Read: John 3:13-16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son. (v. 16)
”Of the Father’s Love Begotten” is the best-known hymn of Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, a Roman government official born in northern Spain in AD 348. By his mid-forties Prudentius grew tired of the hustle and false glamor of the world, and retired to a humble life devoted to the writing of Christian poetry. This hymn tells the story of the incarnation of the Son of God, who was of the Father’s love begotten / ere the worlds began to be.
In the New Testament, a mystery is a deep truth that we cannot fully understand, that we could never discover on our own, but that God has made known to us in Christ. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is that God has eternally existed in a community of love comprising three divine persons. The mystery of the incarnation is that the second of those persons became a real flesh-and-blood human being without ceasing to be God.
His coming is the measure of God’s love—that’s the point of the Bible’s most famous verse. Love isn’t measured by words but by actions, not by what you say but by what you are willing to do for the sake of the beloved. John 3:16 doesn’t just say that God loves us; it says he loves us so much that he gave his one and only Son to save us. All we need to do is believe in him.
As you pray, thank God for the gift of Jesus and give your heart to him.
Listen along: Of the Father’s Love Begotten – Shenandoah Christian Music Camp
About the Author
Rev. Dave Bast retired as the President and Broadcast Minister of Words of Hope in January 2017, after 23 years with the ministry. Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. He is the author of several devotional books. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he has also studied at both the Fuller and Calvin seminaries. Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and four grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
