Johannes 3:16

Nothing at all to commend us to God; but what God did for us then commends His love. How wonderful to witness the whole world lying in wickedness, not one righteous, no, not one, and then to see God outside it all acting in love towards sinners, and all because of what He is in Himself. "God so loved the world."

God is not light only; He is also love. Light condemns sin, and demands judgement upon it; love seeks the salvation of the sinner; and has provided an all-sufficient sacrifice for sin… The cross declares God's love in all its fullness of meaning. What it cost Him to put the Son of His love in the sinner's place none of us will ever comprehend.

Hence, after having first unmistakably laid down the necessity of the cross, He next shows the grace that was manifested in the gift of Jesus. Here He is not portrayed as the Son of man who must be lifted up, but as the Son of God who was given… The one, like the other, contributes to this great end, whether the Son of man necessarily lifted up, or the only begotten Son of God given in His love.

Can the love of God be understood according to Scripture, if this Sonship be not owned? Does not that love get its character from that very doctrine?… "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Thus have we seen the life revealed in Christ, and bestowed by Him as the gift of the Father's love in Him, not to any class or nation privileged by descent, but to all to whom it is given to believe on Him throughout the wide world… Never, till at the moment of now perusing it, had it been noticed by the writer, that in this one verse all our four words are found — life, love, world, believing!

There is no person, man or woman, rich or poor, ignorant or refined, who may not get into that most blessed "whosoever." The arms of God's love are stretched out to all. He does not will that any should perish, and yet all will perish who reject the way of life that He has provided.

The word translated 'perish' does not signify a loss of being, since every human being has an eternal existence, but points to an eternal loss of wellbeing. It is to be lost to God forever, the only one who can fill and satisfy the heart… It is 'everlasting' life but its primary quality is that God is known as He has now been fully revealed in Christ.

It is not the reward of good works, or it would be a debt (Rom. 4:4); it is the gift of sovereign love to those who could neither do nor pay anything in order to secure it… His cross, the satisfaction of God's righteousness and the mighty expression of God's love, has made it possible for Him to confer eternal life on all who obey the Gospel.