“One of the chief ways we distort the biblical picture of God’s love is when we presuppose, as many Christians do, that love demands freedom. Where we get this notion, I do not know, but it is not in the Bible. In fact, we find in the Bible quite the opposite: the love of God violates human freedoms constantly and consistently. If there’s one thing any biblical figure can count on, besides that God loves him, it is that he is not in control of his own destiny. The biblical picture of God’s love is bigger, stranger, and more complex than our misguided attempts to assist the gospel by anthropomorphizing God’s love. ‘What the Bible says about the love of God is more complex and nuanced than what is allowed by mere sloganeering.’ D.A. Carson reminds us.
Some end up sloganeering under the guise of finally doing justice to God’s love. The fashionable new waves of postmortem free will, universalism, and inclusivism allege that their views of the love of God are more reflective of the enormity depicted in the Scriptures. Instead, by carrying in philosophical presuppositions about what love must entail in order to be real love, and by seeking to commend the gospel by making this love appear as acceptable to as many people as possible, they take what is multidimensional and squash it out, in effect flattening the idea of God’s love like pizza dough in a pan in order to make it look bigger.”
Excerpt from Gospel Deeps by Jared C. Wilson
