John 3:16, what does whosoever mean? It seems that John 3:16 is being used to promote the idea that anyone, anywhere can believe in Christ, if they choose, hence whosoever believes. However, there is no Greek counterpart/equivalent for the English term ‘whosoever’ -- none, nada, zero – does not exist! In fact, the author didn’t use ‘whosoever’ or any other variations of this English word anywhere in this text. Some translations say ‘whoever’ instead of the traditional ‘whosoever.’ Might I add, that even the term ‘whoever’ (Greek: ‘hos an’), which is used in Romans 10:13, was not used by the author in John 3:16. The term ‘whoever’ translates from the Greek ‘hos an,’ but what we have here in John 3:16 isn’t ‘hos an,’ rather, ‘pas ho pisteuoon.’ ‘Pas ho’ literally means ‘all the,’ or ‘every the.’ ‘Pisteuoon’ (a form of ‘pisteuo’) means ‘believing.’ Given that, the text actually says, ‘all the believing ones,’ not whosoever. Or as the NETBible translates it, For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 00:40:07 +0000
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