Does God Love Everyone? # 3

Does God Love Everyone? # 3

One more. In 2 Corinthians 5:19 we read, "To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." What is meant by this is clearly defined in the words immediately following, "not imputing their trespasses unto them." Here again "the world" cannot mean "the world of the ungodly," for their trespasses" are "imputed" to them, as the judgment of the Great White Throne will yet show. But 2 Corinthians 5:19 plainly teaches there is a "world" which is "reconciled," reconciled unto God because their trespasses are not reckoned to their account, having been born by their Substitute. Who then are they? Only one answer is fairly possible - the world of God's people! In like manner, the "world" in John 3:16 must, in the final analysis, refer to the world of God's people. "Must," we say, for there is no other alternative solution. It cannot mean the whole human race, for one-half of the race was already in hell when Christ came to earth. It is unfair to insist that it means every human being now living, for every other passage in the New Testament where God's love is mentioned, limits it to His own people - search and see! The objects of God's love in John 3:16 are precisely the same as the objects of Christ's love in John 13:1: "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His time was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." We may admit that our interpretation of John 3:16 is no novel one invented by us, but one almost uniformly given by the Reformers and Puritans, and many others since then. It is strange, yet it is true, that many who acknowledge the sovereign rule of God is also sovereign in the spiritual realm. But their quarrel is with God and not with us. We have given Scripture in support of everything advanced in these pages, and if that will not satisfy our readers, it is idle for us to seek to convince them. What we write now is designed for those who do bow to the authority of Holy Writ, and for their benefit we propose to examine several other Scriptures which have purposely been selected for this purpose.

2 Peter 3:9 Perhaps the one passage which has presented the greatest difficulty to those who have seen that passage in Holy Writ plainly teaches the election of a limited number unto salvation, is 2 Peter 3:9. "Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." The first thing to be said upon the above passage is that, like all other Scripture, it must be understood and interpreted in the light of its context. What we have quoted in the preceding paragraph is only part of the verse, and the last part of it at that! Surely it must be allowed by all that the first half of the verse needs to be taken into consideration. In order to establish what these words are supposed by many to mean, namely, that the words "any" and "all" are to be received without any qualification. it must be shown that the context is referring to the whole human race! If this cannot be shown, if there is no premise to justify this, then the conclusion also must be unwarranted. Let us then ponder the first part of the verse. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise." Note "promise" in the singular number, not "promises." What promise is in view? The promise of salvation? Where, in all Scripture, has God ever promised to save the whole human race! Where indeed? No, the "promise" here referred to, is not about salvation. What then is it? The context tells us. "Knowing this, first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?" (verses 3-4). The context then refers to God's promise to send back His beloved Son.

But many long centuries have passed and this promise has not yet been fulfilled. True, but long as the delay may seem to us, the interval is short in the reckoning of God. As the proof of this we are reminded, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day? (verse 8). In God's reckoning of time, less than two days have yet passed since He promised to send back Christ! But more, the delay in the Father's sending back His beloved Son is not only due to no "slackness" on His part, but it is also occasioned by His "longsuffering."  His longsuffering to whom/ The verse we re now considering tells us, "but is longsuffering to usward." And who are the "usward"? The human race? Or God's own people? In the light of the context this is not an open question upon which each of us is free to form an opinion. The Holy Spirit has defined it. The opening verse of the chapter says, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you." And again, the verse immediately preceding declares, "But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing," etc. (verse 8). The "usward" then are the "beloved" of God. They to whom His epistle is addressed are "them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11).

Therefore we say there is no room for a doubt, a quibble, or an argument - the "usward" are the elect of God. Let us now quote the verse as a whole: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Could anything be clearer? The 'any" that God is not willing should perish are the "usward" to whom God is "longsuffering," the beloved" of the previous verses. 2 Peter 3:9 means, then, that God will not send back His Son until "the fullness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25). God will not send back Christ until that "people" whom He is now "taking out of the Gentiles" (Acts 15:14) are gathered in. God will not send back His Son until the body of Christ is complete, and that will not be until the ones whom He has elected to be saved in this dispensation shall have been brought to Him. Thank God for His "longsuffering" to "usward". Had Christ come back twenty years ago, the writer would have been left behind to perish in his sins. But that could not be, so God graciously delayed the Second Coming. For the same reason He is still delaying His advent. His decreed purpose is that all His elect will come to repentance, and repent they shall. The present interval of grace will not end until the last of the "other sheep" of John 10:16 are safely folded - then will Christ return.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 4)