經常看到網上為John 3:16中的"世人"爭論，到底是指選民，還是全體人。其實，這段經文重點並不在選民還是全體人員。
Lee Gatiss認為（ Director of Church Society and Editor of The NIV Proclamation Bible (Hodder). Lee is also Review Editor of the journal Churchman, and Series Editor of The Reformed Evangelical Anglican Library.
He has studied history and theology at Oxford, Cambridge, and
Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia), and trained for
Anglican ministry at Oak Hill (London).）
I don’t think John 3:16 says anything about the extent or intent of the
atonement. I don’t think that John, when he wrote that verse (or Jesus
when he spoke it), was intending to teach us something about the topic
of limited atonement as defined by theologians since the 17th century.
But it is too easy for us today to read 1st century texts with 17th (or
21st) century spectacles. Why do we ignore the Jew-Gentile division
background to 1 John 2:2, and the proto-Gnosticism of John’s opponents,
when interpreting that verse for example? Why is it quoted so often as
if it just settled a 17th century question in a line (and as if Reformed
theologians had forgotten to read 1 John)? I think we need to be
careful to understand the plain meaning of a text in its own context,
rather than what it might mean if it was spoken by one of us today in
an entirely different context and with different presuppositions about
what the words might signify.
也就是說John 3:16 根本不是指救贖的extent和intent，Dr. Carson
在On Distorting the Love of
God一文中解釋John3:16中神的愛如下：第三，神對墮落世界的救贖之心。神愛世人，甚至賜下祂的兒子(約三16)。有學者嘗試將世人
(kosmos)解釋成選民，實在不通，因為根據約翰福音的用法，證據不利此一提議。事實上，「世人」或「世界」在約翰福音，與其說指涉其大，不如說指涉
其壞的程度。約翰用這字主要指道德秩序上，因故意犯罪而背叛神。約翰福音三章16節，神賜下主耶穌，令人讚嘆其愛心，並非因為救恩及於全世界，而是因為祂
拯救的對象這般壞；重點不在祂要救許多人，而是祂願意救如此邪惡的罪人。然而，約翰曾在別處使用「全世界」(約壹二2)一詞，結合這字大而壞的含意。更重
要的，約翰說到門徒曾經屬這「世界」，卻被「世界」恨惡(參約十五19)。從這點來看，神對世人的愛，不可能解成神對選民的愛。
Carson
並非否定聖經中有神對選民特殊的愛（至少在救贖論上，Carson是一個加爾文主義者），他只是說明約3:16不是在談這種特殊、揀選的愛。順便說一句，
這樣的解釋並非Carson原創。實際上，一百年前的B. B. Warfield就有這樣的教導，而Kuiper在其God Centered
Evangelism一書中同樣強調這一點。
我個人認為，這是在作對比，人都壞透了，而上帝竟然還愛我們。如果以經解經的話：詩篇8：4是最好的解釋。
人算什麼，你竟顧念他？世人算什麼，你竟眷顧他？
