John 3:16

οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον

For this is how God loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, so that all who believe in him would not perish but would have eternal life.


 * There's debate about whether οὕτως means "in this manner" or serves to indicate the intensity of the action "so much". "In this manner" is the more usual understanding. However according to the NET notes, there is a body of scholarship that argues that οὕτως ... ὥστε where the ὥστε plus indicative verb ἔδωκεν (gave) indicates an actual but unexpected result and thus emphasises the greatness of the gift. The NET comes down on John making a word play and employing a double meaning that has both the nuance of "this is the manner" and "how great is this manner".
 * The KJV translated οὕτως as "so". In old English, "so" often referred to "in this manner". Unfortunately, this usage is less common now.
 * Note however that we still use "so" to mean "in this manner". Jean-Luc Picard says, "Make it so!" He means: "Do it in this manner (that you have suggested)."
 * However because this usage is so uncommon, most people hear "so" to mean intensity.
 * Most bible translations are reluctant to mess with the translation in spite of the fact that people might hear it different from the original authorial intent. People are too familiar with the KJV quote.
 * Nonetheless:
 * No big theological deal either way
 * There's scholarly argument for the "intensity" reading" anyway.
 * ἔδωκεν - simple ol' Aorist Active Indicative 3P sg. form. "Gave". From δίδωμι. δω is usually a good clue of its family lineage.
 * ἵνα - should be followed by subjunctive. In this case μὴ ἀπόληται and ἔχῃ.
 * πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν - the preposition εἰς controls the object case so it is accusative. One verse earlier John 3:15 it is dative the preposition ἐν was used and took a dative. Mounce notes that while in classical Greek the two prepositions did not overlap much, they were beginning to overlap more by the koine period.