This verse tells us many things but the important aspect is that Jesus was the “ONLY” son of God. But, before we continue, let us address any notion that this statement does not indicate that women are not included in this assertion because it does not mention daughters… Jesus was and is the only legitimate child of God. Any argument against this statement is without validity because the Bible cannot be incorrect. We can however, be adopted by God and a few of us will be and that gives to those few all of the benefits of being a legitimate child of God.

The second part of this statement tells us that if we believe in Him, we shall have everlasting life. This does not mean that if we simply believe that He existed, then that is sufficient to achieve salvation. If that were true, the Bible would end at that point. Believing on Him means that we study and read the lessons and doctrine that He gives to us and show our belief by living in accordance with His words. And, it also means that we live in alignment with the instructions given to us from within the words of the epistles or other statements made by those to whom Jesus gave that authority in what is referred to as the Great Commission. We see that many times people would ask Jesus how to achieve everlasting life and He would give them a list of things that they must do. And, we also see that in most cases that the people were unwilling to accept those conditions and walked away.

We cannot take just the lessons that we like and apply them to a belief that by doing those things that we will be saved. And, we have never seen anything in the Bible that allows people to alter a single word or requirement that Jesus and His appointed representatives have given to us, yet for centuries that is exactly what has happened and, in fact, is still happening. How any reasonably intelligent person could possibly think that using a simplified method of becoming a child of God designed by men could probably be acceptable to God is beyond comprehension. But, people continue to disregard the words of God and use a so called bible that has been altered by man for their convenience and still believe that salvation and adoption into the family of God is going to happen to them.

Jesus is continually warning us that very few will pass through the gate, but for some reason most people think that everyone is included in that few. Becoming an adopted child of God is not very difficult but it is not as simple as most people want to believe.  John 3:16 tells us many things, it tells us that God loves us to the point that He will take upon Himself the punishment for our continuous sinning and give to us everlasting peace in paradise, and all we have to do is just one thing. It really is amazing how often God has offered mankind great gifts as long as they do just one thing, and in every case, man fails to be obedient to the single requirement to obtain the gift. It started with Adam and Eve and the one thing was not to eat the fruit of just one tree in paradise, and it ends with just believe in Jesus and listen to His requirements to becoming one of the few… It just seems impossible to think that people believe that they are going to get through the gate because they have followed the instructions made by man and dismissed the requirements given by God… It just is not going to work, but it will make Satan very happy… There is only one way to pass through the gate and it is His way and only His way. At what point during the process of becoming adopted by God as one of His children does our name enter The Book of Life, we do not know. But, we do know that it is not going to happen using any process other than His !!!