 |  |
that love, but houto is an adverb of manner, and the following different translations will
reveal the meaning which must be attached to the word of John 3: 16.
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise" (Matt. 1: 18).
"After this manner therefore pray ye" (Matt. 6: 9).
"Likewise shall also the Son of Man" (Matt. 17: 12).
The phrase "even so" in Paul's epistles, as for example in Rom. 5: 18, 21; 6: 4, 19;
11: 5, 31, also shows its meaning, as does the descriptive "thus" in the passage: "Being
wearied with His journey, He sat thus on the well" (John 4: 6). If we ask what "thus"
indicates here, we must reply, "in a manner that expressed weariness", for that is the
verb, without which the adverb is meaningless.
"For", the casual conjunction, links, not merely by addition, but by logical sequence,
the O.T. type with the Gospel fulfillment. "So", the adverb of manner in the phrase "God
so loved", modifies the verb "loved" by showing the manner of that love, as though John
had said "loved like this", loved "in this manner", loved "on this wise", loved "thus".
If we ask, "Loved like what?" we are driven back for answer to the O.T. type and its N.T.
fulfillment.
In verse 14 we have the "even so" already used.
"As Moses lifted . . . . . EVEN SO must the Son of Man be lifted up."
God's love was "on this wise"; a love essentially associated with the offering of His
Son, and not to be confounded with His providence, which sends His rain upon the just
and the unjust, or His tender mercy, which is over all His works.
The order of the books in the N.T. is artificial, and no doctrine must be built upon it,
but, taking the four Gospels as a unit, we are certain that John's Gospel was written last.
Now here is a wonderful fact. Any believer who was in possession only of Matthew or
Mark or Luke, would never have read the statement that "God loved" anybody. It is a
startling thing to discover, that while we may learn from either Matthew, Mark or Luke
of our obligation to "love the Lord our God" or "to love our neighbour", or from
Matthew and Luke that we should "love our enemies", yet we could read twenty-three
passages, containing agapao, "to love", and never read that "God loved" either Israel,
the Church or the world. The first reference to the love of God in the four Gospels is
John 3: 16. In the past we have, perhaps, used this precious statement too freely, and by
so doing have given credence to doctrines that are not of God.
We gather that however much a man may have experienced the kindness and mercy of
God, he can never know the love of God apart from the gift of His beloved Son. But as
this aspect of truth may seem somewhat strange, let us consider another illustration of
this conservative view of the love of God. Is there no love of God manifested in the
gospel of Christ which is "the power of God unto salvation"? Most surely there is, but
Rom. 1: 16, 17, where this statement occurs, breathes not a word about it. Is there no
love in the provision of a righteousness as a free gift to guilty sinners? Was there no love