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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "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. |
Subject: Are we ever "worthy" of God's love? |
Bible Note: John, being a Christian who does not claim to be especially under the aegis of Calvinism or Arminianism, but who can see valid arguments on many points by both, I'll be happy to give you a sounding on the verse for what it appears to be saying in the English. Peter's emphasis and main thrust in this series of verses that begin Chapter 3 have virtually nothing to say to the issue of election, but a great deal to say about the Apostle's concern with the latter-day mockers who wax impatient about the Lord's return. Having said in v.8 that God's time table is not our time table -- "one day with the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day -- he moves to v.9 and speaks of the Lord's patience with "you." The antecedent of "you" is found in v.1, which is "beloved" who were believers. Now he follows with this phrase, "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentence.".... For "any" and "all" in this construction of Peter's phrasing to be understood as referring to the beloved, i.e., believers, is not possible inasmuch as believers stand in no danger of perishing and have already come to repentence. Moreover, if Peter had believers in mind, it is more than likely that he would have constructed his sentence to say so clearly, which he could easily have done simply by inserting the prepositional phrase "of you" after the word "any." But Peter did not do that. Hence, the words "any" and "all" in this instance must indeed be understood to mean persons outside the fold, persons other than the believers who are being generally addressed in the epistle. I can't see any way that the words could be referring to Christians universally or in any particular time frame. John, that's my best stab at what the verse is saying. I'm not trying to refute anyone's views or concur with anyone's views. In fact, at this writing I have not even read Tim's post except for the excerpts you cite in yours. My analysis of this passage is based more heavily on my knowledge of English grammar and syntax, which is only fair, than on my knowledge of systems of theology, which is worse. --Hank |