Is God's love unconditional? Part 2

(Me to Todd) I want to make sure I covered the question: is God's love unconditional?  I'm using the following as the definition for unconditional: (a) complete; (b) not limited by conditions.

a. Jesus is the only way to salvation; he paid it all, thus is complete.  
John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me
Romans 3:23-24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, yes, I think scripture is clear that Jesus is the only way to salvation -- He completely fulfills salvation (and the scriptures for that matter!).  Since Jesus = God, and God = love, then God's love is complete.  Unconditional, if you will.

b. God's love is not limited by conditions.
This has been the hardest piece to wrap my mind around because there are a lot of "if, then" statements in the Bible.  So, I have to go back to God's character.  The thing that resonates over and over again is that God is just.

Deut. 32:4
"The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Isaiah 30:18
Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.  For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Revelation 15:3
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty, Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!

God's ways are just.  However, we don't like boundaries and so we tend to think He is hurting us when, in fact, He is working out justice.  I think the parent/child relationship exhibits this most clearly -- a parent may love their child unconditionally (and ideally so!), but they will still discipline and correct their children (which, in fact, is loving).

I think the crux of this is that overall, our society has a very skewed view of love.  We don't see boundaries and discipline as love.  Too often, love is seen as getting what you want and/or being happy.  But that isn't love.

1 Cor. 13:4-13
Love is patient and kind...Love never ends...So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Romans 13:10
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Love fulfills the law and only Jesus can do that; we cannot.  Since we cannot fully abide by/fulfill the law, we deserve punishment, which is death.  I think it is easier to see this for believers, yet harder to grasp for the unbeliever -- is God being loving if/when He condemns someone to hell?  I have to say yes.  I may not like it or fully understand it, but I know God is just and He is love.  And so, I trust that if He does that, it is out of love.  I have continued to find Isaiah 55:8-9 a comfort in such matters.

In conclusion, I say with a resounding "yes" that God's love is unconditional.

Is God's love unconditional? Part 1

(Me to Todd) Operating under the assumption that the Bible is true:

1. Jesus doesn't change.Hebrews 13:8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

2. Jesus = God.John 5:18This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making Himself equal with God.

3. God = love.1 John 4:7-21, but esp. 7-8Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Therefore, if God = love, and God = Jesus, then love = Jesus.  If Jesus doesn't change, then God doesn't change and He is always love.  If you are always love than you can never not be love; thus, God's love is unconditional.

I think this is most clearly seen in God's forgiveness throughout scripture.  Some examples that come to mind right now (you know the stories better than I, so I'm not referencing them with scripture):

• David.  He was an adulterer and a murderer, yet he was highly favored in the eyes of the Lord and a man after God's own heart.
• Peter.  He might be my favorite Biblical dude...so relatable as He seems to continuously be doing the "follow hard after the Lord, fall on my face, repent, repeat" dance.  He's the rock that the church was built on, yet he denied the Christ Jesus three times.
• Zechariah.  Tis the season!  Gabriel told him that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a child yet he didn't believe.  As such, he was unable to speak for a season.  Though consequences to his actions, he regained his speech, and fathered John the Baptist...what an honor. 

These folks differ from the "go and sin no more" folks because they already knew the Lord.  Then sinned.  And yet it is evident the Lord still loves them.

From the time of Adam and Eve, our hearts have wandered, pursuing our own desires, rather than the desires of the Lord.  Yet we have received grace upon grace (John 1:16).  We cannot outdo His grace.  I think it can be easy to confuse conditions with consequences.  There are consequences to our sins and sometimes we skew those to think that God isn't loving us.  

In my own life, I have committed many unintentional sins, but I've also committed many intentional sins.  I purposely did what I wanted, rather than what the Lord called me to do.  Yet, He has always forgiven me.  More than actions, though, I think the hardest form of rebellion for me takes place in my heart and mind.  My most notable season of this was in grad school.  Many factors were at play, but I just didn't want to be a Christian anymore.  I stopped praying and reading the Bible, I didn't go to church, and I was frustrated with life in many ways.  I can remember walking late one night around the Clemson campus and telling God I wanted to be done.  I really, really wanted out.  I tried to divorce Him.

But, I couldn't.  In my heart of hearts, I knew I would go back...not that night, or the next night, or even a month later.  But I knew that I would.  More importantly, I knew that He would take me back.  Not because He had to, but because He wanted to because He loved me.  I knew He would bring me back.  (Reminded of Isaiah 54:7-8 and Jeremiah 29:14)

I asked one of my best friends this very question yesterday and we got into a lengthy conversation about it.  She thinks there are degrees of love, with the truest being God's love.  I think God's love is the only true love, which we are able to express and partake in through the Lord.  Without God, acts that are often deemed as love are not true love, but likely shades of niceness or something else.

At the end of the day, I'm ok drawing a hard line in the sand.  Being black & white has always been my natural tendency.  Yet, the older I get the more I see the world in shades of grey; life is complicated and so much of it is hard to swallow, hard to reconcile.  I think the world loves shades of grey because it gives us a way out of choosing something specific...we are able to be half in/half out/quasi.  It helps us sleep at night and feel better about ourselves.  It allows our choices to be justified more easily.

Today, it is offensive to say someone's way is wrong if they have good intentions.  But the gospel is offensive.  It is black and white.  It is either a fragrance of life or of death and it makes no apologies for that.  So, I'm taking a strong stance on this one.  I think God's love is unconditional.  I think God = love, so nothing without God can be love. 

The First Response

I love a good question in response to a question:


(Todd to me) Is God’s love unconditional?

The First Question

This blog originated when I asked a friend what he thought about something.  A series of emails were churned out in response.  I'm still pondering subsequent questions that have arisen, but figured I'd go ahead and post my original question:

(Me to my friend Todd) If God equals love, do you think there can be any acts of love, true love, apart from God?  Or, is what we often deem "love" something else?

Introduction

A friend of mine challenged me to start a blog of theological discussions.  This is my attempt.  


There are so many things I would love to know about the Lord...so many questions I'd like answered.  I think the Lord has given us the tools to figure most of them out: the Bible, the Holy Spirit, direct communication with Him in prayer, and each other.  


Ideally, I'd toss out a topic and what I'm thinking and have others respond with their own thoughts.  We'll see what happens...