Unfortunately, as with all of Sproul’s writings, the love of God and the will of God are almost always filtered through decretal limitations. While Sproul believes in the universal love of God for all men, he hardly ever speaks of it, except for a few minimal admissions in his book “Loved by God.” So, when it comes to your above quote from “The Character of God,” it is not surprising that all terms (“our,” “we,” “us,” “His enemies,” “them”) are code for the elect. This decretalism causes Sproul to make very little admissions when it comes to the universal love of God, the universal aspect of God’s willingness to save, the well-meant nature of God’s gospel offer to all, and universal aspects to Christ’s death; yet none of these doctrines are antithetical to historic Calvinism but common features in Puritan writings. Would to God these doctrines were more common among Calvinists today, but Sproul is not helping them in that respect, though he is of tremendous help in many other areas.

Hi Don,

By the “our,” “we,” “us,” “His enemies,” “them” terms in the above quote supplied by Tim, R. C. Sproul has the group of the elect alone in view.

Hi Ben,

I reckon that is true, but still, as you observed, believers are in view, and not the elect as such, as an abstract class. Too frequently Reformed theologians and Calvinists in general are not aware of that assumption, i.e. how they uncritically and commonly switch from the category of “believer” (or the believing elect) to the “elect” as an abstract class, or the entire class of all those appointed to eternal life.

Also, for all the books and lectures that Dr. Sproul has written, he has said virtually nothing about God desiring the salvation of all men in the revealed will, which is why I called in to Iron Sharpens Iron to ask him about it, only after he didn’t really answer Mark Driscoll on the point (see also Justin Taylor’s post on it). Sproul should be be taking a stand on these things since one of his own mentors, John Gerstner, started endorsing the Protestant Reformed Church’s positions as genuinely representative of Reformed thought on the well-meant gospel offer, etc. It’s a serious problem that Sproul has and is still neglecting, unfortunately. Consequently, those listening to and reading Sproul get heavy doses of decretalism with very little emphasis on God’s revealed desire for the salvation of all men which stems from His love for mankind. He should at least be as explicit and as outspoken on God’s universal love as John Calvin was, I think.

“So wonderful is his love towards mankind, that he would have them all to be saved, and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost.” John Calvin on 2 Peter 3:9

Listen to the boldness and conviction of John Davenant, an influential English theologian at the Synod of Dort:

“The general love of God toward mankind is so clearly testified in Holy Scripture, and so demonstrated by the manifold effects of God’s goodness and mercy extended to every particular man in this world, that to doubt thereof were infidelity, and to deny it plain blasphemy.” - Davenant’s Answer to Hoard, p. 1.

That kind of conviction about God’s love should be common among Calvinists today, but unfortunately it is not, and Sproul is not part of the solution. D. A. Carson is superior to Sproul in terms of his outspokenness on the universal love of God, as Carson is not suffering from an unbalanced case of decretalism.

Yes Don, I agree, as do all orthodox Calvinists. God loves all, but especially the elect, hence effectual calling for them alone.

The problem with Sproul as I outlined above is not so much what he says, but with what he does not say. There is nothing in his writings or his lectures, that I know of, where he affirms God’s desire to save all men in the revealed will out of His general love of benevolence. Nevertheless, because of my call in to ISI, finally, he is on record agreeing with John Murray, and sees that position as being in continuity with classic Calvinists like Ursinus. A man of his stature and influence needs to say more than he has said on the universal or general love of God and its implications in the free offer of the gospel, since it was at least a serious problem with John Gerstner, his mentor, in his latter years.

Let him who disagrees produce quotes from Sproul’s writings wherein he affirms God’s love for the non-elect and God’s desire for the salvation of any of the non-elect. Though Sproul agrees that God does have both in the sense the orthodox have always maintained, he is virtually silent on those subjects (unlike Carson).

I would modify your statement this way, Don:

God [savingly] loves, and has mercy on those whom He loves [with an electing love], and He can have [effectual/saving] mercy on whomever He desires. Rom. 9

That statement [with the bracketed modifications] is compatible with the view that God also generally loves and has mercy on some who finally perish [the non-elect], and no non-Calvinist can then fault it for somehow implying that God doesn’t love and have mercy on all men in our view (a very common caricature). As you noted earlier, the non-Calvinist error is to think that God equally loves all men and equally desires their salvation. The opposite error, as it suffers from the same rationalism, is to think that God only loves the elect and only desires their salvation, and this was the problem with Gerstner [he switched his position] in his latter years.

We can marvel and praise God for both his general and electing love this way, and these twin affirmations can modify our behavior and missionary activity. Tim’s quote above should be sufficient to produce thankfulness and praise for the staggering fact of God’s electing love, but it is not for the praise of God’s general love, which is typical of Sproul’s writings and lectures, I maintain. So, though I honor, respect and appreciate Sproul’s work, I see a significant lack in him in the aforementioned areas, which is then affecting the modern American Calvinistic landscape toward more and more decretalism, even with respect to the fact of God’s “staggering love.”

Grace to you,Tony

p.s. This earlier statement is key for those who disagree with me: “Let him who disagrees produce quotes from Sproul’s writings wherein he affirms God’s love for the non-elect and God’s desire for the salvation of any of the non-elect.” They will have to struggle to do this, even if they can.