John Stainer's God so loved the world is taken from his passion The Crucifixion. The Crucifixion was written for a small Parish church with an enthousiastic amateur choir. In more recent years the performance of the piece has picked up. God so loved the world is also performed regularly as concert piece, so without the rest of The Crucifixion. God so loved the world is a small acappella motet-like piece written on text of the gospel of John 3:16.