to make the gift real for us. There is however a need for faith to exist. The message in the verse asserts that the giving of the Son becomes effective when we believe: “that whoever believes in Him…” There is no work or reason in believing. It is simply “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.”
It is in the believing that we are presented with the awful option. The option word is most often read “perish.” “…whoever believes in…should not perish…” The implication here is that a failure to believe results in perishing. It is a word we seldom hear outside the context of this verse. I suppose we might say that the unused vegetables in the refrigerator, when they begin to grow decomposing organisms, perish. Or we may say that produce that will keep for an extended period of time is nonperishable. The word Jesus used, however, is much more sobering than rotting vegetables or meat gone rancid. The word Jesus used is a compound of the preposition meaning separation (sort of like an emphatic “from”) and a very strong verb for die or kill. It would be fair, no doubt, so say the result of not placing confidence in what Jesus did for us on the cross results in an absolute death cause by separation from God.
Talk about creating separation anxiety. There may be no greater image of death than one in which the desolation and destruction is so complete because it is a total and full separation from all that is good, a thorough separation from love, an outright separation from God. This is what awaits the unbeliever. This separation is what is in store for the one who does not believe, who has not placed confidence in, the only begotten Son of God.
Should the story end here, anxiety must persist. The story, however, does not end here, nor does its message. There is yet a promise. The one who believes will not perish. The one who believes, instead, in stark contrast and option, has life. Here is where grammar matters. The verb Jesus used is a present subjunctive: it is a “now command.” It is God’s proclamation that in belief there is life now. It is God’s command that in belief there is life that not only begins now but continues without end.
So it is we come full circle. We can indeed say this is a good verse, not just a feel good verse, but a verse with a marvelous message. In John 3:16 we encounter God who in His infinite and sacrificial love provided the only solution to our sin. In John 3:16 we encounter the God who became flesh, dwelt among us, gave His life for us by death on the cross, and proved His power over sin and death by His resurrection from the dead. In is here that we find faith, the capacity to believe and be confident in; and it is indeed here that we hear the commanded that the one who believes is not dead by separation but has life, and not just life, but life that has no end.