A friend and I at church used to joke, "You know, God loves you best." It was a joke ... but, as it is said, many a truth is said in jest. If it isn't actually true, it is certainly a question for a lot of us. Does God love everyone equally? Mind you, I'm not asking if God loves everyone. But is it equal? Does God love Hitler to the same extent that He loves Jonathan Edwards? Does He love those that embrace Him in the same way as He loves those who reject Him?
Jesus said, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son ..." (John 3:16). When we looked at that recently, we saw that "so" was not a quantity, but a quality. So He has love for "the world." However, He went on to say that "whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." So those who do not believe do not have the same outcome as those who do. Is that a variation in love? We know that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8), but how good is that for those who don't receive it? Daniel is called "the man greatly beloved" by God three times in the book of Daniel (Dan 9:23; 10:11; 10:19). Did that mean that my joke between my friend and I may have been true?
John wrote, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). In fact, without that love that God is, we could not love (1 John 4:7-8). The author of Hebrews wrote that God disciplines those He loves, and if you are not disciplined, you're not a legitimate child of His (Heb 12:5-8). It would appear, then, that God loves everyone in some sense, but not necessarily in the same way or the same amount. The Gospel of John refers to "the disciple that Jesus loved" (John 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20). Apparently that disciple was, somehow, a bit more special to Jesus. To those who receive Him He offers special care, but to those who oppose Him He calls for repentance. Both are love; they don't look the same. Does God love everyone? Scripture appears to say that He does. Does that require that He loves everyone equally? I don't think it is required by the texts. Something to think about when you are pursuing your own relationship with Him.
4 comments:
I see nothing in scripture that would support the conclusion that YHWH loves everyone equally.
I think there are certain tiers of love that those within that tier receive equal love. The lowest tier, all of humanity, received the same level of love in the provision for a chance at redemption. But when you change tiers by, say, accepting that gift, you receive a different level of love, but an equal amount of love for all within that tier.
I possess a strong sense that God loves me--maybe more than He loves others. In fact, a declaration I repeat very frequently is “Lord, You are so good to me.” (It’s surprising that I don’t have a single bit of “Blessed...Grateful...Thankful” décor at my house!) I believe that God offers His love and grace to every person, but He clearly would have special affection for His children. He loves us fully and perfectly…but differently (i.e. not “equally”)--similar to how human parents would parent their children according to each child’s needs, based on his/her particular temperament, maturity, behavior, situation, etc. Just as one child might inspire more “needed discipline” than their sibling(s), for instance, so too would God “customize” His love to us this way.
I know that God called David “a man after His own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14), and David considered himself “the apple of [God’s] eye” (Ps. 17:8). You pointed out Daniel’s special esteem and also how John described himself as “the disciple that Jesus loved” in his own Gospel; perhaps they too had that same strong awareness that “Lord, You are so good to me.”
Oops, I think I edited out an important line from my comment above. To be very clear: I feel specially loved by God but not at all deserving of it, i.e. His love to me is not based on my goodness but His. For some reason, it seems that He sees fit to treat me more kindly than others of His children; therefore, I can’t help but say, “Lord, You are so good to me!”
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