Bible Questions Answered:
Pastor, the words of John, “for God so loved the world,” was this John speaking?
Bible Answer:
No.
Text: (These are the words of Christ.)
John 3:10-21 KJV
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou (Nicodemus) a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
John 3:10-21 NLT (Spoken by Christ.)
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?
11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.
12 But if you don’t believe Me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.
16 “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
17 God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.
19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s Light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the Light,for their actions were evil.
20 All who do evil hate the Light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
21 But those who do what is right come to the Light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Christ certainly did not end his discussion with Nicodemus, at verse 15, for His explanation would not have been complete. And then, John's habit was to announce who was speaking, and there had been no break in the narrative since verse 3 “Jesus answered and said unto him...”
Again, it was not for John to speak with such authority. The Majority of Bible Scholars agree, that verses 10-21 were spoken by Jesus Christ.
How the enemy of our souls, would love to relegate these precious words to that of a man, inspired or not, but far from it, they are the very precious words of our Saviour.
16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
These wonderful words speak of regeneration, something a Pharisee, a teacher of the law and scribe of Israel, should have known, and been familiar with.
Psalm 51:10-12 KJV
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy Free Spirit.
Ezekiel 11:19,20 KJV
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh,and will give them an heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
John 3:3 KJV
Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God
