More from Carson's exposition of John 14

I liked this:

"The "world" in John is a symbol for all that is in rebellion against God, all that is loveless and disobedient, all that is selfish and sinful. When we read therefore in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son," we are not to think that God's love is being praised by reference to the world's bigness, but by reference to its badness. This ugly, sinful, rebellious world, this sewer of infidelity, this glut of endless selfishness, this habitation of cruelty, this lover of violence, this promoter of greed, this maker of idols - this world God loved, and loved so much that he sent his Son." (58)

And this:

"Some modern evangelicals give the impression that the only essential factor in winning men to Christ is the proclamation of the gospel in appropriate garb. They seem to think that if only the church learns to witness appropriately to the various peoples of the world, vast numbers of men and women will certainly be saved. I applaud their efforts to make us aware of the profound cultural barriers that render articulation of the gospel far more difficult than is sometimes thought. Their isolation and identification of such barriers will help the Christian witness avoid needless negative reactions, and help ensure that when he causes offense it is the truth of the gospel which has evoked it, not his own maladroit offensiveness. But when all caveats are in, it is sobering to remember that the apostle John is not so sanguine about the receptivity of the world. The fourth Gospel does not encourage us in the notion that the proper communication is necessarily effective communication." (59)