John 3:16

John 3:16, in plain English

For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him won't be lost but will have eternal life.

Why it's here

This is the heart of the entire Bible in one verse. God loved you. He gave everything. And He did it so you could live — truly, eternally live.

Who's speaking

This is the most famous verse in the Bible, and it's directed straight at your heart.

Where it sits in the story

God looked at a broken world and didn't turn away. He loved it so much that He gave what was most precious to Him. That's not a theology lesson — that's a love story, and you're in it.

The scholarly reading

In what may be the most recognized verse in Scripture, Jesus declares that God's love (Greek: ēgapēsen, aorist — a decisive act) for the world motivated the giving of His unique Son (monogenē), so that every believer would not perish but have eternal life.

Language and setting

The scope is universal (kosmos — 'the world'), the motivation is love (agapē), and the means is sacrifice (edōken — 'gave up'). Monogenēs ('one and only, unique') emphasizes the costliness of the gift.

Voice

Jesus (or possibly the evangelist's commentary) reveals the ultimate motivation behind the incarnation and cross.

Significance

This verse encapsulates the entire Gospel in a single sentence: divine love initiates divine sacrifice to secure divine life for all who believe. It is the theological center of John's Gospel.

14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Read all of John 3 — A religious leader comes at night with questions he can't ask in daylight. The conversation contains the most quoted verse in history.