For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 RSV)
For this is how 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. (John 3:16 NLT)
British Family Bible Commentary
God so loved the world, God loved the world, the whole race of mankind, in such an extraordinary and wonderful manner, that He gave for their salvation his own and only Son, to whom He had communicated from all eternity his own unbegotten essence. How great a gift was this! What could He give more? What could He give greater? In this, the infinity of his love shines forth as gloriously as his infinite power and wisdom do in the creation and government of the world. Bp. Beveridge.
How glorious an effect is it of God’s wonderful love to mankind, that He should give his only begotten Son, of the same Divine nature and perfections with Himself; give Him up to a painful and ignominious death, and that for those who daily and hourly commit the heaviest offenses against Him. Dean Stanhope.
the world, The end of Christ’s coming was to give light unto the world, to call sinners to repentance, to cast out the prince of this world, to reconcile us in the body of his flesh, to dissolve the works of the devil; to become a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Church Homilies.
He came into the world, that, dying once and offering Himself for all, He might, so much as pertained to Him, take all men’s sins upon Himself. Abp. Cranmer.
He was sent to make a sacrifice and oblation upon the cross, which was a full redemption and propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Bp. Ridley.
In John 3:16 and many other passages of the New Testament relating to the motive and design of Christ’s coming to this earth, God’s love for the world is declared in general terms: and these texts are at odds with the opinion that God selected out of mankind a certain number whom He ordained to save, and that He left the rest of mankind to perish everlastingly. For how could God be said to love those to whom He denies the means of salvation; whom He destines by an irrevocable decree to eternal misery? Bp. Tomline.
What did Jesus mean by that expression “the world?” Surely not what Nicodemus probably believed Him to mean, thinking He was referring to the Jewish nation as distinguished from the Gentiles: Also ‘the world’ is not what from the age of St. Austin to the present time many have understood Him to mean, thinking He was referring to the regenerated, the justified, the elected, the predestinated few, as distinguished from the reprobated man. No, the world which God so greatly loved as to send his only begotten for its salvation, is the whole race of mankind propagated from Adam, and in consequence of his transgression subjected to everlasting death. Bp. Watson.