By Sonny Hernandez
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Arminians are historically known for translating John 3:16 in the following manner: for God so loved everyone who has ever lived in the world that whoever desires to accept Jesus, who died for all men without exception, should not perish but have everlasting life. This Arminian interpretation is fallacious and heretical because it attempts to pervert the context of John 3:16.
The Bible says that God so loved the world, but this does not mean that God loves everyone who has ever lived in the world. How can God love everyone in the whole world but simultaneously hate the wicked? Psalm 5:5 says that God “hates all workers of iniquity” and Psalm 11:5 says, “The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates” (emphasis mine).
There are some scholars who will argue that God can love and hate simultaneously because He has two wills—a will of decree and a will of desire. This is contradicting since it would mean that God has a will of decree and a will of desire that are in opposition to each other. If God loved and hated simultaneously, then He would be contradicting Himself. But God’s Word does not contradict itself. God’s Word contradicts those so-called scholars and pastors who believe in a schizophrenic, two-headed god who perpetually contradicts himself.
The use of the word world has been debated for a very long time. All one has to do is carefully review the context of the Bible to see that the use of the word world does not always refer to everyone in the entire world. Carefully review the following passages and examine the context:
1. John 1:29 (the elect) 2. John 12:17-19 (large group) 3. John 12:31 (world system) 4. John 13:1 (the earth) 5: John 15:18 (humanity minus believers) 6. John 17:9 (non-elect) 7. Acts 17:24 (entire universe) 8. Rom. 3:19 (entire human race)[1]
John 3:16 is often regarded by Arminians as an invitation to be saved, instead of a declaration that God loves those who are believing the gospel. Since the KJV uses the word whosoever, Arminians believe this is proof that God is inviting people to exercise their free will to accept Christ. But the word whosoever is not found in the Greek text. The word whosoever is a pronoun, while the Greek uses an adjective (“all”). Here is a literal translation and exegesis for John 3:16:
for [conj. ἵνα] all [adj. πᾶς] the [art. ὁ] believing [part. πιστεύων] in [conj. εἰς] Him [Jesus] should not perish but have everlasting life (ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον).
Therefore, John 3:16 is not teaching that God loves everyone in the entire world, nor is it an invitation to believe in Christ. This passage is a declaration that God loves those who are believing in the person of Christ.
References
[1] A.W. Pink’s exegesis of John 3:16 has amplified my knowledge on the context of the world in John 3:16. This is why I rely heavily on his outline of the world in my evangelism endeavors, and also when I write.