I am SERIOUSLY FEASTING here. The combination of Dr. McDonough's Exegesis of John class and Dr. Hafemann's Advanced Greek class today on John 3:14-18 have seriously opened a huge treasure mine on what is only the most famous verse of the Bible. Here’s a rough attempt to digest just a tidbit of what we discussed.
IntroductionThe traditional interpretation of John 3:16 has always been, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son..." meaning that God loved the world SOOO much, to such a degree or extent, that he gave Jesus to die for us. Although this interpretation might make for great preaching or instill some warm, loving feelings in the congregation, it, fortunately, is not a correct interpretation of the text nor does it convey the depth of meaning found in this verse.
Finding the actual meaning of a word requires that one looks at three areas which can be thought of as 3 concentric circles. The largest would be the range of meanings as found in its lexical entry. The next would be the context in which it’s being used (referential meaning), and the innermost would be the way in which the author itself uses that word.
Lexical definitionThe word used for “so” in the Greek is οὕτως, which can have three different meanings according to Liddel & Scott’s Greek lexicon. It can indicate 1. degree or extent 2. manner looking retrospectively 3. manner looking prospectively.
ContextJohn 3:16 can’t be properly understood without looking at its immediate context, John 3:14-18, where John talks about Moses lifting up the serpent in the desert so that all of Israel could look on it and be saved from the serpents. This is referring to Numbers 21. The Israelites were complaining in the desert so God cursed the people with serpents who bit and killed them, but when the people repented, God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole (σημειον: a sign) and set it up so that when the Israelites looked at it, they would not die. The words καθως...ουτως “just as... thus” in vs. 14 set up the correlation between the story and Jesus’ sacrifice. In the same way that Moses lifted up the serpent, Jesus was lifted up on the cross. The word “lifted” here does not mean exaltation, but that Jesus, the Judge, who is supposed to condemn us to death, is put on the cross as a curse for us. The curse becomes cursed, just like how the curse of the serpents becomes the sign of salvation for the Israelites.
John’s useSo now we come to verse 16. In light of the preceding context, then, the ουτως is adding a second comparison (the first one came in vs. 14 with “ουτως υψωθηναι”) introduced by the καθως in vs. 14. The word ουτως is in correlation with ωστε. The key, then, to figuring out which of the three uses of ουτως John employs is to understand the use of ωστε. The word ωστε is used to show result. There are two kinds of result: actual result or automatic consequence (ωστε + indicative verb), and more often, hopeful result or automatic result (ωστε + infinitive). Here we have the rarer usage of ωστε + indicative showing an automatic consequence of a previous action. Since ωστε needs a reference to a previous action in order to bring about an actual result, we can conclude that ουτως is showing manner. In this way God loved the world... and so he gave his only Son”. But how do we know whether it is referring to what was previously mentioned or what is about to be mentioned? Lexically, out of the 21 uses of the word ουτως in John’s gospel, 20 of them are used to show manner retrospectively. More complicated evidence includes looking at the parallel thought and structure of the entire context, which I will save for my paper.
ConclusionThus, we get the translation, “For in this way God loved the world, and so he gave his only son...” In verse 15, there is a purpose clause (ινα) giving the reason for why the son of man must be lifted up: “in order that the one believing might have eternal life”. So how does one get to the point of believing? God has to lift Jesus up like Moses did the serpent. This is the essential point of the word ουτως.
Interestingly enough, we only have one English translation of the Bible in print that translates John 3:16 this way -- the Holman Christian Standard Bible. This Bible was commissioned by the Southern Baptists because they no longer wished to pay royalties to Zondervan for using the NIV. Since they only needed a translation for use within their own denomination and Sunday School curriculum, they did not need to worry about the number of sales. Thus, the translators were free to translate John 3:16 in a way that would reflect this meaning of the word. Think about it. If someone went to a Christian bookstore and picked up a Bible that didn’t say, “For God so loved...”, he’d probably conclude that the Bible was no good. Therefore, no translation would dare change the wording of the opening of that verse for fear that they would make no sales.
Additionally, there is an online resources called the Net Bible which contains an ongoing, open-source translation of the Bible with contributions and properly documented footnotes being made by scholars all over.
http://net.bible.org/#!bible/John+3:13 This translation also reflects a more accurate meaning of the world “so”.
ὁ κοσμος - the worldDr. McDonough pointed out in his exegesis class the connection between this verse and John 1. From the beginning of the chapter, John makes constant connections between Jesus’ creative and redemptive work. Since Jesus was there when he created the world, the world belongs to him. But it is now corrupt and fallen. He comes to redeem not just sinners but to restore all of creation to the way he created it to be.
When we read John 3:16, it’s easy to think, “Of course, God loves the world. He made it and he owns it.” But in John 1:10, John tells us that the world (ὁ κοσμος) was made through him, but the world did not know him. The κοσμος that does not know God is the same κοσμος that God loves in John 3:16. The view of the world in John 3:16 then, is not a positive view but a negative one. The world is not the way it was originally created to be and it even rejects its Creator. John 3:16 is all the more awesome in light of this view. God loved the fallen, God-rejecting, God-unrecognizing world that he made and owns.
There is so much more I could say about this loaded passage, but I’m gonna save it all for my exegesis paper. All the pain of learning Greek is nothing in comparison to what you gain from it. I cannot be more grateful for the scholar-servants God has granted me the privilege to study under.
