Is John 3:16 a Good Deal?
John 3: 16 is one of the most famous verses in the Bible. In the verse, the Apostle John outlines a deal: if you believe in Jesus, you will live forever. But there is a second part of this deal. If you don’t believe in Jesus, you will be judged. In this post, we explore this deal and what it means.
Published: 10 August, 2024
John 3:16 (verse 16 of chapter 3 of the book of John) is one of the most important verses in the Bible. It is perhaps one of the most quoted.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3: 16
The author of the book of John, was of course, John. He was one of the close companions of Jesus during his ministry, known as an apostle, so he had first-hand knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus.
The “Good News”
The book of John is one of the four books of the New Testament known as the gospels, the books of the New Testament that describe the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. The word gospel is derived for old Anglo Saxon “god spell” which means “good story.” God spell, in turn, is derived from the Greek word evangelion, which means “good news.” So the gospels are the “good news” that the authors wanted to share with the readers.
The good news of John 3:16 is simple. If you believe in Jesus, you will live forever. This is what is commonly referred to when Christians talk about being “saved.” But what does it mean to believe in Jesus? John 3:16 also says that Jesus was the “only begotten Son” of God. This means that Jesus was the son of God, and we learn in other parts of the Bible that he is divine, or a part of God.
The Bible makes it clear that all humans are sinners. Because God is perfect, and He cannot live with sin, as long as we are sinners, we are kept separate from God. God doesn’t want people to be separate from him, so he established a system for sin to be covered, allowing humans to be in the presence of God. This system was through animal sacrifice. As the author of the book of Hebrews stated, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)
This system covered humans for over a thousand years, but in the New Testament, God made a new deal. Jesus, who lived a sinless life, became the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus was crucified by the Romans, but he also died as a sacrifice for our sins. Unlike animal sacrifices, which only covered transgressions for a short time, Jesus’s sacrifice was permanent. If you believe you are a sinner, and you believe Jesus was the Son of God, and if you believe he died for your sins, then all of your sins are wiped out forever. They aren’t forgiven for a short time, they are forgiven forever; it is as if they never happened. And since you are no longer considered a sinner, you are no longer separate from God. You are saved.
John also says if you are saved, you will not die but instead live forever. This is what most people think of as heaven. The message is, if you want to get to heaven, you have to believe in Jesus.
The “Deal” of the Gospel
John 3: 16 is offering you a deal, but there is a second part of the deal. John Chapter 3 continues with verses 17-18:
“For God didn’t send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in Him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3: 17-18
If you believe in Jesus, you will be saved, but if you don’t believe in Jesus, you will be judged. The last book of the New Testament, Revelation, which was also written by the Apostle John, tells us when you are judged, you are cast into a lake of fire. This is what most people think of as hell.
I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead which were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, every one of them according to his works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20: 11-15
The message of John 3: 16-18 is relatively simple to understand but can be difficult to believe. If you believe that Jesus was who he said he was, then you will be saved and live forever, but if you don’t believe in Jesus, then you will be judged.
There are many barriers to accepting God’s deal. Some people don’t believe there is a God, or heaven. Many people don’t believe they are sinners. They believe they are good people, or at least good enough to get to heaven. Modern minds also find it very difficult to accept the idea that sin has to be covered by a blood sacrifice. These are all common concerns, but that is not what the Bible says. The question is, can you trust the Bible?
Can You Trust the Deal of the Gospel?
If you take John 3: 16-18 at face value, it seems like a really good deal. All you have to do is believe, and you get to live forever. But is John 3:16 true? Can you trust the deal? If someone offered you a really good business deal, you’d probably want to know more before you accepted the deal. If you asked around and found he was a reliable businessman who always upheld his side of a deal, you’d probably be more willing to trust him.
But what about the Bible? Can you trust John 3:16? Just as you would need to know more information before you made an important business decision, you need to know about the Bible before you make what could be the most important decision of your life.
The purpose of this blog is to explore the reliability of the Bible. Since you can’t determine the reliability of the Bible without evaluating arguments both for and against the Bible, we will discuss supporters of the Bible and we will discuss critics of the Bible. We want to know not just is John 3:16 is reliable, but is the WHOLE Bible reliable, because if other parts of the Bible are not reliable, why should you trust John?
The Bible talks about many events that occurred in the past, but it also talks about many event that will occur in the future. We currently live in strange times, where it is often difficult to understand current events. We can evaluate the past reliability of the Bible by comparing it to history, but how do we evaluate the reliability of events that haven’t occurred yet? One way is to look at the world as it is today, then compare the world to a model of what the Bible says it will look like in the future. If the two match, the Bible’s prediction of the future just might be true!
To tackle the two problems of both past reliability and future reliability, the blog will divide the Bible into two major themes. The first will evaluate the historical reliability of the Bible. The second will develop a model of what the Bible says the world will look like in the future, then see if it explains how the world looks now.
We will explore the evidence and the analysis. You will have to make the final decision. Is John 3:16 a good deal offered from a reliable source? If it is a good deal, would it change how you live your life? Would it change what you believe about your purpose in life? Let’s find out.
