Does God Show His Love Equally to All Believers?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Grace in Focus

Episode: Does God Show His Love Equally to All Believers?
Date: September 18, 2025
Hosts: Bob Wilkin & Ken Yates (Grace Evangelical Society)
Duration: ~13 minutes

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Overview of the Episode’s Main Theme

In this episode, Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates tackle a nuanced theological question submitted by a listener: “Does God show His love equally to all believers?” The hosts explore biblical passages (notably Hebrews 12 and Jude 21), spiritual concepts of God’s love, discipline, and fellowship, referencing well-known parables and practical experiences. Their goal is to distinguish between God’s unchanging love for all believers and how the experience (and expression) of that love may differ based on one’s spiritual condition or fellowship with God.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Listener Question and Scenario

• The discussion begins with a listener, Doug, who references a blog by Bob and raises the question:

  • “Does God love all believers the same way? If a believer is rebelling, is God’s discipline just as loving as His relationship with a faithful believer?”
  • Doug’s friend claims, “God must really love me because I’m certainly being put through the ringer right now,” referencing Hebrews 12.

  [01:03] (Ken) “He’s talking about a blog you did and it's talking about the love of God. And his question... does God love all believers in the same way?... Is that just as loving or God loves them just as much as a believer who's in fellowship with the Lord?”

2. Biblical Foundations: Jude 21 and The Prodigal Son

• Bob references Jude 21: “Keep yourselves in the love of God”—suggesting believers can remove themselves from experiencing God’s love, though God’s love remains constant.

  • The Prodigal Son is used as an illustration: while away in “the far country,” he doesn’t experience his father’s love, though the love exists unchanged.

  [03:48] (Ken) “He still loves us, but we're not experiencing it now... It's not that God cuts off his love to us, it's we cut off God's love to us.”

  [03:23] (Bob & Ken) “How is the son in the pigsty experiencing his father's love over in the Ponderosa? He's not.”

• They emphasize that being “in fellowship” is required to experience God’s love to its fullest.

3. Understanding Discipline and Suffering

• Hebrews 12’s use of “discipline”: The hosts note this refers to God’s “training” (Greek: paideia, child-training), not punishment for wayward living.

• Believers in fellowship may experience hardship as a loving, formative discipline, not as punishment; suffering for one’s faith is seen positively, referencing Acts 5:41.

• Contrast: If someone suffers due to rebellion (e.g., “in the pigsty”), they’re not experiencing God’s loving fellowship.

  [04:20] (Ken/Bob) “Actually, the word for discipline there isn’t that paideuo... Paideia, where we get pediatrician... raising up of a child.”

  [05:31] (Bob) “To go back to the prodigal son... he shouldn’t be saying, man, my father really loves me because I’m down here suffering now.”

4. Experiential vs. Objective Love of God

• God’s love is unchanging but not always “equally experienced.”

• Believers can “remove themselves from experiencing that love” by living in persistent sin or “the far country.”

• An invitation from Jude—“keep yourselves in the love of God”—shows believers have responsibility in abiding within that loving fellowship.

  [08:12] (Bob) “Does God love all believers equally? Yes or no? Does He show His love equally? No, but does He love them equally? Well, yes, but clearly you're not experiencing the love of God if you're not walking in fellowship with Him.”

5. The Rescue Mission Analogy

• Ken describes people at rescue missions: Not all are unbelievers; some once-believing professionals (doctors, lawyers) fall away and lose much.

• Even these fallen Christians, while loved by God, are not experiencing their Father’s love in the same way until restoration.

  [08:22] (Ken) “Some are already born again, but they had fallen away... They’re homeless, addicted... They're born again people who fall away from the Lord and end up in a rescue mission.”

6. Illegitimate Sons in Hebrews 12

• The question of chastening and “illegitimate sons” (Hebrews 12:8):

  • Many think this refers to unbelievers, but the hosts argue these are believers who will lose inheritance/reward—not salvation.
  • Quoting Zane Hodges from the Bible Knowledge Commentary, illegitimate sons are “Christians whose disloyalty to the faith resulted in their loss of inheritance reward, obviously, not salvation.”

  [12:03] (Ken, quoting Hodges) “In speaking of those who are not disciplined and are thus illegitimate children, he was probably thinking of Christians whose disloyalty to the faith resulted in their loss of inheritance reward, obviously, not salvation.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the difference between God’s love and its experience:

  “[03:54] (Ken) He still loves us, but we're not experiencing it now.”

• On discipline (paideia):

  “[04:20] (Ken) The word for discipline there isn’t that paideuo... [it’s] child training...”

• On the Prodigal Son:

  “[05:31] (Bob) He shouldn't be saying, man, my father really loves me because I'm down here suffering now.”
  “[06:14] (Ken) He'll be like Hop Sing working in the kitchen... Bob is showing his age.” (lighthearted Bonanza references recur)

• On unequal experience:

  “[08:12] (Bob) Does He show His love equally? No, but does He love them equally? Well, yes, but clearly you’re not experiencing the love of God if you’re not walking in fellowship with Him.”

• Zane Hodges commentary:

  “[12:03] (Ken, quoting Hodges) ...illegitimate children... Christians whose disloyalty to the faith resulted in loss of inheritance reward, obviously, not salvation.”

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:03 | Introduction of listener question—the nature of God’s love | | 03:11 | Jude 21 and the Prodigal Son illustration | | 04:20 | Discussion of discipline (paideia) and Hebrews 12 context | | 05:31 | Experiencing love “in the pigsty” or after returning | | 08:12 | Summary and answer to whether God's love is equal or equally shown | | 10:05 | Hebrews 12: “illegitimate sons” and inheritance | | 12:03 | Quoting Zane Hodges on the meaning of “illegitimate” in Hebrews | | 12:44 | Closing remarks—“Let’s all keep grace in focus.” |

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Final Thoughts

Summary Statement:
God’s love for all believers is unwavering and equal in its essence, but its experience is conditional upon a believer’s fellowship and walk with the Lord. Discipline and suffering may reflect God's formative, loving intent—but only those abiding in Him experience that love as intended. Believers are encouraged to “keep themselves in the love of God” (Jude 21) and recognize that walking away leads to a loss—not of God’s love itself, but of its felt presence and blessing.

Memorable Takeaway:

“[08:12] (Bob) Does He show His love equally? No, but does He love them equally? Well, yes, but clearly you’re not experiencing the love of God if you’re not walking in fellowship with Him.”

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For further study:

• Hebrews 12 (especially verses 6–8)
• Jude 21
• Luke 15 (The Prodigal Son)
• Acts 5:41

Next Episode Preview:
“Is Remarriage Adultery?” – Tune in for more nuanced Free Grace theology discussions.

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry.

[B]

From the Grace Evangelical Society.

[A]

What about God's love for believers? Does he show more love to some than others? Does God love all believers the same amount, the same way? Let's have a discussion about that today here on Grace in Focus. Thank you for joining us, friend. This is the ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Find us at our website, faithalone.org we have a free online seminary that we'd love you to know about. It's the Grace Evangelical Seminary. Study with us for an M. Div. Degree and it is free as long as you maintain above a 3.0 average. Go through the application process and be ready to study with us next semester. It is the GES Seminary. Find all the information you [e-mail] and now with today's discussion, here are Bob Wilken and Ken Yates.

[B]

Bob, we got a question from Doug and he's busting on you. He's busting on you.

[C]

No, he's not busting you.

[B]

Yeah, he is.

[C]

He is.

[B]

He's talking about a blog you did and it's talking about the love of God. And his question basically is this, does God love all believers in the same way? Or we would say equally. In other words, if a believer is rebelling against God, like the Prodigal Son, for example, and God is disciplining him, is that just as loving or God loves them just as much as a believer who's in fellowship with the Lord and walking with the Lord. And he mentioned a blog that you wrote. And so why don't you first of all give us a summary of what you discussed in your blog about the love of God.

[C]

And then maybe before I do that, why don't you read the part he says about his friend who says, God must really love me because I'm going through a lot of discipline or something. Yeah, he mentions Hebrews 12, doesn't he?

[B]

That's right. He quotes from Hebrews 12 where it says, whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and scourges. And then he says his friend goes, God must really love me because he certainly put me through the ringer right now. Now let me just say something about that. In that question or that example, what he's saying is a believer who's going through a difficult time. But I'm assuming it's not because he's in rebellion against God. You know, like, let's say I'm in fellowship with God and I get an incurable disease. Paul's thorn in the flesh, right? Okay. 2 Corinthians 12. And his friend goes, God must really love me right now. But we're adding this other wrinkle here because of Hebrews 12. What about a believer who is sleeping with a prostitute and gets an incurable disease?

[C]

Right. I think the blog he's talking about is the blog where I wrote and I asked, does God love all believers equally? And I talked about the verse. I think it's Jude 21 or 2022, where Jude says, keep yourselves in the love of God. And what I suggested in that blog is that if we fall away, which Jude 2425 talks about, then we're no longer in the love of God.

[B]

Right.

[C]

If we're in the spiritual far country, like the prodigal son you mentioned earlier, how is the son in the pigsty experiencing his father's love over in the Ponderosa? He's not.

[B]

Oh, that's an old reference there to the Bonanza.

[C]

Right. He needs to go back to his father. And when he gets back to his father, he gets the robe, he gets the ring, he gets the sandals. They slay the fatted calf for him. He returns to the experience of his father's love. So it's not that God cuts off his love to us, it's we cut off God's love to us. That's why he says, keep yourselves in the love of God.

[B]

We remove ourselves from experiencing that love. Would that be a good way of saying that there?

[C]

He still loves us, but we're not experiencing it now. Hebrews 12 is not talking about God judging the person who's off in immorality and they get hiv. Right, right. It's talking about the person who is walking in fellowship with God and they're experiencing difficulties in their life. Actually, the word for discipline there isn't that paideuo.

[B]

Paideia, where we get a word pediatrician, the raising up of a child, child training. Right. And the readers of Hebrews were going through difficulty, you know, from chapter 10. You know, they've been persecuted. And that's what the whole book's about. So this is the discipline of God. But it's not because they're dirty, nasty, rotten backsliders.

[C]

Right.

[B]

You know, it's because they live in this world, in the particular area where they lived in, where they were being persecuted for their faith.

[C]

So if you're being persecuted for your faith, you could, like Doug's friends, say, God must really love me because he's allowing me to be persecuted for faith. I remember Acts 5. I think it's verse 41. And that's after the apostles are beaten and they rejoice that they're counted worthy to suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? So we should rejoice if we're counted worthy to suffer for him. But that's different than saying, okay, if I have calamity in my life as a result of me being in the spiritual far country, me being out of fellowship, fellowship with God, I shouldn't be rejoicing when that calamity falls on me. I should be repenting.

[B]

So to go back to the prodigal son when he's there eating the pods, the pigs and laying in the mud, he shouldn't be saying, man, my father really loves me because I'm down here suffering now.

[C]

He could say, my father really loves me. In fact, I think it's verse 17 of Luke 15, he says when he came to his senses. Well, at that point, he does know his father really loves him, but he also knows he's not experiencing it. In order to experience it, he's got to be in fellowship with his father.

[B]

But you know, even there, Can I press that a little bit? Does he have a misunderstanding of his father's love because he says, I'm no longer worthy to be called a son. I'll go back and be one of his servants.

[C]

He'll be like Hop Singh working in the kitchen.

[B]

No, there's another Bonanza reference there. Bob is showing his age. Some of the people listening go like, who's Hop Singh? Who's Hoss?

[C]

Who's Hoss? I didn't mention Hoss yet. He's one of the sons who's Little Joe? You know, I think Little Joe's in the far country because he wanted his inheritance early. And why is Little Joe doing it? We love Michael Landon, right?

[A]

You are invited to subscribe to the Grace Evangelical Society's YouTube channel. You will find our Monday, Wednesday and Friday videos there enlightening and encouraging and even probably humorous at times. If you like Bob Wilkins humor, indeed, you will get biblical truth about free grace themes like faith alone for eternal salvation and why the Grace evangelical society is zero point Calvinistic. We come your way three times a week at the Grace Evangelical YouTube channel. Check it out and tell a friend about the Grace Evangelical Society.

[B]

This question by Doug is a good one, by the way. He mentions his own dad and he says he's 76 and he said his own dad used to spank him.

[C]

Yeah, and if his father loves his son, he spanks him or at least disciplines him. Today, I guess you don't spank you. Try to reason with him or something. But in Proverbs it says, he who spares the rod spoils the child.

[B]

And I'll tell you something else. They did some spanking on the Ponderosa. The father there, I forgot his name.

[C]

Ben. Ben Cartwright.

[B]

Yeah, Ben Cartwright. He loved his boys.

[C]

He did love his boys. And they grew up to be strong men because they had training. And so I guess his question is, does God love all believers equally? Yes or no? Does he show his love equally? No, but does he love them equally? Well, yes, but clearly you're not experiencing the love of God if you're not walking in fellowship with Him.

[B]

But I love that verse that you use from Jude in your blog, abide in the love or remain in the love. So that obviously is saying, we might not do that.

[C]

If you've ever been around rescue mission work, if you've spoken there, you know that there are people there who were born again and fell away from the Lord and were in the gutter, sometimes literally in the gutter. They were addicted to drugs, addicted to alcohol, other things. They're homeless. And then they come to the rescue mission and they start getting involved in the discipleship program at the rescue mission. Well, some of those people come to faith in the rescue mission, but some of them are already born again, but they had fallen away. And sometimes you'll find doctors that end up homeless. You'll have lawyers that end up homeless. They're alcoholics. They've lost their marriage, they've lost their kids. They. It's not just people who were, let's say, gardeners that fell away and that somehow became homeless or even unbelievers or.

[B]

Just, you know, it's not there. Just unbelievers. Not just unbelievers that are sleeping out in the gutter.

[C]

Right. They're born again people who fall away from the Lord and end up in a rescue mission, and they help restore these people. So, yes, some of the people are unbelievers in the rescue missions and they come to faith there. But some of them are born again people who end up and they're away from the Lord. So I would say to Doug, God is chastising or training all believers. However. Do you have the passage there? Why don't you turn to the Hebrews 12 passage? Where's the verse about illegitimate sons? Is that around verse 11 or 10?

[B]

Yeah, I was just going to talk about that. You know, since he References Hebrews. Chapter 12 quotes Hebrews. It says, whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. And Scourges it talks about. He goes in verse eight. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. And I think a lot of people come to that verse and say, oh, well, he's talking about illegitimate children or not believers, right?

[C]

You're not born again.

[B]

But Bob and I were talking about this, and no, we don't think that's at all what the author of Hebrews is talking about it. What he's saying is sons are those who are going to reign with Christ. We would say mature sons. We would say a chip off the old block. And the Lord chastens or trains up those who are going to rule in the world to come. We both knew Earl Radmacher. He said, this is training time for reigning time.

[C]

Exactly.

[B]

And so, yes, if I'm in fellowship with the Lord and he is training me up and bringing things into my life to make me more like Christ, then, yeah, I can look at that. That suffering. And Doug's friend saying, boy, the Lord must really love me. Now, I'm assuming that's what he means, then that's a true statement. And I am experiencing his love.

[C]

Right.

[B]

I'm experiencing his chastening, his training. I'm getting my booster shots from him, whatever the case may be as a kid. You know, he's doing this for my own good, even though I don't like it.

[C]

So, yes, I'll tell you what's interesting, and maybe you can pull the Bible Knowledge commentary. It's right behind you there on the shelf. Hodges wrote the commentary on Hebrews, and in it he talks about the illegitimate sons. And Hadjas says that the illegitimate sons are believers.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

And he said that he's not talking there about unbelievers. So if you would, why don't you read that quote?

[B]

Yeah. Hodges in the Bible Knowledge commentary says talking about the illegitimate children there in verse eight, he says in speaking of those who are not disciplined and are thus illegitimate children, he was probably thinking of Christians whose disloyalty to the faith resulted in their loss of inheritance reward, obviously, not salvation.

[C]

Right.

[B]

But illegitimate are those who are not going to inherit the. The father's estate. Something like that. That's what he says. And I agree. And so, yeah, like Job, for example, Job's trials were a sign of God's love. He was being disciplined by God in that sense. So that's good.

[C]

Well, great question, Doug. And let's all keep grace in focus.

[A]

Be our guest and subscribe to our 48 page magazine, six issues per year. Also called GraceInFocus. It's free by emailing your name and snail mail address to gesaithalone.org that's faithalone.org maybe you've got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radio faithalone.org and when you do, please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible. That would be a great big help on our next episode is Remarriage Adultery. Please come back and join us. And in the meantime, let's keep Grace in focus.

[B]

The proceeding has been a listener supported.

[A]

Ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.