God didn’t just forgive our sins—His holiness couldn’t do that. Sin has a wage that has to be paid; that wage is death (Romans 6:23). So, Jesus came and bore our sin and paid the price. We are forgiven at a great price. Keeping this in mind will keep us from using God’s grace as a license to sin.

When did God commend this love toward us? As Romans 5:8 says, it was while we were yet sinners. Therefore, God’s love isn’t conditional on our goodness. He doesn’t love us because we are lovely but simply because He is love (1 John 4:8 and 16).

The focus of this verse isn’t on us not perishing; rather, it is on us having everlasting life. According to Jesus’ own words in John 17:3, everlasting life is knowing God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and it’s not just knowing them but knowing them in the biblical sense of the word (see my notes at Genesis 4:1 and John 17:3). This is speaking of intimacy.

A person who comes to the Lord for forgiveness of sins but doesn’t go on to experience intimacy with the Lord is missing the true point of salvation. It is a wonderful benefit of salvation to avoid hell and all its torments. But everlasting life begins on earth (John 3:36; 4:14; 5:24; 6:27, 40, 47; and 12:50) in the form of intimacy with the Father and the Son.

Sin was like a barrier that blocked our access to God. Without the removal of that barrier, there could be no true fellowship with the Father. Therefore, Jesus took the sin of the whole world upon Himself (John 12:32, see my note at that verse) and has reconciled us to God (2 Corinthians 5:19). But if we don’t go past where the barrier used to be, into intimacy with the Father, we are missing the true point of salvation in this life.