A God Who Loves You So Much (John 3)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Why is John 3:16 the most quoted verse in all of Scripture?

For starters, it summarizes the essence of the gospel in a few short words. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” However, there is more to this verse than meets the eye.

To understand the full weight of these words, we need to understand some context. In John 3:1-15, Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council, visits Jesus at night to discuss his teachings. Nicodemus seems interested, but he is skeptical of Jesus’ claims. Why does John mention that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night? Likely because in the three other instances John mentions the word “night” in his gospel, “the word is either used metaphorically for moral and spiritual darkness, or, if it refers to the night-time hours, it bears the same moral and spiritual symbolism.”^[1] So, by referencing the physical night, John seems to be highlighting Nicodemus’ spiritual darkness.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born again to see the kingdom of God. As D.A. Carson writes, “To a Jew with the background and convictions of Nicodemus, ‘to see the kingdom of God’ was to participate in the kingdom at the end of the age, to experience eternal, resurrection life.”^[2] However, now Jesus is saying something different. He’s saying that the kingdom of God isn’t just something to anticipate after death. It’s a present reality that can be experienced through being born again.

In verse 5, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Water was often figuratively used in the Old Testament to refer to renewal or cleansing. The most significant passage Jesus references in verse 5 is Ezekiel 36:25-27, which says, ²⁵ “I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.”

This Ezekiel passage, as Carson notes, is “where water and spirit come together so forcefully, the first to signify cleansing from impurity, and the second to depict the transformation of heart that will enable people to follow God wholly.”^[3] The weight of Jesus’ words would hit Nicodemus like a ton of bricks. As N.T. Wright observed, “The Judaism that Nicodemus and Jesus both knew had a good deal to do with being born into the right family. What mattered was being a child of Abraham. Of course, other things mattered too, but this was basic. Now, Jesus is saying, God is starting a new family in which this ordinary birth isn’t enough. You need to be born all over again, born ‘from above.’” ^[4]

Nicodemus isn’t sure how to respond because, in a few short words, Jesus has challenged what he believed were the parameters for entering the kingdom of God -parameters such as mere obedience and devotion to God. In verse 14, Jesus references the Old Testament story in Numbers 21:4-9, where Moses lifted up a bronze serpent on a pole to heal the Israelites who had been bitten by snakes. This act of lifting up the serpent prefigures Jesus being lifted up on the cross. In fact, in all four references to “lifting up” in John’s gospel, each one refers to the cross.

Carson writes,

Nicodemus was being challenged to turn to Jesus for new birth in much the same way as the ancient Israelites were commanded to turn to the bronze snake for new life. Only when Nicodemus saw Jesus on the cross, or perhaps only in still later reflection on the cross, would it become clear that the ‘lifting up’/exaltation of Jesus took place on a brutal block of wood on a forsaken site outside Jerusalem.^[5]

This brings us back to John 3:16. At this point, John is either continuing this conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus, or this is a separate section John includes afterward. Regardless, it’s positioned here for a reason. Jesus is showing that the gospel really is for everyone. As N.T. Wright says, “The point of the whole story is that you don’t have to be condemned. You don’t have to let the snake kill you. God’s action in the crucifixion of Jesus has planted a sign in the middle of history. And the sign says: believe, and live.”^[6]