I have been hearing some Christians postulate the idea that God’s love is unconditional? I kind of think I know what they are trying to get at, but I think this is a topic that deserves a deeper analysis.
Is God’s love unconditional? Insofar as God extends his love to all people without distinction, it is true. But many have bought into the sentimental notion of unconditional love evidenced in the old popular song, "Though it makes him sad to see the way we live, he'll always say, 'I forgive.' " This is fuzzy romanticism and cheap grace, not the good news of Jesus Christ nor the love of God that is taught in the Bible.
God loves all people (John 3:16) and offers salvation to all without conditions of merit or worth, such as race, color or economic conditions. But make no mistake about it, God's love has conditions. When God created humanity, conditions were there from the very start. "You are free … But you must not … " (Gen. 2:16-17). God's love requires conditions, and in this sense it is misleading to call God’s love "unconditional."
You see, when we talk about love, people’s love in general and God’s love in particular, we often think of the word, “acceptance.” We put together both “love” and “acceptance.” I do not think this is a bad thing, just as long as we know what we are doing. Because if you are doing to keep attached to the idea of love -- “acceptance,” then you need to be very careful how you use the word “unconditional.”
Here are a couple of illustrations to show what I mean:
First, a mother is having a test of wills with her two-year-old. The young boy wants to continue playing, but it is time for bath and bed. Mom has already given him a five-minute grace period. Now she insists he will do as she says. If the child could speak articulately, he might say, "If you really loved me, you'd let me do what I want." As adults, we can identify with Mom here. She is expressing love, but is it unconditional? Yes, in the sense that she will love her son even if he disobeys. But no, in the sense that she is requiring conditions.
Second, Dick and Jane have been married for almost 20 years. But Jane has discovered that her husband has committed adultery, and Dick wants to continue the relationship. He also wants his wife to accept it and continue the marriage. What does real love mean for Jane in this situation? If she loves him unconditionally, won't she accept her husband on his terms as an expression of her love? Or will genuine love require Jane to say, "It's either me or her"? Authentic love requires conditions.
Do you see how “love” and “acceptance” goes together? Do you see why using the term unconditional loosely can send the wrong idea?
The good news is: God loved our sinful race so much that he sent his Son. He will not, cannot, forgive and accept us except on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice. To do otherwise would betray the integrity of God's own holy character. The condition for God's love to reach us was the Cross.
True love is impossible without the potential for freely given response. The reason for this is that love is about relationship, about reciprocity.
If God loved unconditionally in the sense of offering unconditional positive regard, he would forgive and accept every person no matter what, requiring no Cross. But then the Christian message would be logically incoherent. It would be as shallow as the love of a person who always accepts another's destructive behavior without ever calling him or her to account.
Why does God not simply accept people (sinners) on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice, irrespective of their responses? Again, the answer lies in the nature of love itself. Without repentance, faith, and discipleship, a woman or man cannot know God's love in its redemptive and transforming power. Without such a response, what a person is conscious of is something less than God's love. It may be relief, psychological peace, or even a (false) sense of security. But it is not God's transforming love, and therefore not salvation.
God's love has conditions, not because he is a tyrant, but because God is love. Th is a moral and psychological necessity. It is grounded in God's character as demonstrated in his acts in history.
If Jesus' Cross was necessary, then so is ours. To rely on God's "unconditional love" apart from Jesus Christ, or even in him but apart from personal faith and discipleship, is to trust in mushy sentiment. The good news is that God's love in Christ forgives, transforms, and empowers for righteous, compassionate living. These are the two essential conditions for experiencing God's love: Jesus' death on the cross (costly grace) and our self-committing trust (genuine faith).
What is the great act of God that demonstrated His love for us? Would it not be the giving sacrificially of His Son on the cross to save us from sin? Yet, even the love of God in salvation has conditions. God’ offers His love through salvation freely, but in order for me to appropriate it, there are conditions (not works) that I must meet -- repentance, belief, trust, obedience.
You see, love and acceptance do often go together. Love without the conditions of acceptance is merely sentimental, costless and void of power. But true love -- God’s love is conditional if acceptance by God is going to be achieved and experienced.
Again, to go around proclaiming that God’s love is unconditional is to provide a partial truth. But when you add the word “acceptance” to God’s love, one can see that it is not totally unconditional.
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