Page 7 - True Gospel Evangelism

John 3:16

We now proceed to identify positively the “world” of John 3:16. The context of the

verses leading up to John 3:16 is the new or spiritual birth. Jesus had said that a
person must be born again in order to be able to see or enter the kingdom of God. He
also pointed out in v. 8 that the Holy Spirit is sovereign and acts independently of man
in bringing about the new or spiritual birth. The world of John 3:16 is therefore the

“world” of the born again elect family of God.

John 3:16 is not a verse describing how we can get eternal life, but rather it is a
verse assuring the born again elect, that believe on him, that they have eternal life. It

is not an offer of salvation from sin but rather an assurance of salvation from sin to
the elect and Spirit born children of God who believe on him.

Thus, reading John 3:16 by substituting the actual “world” for the word, “world,” we

have “For God so loved the elect, born again family of God that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.” Only someone who has been born of the Spirit can believe in Jesus. By believ-
ing that Jesus died for our sins thus redeeming us to God, we have the assurance that

we shall not perish but that we have everlasting life. Believing in Jesus did not cause
us to get everlasting life, but believing is an evidence that we have everlasting life.
We will show this in the next essay as the Apostle John pointed out over and over that
belief is an evidence of eternal life and not the cause of eternal life.