How To Study The Bible

Alright. We've been going for weeks and weeks and weeks since the beginning of April on John chapter 3. And we're just embarking now on verse 15 this morning. I won't skip over 16. I'm joking, of course. Yeah, everybody knows it. What's happening here is the passage is starting to kind of turn a corner.

How many of you have red letter edition Bibles? One of the things that you may notice, where does your red letter edition change from red to black? I mean, what do you mean? In chapter 3 it goes on and at some point... 21 is the end of the red, okay? And any other differences from that? Just what I read. Okay. It starts with 16.

You mean from Jesus speaking to John's coming? Well, just in terms of... things are in red there. where Jesus is obviously speaking, at some point it changes to black. I just would point out that determining exactly where Jesus quit speaking in John's just writing commentary is not easy to... it doesn't just jump out at you. So, in fact, where it's red letter, I would not take those red letters and where it stops and starts as somehow inspired. Because the Greek doesn't have all of a sudden a switch to red Greek. They didn't say, we're going to dip it in a red ink now.

So it's a modern distinction. What I'd like for us to do is we look at this, and we're not there yet, but I'd like us to look at it, and as we're looking, try to discern where is the line here. Because the distinctions you have in your Bibles are somebody's interpretation, but it's not necessarily, it's not from the text of Scripture that it turns from red to black. That's the point. That's something we have to read and interpret. Okay, something else.

Up till now, a great deal of what has been written has been very Jewish. You notice that? There's been a lot of, you know, here's Nicodemus and what he said and what Jesus said. Up till now, it's been very Jewish. And even the picture in verse 14 that Jesus uses, He draws upon for Nicodemus, very Jewish. He's saying, you know, It's as if Jesus is saying, I'll use this picture because I know Nicodemus being a Jew will get this. Starting at verse 15, it turns a corner. It ceases having the explicitly Jewish character to it.

And we'll see that as we get into it. Something else. Up until this point, the Jewish cultural understanding is important to interpreting the passage, isn't it? As we start turning this corner, here's what's going to happen. The cultural understanding will suddenly have less importance to interpreting it, and the understanding of the Greek will have more importance to understanding it. So that's something to keep in mind as you're interpreting and studying a passage. What's behind the greatest insight into this passage? Is it understanding the culture? Or is it understanding the language? As we turn into verse 15, suddenly understanding the language is much more important. Why would the culture not be as important once we get into verse 15?

Why would that suddenly change? Tom? I think I'm reading between the lines, and I think what you're about to tell us is that Jesus quit speaking after 14. Well, okay, let's not jump there yet. But, you know, just the question, why is it all of a sudden we come into verse 15 and the cultural understanding begins to kind of fade as being less important, and now all of a sudden the language understanding starts to be important? He's been talking to Nicodemus, so he's still talking to Nicodemus.

But now he's starting to bring in everybody. For all mankind. What words jump out at you as all of a sudden jumping the bank, so to speak? The whosoevers. Yes. That kind of a statement all of a sudden widens it out. All of a sudden, does it matter if you're a son of Abraham? All of a sudden, does it matter whether you're born in this country or that? Does it matter if you are intimately familiar with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, per se? All those things that are explicitly Jewish suddenly start to melt away.

As soon as you turn to verse 15, this thing widens out to a scope that I'm sure was kind of blowing Nicodemus' mind. Nicodemus is thinking Nicodemus. I don't think he's thinking all the Jews. He's thinking the Jewish leaders, I think. Yeah, he's thinking pretty narrow. Yeah, he's thinking real narrow. And now, all of a sudden, Jesus starts throwing in the whosoever's. What? You know? How about verse 16? The world. Whoa!

You know, it didn't have in there, And God so loved the sons of Israel. No. and God so loved the world, and that He sent His only Son. Think of it, in the Jewish mind, what was the Son going to come to do? To be the King, to be the Jewish Messiah. That was what the Son was supposed to do. That's what the Son's all about, right? And now what's going to happen? He starts telling, God so loved the world, all these people, the cosmos, okay? that he gave his only son, this one that's supposed to be the Messiah. That's Nicodemus' idea, right? That all the Jews that believed...

You see what's happening? This thing is widening out all of a sudden. So now, yes, it's helpful to have the cultural understanding, but realizing that's no longer limiting this discussion, is it? He's jumping the banks outside of anything of what Nicodemus has thought in terms of who gets included in this. Nicodemus was getting stretched to think about this being born again thing. Jesus has talked about that. Now, Jesus with these words turns a corner and starts saying it's not only how do you be born again, this thing is widened out to all who believe, whosoever, the whole world. Those kinds of universal terms.

So, let me distribute something here. Okay. And I've included 14, even though we've already taken a look at it, just for the sake of context and continuity. I'd like us to start with 15, but I'll read 14 just so we have context. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so far it's really Jewish, isn't it? even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." So far, I've got the parallel.

This is real Jewish. Then in verse 15, the second word just blows Nicodemus out of the water. Because it says, "...that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Not only is this jumping outside the limitations that Nicodemus is thinking of with the whosoever in there. But, what else do you see in here is really different from what Nicodemus would have said?

In him. In him. Okay. It's not going to be his genealogy. That's right. Let's take a key on that point. Jesus is saying, in him, What would Nicodemus say is eternal life? In what? In the right genealogy? In what else? Obedience to the law. Is there anything else we can add to that?

What else would Nicodemus be depending on? He is especially looking at all that a man can do. And even depending on the fact that he hangs around Jerusalem, I live in the right territory. After all, he wouldn't step into Samaria. So it's genealogical, it's geographical, and it's also just plain law, physical accomplishment. It's all of where Nicodemus is, what Nicodemus does, and what Nicodemus or who Nicodemus is descended from.

That's what Nicodemus is thinking. This believing is outside of his realm. Just believing. What does, what, if you, if I, what's that? That's right. Believing isn't really the issue. It's what you do, right? It's what you do. And so, to them, this idea of believing, well, wait a minute. He's looking it up, you know. What does he have to do with being a son of Abraham? Which law is that? He is looking for everything about Nicodemus. This is everything about in him. Just day and night distinction there. You see that? Alright, now, let's walk through this verse Just one step at a time. One step at a time. And one is that. Because this is based on 14.

The Son of Man is lifted up. This is what's called hinah. So that or so that for the purpose of. The idea is It's to the end that. In other words, there's a direction to this. The Son of Man is lifted up for this direction, for this purpose, so that this will be. In order that. That's what you want to put in there. This is done so that this other thing will happen. This was done so that this will happen. So that's the direction. It says there at the bottom, in order that, and then there's other instances we'll be taking a look at in a bit here that apply to the next verse.

But it's basically, verse 14 is linked to 15 with this little connector. And this little connector He is lifted up. He isn't just lifted up just to be lifted up. This isn't just a hobby or an extracurricular activity. This has a specific direction in mind.

In order that. So that's the connection that Jesus makes here. Next, we have it translated, whosoever. The Greek word there is actually pretty general. Pas just means all. So here's this exclusive, this non-exclusive, excuse me, non-exclusive word. Nicodemus has got his criteria in mind. Jesus is laying out, no, Nicodemus, that's not the criteria. I know I just blew your circuits telling you you had to be born again. Now I'm telling you, you must believe. And it's not all the other things that you spent decades and decades and decades learning and refining.

It's whosoever. All. Who to the Jews, and you bring up an excellent point, who to the Jews are just the most disgusting groups of people? Think of them. The Samaritans are certainly one. Who are some others that they thought were disgusting? The Romans! The Romans!

That's the one that the Messiah is going to take out of our, you know, backyard here. The Jews were absolutely incensed because Pilate was the one responsible for moving the Roman garrison from a coastal town where they had it to an outpost that was situated immediately next to and slightly above the temple, the Antonia Fortress. And here they had a situation where the most disgusting repulsive thought that they could Here is the Roman fortress and all the Roman soldiers overlooking everything that's going on in the temple. And the Romans came in and they imposed their taxes.

They had all kinds of invasive and awful things. And so, do you mean they're included in this? How about another disgusting group? There are several. They say, what was that? The Samaritans, yes, okay. Do you remember they pointed to Jesus and they said, you eat with the publicans, yes. You eat with the publicans, yes. You eat with those tax collectors. The Roman tax system was complex like ours. And they were different, but just as invasive. Example, here's Joseph and Mary. Mary, you're pregnant. you get no extension, you've got to go down to Bethlehem, pregnant or not, and register for the tax, period. You don't like it? Which side of the sword do you want? They were ghastly.

In the Roman tax system, certain portions of the tax were done by contract. That is, these tax contractors would make a deal with the Romans, they would say, I'm going to pay you this much to be able to tax this area, this region. And they would pay the Romans in advance and then after the fact get the money. But there were very poor limitations on how much they could collect. So you hear Zacchaeus saying, if I took more than my share I'll pay back four times more.

The reason being? Basically it was thievery, and Jews who would join with the Romans in that system, which included Matthew, were considered disgusting. Other groups? Drunkards, prostitutes, and the accusation Jesus hung out with these people. Anybody you could consider disgusting, Somebody mentioned Gentiles. One of the nicknames for Gentiles was dogs. These are the dogs. It was a decade after Pentecost before Peter walked into the house of Cornelius and still just kind of kept shuddering.

So here's all these disgusting groups and Jesus just opens up Saul with this one three-letter Greek word. all who believe, whosoever. See that? It's a universal term. Now, next thing. Go down the verse there. Whoever believeth. Now, let's take a look at that word believe. Pistiuo.

We have in English, believe have faith or have trust? And are there differences in understanding in our English words, believe, have faith, trust? Are those exactly identical or are there shades of meaning? Tom? It has to be shades of meaning because if I say I believe you, you have to get me. Uh-huh. No implication of trust at all. Okay. Okay.

We use it with nuance, don't we? We use it with shades of meaning. In the Greek word, and this is almost a rare exception, usually the Greeks are more specific and our English is more vague, right? This is a rare instance where it's flipped around. There's one word here, pistou, and it basically means, you know, faith, to believe, trust, it's the same meaning there, okay? But, in the Complete Word Study New Testament, when you go into the dictionary portion, for this particular passage, and it even references John 3, 15 and 16.

Notice what it says. This should not be taken as the one holding on to God constantly lest he let loose and fall. In other words, the belief is not one where I must continuously believe or I'm constantly at the risk of losing it. It rather indicates that once he believes, he continues to believe for he has eternal life in him. So the dependence is on the Lord.

The assurance Christ gave in John 10.28, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. And by the way, this eternal life and perish are the same words that are in our passage here. neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Once a believer places himself in Jesus, it is he who holds him firmly without someone being able to snatch him away. For if this could happen, then there would be the acknowledgment that someone is mightier than Christ, which cannot be.

So this believing is not a tenuous hope by fingernails I'm holding on to the salvation. But it is a believing based on the whole context of the way John uses the word. It is a believing that once having believed, that salvation is permanent, irreversible. This is not used in the sense of just having an intellectual assent to something.

The analogy, and excuse me if you've heard it already, It's my understanding that there was a fellow some many decades back who had a tightrope going across the Niagara Falls gap there. He crossed and then came back, and then he had a wheelbarrow. He said, which of you believes that I can do it again?

Then the question, okay, get in. Yeah, do you really believe? Okay, get in. That's this kind of belief. It's the kind of belief that puts one's trust and confidence in that, in the same way that each of you sat down this morning believing that the chair would hold you up. We're also one floor above the bottom. We walked in here believing that this floor was going to hold us up. It's that kind of belief, one that places one's personal confidence in that. It may seem small, but I don't want to skip over it. Believes, and as Joanne noted, in Him.

You have on your handout, as I have here, you have some Greek prepositions. This is not all of the Greek prepositions, but I think it serves to illustrate what we're looking at here. In the Greek, for example, this dia means through. This is from, apo. Here's one you're probably familiar with. We have in the English the prefix hypo, a hypochondriac. It's under or below.

The word for in here, and you will see two words similarly used. The word for in is this one. Believe in. You believe in. And notice that that believing is entirely in. It's basically saying if you are in Him, you're not just stepping over the line. See that? If we believe in Him, it's not, now I'm putting my toe over the line, but I'm really still standing here. It's all the way in. I put my confidence and trust in Him. Let's ask about this Him.

Now that word Him is just a simple pronoun. There isn't anything real fancy about that pronoun. But what do we understand that word Him to mean? What is that? Him. Christ, okay? Why do we understand it to be Christ? Because it refers back to 14, the Son of Man. Okay, alright. We have the reference there in 14, that's the last person that we hear of, okay, who could be called Him. I'm sorry, what? The Son of Man. The Son of Man, okay. And then we go on into verse 16, what does it tell us? It still talks again about His Son, right? And then it reiterates anyone who believes in Him. So it is quite clear from the context, both before and after, that the Him is Jesus. Let's ask this question. Suppose I believe that Jesus is a good example of the way to live. Suppose I believe that Jesus is a prophet. Now, suppose I believe that, is that sufficient? Why doesn't it fit the bill? What's wrong with that? Because you have to believe that he's the only begotten son.

Ah, okay. It's not just something called Jesus, okay? It's who he is, right? And to know who He is, you've got to look at God's Word. So we can't kind of jump ship. But there are, and you may have run across them, may know some folks who will say, well Jesus was a great example. I believe that He is a great example. Therefore I'm in. Or, I was talking to a friend of mine last night who has a fellow who he works with, who this workmate is of Islamic background. And he says, well, I believe Jesus is a prophet. And so they believe in him, so they think.

But it doesn't fit the bill because it's not who Christ even said he was. Christ didn't just come to be an example. So, important distinction there. When we say in him, it needs to be in him as Scripture And Christ himself says, in him means. Not just some general belief, you know, about Christ.

Or about something with the name of Jesus associated with it. It means you're committed to it. You have an adherence to him. And you're in him as eternal security. As opposed to, like you said, I. Well, there are passages, in fact, that use this. But let's look at, for example, here is para, which is about, or alongside. We have parallel, and our word comes from that.

Can you believe about Christ? Is that sufficient? The believing about doesn't get you there, does it? See, it's funny, here's this little diagram of circles, all of a sudden this starts to matter a lot. This little preposition, which one do you pick? It does matter.

This is the ice. This is in, which means completely in. Ice means into. And there are some places where it talks about believing into Christ. But notice that the direction of ice is towards what? Is towards in. So when it talks about believing into Him, it's really pointing towards this is the end. You put your belief into Him with the end that you are in Him. You see that? Yeah, Tom? So that means being in one ear and out the other. Yeah, it's through. And Scripture does use that word in other places, but not just believing through Christ as if you're believing in out the other side.

There are certainly places where that preposition is important and powerful. But in this particular case when we're talking about believing in Him, the key, and what you see in this passage is here, And then in some other similar passages, ice, where it's believing into the end result being that you're here. See the difference there? The other prepositions, believing about Christ, is not sufficient. That your belief comes from Christ. You could look at all these other prepositions and they don't get you there.

He's specific. This is you are in Christ. One of the things, if you go through Ephesians and underline all the places where it says, in Christ or in Him, it's just amazing from the start just how many times it keeps underscoring that. In, in, in. And this is not an incidental issue, even though you only got two letters there.

Right. Yeah. Yep. Okay, let's continue on here. Yes? What was that one at the top left, cross? Cross, yes. This is a toward, okay? To or toward, okay, is the idea with this. Yeah, let's just go through it. This is to or toward. This is through. This apo is from, and ek is out. Ek is frequently done with some kind of a modifier.

For example, Revelation 3.10, the promise to the church at Philadelphia, that you will be kept out. Kept out. So, this out is a matter of you're maintained out. In the middle of the tribulation period, the saints there are not promised to be kept out, they're taken out. See the difference there? Taken out from the middle of, as opposed to kept out. Interesting distinction.

This para means alongside. For example, a paraclete, the Holy Spirit is a paraclete, and we believers are called to be paraclete, one who comes alongside. we have in our English parallel. This is under someone who is hypoglycemic. The hypo means under. Their glycemic level is low. Low blood sugar. That's what that word is about.

And then there's n which is completely in and ice means into. So those are the prepositions that you see up there. There are some others. that you run across, but this is a good illustration of some of the main ones. He who believes in him should not, and what do you notice about this? Two words, one code. So there's one Greek word behind this should not. Here's where that comes out.

There are places where the Greek text behind the King James Version, which has obviously become well entrenched, and it is the text which James Strong used, for example, to develop the Strong's Concordance and the Numbers. The Greek text behind the King James differs from some of the other texts. So it's an instance where there's a difference between the texts, but in fact, it makes no difference in doctrine.

Verse 15 is telling you the exact same thing as 16. So in some of your English translations, you're going to see, you know, should not perish. You're going to see that not in verse 15, but the same message will come through in verse 16. I go ahead and include it because it is precisely a reproduction of what's in 16, and you're going to find it in the Greek text that's behind the King James anyway. And this is going to show up in verse 16.

So this word basically means not. There is a way of underscoring this not that you'll see elsewhere in John numerous times, and instead of just may, which means no or not is a negation. Ume. And this says not. Ume means not a chance. And that's where Jesus says in John 10.28, and I am giving them life. And they cannot perish of their own doing. He uses not just me, but ume, there is not the slightest chance that they will perish of their own doing.

In John 10.28. So it's a Greek emphatic, not even the slightest chance that they're going to take themselves out of salvation. How about that? Super emphatic. And it shows up again, we're going to look at this again in verse 16. It shows up again there.

And then there are two words that are translated but, and there are occasionally others, but the two primary words that are translated but from the Greek, and the one word is day, and the other word is Allah. And of the two, day is sort of a minor contrast, and is more of a connective. This one is Allah, And it means sharp contrast, in sharp distinction. Paul uses that Greek word ala frequently in the last part of Ephesians where he says, don't be fools, but in sharp contrast be wise.

See the difference? In sharp contrast be wise. And here, should not perish, but in sharp contrast to this perishing. It's not an incidental difference. Tom? That's right. The two levels of distinction. Good point. So here's what he's talking about. Having eternal life is in sharp contrast to perishing. You see the distinction there? It is not a minor difference.

And this is something I think to keep in mind The world is constantly conveying to us the message, whatever spirituality you have, it really doesn't matter too much. Don't you hear that from the world? Spirituality might not matter too much, and if you've got your brand and I've got mine, it's no big deal. You've got your truth and I've got mine, and truth is all lowercase anyway.

So it doesn't matter too terrible much, and that's nice for you. That's good. I'm happy for you. You know, not real happy, but you know, happy. I'm happy for you to have that as long as you don't bother me with it. And so I've got my thing and you've got yours. That's the world's message. That's not this message. Okay. This says perish.

And this says, but. have eternal life, and it doesn't leave it as a minor distinction. Let's look at that word perish, because John uses it. As a matter of fact, the Gospels use it a lot. That must have hit Nicodemus pretty hard, too, because he probably wasn't thinking about perish. No. Excellent point. Yeah, excellent point. The Jews were thinking, hey, you know, especially Nicodemus, if anybody's in, he's in. and to think perish? What are you doing talking to me about perish?

That's for the Gentiles. That's for the dogs. That's for those publicans. Samaritans, we'll throw them in the kettle too. That's for all those guys. But here's Nicodemus. What? You mean I need to think about this perishing thing? Here's Apollumi. And we looked at a similar word in Revelation, Apollyon, that means the destroyer, okay? One of the names of Satan. Here's Apollumi, okay? And after you get through all the Greek technical stuff here, to destroy, or be destroyed, in the middle of the voice, okay? To be destroyed, perish, relating to eternal death, to perish eternally, to be deprived of eternal life.

See that? I mean, it's just sharp. In contrast to the world's message, it doesn't matter very much. It matters a lot! That's the difference. That you should not be subject to this eternal death. Endless death. But in sharp contrast, this verse 15 is saying, in sharp contrast, it's the sharpest word for contrast you can come up with. In sharp contrast, eternal life. And what does it say about it that uses this powerful but small Greek word, echo, which means to have, and to have and hold implying continued possession. How about that? That you might continually possess eternal life. You'll not be perishing this eternal death, but in very sharp contrast, you will be continuing to have eternal life. How's that for a sharp contrast? How's that for mattering? Does it matter? See that? It matters not just a little bit, it matters a whole lot. And it does make a huge difference. Contrary to what the message the world keeps trying to convey. None of this is true for you, but not for me. None of that. Okay?

It's easy to see when you... Look at the Greek a little more open-minded. They don't want to study deeply. Because what's the problem? They don't see these words as God's inspired word. They see it as possibly inspiring, which is a huge difference. But they get confused on tenses then. Absolutely. Because they don't care. Both those groups who are liberal, who basically kind of toned down the text and said they don't care, as well as those who are not looking intently at what the Greek is saying, will gravitate towards something other than what was explicitly stated in the text. It's interesting.

Either error will get you there. Let's read through verse 15 with that insight in mind. I'll kind of expand the translation there. This being lifted up, the sun being lifted up, is in order that, with the intended consequence, that whosoever, every single one of whatever category, whether disgusting to the Jew or not, puts their trust and confidence in a practical sense, not in a theoretical sense, trust and confidence in, completely in, Him, that is, Jesus Christ, the Son, the One who was lifted up, the One that was given, should not, and we'll see here a little farther on, should absolutely not perish, be subject to eternal death, but in the most sharp contrast continue to have eternal life.

And by the way, there's two words for life. You have a distinction there. This one is zoe. Bios life just means physical life. Our word biology is connected to that. This zoe applies soul and spiritual life. life, blessed life, life that satisfies, being indwelt by God but not necessarily favored by circumstances, that you might have eternal life even if your external circumstances are miserable.

Even if you're like Paul and Silas, you're in the jail in Philippi, you're stuck in a small, tight little place about the size of a dishwasher, your arms and legs are in stocks, they did not wash off the excrement and urine from the previous prisoner, You're sitting in it, and you're saying to the Lord till midnight.

That's what he's talking about. That's this kind of life. Doesn't mean it's cushy. Doesn't mean you're guaranteed a Mercedes-Benz. But it's eternal life. And it's untouchable. It cannot be taken away. That's marvelous news. Isn't that neat? Enough for today. Let's pray. 16 next week.

Lord, we do give you thanks and praise. Lord, as we look at this passage, certainly it's in you that we put our trust and confidence and faith. And it is entirely from you that these marvelous eternal benefits come forth. We thank you for that. We give you praise. And we thank you for your word, which so abundantly clarifies where we stand. Thank you that because of the truth of your word and because of the work of your Holy Spirit, we can have a knowledge of the fantastic and marvelous distinction between the truth as you have laid it out and as you are, distinction between that and what the world tries to sell us. I just pray that you continue to teach us, Lord, in Jesus' name.