# Be Ready - Saturday, 2026.01.10 ## tl;dr - All eight occurrences of "God" in verses 1-21 refer to the Father despite two of them being about the "kingdom of God." ## Context ### Book {John} - The 43rd book in the Bible - The fourth gospel in the NT, but not a synoptic version like the other three ### Chapter {John 3} - Jesus and Nicodemus {1 - 21} - John’s Testimony about Jesus {22 - 36} ### Interpretation Summary of John's Writings about God - Unless the context is explicitly otherwise, it will be assumed that "God" in each of the phrases below refers to the Father. No further justification will be provided other than an observation that the phrase exists. - Son of God - Lamb of God - angels of God ## Observations - There are eight occurrences of "God" in the first section of chapter 3 ## Questions - To which entity of the Trinity does each occurrence of God belong? ## Interpretations {1-2} - As Nicodemus was engaging Jesus in discussion, he attempted flattery: - we know that You are a teacher who has come from God - no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him - It's obvious the first occurrence could not be Jesus but refers to The Father and therefore the second occurrence is most likely also The Father {3} - Jesus replied by talking about the "kingdom of God." - It's not explicitly clear to which entity the God in "kingdom of God" refers. However, based on the context, it seems most likely it refers to the Father. For the remaining writings of John, I will assume the referee is the Father. But to enable correction in the future, I will record it under "kingdom of God (Father)." {5-8} - See discussion above about the Kingdom of God (Father) {16-18} - It seems clear that the three occurrences of God in this paragraph refer to the Father. {21} - There is some sort of connection (that I am not seeing) between "truth," "light" and accomplishing in God. - [[777]] - Lord, what are You saying here? - God refers to the Father in this verse {5-15 -- Singular vs Plural} - This note is unrelated to the study on God. - In verse 5 and the first part of verse 11, Jesus spoke in first person singular, then in the second part of verse 11, He switched to first person (FP) plural. - To make things more complicated, Jesus switched back to FP-singular in verse 12 - And even more complicated, He switched to third person in verses 12-15 - [[777]] - Lord, what's with the FP-plural? {16-18 -- Only Son} - John wants to make sure we understand that Jesus is the ONLY SON of God ## Application - Finish adding the references to all 1327 occurrences of Strong's [[G2316]] and in the [[God_G2316_Summary]] ## Correction As always, I am open to scripture-based correction.