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Answer
God’s love for humanity, as depicted in the Bible, is undeniably unconditional. His love is shown to those He loves regardless of their feelings towards Him. In essence, God loves without imposing any conditions on His beloved; He loves because love is inherent to His nature. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:8). This love motivates Him to act benevolently: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” “that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45).
The unconditional love of God is most evident in the gospel. The gospel narrative essentially tells of divine salvation. When God observed the condition of His rebellious people, He resolved to rescue them from their sins, and this decision was rooted in His love (Ephesians 1:4-5). Consider the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans:
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).
Upon reading the book of Romans, we discover that our sins have separated us from God. We are in conflict with God, and His anger is revealed against the ungodly because of their unrighteousness ((Romans 1:18-20). We reject God, and God gives us over to our sin. We also learn that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”, (Romans 3:23) and that none of us seek God; none of us do what is right before His eyes (Romans 3:10-18).
Despite the hostility and enmity we have toward God (for which God would be perfectly just to utterly destroy us), God revealed His love toward us in the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the propitiation (the appeasement of God’s righteous wrath) for our sins. God did not wait for us to better ourselves as a condition of atoning for our sin. Rather, God condescended to become a man and live among His people “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”, (John 1:14). God experienced our humanity—everything it means to be a human being—and then offered Himself willingly as a substitutionary atonement for our sin.
This divine rescue, based on unconditional love, resulted in a gracious act of self-sacrifice. As Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”, (John 15:13). That is precisely what God, in Christ, has done. The unconditional nature of God’s love is made clear in other passages of Scripture:
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace”You have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
“This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).
It is important to note that God’s love is an initiating love; it is never a response. That is precisely what makes it unconditional. If God’s love were conditional, then we would have to do something to earn or merit it. We would have to somehow appease His wrath or cleanse ourselves of sin before God would be able to love us. But that is not the biblical message. The biblical message—the gospel—is that God, motivated by love, moved unconditionally to save His people from their sin.
Also important is the fact that God’s unconditional love does not mean that everyone will be saved (see Matthew 25:46). Nor does it mean that God will never discipline His children. To ignore God’s merciful love, to reject the Savior who bought us “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”, (2 Peter 2:1), is to subject ourselves to God’s wrath for eternity “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”, (Romans 1:18), not His love. For a child of God to willfully disobey God is to invite the Father’s correction (Hebrews 12:5-11).
Does God love everyone? Yes, He demonstrates mercy and kindness to all. In this sense, His love is unconditional. Does God love Christians differently than He loves non-Christians? Yes. Since believers have demonstrated faith in God’s Son, they are saved. The unconditional and merciful love that God has for everyone should lead us to faith, accepting with gratitude the conditional and covenant love He bestows upon those who accept Jesus as their Savior.
