The Conditional Love of God

“God hates the sin, but loves the sinner” has become the motto of American Christianity today. Certainly, God hates sin – about this there can be no equivocation.  And the Bible makes it plain that God loves the sinner.  But the Bible also states unambiguously, with striking frequency, that GOD HATES SINNERS who challenge God's laws and His people.  Scripture makes it clear that when people stand in insolence before God then God destroys them.  The Bible says that He will laugh at the wicked when their calamity comes like a whirlwind, and that He rejoices over the wicked to destroy them.  If you find this concept of God incompatible with the tenets of your religion, I question whether you really know the God of the Bible.

Justice is an attribute of love.  A Judge in a courtroom of justice rejoices to catch the criminals, convict, and punish them.  Is it because he is unloving?  No.  If he is loving, he will be glad the rapists, murderers, car thieves, child molesters are sent to jail - for the greater good of society.  God hates sinners in the same sense a Judge would hate criminals - for the greater good of mankind!  God hates sinners in the same sense that He hates the devil - to promote the general welfare of man.  Not because God is hateful, but because He is benevolent.  For the greater good of the universe, He will rid the earth of all rebels and reign forever.  It’s best, it’s right, it’s the loving thing to do.  As long as sinners serve the devil by continuing their relentless war against God, their Holy Maker hates, abhors, curses, detests, despises them, and will ultimately destroy them in His wrath - because God is Love.

There is a sense in which God loves all men unconditionally, sinners and saints, that is not at all contradictory to the Biblical teaching of God’s hatred for sinners.  God loves the sinner in the sense that He is benevolent to them - He wills their good.  God wills that all men repent and not perish (II Pet.3:9).  His disposition toward man is to show mercy - He is longsuffering, He is slow to wrath and quick to forgive.  He does not send speedy judgment when we sin, but convicts us by His Spirit and gives us time to consider our ways.  God’s unconditional love for mankind prompted Him to send Jesus to die to motivate man to turn from sin to God, and to secure the salvation of those who meet the terms of the covenant.  Most of the time the Bible speaks of God’s love, it is in the context of Jesus death on the cross (John 3:16, Rom.5:8, I John 3:16).  This type of love for man is unconditional.

God’s benevolence for sinners is not emotional drivel or sentimental feelings.  He does not accept sinners “just the way they are”; they must repent (change) and believe in order to be accepted by Him (Acts 10:35).  He doesn’t love sinners the way that they want Him to: He does not give them unconditional approval, unconditional acceptance, unconditional forgiveness, or unconditional friendship.  He has unconditional love for the sinner, but he doesn’t like them.  

The Bible also speaks of a love God has for man that is CONDITIONAL.  Hear the Word of God: 

Proverbs 8:17  “I LOVE THEM THAT LOVE ME: and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” 

John 14:21  “He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and HE THAT LOVETH ME SHALL BE LOVED OF MY FATHER, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” 

Love by definition must be voluntary, so God cannot force His love upon anybody.  That would not be benevolent - just as it would not be benevolent for a man to “force” himself upon a woman.  God wants our love to be a free expression from our heart.  Only in this would He receive glory and be pleased.  God invites, persuades, pleads, and beckons man to leave his idolatrous loves and worship and adore his Creator above all, to give God pre-eminence in his life.  If man complies, God delights in him.  Should God delight in Hitler and Moses alike?  Should God be pleased with Judas Iscariot and John the Apostle the same?  As long as sinners reject the love of God shown in the bloody cross of Christ, they cannot receive God’s conditional love.  As long as they continue in their sins, they are at war with the Lawgiver, and under the condemnation of His Law and wrath of His justice, God’s love notwithstanding.  Unless they meet the terms of the covenant - fear God, repent, obey, love God supremely - they are doomed to the fire of God’s Holy hatred and wrath on Judgment Day!

The real question is not “Does God love you?” but “Do you love God?”  Never did Jesus or any of His Apostles ever tell the lost multitudes, “God loves you”.  Never!  Rather, they told the multitudes of their duty to love God supremely and love their neighbor equally - this is all the Law of God.  And if sinners would not keep God’s Law, they were warned of the righteous judgments of God, so that they would fear Him.  In the book of Acts, our first example of Church evangelism, the word “love” is not mentioned even once, while the fear of the Lord is referred to ten times!  What is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom?  The Bible says it is THE FEAR OF THE LORD!  One cannot love God in the Biblical sense - benevolence, good-willing, perfect submission - until He fears God!  This extra-Biblical, humanistic gospel that omits mention of God’s wrath and condemnation, focuses on God’s love for sinners, and provokes no godly repentance has quenched the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon so many.  

The rebels hear someone tell them, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” and think it means God accepts them, or that God has good feelings for them, or that God is pleased with them, and that is far from the truth.  God is Holy, and does not accept them as they are - He hates them as they are!  God’s “plan” for them is eternal torment in the lake of fire unless they repent and submit to God!  This “God-loves-you-unconditionally, false Gospel” should be utterly forsaken for the Gospel message of the Bible!

We cannot force our human values upon God, nor can we demand God reshape His laws, nature, and justice to fit our new age everyone is special philosophy.  God has given us the scriptures, His laws, and revelations of countless prophets and preachers of sound Christian teaching, and we shall do well to heed their words.