Psa 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
This means that God hates the wicked and those which love violence.
Does every unbeliever love violence? I don't think so.
Is it not possible that God makes a difference between diffferent people?
For example do you not think that God makes a difference between a normal unbeliever and a sadist who tortures animals or humans?
Why should God also love the sadist when psalm 11 makes clear that God hates those which love violence and which are wicked?
On the other hand if we all are considered wicked then how can God love us when the bible says that he hates those which are wicked? This seems like a contradiction. Does this mean that God hated me before I became a christian?
But if he hated me then why should he have made me become a christian?
Unbeleivers are "condemned already" (Jn. 3:18) and under the wrath of God (Jn. 3:36). Before we were saved we were "children of wrath even as others" (Eph. 2:2-3).
Outside of Christ there is no salvation, no righteousness, no holiness and therefore no love of God. The love of God is found only "in Christ."
When we deal with the wrath of God we are not dealing with emotions but with a judicial and legal perspective. The law of God is God's standard of what is viewed by God as holy, righteous and just. Anything coming short of that standard comes under the legal sentence of condemnation, wrath, and holy hatred as defined by law. Hence, God loves righteousness but hates wickedness by His judicial standard.
This is why salvation is by grace because there is nothing in sinners to merit as objects of God's love. The law defines what merits to be the object of His love - righteousness and holiness. This is why salvation is by mercy because God's justice is withheld from sinners receiving what they justly deserve.
Outside of Christ there is no love of God because only Christ provides a justified basis or justified object for God's love. Outside of Christ is the wrath of God:
John 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
This is why salvation must be "in Christ" because outside of Christ is only the wrath of God because outside of Christ there is no justified basis to be a recipient of God's love.
Many Christians believe election places "in Christ" before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) all who wil be justified objects of God's love and all who will come to him by faith (1 Thes. 1:4-5; 2 Thes. 2:13) because they have been given to the Son before the world began (Jn. 6:37-39; 44-45; 64-65; 17:2) and that God's love for the "kosmos" includes the redemption of all the material universe (Rom. 8:20-25) and all mankind without distinctions of race, class and gender but not all mankind without exception.
However, one thing is for certain - there is no salvation OUTSIDE of Jesus Christ but we do know what is OUTSIDE of Jesus Christ - the abiding wrath of God that will come to fruition in eternal judgement in Gehenna for eternity and by no stretch of the imagination can that be construed to be the love of God.
