What does John 3:16 mean?

You might have come to this thread thinking, “Oh this is an easy one.” But I ask you to resist the urge to not read past the title. What I am about to say requires a truth-seeker’s heart, humility, and a thirst for the rightly-divided Word of God.

One of the most well-known verses inside and outside of Christendom is also one of the least understood.

Jesus asks us in a number of places to drop our preconceived notions, to stop thinking too much, and just believe like a child does. That’s the only way to really understand the Word of God.

John 3:16 KJV
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

“…whosoever believeth in him should not perish…”
The physical bodies of all mortals perish, whether they are unrighteous or righteous. The unrighteousness soul and spirit will not live forever under any circumstances because they did not believe. They will cease to exist, they will perish, they will not be conscious and alive like the righteous are.

“…but have everlasting life…”
Therefore, the promise of never perishing applies to the soul and spirit of the person who believes in Christ. The person who believes in Christ will have a soul and spirit that has everlasting life. They will be living forever in eternal conscious communion with God.

Concisely: believe in Jesus and you’ll live forever. Don’t believe in Jesus and you won’t live forever. Full stop.

You said," they will cease to exist, they will perish, they will not be conscious and alive..." "Perish" doe not mean that way. Non awareness or unconscious. The case of the rich man and Lazarus demonstrate the fact of consciousness after physical death. God bless

You might have come to this thread thinking, “Oh this is an easy one.” But I ask you to resist the urge to not read past the title. What I am about to say requires a truth-seeker’s heart, humility, and a thirst for the rightly-divided Word of God.

One of the most well-known verses inside and outside of Christendom is also one of the least understood.

Jesus asks us in a number of places to drop our preconceived notions, to stop thinking too much, and just believe like a child does. That’s the only way to really understand the Word of God.

John 3:16 KJV
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

“…whosoever believeth in him should not perish…”
The physical bodies of all mortals perish, whether they are unrighteous or righteous. The unrighteousness soul and spirit will not live forever under any circumstances because they did not believe. They will cease to exist, they will perish, they will not be conscious and alive like the righteous are.

“…but have everlasting life…”
Therefore, the promise of never perishing applies to the soul and spirit of the person who believes in Christ. The person who believes in Christ will have a soul and spirit that has everlasting life. They will be living forever in eternal conscious communion with God.

Concisely: believe in Jesus and you’ll live forever. Don’t believe in Jesus and you won’t live forever. Full stop.

The prerequisite for everlasting life is believing in Christ. By basic logic that means if you don’t believe in Christ you don’t have eternal life anywhere, at all, under any circumstances, no exceptions.

Actually and exactly: the text says that the one believing in Jesus will not perish but will be having eternal life. It does not actually say anything directly about the one who is not believing. (though other texts do talk clearly about the one who does not believe.)

You are wrong in saying that the unregenerate spirit will be destroyed. Death is not the end of existence. Adam and Eve were dead the moment they ate from the tree of knowledge. Obviously they still existed. While a person is naturally alive, there is hope of salvation. When this life is over, judgement follows. Some continue in eternal life. Others are consigned to eternal death, the second death. As is clear from God's word, death is not the end of existence. It is the end of any hope of salvation.

Everyone is born dead in trespass and sin. And that's how they stay if they do not receive Christ.

Scripture can be interpreted and reinterpreted until the cows come home. With any number of conclusions.
If the Lord, who knows the end from the beginning, and can do anything, would still go ahead and create billions of people, with the foreknowledge that they would suffer pure agony for eternity, He would be worse than all the devils, dictators, and psychopaths put together.
I know my Father...He is not like that. He could've destroyed everything and started over...but He didn't.
Eternal torment is man's teaching, not the Lord's. In my opinion.

No! You are adding more more then need be.

Absolutely. The ambiguity and seemingly intentional vagueness of scripture deserves its own thread and dissertation. I take that into full account: dividing, weighing, praying, and meditating on the word of God.

I do not find it vague or ambiguous enough that there is any confusion on the issue, especially given the number of verses that outright say the end of the wicked is they are no more. Rightly dividing line by line, precept by precept, we know their end is the second death. People who are confused say dead means alive and sleep is a metaphor for wakeful awareness, and all manner of nonsense. What they bring to the table, including denying that Jesus taught in parables, is scant compared to the numerous verses that refute what they believe. Some even say man is born with an immortal soul, which directly contradicts what Scripture explicitly states... but they still think they are right

Amen I agree.

I think some expansion would helpful on what Matthew 7:23 means exactly, though. Jesus is speaking to workers of iniquity which are people who violate or transgress the law. This verse only applies to people who violate the law.

I humbly submit some questions to you (or anyone who reads this) for consideration:
Which law(s) are these workers of iniquity transgressing?
Is the law(s) still in effect?
Who does the law apply to?
Which specific laws was Jesus referring to?

This is Salvation 101 and this part is plain, prophesied and fulfilled.

God only has one begotten son in heaven and earth, Jesus.

Everything and all else in heaven & earth have been created. We are blessed to be up for adoption by this precious promise of salvation .

Love like no other nor can we display, is why God came in the flesh of humanity as Jesus.

All that is required of us is our signature of faith,belief & a willingness to be adopted as daughter's and sons of God!

Most of what you said is actually correct as far as I can tell, but you aren’t allowing death to be death. You take death and make it mean eternal life because if someone never dies then they live forever. Jesus said that only those who believe in Him can live forever.

This is actually a common cognitive dissonance among those who espouse the doctrine of eternal conscious torment. I don’t mean that crassly, but if no one tells you maybe you’ll never know.

God bless

Sure, some elements of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus are literal such as temporary consciousness in hell, where the rich man was. Did you notice how nowhere in that parable, or story if you prefer, that it doesn’t say the rich man is in torment forever?

The rich man was either destroyed:

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Or the rich man either was or will be allowed out after paying the penalty for his sin:

Matthew 5:26
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

God bless

People have been telling me for 50 years. I don't agree.

Death is not the end of existence. How can it be when we are born dead in trespass and sin?

In Adam, all die. Except the human race still exists. Your concept of death is incorrect.

Death is separation from God. That is exactly what happened in Eden. Adam and Eve hid from God. Mankind has been running away ever since.

And who can pay the penalty of their sin? The rich man was there forever.

I don't agree that our opinions trump scripture, that's how cults form.




Was Jesus born dead in trespass and sin as a human? No? Then why would anyone else be?

Why? God says so. At least, every Bible version I've read says the same thing-

Colossians 2:13When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.
People sin because they are sinners by nature. No one has to teach a toddler to rebel. It's as natural as breathing.



This isn't talking about physical death.

This is evident because they didn't physically die the day of their eating the fruit:

Gen. 2:17
17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Exactly. it is talking about spiritual death. Separation from God.


God continued interacting with humanity after the fall of Adam and Eve. So what you just said is clearly false.