# Loved - JOHN 3:16-21 - 2024-09-10 This is one of those sections that we all know well. It's been a common verse used throughout the last 2,000 years, and is very prevalent in American Christianity. I've heard numerous sermons from this section, but it wasn't until I started learning Greek that the very first phrase actually made sense. *The Lord said to his disciples: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." - John 3:16-21* It's easy to say that "God loved the world so much that he...." or to hear "just replace 'the world' with 'your name'" and remember how much God loves you. However, the phrase should really be read in a more actionable form. God loved the world "in this way." This was God's efforts to show the world that He is love. He loved by giving his Son, not that the idea that he loved so much he gave up so much is necessarily wrong, but I think we need to be cautious removing the original meaning of words and phrases just because of how something reads in English. God loved by doing. It wasn't an emotion, it was an action. We should remember that, love is an action not a feeling.