John 3:16

For Explaining how God wills eternal life to every one that believeth.

loved the world The whole human race: see on John 1:10. This would be a revelation to the exclusive Pharisee, brought up to believe that God loved only the chosen people. The word for -love," agapân, is very frequent both in this Gospel and in the First Epistle, and may be considered characteristic of S. John.

that he gave his only begotten This would be likely to remind Nicodemus of the offering of Isaac. Comp. 1 John 4:9; Hebrews 11:17; Romans 8:32. See note on John 1:14.

everlasting life The Greek is the same as in the previous verse, and the translation should be the same, eternal life. -Eternal life" is one of the phrases of which S. John is fond. It occurs 17 times in the Gospel (only eight in the Synoptics) and six times in the First Epistle. In neither Gospel nor Epistle is -eternal" (aiônios) applied to anything but -life." On aiônios, which of itself does not necessarily mean -everlasting" or -unending," see note on Matthew 25:46.