God's Love For A Sinful World

9/27/2025

Elijah McSwain, Sr.

John 3:16 NKJV — “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Love is a fascinating concept that has wooed the world since its existence. It is a deep feeling of affection for someone or something. Love is expressed through the things we are passionate about and the individuals we care about. People are often passionate about sports, love the arts and nature, some have a fondness for classical music, others enjoy writing, some are interested in culinary arts, people show a passion for fitness and exercise, individuals have love for the things they have created or invented, and so forth. While others express love for their spouse, children, grandchildren, other family members, and friends. Love is seen as a core quality in the world by which we operate and function. Although humanity exhibits the characteristic of love and people are familiar with its concept, human love and affection are incomparable to the love that God extends to the world.

God's love was eternally on display in eternity past, but manifested toward humanity when He created and formed the cosmos. The Genesis account portrays His creative love as He framed the infrastructure of the world and filled it with the inhabitation of mankind. Every created being in the world is an expression of His love. His love for the people of the world reveals His steadfast care, concern, and provisions for creation. When we delve into the biblical linguistic expression of John 3:16, it presents a picture of God’s redeeming love for the world that He created. It is a demonstration of selfless and sacrificial love for a depraved and sinful world that deviated from His original design. John 3:16 embodies the love of reconciliation for a wicked world through God's gift of His Son. In a lecture at the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference 2025, H.B. Charles, Jr., verbalized that “God has a saving attitude toward lost sinners.” ₁ In the context of this blog, let us examine the elements of God's Love for A Sinful World.

The Manner of His Love

The beginning of John 3:16 captures the affectionate heart of God for the people that He created. The phrase “For God so loved the world” conveys the scope of God’s desire to offer redemption to a sinful world. The word “world” in the text refers to humanity, not the universe itself. This understanding helps us grasp the extent of His love being visibly shown to the objects of His love, the people of the world. In order to fathom or comprehend the love of God, John 3:16 is tied to the preceding verses of John 3:14-15 by the use of the word “for” to give clarity to its insightful meaning. John 3:14-15 (NKJV) informs us that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” To understand this reference to Moses, we must revisit the original mention of this biblical account, which points to the symbolism of Jesus’ substitutionary death at the cross.

Numbers 21:5-9 (NKJV) implies “And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” The Lord sent fiery or poisonous snakes to devour the sinful and rebellious people of Israel who opposed and acted against Him.

In His love for Israel, God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent, and anyone who looked upon it would live and not succumb to the deadly venom from the serpents’ bite.

John MacArthur noted that “This is a veiled prediction of Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus referred to the story of Num. 21:5–9 where the Israelite people who looked at the serpent lifted up by Moses were healed. The point of this illustration or analogy is in the “lifted up.” Just as Moses lifted up the snake on the pole so that all who looked upon it might live physically, those who look to Christ, who was “lifted up” on the cross, will live spiritually and eternally.” ₂ As beings created by God, we first acted against Him through Adam’s disobedience. Adam failed in His federal headship of humanity, which tainted the world and caused us to be marred by sin (cf. Romans 5:12). Upon inheriting the sinful nature of Adam, we too were positioned before God as rebels and disobedient individuals who opposed the Lord.

As a result, we were bitten by the venomous serpent Satan and have been poisoned with sin.

Therefore, we were subject to die. But God's love was revealed through the lifting up of His Son, so that we may live. For God so loved the world that He elected to lift up His Son that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.

God loved the world so much that He was willing to lift Jesus to save those bitten by the serpent Satan and poisoned by the venom of sin.

Everyone who looks to Jesus on the cross for repentance and spiritual deliverance will be saved. The immense love that God has for humanity was demonstrated in a way that saves the world from spiritual death, destruction, ruin, and the eternal judgment of God upon the human soul. It is through elevating Jesus on the cross that mankind could be saved from the penalty of sin. Therefore, the words “For God so loved the world” express how the Lord loved humanity in this way. In our sinful condition, Romans 5:8 (NKJV) reveals “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Mankind was linked to death because of sin. Therefore, God raised Jesus because of His great love for a fallen world, so that we might have life. The crucifixion of Jesus, being raised on the cross, is the pathway for sinful men to be drawn to the source of life. John 12:32-33 (NKJV) records “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

The death that He would die would impart life to lost souls who looked to the cross because of the love that God demonstrated to the world.

He loved the world so much that He willingly gave the world His Son to atone for sin.

The Gift of His Love

A person’s way of loving is often shown in how they give.

God’s compassionate love for us moved Him to give His Son to remedy the sinful state of the world. The word “gave” is a verb that shows action. God acted by gifting the world with the most precious gift ever known to humankind. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The biblical terminology of “begotten” is rendered as monogenes. The grammatical emphasis is that Jesus is the unique child, the sole one, in His position and relationship with God the Father. The Father sent forth His Son into the world as a means of atoning for sin. Theologians refer to this as the eternal generation of the Son as His essence is from the Father. Matthew Barrett vividly expressed it this way. “The word generation means “coming forth,” and with reference to the Trinity it refers to the Son’s coming forth from the Father’s essence. The concept takes us to the very heart of what it means for the Son to be a Son. He is eternally from the Father, which is why He is called Son. To be more specific, from all eternity, the Father communicates the one, simple, undivided divine essence to the Son.” ₃ The concept of the word “generation” is synonymous with the word “begotten”, which conveys that Jesus is of God, who was sent to communicate the essence of the Father’s love for the world.

William MacDonald put it this way: “It was an expression of His infinite love that He would be willing to give His unique Son for a race of rebel sinners.” ₄

Usually, when someone behaves in a disorderly, disruptive, disrespectful, and disobedient way, they are excluded from receiving a gift or reward. When a child or student acts in a respectful, orderly, and obedient manner, they receive a gift or reward from the treasure box for good behavior.  

However, when we were driven by rebellion and disobedience, God chose to give us His Son as a gift and reward.

When the world was in a state of moral and spiritual decline as a result of sinful living, God gave us a costly and precious gift. Thomas Constable quoted an individual by the name of Morris. Morris wrote, “The Greek construction puts some emphasis on the actuality of the gift: it is not ’God loved enough to give,’ but ’God loved so that he gave.’ His love is not a vague, sentimental feeling, but a love that costs. God gave what was most dear to him." [Note: Morris, pp. 203-4.] ₅ He gave His only begotten Son as the cure for man’s malady due to the disease and infestation of sin. He provided us with what we needed to escape the penalty of sin and God’s wrath upon us for all eternity. There is an illustration entitled Our Greatest Need that portrays the generosity of God gifting the world with His only begotten Son.

If our greatest need had been information,

God would have sent us an educator;

If our greatest need had been technology,

God would have sent us a scientist;

If our greatest need had been money,

God would have sent us an economist;

If our greatest need had been pleasure,

God would have sent us an entertainer;

But our greatest need was forgiveness,

So, God sent us a Savior. ₆

Through His love, God gave us His Son to provide a way back to a rightful standing before Him.1 John 4:9-10 (NKJV) highlights “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” His love became evident when God gave the gift of His Son to satisfy God's wrath through the sacrifice of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection on account of a corrupt world. Romans 8:32 (NKJV) focuses on the sentiment that “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

William MacDonald concluded, “When a world of lost mankind needed to be saved by a sinless Substitute, the great God of the universe did not hold back His heart’s best Treasure, but gave Him over to a death of shame and loss on our behalf.” ₄

 Praise the Lord for the gift of His Son for the purpose of granting everlasting life.

The Purpose of His Love

The progression of John 3:16 moves from “For God so loved the world” to “that He gave His only begotten Son” to “that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Salvation, redemption, and everlasting life are contingent on believing in the Son of God.

Life stems from the Son as life is in the Son.

The Son is the epitome of divine life that is given to the world by faith. James Burton Coffman mentioned that “faith is the first of the preconditions of redemption in Christ Jesus.” ₇ To believe in Jesus is to be persuaded and convinced of the Person of Jesus and His sinless life, which is connected with His sacrifice on the cross. Faith, along with repentance, conviction, and confession in Jesus, is the key to coming into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew writer penned in Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) — “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” God rewards those who trust in His Son. The intended result is that they will not perish but have eternal life.

Belief in the Son transitions the sinner from a sphere of spiritual death, damnation, and destruction to sharing in the life of the Son of God.

John 5:24 (NKJV) affirms, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” Trusting in Jesus lifts us from the burden of God’s judgment and condemnation, as we are now placed in Jesus through faith. To believe in Him puts an end to living in the sphere of darkness, sin, death, and alienation from the Lord. To believe in Him puts an end to perishing or wasting away into the confines of hell. To believe in Him yields life as we partake in the life of God, since our souls have been spiritually awakened and made alive.

Everlasting life is perpetual. It is never-ending as it is the essence of divine life in God through Christ.

John 17:3 (NKJV) declares, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

The purpose of His love was to show us the true measure of life in the Son.

“Merrill Tenney suggests that: “life is active involvement with environment; death is the cessation of involvement with the environment.” A caterpillar has an earthly life, in that its environment is the dirt in which it lives. It has no capacity to interact with an environment of water or air. A caterpillar can also have a life that is not earth bound, but it must take on a transformed life! Similarly, human beings have biological life that enables them to interact with the realm of life on earth. Human beings have no native capacity to interact with the realm of the spiritual & eternal. Unless they have come to know God through Jesus Christ & have been given eternal life by God.” ₈ To know life is to know Jesus and experience a spiritual transformation. It is means of experiencing spiritual metamorphous and moving to a new spiritual realm in comparison to the caterpillar that turns into a butterfly. To be granted eternal life is to have a relationship with the Father through His Son. To know Him is the beginning of living. It is to know the life of God. A person will not know life until they know His Son. Charles Jenkins and Fellowship Chicago sing a song entitled Just to Know Him. The words reveal……

My Redeemer—Sent to a rugged cross to set me free

My Savior—Beared my sins just to rescue me

My Replacement—Took my place so I wouldn't have to die

My Provider—Now I have everlasting life

Repeat

Just to know Him. Just to know Him

Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God

Repeat

Risen Savior—Rose from the dead so I could rise again

Awesome Ruler—Crucified just to call me friend

Hope of Glory—One day I will get to see His face

I am grateful—He loved me enough to gladly take my place

Just to know Him. Just to know Him

Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God ₉

John 3:16 remarkably presents the love of God for a sinful world through the manner of His love, the gift of His love, and the purpose of His love. In order to come into the knowledge of everlasting lasting life, it is necessary to become acquainted with the giver of life.

Notes

1. H.B. Charles, Jr. Lecture at Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference 2025.

2. The MacArthur Study Bible

3. https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/what-is-eternal-generation/

4. The Believer’s Bible Commentary

5. Constable, Thomas. DD. “Commentary on John 3:16”. “Dr. Constable’s Expository Notes”. https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​dcc/​john-3.html. 2012.

6. https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/our-greatest-need

7. Coffman, James Burton. “Commentary on John 3:16”. “Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​bcc/​john-3.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.

8. https://www.preceptaustin.org/john-17-commentary#17:3

9. https://genius.com/Charles-jenkins-and-fellowship-chicago-just-to-know-him-live-lyrics