The Scope of God’s Love
In speaking of the scope of God’s love, we are seeking to determine how God’s love relates to different members of His creation. There are important questions related to this, such as: Does God love everyone, and does He love everyone in the same way? Again, we are dealing with some highly debated issues, especially because of the misunderstanding of the statement that “God is love,” a problem that is exacerbated by a society much more favorable to ideas of God that relate to acceptance and tolerance. People in modern American culture are much more inclined to think of God as loving than God as righteous and judging. This is even seen in a 1980’s poll in which three quarters of the respondents “reported that they preferred to think of God as ‘friend’ than as ‘king.’”[1]
To begin with, there is a preliminary concept that must lay the foundation for this entire discussion on the scope of God’s love. In order to fully embrace all that the Bible has to say about God’s love, one must be willing to accept that though God is inherently loving, He relates differently toward different objects of His creation. This would be hard to miss as one reads through the Scriptures, and yet many do miss it for lack of Biblical literacy or because of a refusal to agree with ideas that would challenge the belief in God’s acceptance of all people. But perhaps a startling truth of the Bible is that God’s love, though perfect and infinite, does indeed have a discriminatory aspect to it. This should not be perturbing, however, because there are concepts, even within Scripture, that show that drawing distinctions does not infringe upon the concept of true, sincere love.
One example of love’s discriminatory aspect is how a man can choose to love and marry a specific woman. In this act, he has set his love on a particular person and manifests his love in a unique way toward that person. It is true that he is treating his wife differently than other people, but this does not mean he does not having a truly loving nature. We would not complain against a married man, for example, and say, “You’re not a very loving person. How come you only show love and affectionate intimacy with that one woman? If you were really a loving person, then you would show love in the same way toward all women.” Obviously, this would be a ludicrous (and immoral) expectation and would actually run contrary to something we know about true love. True love can make distinctions among different people, and this in no way calls into question the sincerity or depth of a person’s love. And this is exactly the picture given of God, in the Bible. He is an infinitely loving person who has chosen a bride for Himself.[2]
An even more striking example of discrimination is found in the two great commandments given by Christ, in which He says, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”[3] Throughout Scripture, God makes it clear that we are to love Him above all else. Clearly, this means that we must draw a distinction between the way we relate to Him and the way that we relate to others. True, Christ teaches that we are to love our neighbor, but obviously the love we show toward our neighbor is distinct from the love that we show to God. Even God, as has been demonstrated, loves Himself supremely. Therefore, it should not be difficult to embrace the idea that God, though inherently loving, relates differently toward different objects of His creation.
[1] D.A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, 12.
[2] Ephesians 5:25.
[3] Matthew 22:37–39.
All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980,
1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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