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 (John 3:16).
(a)
[Source: Institutes of Elenctic Theology]
The love treated of in John 3:16 … cannot
be universal towards all and every one, but special towards a few ...
because the end of that love which God intends is the salvation of those whom
He pursues with such love ... If therefore God sent Christ for that end, that
through Him the world might be saved, He must either have failed of His end, or
the world must necessarily be saved in fact. But it is certain that not the
whole world, but only those chosen out of
the world are saved; therefore, to them
properly has this love reference ... Why then should not the world here
be taken not universally for individuals, but indefinitely for anyone, Jews as
well as Gentiles, without distinction of nation, language and condition, that
He may be said to have loved the human race, inasmuch as He was unwilling to
destroy it entirely but decreed to save some certain persons out of it, not
only from one people as before, but from all indiscriminately, although the
effects of that love should not be extended to each individual, but only to
some certain ones, viz, those chosen
out of the world?
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