Does God So Love the World? (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.

[3]John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, William Pringle, trans. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979 reprint), 123.

I agree with this. It's unexplainable, to a certain extent, but I believe that is what the Bible teaches.

And so do I, I call it predestination. Yet I do chose, but I chose according to the preferences that God has place in me and the circumstances He has placed me in.

It is a mystery !

It is God choosing who will choose to come.

Limited freedom of choice here. The individual has no power to choose. This is force from the "never-saved" crowd's point of view. God has made himself absolutely unavailable to a chosen group, and has therefore, forced them into hell. Since, you do believe in an individual's free will, you cannot say that you believe humans have a free will in this particular matter concerning God's love.

On the day of my salvation I fell on my knees in repentance and I gave my worthless life to Christ. The thought of "choice" or who was choosing who or why, never occurred me . I was in awe of God loving someone like me. Who was choosing who was not important.

The next day I remember thinking that the entire series of events leading up to my salvation had to have been predestined. But as often happens getting on with my life the who chose who got lost in my Christian life , until a few years ago.

That sounds very sane and balanced.

You did not have the ability to choose your sex or race or year or place of birth or the financial status of your parents.

Yes, but I have the ability to choose to love my parents. I do have control over what I am held responsible for. God does not make all my decisions for me.

You believe in irresistible grace, right? That is nothing more than forced love, an oxymoron.

Limited freedom of choice here. The individual has no power to choose. This is force from the "never-saved" crowd's point of view. God has made himself absolutely unavailable to a chosen group, and has therefore, forced them into hell. Since, you do believe in an individual's free will, you cannot say that you believe humans have a free will in this particular matter concerning God's l

God has hidden himself from no one. He has commanded the gospel be preached to all men . It is not God that has bound the will of man, that was Adams sin that did that . God restrains no man from coming to Him, He will save all that come

The question is who will will to come?

Does Jesus choose the door He knocks on or do men?

Jesus knocks. But man must choose to open it. If man does not, then Jesus goes away. No irresistible grace here.

Jesus doesn't knock at every door. And not every door that Jesus knocks on, will be opened. Not everyone who hears the Gospel message responds with a yes. But God still gives people a chance to respond with a yes, so He can prove that he loves all, sinner and saint alike. Who can absolutely understand the mysterious will of God?

Yes, but I have the ability to choose to love my parents. I do have control over what I am held responsible for. God does not make all my decisions for me.

God has designed you with a certain set of preferences so He as the creator of YOU knows exactly how you will react in EVERY situation. ( remember the genetics study?)

You believe in irresistible grace, right? That is nothing more than forced love, an oxymoron.

Do you believe that YOU can resist the will of God?

Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made me thus?

Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Is it important to you to be able to set your pride against Gods sovereignty ?

The question is who will will to come?

God has not bound the will of man? Yes I know. I'm the one who believes in man's free will as far as salvation. But if God has predestined men to hell, who can argue with God? God has set the parameters that a certain group will never be able to obtain salvation. So God has in fact bound men to hell. God has willed before the foundations of the earth that only a select few will get in, and that the rest will be shut out.

You have answered the question of who will come. Only those who God wants to come, meaning, only those who end up saved. God will save all who come, but you say God has forced all who will come, to come.

Jesus doesn't knock at every door. And not every door that Jesus knocks on, will be opened.

Can I have your scripture for this?

Not everyone who hears the Gospel message responds with a yes.

That is not Jesus knocking. In fact Jesus makes quite clear that he closes ears so that the non elect can not "hear" the gospel message.

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 by God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

But God still gives people a chance to respond with a yes, so He can prove that he loves all, sinner and saint alike. Who can absolutely understand the mysterious will of God?

Do you see all men as worthy of salvation? Does God owe them all a shot ?

***He points to the small circle and says those are are every day choices, where do we live? go to school? who do we marry? how many children do we have? etc. Those are all choices we make, yet he points out that each of those decisions are your free will choices YET they are all within Gods ordained will.***

This is how I stated the same thing in an earlier post...

"... I see, in the Bible, part of God's plan being the allotment of "spheres" of limited sovereignty to mankind and certain men in particular. Having been given limited authority, they are ultimately responsible for what they do with that investment and will give an account for it on judgment day."

Set and subset. Subset is man's free will. Set is God's will.

(See - more agreement.)

***I don't recall any Gospel telling us He wants us to try to figure Him out beyond that.***

Philippians 3:10
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,

1 John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life

Colossians 1:10
Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

1 John 4:6
But we belong to God; that is why those who know God listen to us.

. Only those who God wants to come, meaning, only those who end up saved. God will save all who come, but you say God has forced all who will come, to come.

Force is YOUR word I think God will free the elect so they can desire to come .

Scripture says only those that the father elects will come.

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.

Phl 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

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 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Jhn 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Jhn 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine

.This is just a small amount. of scripture that deal with election

***This is not a salvation verse, it is speaking of literally people receiving the disciples into there home and taking care of them***

That is not necessarily the case. A person in a small town in Israel who heard the disciples speak (perhaps for the first time) and accepted the message and received them would have (in all likelihood) passed though a salvation experience.

***There are various teaching that that quote (Rev.) was specific to the church***

You have a point. More than likely the verse speaks to Christians.

***Note who it is that gives the POWER to become the son of God.. it is NOT the will of men ***

But also note that the Bible states that the power to become the child of God comes AFTER the person RECEIVES Christ.

What did you think of the Corinthians verse?

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Matthew 10:40 -- He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

It says "receive." It does not say "accept."

The bestowal of salvation is through God's efforts, not our own.

Upon that very difference the Protestant Reformation was waged.

...so He as the creator of YOU knows exactly how you will react in EVERY situation.

I know he does. But knowing everything isn't controlling everybody. One unexplainable mystery of God is that he uses men complete with free will to absolutely and completely accomplish his perfect, predestined plan down to the tee. Take the Tower Of Babel, for example. They tried to build a stairway to heaven, but God knocked it down. They did not get the final outcome they had planned, in their free will, they chose to go against God's will.

Do you believe that YOU can resist the will of God?

People do it every day. They sin. And yes, I do sin too. (Though I haven't in quite some time now. Just kidding.)(MR. Goofy Grape)

Rom 9:19-21

I'm not even going to pretend to know what these verses mean in their context. I have not really bothered to study them out. However, would you say that God is the author of sin. If indeed he does make some vessels to dishonor, does this mean that he predetermines sin?

48 entries found for receive.
Main Entry: receive
Part of Speech: verb 1
Definition: accept
Synonyms: accept, acquire, admit, apprehend, appropriate, arrogate, assume, be given, be informed, be told, catch, collect, come by, come into, cop, corral, derive, draw, earn, gain, gather, get, get from, grab, hear, hold, inherit, make, obtain, perceive, pick up, pocket, procure, pull, pull down, reap, redeem, secure, seize, snag, take, take in, take possession, win
Antonyms: give, present
Source: Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1)
Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

But also note that the Bible states that the power to become the child of God comes AFTER the person RECEIVES Christ.

The question is who received him?

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: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

What did you think of the Corinthians verse?

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

I did not find it applicable to the discussion as this refers to a gospel presentation not to the question of WHO will hear it or who will come

My only interest in this discussion is such non biblical language as " choose Christ" or "free will" or " receive Christ as your saviour" is so easily accepted as true, while the gospel language of election and predestination... direct words and language and principles taught in the OT are disregarded as untrue because they do not tickle the ears of mens pride.

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