For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 Since you live in the South, you probably know the above verse by heart. If someone were to ask you why God would allow His Son to suffer, this verse is so familiar that you might include part of it in your response. I suspect that when you hear ‘three-sixteen’, or see ‘3:16’ written on someone’s face or on a sign that someone is holding, the words of this verse come to your mind. That said, there are other 3:16s in God’s Word that are worth knowing. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, He made a pronouncement against the serpent, letting him know that Jesus would crush him. God’s declaration to Satan in Genesis 3:15 is considered the ‘Proto-Evangelium’ (the first announcement of the Gospel / Good News). The very next verse was the pronouncement made to Eve regarding effects of sin on the world: To the woman He said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” – Genesis 3:16 Adam and Eve and their children would need a Savior to be redeemed from sin and its effects. John the Baptist was like a second Elijah, announcing the coming of this Savior to fulfill the Good News: John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. – Luke 3:16 That Jesus is this Savior who is the Good News was confirmed by the testimony of the Holy Spirit at His baptism: And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him. – Matthew 3:16 The Good News is the magnificent truth of Jesus’s incarnation, redeeming work, and glory, which demonstrates the mystery of godliness, as expressed by Paul in a letter to a young pastor named Timothy: Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. – 1 Timothy 3:16 God reveals the truth of this mystery to us through His inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word that has been preserved by His Spirit and revealed to you through the Spirit so that you may benefit directly from His truth, especially to share the Good News with others: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. – 2 Timothy 3:16 And if you have received faith in the Good News, then the Holy Spirit testifies to you and dwells in you: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? – 1 Corinthians 3:16 Just as the thick veil from floor to ceiling in the Temple had kept the unholy and unrighteous from entering into God’s presence, a spiritual veil separates the rebellious from God. Jesus tore open this veil for all who would believe: But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. – 2 Corinthians 3:16 With the removal of the spiritual veil, God grants you the dwelling of His Spirit to give you power to overcome temptation and to carry out His will: That according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being. – Ephesians 3:16 We can truly know Jesus and therefore know love through the faith that allows us to understand the Good News – a faith that cultivates and nourishes our love for God and others: By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. – 1 John 3:16 And so, we are called to love one another by encouraging each other through the Good News: Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. – Colossians 3:16 Let us do so – let the Word of Christ, the mystery of godliness, the magnificent Good News, dwell in you richly. Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. – 2 Thessalonians 3:16
