Well in one sense, God has favor towards everyone through Jesus Christ because He gave everyone a chance to be reconciled back to him instead of letting sin remain a permanent barrier between both parties. Some people make the argument that God’s love is conditional because you have to believe in Jesus Christ but that’s not what Scripture communicates. God would have sent Jesus Christ regardless if he knew no one would ever believe in him throughout the entirety of history.
The fact of the matter is that he did it anyway and it’s an open invitation. However, there are cases in the Bible that show God pouring out His favor on people who really didn’t deserve it like David and Paul, who would go on to become some of his most faithful followers. The humanist inside of us wants everyone to be treated fairly and equally but we forget that the God who made us in His image, was also the God that said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and compassion on whom I have compassion.” God does what He wants, and that is an idea that every human who has pondered it, struggles with.
“Some people make the argument that God’s love is conditional because you have to believe in Jesus Christ but that’s not what Scripture communicates. God would have sent Jesus Christ regardless if he knew no one would ever believe in him throughout the entirety of history.”
Eli, I don’t see how God sending Jesus regardless of people’s belief status rebuts the argument that God’s love is conditional.
Suppose God sent Jesus to die for the world, but suppose also that absolutely no one came to believe in Jesus. Would Jesus’ sacrifice be applied to anyone? Or would everyone end up in Hell?