No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
Why does the Father love us? Because we love Jesus.
Why do we love Jesus? Because God did a work in our heart (without asking us) and GAVE us belief. - John 6:29
Who will love Jesus? Only those who are saved. The lost HATE Jesus! They love the darkness (John 3:19) and HATE the Light and will NOT enter the Light (John 3:20). But that’s natural, it’s called the sinful nature we were all conceived and born with. God hates them too. “Huh? Whaddya mean God hates them too?”
I know you believe there is no contradiction in the Bible, so where the Bible is very clear and concise about a subject, someplace else where it is vague MUST defer to where it is not. A few perfect examples follow:
- God hates the workers of iniquity (Psalm 5:5). The psalmist didn’t write God hates the iniquity, but the workers thereof, i.e. people. That pretty much covers the lost who aren’t chosen in Christ, wouldn’t you say?
- God hates the wicked, and those who love violence (Psalm 11:5). Again, God hates the people - the wicked and the lovers of violence. That is VERY clear.
- God hates liars and those who cause strife for strife's sake (Proverbs 6:19). Start in verse 16 which speaks of 7 things the Lord hates. Once again, God hates people. That is VERY specific.
- God hated Esau (Malachi 1:3). And finally we read how God actually named a specific man whom He hated. The fact that God hates people is irrefutable.
So obviously John 3:16 can NOT mean that God loves every person on the planet. If you think He does then there is contradiction in the preceding verses. So how can it be reconciled?
The only way John 3:16 (the scope of which is vague) can be reconciled with the verses in Psalms and Proverbs that are clear God hates certain specific people, is that John 3:16 is properly interpreted and understood as God loving (in general) not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. Said another way “For God so loved Jews AND Gentiles [the world], that He gave His only begotten Son, that all those believing on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 contains no “whosoever” in the Greek. The Greek literally says “ALL those believing on Him,” not whosoever. For more detailed exegesis please click this link for a short Youtube video: John 3:16 exegesis
The problem is that most people were taught from their earliest days that what God commands us to do, He does too. We are commanded to love one another (John 13:34) and we are commanded to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). So God does too, right? Wrong!
Now unless the Arminian rips those pages in Psalms and Proverbs out of their Bible, they’ve got to let go of their traditions and let go of what they’ve always been taught, do a 180 degree turn and believe God’s Holy, inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word. God hates workers of iniquity, the wicked, those who love violence, liars (and others). In a clear and concise way, that definition fits all the lost of the world who are not chosen.
But God the Father loves us because we love Jesus. We love Jesus because God saved us and changed our heart. Before God saved us, we hated Jesus. So let’s get the order correct. When we were lost every imagination of our heart was only evil, continually (Genesis 6:5), we hated Jesus, we hated the Light (John 3:20), we couldn’t believe, we couldn’t repent, we couldn’t see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3), we couldn’t hear Truth (John 8:43), we couldn’t please God (Romans 8:8), and we couldn’t understand the things from the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Then God saved us - NOW we love Jesus, NOW we love the Light, NOW we believe because God gave us belief (John 6:29, Philippians 1:29), NOW we repent because God gave us repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), NOW we see the Kingdom of God because we are born-again, NOW we can please God because we are spiritually alive, NOW we understand the things from the Spirit of God because they AREN’T foolishness, ... Why? Because God loves US. Only saved folks are going to believe, repent, confess, etc.
Oh, How I love Jesus,
Oh, How I love Jesus,
Oh, How I love Jesus,
because He FIRST loved me.
Loving God is an act of the spirit. We didn’t and couldn’t love Him first, because we were spiritually dead in our transgressions and sin (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5, and Colossians 2:13).
Loving God is an act of the spirit. We didn’t and couldn’t love Him first, because we were spiritually dead in our transgressions and sin (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5, and Colossians 2:13).
Teaching on John 3:16 by Pastor Jim McClarty.
Refuting teaching of Dr. Jerry Vines on John 3:16 by Dr. James White.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.