Understanding God's Love – Part 5

3. The Passionate Love of God

God loves the world. This simple statement has divided many theologians who disagree on the meaning of the noun world. The term world appears in several New Testament passages. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. In John 1:29, John the Baptist said about Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" In 1 John 2:2, Jesus Christ the righteous "is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." It is important to interpret the term world correctly because entire theological systems are dependent upon such understanding.

A. W. Pink promoted the idea that God did not love the world, but rather He loved the world of believers (Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1930), 314). Pink said, "God loves whom He chooses. He does not love everybody" (Ibid., 29-30), and, "The love of God is a truth for the saints only, and to present it to the enemies of God is to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs" (Ibid., 246). Pink's concern to preserve the sovereignty of God in salvation is commendable, but unfortunately he went too far.

Regarding John 3:16, John MacArthur says, "We must interpret the expression world in verses 16 and 17 as broadly as we understand the same word in verse 19. . . . Clearly the word world has a universal and corporate aspect that envelops more than just the elect alone. God's love is for the world in general, the human race, all humanity" (John MacArthur, The Love of God (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1996), 86). MacArthur's caution is important. A look at the near context surrounding John 3:16 reveals that world is used elsewhere to refer to all of humankind. How then can we arbitrarily limit the general term to point to just a select group of saved believers in verse 16? We can't.

Paul was clear in Titus 3:4-5 when he said, ". . . when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us." God loves humankind and His expression of love is especially expressed to sinful men in Jesus Christ.

We have entitled God's love for the world His passionate love. He loved the world so passionately, that He was willing to send His only Son to die for that world – and of course that world included unbelievers. The world (i.e., all people) is the third object of God's love.

In Mark 12:31, Jesus commanded: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." Jesus does not ask us to walk in a manner in which He Himself does not walk. If we are to love our neighbours, and indeed love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), we can assume that God Himself does the very same for His enemies whether or not they will one day respond to His love by seeking His forgiveness for sins committed against Him. God loves His enemies, therefore God loves all people – yes, even the unsaved – yes, even the whole world.

So God has a passionate love for the world, but He also has another – more selective – kind of love also. I'll present it tomorrow.