# John 3.16-17

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-08-18 | updated: 2026-08-18 -->

**Book:** [John](/codex/john/) · NASB95

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> 14. <span class="rl-speech">And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.</span>
>
> **16. <span class="rl-speech">For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.</span>**
>
> 18. <span class="rl-speech">He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.</span> 19. <span class="rl-speech">And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.</span> (John 3:14-19, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> 14. <span class="rl-speech">As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.</span>
>
> **16. <span class="rl-speech">For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.</span>**
>
> 18. <span class="rl-speech">He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.</span> 19. <span class="rl-speech">This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.</span> (John 3:14-19, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> 14. <span class="rl-speech">And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.</span>
>
> **16. <span class="rl-speech">For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.</span>**
>
> 18. <span class="rl-speech">He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.</span> 19. <span class="rl-speech">And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.</span> (John 3:14-19, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> 14. <span class="rl-speech">'And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up,</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during,</span>
>
> **16. <span class="rl-speech">for God did so love the world, that His Son, the only begotten, He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him;</span>**
>
> 18. <span class="rl-speech">he who is believing in him is not judged, but he who is not believing hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.</span> 19. <span class="rl-speech">'And this is the judgment, that the light hath come to the world, and men did love the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil;</span> (John 3:14-19, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** _TBD_
- **Audience:** _TBD_
- **Location:** _TBD_
- **Time period:** _TBD_

## Theological reading

_Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added._

## Key words

_Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word._

- [G3439 - monogenes](/codex/g3439-monogenes/), *monogenes*, Strong's G3439
- [G0166 - aionios](/codex/g0166-aionios/), *aionios*, Strong's G0166
- [G0622 - apollymi](/codex/g0622-apollymi/), *apollymi*, Strong's G0622
- [G4982 - sozo](/codex/g4982-sozo/), *sozo*, Strong's G4982
- [G0025 - agapao](/codex/g0025-agapao/), *agapao*, Strong's G0025
- [G2222 - zoe](/codex/g2222-zoe/), *zoe*, Strong's G2222

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## Quoted in

**Arguments and defeaters:**

- [Allah Predestines Child to Hell Objection Defeater](/codex/allah-predestines-child-to-hell-objection-defeater/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Argument from Love](/codex/argument-from-love/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Argument from the Addressee of Gratitude](/codex/argument-from-the-addressee-of-gratitude/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Argument from the Gift-Economy Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-gift-economy-convergence/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Conditional Immortality from Text-First Method](/codex/conditional-immortality-from-text-first-method/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Did Jesus Send Muhammad Dilemma Argument](/codex/did-jesus-send-muhammad-dilemma-argument/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Divine Hiddenness Objection Defeater](/codex/divine-hiddenness-objection-defeater/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Free Will Argument from Love](/codex/free-will-argument-from-love/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [God Created Me Knowing I Would Reject Him Objection Defeater](/codex/god-created-me-knowing-i-would-reject-him-objection-defeater/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [God Showed No Love in Eden Objection Defeater](/codex/god-showed-no-love-in-eden-objection-defeater/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Jesus is Not a Human Sacrifice (Defeater)](/codex/jesus-is-not-a-human-sacrifice-defeater/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Necessity of the Incarnation](/codex/necessity-of-the-incarnation/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [OT vs NT God Objection Defeater](/codex/ot-vs-nt-god-objection-defeater/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Unitarian Oneness Binitarian Objection Defeater](/codex/unitarian-oneness-binitarian-objection-defeater/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)

**Concepts:**

- [100 Common Questions](/codex/100-common-questions/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [100 Verses of Compassion and God's Goodness](/codex/100-verses-of-compassion-and-gods-goodness/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Abiogenesis Under the Microscope](/codex/abiogenesis-under-the-microscope/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Akedah](/codex/akedah/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Arminianism](/codex/arminianism/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Atheism](/codex/atheism/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Biblical Love](/codex/biblical-love/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Calvinism vs Arminianism vs Molinism vs Open Theism](/codex/calvinism-vs-arminianism-vs-molinism-vs-open-theism/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Christianity](/codex/christianity/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Conditional Immortality](/codex/conditional-immortality/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Divine Hiddenness](/codex/divine-hiddenness/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Faith](/codex/faith/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Free Will and Determinism](/codex/free-will-and-determinism/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Gospel](/codex/gospel/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Hell and Eternal Punishment](/codex/hell-and-eternal-punishment/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Jesus Said](/codex/jesus-said/), via [John 3](/codex/john-3/)
- [Lordship Salvation](/codex/lordship-salvation/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Monergism](/codex/monergism/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Muslim Objections to the Divinity of Christ](/codex/muslim-objections-to-the-divinity-of-christ/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [OT vs NT God Objection](/codex/ot-vs-nt-god-objection/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Preaching to Non-Believers](/codex/preaching-to-non-believers/), via [John 3.1-21](/codex/john-3-1-21/)
- [Predestination](/codex/predestination/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Quick Objection Responses](/codex/quick-objection-responses/), via [John 3.17](/codex/john-3-17/)
- [Repentance](/codex/repentance/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Salvation Exclusivity](/codex/salvation-exclusivity/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Trinity Common Objections](/codex/trinity-common-objections/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Young's Literal Translation](/codex/youngs-literal-translation/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)

**People:**

- [Jacobus Arminius](/codex/jacobus-arminius/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [Jesus](/codex/jesus/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)

**Lexicon:**

- [G0025 - agapao](/codex/g0025-agapao/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G0026 - agape](/codex/g0026-agape/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G0165 - aion](/codex/g0165-aion/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G0166 - aionios](/codex/g0166-aionios/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G0487 - antallagma](/codex/g0487-antallagma/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G0622 - apollymi](/codex/g0622-apollymi/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G2222 - zoe](/codex/g2222-zoe/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G2434 - hilasmos](/codex/g2434-hilasmos/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G2889 - kosmos](/codex/g2889-kosmos/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G3439 - monogenes](/codex/g3439-monogenes/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G3956 - pas](/codex/g3956-pas/), via [John 3.15-16](/codex/john-3-15-16/), [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G4100 - pisteuo](/codex/g4100-pisteuo/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [G4982 - sozo](/codex/g4982-sozo/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/), [John 3.17](/codex/john-3-17/)
- [G5207 - huios](/codex/g5207-huios/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [H1121 - ben](/codex/h1121-ben/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [H3173 - yachid](/codex/h3173-yachid/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)
- [H5769 - olam](/codex/h5769-olam/), via [John 3.16](/codex/john-3-16/)

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## Notes

_Your annotations._

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.