For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (NLT)

Dive Deeper:

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do you know who said that? Paul did. But not as advice…as a warning. He was saying, “If there’s no resurrection, if this life is all we get, then sure — chase the highs, numb the pain, live for the moment.” And honestly? This is how a lot of people are living today. Maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. Make life as comfortable and curated as possible. And if we’re not careful, even as followers of Jesus, we can start drifting into that same mindset. But Paul doesn’t leave it there. He follows it with, “Come back to your senses.”

Why? Because there is a resurrection. Jesus tells a different story. A story where love leads Him to death… and death gives way to life. Eternal life.

Just before we get to John 3:16 (You know, the verse that wraps the whole Gospel into one sentence), Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a respected religious leader. He had the résumé, the knowledge, the influence — but Jesus still challenges him:

“You’re Israel’s teacher, and you don’t understand this?” Nicodemus believed a Messiah would come, and he even recognized there was something different about Jesus. But he misunderstood His purpose.

The Good News is often misunderstood. So simple that we overlook it at best or completely miss it at worst. But God has done everything to make the Gospel abundantly clear, and it is summarized perfectly in John 3:16. Whether we live in despair with no hope after death or we mistake why God has come, the Gospel speaks a better word. One not of hopelessness or condemnation but of eternal life.

Jesus rising from the dead is the cornerstone that holds our faith together. If Jesus is still in the tomb, this whole thing falls apart. But He isn’t. He’s alive. So in the resurrection, we see hopelessness and condemnation fall away. We have hope because if Jesus rose from the dead, we, too, will rise with Him. He is the firstborn among the dead. In Him, we have eternal life. And we are free of condemnation.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬)

Jesus is at the center of it all. His birth, life, death, and resurrection share a love that doesn’t leave us as we are but transforms us at the heart level and offers us life beyond the grave. We have eternity in relationship with the Creator through trust in Jesus. God's love was made clear in giving his Son. In His resurrection, we have redemption.

Written by Ben Hesch