For God so loved the world = For in this way God loved the world.
If you look up the definition of the Greek word for 'so' (Strong's G3779) in verses 14 and 16 of John chapter 3, I think you will see something revealing. 'So' in these verses doesn't mean quantity, as so many, including myself, have thought.
When I would read John 3:16, I used to internally interpret the verse to mean that God loved the world soooo much, as in the bigness of His love, and it was this bigness of His love that caused Him to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins on the cross. This is actually an incorrect understanding of that verse.
'So' in the English of that verse actually means 'in this way' or 'in such manor'. The Greek word is Houto and it has that as it's definition. If you have a look in a Strong's concordance or a Greek dictionary or lexicon for the Strong's number G3779, you will see that what I am saying is so.
I think that John 3:16 would be more correctly understood by all if it was translated as "For in this way God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..."
I think that John 3:16 would be more correctly understood by all if it was translated as "For in this way God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..."
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For in this way God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." John 3:14-21
Grace, peace and love in Jesus Christ!
