by John 3:16 reveals what separates true Christianity from other religions in the world, the love of God. All men are unworthy of this love because of a spiritual birth defect we are born with, the sin nature (Romans 5:12). Our Creator knew we could never remove this defect, so He sent His unconditional love, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to destroy it (1 John 3:8). In effect, the same love we’re unworthy of was sent to make us worthy of it. When we put our faith in what Jesus did for us, we become born again, just as Jesus taught Nicodemus in John 3. We may never fully understand how and why the separation of sin is destroyed by this love, but we can assuredly know that we have personally experienced His love (1 John 5:13).
Thinking on the phrase “For God so loved the world” alongside the children’s song, “Jesus Loves Me This I Know,” our finite minds stand in awe as to why God could ever have “first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The answer is the simple fact that “God is love” (1 John 4:16), not loving, but “God is love,” PERIOD! This love isn’t a mere attribute of God that can change, but His very nature that can never change! When Paul prayed for the church, one thing he prayed was that we would grasp that God is love (Ephesians 3:17-19). Love far beyond comprehension, given by Paul with dimensions we may understand─breadth, length, depth, height”─yet dimensions we can’t fully measure! As the Psalmist penned, dimensions that are as immeasurable “as far as the east is from the west,” eternally separated (Psalms 103:10-12,17).
The simplest answer to why God loves us is found in Deuteronomy 7:7-8a. Here, God says, “I love you simply because I love you, it’s nothing you have done or can do … end of story!” God doesn’t love us because we are loveable, but simply because “God is love,” PERIOD! By this love revealed to us in John 3:16, Jesus received what He didn’t deserve, punishment, that we can receive what we don’t deserve, forgiveness. Therefore, God loves us completely:
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
