Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology
Does God Hate Some People
by Scott Price
Most people have fallen for the big lie that God
loves everybody in the world without exception. You must think I'm crazy at
this point if you have been taught that He loves everybody. Before you think
that, listen to what God says in His word about His love and forget what every
false teacher ever told you. In Psalm 5:5 it says: "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight:
thou hatest all workers of iniquity". Notice it did NOT say He hated only
the sin and not the sinner, like most preachers would have us believe." In Malachi 1:2-3 says: "I loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say,
wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esua Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet
I loved Jacob and I hated Esua...." This same Old Testament text is
referred to in the New Testament in Romans 9:13. Really to get the whole
picture I recommend starting at least in Romans 9:11-24. One other text Matthew 7:23 says: "And then I will profess unto
them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." You might be thinking what in the world does this verse
have to do with God's love or hate? The word "knew"
in that verse means affection or love.
First of all, compare this verse with one we already looked at: Psalm
5:5 that said God hated all workers of iniquity. Very similar language is use
in Matt 7:23 referring to iniquity. In other words if this person in Matt 7
was accused of being a worker of iniquity, then according to Psalm 5:5 God
hated him. Secondly, how can I prove the word "knew"
means love? In Genesis 4:1 where it says: "And Adam knew
Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain..." Question; Does the
word knew is this verse only refer to an intellectual
knowledge? Did Adam and Eve conceive a child through ESP? No. He had a deep
affection for Eve. That is what knew meant in the verse. Adam
knew (intellectually) who she was before he knew her in a
sexual way. Genesis 4:17 says: "And Cain knew his wife, and
bare Enoch..." Genesis 4:25 says: " And Adam knew his wife
again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth..." He
"knew" her again. What, does Adam have Alzheimers disease? Did he
forget who his wife was then remembered later? You can see an obvious word
meaning here that relates to love. Matthew 1:24-25 says: "Joseph being raised from sleep did as
the angel of the LORD had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew
her not till she brought forth her firstborn son; and he called his name
Jesus". This means Mary remained a virgin until Christ was born. After
Jesus Christ was born Joseph knew Mary and had offspring,
James and John. These were the half brothers of Christ because God the
Father was the father of Christ, not Joseph. In Luke 1:34 Mary makes reference to her becoming pregnant in
order to have this baby named Jesus and says: "...How shall this be
seeing I know not a man?" Don't you think Mary
intellectually knew who a lot of men were like her dad, uncles, grandpa,
cousins, men that were neighbors, men at the market place, men at synagogue,
etc,? She was simply saying she was a virgin. Now look at the word usage as dealing with a nation in the book
of Amos 3:2 says concerning Israel: "You only have I known of
all the families of the earth..." Surely don't you thing God knew
intellectually about other nations that were on the earth? God knows
everything doesn't He? Yes, of course. This is the character attribute called
omniscience. He loved the nation of Israel only out of all the other nations. Back in Matthew 7:23 where Christ says to the self righteous man
that was trusting in his self righteous works, I never knew
you, do you think that meant Jesus did not know anything about who the guy was
or what he did? That would be nonsense! How can Jesus Christ be the great and
final judge if He does not know who and what about everybody? The word knew in
verse 23 refers to love. Christ never loved this man who was a worker of
iniquity. Look at a few verses in the book of Hebrews 12:5-11. The
context is talking about chastisement and correction of God's people. Verse 6
says: "...whom the LORD loveth he chaseneth..." Verse 8 says:
"But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all (note: "all" is
referring to all Christians) are partakers, then are ye bastards and not
sons". Does God correct everybody on earth as they live on this earth?
No! No, because He does not love everybody. If people say God loves everybody then they have to
say God has bastard children, simply because he does not chastize everybody.
God has no bastard children, to be sure. Romans 8:29 says "For whom he did foreknow,
he did also predestinate...." Here the word would mean, to love before. The bottom line is, if we can see at least one person in the
scriptures that God does not love then we can NOT run around twisting the
character of God saying that He says He does love everybody. Does truth
matter? You may be thinking, why would anyone bring this topic up? Well,
I'm getting to a bigger point about how God saves sinners. The most popular verse today is also the most misinterpreted verse. The
verse is John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have
everlasting life". This verse is loaded with some great truths. The
problem is not with the verse but with people who want to twist the meaning of
the verse. My focus here is to prove the word "world" in John 3:16 does
NOT refer to everybody that has ever been born on the face of the earth. If it
can be proven from the Bible that there is one person that has lived that God
does not love, we must then submit to the authority of Scripture and say the
word "world" does NOT mean everybody without
exception. We already have seen this earlier that God hated a person named Esua
and hates all workers of iniquity. These examples alone are enough to prove
the point so far. There are a few more things that will support arguments on
this subject. First, let us look at John 3:16 in it's context. (#1) Who was talking?
Jesus Christ. (#2) Who was Christ talking to? Nicodemus, a Jewish religious
leader. The religious Jews thought that they only, were God's people because
of their bloodline with Abraham (see John 8:39-47). In John 10:16 Christ
explains there are two folds of sheep, one Jewish and the other Gentile.
Within the Jewish sheep fold (group of people) these are made up of Jews that
believe on the name of Christ, which is only a small remnant of Jews (see
Romans 9:6 and 11:1-11). So a remnant out of the Jewish race and remnants out
of all the other races of people make up the people of God that He loves and
saves. Christ was telling Nicodemus that God loves people in the Gentile race
as well as the Jewish race. The GENTILE WORLD as well as the Jewish world. The love of God is based on a persons acceptance "in Christ".
Notice I did NOT say a persons acceptance OF Christ. In other words if you are
to be loved by God it will be on the basis of Christ and His merit and not
anything conditioned on you. This can be seen in Ephesians 1:6 that says: "To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved". The
"beloved" is none other than Christ Jesus. God loved those He chose
and predestinated. We see this in the same chapter but in verse 3-5, and
please note who in the context Paul is addressing. Verse 1 says "to the
saints which are at Ephesus..." In other words not universal. Verses 3-5
says "....Christ who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ: according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children unto Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will". All blessings are "in
Christ". This includes the love of God. If you are not "in
Christ"
God will not love and bless you. Another text that bares this truth is Romans 8:39 "Nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus the Lord". Notice that the love of God is
"IN CHRIST JESUS THE LORD". God's love is eternal. If God loves all without exception and Hell is
overflowing with most of these people then what kind of love is that? Either
God's love is not effective or he has no power to fulfill His purpose. I tell
you that the God of the Bible loves those who believe His gospel. We have no
biblical warrant to tell unbelievers that God loves them. Can you image when Noah and his family were in the ark after the door
was shut and the ark was well afloat and multitudes were trying to keep from
drowning, while Noah lowered a large banner off the side of the ark that said
"SMILE GOD LOVES YOU"? You see bumper stickers that say this on
cars. People do not have the right, biblically to make such statements. God's
love should only be conveyed to believers in God's gospel of grace. Could Esau, Judas, or the rich man in Hell, have sung the song
"Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so"? NO! They
have no warrant to. The first step is to realize God did not have to love everybody
because He is not obligated to. That is what mercy and grace are all about,
that He loved some and gave Himself for them and because He wanted to.
Who is it that would say He has to have grace and mercy on all without
exception? It is a person that does not understand grace and mercy. Grace and
mercy are found in the imputed righteousness of Christ. Look anywhere
else and you will be condemned.
Amen!
| This article originally appeared in "The Gospel Way" in June of 2006. Scott Price is the director, pastor and teacher at the Gospel of Grace ministries in Ross, Ohio. He covers many aspects of ecclesiology, theology and the Gospel. Converted to the truth in 1987, he has been seeking to find and fellowship with those who uncompromisingly stand for the truth of God's free and sovereign grace. Feel free to visit the church or write Scott at anytime at GospelDefense@gmail.com |