“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes [is believing now, goes on believing] in Him should not perish but have [is having now, goes on having] eternal life.” – John 3:16
The New Testament was written in Greek. Greek is a very complex and profound language. It is very descriptive. When the ancient Greek of the N/T gets translated into English, some of the nuances in the Greek are lost.
Hence, the brackets in the verse above – John 3:16. Greek has more tenses than English. So how can the English language compensate? It cannot.
When we read “…that whoever believes in Him…” in English, it sounds as if it is a moment in time. Greek distinguishes the difference well with the aorist tense. However, in John 3:16, the aorist tense is not used for the verb “believes” and “have”.
Instead, the Greek uses the present continuous tense – implying that something is going on now as part of a continuing activity.
To transfer this lost nuance in the Greek, the English requires additional wording – hence the words added in the brackets.
John wrote his gospel for believers and not unbelievers. To keep people believing rather than to start them believing. Far too often the words “believes” is understood as “has once believed” and “have” as “has been given once for all”
Faith in Christ is not a single, once-off step but rather a continuous walk – an entire lifetime journey. This goes hand in hand with the meaning conveyed by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24:13, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” The implication being, if you do not endure until the end, you shall not be saved. This statement is going to cause people to get upset. I would ask why?… Is it too much for the Lord to ask of you as a Christian? To be faithful to Him until the end. Would not a husband and wife expect the same from each other in their marriage? Faithful unto death.
Furthermore, in John 15:6, those who stop abiding or remaining in the vine (the Lord Jesus) will wither and dry up and then ultimately be cast into the fire. Was this written for unbelievers? How can an unbeliever remain in Christ if He doesn’t even know Christ?
As Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Brothers and sisters, you need to keep the faith until the end. No compromise.
May the Lord bless you. Pray about this. This is serious.
I made a short clip regarding this matter. If you would like to see it, please click the button below:
