Time and again we hear objections raised to the concept of hell, based on God’s supposed love for man. “If God loves man so much”, some say, “there is no way He would ever send them to eternal torment!” In this, they misunderstand God’s motivation and capabilities.
First, God does love men, and desires everyone to be saved. God desires every single person (who has ever lived, is living now, and ever will live), to go live with Him in heaven for eternity. This truth is evident in scripture. For example, Paul exhorts Timothy to pray for conditions to allow men to live “quiet and peaceable” lives in “all godliness and reverence.” This exhortation is explained, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
Another passage that teaches God’s desire for the ultimate salvation of all men is found in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
In the context of 2 Peter 3, however, Peter writes, “But the heavens and earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (7). Peter is not contradicting himself. The same God who is “not willing that any should perish” is the God who will judge the ungodly and destroy them. (The word perdition means “the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell,” Thayer).
What do these words teach? They obviously contradict the Calvinistic tenet of limited atonement. If God desires for all to be saved, and is “not willing that any should perish”, it can’t be that Christ’s blood was shed for only the predestined elect. Christ died for all men. The elect are those chosen through the gospel. “He that believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
They also speak to the limitation of God. It is simply not possible for Him to save the impenitent, ungodly sinner. This inability is easily demonstrated by illustration. A judge desires for all men to abide by the laws of the land. He does not want to punish any by putting them in prison. However, he is constrained by law and by a personal sense of justice, which requires him to punish the guilty.
God is constrained by His own righteousness. It is a central trait of His Person, an immutable part of who He is. Paul wrote, “…it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you (“those who do not know God”, and “those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”), and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His might angels” (2 Thessalonians 1:7, cf. 8).
As much as God loves man, and desires the salvation of all, He simply cannot save the ungodly. God is righteous.
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity” (Isaiah 59:1-3).
God’s love motivated the sending of His son to save all men (cf. John 3:16). However, man is required to believe in and confess God’s Son, repent of his sins, and be baptized to have his sins washed away. Only then he can and will be saved. God’s righteousness requires it!
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