[4] Bach had possibly commissioned the texts in 1724 with his first cantata cycle in mind,[5] but he did not set music to them until 1725.

It is close to the beginning of the Gospel: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".

[6] John Eliot Gardiner describes it as "surely one of Bach's most refreshing and unbuttoned expressions of melodic joy and high spirits".

Klaus Hofmann notes that the "splendid wind writing gives some hint of the pathos with which Pan ... is portrayed in Bach's hunting music".

The final movement is not, as in many church cantatas, a simple four-part chorale, but a motet-like structure which conveys a verse from the Gospel of John.

[6] Gardiner comments: Invariably his settings of John's words are full of purpose, never more so than in the final chorus of BWV 68 Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt when, in place of a chorale, John postulates the chilling choice between salvation or judgement in the present life.