13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

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14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,(A) so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[a](B) 15 that everyone who believes(C) may have eternal life in him.”[b](D)

16 For God so loved(E) the world that he gave(F) his one and only Son,(G) that whoever believes(H) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(I) 17 For God did not send his Son into the world(J) to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.(K) 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned,(L) but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.(M) 19 This is the verdict: Light(N) has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.(O) 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.(P) 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

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Footnotes

  1. John 3:14 The Greek for lifted up also means exalted.
  2. John 3:15 Some interpreters end the quotation with verse 21.