In John 3:16, what does the so in “For God so loved the world” mean?

a. a lot: it is a quantifying adverb, i.e. “God loved the world so much…”

b. in this way: it is an adverb of manner, i.e. “God loved the world in this way…”

If you voted for a. you agree with the most translations of this verse (KJV, NIV, TEV). In some translations it is obvious because of the inclusion of the word that.

TEV: God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son.

But the answer is actually b.

Here’s the evidence:

The Greek word for so is HOUTOS which is an adverb meaning “in this manner” or “thus.” If you wanted to paraphrase this verse you could say:

“God loved the world in this way: he gave his only Son.”

But the verse seems connected to the preceding ideas of verses 14 and 15:

Moses lifted up a snake in the wilderness

The Son of Man must be lifted up.

In this same way, God loved the world by giving his only Son.

So a better translation might be:

“And in this same way God loved the world by giving his only Son”

Now I just noticed something that might give us a clue about who uttered verse 16. Was it Jesus or John? If you have a Bible with the words of Christ in red what color is verse 16? In my NIV the verse is red. But it appears to me that John is speaking here and not Jesus. Can you see why?

Let me give you a hint. Look at the verb tenses in verses 14 and 16:

14: The Son of Man must be lifted up…

16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…

While verses 14 and 15 are talking about something that has to happen in the future, verse 16 is talking about something that happened in the past. That is evidence to me that verse 16 is a comment John made later on Jesus’ statement and so it should really be in black and not red!

Do you agree?

Now, back to the issue of the word so. Does it really matter that the translation is giving a slightly different message from what the original speaker intended? It’s true that God loved the world so much. And the difference between the two translations is very slight.

So what do you think?

• Do you agree with the interpretation of this verse?
• Should verse 16 be in black or red?
• How important is it to tie verse 16 to verses 14 and 15 by using the words “And in this same way”?

Here’s a quick Lingamish translation of verses 14-16:

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” And in this same way, God loved the world by giving his only Son so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.

Send me your opinions and sample translations. I look forward to your comments.