GOD'S LOVE
GOD’S LOVE The Arminian says that God loves each member of the human race, without exception. Yet he freely admits that many of these humans that God loves are going to perish eternally under the wrath of God. There are several inconsistencies in this position. According to this hypothesis either God’s love turns to hatred or God loves those who are eternally damned as much as He does those who will enjoy eternal bliss. Let us examine each of these propositions.
What about God’s love turning to hatred? This is an impossibility for those who believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God. According toJeremiah 31:3, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” One of the attributes of God is His immutability. God does not change. This is made plain in several Scriptures. He says inMalachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” The New Testament confirms this inJames 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” God does not change; therefore His attributes do not change. Love is one of the attributes of God. The apostle makes this clear in1 John 4:16, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” As John Gill so beautifully expresses it, “for this love is like himself, sovereign, unchangeable, and everlasting...”
Gill further says this is:
"a love from everlasting, which does not commence in time with faith, repentance, and new obedience; these being the fruits and effects of it; but was from all eternity, as appears from the eternal choice of the persons loved in Christ; from the everlasting covenant made with them in him; from the constitution and setting up of Christ as their Mediator from everlasting; and from the security of their persons and grace in him, before the world began: and this love will endure to everlasting, without any variation or change; nothing can separate from it."
God does not love individuals because they are lovable, or because they do something to merit His love. God simply chose to love His people eternally. This was an act of His sovereign will and purpose. Before he was ever born, and knowing what a despicable sinner he would be, it was said of Jacob inRomans 9:13, “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
How do we become aware of the love of God?1 John 3:16, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us...” He laid down His life for everyone that He loved and He secured their salvation.
No, this love will not change to hatred, because we “reject Christ.” God draws those whom He loves unto Himself. His love for them had no beginning and it will have no ending. This unspeakable comfort to the child of God is gloriously proclaimed inRomans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”