For God Loved the World

Source: gospelrenewal.com

So a while back I came across the Holman Christian Standard Bible website. I don't remember if it was intentional or not, but I decided I was curious about it. I had heard good things from the Bible dictionary that Holman had made (obviously). It talked about accuracy a lot, and if you look on their website, you'll find that that's one of their big selling points.

On that note, I found their treatment of John 3:16 to be not only interesting, but very enlightening. For comparison, let's look at John 3:16 from various other popular translations:

• NIV: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• ESV: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
• KJV: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoevere believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
• NASB: 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.

All of those are perfectly good translations. However, as the HCSB's blog post on John 3:16 says, "[I]f you think the verse intends to communicate how much God loves the world, you have missed the meaning of the original Greek text." With that in mind, let's look at the HCSB's translation:

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Rather than (seemingly) talk about how much God loves the world, this translation shows God's love as an action. It says, "This is what God did to love the world."

I know some people may think that the HCSB is ruining the beauty of this verse, or interpreting it wrong. They aren't. I looked up the Greek (with the help of study tools of course, since I don't know Greek) and found that, in fact, that is the meaning of the original text!

And it doesn't make this verse any less beautiful: it makes it more so. Think about it: God's love isn't just some obscure, impossible-to-define emotion. It's the clear action of Him sending His Son to die for us and save us. That's consistent with the ever famous "love chapter" of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, which shows love as an action, not a feeling.

Wouldn't you rather God's love save you, rather than just feel for you?

P.S.: I was going to write about how I approve of the HCSB, but I think I prefer that ending better.