In Defense of the Faith

Who Does God Truly Love?

Question: Not long ago, you purported to answer a question about Matthew:1:21And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
See All... [“He shall save his people from their sins”]. Your answer could lead one to believe (using John:1:29The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
See All..., 1 John:2:2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
See All..., 4:14, and 1 Timothy:4:10For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
See All... [out of the context of the whole Word of God]), that everyone is saved. You quoted 1 John:4:16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
See All..., John:3:16-17 [16] 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. [17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
See All..., 2 Peter:3:9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
See All..., and 1 Timothy:2:4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
See All... and implied from them that God loves everyone! I suppose that we should ignore verses like Psalm:5:4-5 [4] For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. [5] The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
See All...; Proverbs:8:13The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
See All..., Malachi:1:2-4 [2] I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, [3] And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. [4] Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.
See All..., and Romans:9:11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
See All..., 13-24? If no one can understand God’s Word without the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians:2:14But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
See All...), and if Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews:12:2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
See All...), how can we choose God? Romans:3:10-12 [10] As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: [11] There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. [12] They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
See All... says that no one either understands or seeks God. We would all go to hell unless God chose to reveal Himself to us and to give us saving faith.”

Response: Matthew:1:21And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
See All... doesn’t say that Christ will save only His people from their sins, or most of us wouldn’t be saved, because “His people” refers to Israel. They were the first to be called God’s elect (Isaiah:45:4For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
See All...; 65:9). Again, it is Israel to whom Christ referred as the elect in Matthew:24:31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
See All..., which is not describing a post-trib Rapture of the church by Christ into heaven but the gathering by angels of all Jews back to Israel at the end of Armageddon.

That God loves all and that Christ died for all obviously doesn’t mean that all are automatically saved. Salvation is for “whosoever will” (Revelation:22:17And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
See All...; Luke:6:47Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
See All...) and for “whosoever believeth” (John:3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
See All...; 5:24; 6:35; 7:38; 1 Peter:2:6Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
See All...; 1 John:5:10He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
See All... etc.). Those who are lost are separated from God eternally, not because God didn’t love them enough or Christ did not die to save them, but because they refused the salvation He offered freely by His grace.

You insist that “world” refers only to the “elect” in statements such as “God so loved the world” or “sent His Son to be the savior of the world.” There is no basis for such an interpretation. Furthermore, the meaning of “all men” or “world” is undisputable in other similar verses. For example, “[Christ] is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe” (1 Timothy:4:10For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
See All...). Here the “all men” is clearly different from “those that believe” (i.e, the elect). So, too, with the statement that Christ “is the propitiation for our sins: and nor for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John:2:2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
See All...). There is no mistaking the fact that, in addition to dying for the elect’s sins (i.e., “our sins”), Christ died “also for the sins of the whole world.” “Whole world” can only mean “whole world.” It cannot mean the elect, because it is contrasted to them.

Nor does the fact that God must draw us to Himself by His Spirit negate a genuine response to that drawing on the part of those who are saved. The same is true of Christ’s statement, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John:15:16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
See All...). Every employer could say to his employees, “You didn’t choose me; I chose you.” That would only mean that the employee could not force the employer to hire him. It was the employer’s decision that determined the hiring. But the one hired still had to apply for the job and agree to the conditions of employment.

Likewise, we could not force Christ to save us. God must initiate and only He can consummate the transaction. However, it could be meaningless if we were incapable of responding to God’s offer of salvation and thus didn’t genuinely choose to believe in, receive, and follow Christ in response to the conviction and wooing of the Holy Spirit.

That we consented to being saved and that we believed in Christ are neither “works” nor anything to our credit. The drowning man who allows his rescuer to pull him to shore has nothing to boast of or take credit for, nor has he played any role in his rescue. He can only be grateful to the one who saved him.