Who do you say I am?

Quote
“Literally, the text reads "in order that every the one believing in Him, not to perish, but have everlasting life." It says "every" or "all the one believing..." That's hard to express in English, but in essence, it is saying "all the believing ones." That's what is being communicated. It is saying that there is no such thing as a believing one who does not receive eternal life, but who perishes. Though our English translation says "whoever believes" the literal rendering is accurately translated as "every believing one" and the emphasis is NOT AT ALL on the "whosoever" but on the belief. The ones BELIEVING will not have one consequence but will have another. They will not perish but will have everlasting life.” Rev John Sampson.

Even though the Rev. creates a good argument he is basing his argument on a his own understanding of the passage. As I have said in the past, all our arguments are coloured by our own beliefs.

John 3:16
The actual Literal translation from the Greek is :-
“thus for loves the God the world so that the Son the only-generated He-gives that every the one-believing into Him no should-be-being-destroyed but may-be-having life perpetual.”

To me you would have to be an accomplished linguist and Greek scholar just to put that into plain English.

Strong's Concordance shows that the word translated as whosoever could also be - all, any, every, the whole, all manner or means, always, anyone, etc., etc. G3956

As you can see it is dangerous to base an argument on one word, especially one that can have many similar meanings. Therefore we cannot use this to disprove or even prove universal redemption.

As the Rev. says “What does this text tell us about who WILL believe or who CAN believe? The answer is: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! The text does not address the issue of who WILL believe or who CAN believe.” (emphasis his).
Again, I do agree with the Rev. in that there is limited redemption because of “you must be born again.” As all are not born again, then there is a limitation. Eternal life is limited to those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

My emphasis in John 3:16 has always been on the “believing” and not on the “whosoever” as the whole conversation that our Lord had with Nicodemus was about salvation and belief.

We keep telling people that the bible is

“the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience” Baptist Confession of Faith 1689, 1 The Holy Scriptures, 1.

Then rip the word of God to shreds ourselves trying to justify our personal theologies to other Christians. All this is while the world looks on and says “Why should I join them, when they can't even decide amongst themselves the truth.”
Personally, I do not wish to waste time arguing with Christians when there is a great number of lost souls in the world, those who do not know Christ as their saviour, who only see him as a good man or a character from a story, who have never heard of Nicodemus, never mind Calvinism or Armenianism.

Why should we battle with our brothers and sisters when people are dying around us and going straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect £200.00!

We need to be on our knees, praying for our wives, children, friends, work colleagues for them to come to see who Jesus truly is.

Our question should not be what does “whosoever” mean, but the question our Lord asked the disciples “But who do you say I am?”

If the non Christian is arguing that John 3:16 is saying that there is a universal salvation it is usually because they think that because “God so loved the world” he must love everyone the same way and not want anyone to perish.
This is usually because they do not want to make our Lord the Lord of their lives and submit all to him, they are trying to wriggle out of hell instead of stepping into heaven.

These are the arguments we should be looking at, we should be pointing our finger at the world and be asking “Who do you say Jesus is, who do you say God is, who do you say the Holy Spirit is, do you believe in the triune God.”

Let us speak and preach and shout of Christ, that he lived, was crucified, died, rose again by His own power and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, in order that sinners may come to repentance. This is the good news of the Gospel and nothing more.

God Bless

Jem