John 3:1-21 One of the best-known verses in the New Testament, John 3:16, begins with a ‘For’, connecting it to the previous verse: which is from the Old Testament! We can’t fully-understand, or fully-appreciate, the one without the other. John the gospel-writer introduces us to Nicodemus, a teacher of ‘the scriptures’ (what we now call the Old Testament) in order to tell us the good news of God’s love in sending Jesus, the Light of the World.