God’s Love A (Listen and Read)
His Love
Does God love all humanity or only some? Many believers do not realize that there exists a whole theological stream in Christianity that actually believes God does not in fact love all people. They believe God has only destined the “elect” to be saved. That means the vast majority of humanity are elected also (by default) to suffer in hell forever. This belief system (also known as “Calvinism” or “Reformed”) is becoming more and more embarrassing for pastors and theologians to outwardly profess. For example, my daughter had to directly ask her college chaplain (a Calvinist) to share frankly what he believed about predestination. You could not tell simply through his Sunday sermons. His sermons led her to think that God’s grace extended to all humanity, when in reality he did not believe it did. Thankfully this is not the majority view of the Christian world. In order to understand God’s love for all humanity, we must first understand that God, as Creator, is the Father of all.
Fatherhood of God
“Adam, the son of God” (Lu. 3:38). The genealogy of Jesus recorded in Luke goes back to Adam, the son of God. Can anyone deny Adam was God’s son? When has God ever disowned Adam, Israel, or the nations? When has He ever ceased to be the Father of all creation?
If God is truly a “Father” as we understand fatherhood, then it further confirms He would only discipline His children for their good, as every loving earthly parent does. To be made in God’s image (Ge. 1:26) is an affirmation we are His children. In the strongest possible sense, He, as “Creator,” is also “Father.” Allin wrote:
We are told God is not the Father of all men; He is only their Creator! What a total misapprehension these words imply. What do we mean by paternity and the obligations it brings? The idea rests essentially on the communication of life to the child by the parent. Paternity is for us largely blind and instinctive; but creation is Love acting freely, divinely; knowing all the consequences, assuming all the
responsibility involved in the very act of creating a reasonable immortal spirit. It seems, then, very strange to seek to escape the consequences of the lesser obligation, by admitting one still greater; to seek, in a word, to evade the results of a divine universal fatherhood, by pleading that God is only the Creator.2
In Adam, we all are children of God. If our sin and rebellion caused our Father to disown us, how could He have said, “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings” (Jer. 3:22)? Or what was Jesus saying in His parable of the prodigal son in Lu. 15:11-32? Does the prodigal son not represent all the Father’s wayward children? Though he had fallen into sin in all its degradation, he never ceased being a son. Paul said to fail to provide for one’s own is to be worse than an unbeliever (1Ti. 5:8). What does that say of God who owns us all? “Behold, all souls are mine” (Ez. 18:4). All God has created is His own. It is inconceivable that God would be worse than an unbeliever. Allin stated:
The essence of Christianity perishes in the virtual denial of any true Fatherhood of our race on God’s part. Follow out this thought, for it is of primary importance. We lose sight of the value of the individual soul, when dealing with the countless millions who have peopled this earth and passed away. What is one among so many? [But] each soul IS of infinite value, as if it stood alone in the eyes of God its Father. And more than this, we are altogether apt to forget whose the loss is, if any one soul perishes. It is God’s loss: it is the Father Who loses His child. The straying sheep of the parable is the Great Shepherd’s loss: the missing coin is the Owner’s loss. In this very fact lies the pledge that He will seek on and on till He finds it.3
“Our” Father, is also “a” father to all men. God has never stopped being the Father of His creation. His love and purpose toward all endures forever. However, men have left their Father’s house to serve another. This severance came from the human side, not the divine. So, in one sense, and in one sense only, men have disowned their Father to become the children of another, by doing the deeds of the prince of this world (Jn. 8:41). But it is because of this, Jesus came. He came to restore this broken relationship (Ro. 5:10), and to destroy the works of the devil (1Jn. 3:8). The Father has never disowned His children. The cross is proof of that. Note carefully these texts:
¨ God created man in His own image…. (Ge. 1:27; 9:6).
¨ I said…all of you are children of the Most High (Ps. 82:6).
¨ You are our Father…our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand (Is. 64:8).
¨ Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? (Mal. 2:10).
¨ Seeing the multitudes…. in this manner pray: our Father… (Mt. 5:1; 6:9; 7:28).
¨ Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples….one is your Father (Mt. 23:1, 9).
¨ Men of Athens….For we also are His children. Being then the children of God… (Ac. 17:22, 28-29 NAS).
¨ I bow to the Father…from whom the whole family in…earth is named (Ep. 3:14-15).
¨ Be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? (He. 12:9).
The expressions of Fatherhood used in these passages encompass unbelievers: “All of you,” “all we,” “we all,” “multitudes,” “people,” “men of Athens,” “whole family in earth,” and “of spirits.”
“My son, give me your heart…observe my ways” (Pr. 23:26). It seems to me, if this passage also refers to the Lord and not only to Solomon, then God regards us as sons and daughters even before we give Him our hearts.
“If you being evil…give good gifts to your children, how much more your Father…” (Mt. 7:11). Note this passage is in the context of the “multitudes” which include unbelievers (Mt. 5:1; 8:1). To those whom He termed “evil,” He calls God “your Father.” Will God do less for His children than we who “are” evil? Do we disown our kids as a result of rebellion? Do we not patiently and persistently do all we can to help them mature and amend their ways? Are we better parents than God?
The fatherhood of God over all creation is incontestable evidence that His love extends to all humanity. Contrary to what many theologians suggests, to acknowledge that God is a “faithful” Creator who always does what is “right” (1Pe. 4:19 NAS), and then deny His impartial love for all men (by claiming He considers some merely as “creatures” as opposed to “children”) is preposterous. It contradicts all that Christianity and the Bible stand for. Please read my related article on “Adoption” at www.HopeBeyondHell.net/Further-Study.html.
References: See Bibliography page.
