John_3_16

John 3:16 John 3:16- An Exegetical Study John 3:16- “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.” (NIV) John 3:16 is possibly the most well known, and most memorized verse of the Bible. However, it is unlikely thoroughly understood by many of those who have it memorized. Who wrote it, when was it written, and to whom' Why was it written, and what does it really mean' Literary and Contextual analysis- John was undoubtedly written by “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Despite arguments that “the beloved disciple” was someone other than John the apostle, son of Zebedee, brother of James, there has been no evidence in support of it. The early church tradition stands in support of John the apostle as the author; the Ryland Fragments support this belief (Gundry, 256-258). It is believed that the gospel John was written around A.D. 85-90, after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed (A.D. 70) but before John’s exile to Patmos. John’s primary purpose is to “prove conclusively that Jesus is god, son, jesus, john, life, world, verse, one, eternal, christ, word, snake, perish, love, 316, gave, loved, gift, believe, through, shall, meaning, bronze, bible, because, whoever, part, now, nicodemus, moses, believes, about, 16, tense, strong