John 3:16 Is Not the Gospel
This week’s lesson was prompted by a student-submitted question:
“People who have never had a chance to hear the gospel can look at the world and see there’s a God out there but, according to John 3:16, you have to believe that Jesus died on the cross to be saved. Since God is just, how is it fair for them to go to hell?”
The questioner states that according to John 3:16, one has to “believe that Jesus died on the cross to be saved.” Let’s take a look at this verse:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. — John 3:16
Please notice that “dying on the cross” is conspicuously absent from this verse, as is (of course) believing that He died on a cross. While we’re at it, it doesn’t even mention Him dying! Now on one hand, I don’t want to make too big of a deal about this because I don’t think my student was intentionally running roughshod over the text—the question was hastily scribbled on a piece of paper at the end of class and the student’s intent was not to lay out a full-orbed presentation of the gospel in one question. However, this is a very big deal because what we’re talking about here is the core of the gospel message—what it takes to be saved from God’s righteous judgment and His just condemnation of us to an eternity in hell. If we don’t get this right, it doesn’t matter what else we do get right. We always need to be able to accurately deliver the truth, in season and out (2 Timothy 4:2), and even when time is short.
“So, wait…Is Jesus saying that I don’t have to believe that Jesus died (on a cross) to be saved?”
No, of course not. This would be putting words in our Lord’s mouth, not to mention being a contradiction of 1 Corinthians 15:1–4. So, what is going on here?
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you have probably figured out by now that I am a vocal advocate for considering context, and I’m going to do it again here. The context of this, arguably the most famous passage in the entire Bible, is criminally neglected in most circles (have you ever seen anyone at a football game with “John 3:1-21” painted on his chest?), so I want to spend just a moment looking into it before moving onto the actual point of the question.
So, I had the kids open up to John 3, and we started reading in verse 1: “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” So, there’s this guy named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee, but what’s a Pharisee? What’re they all about? Well, the last phrase says that he was a “ruler of the Jews.” He was not a political ruler, but a religious one. Does the Bible have anything to say about what the Pharisees believed that might help us understand Nicodemus? It sure does. The Pharisees accepted the entirety of the Old Testament (the Torah, the prophets and the psalms) as Scripture, believed in the resurrection, in angels, and in the spirit (Acts 23:8). They were also notorious in our Lord’s eyes for their hypocrisy, and their emphasis on works (Matthew 23). They also placed a heavy emphasis on the study of the Scriptures as we see in John 5:39: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness about Me;”
So what happens in this conversation between Jesus and this works-focused religious ruler, the teacher of Israel (John 3:10)?
In a nutshell, Jesus tells this Pharisee that he’s an unbeliever (John 3:12), and that he must be born again or he will not enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5) Nicodemus is a little perplexed by this, so Jesus explains that it’s just like when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21). Moses told the people that when the Israelites were bitten by venomous snakes, all they had to do was look upon a bronze serpent lifted up on a pole in the middle of camp and they’d be healed. It’s an act that doesn’t make any earthly sense—how does merely gazing at a sculpture undo the effects of venom? This serpent, of course, was a type or shadow of Christ. Believing in Jesus (i.e., putting our complete trust in Him) for eternal salvation is just as much an act of faith as looking at a bronze serpent after being bitten. Both are simple acts that defy logic, and both must be done after recognizing that there is no other hope.
So, is this an exhaustive treatise on what one must do to be saved? No, it’s not. Rather, it is a direct confrontation by Jesus of Nicodemus’ biggest problem—his reliance upon his own works-based righteousness. Salvation is not a matter of one’s own study or earnest labors, but rather it is a work of Spirit (John 3:5–8), it is an act of faith (John 3:14, 15), and even this faith is not a working of man, but rather it is a work of God (John 3:21).
Do you see now just how much richer John 3:16 is when we consider the immediate context and the audience to whom Jesus was speaking? John 3:16 is, without a doubt, a part of the gospel, but it is not the gospel in toto. Consequently, it does not contain all that one must believe to be saved.
What? Did I just say that out loud?
Yes, I did. John 3:16 is not “the gospel.”
So, what is the gospel? What does one have to believe to be saved from the judgment of God which rightfully condemns all who sin to an eternity in hell (John 3:36)? The Apostle Paul summarizes the gospel message in four basic points in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5:
Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
He was buried,
He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and
He appeared to many.
There’s a lot more that could be said of these four brief points; if I could, I’d dive into the “Five Solas” of the Reformation:
Sola scriptura
Sola Christus
Sola fide
Sola gratia, and
Soli Deo gloria
But I shall have to leave that for your own study. If you really want to boil down the gospel message into a more modern vernacular, I’d say:
You’re a sinner bound for hell. You cannot save yourself. Your only hope is Jesus.
I wish we could get onto the actual point of the question (the part about God’s justice and people who’ve never heard of Jesus going to hell), but that’s going to have to wait another week or two. We really need to make sure we’re solid on the gospel itself. To that end, I want to examine a common misconception about the gospel and what is required of us.
Homework
Is eternal salvation simply a matter of believing that Jesus is God and that He died on the cross for your sins, or is there something more that goes along with it? Support your answers with Scripture!