GOD'S LOVE IN SIX VIEWS - 1
Passionate love. God so loved that he gave his "one and only" Son. The Greek word behind this descriptive phrase literally means "unique" -- one of a kind. The lavishness of God's love is no less remarkable simply because we cannot understand the mystery it involves. God is the Great Initiator who loved us first. We can never get "one up" on him. The most we can ever do is to love God in return (1 John 4:9-10)."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" (John 3:16).
Personal love. God so loved the world -- individual women, men and children of every tribe and dialect, crossing every ethnic group and political boundary. The marvel is that a love so far-reaching is not diluted in the process. Yet, because God's love is intensely personal, we can boldly affirm: "Christ loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Jesus died to redeem specific human beings, who were already his by divine inheritance (Psalms 2:8; Ephesians 1:18). The "whosoever wills" and the "elect" finally are one and the same.
Powerful love. Christ's work will have its intended effect. Because God so loved and gave, whoever believes will have eternal life. Jesus uses unequivocal language that leaves no room for exceptions. "No one can come to me," he exclaims, "unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44). But "every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (John 6:45). Here is no room for error, for miscalculation, for loss. Jesus firmly anchors our hope in the infallible sovereignty of God himself. How we should praise the Father, who loves us so powerfully and effectively!
GOD'S LOVE IN SIX VIEWS - 2
Perpetual love. The God who gave his only Son will not forsake us halfway to heaven. On this we have Jesus' own promise: "This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day" (John 6:39). Because God is faithful, we can be confident. Indeed, God's faithfulness is the only basis we ever have to be confident of our salvation. Jesus' own resurrection shines as an eternal beacon through the darkness of human weakness and doubt."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" (John 3:16).
Profuse love. As the overwhelming flood of divine love breaks over us, it washes away every pebble of human ability, sufficiency, or merit. Jesus does not save the deserving, but sinners. He gave himself for the helpless, not the adequate. He died for his enemies, not his associates (Romans 5:6-10). By his doing and by his dying, Jesus removed our sin, made our propitiation, and accomplished our redemption. Because Jesus fully completed the saving work, nothing we ever perform, experience, or accomplish is any part of the work which sets us right with God. We cannot boast even of our faith. John 3:16 begins with the words "for God." It never says "because we."
Perilous love. Jesus did not come to condemn but to save (John 3:17). The person who knowingly and persistently rejects God's boundless love in Jesus Christ despises and repels the only source of life itself. The truth is that we have no life inherent in ourselves (John 6:53). God has given us eternal life, and "this life is in his Son. To reject the Son of God is to reject life itself, and the only alternative is finally to perish (1 John 5:11-12; John 3:16).