To deny that God loved the world is to deny the precious Word of God. John
3:16 says plainly that He loved the world. But, on the other hand,
if I affirm that God loved everybody would I not be denying other Scriptures
that are just as true as John 3:16? Let me hasten to say there are
no contradictions in the Scriptures. So, when I see Scriptures which appear
to contradict each other, it behooves me to say, "Father, for the sake
of thy great name, and for the sake of thy Son who became my great and
wonderful Savior, and for the sake of thy precious Word which thou hast
magnified above all thy name, open my eyes that I may see, and open my
heart and my mind that I may understand these Scriptures for I know they
do not contradict each other."
Sometimes it seems that we prefer to just jump over certain Scriptures
which appear to contradict some other passage rather than run the risk
of having to admit that we have been wrong. But is that not a point of
weakness rather than one of strength? Do we not honor our Lord by admitting
that we have been wrong, and by giving Him credit for having opened our
eyes to our error? If you know all there is to know on this subject it
will be a waste of your valuable time to read any further because this
little Bible teacher admits freely, and with out any fear of contradiction,
that he does not know all there is to know about it. But, if you have an
open mind and a receptive heart, may it please our dear Lord to bless our
study of this subject together.
May we begin our study of this subject with the question, if God has ever
hated just one person among all of His created creatures, can we say that
He loved every body? Then let us turn to Romans 9:13 where God says,
"Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated". I know the popular teaching
on this verse is that God loved Esau a little less than he loved Jacob.
And in years gone by I could swallow that teaching as if it were a pod
of boiled okra. But as time went on I came to see that this word "hated"
comes from MISEO which means to hate. It has no other meaning. So how could
I make the word "hate" mean "love" to any degree? The Greeks have two words
for love. Their word AGAPAO is the
one used in the case of God's Divine love. Then they have another word
PHILEO which is a much weaker form. This word PHILEO expresses the love
of husband and wife, or the love of parents and children. Now if God meant
to say that he loved Esau a little less than he loved Jacob why did the
Holy Spirit not use the weaker word PHILEO in regard to Esau rather than
the word MISEO which al ways means to hate? Then in Psalms 5:5 the
Psalmist says, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity". The time was
when I could jump over a couple of letters in this word "workers"
and make it just plain old "work" Then I could put just a little imaginary
love in the word "hate" in Romans 9:13 and go on my merry way. But,
when I became willing to throw all of my preconceived ideas concerning
God and His precious Word in the waste basket where they belonged and let
my beliefs be in accord with the Scriptures rather than trying to make
the Scriptures be in accord with my beliefs, I had to go back and put the
two letters back in the word "workers" in Psalms 5:5. And
then when I looked a little closer I found there was no niche, nor cavity
in the word "hated" in Romans 9:13 in which I could squeeze
the least tiny little bit of love. So, today, thanks be unto His Holy name,
I can believe Romans 9:13 and Psalms 5:5 just as they were
written, and at the same time believe John 3:16.
But, before I could believe those three Scriptures just as they were written
I was forced to make a sincere study of the word "world". I had
been giving it the meaning I wanted it to have. Now I must either substantiate
my definition of this word, or else throw it away. Well, I had to throw
it away. I learned in II Peter 1:20 that no "Scripture is of
any private interpretation." By that is meant that we must interpret
John 3:16, or any other Scripture, in the light of other Scriptures.
So for the sake of your time, may we study this word "world" in
the light of other Scriptures found just in John's writings. First in John
1:10 how could the world that knew not our Lord ever include His disciples
who did know Him? Then in John 1:29, if the Lamb of God took away
every body's sin, why did hell enlarge herself, and open her mouth without
measure in Isaiah 5:14? Since a saviour is one who saves, why is
not everybody saved if the word "world" in John 4:42 means
everybody? Please note, it does not say that he is the potential Savior
of the world. It says He is the Savior of the world. If the word "world"
in John 6:33 means everybody, how can any body be dead in trespasses
and in sins? Here we are told that He "Giveth life to the world".
Could the world that is gone after our Lord in John 12:19 ever include
the Chinese, Japanese, American Indians, or the savages in Africa, or even
the great majority of the Jews by any stretch of the imagination? Let us
notice ,they are talking about a world that was in existence at that particular
moment of time. They
say "The world is gone (not will go) after "Him". If the
world that Christ came to save in John 12:46 includes everybody,
would you say His coming was a success, or a failure? Is old Satan who
is the prince of this world the prince, or ruler of our Lord's own people?
Could the world that hated our Lord in John 7:7 and 15:18
ever include His precious Saints who loved Him so much? Would you say that
the world that our Lord refused to pray for in John 17:9 included
the ones He did pray for in the first part of this verse, and the others
for whom He prayed in verse 20?
There are so many other references, even in John's writings, to prove to
any open minded person that the word "world" in Scripture almost
always means a certain group of people. In I John 5:19 for instance,
"The whole world that lieth in wickedness" cannot possibly include
the "we" who are of God. Our better dictionaries will give you something
like twenty different meanings of the word "world". No one seems
to object to such expressions as, the new world, the free world, or The
religious world. And no fair minded person would dare say that the whole
world in I John 5:19 includes everybody. So, in the light of that
great array of evidence which proves beyond a doubt that the word "world"
usually means only a part of the people, how can I ever again contend that
John 3:16 means that God loved everybody? If God does not love everybody,
does He tell us in His Word who it is that He does love? Since God is the
only one competent to answer our question, let us turn to John 13:1
and listen closely as He says, "Having loved His own which were in the
world, He loved them unto the end". Here he says plainly that He loves
"His own". I am waiting patiently for someone to give me the book,
chapter and verse where He says He loves the devil's crowd.