My previous post of this song is still available, but I have rewritten and added to it.
God loves the world so much
That He gave His only Son
So all who believe in Him
Will not die,
But have life everlasting.
Yes, God loves the world so much
That He gave His only Son.
All who believe in God’s Son
Are not condemned;
They live in His light.
But those who reject His Son
Are already condemned,
For they’re mired in darkness and sin
Without the light of God’s way.
God did not send His Son
To condemn the world,
But that the world through Him
Might be saved.
Yes, God loves the world so much
That He gave His only Son.
“God Loves the World So Much” was the second song I ever wrote–sometime in the latter 1960s. The original lyrics are based on John 3:16, Bible verses familiar to every Christian and undoubtedly our most beloved Scripture:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
In 2000 the summer staff at what was then Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly presented a musical drama I had written. It contained a choral arrangement, which you may listen to here.
In 2014 I added another stanza to the single original stanza. It was based on John 3:17:
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.
You can listen to an audio recording of that newer version here.
In 2024 I added what I intended to be the third stanza, based on John 3:18.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the
name of God’s one and only Son
The more I thought about it, however, the more convinced I was to make that the second stanza, even though that puts it out of biblical verse order. You may listen to the current version here.
As I always do when writing songs based on Scripture, I reword them my own way, making every effort to remain true to the intent of the original. However, one choice I consciously made with this song was to say “God loves”–present tense–in the first stanza rather than “God loved.”
While God sent Jesus in human form only once, His love is past, present, and future. Hence He “loves” the world.
Non-Christians often question how a loving God can “condemn the world.” That’s the result of sin. God wanted human beings to have free will, for He couldn’t make us love Him. That wouldn’t be love. But that gave us the freedom to sin and every one of us does. Nobody is “good enough” without Jesus’ sacrifice to meet God’s standards.
A free lead sheet is available here.
I’ll be back again next Wednesday. Please join me then. Better still, sign up to receive these weekly posts by email.
Depicted below is my most recent novel. Look for it on Amazon here or go to my Amazon Author page using the QR code on the postcard image of all twenty-four book covers below. The only one I didn’t design myself was done by Ken Raney, a Christmas present from my family.
Best regards,
Roger






