He Didn’t Stop at John 3:16
He said, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son.
“And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed.
“By believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”
That’s how The Message version of The Bible presents John 3:16.
And then in the very next verse Christ Jesus continues, “God didn’t go to all the trouble sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” (John 3:17)
If we’re Christ’s people, we should also be about the business of trying “to help, to put the world right again.”
He didn’t stop at John 3:16, and neither should we.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. NKJV
This is one of those places where I feel the Message is a little too forceful with the message of love. I see the Message John 3:17as more accusatory than comforting when we tout this message as the first some first-time hearers of the Good News are exposed.
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