I was asked this question a while back, and I thought it was worth sharing…
Does God love everyone? At this time I cannot answer in the affirmative that God loves everyone and that’s from a number of different biblical passages, far too many to try and list here. I think about murderers, rapist, child molesters and the list could go on and on, though realize if someone turns to Him they can experience not only His forgiveness, salvation and His love as well. I think of I Corinthians 6 where Paul makes this list and then says “… and such were some of you.” I.E. they had turned for a life of sin to a life of love and forgiveness.
It’s a powerful and challenging question, especially in light of all the evil in the world (which the querist mentions). Nevertheless, I think the Bible is clear on the answer. Here’s what I said…
I think whenever we talk about love and hate we need to be careful to define our terms, because we often use the words differently from the way God does. “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated,” the Bible says, but love and hate there are used to mean “favor” and “not favor.” We usually use the word hate to mean strong dislike or even disdain for someone. God does not disdain any of us. To that end, God does not hate us, but loves us (John 3:16). He does hate things we do (Proverbs 6) but that’s not the same as hating people.
God loves everyone, but love is not tolerance or acceptance. It’s agape love. It’s the love that compels Him to help or even serve, which He did by dying on the Cross for us (Philippians 2). No doubt, a sinner is against God and God will punish the sinner. But that doesn’t mean He doesn’t love the sinner. He does. Jesus’ death for the sinner proves it. Whether the sinner turns to God or not, the freedom to do so has been bought by Jesus’ love and offering on the Cross.
Yes, He loves everyone. No, He does not love what everyone does.
God loved the world. That’s everyone, past, present, and future. Love does not mean acceptance or support of something or someone. Love is about a willingness to do good for someone, often in spite of their unworthiness to receive that good. God loving everyone is fundamental to His nature, in my opinion.
To that, the querist replied…
Mankind’s love and God’s love are polar opposites. God’s love and the kind I believe He calls us to is a sacrificial love. Man’s love is selfish. It’s all about me, what I want, how I want to live and what I want to do. People believe I can do what I want, live how I want and God will love me, accept me and I will make it to heaven. And so the question could be asked if God is love and the Bible says He is and if He loves everyone, then why hell and sending people to as the Bible says the way to Him is narrow which few people will find and the road to destruction or hell is wide and many will find it. What I am learning is there is more to Him than we will ever know. He is active, involved working and moving in the world and each person’s life more than we will ever know or understand.
My response to that brought us to an agreement…
I would say God’s love and the way it is expressed, and what man believes love to be are very different things. But I would also say, God’s love is perfect, and yet He calls us to aspire to that perfection (Matthew 5:43-48). You’re 100% right about there being more to God than we’ll ever grasp. Fortunately, He’s given us a lifetime to learn what we can.
~Matthew
PS: Don’t forget that, at the end of September, we will enjoy our Family Day weekend Gospel Meeting with Barry Grider. Be here on Friday evening, September 26th, at 7pm, as well as Saturday evening, September 27th, at 7pm to hear two excellent lessons from God’s Word, both in the lead-up to our big Family Day Sunday on September 28th.