Tell me what does John 3:16 mean to you and how do you share that passage with the lost ? What do you tell a lost person about that passage ?
This is a very interesting question, and identifies a few flaws in the poster's understanding of the gospel. So a preamble is needed.
First of all, it's pointless to quote unbelievers a "Bible verse", since they don't believe the Bible, or at least have no reason to accept anything it says. Instruction on the historical reliability of the Bible and the historical Jesus can come after, or during the process where they ruminate over the gospel.
Second, there's no reason to START at John 3:16, since it's not the first book of the Bible, nor is it even the first book of the New Testament. The message in John 3:16 presupposes God's creation of man, His election of the Jews, his giving of the Mosaic Law, and Israel's complete failure to obey the Law. So some backfill is needed.
At this point I have to say I really like Ray Comfort's presentation of starting with the Ten Commandments, and getting your audience to admit that they've sinned, and they need to do something with their sin. And THAT, of course, is what finally brings us to JESUS.
Having said all that...
I've presented my view of the gospel message a number of times, and so let me match up the points in my presentation, wth the truth in John 3:16:
.
1) God is holy | Isa. 6:3, Rev. 4:8 |
2) man is a sinner; | Rom. 3:19-20, 23 |
3) the wages of sin is death; | Rom. 6:23 |
4) God decided to show mercy and love | (1) “For God so loved the world, |
5) God sent Jesus to atone for sin | (2) that he gave his only Son, |
6) If you believe in Jesus, you will be saved. | (3) that whoever believes in him
should not perish
but have eternal life. |
.
So as we can see, strictly speaking, John 3:16 is insufficient to cover all the points in the gospel message.
And if you would like a more detailed exegesis of John 3:16, you can find it here:
John 3;16 is mainstream church standard proclaiming God's love to the world. The following is an article I wrote about 8 years ago. I believe it was based on a discussion on CARM, and I decided to write it as the first post on my (not very active) blog. I believe I've posted it on CARM in...
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