Does God Love Everyone? - 4
God Loves the World
To help (me) keep track of where we've been:
Part 1) All are sinners
Part 2) Sinful man hates God
Part 3) God hates sinful man
Let's see if I can wrap up my thoughts in this fourth post.
God Loves the World
If my last conclusion is correct and God hates man, how can He therefore "love the world" as John 3:16 states? Perhaps this passage is referring only to those "chosen before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4 etc.) and not the whole of humanity. In other words, "God so loved His chosen ones that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Unfortunately, I'm not convinced that we can interpret world in this way. When John uses world it clearly means only one of two things: either this physical world (Jesus made the world and came into the world), or the world of humanity (the world did not know Him, the world hates Jesus.) I don't think we can confidently translate kosmos as elect. Therefore, God loves the whole world. There are numerous passages that attest to this wonderful truth:
- "The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works." (Psalm 145:9)
- "The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing." (Psalm 145:15-16)
- "They (God's creatures) all wait for You To give them their food in due season. You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good." (Psalm 104:27-28)
But the Whole World is not Saved
However, John 3:16 also makes it clear that not all will be saved. There's a whoever in there that limits the scope. While this doesn't limit the scope of God's love - He loves all - it does mean that some will perish, some will not gain eternal life. John also writes, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." (Jn 1:12) Only those who believe in Jesus Christ will be saved, and this is owed entirely to God's choosing (Jn 1:13.)
Love and Hatred
Somehow, in His perfection, God can both love and hate the same object at the same time. This love does not guarantee eternal life, and his hatred does not guarantee eternal death. However, it is clear that eternal death is the natural end of man unless God intervenes. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
A Greater Love
There is a gift to be had. Like any gift it must be given. It cannot be purchased or taken by force. God gives the gift of eternal life to whom He wills. To those who receive the gift of Christ - His substitutionary death and resurrection power - a greater love of God is shown. This uncommon grace far exceeds the love which causes rain to fall and food to grow. This love is the reason that God shows general kindness and mercy - such universal favor exists to give men time to repent of their sins and become "in Christ." (Rom 2, 2 Pet 3) In God's goodness and immense patience, He sustains life in order that those He has given to the Son may be with the Son and see His glory (Jn 17:11).
- "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)," (Ephesians 2:4-5)
- " See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him." (1 John 3:1)
More than Love
There is much to be said about God's love - much more than I've covered here (I second Jason's recommendation of MacArthur's "The God Who Loves.") We must be careful, however, to keep in mind that this is not the whole definition of God; it is only one part of the overall picture. Yes, God is love... God is also "Light" - morally perfect, perfectly holy. God's love is one marvellous aspect of God's essence - just not the only one. We must keep His love in balance with His holiness lest we "think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience." (Romans 2:4) A God who is only loving, who does not fully punish sin, who does not judge us all, is an idol of our own making. In scripture, God gives us a full-orbed presentation of Himself; we must not take what we want and fill in the gaps.
Amazing Love
How wonderful is God's love! To think that He loved me while I hated Him! So much has been given to one who deserved absolutely nothing but punishment! Blessed be God... because He has blessed us so freely, so richly! He truly loves His enemies, and enables them to love Him. He loves all men - just not all in the same way. Time and again we see God promise salvation to those who love Him, who fear Him. His wrath will be fully unleashed on those who spurn His free gift of love. We may receive salvation at His expense, but what a cost to Him! Nothing greater could God have given but His own dear Son. That He would willingly send His Son into this world that He knew would not accept Him, and would ultimately kill Him, is beyond comprehension. God's love is truly astounding.
- "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him." (Psalm 103:10-13)
- "For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the skies." (Psalm 108:4)
Comments
One again I have been edified in many ways by reading your post. I will say upfront I disagree with your interpretation of “world” in Jn 3:16. I am not a Greek scholar but as a layman I can see that “world” has at least five different meanings in the NT. I think the context is clear...we have Jesus talking with Nicodemus (a Jewish Pharisee) about how in the past God provided healing for the Jews by lifting up a brass serpent, but under the new covenant, saving is not for the Jews only, but for the whole(believing) world. (those from every tribe, tongue and nation)...... by looking to Jesus (who became sin, as the serpent represents - and brass, symboling judged) hanging on the tree.
Outside of this controversal verse, we do not see one verse in the Gospels, Acts, or the Epistles speaking of God loving everyone in the whole world. Don’t get me wrong, I am in agreement with the theme of your post and was blessed by how you wordet it. If fact I think I can hear you stating it with your characteristically pleasant voice.
Your theology of salvation was superbly communicated, and has been largely ignored by most of evangelical Christianity for the last 70 or 80 years. I confess I have never heard God’s common grace and God’s fierce hatred of sin and sinful men like you pu it... “Somehow, in His perfection, God can both love and hate the same object at the same time. This love does not guarantee eternal life, and his hatred does not guarantee eternal death.” I think I will chew the cudd on this for awhile.
Thanks for a great post. Perhaps I will input more thoughts later.
Dave
Post Script : I am aware, at least I think I am, that many very, very competant scholars, skilled in the handling of God’s word, interpret “world” differently than I do. I humbly state they are simply incorrect. ;-)
It happens that Calvin himself appears to agree with your conclusion as well, saying in his commentary on 2 Peter 3:9 (the passage talking about God wishing that none should perish) the following: "...the Lord defers his coming that he might invite all mankind to repentance." And later: "So wonderful is his love towards mankind, that he would have them all to be saved, and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost."
To be sure, Calvin quickly gets back to his whole election theme, but he does not doubt the extents and depths of God's love.
Here's a link to Calvin's commentary in his own words:
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_vol45/htm/vii.iv.iii.htm
Of course, Calvin should not be considered to have Papal authority when it comes to interpreting scripture, but it bodes well that at least his adherents are in your court.
Cheers!
Byron
It is good to see you are reading Calvin. Keep reading his profound works.
view this short video to see whe the Genevan Reformer "hiccuped" in this scripture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V97RTVPSO8
See ya friend
A very nice video that puts "All" and "everyone" and "anyone" into the context of the pronoun "you", which the producer takes to refer to the "elect". Perhaps the producer's definition of elect explains why he did not deal with the verb phrase "is patient towards" which raises some interesting questions about what exactly God is waiting for the "elect" to do. The primary difference between Calvinists and Armenians (I use the terms loosely) is their definitions of what elect means.
Someone might think that God is showing patience in anticipation that more people might accept "His invitation to salvation to all mankind" (as Calvin puts it), thereby finding themselves numbered among the elect whom God foreknew.
At any rate, I beg a truce. I think we both know where this leads and by my calculation, it would take us another 8 days (plus or minus 2) to get to the stalemate.
It would be un-gentlemanly of me to take the last shot and call a truce, therefore, I invite you to the parting shot which shall go unanswered (if I can control myself :-).
Cheers!
Byron
Truce....and thanks....in the sense that I don't want to dishonor God with disputes in order to pridefully win "an argument" or disagreement when it is apparent, for the moment at least, one will not budge, be it because of reason or tradition. Scripture is too Holy for that.
Cordially,
Dave
Post script: to be sure, I want to say I like polite discourse about biblical matters because it challenges me to evaluate my positions as well as make sure I am not wearing "tradition" goggles.