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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. |
Bible Question:
hello, dear brothers and sisters!I have a very important question: Do God love everyone or not? Many people say He loves everyone,basing on John 3:16. Other people think that "the world" means "mankind" and not every person. Please answer me how do YOU think? P.S.Though I live in Russia and know that Christians everywhere have the same questions regardless of the place they live. Thank you.God bless you. |
Bible Answer: Hello, Yura. I lived in Odessa, Ukraine for two years and absolutely loved it. I think Mark 10:21 sheds some interesting light on this. A rich young man comes to Jesus and asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life. The man was wealthy and presumably loved his wealth too much. The Scriptures record that Jesus "looked at him and loved him". Then Jesus tells him to sell everything he has, give it to the poor , and then to come follow Him. The man went away sorrowful, because he had great wealth. Now we are not specifically told that this man never returned to Christ, but we are given no reason to believe otherwise. The implication, then, is that this man was not a believer--he did NOT follow Jesus. Yet, Jesus still loved him. I agree with one of the other people who said it would be difficult to interpret the word "world" as anything other than all people. If God had meant "his elect", He probably would have used that word. God bless you. |