Does God love the reprobate?
Most Christians think that God loves the reprobate and wants to save them. Some Scriptures seem to support this, such as 2 Peter 3:9:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Other Christians -- Calvinists -- thinks that God, in some sense, doesn't want to save them. Some Scriptures seem to suggest this, such as Luke 10:13:
"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
The argument is: God could have performed in Tyre and Sidon the miracles that he actually did perform in Korazin and Bethsaida, and he knew that if he were to do so then the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon would have repented, but he chose not to. If he chose not to that could only be because he didn't want to.
But here's another question for the Calvinist: why does God create the reprobate if he doesn't love them enough to save them? And why does God give them happiness if he doesn't love them enough to save them? Hoeksema says that God creates the reprobates for the sake of the elect (see also here) -- but is this really correct?
If you have an answer please post it as a comment.
Daniel Hill
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Other Christians -- Calvinists -- thinks that God, in some sense, doesn't want to save them. Some Scriptures seem to suggest this, such as Luke 10:13:
"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
The argument is: God could have performed in Tyre and Sidon the miracles that he actually did perform in Korazin and Bethsaida, and he knew that if he were to do so then the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon would have repented, but he chose not to. If he chose not to that could only be because he didn't want to.
But here's another question for the Calvinist: why does God create the reprobate if he doesn't love them enough to save them? And why does God give them happiness if he doesn't love them enough to save them? Hoeksema says that God creates the reprobates for the sake of the elect (see also here) -- but is this really correct?
If you have an answer please post it as a comment.
Daniel Hill
posted by Daniel Hill | 5/21/2006 12:11:00 pm
4 Comments:
Daniel, great to see you blogging! I think it's important to emphasise that Calvinists would not all agree that God does not love the reprobate. The editions of Pink's Sovereignty of God would emphasise this point - Pink himself did not believe in God's universal love, but his Banner of Truth observers did (and do) and so removed those remarks ...
Thanks for this, Crawford. Yes, I agree: the words `enough to save them' were intended to avoid this problem -- all Calvinists surely agree that `in some sense' God doesn't love the reprobate enough to save them. Hoeksema was extreme and was kicked out of the CRC because of his denial of God's universal love.
I guess one answer would be that the reprobate are created for the exhibition of God's glory (as are the elect of course), though in this case the exhibition of his glory through justice.
In a sense then, that does reduce to them being created for the sake of the elect.
What is the issue anyway? Romans clearly states that some are made vessels for glory and other for wrath. Seems too clear to me. Also, Jacob is a picture of the elect and loved and Esau the picture of the reprobate and hated. Egg heads keep trying to twist the truth of what is clear. God loves the elect and hates the reprobate.
Post a Comment
<< Home