The Evangelical Universalist Forum

The Special Love Of God

The Bible speaks of a universal love that God has for everybody. There is however a special dimension to God’s love. The fact that God loved Jacob and hated Esau proves this point. Here we are seeing a love/hate contrast that shows God loves some more than others. Jesus spoke of this when He said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26). Jesus is not saying have an attitude of hostility towards them. What He is saying is that we ought to love Him above all others.

This doesn’t mean that all won’t eventually be saved. Only that God has a special love for some before all make it to heaven. We also see this special love in this scripture:

This passage corresponds with the command to show special love to believers:

God has a chosen people in this lifetime who are saved by grace. The goats undergo the corrective punishment in hell. In the meantime let us love like God and show love to everyone - ESPECIALLY Christians.

God is no respecter of persons in the sense of race or nationality. He still has a chosen people in this lifetime chosen by grace though.