For God So Loved the Kosmos

“For God so loved the world (kosmos), that He gave His only begotten Son….” -Jn. 3.16

There is a high and glorious note in the Gospel that we don’t often hear sounded in modern preaching, and in many ways, it has lessened the majesty of our understanding of salvation. In the minds of many, Christianity is summed up in this way-

I prayed and prayer and got saved, now I’m going to heaven, and God is going to make my life more and more successful, while I do my best to follow His will.

There is a much grander picture in view when we see the Gospel for what it truly is, and it has everything to do with the glory of God, and virtually nothing to do with my personal success- at least not in the sense that is declared these days.

The Greek word for “world” in John 3.16 is kosmos, which refers to the entire created order, the heavens and the earth, the universe, and all that it contains. For years, when I heard “world” I thought only of humanity, for we often refer to the human race as “the world.” The Scriptures themselves refer to the human race as “the world” on many occasions, perhaps even in this text. Yet and still, the Biblical picture of restoration refers to the whole created order, and all of creation groans for its fulfillment.

Of course, His desire is for a nation of priests, and they will not be made up of trees and mountains, birds and fish, or even angels and apocalyptic creatures. The rest of John 3.16 shows us that the most crucial aspect of God’s salvific work is the redemption of human beings, the holy adoption of sons and daughters. But our lack of a vision of the glory of God, our meager understanding of the Scriptures, and our individualistic society all combine to reduce the Gospel to something that is all about us.

The Scriptures testify to something much more than “Your Best Life Now.” They tell of the glory of the eternal God, His activity in history, His dealings with Israel, the sending and glorification of His Son, and His remarkable intentions to renovate the entire created order by the word of His power.

The apostolic understanding of salvation is so much more profound than my personal justification, though that itself will be enough to strike wonder in our hearts for all eternity. The apostolic understanding of salvation is of the entire universe being wrenched loose from the grip of the “prince of this world,” relieved of the terrible weight of sin, the whole earth refined with fire and made new, and the triune God fully present, fully revealed, and fully reigning over all things. The issue is not first about our personal redemption, but about the glorification of God in and through the true knowledge of His Son. Paul uses language that we might consider less appealing than what is commonly preached these days, but in reality, it’s glory is greater than the humanistic mixtures we often hear.

He stated that we Gentiles, who were like wild olives, “were grafted in among them [Israel] and became partaker[s] with them of the rich root of the olive tree.” (Rom. 11.17) Personally, I’ve never heard a call to the lost which invited them to be “grafted in.” Grafted in? To the human ear it sounds inglorious, and if our Christianity is a humanistic mixture, we will have no part of this kind of Gospel. But if we hear the Gospel of God, which is a magnificent invitation into something so much bigger and so charged with largesse, we come humbly and thankfully in repentance and faith, and God works salvation in our innermost parts.

When a person is truly born from above by the power of God’s grace, there is this abiding sense that they have received mercy, and an overwhelming awareness that they have been brought into something so much more significant than their individual dreams and ambitions. If we haven’t got this Kingdom view, our Christianity becomes something self-focused, and fruitless cycles ensue. We end up performing religiously, living self-consciously, and falling into the most despicable kind of self-absorption, even while we employ spiritual terms and ideas.

We need this “world/kosmos” view to be ever held before our hearts, that we would not be as distracted with pursuing our “best life now,” but rather the glorification of Jesus Christ. Hear Chambers on this:

It is a travesty to say that Jesus Christ travailed in Redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ travailed in Redemption to redeem the whole world, and place it unimpaired and rehabilitated before the throne of God. The fact that Redemption can be experienced by us is an illustration of the power of the reality of Redemption, but that is not the end of Redemption. If God were human, how sick to the heart and weary He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation, for our sanctification. We tax His energies from morning till night for things for ourselves….When we touch the bedrock of the reality of the Gospel of God, we shall never bother God any further with little personal plaints.

The one passion of Paul’s life was to proclaim the Gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreaks, disillusionments, tribulation, for one reason only, because these things kept him in unmoved devotion to the Gospel of God.

(Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest; Feb. 1 entry, The Call of God)

When we have an individualistic Gospel, we remove the foundation and bedrock of the faith. We actually take away the wonder of our own personal redemption when that personal redemption becomes our primary focus. If the Gospel is all about me, it must be a quite shallow thing. But if it has to do with the glory of the Ancient of Days, His eternal purposes for Israel and the Church, and His remarkable and sweeping vision for the whole created order, then I am being caught in the wind of the wonder of it all. Then it becomes so much more significant: This majestic God, who is so high and lifted up, has condescended so low into the earth, to “create in me a clean heart.”

Now then, being grafted in carries a whole new weight and beauty. Now my personal redemption evokes a remarkable kind of worshipful gratitude, and awe-full trembling. This is not about me finding success in religion, it is about me finding God Himself, and being wholly satisfied in Him, no matter what comes in blessing or suffering.

I have become a recipient of heavenly mercy, and the God who has created and sustained the entire universe, and who will one day renovate it all and abide in Jerusalem, is also the One who listens when I cry out to Him. He is also the One who cleanses and forgives me when I confess my sin. He is also the One who has promised to send His Spirit to me, to lead and guide me into all truth. He is also the One who gives all good gifts. Now John 3.16 becomes something more than a verse I memorized as a child. It is a staggering word that rocks my categories and catapults me into the worship of the only One who is worthy to open the heavenly scroll! May we never reduce it to something less or other.

“For God so loved the kosmos, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”

“Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His was past finding out. For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11.33, 36)