Jan 31 2020 7 mins
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Many Protestants quote John 3:16, and in fact it's become the single most quoted and most translated verse of scripture. But I think if we dig into it what will find is that it doesn't mean exactly what most people think it means. The heart of it is the word believe, and this word is in the active present participle in Greek so the better translation of this sentence which is often translated as “God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life” would be “God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever IS BELIEVING in him might not perish.”
A native Greek speaker would very likely translated that way. however, 20 vs later John gives us some clarification on what the word believe means. Not only is it a continuous action that one under goes throughout one's life, not a one-time event, but it also is contrasted not with disbelief but with disobedience. So to believe is to obey, and to disobey is to not believe in the biblical sense.
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Many Protestants quote John 3:16, and in fact it's become the single most quoted and most translated verse of scripture. But I think if we dig into it what will find is that it doesn't mean exactly what most people think it means. The heart of it is the word believe, and this word is in the active present participle in Greek so the better translation of this sentence which is often translated as “God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life” would be “God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever IS BELIEVING in him might not perish.”
A native Greek speaker would very likely translated that way. however, 20 vs later John gives us some clarification on what the word believe means. Not only is it a continuous action that one under goes throughout one's life, not a one-time event, but it also is contrasted not with disbelief but with disobedience. So to believe is to obey, and to disobey is to not believe in the biblical sense.
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