Gr. zōē aiōnios. In John the adjective aiōnios, “everlasting,” appears only with the word zōē, “life” (chs. 3:15, 16, 36; 4:14, 36; 5:24, 39; 6:27, 40, 47, 54, 68; 10:28; 12:25, 50; 17:2, 3). For the meaning of zōē see on ch. 1:4, and of aiōnios, see on Matt. 25:41. The Greek of John 3:16 reads literally, “might keep on having everlasting life.” “Everlasting life” is life that lasts forever, life that has no end. It becomes possible only through unbroken connection with the Source of all life.

 In 1 John 5:11 the evangelist stresses the fact that God has “given to us eternal life [zōēn aiōnion].” The gift of everlasting life was made when God gave the unspeakable gift of His only Son. It is the privilege of the sincere Christian to rejoice that he has “everlasting life” now, as a gift of God, and “this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11; cf. ch. 3:2). “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12). The possession of everlasting life is conditional upon Christ’s abiding in the heart by faith. He who believes has everlasting life, and has “passed from death unto life” (see on John 5:24, 25; 6:54; 8:51).

 Gr. apollumi, “to utterly destroy,” “to blot out,” “to vanish into nothingness.” “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The opposite of “everlasting life” is not everlasting misery, but eternal annihilation, everlasting death. Sin has within itself the seeds of dissolution. Death ensues, not simply because God wills it, but because the sinner chooses to separate himself from God, the source of life.

 See on ch. 1:12.

 There are no limits to the love of God. There are none to whom He arbitrarily refuses the benefits of saving grace. There is but one condition—belief in, and willing cooperation with, Christ. See on ch. 1:12. It is God’s goodness that leads men to repentance (Rom. 2:4). It is the sunshine of His love that melts hard hearts, brings back the lost, and makes sinners into saints.

 Literally, “his only Son” (see Additional Note on Chapter 1; see on Luke 1:35; John 1:14).

 Love is genuine only when it is in action. God’s love for sinners led Him to give all that He had for their salvation (see Rom. 5:8). It is the essence of love to sacrifice self for others; selfishness is the antithesis of love.

 Gr. kosmos, the world as a created, organized entity (see on Matt. 4:8). God’s love embraces all mankind, but directly benefits only those who respond to it (see on John 1:12). Love requires reciprocity in order to be fully effective. But significantly, God’s love embraces those who reject it as well as those who accept it. None of the lost can accuse God of not loving them. To assert that God has predestined certain persons to be lost irrespective of their own choice in the matter is to say that He hates them. It is to stigmatize Him as unjust and place upon Him the blame for their fate. See Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:19; see on John 3:17-20.

 The English word “love” is altogether inadequate to express the depth of solicitous interest expressed by the Greek words agapē, “love,” and agapaō, “to love” (see on Matt. 5:43). Love is the pre-eminent attribute of the Creator with respect to His creatures. It is the controlling force in divine government. “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

 John speaks of himself as “that disciple whom Jesus loved” (ch. 21:7; cf. chs. 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:20), that is, loved pre-eminently. The reason was simply that John, more than any of his fellow disciples, submitted to the influence of the perfect life of Jesus and eventually came to understand and reflect the perfection of that life more fully than they (see pp. 891, 892). John was thus better qualified than the other disciples to appreciate the magnitude of divine love and to explain it to his fellow men. This he attempts to do in ch. 3:16—“God so loved.” In 1 John 3:1 he exclaims again, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.” Words fail him to express the depth of that eternal, changeless love, and John simply invites men to “behold” it. The supreme expression of divine love is the Father’s gift of His own Son (John 3:16), through whom it becomes possible for us to be “called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).