Ten Great 3:16's in the N.T.
/By Oscar M. Baker
Please read each reference in full.
1.) Matthew 3:16, has something to say about God's Spirit. It doesn't say any one else saw this manifestation, but “He saw.” John may have seen it, we don't know. This was not a dove descending, but “like a dove.” Cp. Acts 2:3, “cloven tongues like as of fire” --- doesn't say there was any fire. From this verse in Mt. we know He had the testimony from the Father in heaven, it was a light, “lighting upon Him.”
2.) John 3:16, “have everlasting life,” that's God's gift! Cp. Deut. 8:3. This only applies to Israel, but the same principle as in John 3:16.
3.) Acts 3:16. Start your reading from verse 14. Now in v.16, this has to do with God's name. Something happened through faith in His name --- A MIRACLE! This man didn't have to learn to walk again, but he just leaped up and walked!
4.) 1 Corinthians 3:16. Some build wrongly on the foundation which is Jesus Christ. Then he says, “Don't you know you're the Temple of God, and that the new nature dwells in you?” [a paraphrase of I Cor. 3:16.] We should live in such a way that people would know that we are the “Temple of God.” Cp. Eph. 2:20 & 21 --- in the body of Christ, the whole thing is a Temple. Do we experience the indwelling of God in our lives, or are we too busy?
5.) Ephesians 3:16, about God's riches (cp. Eph.1:18 and the riches there). The strengthening here in order that we might know the love of Christ of Eph. 3:19.
6.) Colossians 3:16. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom...” You have to be in the Word, reading, studying It. Then he says, “…teaching and admonishing one another...singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Cp. Eph. 5:19.
7.) 2 Thessalonians 3:16. Where in the world is there peace? Something about God's peace here in this verse. How did He preach peace? Through His servants, as Paul and others. Cp. Eph. 2:14 & 17.
8.) 1 Timothy 3:16. A well known verse, yet denied by so many. Start with the last part of verse 15, “The pillar and groundof the truth.” The church wasn't the pillar and ground of the truth. Christ, the mystery of godliness, is the pillar and ground of the truth. The mystery of godliness is that God was manifested in the flesh. How do people explain this verse if they deny the deity of Christ?
9.) 2 Timothy 3:16. “All Scripture is givenby inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine (teaching, what is true), for reproof (what we believe that is not true), for correction (a wrong walk), for instruction inrighteousness (a right walk).”
10.) I John 3:16. It was God Who laid down His life for us at Calvary. Cp. Eph. 2:4, His great love for us shown at Calvary when He laid down His life for us. Since Christ was God, HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE. This is a great verse on the deity of Christ as is I Tim. 3:16 and John 10:17 & 18.
[Excerpts from TFT tapes 12/29/81 & 12/28/82.]
