Taking a Beloved Scripture out of Context: John 3:16

About 6 months ago, I was reading the third chapter of the Gospel of John and realized that for all my Christian life, I had taken John 3:16 out of context with the rest of the chapter. It reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” For the first time, I saw John 3:16 and the verses that follow as Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, a spiritual and political leader of the nation of Israel.  And it frightened me, because of the many times that I had shared John 3:16 with a non-Christian and led them in prayer to invite Jesus into their lives; I am talking about the sinner's prayer apart from Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, in which Jesus made it clear that being born again is the “ONLY” way to enter the kingdom of God. Had I led people in a false conversion? Please check out this episode, which unpacks my concern. Email: [email protected]