4. Let us distribute the text into parts for easier apprehen- sion, and in such a way as seems to us best "for the use of edifying." Dr. Warschauer proceeds in a direct line, taking the thoughts of the verse as they come — (1) God, (2) a loving God, (3) a great Giver, (4) the Gift of the Son, (5) Belief, (6) Eternal
1 H. T. Knight. The Cross, tlu Font, and the Altar, 1.
ST. JOHN III. i6 187
Life. Dr. Eadie makes Grod's Love the subject, and begins with the world as the Ohject of God's love, takes next the Cri^ of God's love, and ends with the ^Design of God's love. Dr. Maclaren*s divisions are : (1) The great Lake — " God so loved the world " ; (2) the Eiver — "that he gave his only begotten Son"; (3) the Pitcher — *' that whosoever believeth on him " ; (4) the Draught — " should have eternal life." If any criticism should be made of so effective and attractive a division of the text, it would be that it misses the prominence due to the world. For it has to be remembered that the revelation to Nicodemus was twofold — first, that he, a Pharisee7 had to be born again before he could enter the Kingdom "of God ; and, next, that the way was open not only to Pharisees, but to sinners, including sinners of the Gentiles, that is to say, to the whole world. And it is this second part of the great revelation that St. John is now giving us. Accordingly the next verse proceeds, " For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him."
Let us, then, in order to keep the world-wide offer in our mind throughout, adopt this method of exposition —
yjj/ L God and the World—'* God so loved the world."
IL Christ and the World — " that he gave his only begotten Son."
IIL The World and Christ — " that whosoever believeth on him."
IV. The World and God — " should not perish but have eternal life." A''
L
God and the Wokld.
"God so loved the world."
The introductory " for " shows that this verse presents itself as the reason of a previous statement. The reference in it is to a remarkable incident in the history of ancient Israel. They had, in one of their periodical fits of national insanity, so provoked God that He sent among them " fiery fljing serpents," and many of them were bitten and died. But to counteract the chastise-
i88 THE AMAZING GIFT OF LOVE
ment, and make its terror a means of salutary impression, Moses was commanded to frame a brazen figure of one of the poisonous reptiles, and place it on the summit of a flagstaff, so that any wounded Hebrew might be able to see it from the extremity of the camp. And every one, no matter how sorely he felt the poison in his fevered veins, if he could only turn his languid vision to the sacred emblem, was instantly healed. It is then asserted that salvation is a process of equal simplicity, facility, and certainty — " even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him may have eternal life." But why are belief and salvation so connected; and how comes it that any one, every one, confiding in the Son of man, is rescued and blessed — saved from the death which he has merited, and elevated to a life which he had forfeited ? This pledge of safety and glory to the believer has its origin in nothing else than the truth of the text: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life."
i. God.
Jesus begins with God; God Himself, God in His totality; not with His "attributes" or "qualities," but with Himself in His redeeming activity. God is ; is the first and last ; and Jesus who knows Him, and knows Him as no other visitant of our earth does, starts in His description of redemption not from man, in his weltering wickedness and glaring rebellions, but from God in His eternally loving thought of us. It is permissible to take the opposite order, beginning with the lowest and ascending to the highest ; but it is wiser in this, as in all else, to follow the Master, and look first, not at man, his sinning and its fateful consequences, but at God and His love of the world, and what it leads to. Salvation belongs to the Lord. The righteous Lord delights in mercy, and Jesus knows it and affirms it, as the supreme and all-controlling fact in our interpretation of God and of His world.
rl. There is perhaps no text that speaks so directly Jio_ the Christian heart. There is none perhaps that finds a more im- mediate or more enthusiastic welcome in our breast ; because we ! feel that in it we have the answer to all the devious problems
ST. JOHN III. i6 189
of intellect and the most pressing and urgent needs of onr soui. For what after all is the great problem of all problems that come j into the quiet of our own hearts ? What is it that we most want / to have assurance about? Surely in our deepest moments the j thought that presses home most upon us is, What kind of a God is it we have to deal with ? Is He a God who cares for us and loves us, or is He a God who moves so far away from us that we are, as it were, but the dust of the balance in His sight ?