Does God really love everyone?

I was driving today and in front of me was a car with a bumper sticker that read “Smile – God loves you”. It’s a sentiment that everyone likes the idea of – a loving God in the sky who bestows love on people. If you’ve been around church for any length of time you’ll sometimes hear people speak of God loving everyone. In one sense it is true – God does love everyone. You can’t walk away from the Bible without understanding that. Take for example one of the most famous Bible verses in the world John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

However, you can’t just stop there, there needs to be a follow up question – does God love everybody in the same way? I think the answer to that question must be no. You can’t walk away from passages like Psalm 5:4-5, Psalm 11:5, Malachi 1:1-3a and Romans 1:18-32 (just to mention a few references) and still think that God loves everyone the same. God’s love for everyone cannot be unconditional based on these verses and others like them in Scripture.

Well you’ve probably heard the saying “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner” Again, this simply cannot be true. The Bible doesn’t say that sin will be punished in hell, but sinners will be. Sin is not some abstract thing, it lives in people hearts in their anti-God actions and sentiments. To say “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner” is to oversimplify God’s love and it ignores the Bible which makes the case that it just isn’t true.

So, how do we know that God loves everyone? Well there are plenty of things that could be said but for the sake of time and brevity I’ll just mention a couple of reasons in response:

Creation

As you look at the creation narrative of Genesis 1 you cannot ignore that God looks at creation, which is an expression and extension of the loving eternal relationship in the Trinity, and says that it is good. Naturally that is pre-fall, however, the truth remains that people continue to be image-bearers of God and he loves them. This love is shown in the fact that we still exist, despite our sin. It is shown in our ability to live out our image-bearing nature which reflects God’s character (albeit very tainted by sin). God delights in human life, that is an expression of his love for humanity.

Revelation

God has revealed himself to the world through his creation (general revelation) and through his Word (specific revelation). God didn’t need to do that, he could have walked away and left humanity to fend for ourselves, but as an expression of his love he tells us that he exists and how we can know him more. That is the sign of a God who wants a relationship with his image-bearers.

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So then the follow up question must be – does God love everyone the same? I think the answer to that question must be no, and the reason for that is that God’s common grace (shown to everyone) and God’s saving grace (given to his elect) are different. Or to put it a different way;

Not everyone will be saved

As you look at Scripture my personal conviction is that you cannot walk away without understanding that God has his elect – people he has chosen to be his people. Examples of this would be Deuteronomy 7:7-8 where it is explained that Israel were chosen to be God’s people, not because they were spectacular but because of his love. Likewise, in Malachi 1:2-3 God says “I have love Jacob, but Esau I have hated”. The New Testament also teaches that God has his chosen people (John 15:16, Romans 8:28-30, Ephesians 1:4-5, 1 Peter 1:1-3, etc.).

The understanding that there are those who have been made one with Jesus and thereby their sins are atoned for by his death on the cross naturally means that there are those who will not be in union with Jesus.

We do not know who God has chosen and who he hasn’t. In one sense it doesn’t really matter. The idea of God loving people differently should bring us comfort because as Christians we are recipients of God’s undeserved love expressed in our redemption. As well as comforting us, this understanding of God’s love should challenge us because we do not know who is one of the elect and therefore our job is to proclaim Christ and the gospel freely and faithfully.

As Charles Spurgeon famously said “Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stop, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”