God So Loved The World

"God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NIrV)

This week, we'll be doing a phrase-by-phrase study of John 3:16. It's a favorite verse of my younger son's and since older brother is out of town, we're tailoring our family devotion time to younger son.

Today, we're looking at the first phrase "For God so loved the world..."

• For is the Greek word γάρ which implies that what immediately follows is giving a reason. Thus, God loving the world is the reason for what we'll be studying the rest of the week.
• God is the Greek word θεός which means a deity. Here of course it is referring to the one true God. This is the root word from which we derive the word theology for the study of God.
• so is the Greek word houtō which means in this way. This may be referring back to the previous part of chapter 3 where Jesus says He will be lifted up and verse 15 tells us "that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life"
• loved is from the Greek word ἀγαπάω which means love. This kind of love is a moral love and denotes longing after rather than just having affection for. We commonly hear this described as unconditional love. Here we can think of it as being an active love wanting the object of the love to be drawn near.
• the world comes from the Greek word κόσμος (kosmos) meaning the world. The word implies an orderly arrangement that God is tending and caring for.
• Taking this all together, God loving, longing for, and wanting to be with, those that He had created and was taking care of, is the reason for...

We'll study what He did because of this love as we work through the week.

Becoming a theologian: God's love

Today we will be looking at God's love. As we examine God's love, we will be looking at three things.

1. God is the source of love
2. God's love for us is unconditional
3. God wants us to love Him and to love others

God is the source of love

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7-8

• In verse 8 (which we've read before), we see that "God is love." The Greek word used here is agape. This word is used to describe
• The love Christians should have for other Christians
• The love men should have for God
• The love God has for men
• The love of God for Christ
• The love of Christ for men
• I would describe this as meaning godly love which includes affection, good will, and doing good to others.
• In verse 7 we see that "love comes from God." When we look at the Greek words here, we see that love comes out of God. Love comes "out of God" in much the same way as light comes "out of a flashlight" - a flashlight is a source of light and God is the source of love.

God's love for us in unconditional

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1:4b-5a

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

• John 3:16 is probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible. "God so loved the world." It doesn't just say God loved some of the world, does it?
• God loves us enough that He adopted us as His children.
• Furthermore, God loves us, even though we are sinners!
• If God loves you, even though you're a sinner, is there anything you can do to make Him NOT love you?

God wants us to love Him and love others

³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Mark 12:30-31

• Here Jesus is answering a question about what the greatest commandment is. What does He say?
• Who are we to love?
• What are some ways that you can show affection, good will and do good deeds towards God?
• What are some ways that you can show affection, good will, and do good deeds towards others?

Two final things to remember about love. 1 John 4:7-21 (some of which we read earlier) is a great passage to read and learn about love. Verse 19 gives us reminds us that 'We love because he first loved us.' And verse 21 gives us this commandment 'Whoever loves God must also love his brother.'

God loves you

This was the first of our family Bible studies. I'll go ahead and post the ones we've already done, but once I've taken care of the backlog, I'll only be posting the new ones.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

• Who is God?
• Who is "the world?"
• How did God show His love to us?
• What is the reward of believing in God's son?

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16b

ordain means to establish or order by appointment, decree, or law

• What has God ordained?
• If God ordained all of our days, does that mean He has a plan for us?
• If God has a plan, do you think it is a good plan?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

• Can any thing separate us from God's love?
• If nothing can separate us from God's love, do you think you can trust God?
• If God has a plan for you, do you think that you can trust God?

Unfortunately though no thing can separate us from God's love, something does separate us from God. We'll find more out about that in the next Bible study...