Does God Love Everyone?

Well, does He? Of course there's no question, right? I mean, sure maybe from unbelievers and skeptics, but not from believers, right? Well, hang on a minute. Let's think about it. First, the question is a bit vague. Let's see if I can ask the question in the clearest manner: "Does God love all human beings from Adam through eternity?" Just using "love" as the premise, what do we mean? There are a variety of senses and a variation in intensity of love. Does God love everyone like we love pizza? Don't be silly. Of course that's not the question. Does He love people like we love our friends? Does He love everyone unconditionally? I mean, what question are we asking? I don't know. I think it's still vague. So maybe it's more like, "Does God love all human beings from Adam through eternity in the same sense to the same measure?"

Okay, let's go with that for a moment. But ... how would we know? Intuition? Feeling? Experimentation? Well, since the Bible is the sole authority on matters of faith and practice, we would have to ask what the Bible says. That is, the way we decide if God loves everyone is not "How does it feel?", but "What does the Bible say?" Nor is the measure the implicit, but the explicit. So now we have this question to ask: "Does the Bible say that God loves all human beings from Adam through eternity in the same sense to the same measure?"

There is a sense in which God loves everybody. We know, for instance, that He "causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matt 5:45). We know that it is God who "gives breath to the people" (Isa 42:5). These are things that we call "common grace". God holds all things together, restrains sin, provides needs, that kind of thing.

So there is certainly a sense in which God loves everyone, but it is not the same sense or the same measure that He uses when He says, "For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives" (Heb 12:6). The text presupposes that there are some who are not disciplined or chastised, and that these are not loved or received. In fact, the Bible speaks of the Church as the Bride. I know of no one who would recommend that a husband love everyone in the same way as he loves his wife. That would be wrong.

Indeed, remembering that we must work from the explicit rather than the implicit, it is not difficult to find texts that tell us that God does not love all human beings in the same sense to the same measure. We know, for instance, that God said, "Jacob I loved and Esau I hated" (Rom 9:13). David wrote, "The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity" (Psa 5:5). It is quite clear that "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). We know that "Many are called but few are chosen" (Matt 22:14).

"Oh, sure," some will say, "God loves the sinner but hates the sin." It's a nice idea and it really feels much better, but let me ask you where you get it? The Bible doesn't say "Jacob I loved but I hated Esau's sin." God doesn't damn sin, but sinners. Jesus didn't say, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken My sin?" The Father forsook the Son, not His sin.

Okay, this isn't very pleasant, I know. I know that we like to think that John 3:16 tells us that God loves everyone. It doesn't. (If "God so loved the world" means "God loved the world in this way", then God's love was demonstrated in sending His Son for whosoever believes.) I know that we like to think that God doesn't hate. The Bible says otherwise. Nor would I even begin to suggest that I know who the "loved" and "hated" are. Trying to assign names -- "You know, Tom, God hates you." -- would be horribly wrong. As a generic warning, on the other hand, it is biblical. In fact, the real question is not "Does God love all human beings from Adam through eternity in the same sense to the same measure?" That question is answered in the negative. The real question is will we accept what the Bible says, or will we prefer a god of our own making who is much more pleasant in our estimation? Will we accept what God says about Himself, or will we decide He's quite mistaken?