John 3:16

John 3:16 (World English Bible): For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹

Calvin, writing in his commentary on John, reads verse 16 as the start of an argument that runs back to verse 13 ². "Christ opens up the first cause, and, as it were, the source of our salvation" ². Calvin insists on the order of the sentence — that God's love comes first and Christ's work follows from it, not the other way round, "for our minds cannot find calm repose, until we arrive at the unmerited love of God" ². He also takes up a possible objection that other scripture seems to say God loves us only because of Christ's atonement ². He resolves it by distinguishing God's "secret love" from the love "made known to us" through reconciliation ². Christ's work is how that prior love reaches us, not its cause ².

Plummer, writing in 1882, raises a question about whether verse 16 is still Jesus speaking to Nicodemus or whether it is John's own commentary added to the narrative ³. He notes that the language — "'only-begotten' and 'the Light'" — is characteristic of John's own theology rather than how Jesus elsewhere speaks ³. He judges that this cannot settle the matter either way ³. "The substance may still be our Lord's, though the wording is S. John's" ³. Plummer leans toward thinking the discourse continues past verse 15 rather than stopping, on the ground that John would likely have marked the shift from Christ's words to his own commentary if one occurred ³.

Luther, in his Church Postil sermon on this Gospel reading, calls the passage one of the best and most glorious in the whole of John's writing ⁴. He says it "is worthy to be written in golden letters, not upon paper, but if possible upon the heart" ⁴. Luther's reading of verse 16 centers on the word "gave" ⁵. The Father so loved the world that he gave his Son as the price of redemption, and this is the whole point against any teaching that a person could approach the Father by good works instead of through this mediator — "with the price we can pay nothing is accomplished" ⁵.