We often hear it said, “God loves you unconditionally”. Is that really true? Does God love us without conditions? Does He love us regardless of how we respond to His love?
There’s a sense in which God’s love is unconditional, if we mean by that that God’s love is eternal. The Bible clearly states, “Herein is love, not that we loved God but that he first loved us.” “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” “There is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the Love of God”. God loves us with an everlasting love.
Also, God’s love is unconditional in the sense that there’s nothing we can do to earn it. “It is by grace that we are saved through faith – and this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). God’s love is not based on our being good enough to deserve it. We will never be good enough to merit His everlasting love since our righteousness is as filthy rags to Him.
However, there’s an old axiom that states that heresy is often a truth taken to the extreme. Sound doctrine is often a case of balance. The hope of heaven needs to be balanced with a warning about hell. God’s sovereignty needs to be balanced with man’s free will. New Testament grace cannot be fully appreciated without an understanding of Old Testament law.
In that regard, the statement, “God loves you unconditionally,” standing alone, can be a myth in what it implies. If nothing else is said the implication is that God is pleased with you and would never punish you for your sins. And He certainly would never send you to hell because He loves you too much to punish you. The old song, “I believe,” had a line that said, “Though it makes Him sad to see how we live, He will always say, “I forgive.”
But the Bible makes it clear that God’s saving grace is conditional. It’s dependent on our response. Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”. (John 3:3) He commanded his disciples to go into the world and preach the good news. Then he added, “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16:16).
Theologian John Piper wrote, “There is such a thing as unconditional love in God, but it’s not what most people mean by it. It’s not a saving love that He has for everybody. Else everybody would be saved, since they would not have to meet any conditions, not even faith. But Jesus said everybody is not saved.” (See Matthew 25:46.)
To say, “God loves you unconditionally can be a myth created by incomplete communication rather than by speaking direct falsehood. When we say God loves us unconditionally and don’t explain that His saving grace is dependent on our response, the impression is left that there are no conditions on salvation – and that is a myth. There are clear conditions to receiving God’s grace and abiding in His love.
A wife may say to her husband, “I love you unconditionally.” But she doesn’t mean, I will give of myself totally to you even if you beat me or sleep around. The father of the prodigal son still loved his son when he was involved in wild living but the relationship was not restored until the young man repented and came home from the far country. There are conditions to a loving relationship.
Erwin Lutzer, the much-respected Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, recently made this spontaneous statement: “…“it’s popular today to say, ‘God loves you unconditionally.’ Now, to the one who’s sitting in the pew that’s sleeping with his girlfriend, he says to himself, ‘I know exactly what that means. That means that it’s okay for me to continue to sleep with my girlfriend because, after all, God loves me unconditionally.’ That’s His job. That’s who He is.”
You see it used to be, and some of you who are older would remember this, that preachers used to preach against sin, and then when people knew that they couldn’t live up to God’s standard, and they were aware of their sin, then grace was offered to them. Thank God for amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
Today grace is offered up front. Grace is offered to people when they don’t even know they need it and whether or not they really care as to whether or not they want it because God loves you “unconditionally.” Not to put too fine a point on it, but there are several different passages in Scripture in the Psalms where it says that God says, “I am angry with the wicked every day.”
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).