Posted on 08/01/2005 8:16:45 PM PDT by buckeyesrule
Does God So Love the World?
by: John MacArthur
Love is the best known but least understood of all God's attributes. Almost everyone who believes in God these days sees Him as a God of love. I have even met agnostics who are quite certain that if God exists, He must be benevolent, compassionate, and loving.
All those things are infinitely true about God, of course, but not in the way most people think. Because of the influence of modern liberal theology, many suppose that God's love and goodness ultimately nullify His righteousness, justice, and holy wrath. They envision God as a benign heavenly grandfather-tolerant, affable, lenient, permissive, devoid of any real displeasure over sin, who without consideration of His holiness will benignly pass over sin and accept people as they are.
Liberal thinking about God's love also permeates much of evangelicalism today. We have lost the reality of God's wrath. We have disregarded His hatred for sin. The God most evangelicals now describe is all-loving and not at all angry. We have forgotten that "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). We do not believe in that kind of God anymore.
We must recapture some of the holy terror that comes with a right understanding of God's righteous anger. We need to remember that God's wrath does burn against impenitent sinners (Psalm 38:1-3). That reality is the very thing that makes His love so amazing. Only those who see themselves as sinners in the hands of an angry God can fully appreciate the magnitude and wonder of His love.
In that regard, our generation is surely at a greater disadvantage than any previous age. We have been force-fed the doctrines of self-esteem for so long that most people don't really view themselves as sinners worthy of divine wrath. On top of that, religious liberalism, humanism, evangelical compromise, and ignorance of the Scriptures have all worked against a right understanding of who God is. Ironically, in an age that conceives of God as wholly loving, altogether devoid of wrath, few people really understand what God's love is all about.
How we address the misconception of the present age is crucial. We must not respond to an overemphasis on divine love by denying that God is love. Our generation's imbalanced view of God cannot be corrected by an equal imbalance in the opposite direction, a very real danger in some circles. I'm deeply concerned about a growing trend I've noticed-particularly among people committed to the biblical truth of God's sovereignty and divine election. Some of them flatly deny that God in any sense loves those whom He has not chosen for salvation.
I am troubled by the tendency of some-often young people newly infatuated with Reformed doctrine-who insist that God cannot possibly love those who never repent and believe. I encounter that view, it seems, with increasing frequency.
The argument inevitably goes like this: Psalm 7:11 tells us "God is angry with the wicked every day." It seems reasonable to assume that if God loved everyone, He would have chosen everyone unto salvation. Therefore, God does not love the non-elect. Those who hold this view often go to great lengths to argue that John 3:16 cannot really mean God loves the whole world.
Perhaps the best-known argument for this view is found the unabridged edition of an otherwise excellent book, The Sovereignty of God, by A. W. Pink. Pink wrote, "God loves whom He chooses. He does not love everybody." [1] He further argued that the word world in John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world…") "refers to the world of believers (God's elect), in contradistinction from 'the world of the ungodly.'"[2]
Pink was attempting to make the crucial point that God is sovereign in the exercise of His love. The gist of his argument is certainly valid: It is folly to think that God loves all alike, or that He is compelled by some rule of fairness to love everyone equally. Scripture teaches us that God loves because He chooses to love (Deuteronomy 7:6-7), because He is loving (God is love, 1 John 4:8), not because He is under some obligation to love everyone the same.
Nothing but God's own sovereign good pleasure compels Him to love sinners. Nothing but His own sovereign will governs His love. That has to be true, since there is certainly nothing in any sinner worthy of even the smallest degree of divine love.
Unfortunately, Pink took the corollary too far. The fact that some sinners are not elected to salvation is no proof that God's attitude toward them is utterly devoid of sincere love. We know from Scripture that God is compassionate, kind, generous, and good even to the most stubborn sinners. Who can deny that those mercies flow out of God's boundless love? It is evident that they are showered even on unrepentant sinners.
We must understand that it is God's very nature to love. The reason our Lord commanded us to love our enemies is "in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). Jesus clearly characterized His Father as One who loves even those who purposefully set themselves at enmity against Him.
At this point, however, an important distinction must be made: God loves believers with a particular love. God's love for the elect is an infinite, eternal, saving love. We know from Scripture that this great love was the very cause of our election (Ephesians 2:4). Such love clearly is not directed toward all of mankind indiscriminately, but is bestowed uniquely and individually on those whom God chose in eternity past.
But from that, it does not follow that God's attitude toward those He did not elect must be unmitigated hatred. Surely His pleading with the lost, His offers of mercy to the reprobate, and the call of the gospel to all who hear are all sincere expressions of the heart of a loving God. Remember, He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but tenderly calls sinners to turn from their evil ways and live.
Reformed theology has historically been the branch of evangelicalism most strongly committed to the sovereignty of God. At the same time, the mainstream of Reformed theologians have always affirmed the love of God for all sinners. John Calvin himself wrote regarding John 3:16, "[Two] points are distinctly stated to us: namely, that faith in Christ brings life to all, and that Christ brought life, because the Father loves the human race, and wishes that they should not perish." [3]
Calvin continues to explain the biblical balance that both the gospel invitation and "the world" that God loves are by no means limited to the elect alone. He also recognized that God's electing, saving love is uniquely bestowed on His chosen ones.
Those same truths, reflecting a biblical balance, have been vigorously defended by a host of Reformed stalwarts, including Thomas Boston, John Brown, Andrew Fuller, W. G. T. Shedd, R. L. Dabney, B. B. Warfield, John Murray, R. B. Kuiper, and many others. In no sense does belief in divine sovereignty rule out the love of God for all humanity.
We are seeing today, in some circles, an almost unprecedented interest in the doctrines of the Reformation and the Puritan eras. I'm very encouraged by that in most respects. A return to those historic truths is, I'm convinced, absolutely necessary if the church is to survive. Yet there is a danger when overzealous souls misuse a doctrine like divine sovereignty to deny God's sincere offer of mercy to all sinners.
We must maintain a carefully balanced perspective as we pursue our study of God's love. God's love cannot be isolated from His wrath and vice versa. Nor are His love and wrath in opposition to each other like some mystical yin-yang principle. Both attributes are constant, perfect, without ebb or flow. His wrath coexists with His love; therefore, the two never contradict. Such are the perfections of God that we can never begin to comprehend these things. Above all, we must not set them against one another, as if there were somehow a discrepancy in God.
Both God's wrath and His love work to the same ultimate end-His glory. God is glorified in the condemnation of the wicked; He is glorified in every expression of love for all people without exception; and He is glorified in the particular love He manifests in saving His people.
Expressions of wrath and expressions of love-all are necessary to display God's full glory. We must never ignore any aspect of His character, nor magnify one to the exclusion of another. When we commit those errors, we throw off the biblical balance, distort the true nature of God, and diminish His real glory.
Does God so love the world? Emphatically-yes! Proclaim that truth far and wide, and do so against the backdrop of God's perfect wrath that awaits everyone who does not repent and turn to Christ.
Does the love of God differ in the breadth and depth and manner of its expression? Yes it does. Praise Him for the many manifestations of His love, especially toward the non-elect, and rejoice in the particular manifestation of His saving love for you who believe. God has chosen to display in you the glory of His redeeming grace.
[1]Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1930), 29-30.
[2]Ibid., 314.
[3]John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, William Pringle, trans. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979 reprint), 123.
Adapted from The God Who Loves © 2001 by John MacArthur. All rights reserved.
• Grace to You (Thursday, July 21, 2005)
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God ordained that I and you would believe.
God ordained that the Holy Spirit would work faith in Jesus Christ in both you and me.
The Arminian thinks he can ignore or reject the Holy Spirit.
The Calvinist believes that if the Holy Spirit is operating within the person, that person will believe, according to the will of God and determined by Him from before the foundation of the world.
"Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." -- John 6:29
We have gone over that before....God loving the elect even while they're totally depraved.
So far as loving those in hell is concerned, I think it is possible to condemn a loved child to the death penalty or to life imprisonment and still love the child.
There is something eternally revealing about refusing faith in Christ. It is, perhaps, that this one would always "hurt and destroy in all His holy mountain."
For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved." -- Psalm 47:1-4
Thank you, God. We are as Jacob, x. Loved by God from before the womb.
The Bible says all who do not believe are cursed, x.
Of course God doesn't change His mind. But the GRPL view implies that God is actually "pleased" with tossing folks into eternal damnation. He never liked 'em anyway, so let's fry 'em up.
xzins: "So far as loving those in hell is concerned, I think it is possible to condemn a loved child to the death penalty or to life imprisonment and still love the child."
The love for a child you refer to above is not, in my opinion, analogous to God's potential love for those eternally damned. The parent may have hope that this action will have a good outcome in the child prior to their final death. God knows full well the punishment for the damned is eternal.
I have trouble understanding that God can love someone from whom he has been eternally separated. For one, these condemned sinners are no longer enjoying the common grace of God. And God's love is not some emotional, experiential love - God's love is always active (acted upon). You seem to believe that God can have some hippocritical love that exits without a true relationship of care, comfort, and blessing?? How do you define love? I cannot see any twisting of God's love which could include those burning eternally in hell.
If you don't believe that God can love even those He must condemn, then your God's heart is too small. Me, I think God can surpass me in all things, including loving His enemies.
I have a different (broader?) understanding of "God is Love" than most others who agree with me on other things.
There is nothing He can do that cannot be related to His nature of love.
Buggman:"If you don't believe that God can love even those He must condemn, then your God's heart is too small. Me, I think God can surpass me in all things, including loving His enemies."
If God loves those in Hell, could you give me one demonstration of His love for them? God does not just love without action - that would defy the definition of love. You cannot just say God loves those in hell without some evidence that He acts for their benefit...
God demonstrates his love for those in Hell by keeping them there and not inflicting creation with them again.
Arnold Schwarzeneggar does the very best for Charles Manson by keeping him locked up with the key thrown away.
I have mentioned to many folks who ask about how God is forgiving and loving, and how could He ever punish anyone if that is so.
I maintain that there is a huge translation problem: it's not so much that God is all forgiving and all loving, it's more that he can be all forgiving and all loving. :-)
So if God ALWAYS had the knowledge who would be saved, that means He created the rest specifically to be damned correct?
So he REALLY did not desire ALL men to be saved or he never would have created those that would go to hell.
Seeing that He created the men He foreknew the names of those that would not believe , how is that different that God electing some and not others?
It might be that Christ died and not one man chose to repent and believe.
WAIT what did Jesus say? "I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly"
So could he have said that IF no one would be saved?
I suspect that Jesus would have died even if not one person would repent and believe. The cross demostrates his mercy and judgment. He would be righteous and merciful eveni if no one was willing to receive salvation.
Wrong, the cross does NOT demonstrate Gods mercy or grace to the lost. So if God brought no one to repentance no one would have seen it as mercy or grace. The reprobates laugh at such a silly thought.It would just have made men mock God even more
It is the elect that appreciate the cross as an act of Mercy
So has God sat for all eternity just hoping that people will come?
My wife had children knowing full well that it comes with risk. Children go through sufferings too numerous to mention and yet she still had them, not with thoughtlessness, but rather looking past what suffering they might endure, to what blessings they are to others, how valuable they are to society, when raised in righteousness.
And inspite of what suffering they have endured, my children thank her for the life she gave them. Most children, raised well, praise their own mothers and don't blame them for the sins of others.
How true. Oh to live as if that only one He died for - was me.
May I complete the John 6 thought?
Jhn 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Jhn 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Jhn 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Jhn 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jhn 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jhn 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of ( from ) the Father, cometh unto me.
Jhn 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
xzins:"God demonstrates his love for those in Hell by keeping them there and not inflicting creation with them again."
This demonstration is not directed for the benefit of those in Hell. It is for the benefit of "creation" and those who are preserved.
Not so.
It is for both.
The most positive thing that can be done for Charles Manson is to keep him in prison.
So you do not think that God is pleased by HIS holiness and righteousness and His JUSTICE?
I for one will agree with the Saints under the altar and await Gods justice be poured out on the reprobates
Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
"When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers." - Proverbs 21: 15
Are you trying to say that God is NOT pleased with His work and His plan ?
I'm saying that I don't think, as the GRPLs do, that God gets a kick out of sending people to hell.
Some how I do not think the people in hell view it as an act of love from God for them . This is a part of the new "wave " of evangelism that seeks to turn the wrath of God into a loving correction.
Balogna ! Jesus does not mince words, he draws a word picture of men cursing God and screaming in pain for eternity.
They did not just "fall" into hell, God put them there. They are there not so they can not continue to sin and blaspheme God, they are there for punishment , eternal punishment .
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