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John 3:16 - III
For God so loved the world -- John 3:16
In our last article, we mentioned the word world (# 2889 Greek Lexicon); now we want to look at the meaning and how that affects our theology and worldview. Is the word world referring to people only, or did God send His Son to redeem all of His creation (the cosmos)? When sin entered into creation, there was separation, anger, and rebellion.
The first example we see of this is with Cain and Abel, the anger of Cain is mentioned in Genesis 4:5-6. A lot of people do not like to view mankind as being sinful, depraved, and angry. But this is exactly what Psalm 2:1-3 is telling us; "Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us." People do not like God ruling over them, or the fact that they are accountable. Every child that is born comes from the womb with a rebellious sin nature.
For mature Christians, we should all realize that sin was in the world before Adam and Eve took the fruit and ate. Sin and rebellion were present in the person and work of satan; even though the world was not affected by sin until Adam and Eve gave in to temptation. Satan and a vast number of celestial creatures had already fallen and were rebelling against God, Revelation 12:4.
After the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, the entire world, everything that God created was affected by sin. Genesis 3:17-19 tells us that God put a curse on creation because of their rebellion. The Geneva Bible of 1599 says it like this, "cursed is the earth for thy sake." The New Testament also confirms (agrees) with the teaching that the entire cosmos was affected (in bondage) by sin.
Romans 8:19-23 says, "For the earnest expectation of the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him Who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. As Christians, we need to expand our thinking about sin and the world. Christ came to redeem all of His creation.
When Christ returns and begins "the restoration of all things," Acts 3:21, not only will the saints be made perfect; but all of creation will be made new. Revelation 21:1 says, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Revelation 21:5 says, "Behold I make all things new." Now when the verse says all, I think that is what it means! The all or everything fits the meaning of all the other Scripture from Genesis to Acts to the book of Revelation. The word "world" in John 3:16, is referring to the cosmos, all of God's creation. Contact the author at: (thoughtsonword@gmail.com) if you have any comments or questions.
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Lyndon Stimeling, of Richfield, has been writing about faith and family for many years. He has self-published three books, Common Thoughts on The Word in 2016 and Eye of a Needle in 2017 and Common Thoughts on The Word II in 2019. He has also had articles published in The Coming Home Journal and local newspapers and has written a children's book.