First of all -- when did my post turn into an independent thread? I would not have posted a thread with this title; but, I will stand by what I have said.

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The reason those of us who reject the premise that God loves ALL, i.e., every man woman and child without exception is that there is no biblical evidence to support it. And because that is the case of course we will have answers and explanations of those texts presented as representing that false premise. If you are so inclined, go ahead and bring them forth and I and others will consider them and offer a reason why they don't teach a universal love of God, i.e., God's love is universal and identical in its nature to all of mankind.

I would agree that there are no passages that teach (or even imply) that "God's love is universal and identical in its nature to all of mankind" -- I have not said this and I do not believe it. My view is that while God loves all men, He does not love all men equally or in the same way, i.e., there are different degrees of divine love. Another way this is sometimes expressed is by referring to different kinds of divine love (I suppose one might also speak of different "senses" of divine love). There is the love of benevolence or goodwill, which I believe is universal in scope, i.e., extends and applies to all of mankind, and may be thought of as the lowest degree. I believe the ground of this love is the fact that God has created all men in his image (Gen 1:27), or as Berkhof puts it: "He loves His rational creatures for His own sake...He loves in them Himself, His virtues, His work, and His gifts (Systematic Theology, 71). While I prefer to just use the word "love" for this, you are free to substitute "compassion," "divine favor," "pity," or goodwill if you like. Then there is the love of beneficence, which again is expressed in some degree (though not necessarily equally) toward all men. This kind of love issues in or is expressed by what you (or Berkhof)refer to as undeserved "acts of kindness" and "untold blessings." And then, there is the love of complacency, which applies only to the elect -- to those in whom God delights, i.e., to those who are being conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

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Pilgrim said:

There are myriad statements concerning God hating a group of fallen men (reprobate) while loving others (elect) either explicitly or by logical inference

I have never denied that there are men (and probably fallen angels) that God hates. I believe it is no contradiction to say that God can love a man in one sense and hate him in another, and I think this is the only way to balance all of the biblical data. Again, allow me to quote Berkhof:

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Are the elect in this life the objects of God´s love only, and never in any sense the objects of His wrath? Is Moses thinking of the reprobate when he says: “For we are consumed in thine anger, and in thy wrath are we troubled”? Ps. 90:7. Does not the statement of Jesus that the wrath of God abideth on them that obey not the Son imply that it is removed from the others when, and not until, they submit to the beneficent rule of Christ? John 3:36. And does not Paul say to the Ephesians that they “were by nature children of wrath even as the rest”? Eph. 2:3. Evidently the elect can not be regarded as always and exclusively the objects of God´s love. And if they who are the objects of God´s redeeming love can also in some sense of the word be regarded as the objects of His wrath, why should it be impossible that they who are the objects of His wrath should also in some sense share His divine favor? A father who is also a judge may loathe the son that is brought before him as a criminal, and feel constrained to visit his judicial wrath upon him, but may yet pity him and show him acts of kindness while he is under condemnation. Why should this be impossible in God?

Systematic Theology, 445


We may have a genuine disagreement here, or there may just be a lot of equivocation, i.e., using the same word "love" in different senses. I will let you make that determination.

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Pilgrim said:
There is not one single place where he [Berkhof] states that God loves all men, equally or otherwise. What he does say is that God has compassion, divine favor, pity, acts of kindness, untold blessings upon all men.


I hope that what I said in response to your first objection shows that I consider the ground of all of these things divine love. I think it is also correct to speak of them as acts of divine love. And it should by now be absolutely obvious that I do not think God loves all men "equally" or in the same way.

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