New York — The popular Bible verse “John 3:16” is seen often at sporting events and throughout popular culture, but do Americans even know what it’s referencing?
A new survey suggests they do.
The Barna Group poll conducted for the American Bible Society asked U.S. adults: “When you hear the phrase ‘John three sixteen’ in reference to the Bible, what does the ‘three’ mean?” All total, 68 percent of adults correctly said it was a chapter in John, with 6 percent saying it was a verse, 2 percent a book, and 17 percent saying they weren’t sure.
Nationwide discussion of John 3:16 has skyrocketed in recent days after Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow — an outspoken Christian — passed for 316 yards in a first-round playoff victory. The day after the game, “John 3:16” was the No. 1 search topic on Google. A Wikipedia search for the verse saw a huge spike the two days after the game, with 183,000 people reading about it.
The next Saturday, an ad from Focus on the Family — showing young children citing the verse — ran during the Broncos’ second-round game.
The Barna survey even found that 59 percent of people who are not Christians — including atheists and agnostics — understood what the “three” referenced.
The 2011 survey was based on phone interviews with 1,014 adults.
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