Text: 1 Jn 2:15-18 & John 3:13-18 & 36
Title: How to Reconcile 1 Jn 2:15 with John 3:16?
I. Introduction
A. Critics attack Bible Believers and the Bible by saying “the Bible is full of contradictions.”
B. There are at least two issues with the above attack by the critics:
1. Critics will not take time to examine and study the Bible in context before making accusations.
2. “Bible Believers” are often too lazy or too busy to study the Bible to adequately answer the critics.
C. Studying and Rightly Dividing the Bible (2 Tim 2:15) will clear up most of the “problem texts” that the critics present. Consider the following examples:
1. Critics say the Bible prohibits eating catfish, yet churches have “fish fries.” The answer of course is that dietary laws were under the O.T. Law, but now believers are under Grace (Rom 6:14 & 1 Tim 4:4).
2. Critics say the Bible requires animal sacrifices, but churches do no such thing today. Again, the answer is animal sacrifices were required under the O.T. Law, but under “Grace” Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:12).
II. Reconciling 1 Jn 2:15 with Jn 3:16
A. On the surface it appears God is doing the very thing that is forbidden in 1 Jn 2:15, that is loving the world.
B. The question is, Does God love or hate the world? To answer we must understand the context of how “world” is used in both passages.
1. Context of “world” in 1 Jn 2
a. John is writing prophetically at a future time when the “world” is being operated under the authority of the antichrist (1 Jn 2:18).
b. John addressed the “world” in 1 Jn 2:16 not as people but as a system.
c. John uses “world” in the sense of something that will not go on forever but will pass away. This current world will be replaced by a new world to come (Mk 10:28-30).
2. Context of “world” in John 3
a. John 3:15-16 connects the “world” with people, that is “whosoever,” not a system. God desires that these “whosoever” will have everlasting life.
b. The “world” in John 3 is not the subject of condemnation in God’s perfect will (also see 1 Tim1:15).
c. Condemnation or Everlasting Life is in the hands of each individual (either believe or not believe Jn 3:18).
d. The “world” of John 3 is faced with two aspects of God’s character (either God’s love of verse 16 or God’s wrath of verse 36).
C. Based on the points in letter “B” above it is obvious that God hates the world system and its sin, but does God hate lost sinners? Answer: No & Yes!
1. No, God does not hate the “soul” of lost sinners.
a. Jn 3:16 makes it clear God loves the souls of “whosoever” and wants them to have everlasting life.
b. God commended His love toward people while they were still sinners (Rom 5:8).
2. Yes, God does hate sinners (not their soul but their flesh and its works)-see Psm 5:5
a. God does not even love the flesh of a saved man, because there is no good thing in the flesh (Rom 7:17-18).
b. God will never fix the sinful flesh, but He will deliver us from it and give a glorified body (Rom 7:24-25).
c. Nobody, saved or lost, can please God in the flesh (Rom 8:8).
III. Conclusion
A. God does not contradict himself and neither does the Bible when rightly divided.
B. The key to reconciling 1 Jn 2:15 and John 3:16 is to understand how each is looking at a different aspect of the “world.”
C. God hates the “world system” along with the sins of the flesh, yet He loves the lost souls in the world enough to allow His Son to die in their place.
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