Bible Study John 3:16...is it really just that simple?

[Nikki]

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

I feel that this verse is misleading. A person must be saved. They have to know they're sinners, ask for forgiveness and put their trust in Jesus. This verse tells us that all we need to do is BELIEVE.

Thoughts?

 

[JM]

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

I feel that this verse is misleading. A person must be saved. They have to know they're sinners, ask for forgiveness and put their trust in Jesus. This verse tells us that all we need to do is BELIEVE.

Thoughts?

“Christ is said to love the church, never the world. That is a love of special relationship. God is never said to love the church, but the world. This is divine goodness, what is in the nature of God (not His purpose), and His glory is the real end of all.†John Nelson Darby on Propitiation and Substitution

We need to be set free to see the spiritual offer of the Gospel.

Is faith, true saving faith pleasing to God?

How does one please God while in the flesh, not in the spirit?

Is it possible to please God while in the flesh?

Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

We need the Holy Spirit working regeneration within our dead [in sin] souls for we are not able to please God while in the flesh.

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

I feel that this verse is misleading. A person must be saved. They have to know they're sinners, ask for forgiveness and put their trust in Jesus. This verse tells us that all we need to do is BELIEVE.

Thoughts?

That is why God gave us the whole word of God, and not just one verse. Read in context, It is not misleading. Any verse on it's own can be misunderstood.

 

[jgredline]

Here is a quote from J vernon mcgee

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 [John 3:16].

There are two things that we need to note here. One is that we must be born again. The other is that the Son of Man must be lifted up. They are related. It takes the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christâ€â€He must be lifted up. Since He has been lifted up, since He bore our penalty, the Spirit of God can regenerate us. And we must be born againâ€â€that is the only way God can receive us.
The motivation for all of this is that God so loved the world. God never saved the world by love, which is the mistaken thinking of today. It doesn’t say that God’s love saved the world, because the love of God could never save a sinner. God does not save by love, friends. God saves by grace! “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast†(Eph. 2:8–9). Now, how does God save? God saves by grace. But God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever (you can write your name in here and I can write mine) believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Notice that with the word believe is the little preposition in which means to believe in Christ. That is, we trust Him as the One who bore the penalty for our sins. This is a personal thing. We must each believe that He died in our place and in our stead. My friend, you must believe that He died for you.
McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program.

 

[stovebolts]

...We must each believe that He died in our place and in our stead. My friend, you must believe that He died for you.

And now, the rest of the story

James 2:19-20 You believe that there is one God; you do well: the demons also believe, and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Act on your faith so that the works of the Lord may become manifest.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We must believe. We must respond to our belief. Baptism is not a work that we do, rather, we are the recipiant of the Works of the Lord, and that work, is simply God's grace.

Paul Harvey ran out of air time as truly, this is just the beginning of the story :angel:

Good Day :wink:

 

[thessalonian]

Belief is more than a nod in acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord and savior. Belief is of the heart and brings about committment. It is an interior knowing by which, by his grace we change the path we are walking on. If we believe we trust as well. Yet none of this comes without grace and so while in some sense it is not that simple, i.e. we must act on that belief, we know that God will give us the grace to walk on that path of life, just as he gave us the grace to come to belief in him. In that sense it is that simple. If we believe in him and his grace and continue to do so we will be led by him through the desert of life to the eternal promised land.

 

[Biblereader]

The ONE thing I don't see talked about here,is the blood of Jesus.
It is the only sacrifice wholly acceptable to God as payment for the sins
of all of humanity.

If you will confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Yes, you repent of your sins, but, how will you KNOW you are sinning, unless you hear a Christian tell you about it? Or, unless you read the Bible? But, unless you have the Holy Spirit giving you understanding about what you're reading, you won't even understand that.

Therefore, it is extremely important that we who have escaped God's wrath, and are free of damnation, by the GRACE of God, the Most High God, the One true God, and his Son, Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men,
it is important that we SPEAK UP and tell the whole truth about heaven and the lake of fire, about salvation, about being born again.

A person will not believe on the Son, the ONLY begotten Son, the Saviour of the world, the Saviour to Jews, Gentiles, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, the Saviour of who so ever will call upon Him, and He will not turn them away,
a person will not believe the truth about Jesus Christ, until they HEAR the Holy Word.

King of kings, Lord of lord, Counselor, Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, the Son of God....Jesus is His Name.
Call on Him to save you, right now.

Romans 10:9-13

 

[jgredline]

Good old John 3:16
This particular verse while so simple is also very complicated.
At Biola and I am sure in all bible colleges and seminaries this verse is debated quite regularly. This is why I copied and pasted J.V. Magee's comments in an earlier post. Did I really think it would be this simple?. Yes
I suppose we can start some new post such as Free Grace or Lordship Salvation, or perhaps The 5 points of Calvinism or the 5 points of armenianism.
once saved always saved and so on, but for now it'S
John 3:16
OK, we all know that this is one of the best known verses in all the Bible, You even see it at sporting events. doubtless because it states the gospel so clearly and simply. It summarizes what the Lord Jesus had been teaching Nicodemus concerning the manner by which the new birth is received. God, we read, so loved the world. The world here includes all mankind. God does not love men’s sins or the wicked world system, but He loves people and is not willing that any should perish.
The extent of His love is shown by the fact that He gave His only begotten Son. God has no other Son like the Lord Jesus. It was an expression of His infinite love that He would be willing to give His unique Son for a race of rebel sinners. This does not mean that everyone is saved. A person must receive what Christ has done for him before God will give him eternal life. Therefore, the words are added, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish.†There is no need for anyone to perish. A way has been provided by which all might be saved, but a person must acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior. When he does this, he has eternal life as a present possession. So is it really that simple?

jG

 

[Biblereader]

You said: A person must receive what Christ has done for him before God will give him eternal life. Therefore, the words are added, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish.†There is no need for anyone to perish. A way has been provided by which all might be saved, but a person must acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior.

I agree, we must CALL upon Him, to save us. We have to DO this thing. We have free will. We are responsible for that choice.
There is no such thing as pre-determined, pre-packaged eternal salvation for any human.
If that were so, we could NEVER be held accountable for any sin.
I thought I'd put that in there, since some people get tripped up on the predestination Scriptures.
They don't link them to the rest of the plan of salvation, do they?