THE LARGER CATECHISM, THOUGH EXCELLENT IN MANY PARTS,
GOES BEYOND THE WORD OF GOD
IN THE AREA OF LOVE, LIBERTY, AND SOVEREIGNTY

This makes its credal use not only ill-fitting but as in the approach of the
Westminster Confession, in breach of the excellent rule (Confession   Ch.1,, VI )
that what is to be  taught must either be directly
asserted in the Bible or implied by it through necessary consequence.

This makes especially valuable its omission  for so long, by the creedal requirements of the Presbyterian Church in America and The Presbyterian Church of Australia.

Thus in Question 13, for the Catechism to indicate that the divine selection of the elect in all in the unsearchable counsel of God, "in His own will" , as if He had not revealed, as in Colossians 1:19 for example that He would have all to be reconciled to Himself, whether in heaven  or in earth and to do so with such vigorous emphasis indeed. Moreover, the putting it in its sphere of reference - "having made peace through the blood of the cross," and in this setting assuring us of His desire for all, to reconcile all things to Himself, the point is inescapable, even by the most dedicated preconceptions.

In other words, this is not in the distant domain of the unsearchable in kind, since God Himself has revealed it of Himself, making it not only in this searchable, but manifest. When God speaks, let all listen and not act as if He had been utterly unenlightening on the topic. He is not  just a sovereign, we find, but one from the outset so longing for all the domain of mankind as to make His offer of salvation in terms of the door opened by the blood of Christ.

It is is because He SO loved the world, that this may be shown as a measure of the intensity and immensity of this practical love. He so loved that He went so far as to GIVE His only begotten Son, made statedly available for WHOSOEVER believes in Him. It is thus available freely and not partially, fully and not with hidden reservations. In His word, God declares His mind, and unwise is the one who revises what He has to say whether concerning Himself or another. Wisdom is teachable.

This measure which God asserts in John 3:16ff. is not a truncated one, nor is it qualified. It indicates that ANYONE who believes in Him has this straightforward and clearly articulated offer freely given.

It is not false advertising as if to extend His intent; it is not qualified as if to restrict His love. In this matter, the measure is staggering made transparently clear. Such is His desire that only a failure to believe in Him is the condition. tt is not that He so  loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that any of the elect, and those only, should believe and be saved. That restriction in the scope of His love would make Him an entirely different sovereign.

OUR God is not only longing and able and willing to so seek all things, yes all things whether in heaven or in earth, the Bible assures us, but further declares in John 3:19 that the reason why ALL have not been saved is that for some their preference is otherwise. Against the stark offer of so much from the divinity, is the simple reality of human preference. God's offer is unqualified and the abortion of this offer in all its divine clarity is specified. He is not offering food to the mouthless but to those who may eat, and at whose refusal to do so He weeps, and shows His approach in multiplied ways of sometimes almost unspeakable grief.

What  then God declares as to intent and extent is not by any  kind of sound theology to be restricted in kind. Does a man dare to rewrite a portion of another man's biography ? but who will dare to rewrite an element from the biographical revelations of God!

The only impediment to entry into the divine kingdom as divinely declared or vigorously indicated in such sites as John 1:12-13, 3:14-19, Isaiah 48, Jeremiah 13:27,I Peter 3:9 and I Timothy 2:9 is
in the field of reception, as by any of those involved in the group to which the matter is manifestly and statedly assigned. That, in the case of  John 3:14, is the Israelites, in the case of John 3:16, it is the world.

To be sure it is God who personally actually makes the choice (John 3:15, Ephesians 1:4 and I Corinthians 2:7-10) both as to method and as to persons; but statedly, He does so with certain principles in mind as shown above, things which are true of Him and His attitude: these are searched out and disclosed. Again, to ignore this is like someone given a passionate love letter who then asserts that he/she knows nothing of the attitude of the loving one in this matter. With God, of course, His word is truth.

Further, we see that He extends or withholds favour (that is, concerning those who are called) as He pleases. In this category, He does however make it clear that In this field, He shows a divine restraint, so that what He does grieves Him greatly, so that He weeps saying, "O Jerusalem if you had known, even you,, e specially in this your day, the things that belong to your peace! but now they are hidden from your eyes" - and  weeping. In essence Matthew 23:37-38 dies not differ.

Here in doing what He pleases, He does not get what He vastly desires, even to the point of the stunning sacrifice of His only begotten Son. He is as far from a self-satisfying sovereign as He well could be, and He makes this eminently clear. This extraordinary situation nevertheless strikes a chord as basic to what is frequent in the emotions of mankind, though not always true and worthy. Many do not seek the one they love unrestrainedly, because of noble sentiments of this kind or that: in essence because he really loves her (or vice versa). Thus those in such a case may restrain the exhibition of love from any quality of mere force, trickery or pressure.

His entire sovereignty is clear, but the kind of sovereignty it is, is far from unknown in the matter of selectivity for the elect, as portrayed in the Larger Catechism. What pleased Him as in Colossians 1:19 is to have ALL, emphatically,  and He exposed such love not as buried in obscurity as to its presence, but so totally directed in His outgoing desire as attested in the stated offer to the world through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. Limiting the scope of this offer made to mankind has almost an element of sacrilege.

What then ? His love is harnessed to no unknown preference on His part. While as shown in I Corinthians 2:9 is the surpassing glory of what God has prepared for those who love Him; yet the text proceeds to declare this: "But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, "for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God" - bold added.

Indeed, in His selection of the elect, God acted indeed unilaterally, even before our kind of time existed, and HE chose. Whether this, before man's sin, and so before the whole eventuation of the Fall, so dealing with  the divine discernment of the actual, unpathological will of man but as conceived within Himself, or through a fallen version where truth is yet found and apparent to God, is of little importance here. Those are divine matters, and we are limited to what God has chosen to reveal.

To the purpose in hand then, this does not matter. God chose and God knew and this occurred before either sin or creation with its kind of time, came on the scene. The kingdom of heaven is peopled by those who distinctively received God. The sorrow of God, as so often expressed, at man's foolish and not forced departure from the glorious option thus constitutes a deplorable breach of His desire, so costly in its exhibition and availability. 

The character of the love of God to target-mankind, thus to the world, was enough to lead to a sacrifice securing divine availability. one so vast as to exhibit once and for all, its uninhibited nature for this stated entity, the world, and how readily has He thus made the way of entry into His sacred kingdom. He has not left us in any doubt of the magnificence of His offer or the reality of His work of such enablement.       

The love of God accordingly in our searching of the Bible is found thus: it could not be further from any kind of spiritual hedonism, and that is one reason why to praise Him is a delightful duty.