Unconditional Love?

Growing up I had always heard the God’s love was unconditional. In the spirit of not holding on to empty theological phrases and terms, I think its time for this idea to be discussed.

Clearly God is a God of love. Love permeates His character so much so that He is actually described as the personification of love (see I John 4:8). In fact, much of I John 4 speaks a great deal on love and God’s relationship to it. God’s love has been manifest primarily through the sacrificial death of Jesus. In each instance where the Scriptures speak of God’s love, God showing love or God in fact being love, all are in relationship to the cross. Check me out on that – it’s a great study.

So with the cross being the primary way God has shown love, there is no doubt that the God of the Bible is one who manifests love. Those who want to imitate Him would do well to imitate this quality with their brothers and sisters, as well as their neighbors and enemies.

However, God is more than simply defined in the word “love.” In Exodus 34, God describes Himself in 8 unique attributes which serve as the foundational understanding and description of Him through the rest of the Bible. In His own description of Himself we find more than just a repetition of synonyms of “love”:

Exodus 34:6-7 - “Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

When God destroyed the earth by the flood, it was not because He is love, but because He is just. When He planned for His only begotten son to die, it was not because He does not leave the guilty unpunished but because He is gracious and longs to forgive iniquity, transgression and sin. We must allow the full spectrum of God’s character to define His actions and plans. We cannot look at only one quality of God and neglect the rest.

So, in light of these things, let’s return to the subject of God’s love. The love of God is the theme for our songs, many books and countless sermons. Maybe we can have some intelligent discussion about the subject.

After a great discussion at our home bible study this week, I thought I would pose the question to our blog fellowship as well. I have my own thoughts which I can elaborate on later, but in the meantime, I’m looking forward to your thoughts. I’m not looking for a specific answer or yes or no. Let’s start the discussion with this question:

“Does God love us with an unconditional love?”