Originally Posted by DMcFadden

Guys, the thrust of the thread is unfair to Sproul. He did NOT say that you should tell people that God loves them unconditionally. In fact, he said that this was an incorrect approach to evangelism. Not only did he not frame the question, he did not answer it in any way other than a Reformed manner.

He did (as R.C. likes to do), go into the background of standard Reformed teaching on God's love: 1. Love of Benevolence; 2. Love of Beneficence; 3. Love of Complacency (e.g., God's love for Jesus). He admits that God "loves" his creation (including unbelievers) in a common grace sense only. But, if you listen to his tape, he does NOT say what some are assuming (evidently without listening to it) that he says.

Some on PB deny the validity of common grace. You will be offended by R.C.'s answer. However, if you accept common grace, his answer is neither unbiblical nor unconfessional. God does not love the unbeliever in the sense that he does the believer. The unbeliever, he avers, is subject to the wrath of God. Their only share in God's love is limited to his rain falling on the just and the unjust alike.

When it comes to a universal offer, R.C. still holds to a limited atonement. The offer of the Gospel is extended to unbelievers, but only those who believe and receive it are people for whom Christ died.