John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the first verse I learned by heart. It is a verse I can still recite and know exactly where it came from in the Bible. I suspect for most Christians it is the same for him…
I am going to use a tool I have used to study the Bible… it is a word for word breakdown…
For… a word I use to embrace a person, an action or a thing. For implies an action connected to that person, action or thing.
God… is the Master of the Universe, creator of all things, and the Lord of the Dance…(a shaker hymn)— the one who sings over us with joy!
So- can refer back to something – but it when connected to God and love- means to a great extent… such a tiny word that means more than the two letters imply… what these first four words can mean “God loves beyond the highest measure…
Loved— love is given in the present but this is not just in the present… it means that God plan to give us love through His Son long before His Son was born. This was not a whim- it was a plan.
The.. a word to define or to point the direction of where an action is to be defined.
World… For God so loved the world…. Not the earth but I suspects He loves that also… but here he is speaking of all the people who have lived on this planet we call earth and also all those who are presently living and will come after us for God is not trapped in time and space as we are.
That…an identification of a specific person and this case it is God and pronoun He is God or
Gave can mean harm or a gift, but since it said God loved the people of the world… Gave is a gift… and a gift is something that is willingly given… God willingly gave His Son to us.
Only… there is one… no more … no less… just one.
Begotten…God is Jesus’s Father- some translations say one which would mean there is only One true Son of God.
Son… A male child of a Father…a relationship between the two… based on love. God loved His Only Son, but yet he gave Him to the peoples of the world.
That whoever… specifically those who do the action which is in this verse which is believing in Christ Jesus as the son of God who came down to save us from our sin…
Believes… Faith… and trust in that belief.
In… something that is enclosed (protected)
Him… the Son of God… we are protected in our faith in Jesus Christ.
Should Not…. Should means something that should happen… Not means that it won’t happen
Perish… death and this is talking about our souls…
But…instead
Have… to own….
Eternal…without end or beginning…
Life… the life in which we breathe air but also the life which breathes the purer air of Faith.
This verse means that God willingly gave His one and only Son whom he loved to all of the people of this world past, present and future so that we would not die in spirit but live on in His love.
Today’s question:
Have you thanked the Lord for the gift of His Son Jesus lately?
Ever in Christ’s name,
Mary Elizabeth Todd
February 17, 2024 & June 12, 2024
Ruhamah United Methodist Church Bible Verses 