God loves everyone?

NO, we are not all God's children. That's a false belief of many in modern times, and shows they dont understand who we are nor who God is. 

To explain....

Humanity fits in only two categories:

1. By nature (before salvation):

● Because of the Fall, all humans are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).

● Paul says unbelievers are “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3) and that they follow “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), which is Satan.

● Jesus Himself told some of the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

→ So in that sense, Christianity teaches that outside of Christ, people are in bondage to sin, under Satan’s dominion, and can rightly be described as his children.

2. By grace (after salvation):

● When God saves someone, they are adopted into His family (Rom. 8:15–17, Gal. 4:4–7).

● Only in Christ do we truly become children of God (John 1:12).

This is why adoption is a central theme in Christian soteriology: we’re transferred from the family of darkness into the family of God.

So, all people are “children of Satan” (or “children of wrath”) until they are united to Christ by faith. Only then do they become true children of God by adoption.

There's a distinction between God’s love for the elect vs. His general goodness towards all humans.

1. Children of Wrath vs. Children of God

• Scripture is clear that apart from Christ, people are under God’s wrath (Eph. 2:3; John 3:36).

• Only those who are saved are adopted into God’s family and experience His covenantal, saving love.

2. Different Senses of God’s Love 

Reformed theologians, including Jonathan Edwards, Calvin, and modern Pastir-teachers & writers helpfully distinguish different kinds of God’s love:

• General benevolence / common grace – God gives rain, food, beauty, etc. even to unbelievers (Matt. 5:45). This is a kind of love, but not saving love.

• Salvific love for the elect – God sets His affection on His people from eternity, effectually calling and saving them (Rom. 8:29–30).

• Particular covenantal love – experienced only by those united to Christ (Eph. 1:4–5).

So in that sense:

• God doesn’t love everyone the same way.

• He loves His elect with a saving, eternal love.

• The “love” that unbelievers perceive from God is limited to His general kindness and patience—yet even that, apart from Christ, will only increase their accountability (Rom. 2:4–5).

3. Counterfeit Love vs. True Love

Fallen humanity often projects a distorted definition of love onto God:

• They think of love as tolerance, affirmation, or permissiveness (that agrees with their sin).

• But biblically, God’s love is holy, just, and redemptive—it cannot be separated from His righteousness.

MacArthur, in The God Who Loves, explains that true divine love is revealed in Christ at the cross, not in vague human sentimentality.

That’s why only the redeemed actually know what God’s love really is. And His love is always connected with truth, and never seperate from His other attributes. 

 So...

• God does not love all in the same way—His saving love is for the elect alone.

• Fallen humanity misinterprets God’s patience and kindness as “universal love,” when in reality, outside of Christ they remain “children of wrath.”

Look at historical Christian confessions (based on Scripture) and how they articulate God’s love toward the elect versus His general goodness to all.

Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)

WCF 3.5 – On Election

“Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious grace.”

➡ Here, God’s saving love is explicitly for the elect alone, chosen before the foundation of the world.

WCF 5.7 – On Providence

“As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all creatures; so, after a most special manner, it taketh care of His Church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof.”

➡ God has general providence over all, but His special love and care are for His people.

Canons of Dort (1619)

Canons of Dort, First Head of Doctrine, Article 7 – Election Defined

“Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, out of the whole human race… He hath, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will… chosen in Christ to salvation a definite number of persons… This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than others, God hath decreed to give to Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually to call and draw them into His communion by His Word and Spirit; He hath decreed to bestow upon them true faith, justification, and sanctification, and, having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of His Son, finally to glorify them for the demonstration of His mercy, and for the praise of His glorious grace.”

➡ Again, saving love is particular: a definite number, chosen in Christ.

Canons of Dort, Third and Fourth Head, Article 4 – General Revelation & Common Grace

“There remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmerings of natural light… whereby he retains some knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the differences between good and evil… But so far is this light of nature from being sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God… that he is incapable of using it aright even in things natural and civil. Nay further, this light, such as it is, man wholly pollutes and holds in unrighteousness, by doing which he becomes inexcusable before God.”

➡ Here is where Christian truth roots the distinction: God shows general goodness to all (sun, rain, conscience, order in creation), but this is not saving love.

In Summary

• God’s saving love = only for the elect (Westminster, Dort).

• God’s providential goodness = extends to all, but not in the same way.

• Fallen humanity often mistakes this providence/kindness for “universal love,” but only adoption through Christ reveals God’s true, covenantal love.

Further, the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) adds a very pastoral angle to this. It emphasizes our lostness (“children of wrath”) and then contrasts it with the comfort of belonging to Christ.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 5 – On Our Nature

Q: Can you live up to all this (God’s law) perfectly?

A: No. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.

➡ By nature, humanity is hostile to God — this echoes Eph. 2:3’s “children of wrath.”

Q&A 10 – On God’s Justice

Q: Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

A: Certainly not. He is terribly angry with the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge He will punish them by a just judgment both now and in eternity, having declared: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

➡ Apart from Christ, God’s wrath remains on us. No “universal love” softens that reality.

Q&A 12 – On Our Guilt

Q: According to God’s righteous judgment we deserve punishment both now and in eternity: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God’s favor?

A: God requires that His justice be satisfied. Therefore the claims of this justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or by another.

➡ Here’s the turn: salvation requires satisfaction of justice, which only Christ provides.

Q&A 26 – On God as Father

Q: What do you believe when you say: “I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth”?

A: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… is my God and Father because of Christ His Son. I trust Him so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need for body and soul…

➡ Only in Christ can we call God “Father.” This is the Catechism’s way of teaching adoption — we are not by nature God’s children, but become so through union with Christ.

Conclusion 

• Heidelberg emphasizes that we are born under wrath, with a “natural tendency to hate God.”

• God is not “universally” a Father to all; His fatherhood applies only through Christ (Q26).

• Adoption into God’s family = the heart of true divine love.

Heidelberg aligns with Westminster and Dort:

👉 Apart from Christ, we are not children of God but children of wrath.

👉 Only through Christ’s satisfaction and adoption do we know God as Father and experience His true covenant love.

We also need to connect the theological ideas of imago Dei, Christ’s redemptive work, and the indwelling Spirit with the practical outworking of God’s love in believers, to this convo.

Because we are made in God’s image, our very nature was designed to reflect His attributes. After salvation, through union with Christ, we are restored and transformed: we receive His righteousness, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and His love. This new nature enables us to live out the communicable attributes of God—like love, patience, mercy, and faithfulness—because we are a new creation, & are now grounded in Christ, not in mere human effort.

This is why Paul emphasizes in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is the supreme virtue, and in Galatians 5 that the fruit of the Spirit is evidence of life in Christ. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are not abstract ideals; they are practical expressions of God’s character in those He has redeemed, restiring them to who they were created to be [tho still stuck in this body of sin; not living it out perfectly- until the new body is put on in eternity].

As pointed out in The God Who Loves, divine love is ultimately revealed in Christ at the cross. It is not sentimental or vague; it is active, self-giving, and inseparably linked with truth and holiness. Only those who have been redeemed by Christ truly know what God’s love is, because His love is inseparable from His righteousness, justice, and truth.

In other words, the love God calls us to live out flows from the same source—His own Spirit in us—and is always connected to the fullness of His character. When we love others in obedience to Christ, we are not merely imitating a human ideal; we are reflecting the very nature of God, made visible in our lives.

Hope this helped 😊✨️

Related

The God Who Loves

The Attributes of God 

Understanding the Gospel

Resources for Believers