Scripture to Meditate on This Week

There are several key words that we could take a look at in meditating on these verses. But I'm going to limit myself to just one: world.

I think that it's safe to say that most people take this word as a synonym for everyone. 'God so loved everyone that…' And that, of course, is true. But John has this habit of using words that can have more than one meaning and using them assuming more than just the one meaning. So, for example, being born 'again' can also mean being born 'from above'. John means both. And that adds another dimension to what Jesus is talking about.

When it comes to the word 'world', there are several senses in which it can be used. Here's one from John 7: 'The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.' World, here, means humanity in its rebellion against God, those who hate God.

When it comes to our verses, ['God so loved the world … did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world'] John meant both 'everyone' and 'humanity in rebellion'. And that adds a bit of wonder to what we already saw as a wonderful couple of verses.