Featured John 3:16 Study

I apologize. I was referring to a post by someone else regarding Cain and Abel.

I find your posts difficult to understand. I was simply asking for clarification. Thank you

Peace to you

 

Thanks. That helps me understand your viewpoint.

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I don't know why you oppose the fact that Jesus Christ is the virgin born son of God and that is why he is different from any other man. And the fact that it was you who opened the discussion by attacking what many Christians believe by calling it a mistranslation. It makes me wonder why the whining when someone disagrees with you and replies to the point. A person can be "one of a kind" without being virgin born, but he cannot be only begotten Son of God and and not be one of a kind.

Illustration why this matters;

In John 6 we have rulers of Israel arguing with Jesus in a synagogue in Capernaum after he has turned 5 loaves and 2 fishes into a meal that fed 5000 men and the women and children the day before. There can be no doubt that this made Jesus unique in their eyes because no other man could do that. This made them follow him across the sea and precipitated this meeting the next day.
But, as they talked, they revealed this about themselves. Read the quote;

Jn 6:41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

This was in response to what Jesus had just said here;

38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The point is, and it was not lost on these unbelieving Jews, is that he is a man whose Father is the God of heaven. His father was not Joseph. One fundamental of the faith for anyone is to believe the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, that he is both man and God. That truth is what the gospel of John is all about.

Liberal minds desires to take the emphasis off this truth and to tone down the language.

 

???

20 Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world; I ever taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and in secret spake I nothing. Jn 18

Compare:
24 ....I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Mt 15

With:
20 ...I have spoken openly to the world....Jn 18

 

I responded to point #4 in your op. You have a bad translation and a bad argument to support it. John the apostle did not write his gospel to convince us that Jesus Christ was God's one and only son or that he is the only unique Son without us knowing what made him unique. The fact that he became a man and the only man who has ever existed before his birth and has been begotten of the God of heaven is what he is putting forth in his gospel. The operative idea is that he is the only "begotten" son of God in the flesh.

After beginning his gospel declaring that Jesus is God and creator and from everlasting, he then declares that he is also flesh like us.

Jn 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jn 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Jn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jn 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

After the resurrection, and because of it, Jesus is declared to be the Firstborn (of many additional sons of God) from the dead.

Ro 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Our Lord Jesus is both the "only" begotten Son of God at Bethlehem
and the "first" begotten Son from the dead at his resurrection

Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Ro 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Ro 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

The fact of the two births is what is important in the text of John 3:16. So says Jesus in the text when he says these words.

Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

One cannot enter the kingdom of God without both births. Our Lord had both births.

I think your translation diminishes this truth and I said so.

 

μονογενής monogenes is being translated "only begotten" in English because the Latin tradition. Not because of His incarnation. John 1:18.

 

Ok, All the writers of scripture had particular audiences in mind. John wrote after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, and by that time the Christian church was well established to have a large gentile fellowship.

It makes sense for John to emphasize those teachings of Jesus that demonstrated the gospel would go to the Gentiles and Mark, who wrote a couple decades earlier while the church still had a large Jewish fellowship) to emphasize Jesus’s ministry to be focused on the Jewish people.

peace to you

 

Is that the final word on the subject?

 

Which subject?

μονογενής

Monogenes is being translated "only begotten" in English.

Being translated "only begotten" in English because the Latin tradition.

Not because of His incarnation. John 1:18.

 

Your translation of John 3:16 is driven by your obsession with something God never teaches in the Bible. God does not save based upon the merited faith of an unsaved person.

 

Van, you declare that with every post.
You demand that a person have faith before salvation, which God would then decide whether to credit that faith as righteous or not righteous.
Van, that is merit based salvation no matter how you parse it.

 

Haven't you ever read the scriptures? If your answer is yes and you do not understand words any better than you demonstrate here, I suggest you get your money back from your English teacher.

If a man does not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, then he cannot be saved from the penalty of his sin, which is the second death in the lake of fire, where he is forgotten of God for all eternity.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

If a man says he cannot believe, then he makes God a liar.

Acts 16:29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

How you fellows day after day continue to deny this fundamental truth, saying faith is a work when God makes it as plain as daylight that he does not think it is but is a requirement of God for salvation, but according to you, sinners cannot do what God requires is like admitting you can't process words logically.

 

I have read the scriptures. I see that God makes a man alive, even while they are dead in sins. I see that upon being made alive, that person is given faith to believe. How is it that you are unaware of Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 2, as well as Romans 8 and Romans 9, plus John 6, John 10, and John 17, not to mention John 3,etc, etc.?
Are you unaware or do you simply reject all passages that directly attribute your faith and salvation to God alone, without your assistance.

We simply reject your graceless, merit based teaching.