In most bibles, the famous verse in John 3:16 is translated this way:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life." (NRSV)
Yet, when I ask my friends what this so loved means, they invariably answer that it means that God loved the world so much that He gave his Son. This is, God loves the world a lot.
Well, there is no doubt that God loves the world a lot, but that is not the intended meaning of the verse. Here, the verse in greek:
οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ1 ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ’ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
However οὕτως, for what I know of greek, in this sentence would be adecuately translated by "this way". So the two translations that won the prize are:
"God loved the world this way: He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life." (God's World)
"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life" (HCSB)
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