John 3:16-17 NIV

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

For God so loved the world. The Divine love to the whole of humanity in its condition of supreme need, i.e. apart from himself and his grace, has been of such a commanding, exhaustless, immeasurable kind, that it was equal to any emergency, and able to secure for the worst and most degraded, for the outcast, the serpent-bitten and the dying, a means of unlimited deliverance and uplifting. The Divine love is the sublime source of the whole proceeding, and it has been lavished on "the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

The immensity of God's love to the world. The apostle here emphasizes the love which was manifest in the method of salvation. I. THE TRUE ORIGIN OF SALVATION . "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." It is God's love, infinite, eternal, unchangeable. 1 . Salvation is not wrung from the Father by the Son. The atonement was the effect, not the cause, of God's love. 2 . This love is no contradiction to the wrath of God, which is implied in this... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

The greatness of God's love to the world. This will be seen if we consider— I. THE OBJECT OF HIS LOVE . "The world"—the fallen human family. 1 . There was nothing in the world to attract and deserve his love. For he loved the world, not as he made it, but as it made itself by sin. God loves all holy beings. This is natural, as natural as it is for a virtuous father to love a dutiful son. But God loved the world in its disobedience and sin. It was the magnitude and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

The love of God in deed and truth. Here the producing cause of the gospel is briefly stated—why men need it, and why God sends it. How God regards the world and what he would do for it are here set before us. I. THE WOULD IS A PERISHING WORLD . If those believing in the Son of God will not perish, the conclusion is plain that those who remain unbelieving in Christ will perish. The word might have been, "God so loved the world as to fill it, with all manner of things pleasant... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16-17

"The gift of God." This is the language either of our Lord himself or of the evangelist. If these are Christ's words, they contain his authoritative testimony to his own declaration. If they are the words of John, we have in them the inspired judgment of one who was in most intimate fellowship with Jesus, and who was peculiarly competent to represent his Master's work in accordance with that Master's own mind. Familiar as this comprehensive and sublime utterance is to all Christians, there... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16-21

(3) Divine love and judgment. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:17

For —notwithstanding your vain and selfish interpretation of the older revelation— God sent not his Son to judge the world. Observe that the word "sent" replaces the word "gave" of the previous statement ( ἀποστέλλω , not πέυπω ). The word carries with it "the sending on a special mission" (see notes on John 20:21 ), and arrests attention by denoting the immediate function of the Son of God's mission into the world. He was sent, not to judge the world. This judgment is not the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:17

The great purpose of God in the mission of his Son. Consider it— I. IN ITS NEGATIVE ASPECT . "For God sent not his Son," etc. This implies: 1 . That God might have sent him for purposes of judgment. 2 . God did not do what he might have justly done. "For God sent not," etc. 3 . Much of God ' s goodness to the world consists in not doing what he might justly and easily do. II. IN ITS AFFIRMATIVE ASPECT . "But that the world through him might he... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:17-21

The Incarnation regarded respectively in its design and in its actual result. I. THE DESIGN OF THE INCARNATION . "For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world through him might be saved." 1 . It was for the salvation of the world. (a) from the guilt of sin, (b) from the power of sin, (c) and to give him an eternal inheritance in glory. 2 . It was not for the judgment of the world. The Jews expected the kingdom for the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 3:16

For God so loved - This does not mean that God approved the conduct of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was “earnestly desirous” of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he still desires the Happiness of those who are sinful. “He hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child. When we approve the conduct of another, this is the love of complacency; when we desire... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16-17

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:16-21

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:17

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:17

The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:17-21

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 3:16

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