Riff's Christian Journal

So many Christians believe that John 3:16 says that God loves every individual. Is that true?

When you look at other verses in the Bible like Psalm 5:4 – 6 it makes you wonder:

 ⁴ For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
         Nor shall evil dwell with You.
 ⁵ The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
         You hate all workers of iniquity.
 ⁶ You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
         The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 
         
Now, how can God love everyone if He also hates all workers of iniquity? I mean, we know that there is no one good but God and everyone is a sinful person. The word ” iniquity ” also means : a wicked act or thing : sin. So, if everyone sins that means, then, that we are all workers of iniquity, and if we are all workers of iniquity then it stands to reason that God hates us. If that is true, then who are they whom God loves?

Now let me finish… keep reading…

In Proverbs 6:16 – 19 we read:

 ¹⁶ These six things the LORD hates,
      Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
       ¹⁷ A proud look,
      A lying tongue,
      Hands that shed innocent blood,
       ¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans,
      Feet that are swift in running to evil,
       ¹⁹ A false witness who speaks lies,
      And one who sows discord among brethren.

I just wanted for you to see that there are other verses that speak of God hating individuals and we see that again here in Proverbs 6.

Now we seem to have a conundrum. If John 3:16 says that God loves everyone then He can’t hate anyone, but if the other verses are true, that God, indeed, does hate individuals then He can’t love everyone. So how do we reconcile this?

Let’s look, for a moment, at John 3:16 itself. It reads:

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 It does speak of God’s love and that those who believe in Jesus will have everlasting life. Now we know that those who have everlasting life God has forgiven them for their sins. Since they have been forgiven then that means that they are no longer workers of iniquity. Now that would mean that the “forgiven” are the ones who will know God’s love. Now, are there other verses that back this up?

Before we look, lets finish with John:3:16. We know that Jesus is speaking with a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a ruler of the Jews. You should know that Pharisees, more than all the other Jews, believed that God only loved the Jews, and they who became one of them. With that in mind, what Jesus was telling Nicodemus was that God’s love is not just for the Jews, they who were of Israel, but for anyone of any race, creed or color, no matter who they were or where they lived, if they were to believe in Jesus they would know God’s love.

In fact, in John 3:36 we read:

 ³⁶ He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

The reason that the wrath of God abides on them is because they are workers of iniquity and God hates them for it. So now we see that God loves individuals and God also hates individuals. Lets move on and study a few other verses that speak of whom God specifically loves.

In John 13:1 we read:

¹ Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

Notice that in this verse we read that Jesus knew that the time had come and “having loved His own”, not everyone, but “His own”, “He loved them to the end.”

Then in John 14:21 – 23 we read:

²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Notice that Jesus says that “He who loves me will be loved by my Father”, not is loved but will be loved. He also says that “I will love him”. Again He doesn’t say does love but will love. Then He is asked why doesn’t He manifest Himself to the world? The disciples knew what Jesus was saying and they wanted to know why He does not love everyone. See how Jesus answers? “If anyone loves Me… My Father will love him and We will come to him… ”

Clearly Jesus is saying that only they who submit to Him (obey His commandments) and loves Him only they will be the ones that God the Father and God the Son will love. He could not be anymore clear on this.

One more verse. In John 17, the great High Priestly prayer of Jesus, in speaking of they who will believe the Gospel Jesus says of them… 

23…”that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

It is clear from all these verses that John 3:16 is not saying that God loves everyone. We have also seen that God hates people as well. And we have seen from these other verses that God’s love, in the words of Jesus, is only for those who believe the Gospel, submit to Jesus and obey Him and love Him. These alone are the ones whom God the Father and God the Son will love.

God loves only the true disciples of Jesus because they have been forgiven, because of what Jesus has done on their behalf, and have submitted to His Lordship. Those who do not do the same, they will only face the wrath of God because of His hatred of them for refusing to believe in His Son.

Look up these verses for yourself. Read them, study them and let the Holy Spirit speak to you from the Word of Jesus. I can only show you what the Word says, I can’t make you understand or believe; only the Holy Spirit can do that, and I pray that He does.