After I had preached in Houston, B.C., on the topic of the covenant (that baptism is valid for all covenant children—God means what he says), a discerning elder came up to me and asked if Professor Harold Dekker was right after all: God loves all men, and you can say to anybody: God loves you. He also brought this into connection with Report 44: the Bible is the saving revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Docs not God then express his love to all men?

First of all, you can say things in church (to the assembly of God’s people) which you cannot say just anywhere, e.g., to the world. Paul does not hesitate to address the church as saints—“called to be saints” (I Cor. 1:2), and also “the elect of God” (Col. 3;12), and Peter addresses his readers as the “elect of God.” (I Pet. 1:2). They can do this, notwithstanding the fact that there are always hypocrites in the church, because they are addressing the church as church—as a corporate body which confesses that it belongs to Jesus Christ. And so one can say to the church: Christ died for you and God loves you. He has demonstrated this in your baptism.

But, of course, you could not say this just to any audience at all. Dr. Nederhood cannot say over the radio everything that we say in the church of the Lord Jesus. That in the first place.

In the second place, though the Bible itself is the saving revelation of God in Jesus Christ, it must be believed and accepted by faith. In other words, man‘s response always enters the picture. The gospel is never a mere announcement, like “Christ died for you,” or “God loves you.” No, the gospel is always an urgent appeal: Be ye reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:20); repent and believe (Acts 2:38; 16:31; 17:30). In order to appropriate the love of God, in order to become a participant of his love in Jesus Christ, it is necessary to respond in faith and obedience. Just to say: “God loves you,” makes no sense, and in itself is not true. The promise is that whosoever believes shall not perish, but “he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). What is more, “he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him” (John 3;36). If that is true, and the Bible says it is, what sense does it make to say: “Smile, God loves you”? It makes no sense at all, and besides it can lead only to complacency with respect to the need for repentance. The Heidelberg Catechism also reflects this biblical position when it states in Lord’s Day 31 on the keys of the kingdom: “by proclaiming and witnessing to all unbelievers and such as do not sincerely repent that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation abide on them so long as they are not converted.”

It is true that the Bible is God’s saving revelation—intended to save man. In itself, it remains that, even if man rejects it. Christ is a sweet savor in them that are saved and in them that perish (II Cor. 2:15). And God offers His salvation to all who hear the gospel; there is a sincere well–meant offer to the gospel. And the fact that God came to man with that offer can certainly be said to be a part of His favor. But that offer must be accepted by faith in order to be made good. If we reject that Good News, then that Good News comes to testify against us, then it condemns us. And then the wrath of God abides upon us. Salvation is never a one-way street. It always entails a response on the part of man. And so, once more, to say to anyone, indiscriminately, “God loves you” is in the first place not the gospel, and in the second place may often be patently untrue. And so I maintain that Professor Dekker was not only guilty of superficial thinking, but what is worse, harbored some unreformed theology.