God loved the world “His chosen people” that were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. The ones loved by God are referred to by many names in the scriptures: They are the sheep of His pasture; the redeemed, the church, His beloved, the elect, His bride, and saints, Israel, children, ransomed, plus many more.
God so loved this world that He gave His only begotten Son to pay the ransomed price for their redemption and save them from their sins. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (I John 4:9). The type in the Old Testament was Abraham who was told to take his “only” son, Isaac, and offer him for a sacrifice to God.
God gave His only Son as there was no other. This only Son was the Lord Jesus Christ who was the second one of the Godhead; the Father the word and the Holy Ghost. God spared not His only Son but freely gave Him and shall He not freely give us all things.
Jesus was the only begotten Son of God which means He was the only and sole born; that is He was born unto the virgin Mary but He was already in existence with the Father before this event took place. He was begotten in His natural birth and especially when He was begotten from the dead with His resurrection from the grave.
Jesus is the Son of God which was the only one who could pay the redemption price in its perfection. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who was fully God and fully man in His earthly existence. It was this Son that God gave.
God gave His only Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. This is an assurance text to the believer who is already in possession of everlasting life as Jesus states in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” The believer has the assurance He is of that “world” and will not perish in eternity because Jesus gave His life and they will never perish.
Who believes in the Son of God? It is those who are born of the Spirit and have had access to the gospel and the good news of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Belief is the evidence and not the cause of everlasting life as the apostle John so clearly states in 1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” For one to believe IN the Son of God, he must be of necessity be IN the Son of God by the new birth.
As stated earlier the believer is in possession of everlasting life but through his belief he has the knowledge and assurance the he will NOT perish with the wicked who are not part of the world for whom Christ died. We are His and He is ours through belief and that assurance is all predicated on our belief IN Him.
Although the believer has everlasting life, he cannot rest and enjoy what he is in possession of until he believes in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The believer has everlasting life and enjoys and manifest what He already has and rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Jesus came that His people might have life and have it more abundantly. The abundant life comes through belief and obedience. John 3:16 is doctrinal in that God GAVE His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON for the WORLD  that He LOVED and practical and experimental  in the belief if this great doctrinal truth. Happy Valentines’s Day to one and all–Elder Larry Wise–February 14, 2015
