John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
I originally believed the sentence above is like an offer. It's "open" to anyone to accept. But now that I follow Calvinist theology, it is different. The sentence is not an offer at all; it is simply information.
I now see it like this :
For God so loved His elected that He gave His one and only Son, in order that His elected shall not perish but have eternal life
Since I'm not originally a Calvinist, my question is this:
Do all Calvinists interpret John 3:16 as I do above? In other words, do Calvinists view John 3:16 as a plain statement of fact instead of Christ offering salvation? If not, how do Calvinists interpret this verse?
Thank you.
addition :
I would like to extend my "original" interpretation.
I do agree that the word "world" and "whoever" is not in the sense anyone ---> literally anyone (even babies, toddlers, etc) without condition, but anyone on a condition which is someone who is old enough, already able to understand and realize that he/she need a help from God as he/she realize that they can not help themselves.
My reason about this condition is because I compare the situation from the verse 14
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
My imagination, the situation in that time - it's the Israel who is bitten by the snake, realize that he/she needs a help, then there the offer which is to look at that snake pole.
In simple term, it's just like a doctor is for everyone - but of course this everyone is the one who realize that he/she needs help from the doctor.
But again, once I revert to Calvinist Theology - of course, the [realize that he/she needs a help from God] I will point it to "because they are elected, that's why God stir/control/make these elected ones (like on/off switch) to realize that they need a help" :).