Does God Love Everyone, or Only Believers?

Have you ever been asked a question like “Does God really love everyone?  What about people that don’t believe in him?  Does he love them too?”

Just a few days ago, someone emailed me a very similar question.  As I was writing my reply, I thought it would be good to have something on my site that would be easy to point people to.  So, here is my answer to the question “Does God love everyone, or does he just love believers?”

The Bible’s Most Famous and Most Radical Verse

Possibly the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16.  In my opinion, it is also the most radical  It reads as follows:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

This simple statement is so profound, and so radical.  It tells something about God that is so wonderful.

The Bible says that God loved the world.  It does not say that God loved the church, or that God loved the Christians, or that God loved the believers.  It says that God loved the WORLD.  And because of this love he has for the world, Jesus came to earth to on a rescue mission.

God loves all people, and he made it extremely easy for everyone to be saved and rescued.  All we have to do is receive Jesus…to believe in his name (John 1:12).   This is something that anyone can do.  It does not require any money, or skill, or connections, or hard work, or any other thing.  All you have to do is believe and receive.

Any statement or doctrine that says God only loves the believers is false.  It directly contradicts John 3:16.

It also contradicts Ephesians 2:4-5

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved!

It also contradicts Romans 5:8

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

And I could continue listing verses, but that is enough to make the point.  God loves all people, even those that don’t believe.  That does not mean that everyone receives salvation and eternal life.  It just means that God loves people even if they reject him.

But What About Romans 9?

In Romans 9, we have the following passage:

Romans 9:13  As it is written, “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.”

People will quote that to try and show that God loves believers and hates unbelievers.  People with this opinion are often thinking of Jacob as a symbolizing “believers” and Esau as symbolizing “unbelievers.”

There are many problems with this.  One of the problems is that Jacob and Esau are not representatives of believers and unbelievers.  Paul, the author of Romans, is quoting from Malachi chapter 1.  And when you read Malachi, you see that Jacob and Esau are symbolic representatives of two nations (Israel and Edom) that have made many terrible choices.  But God chose to use Israel (Jacob) as his means for expressing himself to the world.  And God continued in this for a very long time, even though Israel as a whole was not cooperating.  This is not talking about believers vs unbelievers, or saved vs unsaved.  So that is the first problem.  (There is much more to this, but that is for another post).

But the main issue with using Romans 9:13 to prove that “God only loves believers” is this:  the writers of the Bible often use hyperbole to communicate strong thoughts.  It was very much a part of the culture.  Consider this statement from Jesus:

Luke 14:26  Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

Is Jesus really teaching us to hate our parents, our spouse, our children, and our siblings?  Or is he using hyperbole to make a point?  Jesus would not contradict himself.  He said to love your neighbor as yourself.  We are to love others as Christ has loved us.  We are not supposed to hate people.  This is simply hyperbole which was part of the culture when the Bible was written.  It is not intended to be taken literally to mean “God wants you to hate your parents.”

Or how about this one:

Mark 9:43-47  If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.  And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.  And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,

Is Jesus really teaching self-mutilation?  Or is he using hyperbole to make a point?  I believe the Bible is God’s word, and that God is not confused.  If the Bible tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Lord.  then we are supposed to care for ourselves, not mutilate ourselves.  Jesus is simply using hyperbole because that was understood by everyone as a part of the culture.  Nobody listening to Jesus as he taught this lesson would go away thinking they were supposed to cut off parts of their body.

Romans 9 cannot be used to imply that God hates certain people.  It is simply biblical, cultural hyperbole that is used to make a strong point.

Two Parables

As I conclude this article, consider these two short parables:

Parable 1 – There was a young man who was interested in marrying a young woman.  He promised that if she would marry him, he would love her unconditionally, and never forsake her.  But if she would not accept his offer, he vowed to to hate her forever.

Parable 2 – There was a young man who was interested in marrying a young woman.  He told her that if she would marry him, he would love her unconditionally, and never forsake her.  He also told her that even if she did not want to marry him, then he would honor her choice, but he would still love her no matter what.  Even if she continually rejected him her entire life, he would still love her and never stop, even to the day she died, even if it cost him his life.

Which of these sounds more like Jesus?  Which one sounds like a more godly kind of love?  Which one represents God’s character more accurately?

Even when Jesus was being killed by people that hated him and mocked him and rejected him, he said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Jesus loves people whether they respond to his love or not.  And God is exactly like Jesus (Hebrews 1:3).  God loves everyone, not just believers.