Before we start, I have tried to really limit these arguments as best as I can to keep them from getting overly technical in their language. However, because of the nature of what we are talking about, some of it cannot be avoided.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
"For"
The word translated “for” is meant to denote the information that was previously discussed between Jesus and Nicodemus. The immediate context is taken from the Old Testament passage about the brass serpent in the wilderness, which brought healing to those who were bitten by snakes. The larger context of this chapter is on regeneration and how the Father, Son, and the Spirit accomplish redemption.
“For” is also immediately connected instrumentally to the objects mentioned in verse 15, namely that everyone who believes should not perish because God sent His Son to those who believe. The “for” is also transitive, linking the thoughts of verse 15 to that of verse 16. It should also be mentioned that John 3:16 recalls the promise of 1:12-13 and prepares the reader to encounter the expanded realm of God’s salvation, which is not only for the Jews, but also for the Samaritans and Gentiles (Jn 4:1-54).
"God so loved"
Next, let’s examine the phrase “God so loved”. In the Greek, it literally reads “so loved God”. The word translated “so” is used emphatically in this verse. This means that God’s love is not a general love, but an emphatic one, in which none higher exists. “So” is also an adverb, and is denoting the “degree of intensity” of the verb. Without getting more technical than we need to, the meaning is quite clear in the Greek: not only did God love the world, but He intensely loved the world.
The word for “love” is the Greek word “agape”, a word which all Christians are familiar with. It denotes the idea of delighting in an object or having a particular love for something. Therefore, considering the nature of the word “agape” and the emphatic adverb “so”, the love spoken of by Jesus here cannot be a lesser love in which God loves His elect. The word form “agapao” is the word that is so commonly used in the Gospels as the highest form of love that one can have. It is used often in the writings of John (14:23; 17:23; 1 Jn 3:1; 4:10). It is also used of God’s love for His elect elsewhere in the New Testament (2 Thess. 2:16; Rm. 5:8; Eph. 2:4).
Now if this love of God in John 3:16 is so great as to be towards the entire world, this would cause the love of God to the whole world to be greater than the love that He has for His elect. Yet this cannot be, for Jesus states that “Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13). But if the “general love” interpretation of John 3:16 is correct, then the love which is spoken of here is the “greatest love”. Thus, if this is true, and no greater love can be shown than this love which causes one to lay down one’s life for his friends, then the “world” of necessity is universally saved since God “so loves” it. This is not true. What is true is that the love stated here is the greatest love that God ever had, yet it is for his elect.
I've left out the technical parts of the quote, but listen to what Francis Turretin states,
The love treated in John 3:16 when it is said that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,” cannot be universal towards each and every one, but special towards a few. (1) It treats of the supreme and immense love of God (a greater than which is not and cannot be conceived) to those he gave his only begotten...For no one can have a greater love than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13), so no greater love can be found than that by which God (when men were yet enemies) delivered his own Son to death for them...(2) The love by which God gave his Son draws after itself all other things necessary to salvation: “For he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). But not upon each and every one, rather upon the elect alone, he bestows all things with Christ. (3) Therefore the end of that love which God intends is the salvation of those whom he pursues with such love; hence he adds, “For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). If therefore God sent Christ for that end (that through him the world might be saved) , he must either have failed of his end or the world must be necessarily saved in fact. However it is certain that not the whole world, but only the chosen out of the world are saved; therefore to them properly this love has reference. Nor can it be conceived if a universal love is here understood, how such and so great love (which is by far the cause of the greatest and most excellent good, viz., the mission of Christ) can consist with the hatred of innumerable persons whom he willed to pass by and ordain to damnation (to whom he never has revealed either his Son or willed to bestow faith, without which it is set forth in vain). Nor can it be conceived how this love of God can be so greatly commended here which yet remains void and inefficacious on account of the defect of subjective grace, which God has determined to deny.
Now to examine the word “world”: It is a common but false assumption that “world” means “everyone for all time”. This is what we mean in English when we use the word “world”, but it is not the Greek understanding of “world”, nor is it John’s. John’s use of cosmos is very elusive, and even has an overlap of meaning at times. 26 times he uses the word to refer to the earth. (John 13:1; 6:14; 9:5a; 9:32; 9:39; 10:36; 11:27; 16:21; 16:28; 17:5; 17:11a; 17:12; 17:23; 17:24; 18:36; 18:37; 21:25; 1 John 4:1; 4:9; 2 John 1:7; Rev. 11:15; 13:8; 17:8.)
3 times he uses the word to refer to Jews and Gentiles specifically.(John 4:39; 18:20; Revelation 16:14.)
12 times he uses the word to refer to believers and unbelievers in the world, or all humanity.(John 1:9-10; 3:17; 3:19; 7:4; 8:26; 9:5b; 12:19; 12:25; 14:30; 14:19; 16:11; Rev. 3:10.)
3 times he uses the word to refer to the world system in particular.(John 12:31; 1 John 5:19; 4:3-4.)
31 times he uses the word to refer to the wicked, without including believers, which is his most common use.(John 5:24; 7:7; 8:23; 12:31; 13:1; 14:17; 14:22; 14:31; 15:18-19; 16:8; 16:20; 17:6; 17:9; 17:11b; 17:15-16; 17:17; 17:21; 17:23; 17:25; 1 John 2:15-17; 3:1; 3:13; 4:5; 4:17; 5:4-5; Rev. 12:9; 13:3).
And finally, he uses the word for the world of the elect 11 times.( John 1:29; 3:16; 3:17c; 6:33; 12:46-47; 6:51; 8:12; 11:9; 1 John 2:2; 4:14.).
Seeing the varied usage if the word, it is of the utmost importance to consider the context and thought of each passage in order to determine the correct meaning assigned to “world”. If we use the same logic as some do in taking “world” in John 3:16 as meaning “everyone for all time”, then what does that make passages like 1 Jn 5:19 mean?: “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” This would make absolutely no sense. Or what of Revelation 12:9, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Is this all of humanity as they would purport in John 3:16? Why do they read it into John 3:16 without considering to the context of the “so” and the “gave”, including the previous verse and the latter verse?
A. W. Pink gives more insight about the use of “world”:
“But the objector comes back to John 3:16 and says, “World means world”. True, but we have shown that “the world” does not mean the whole human family. The fact is that “the world” is used in a general way. When the brethren of Christ said, “Shew Thyself to the world” (John 7:4), did they mean “shew Thyself to all mankind? When the Pharisees said, “Behold, the world is gone after Him” (John 12:19), did they mean that “all the human family” were flocking after Him? When the apostle wrote, “Your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8), did he mean that the faith of the saints at Rome was the subject of conversation by every man, woman, and child on the earth? When Rev. 13:3 informs us that “all the world wondered after the beast”, are we to understand that there will be no exceptions? What of the godly Jewish Remnant, who will be slain (Rev. 20:4) rather than submit? These, and other passages which might be quoted, show that the term “the world” often has a relative rather than an absolute force.”
To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” What is meant by this is clearly defined in the words immediately following “not imputing their trespasses unto them”. Here again, “the world” cannot mean “the world of the ungodly for their trespasses are “imputed” to them, as the judgment of the Great White Throne will yet show. But 2 Cor. 5:19 plainly teaches there is a “world” which are “reconciled”, reconciled unto God, because their trespasses are not ' reckoned to their account, having been borne by their Substitute. Who then are they? Only one answer is fairly possible- the world of God's people! In like manner, the “world” in John 3:16 must, in the final analysis refer to the world of God's people. “Must” we say, for there is no other alternative solution. It cannot mean the whole human race, for one half of the race was already in hell when Christ came to earth. It is unfair to insist that it means every human being now living, for every other passage in the New Testament where God's love is mentioned limits it to His own people-search and see! The objects of God's love in John 3:16 are precisely the same as the objects of Christ's love in John 13:1: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His time was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.
“First…Now, this love we say to be that, greater than which there is none. Secondly, by the “world,” we understand the elect of God only, though not considered in this place as such, but under such a notion as, being true of them, serves for the farther exaltation of God's love towards them, which is the end here designed; and this is, as they are poor, miserable, lost creatures in the world, of the world, scattered abroad in all places of the world, not tied to Jews or Greeks, but dispersed in any nation, kindred, and language under heaven. Thirdly... “in order that every believer,” is to us, and is declarative of the intention of God in sending or giving his Son, containing no distribution of the world beloved but a direction to the person whose good was intended, that love being an unchangeable intention of the chiefest good. Fourthly, “Should not perish, but have life everlasting,” contains an expression of the particular aim and intention of God in this business; which is, the certain salvation of believers by Christ. And this, in general, is the interpretation of the words which we adhere unto, which will yield us sundry arguments, efficient each of them to evert the general ransom; which, that they may be the better bottomed, and the more clearly convincing, we will lay down and compare the several words and expression of this place, about whose interpretation we digress, with the reason of our rejecting the one sense and embracing the other: The first difference in the interpretation of this place is about the cause of sending Christ; called here love.The second, about the object of this love; called here the world. Thirdly,Concerning the intention of God in sending his Son; said to be that believers might be saved.
"That He gave His only begotten Son."
The next phrase, “that He gave His only begotten Son”, rest on the idea of the act of “giving” of the Father. The word “gave” is extremely important here. In the Greek construction of the verse, the emphasis is on the actuality of the gift. This means that it is not that “God so loved the world as to give”, but “God love the world so that He gave.” God’s love is not a sentimental feeling, but a love of actuality; a love that cost. His love is so grand that He gave what was most precious to Him- His Son. This is the “love” that Paul says is “for us” in Romans 8:31-32, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” 1 John 4:9-10, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation, God’s love, and His giving are all intrinsically linked together here and paralleled as in John 3:16.
But how do those who interpret John 3:16 as a general love for “every individual person” reconcile this with John 6:33? The passage states, “For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” If this is true, and we were to use the same interpretive tools the some have used on John 3:16, then, as Jesus gives life to the world, they all, by necessity, must have life and are alive. But we know the “world is condemned already” if they remain in unbelief. How could we interpret John 6:33 to mean “every individual person for all time?” We cannot, just as we cannot say He loved “every individual person for all time” in John 3:16. Then who are these which are given life? We know the whole world is not given life or they would all be alive. If they eat of the bread of life, then they must have life. Jesus is not saying that He is the bread of life by which every man for all time is regenerated. He is saying that all men, Jews and Gentiles, may eat of Him. Not every individual man, but all kinds of men, which would have been foreign to His Jewish listeners.
For instance, in John 6:41 the Jews murmured at His teaching, saying that Jesus could not have “come down from heaven” since he is “Joseph’s son.” But Jesus then remarks to them in 6:43-44, “Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” This shows the intention of God towards the Jews and the world. He raises up only those that the Father gives Him. The Father, if He were savingly interested in all men, would have given all men to Christ. But God is not interested in all men in this way, but only some men—those Jesus will raise up at the last day.
The “giving” of Christ mentioned in this very is of great theological significance. The Greek construction of these words shows both rarity and emphasis of the writer. It is meant to emphasize that which entails a practical result: that God really did such a thing as give His Son. The only other example of this construction in the New Testament is found in Galatians 2:13, where Paul is shocked that Barnabas was “carried away” with the hypocrisy of the Jews, which seemed unthinkable to Paul. God gave because of His goodness to His elect, and this goodness is seen in the gospel.
To “believe” is immediately linked to Jesus’ instruction in verse 3- those who are “born again” and who “perceive” the things of the Kingdom. Those believing are the ones sovereignly regenerated by the Spirit. The construction here is considered a “purpose clause” in the Greek. This means that It is impossible to break the line of Christ’s thought and attribute the special and purposeful love of God which gives His only begotten Son to the entirety of mankind without distinction, where Jesus has, in verse 3 and following, already made the distinction.
John Owen rightly states, “Nor is there any mention of any special love or grace of God unto sinners, but with respect unto the satisfaction of Christ as the means of the communication of all its effects unto them.”]
John Gerstner states, “John 3:16 says more clearly than probably any verse in Scripture that the atonement was made for believers only. God so loved the world He gave His Son that believers should have eternal life.”
Finally, it is of great importance to discuss the word “whosoever”. The text is usually translated “that whosoever believes in Him”. The problem is with the word “whosoever”. Appeal is usually made to the “whosoever” and not usually to the “whosoever believes”. The “whosoever” is supposed to be linked with “believe”. But more importantly, the word “whosoever” is not in the Greek text. The phrase usually translated “whosoever believes” actually says in the Greek “the believing ones unto Him” or “the believers unto Him”. So, what we have is that “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that the believers (or believing ones) in Him should not perish...” The Gospel is directed to those who believe and no more.
So, considering the use of John’s language, it seems that the “world” refers to either 1) the world of the elect that makes up all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is thus speaking of “all kinds of men” when he uses the word, or 2) the created order which will be reconciled in Christ- this emphasis links back to John 1, with Genesis 1 as its background. Either interpretation works, but option one is probably the best.
In the next post, we will look at how God's grace is effective in calling people to salvation.