John 3:16

From Freepedia

John 3:16 (chapter 3, verse 16 of the Gospel of John) is one of the most widely quoted verses from the Christian Bible. It has been called the "Bible in a nutshell", because it makes reference to the humanity of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ and so briefly (and accurately) summarizes the central dogmata of the Christian faith.

Translations

The verse in the original Greek is as follows:

Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

Which could be translated literally as:

For in this way God loved the world: that he gave the unique son, so that all those trusting in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The more familiar King James Version renders it as:

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.

For a comparison of different translations of this verse, see Bible translations. Translations of this verse into various language are a familiar part of the front matter of Gideon Bibles.

The text of the verse is also incorporated into the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, as part of a prayer said by the celebrant. This Divine Liturgy is commonly used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Byzantine rite of the Roman Catholic Church.

The phrase "John 3:16" is very short and can be written in large letters on small signs. As a result, some evangelicals occasionally display the reference at sporting events (such as football games) so it might be televised. This has led to the phrase being parodied in slogans such as "Austin 3:16" and other variants in popular culture.