For calvinists: Has God loved every man who ever existed?

This is called supralapsarianism in one branch of Calvinism but most Calvinists are infralapsarianists.

 

TC's comment is right. Among Calvinists there is differeing understandings in the details so to speak. And there is a "hyper-calvinism" as well. What we are concerned with is historic calvinsim. Within this realm, as well as Reformed Theology, Common and Special Grace are part and parcel.

I owe you some evidence, and now that I am home and next to my library I will provide some this evening.

However, I became this morning the proud recipient of the Call of Duty 4 Beta...so my Xbox 360 beckons me.... :laugh:

 

I lean towards supra....... but not all the way

 

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Man I think that explains alot.

 

Not such a straightforward question as it might at first seem. Some would say, "Yes," in the sense that they see God's temporal provisions (such as "causing His rain to fall on the just and the unjust", and "giving to all life, breath and all things"). Others would hesitate to use the word "love" for this, because it is open to confusion.

 

No it is not. It tells us that God loved the world in this way (not "so much" - the Greek word used refers to the manner of God loving the world, not the extent): that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him (not everybody who has ever lived) shall not perish but have everlasting life.

 

Excellent...then we can look at the context to see if Spurgeon is correct in saying that God wants all men without distinction to be saved...

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Ti 2:1-4, ESV)

If one understands the term "all people" in this passage to mean every single person in the world, then your prayers would be quite long as you are required to pray for every single person in the world. The context is clearly all types of people, which is why it brings in different types of people in the first part...kings and all who are in high position.

 

For the record, i am a supra.

 

No sir, it does not say pray for the people one by one, that is your postulation. I can pray for the people in the U.S. with out ever having to name them one by one, can you not?. I can pray for every single person in authority without ever naming them one by one Are you unable to? And to do so is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires 'all people' to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth. Spurgeon was quite correct my friend. And as he stated so do I - that he is concerned about being scripturally consistant than he is about being theologically so. :smilewinkgrin:

 

RE: Does God love all men??

Amen, Webdog, Amen!! That's about as good an analogy(sp?) I have ever read regarding this subject!

 

Spurgeon gets claimed by both sides, depending on how you quote him. In his day he would offend the Arminians by preaching Calvinist doctrines, and then offend the hyper-Calvinists when he preached too much like an Arminian.

Here is the thing, it is not about us being angry when Spurgeon says something that stands in contrast to our theology, but when he denies simple logic. When someone embraces Limited Atonement, that God only chose to redeem some, that has radical effects on ones entire theological worldview. Spurgeon claims to believe in Limited Atonement, yet in many of his sermons he preaches like an Arminian. The Arminians will look and say 'See, he is not as bad as most Calvinists' and us Calvinists will say, "Well, atleast he is not as bad as most Arminians." He missed the point. He is neither consistently Calvinist nor Arminian, he should be lined up under Hodge, Warfield, and perhaps Geisler. It's not that I am angry at him for doing dammage to the cause of Calvinism. Not at all. I just don't think he has really thought out the implications of his theology. If he did, he clearly wouldn't make statements that God desires all of his creation to be happy and to be saved.

 

G3956
πᾶς
pas
pas
Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole: - all (manner of, means) alway (-s), any (one), X daily, + ever, every (one, way), as many as, + no (-thing), X throughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever.

 

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

All can certainly mean "all kinds of" or "all sorts of" as in this verse of scripture. Or is money the root of "all" evil?

 

All as in "evil of every kind". lol

So the love of money is the root of all evil?

How about hate? Is hate the root of any evil?

Is hate actually loved less?

 

When God created evil, was idolatry the root of the evil He created?

 

I didn't ignore your post at all Web. I disagree that the love of money is the root of all evil. I think it is the root of all sorts of evil.