But in the text it is not used with limitation. It is the world of all men, without distinction or exception, that is meant. It is the same world which is called " the whole world " in that other precious little gospel which runs thus : — " If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" The true extent of the import of the word may be seen in those other passages which assure us that there " is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom /or all,'' and who tasted death /or every man} ^
1. But what about election? There is nothing in this text about it. God so loved the world — not a portion of the world — not the elect. The elect are only a part of the world and chosen out of it. But this love of God is world-wide, for everybody, without a hint of election in it. It sweeps away out beyond election, and has no boundaries, no limitations, no reservations.
H I believe in election. It is one of the great basal truths of Scripture, and a most blessed doctrine, charged with infinite stay and comfort for God's believing children. It puts the Father's everlasting arms about every child of His, and makes it certain he will never perish. But while it clearly and definitely includes
^ J. Morison, Holiness and Happiness^ 14. ST. JOHN — 13
194 THE AMAZING GIFT OF LOVE
somebody, it just as clearly and positively excludes nobody. It makes heaven sure for the chosen, but it keeps no one out of heaven. It is no chain gang bound about the necks of men, dragging some to salvation and some to perdition.^
2. This is the vital doctrine of election, the election of some for the benediction of the whole. "I pray for these, that the world may believe." The elect are called not to a sphere of exclusion, but to a function of transmission. They are elected not to privilege, but to service ; not to the secret hoarding of blessing, but to its widespread distribution. The elect are not circles, but centres, heat centres for radiating gracious influence to remote circumferences, that under its warming and softening ministry " the world may believe " in the Son of God. That is the way of the Master. He will work upon the frozen streams and rivers of the world by raising the general temperature. He seeks to increase the fervour of those who are His own, and, through the pure and intense flame of their zeal, to create an atmosphere in which the hard frozen indifference of the world shall be melted into wonder, into tender inquisition, that on the cold altar of the heart may be kindled the fire of spiritual devotion. " I pray not for the world, but for these . . . that the world may believe." Through the disciple He seeks the vagrant ; through the believer He seeks the unbeliever; through the Church He seeks the world; through the ministry of Christian men and women the world is to be won for Christ.
iv. God's Love of the World.
God loves the world, the world of men. Gentile as well as Jew, X^ornelius not less than Nicodemus, Scythian as well as Syrian, V bond not less than free. 1/ God in His totality loves man in his totality, loves his welfare, which is purity and peace, faith and love, self-poise and perseverance, devotion to high ideals, and enduring joy. " There is no difference." The Divine love is infinite as the Divine nature. It has no exclusions. Sin divides, degrades, excludes, but God is at war with sin. He loves the world. This is the glorious fact that sends its clear, pulsing light through all our human life. Oh, the joy, the unutterable joy
^ H. Johnson, From Love to Praise, 17.
ST. JOHN III. i6 195
of it ! God loves the prodigal who in his wayward folly has lost the track to the Father's house, the rebel who has defied His misjudged authority, the ingrate who has despised His goodness ; and yet His love is such that it conquers their sin and ends their sinning, and brings them back to the Father's home penitent, obedient, and grateful.
1. How can it be that God loves such a world? A partial explanation lies in the fact that it is God's nature to love, that while others are by nature hard and unpitying, and even vengeful, God by nature is tender, sympathetic, and merciful. Yet it is the most tremendous statement that has ever confronted the human mind, the statement of God's gracious love for the world. It is__ the most difficult statement for the belief of man to grasp. yf^
2. There are those who are eminently disgusted with God's world, who claim that we cannot have high moral perceptions and know humanity without feeling that humanity is despicable. There are those who would sweep the whole multitude of mankind into the sea and drown them ; they have no patience with them and they have no hope for them. When, then, the theory is propounded that though God did indeed create this world and start humanity. He later cast off all thought of the world, having no further concern for humanity, the theory appeals to such persons, and they say that through such a theory they can under- stand the meaning of human Life.