Does God love everybody?
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Lambano
Well-Known Member
I find it interesting (and challenging) that God loves His enemies, so we are to also.
Behold
Well-Known Member
God loves everyone so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for their sin on The Cross.
John 3:16
"God is Love".
Through His love for the world, He gave His Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life. But those remaining in unbelief are condemned already because they refuse to believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Are those who are of the world, but remain in unbelief loved by God? Does God condemn whom He loves? Or does 'world' in this passage mean that His creation shall be saved because Christ was given so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall inherit the whole world made new again through Him?
John 3:15-18 (KJV) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
If God loves every human, He could hate none! Yet we read that God hates all workers of iniquity. That's not simply hating their sin, but those also who commit sin in unbelief.
Psalm 5:5 (KJV) The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
To believe God loves every human is NOT written in the Scriptures. God's love for whosoever believes in His Son does not originate from John Calvin, but from God! Since we have no way of knowing who will remain in unbelief and therefore already condemned, we are called to preach the Gospel of Christ's love to all people without exception, that whosoever believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life through Him. And all who hear the Gospel of Christ, and according to grace through faith believe in Christ are no longer condemned but have everlasting life through Him because God loves whosoever believes.
"God so loved the world..." comes BEFORE belief in Christ is even mentioned. We are commanded to love all people, saved and unsaved. Why would God have us do this if He Himself did not LOVE??
Because we don't know who among the mass of humanity shall remain in unbelief! We must show our love toward all mankind because the one in darkness and unbelief today may well be our brother/sister in Christ one day. God so loves His whole creation, that He sent His Son to save His creation, otherwise there would be no creation of God to save.
Lambano
Well-Known Member
This is what Jesus said God is like:
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:35-36.)
44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? (Matthew 5:44-46)
And if Jesus was lying about this, then I want to what else he lied to us about.
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:35-36.)
44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? (Matthew 5:44-46)
And if Jesus was lying about this, then I want to what else he lied to us about.
I don't know, I think God loves me, but the bible is clear he loved Jacob but hated Esau.
Malachi 1:2-3 NKJV
“I have loved you,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”
Jim B
Well-Known Member
John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."
God hasn't changed since this was written. God loves the world -- everyone. His love is not limited to believers!
Bob Estey
Well-Known Member
I imagine God is like any parent. He loves all his children but disciplines them when he needs to.
Hi Devin,
That verse has always put fear into my heart. One time I had read or heard that the true meaning of that verse was that God "preferred" Jacob over Esau. I mean, why would God "hate" when He IS love. and He commands us to love even our enemies?
I don't like even thinking that He can hate His own creation
That verse has always put fear into my heart. One time I had read or heard that the true meaning of that verse was that God "preferred" Jacob over Esau. I mean, why would God "hate" when He IS love. and He commands us to love even our enemies?
I don't like even thinking that He can hate His own creation
Lambano
Well-Known Member
Hi, Nancy. I think that verse reflects that God chose to have His people reckoned through Jacob, and not Esau. Just as when Paul quotes it in Romans 9, it reflects that God further chose to have His people reckoned through Jesus. I can understand it in an intellectual sort of way, but it doesn't make me feel a whole lot better.Hi Devin,
That verse has always put fear into my heart. One time I had read or heard that the true meaning of that verse was that God "preferred" Jacob over Esau. I mean, why would God "hate" when He IS love. and He commands us to love even our enemies?
I don't like even thinking that He can hate His own creation
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