John 3:16 – More Than Meets the Eye?

You probably know John 3:16 by heart. It’s a pretty basic Bible verse, and for good reason! It’s such a beautifully concise way of summing up Christ’s mission on earth and humanity’s hope for salvation. Sometimes, we tend to gloss over verses like this one because we think we’ve learned everything there is to know.

With the help of the Amplified Study Bible, we will be meditating on this famous verse together. Let’s dive in!

“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 AMP

That might be a bit different than you remember, so it’s worth pointing out the purpose of the Amplified Bible. According to the preface, the Amplified Bible has two main components: basic verse and amplification. “The basic verse is the literal equivalent translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek text. The basic verse is then amplified in a way that permits the reader to have a greater understanding of the relationship between the crispness of contemporary English and the depth of meaning in the biblical languages.” In other words, this is a great tool for helping you understand and apply the Bible.

In addition to the expanded text, the Amplified Study Bible contains footnotes with additional background information so you can learn and internalize the topic at hand. Here is the note for John 3:16.

John 3:16 | Belief

Belief involves understanding, knowing, living, and being committed to a relationship with God. How one does all that is so different from not doing it, it is like being born again to a new life. Nicodemus had a little knowledge. What Nicodemus failed to understand was the nature of spiritual reality. He was earthbound and didn’t understand that Jesus and belief are God things. He could not get from where he was to where Jesus was on the road of his understanding. He needed to accept a new road, namely the one that Jesus was walking, toward Him. Jesus draws us to that light, His light. We have to respond to it as Nicodemus did over time (John 7:50; 19:39). Belief involves internalizing these truths with our whole hearts and minds, being born again, letting all of ourselves be exposed to, and by, that light.

The Amplified Study Bible

If you found this short snippet about John 3:16 compelling, see what the Amplified Study Bible says about the Lord’s Prayer and get your own copy today!