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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That's it? That's all there is for an answer? If I was Christian, then I would understand...but then, I wouldn't have asked the question!
Justice and fairness are essentially synonyms. I know that God is just. I also know that within that concept, that God will be "fair." To punish a man with no ears because he could not hear is not fair. Neither is it just. To state that men are without excuse for not coming to Christ when they were never given the ability to come in the first place is not truthful. God is truth. If the scriptures say that men are without excuse, then God gave them a genuine and fair warning and the genuine ability and opportunity to respond.
The whole principle of "due process" (which is the foundation of justice) requires both notice and an opportunity to be heard. In the case of classical Calvinism, men have no notice because they have no ears to hear. They have no opportunity to be heard (they cannot cry out for Christ) because they have no voice. God simply chose to punish them for the accident of their birth.
"What is unfair about God's Justice toward those who break His Laws, insult His Holiness, and declare their autonomy before Him?"
There is nothing unfair if they equally have the ability to choose not to. When you say that some are given the ability for whatever reason and some are not given the ability, then that is not justice, that is singling out someone for special consideration, and God is no respecter of persons, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.."
Yep!
I have met people like that.
***I do not understand what is meant by God's glory, or righteous vindication.***
"Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation."
- from Psalms 24
stuartcr, based on the above criteria are you worth to live in the glory of God's holy presence?
OK, thanks for the attempt.
The general misunderstanding of Calvinism is that man does not need to repent and believe. Man DOES need to do that the doctrine asked WHO will do it and WHY Interesting is that the greek word for save,sozo ( is in the greek PASSIVE voice
5786 Voice - Passive
The passive voice represents the subject as being the recipient of the action. E.g., in the sentence, "The boy was hit by the ball," the boy receives the action.
So they were being called to be the passive recipients of the saving action
Specifically: "Save yourselves...". My understanding is that the response of "receiving" Christ is not a "work". It is not something done in order to merit salvation or to put God at your debt. It is the willing acceptance of a free gift.
What does John 1 say? " to whom HE GAVE THE POWER" Man does not have the desire or will to come to Christ. Those that do come come only because of the will of God and the action of the Holy Spirit on them .
Jhn 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
Jhn 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The question is one of will and ability . Look around you , probably only 25 or 30% of the world has come to Christ.It is not because the gospel has not been preached to them.
Two men stand and hear the same message, one falls on his face at the call for repentance and the other shrugs and does a "so what ".
Is the first man more clever? smarter? holier? why did he come and not the other?
In the Arminian position it is just that . You were smart enough to know a good deal when you heard it, so you jumped on it.
Consider WHO if they had spiritual understanding would choose to go to hell? Who with spiritual understanding can look at their sinful condition and say "maybe later"?
Jesus address it when he teaches the disciples , you need to ask the same question they did .
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Jesus did NOT teach in parables to make his doctrine CLEAR , he taught in parables to hide the doctrine
Read on
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed [are] your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Notice they hear BECAUSE they are blessed, not Blessed because they hear.
Those that did not hear did not have the parable explained to them so they would choose to come . Jesus did not want them to come or he would have to heal them .. The "package ( the gift) was never offered to them .
Jhn 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them,This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Think about it.. Gods work is THAT YOU BELIEVE
As with the rich man and Lazarus, they will cry our for mercy and they will acknowledge the kingship of Chirst but, as Quester rightfully pointed out with his verses from Revelation, they will never repent even given the torment of hell.
Perhaps the pain of being exposed to the light of God's holy presence is more torturous that hell - for the sinner.
I have met people like that.John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
I don't know, I asked for an explanation of God's glory, but I haven't gotten one. At least not one that I understand...but then I was informed that unless I'm a Christian, I wouldn't understand. It seems that I have to believe/understand, in order to be able to believe/understand!
I do not know what your quote actually means. What is meant by lifting up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully? What exactly is righteousness?
***I asked for an explanation of God's glory, but I haven't gotten one.***
Here's a fairly good one...
Glory is a very hard thing to define. It is like the word "Beauty." We all can use it and communicate with it but to try to reduce it to words is very frustrating. It is easier to point to examples. A sunset seen from the top of the I.D.S. - that's glory. Or the I.D.S. itself almost invisible, like crystal against a grey-blue sky - that's glory. A perfect performance on the balance beam by Nadia Comaneci - that's glory. A perfectly executed 30-foot jump shot with one second to go - that's glory, too.
The glory of God is the beauty and excellence of His manifold perfections. It is an attempt to put into words what God is like in His magnificence and purity. It refers to His infinite and overflowing fulness of all that is good. The term might focus on His different attributes from time to time - like His power, and wisdom and mercy and justice - because each one is indeed awesome and beautiful in its magnitude and quality. But in general God's glory is the perfect harmony of all His attributes into one infinitely beautiful and personal being.
From, "GOD CREATED US FOR HIS GLORY" - John Piper
http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper80/072780m.htm
(the whole this is worth a read)
***I do not know what your quote actually means.***
Do you think it's worth find out?
Actually all you have done is defend that your work is not really work..
Man can intellectually digest the scripture, decide to see if he is a sinner and then make a decision to come to Christ or not ... is God in that at all or is it clearly a work of the flesh?
The bible says God gives us faith, and repentance.. but you would prefer to believe that man can self generate that and not have it be a work.
I understand your frustration, I once shared it.. until I read the word of God without redefining terms or deciding to ignore what does not seem right to me
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Soli Deo Gloria
Rev911 says " buh bye -
Let me be the first to say "welcome back"....havent seen you here before
.
.
.
have we ?
From what you say, it would seem that everyone and everything is worthy of, and exposed to daily, God's glory.
I guess it depends on how much you want me to understand it.
I am saying that in order to understand what christians are talking about when they describe the glory of the christian God, you would need to be a christian.
That's OK. I appreciate your honest reply and you will get no grief from me about it. It just didn't seem like something Spurgeon would say or write.
BTW, who wrote that commentary?
Which is easy to do, since Paul consistantly puts receiving God's grace by faith in opposition to trying to earn His favor with works (see the entire 4th chapter of Romans, for example). The fact that you continue to treat faith as a "work" that "earns" salvation demonstrates just how far you are from actually building your theology on the Scriptures rather than on the traditions of men.
But you know this already. We've demonstrated it to you repeatedly. It's not worth my time to continue to try to prove the existence of color to one who insists on keeping her eyes closed so she can say that there is only black.
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