but to save the..... World

Saturday June 14th, 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. This is one of the great memory verses in all of scripture. It is a message of comfort and joy to many. On the other hand I have seen this well known text used as judgment, used to say that everyone who does not believe in Jesus the way I do is condemned. Verse sixteen by itself can be misused and taken that way and the memorization of sixteen alone without seventeen is a disservice to the scripture. Jesus came into the world to save the world, not condemn it is the qualifier that gives it the God meaning. Hold onto that and what it means for how we as follows of Christ treat the world and everyone in it.