This coming Sunday’s readings assigned through the Revised Common Lectionary will have us reading the first 17 verses of John chapter 3. That passage includes what is perhaps the most well known verse, John 3:16 which reads in the English Standard Version as “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (I do wish the publishers of the Bible would return to the practice of capitalizing the pronouns used to refer to God, in all references to any of the members of the Triune God.) So the important question becomes, “What does it mean to ‘believe’?” The word “believe” comes from a word that can (and perhaps should) be translated as “trust.” So the phrase containing the word “believe” in John 3:16 could read, “whoever trusts in Him…” Many, in my humble opinion, have an understanding of the word “believe” that is not very Biblical. The word “trust” in many if not most cases will likely convey the truth see...
