God unconditionally loves sinners and conditions them to be glorified saints!
There’s a lot of talk about the “unconditional love” of God. On most occasions the context of this conversation is someone who admits to their sinful condition, even revels in it, but considers any suggestion of repentance to be judgmental.
So, just what does it mean to speak of the “unconditional love” of God?
First, the love of God must be understood as predestination. The apostle Paul wrote, “…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will… (Ephesians 1:4-5). This is the grace of God in action. God’s choice to love predates creation and His decree to save occurred before the fall of the first humans. The subsequent fall of humanity and the corruption of the cosmos did not change the mind of God. Jesus declared, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Paul proclaimed, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In fact, the love of God is conditioned by God’s character and will. Yes! God loves all sinners.
God’s love is demonstrated in the giving of God’s self – God’s Son and God’s Spirit. Jesus Christ was publicly displayed as a propitiation (Romans 3:24-25). In other words, Jesus Christ took upon himself the sinfulness of humanity and bore in himself all the wrath of God that is “revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). Furthermore, “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). This is why the Holy Trinity is often spoken of as: God the Father is the divine lover; God the Son is the beloved One; and God the Spirit is the flame of love between the Father and Son. In God’s love humanity is invited to participate in this divine dance of love.
God’s love is expressed by God’s call. Those who God predestined, God also called (Romans 8:30). Even when humans arrogantly revel in debauchery and exchange the wisdom of God for the foolishness of sin, the call of God goes forth. Yes! God’s love calls all sinners to repentance.
God’s love transforms the human condition. When God calls us we may be lost in the darkness of this present age. However, when we respond to God’s gracious call in sorrowful repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10) all of heaven celebrates (Luke 15:10). God’s love acts to set fallen and penitent humans upright – justification. God’s love washes penitent believers in the waters of new birth (John 3:5; Romans 6:3-4). God’s love gives homeless humans a family – adoption (Romans 8:14-16). God does not leave us in the same condition in which we are found. That is not love. To leave an abandoned child abandoned is callous. To leave a homeless woman homeless is careless. To leave a hungry man hungry is heartless. To leave a sinner sinful is graceless.
God’s love is expressed in acts of judgment and discipline. It’s not popular, but like it or not, if we desire to be a child of God we will be subject to the judgment of God. We will be called into accountability by those of like faith (Matthew 18:15-17). To be disciplined by God is to be treated like God’s child; but to reject discipline is to be an illegitimate child (Hebrews 12:7-8). The only way to escape the judgment of God is to rightly discern and confess our sinfulness (1 Corinthians 11:31-32). When God’s children are disobedient, God’s love disciplines them so that they might share in God’s holiness (Hebrews 12:10). Yes! God loves sinners so much that he transforms them into saints – sanctification.
God’s love is expressed in the culmination of predestination, that is, we shall be glorified (Romans 8:29-30). Paul declared, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Humans were created to reflect the image and glory of God. Sinfulness means that humanity has suffered the loss of God’s glory. However, because of the Incarnation of the divine Son humanity has been assumed into the divine glory; and because of Pentecost the Spirit pledges that we shall be “filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). The apostle John proclaimed, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
