If God loves everyone, He must save everyone. Or, on the opposite spectrum, since God doesn’t save everyone, He doesn’t love everyone. Which one is true? Allow me to introduce you to a reality that is so easily neglected in today’s rhetoric: there’s this thing called a false choice. In other words, we can incorrectly pose two things against one another, presenting them as the only options, and ask someone to choose.
Is it possible that God can love everyone and, yet, not save everyone? I believe the answer is a resounding yes! I believe this because we can see this reality in Scripture.
God Unconditionally Loves
Romans 2:11 says, “For God shows no partiality.” That statement is within the context of Paul explaining to Jews that they are not saved by simply being Jewish, but they are guilty just as the Gentiles are (anyone who is not Jewish). God shows no partiality or no favoritism. I start with this because some would have you believe that some are loved by God and some are not.
With that in mind, let us look to a few fundamental verses that are vital for this discussion.
John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.“
1 John 4:9-10 says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Romans 6:10 says, “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.”
The very act of sending Jesus into the world to die on the cross and be raised three days later was God’s outpouring of love for the world. I went into more detail on this here. Notice, in Romans 6:10, it says he died to sin, once for all. He died once for all, the world, everyone.
Most people are good to go with this. They’re on the same page, yeah, God loves everyone.
But the next part is where we often get confused.
God Unconditionally Loves But Doesn’t Unconditionally Save
Could God possibly love all, yet not save all? Well, how are we saved? One of the most fundamental verses on this subject comes from Ephesians 2 where Paul says, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
By grace, through faith. If there is no faith, no grace is accessed.
You see, while God unconditionally loves the world, He doesn’t unconditionally save the world. He does have conditions as to whom He saves. I call these conditions our response to God’s grace. He offers the gift, we must respond in some way. I talk about this here.
Consider these two passages that speak to God’s desire for all to be saved, yet the implied reality that all are not.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 says, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight ofGod our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
God’s desire is for all to be saved, after all, Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all. However, not everyone will come to the place of faith and access God’s grace. God won’t drag you to Himself kicking and screaming. He invites any and all to come.
If I may quote one more verse, John 3:18 says this, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
God Loves You!
You aren’t the exception. There is none. God loves you so deeply that He sent HIS Son to die for YOU.
You have a response to make, though. How will you respond to His love? He loves you. But your sin must be accounted for by someone. You or Jesus. This, I promise, is not a false choice. It’s your only options in the matter.
You either access God’s grace through faith or you pay your own payment in the end.
For More on This Subject
Give these articles a read:
And check out this podcast episode:
