Big Buts of the Bible

It may be the most well-known, beloved, and frequently quoted verse in the Bible:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Talk about broken stories meeting God’s grace.

If you watched much televised sports in the late 1970s and 80s, you may remember seeing a guy wearing a rainbow-colored Afro wig holding a simple sign: JOHN 3:16

His name was Rollen Stewart, better known as the “Rainbow Man” or “Rock’n Rollen.” He became a fixture in the background of major sporting events, positioning himself where television cameras would catch him and his message.

His story eventually took a terribly dark turn. Spiritual zeal became tangled with obsession, instability, and a growing hunger for attention. In 1992, after a bizarre hostage incident, Stewart was arrested and ultimately sentenced to multiple life terms in prison.

It’s a sad story. A broken story. And yet, strangely enough, the message on that sign still applies to the man who once held it.

For God so loved the world.

Not the respectable parts of the world. Not merely the people whose stories turned out well. Not those who managed to keep their lives neat enough to avoid terrible consequences.

The world. Rollen Stewart. You. Me. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Our broken stories may look nothing like Rollen’s. Hopefully they don’t include a hostage standoff and life in prison. But none of us arrives at John 3 standing on moral high ground.

And that is exactly why the buts in these verses are so beautiful.

But Have Eternal Life

John 3:16 begins with love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”

God’s response to our brokenness was not to abandon the world but to enter it. He gave His Son so that whoever believes in Him “shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

There’s our first big but. On one side: perish. On the other: life. And standing between them is Jesus.

That word believes deserves our attention. John isn’t describing mere awareness. Rollen Stewart knew John 3:16 well enough to carry it around on a sign. Plenty of people can quote it from memory. The invitation is deeper than knowing the words. It is trusting the One the words reveal.

Receiving as truth that God loves, God gave, Jesus saves—and placing ourselves into His hands.

Then comes another big but:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Read that again. Jesus certainly could have come in condemnation. John has already made clear that humanity is in desperate need of rescue.

But He came to save.

That purpose was announced before Jesus was even born. Joseph was told to give Mary’s child the name Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins.”

Saving isn’t incidental to Jesus. It’s in His name.

Maybe you’ve spent enough time condemning yourself. You know the chapters you’d rewrite if you could. You remember the choices, failures, addictions, betrayals, words, relationships, regrets, or wounds you’d rather nobody knew about.

Jesus knows them. But He came to save.

That doesn’t mean our choices are without consequences. Grace doesn’t magically erase every earthly consequence of what we’ve done. Rollen Stewart remains in prison. Broken trust can take years to rebuild. Some wounds leave scars. Some decisions change the course of our lives.

But consequences don’t get the final word. Jesus does.

There is a third contrast in these verses, and this one makes the invitation personal:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already…”

John 3:16 is wonderfully inclusive—whoever.

And John 3:18 is deeply personal—whoever.

God’s love has been demonstrated. The Son has been given. Salvation has been offered. Now there is a response.

The Gospel isn’t pretending our stories aren’t broken. It doesn’t tell us our choices don’t matter or that sin doesn’t leave wreckage behind. John 3 takes all of that seriously.

But God loves. But Jesus saves. But eternal life is offered.

That little conjunction stands at one of the greatest crossroads in all of Scripture.

Perishing—but life. Condemnation—but salvation. Our sin—but His grace.

And perhaps that old sign waving behind the goalposts all those years ago was saying far more than any of us realized.

The man holding it would eventually have a terribly broken story. The message he held up? Still true. Still Good News. Still available to whoever believes.