A brief discourse on God’s love for the world, and a refutation of those pestilent errors that pervade the modern church. 

Those who are faithful to the truth and sound doctrine have always held that God’s love is special and His grace singular, but how can we say that God only loves some men if we are constantly reminded by the ignorant, unlearned and unstable that John 3:16 says that God loves all men? How can we come to the conclusion that “For God so loved the world” does not mean that He loves the souls of all men?By faithful adherence to the word and faithful logical deduction. First of all it is inconsistent with the rest of scripture. Nowhere in any part of the Bible does it say that God loves all men. In fact, God’s hatred for some men is mentioned, therefore God cannot love that which He hates without doing violence to His perfection. It must first be asked then, What is God and what does God love? God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, every where present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just,most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

What does God love?

God loves the Son. [John 3:35]

Why does God love the Son?

“He is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person.” [Heb. 1:3] God loves the Son because He bears His image.

What is the image of God? “after His image in knowledge, righteousness and holiness.” [Eph. 4:24, Col. 3:10]

What is the standard and rule for righteousness and holiness? “It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments.” [Deut. 6:25] and “Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” [Gal. 3:10] Therefore we establish and maintain that God loves righteousness and by necessity hates all iniquity. [Ps. 11:7, 33:5, 37:28, Prov. 15:9] Even further implied by the inference that Christ is anointed because of His righteousness. “Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, THEREFORE God hath anointed thee.” [Ps. 45:7] So it is vital that we understand God’s immutable opposition to sin, and His unalterable justice in the punishing of it. It is of God’s love for righteousness that He Punishes sin without allowing the least tincture of corruption to escape His wrath. (The least tincture being an infinite abhorrence to Him.) If it is righteousness God loves, it MUST be asked then if we are to discern from John 3:16 who it is God loves: Is man after the fall capable of doing righteousness? “The thoughts of his heart are only evil continually.” “They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good.” How then can man be loved if he is incapable of any work that God loves? God cannot love man as a sinful creature unless He denies His holiness, which He will not do having sworn by it. “The LORD God hath sworn by His holiness.” [Amos 4:2] Therefore it is easier to infer that in the words God so loved the world that He means NO man, than all men being that they are born in sin. But yet God saith that He loveth Jacob, and Zion, and Jerusalem, and Hezekiah the faithful king saith also, “He hath in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Therefore the souls of some men must be included in this definition of world. But how if they are defiled by sin? Only by the immutable election, the particular Redemption, and the special work of Regeneration by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We MUST understand world then to be referring to that WHOLE plan of salvation which God hath from the beginning of time ordained and has now established by creation, providence and redemption. Meaning that world is not restricted only to His elect, but to the whole theological system which brings about their redemption.

We ought to define what the Greek word KOSMOS means in this context and why God so loves it as to send His only begotten Son in order to save it.

The definition of world :
For God so loved the world is not restricted only to the elect, but to the WHOLE SYSTEM of true religion and all those ways which manifest God’s glory including:
His glory itself,
Himself in three Persons,
His eternal decrees,
His Essence,
His Attributes,
His will,
Creation,
Providence,
All things material a shadow of heavenly things,
The order of the world,
The laws of logic,
Mankind in innocence, (Mind will and affections being wholly conformed to the law)
The manifestation of His attributes after the fall, (the punishment of sin and the reward of righteousness)
His word,
His law,
His righteousness,
His holiness, (sincerity and purity without mixture of evil)
The Old and New Testaments both manifesting His holiness,
His immutable hatred of sin manifested in not sparing His own people when they sinned against Him,
Mankind being renewed and saved by seed faith, even through various types and shadows,

The whole history of Redemption,

The incarnation and the fuller revelation of His will and glory,

The fulfillment of the law by Christ,
His humiliation and submission to sufferings,
The justice of God satisfied by Christ’s death,
His immutable hatred of sin manifested by not sparing His own Son who had our sins imputed to Him,
His righteousness also revealed in the imputation of His obedience to us,

His elect,
Justification by faith alone,
Adoption and the pouring out of His mercy,
Sanctification and the progress of faith,
The pious affections of the godly,
Their separation from the world and all things men love,
Christ’s divine Mediatorial offices,
His divine glory as the Son of God and the Son of man, being both God and man,
His resurrection, ascension and intercession,
His coming again,
His punishment of all the wicked,
Eternity of misery for all enemies of His righteousness,
Eternity of pure joy for all those whom He predestined unto sanctification and glory.
God glorified forever.
What does God love then? Is the world referring to all men? No and can NEVER be without loving sin, but it refers to the system of truth (LOGOS) as a whole which has logical foundations from beginning to end. This WORLD is summed up well by Theodore Beza and William Perkins in their construction of the Golden chain of redemption. (Google image search, William Perkins Golden chain to see what I mean)
Essentially everything in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms is an expression of the theological system, the WORLD which God loved and gave His Son for – ultimately His own glory. It is not the visible world but the INVISIBLE world which God loves and which He will surely love for eternity, which brings comfort only to the godly who are part of that plan and purchase which God was willing to give up His only begotten Son for, and we know these things to be true because that which witnesses in us and to us testifying that these things are true is His Spirit who cannot lie which has made this promise SURE to us in His word. So the next time someone tries to tell you that you think too highly about a theological system because you tell them free will heretics aren’t regenerate, you just remember that this system is what God loves and will punish with everlasting fire all men who hate it.