God’s Love for All—and Why Hell Still Exists

“If God loves His enemies, does He love the devil?”

That’s what one of my friend’s kids asked her recently—and I think it’s one of the most profound theological questions I’ve ever heard.

For many Christians—especially those shaped by deterministic frameworks like EDD-Calvinism—this question feels confusing. Some theologians (like Arthur Pink) argue that God does not love all people. He only loves the elect—those predestined for salvation. Others insist that God’s love is only found “in Christ” and not for those outside of Him. So the answer to the child’s question, in their view, would be: “No. God doesn’t love the devil. And He doesn’t love the non-elect either.”

But I respectfully and firmly disagree.

I believe Scripture teaches that God truly loves all people, and I believe we can make a strong philosophical and theological case that love is at the center of reality itself. And yet—despite that perfect love—Hell still exists. In this blog, I’ll explain why that’s not a contradiction, but a necessary consequence of real love and real freedom.

God Is Love

Let’s start here: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). That’s not poetic fluff. That’s ontology. Love is not just one attribute among others. It is essential to God’s very nature. And because God is a Trinity, there has never been a time when God was not loving another. The Father has eternally loved the Son; the Son has eternally loved the Spirit; and the Spirit has eternally loved the Father.<1>

Love, then, is not a response to creation—it precedes creation. It is more fundamental than time, space, or matter.

That means love is not something God “does” on occasion—it’s who He is. And this truth radically shapes how we should understand everything else about God: His justice, His holiness, His mercy—and yes, even hell.

The Best Kind of Love Requires Freedom

Years ago, I argued that “the best kind of love requires libertarian free will.” Someone challenged that, saying: “But what about the love within the Trinity? The Father doesn’t have the ability not to love the Son. So isn’t that a counterexample?”

It’s a good question. But it misses something key.

There are two main ways to define libertarian freedom:

1. PAP Freedom — the Principle of Alternative Possibilities (the ability to do otherwise).

2. Sourcehood Freedom — being the ultimate origin of your choices (not being causally determined by something outside of you).

God doesn’t have PAP freedom when it comes to loving the Son—He can’t do otherwise. But He does have sourcehood freedom. No one and nothing outside the Trinity determines that love. It flows freely from God’s own nature.

So when we say the “best kind of love” requires freedom, we’re not saying it has to be arbitrary or fickle. We’re saying it must be free from coercion or causal determinism. Forced love isn’t real love. If one person in a “relationship” is merely programmed to love by the other person in the relationship, it’s not a true love relationship—it’s a script one is determined to follow.

And that’s why God, when He creates human beings in His image, gives us both kinds of freedom: sourcehoodandalternative possibilities. After all, it would be impossible for God as the source to determine us to be the source. That's why humans possess alternative possibilities to reject God's love, or not. He gives us the real ability to love—or not to love. Why? So that a genuine love relationship between God and humans could be possible.

God’s Free Choice to Love Us All

Here’s where it gets even more powerful.

God didn’t have to create anyone. He could have remained forever in the joyful, loving fellowship of the Trinity. But God freely chose to create—and in doing so, chose to love. Once God freely chose to create human beings, His perfect nature guaranteed that He would love them. Why? Because God is love. His perfect character compels Him to seek the good of each person He brings into existence.

That means God’s love for every person is freely chosen—not automatic or utilitarian. He loves the saint and the rebel. The believer and the atheist. Even Judas. Even Satan. He may not be able to have a relationship with those who reject Him, but He still loves what He created.

But Why Create People Who Will Reject Him?

Here’s the next question: If God knows some people will freely choose to hate Him forever, why create them at all?

One powerful answer lies in the ripple effects of human freedom. Even those who ultimately reject God can be part of a chain of influence that leads others to freely choose Christ and be saved. As I’ve written elsewhere, imagine the atheist parent whose child becomes a Christian. Or the tyrant whose evil awakens a generation to resist darkness and pursue truth. God knows the full story and the endgame—He knows how every free choice echoes through eternity.

So even those who reject Him may be part of a story that leads others into eternal life. God’s love and wisdom are deep enough to allow even tragedy to be woven into the tapestry of redemption.

What About Those Who Never Hear About Jesus?

Another common objection to God’s universal love is this: What about the unevangelized? Is it fair for someone to end up in hell simply because they were born in the wrong time or place?

This is where Molinism offers a beautiful answer: God knows what every person would freely do in any circumstance. That means He knows who would respond to the Gospel if they heard it—and He can ensure they are born in the time and place where they will hear and respond.

And for those who never hear in this life, God still provides opportunities. Romans 1:20 says His invisible attributes are clearly perceived in nature, leaving no one without excuse. And Acts 2:17 tells us God can speak through dreams, visions, and other means.

Whether through natural revelation, special revelation, or judgment after death—no one winds up in hell by accident. Everyone is given a free and informed choice to receive or resist God's grace.

Why Hell Exists in a World God Loves

If God truly loves all people, why doesn’t He save everyone?

Because love cannot be forced. It must be freely chosen.

Hell exists not because God stops loving a person, but because some people freely, eternally reject God’s love. God allows them to do so because overriding their freedom would destroy the very love He desires. It would make them robots—or worse, puppets.

Hell is not a divine tantrum. It is not cosmic cruelty. It is the tragic result of real freedom misused—freedom God gave us precisely so that real love could exist in the first place.

God wants all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). But He will not force His way into a heart that has permanently shut Him out.

And just as love demands freedom, love also demands justice. A good judge cannot wink at evil and remain good. If God allowed the unrepentantly wicked into heaven—imagine Hitler trying to kill Jesus and the apostles all over again (because they are Jewish!)—Heaven would cease to be Heaven.

Heaven has a constitution: perfect love. Only those who freely choose to embrace it and live by it can dwell there. Those who freely choose to reject it are allowed to exist outside the wall of God's Kingdom and continually miss the mark--the objective purpose of life--into the eternal future. The epitome of a wasted life.

Conclusion: Love Wins—Because Love Doesn’t Force

God’s love is universal. His invitation is genuine. His grace is sufficient for all, even if not all will receive it because they freely choose to reject it.

To say that God doesn’t love someone simply because they’re damned is like saying a parent doesn’t love a child who runs away and never returns. Do we really think that if the Prodigal Son would have never returned, the father (who represents God in the story) would have hated his son? Of course not.

Love can be rejected. But rejection doesn’t negate love—it proves it was real.

So yes, God loves His enemies. Yes, God loves those who hate Him. Yes, God loves even Satan—though Satan will never love Him in return.

Hell doesn’t exist because God is unloving. Hell exists because love is real. And real love—the best kind of love—cannot be forced.

Stay reasonable (Isaiah 1:18),

Dr. Tim Stratton

Notes

<1> See Adam Lloyd Johnson's "Divine Love Theory" for more about the eternal love relationship found in the Triune godhead.