Seminary
Doctrinal Mastery: John 3:16

Doctrinal Mastery: John 3:16

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

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Jesus Christ prays in the Garden of Gethsemane

In the previous lesson, you learned about the deep love Heavenly Father showed us in sending His Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. This lesson will give you the opportunity to increase your mastery of this doctrine by memorizing the reference and key scripture phrase, explaining the doctrine, and applying principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in a real-life situation.

Memorize and explain

The following is a scrambled version of the scripture reference and key scripture phrase for John 3:16. Unscramble the words by writing the correct scripture reference and key scripture phrase in your study journal.

  • God Son gave loved the only 16 For that his begotten John he world so 3

After you have finished unscrambling the phrase, take a moment to memorize the scripture reference and key scripture phrase.

Assume for a moment that you are a full-time missionary. You have been invited into a home by a friendly couple who has never heard about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Drawing on what you have learned from the previous lesson about God’s love in sending His Son, what would you share with this couple?

Do a role-play of the following scenario with an adult, or respond to the scenario in your study journal.

Practice application

Take a moment to review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge with the following activity.

Fill in the blanks for each of the following phrases.

  • Act in f____.

  • Examine concepts and q________ with an e______ p__________.

  • Seek further understanding through d_______ a________ sources.

Consider the following scenario.

After getting home late for the second time in a row, Sarai has a difficult conversation with her parents. She knows it’s getting hard for her parents to trust her. She also knows she has been making some choices that, if her parents knew about them, would cause her parents to trust her even less. Sarai feels guilty, but it seems easier right now to ignore these problems. Additionally, she is finding it harder to do and feel spiritual things, which makes her think that either Heavenly Father is not real or He has turned away from her because of her choices. At this point, Sarai doesn’t know what to do or where to turn.”

  • What is causing this to be a hard situation for Sarai?

  • If you were in Sarai’s position, what would be some of your greatest questions or concerns?

Consider how the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge could help Sarai respond to her situation. If needed, take a moment to review paragraphs 5–12 in the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2022) to learn more about these principles.

Act in faith

1. Answer the following questions in your study journal:

  • What could Sarai do to act in faith in this situation?

  • What would you say to help her if she felt that acting in faith is too difficult?

Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective

Sarai already feels like her relationships with her parents and with God are suffering because of the choices she has made. Being open with her parents and God seems like it would make things worse.

2. Answer the following questions in your study journal:

  • In what ways is Sarai’s perspective inaccurate or incomplete?

  • What do you know about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, or the plan of salvation that would be helpful for Sarai to remember?

  • If you were Sarai’s mom or dad, how do you think you would feel toward her? What would you want your struggling daughter to understand about how you feel?

Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources

Take a few minutes to find scripture passages or statements from Church leaders that could be helpful to Sarai. If needed, consider using resources such as the Guide to the Scriptures or Gospel Topics to help you (see ChurchofJesusChrist.org). It may also be beneficial to use some of the scriptures you studied in the previous lesson, such as John 3:14–17 or Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–11.

3. Answer the following questions in your study journal:

  • What did you learn about Jesus Christ from your study that would help Sarai?

  • What are at least two specific phrases from your study that would benefit Sarai? Why?